Support Minority Candidates for Congressional Internships

February 11, 2022January 16, 2021 otycd

Support minority candidates for Congressional internships.

Do you remember this infamous #SpeakerSelfie photo taken by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, of him and his Capitol Hill interns?

If not, click through to this Time magazine piece to see it (you’ll have to scroll down a little):

http://time.com/4410815/paul-ryan-intern-selfie/

Thousands of people instantly spotted what was wrong with this picture. Virtually everyone in it is white.

At least a few Democrats have managed to pick a more diverse group of Congressional interns, as shown in rebuttal photos by House Rep Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, and House Rep Xavier Becerra, Democrat of California.

Click this CNN link and scroll down to see the rebuttal photos:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/21/politics/dc-intern-selfie/index.html

…but the #SpeakerSelfie controversy sheds light on a bigger, thornier problem.

If you want a career in politics, you need a Congressional internship. But these internships, by their nature, tend to shut out anyone who’s working class or poor.

The positions are paid in academic credit–not dollars. Interns are responsible for wrangling their own lodgings, business attire, transportation, and food.

Together, these costs, which can easily run into the four-figure or even the low five-figure range, pose a formidable barrier to entry to candidates from low-income families. And as you well know, many low-income families happen to be non-white as well.

A lack of money closes the avenues to the halls of power, which in turn stops talented working-class and poor people from rising through the political ranks.

You can do something about that.

First, check the web sites of your MoCs. Do their sites say anything about how they choose their interns? If so, do the pages on interns include an explicit statement that commits the MoCs to selecting a diverse group of candidates?

If your MoCs’ websites say nothing about diversity among their interns, or say nothing about interns at all, call their offices and ask how they handle this issue. If they don’t give you a satisfactory answer, call and write periodically until they finally do.

Another option is to donate to Congressional intern scholarship programs.

Congressional Interns chosen by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CFBC) receive a stipend worth $3,000 as well as local dorm housing. Read more about the program at the link below:

http://www.cbcfinc.org/internships/

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gives its Congressional interns a stipend ($3,750 for spring and fall, and $2,500 for summer), all-expenses-paid housing, domestic round-trip transportation to Washington, D.C., and other benefits. Read more about the program at the link below:

http://chci.org/programs/internships/Eligibility_and_Program_Details/

Donate to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and specify that the funds are for its Congressional internship program:

http://www.cbcfinc.org/donation-form/

Donate to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and specify that the funds are for its Congressional internship program:

https://chci.org/donate/

Read more about what Congressional interns face:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/opinion-here-s-why-there-s-little-diversity-among-congressional-n611731

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/how-congress-gets-away-not-paying-its-interns/329629/

Read about the #SpeakerSelfie controversy and responses to it:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/18/paul-ryan-intern-selfie-capitol-hill-diversity

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/07/20/the-story-behind-congresss-dueling-intern-selfies/?utm_term=.1c1861452221

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/21/politics/dc-intern-selfie/

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Follow the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on Twitter:

@CBCFInc

Like the CBCF page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CBCFInc

Follow the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on Twitter:

@CHCI

Like the CHCI page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CHCIDC?ref=mf

Action Alerts · Community Activism · Uncategorized

Are You Able to Donate Blood? Now–Yes, Now, During A Covid-19 Lockdown–is a Great Time to Give

March 25, 2020March 21, 2020 otycd

Are you able to give blood? Now–yes, now, when many states are imposing Covid-19 lockdowns–is a great time to give.

In past posts, we’ve asked you to think about donating blood. While there is never a bad time to give blood (there’s always a need), now is an especially good time to do so. And doing it now grants you the extra benefit of a legit reason to leave your damn house.

As long as Covid-19 is running rampant, blood drives are cancelled. As you might have guessed, blood banks rely on periodic blood drives to maintain their holdings. Being forced to quit scheduling these events has already started to take a toll on the blood banking system.

The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) began raising the alarm about potential shortages in early March of 2020.

If you can give blood, please do. If for some reason you are stopped by authorities, bring up this post on your phone and click on the links in the paragraph above.

If you’d like to give blood but aren’t sure where to go, start here. Or here.

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Action Alerts · Choose Your Core Four · Community Activism · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends

See One Thing You Can Do’s 2020 To-Do List

February 14, 2020February 9, 2020 otycd

See the 2020 To-Do List compiled by this very blog, One Thing You Can Do.

