While we step up to vote for change and a progressive path here in Maryland tomorrow, we mourn the death at police hands of George Floyd and the crushing of hopes for change that every fresh death can bring. We stand with the protesters around the nation and the world. Vote for change and work for justice.
Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday June 1 2020
We stand in solidarity with protestors, civil rights organizers, and concerned Americans around the country as they call for justice and police accountability at grassroots demonstrations. The pandemic, the epidemic of racism, the police violence in our communities are all converging in a way we haven’t seen before and taking tens of thousands of Black and Brown people’s lives. Public officials and leaders must do everything they can to fully address these matters and fully support the families and individuals who are being affected.
Black lives matter.
Say his name : George Floyd.
Here’s a statement from George Goehl of People’s Action, our national umbrella group with affiliates across the country including in Minnesota.
“ ‘A black man was suffocated by white police officers as he begged for his life.’ How many times have we heard these words? How many more times will we hear them? The murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis leaves us horrified and grief-stricken.
“Public officials cannot be allowed to wait until people are protesting in the streets before they take action. There’s no excuse for the do-nothing responses of public officials in the face of white supremacist violence against black communities. We saw it in the case of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder before the video of that killing went viral online, and we saw it again here.
“The contrast between police violence in response to protestors demanding justice for George Floyd compared with the reaction to the armed protestors who terrorized the Michigan State Capitol Building just a few short days ago tells you everything you need to know about the pathological nature of white supremacy in America today. Minneapolis police responses to initial protests absolutely escalated the situation.
“During this time, we should be uniting in acts of collective care, but instead we are being torn apart by white supremacist violence. Minneapolis officials must serve justice for George Floyd’s murder.”
We’ll be saying more in the next few days about all of this. In the meantime we are focused on turning out voters for the primary. Tomorrow is Election Day! Please vote if you haven’t already. You will need to mail your ballot today or tomorrow at the latest. It must be postmarked June 2. Or drop your ballot at a designated drop box. To find locations for drop boxes go to your County’s Board of Election. If you live in Baltimore city go to the City’s Board of Elections website.
Justice, health care and our public health system, economic security, and our schools are on the ballot. There are some great candidates on the ballot who will fight for these issues, push for progress in each area and lead efforts for more funding for schools and housing, not police and prisons.
Here’s a guide to our endorsed candidates To find out more about any candidate, follow the links provided to their individual campaign websites.
Help us get them elected!
Get involved today. If you haven’t already joined our campaign as a volunteer, click this link to get involved.
Remind your family, friends and neighbors to vote, too. Many of the races we’re working in are very close so every vote counts.
And be sure to:
Sign up for our weekly memo. You can also submit a blog post for the memo by contacting Woody at [email protected]. We are very interested in collecting stories about the impact of COVID-19 on individuals, workers and families. Get our weekly updates here.
If you’d like to learn more about Progressive Maryland’s statewide organizing efforts on COVID-19, health care and more, please email Patty Snee at [email protected]. For COVID-19 resources visit the Marylanders United Action Center.
PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND – OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE
Take Action Anne Arundel County
Lower Shore Progressive Caucus
Meets June 4 -- more here
>>Baltimore progressives, Check in on the wide-ranging Baltimore Activist Alert calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our recent blogs are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected]
We recently published these blog posts:
May 30, 2020 As Election Day approaches, strong schools are on the agenda
Thanks to all who joined us on last Thursday's statewide meeting, focusing on the upcoming Primary Election and what damage Gov. Hogan did to our schools with his veto of the Blueprint for Maryland's Schools. Make sure you vote by June 2 and take action to urge our legislative leaders to override Hogan's veto sooner rather than later.
May 28, 2020 COVID doesn't discriminate -- but health care does. We know what we have to do
America's health care system is what's creating wide disparities in the outcomes of COVID-19 infections. The virus hits everybody the same way -- so if everybody had great health care, all their lives, the differences in misery and death wouldn't be showing up.
Because we don't all have great health care -- many have none at all -- the differences are stark Here's a refresher from Progressive Breakfast summarizing what we learned at last week's statewide Marylanders United virtual meeting on health care.
How much more can we learn TODAY (Thursday, May 28) at our 5:30 meeting on the June 2 election and the importance of electing Strong Schools advocates in Maryland. Sign up here to join the conversation, take action, have impact!
May 27, 2020 Join Progressive Maryland and Marylanders United for a GOTV-Strong Schools statewide discussion
Join us tomorrow -- Thursday, May 28 -- at 5:30 PM for a statewide discussion of critical educational needs in these tough times, and how to elect leaders who will listen. The pandemic is straining all of our institutions and systems, especially our public school system. Once we begin to rebuild our economy and communities, our public schools will be central to how well we recover. That’s why the fate of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which was passed by the General Assembly and vetoed by Governor Hogan, is so important. Be active -- have impact!
May 26, 2020 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Marylanders United and Progressive Maryland continue to work in tandem to trace the pathways out of our pandemic dilemmas. Sure, we want to get back to work -- but not with sacrifice zones that somehow seem to include our most vulnerable people. Find out RIGHT HERE what we are doing on health care, equitable legislation to strengthen our communities and justified demands of our public officials. It's all in the Memo.
May 23, 2020 There is no First Amendment right to endanger others during pandemic
As President Trump opportunistically encourages religious organizations to violate legitimate state limits on the size of assembled groups, Mathew Goldstein reminds us that there is no constitutional right to endanger the lives of others.
>REMEMBER – these blog posts are frequently expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].
>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here
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