With profound apologies for not having this ready to go on January 1, 2020, we have assembled a To-Do list for 2020.

We created it as a page on the site, but we realize we should release it as a post as well.

Please bookmark it and refer to it often in the months leading up to Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

See it here:

https://onethingyoucando.com/your-2020-to-do-list/

Action Alerts · Community Activism · Postcard Campaigns

Join the Postcards to Wisconsin Campaign (Updated February 2, 2020)

February 9, 2020February 2, 2020 otycd

Help raise voter awareness in Wisconsin by joining the Postcards to Wisconsin campaign.

This post originally ran in December 2019. Because this is a time-sensitive campaign, we at OTYCD will rerun it every few weeks leading up to the mailing date.

Updated February 2, 2020: As of now, the Postcards to Wisconsin campaign has distributed 449,460 postcards, and has raised its goal to 600,000.

The folks behind the campaign are also planning a bigger, more wide-reaching second act. In June 2020, they will launch a campaign to send postcards to citizens in Wisconsin and Michigan to remind them to vote in the general election on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. They hope to dispatch as many as two million postcards in the two states.

Updated January 25, 2020: The Postcards to Wisconsin folks have amended the mailing dates for the postcard campaign.

Postcards should go out between March 26 and March 27, 2020 to ensure that they arrive around Friday, April 3, 2020.

If your packet of information stated a later date, IGNORE IT and go with March 26-27 instead.

If your packet called for an earlier date (some in states outside of Wisconsin and Illinois got them), stick with that earlier date.

And good news! As of January 18, more than 1,400 volunteers had ordered more than 341,000 postcards to prepare and mail for the campaign. Yay!

Original text follows.

Wisconsin will be a key state in the 2020 election. Whichever presidential candidate wins Wisconsin will likely win it all. It’s very difficult to succeed in 2020 without it.

Trump’s team knows this, and have already been targeting the state with money, time, and effort.

Fortunately, so too are Trump’s opponents. One of the many efforts to secure Wisconsin for the Democrats is the Postcards to Wisconsin campaign.

A project of the Indivisible Chicago Alliance, it’s recruiting folks to hand-write and prepare 500,000 postcards to arrive ahead of the Wisconsin primary, taking place April 7, 2020.

A few things to know if you wish to participate:

The postcards will be written between January 4, 2020 and March 31, 2020.

You should use the postcards that Postcards to Wisconsin will supply. Order postcards here, in a minimum count of 100.

You’ll receive a package in the mail that includes the postcards you requested, the addresses to which they should go, and a specific date when you should mail the finished cards. DO NOT mail the cards any earlier than the date you are assigned.

**** IMPORTANT! THE MAILING DATES HAVE BEEN CHANGED!!! See Below. ****

The Postcards to Wisconsin folks have amended the mailing dates for the postcard campaign.

Postcards should go out between March 26 and March 27, 2020 to ensure that they arrive around Friday, April 3, 2020.

If your packet of information stated a later date, IGNORE IT and go with March 26-27 instead.

If your packet called for an earlier date (some in states outside of Wisconsin and Illinois got them), stick with that earlier date.

**** End of update. Additional vital information appears below. ****

As per usual with postcard-writing campaigns, you must supply the postcard stamps. They cost 35 cents each.

If you can’t participate, you can donate to the Postcards to Wisconsin campaign instead. Its organizers say that $10 allows them to reach 194 Wisconsin residents.

See the Postcards to Wisconsin website.

Like the Postcards to Wisconsin Facebook page.

Follow the Postcards to Wisconsin campaign on Twitter.

Boost the related hashtag #Postcards2WI

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Action Alerts · Community Activism · Elections · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Voting Rights, Fighting Voter Suppression

See the Full List of Sitting Senators Who Are Up for Re-election in 2020 (Updated and Expanded in December 2019)

February 6, 2020February 2, 2020 otycd

As noted in the title, this version of the OTYCD post appeared in December 2019. We’re rerunning it now because It’s Important, Dangit.

See the full list of sitting senators who are up for re-election in 2020.

2018 was a tough year for Democratic sitting Senators. Many more Democrats than Republicans were up for re-election. While we lost two, Bill Nelson of Florida and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, we managed to pick up two seats–Jacky Rosen defeated Dean Heller in Nevada, and Kyrsten Sinema won the open seat in Arizona.

Things could have been a lot worse, and would have been a lot worse in the absence of voters highly motivated by the unusually terrible performance of the Trump administration. If a more normal and routine Republican had been president in 2018, the Democrats might have suffered more losses.

The 2020 story is different. Many more Republicans are defending than are Democrats.

This is an expanded version of a basic post first published in April 2019. It flags which Republican Senators have chosen not to run again, and gives additional details on those open seats. It also gives details on select Republican Senators who are regarded as vulnerable to defeat.

We at OTYCD are giving these details in part so you can choose candidates for your Core Four Plus for 2020. If you are able to donate to Democratic Senate incumbents or Democratic challengers to incumbent Republican Senators before 2019 ends, please do.

The following Democrats are up for re-election in 2020:

Cory Booker of New Jersey

Christopher Coons of Delaware

Richard “Dick” Durbin of Illinois

*Doug Jones of Alabama

Ed Markey of Massachusetts

Jeff Merkley of Oregon

Gary Peters of Michigan

Jack Reed of Rhode Island

*Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire

Tina Smith of Minnesota

Tom Udall of New Mexico

Mark Warner of Virginia

*These two Democrats are regarded as the most vulnerable who are up for re-election in 2020. Jones is regarded as the most vulnerable of the pair. Please give them special consideration when choosing your Core Four Plus for 2020.

The following Republicans are up for re-election in 2020 (especially vulnerable incumbents are marked with **):

Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Alexander announced in December 2018 that he would not run again. As of December 2019, four Democrats and seven Republicans are competing for the seat. The primary takes place on August 6, 2020.

The Cook Political Report regards the seat as Solid Republican.

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Bill Cassidy of Louisiana

**Susan Collins of Maine. After much delay, Collins finally announced in December 2019 that she would in fact run again for her Senate seat. After she cast a critical vote that placed Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court of the United States, Ady Barkan’s Be a Hero organization and other Maine activists launched a Crowdpac campaign to raise money for her then as-yet-undeclared Democratic challenger. As of June 2019, they had collected $4 million.

Sara Gideon leads the pack of four Democrats vying to challenge Collins for her seat. The primary takes place on June 9, 2020. Presumably, the winner of the Democratic primary will receive the funds raised through Crowdpac.

The Cook Political Report regards Collins’s seat as a Toss-up.

John Cornyn of Texas

Tom Cotton of Arkansas

Steve Daines of Montana

Michael Enzi of Wyoming. In May of 2019, Enzi announced he would not run again in 2020. As of December 2019, one Democrat, Yana Ludwig, and three Republicans had committed to run in the August 18, 2020 primary.

The Cook Political Report rates Enzi’s seat as Solid Republican.

**Joni Ernst of Iowa. She’s running for a second term, but is widely regarded as a vulnerable Republican incumbent. Five Democrats and one other Republican will appear in the June 2, 2020 primary.

The Cook Political Report regards Ernst’s seat as Likely Republican.

**Cory Gardner of Colorado. Like Ernst, he’s running for a second term. Eight Democrats, including newly-former Governor (he was term-limited out) and newly-former 2020 presidential candidate John Hickenlooper, will be on the June 30, 2020 primary ballot.

The Cook Political Report rates Gardner’s seat as a Toss-up.

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He’s running again, and he has yet to be lumped in with Collins, Ernst, and Gardner, but he might be more vulnerable than he appears. He has a strong Democratic challenger in Jaime Harrison, and a mid-December 2019 poll had him with a two-point lead–within the poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error.

Harrison is one of three other Democrats and five other Republicans challenging Graham in the state’s primary, which takes place on June 9, 2020. If a runoff is required, it will take place on June 23, 2020.

The Cook Political Report rates Graham’s Senate seat as Solid Republican.

Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi

James Inhofe of Oklahoma

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He’s running again, he leads the GOP Senate majority; and many (including we at OTYCD) agree he’s done as much, if not more, damage to American democracy and the rule of law as has Trump, so we’re including him in this expanded update.

Six Democrats, including Amy McGrath, will appear in the May 19, 2020 primary, along with another Republican.

The Cook Political Report rates McConnell’s seat as Likely Republican, which gives a glimmer of hope. If McConnell was truly well-regarded in his home state, the Cook rating would be the strongest rating, Solid Republican. That said–if you see a poll flying around on social media or the Internet that claims McConnell’s polling numbers in Kentucky are dismal, check the date. The one that pops up most often was taken in summer 2017, which, really, is too old to bother with now.

David Perdue of Georgia

James Risch of Idaho

Pat Roberts of Kansas. In January 2019, Roberts announced that he would not run for a fifth term. Four Democrats and seven Republicans, including the loathsome Kris Kobach, will appear on the primary ballot on August 4, 2020.

The Cook Political Report rates the Senate seat as Likely Republican.

Mike Rounds of South Dakota

Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Addressing this now because there might be a little confusion. Sasse has spoken out against Trump, but he IS running for re-election in 2020. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake was the one who spoke out against Trump and decided to quit the Senate.

Sasse is unchallenged by his party in the May 12, 2020 primary. Three Democrats are also running.

The Cook Political Report rates Sasse’s seat as Solid Republican.

Thom Tillis of North Carolina

See the official list of senators in Class II here:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/Class_II.htm

We relied on Ballotpedia for several raw facts for this update. It merits your full support.

See the main Ballotpedia webpage:

https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

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https://ballotpedia.org/Our_History

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Action Alerts · Call Your Members of Congress · Community Activism · Impeachment Proceedings · Marches and Protests

Impeachment Update, February 4: Call Your Senators and Attend a Reject the Coverup Rally on Wednesday, February 5

February 4, 2020February 2, 2020 otycd

Impeachment update, February 4, 2020: Keep calling your Senators, and see if you can get to a Reject the Coverup Rally on Wednesday, February 5.

Choose your Core Four for 2020 PLUS a Voting Rights organization to support:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2019/12/27/choose-your-core-four-plus-a-voting-rights-org-to-support-in-2020/

If you need to do something NowRightNow to fight against [Fresh Horror]:

https://onethingyoucando.com/want-to-do-more/

On Friday, January 31, 2020, the GOP-controlled Senate voted against hearing witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial, ensuring that it would be a sham.

Closing arguments took place Monday, February 3. Final votes to wind it all down take place on Wednesday, February 5.

We at OTYCD recommend that you keep calling your Senators. Yes, even now. Because it’s not over just yet.

The GOP-led Senate might be in cahoots with Trump to control the proceedings, and they are hell-bent on bringing this to a close even though there’s a multitude of polls showing that between 72 and 80 percent of Americans want the trial to hear witnesses and consider evidence (you know, like an actual trial would).

That doesn’t mean we have to make it easy for them.

Be like the spike strips at a car rental place that are there to stop someone from going in the wrong direction. Sure, they can try doing that, and the car might be driveable afterward, but they’ll fuck up the undercarriage and flatten the tires.

Make the GOP Senate feel the phantom limb pain where their souls used to be.

You should also call if you have Dem Senators who are thoroughly sensible and sane. Their pro-GOP constituents will be bombing them with irate calls. Counter those calls and encourage them to stay steady.

Then call your House rep and express support for the House delegation of impeachment managers that argued case for removal. It’s extra-important to call if your House rep is Nancy Pelosi or one of the seven impeachment managers.

See the list of impeachment managers here:

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/794256540/who-are-the-impeachment-managers-pelosi-unveils-diverse-team-for-trump-trial

Before you place your own daily call, check the Twitter feed of Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter), so you can tailor your comment about the impeachment inquiry to the day’s events.

She is quick on the draw with calling scripts–way faster than I could ever hope to be–and will have a template you can use or adapt when making your calls to MoCs.

Even if she doesn’t have a specific template, she will retweet and comment on events that you can cite in your new daily call.

You can also look to the resources cited in our post on what you can do NowRightNow to fight [Fresh Horror] for fresh news you can cite. The link is above but here it is again:

https://onethingyoucando.com/want-to-do-more/

Know also: Protests against the end of the trial are being planned as we prepare this post.

The largest effort appears to be the Reject the Coverup rallies, which are planned for Wednesday, February 5.

Protest partners include United We Dream, the NAACP, Greenpeace, NextGen America, MoveOn, Resistbot, Indivisible, Common Cause,and many others.

You can see the closest event to you by going to this link. Unfortunately, as of Sunday February 2, when we readied this post, there appeared to be no consensus on start times. Please keep checking the Reject the Coverup website and social media for this info.

If there isn’t an event near enough to you, or if there is and you can’t go, do what you can to make it possible for others to go. Offer gas money or bus fare. Offer care-giving services. If you’re a business owner, give your people paid time off to attend the protest.

You can also spread the word about the protest and boost the #RejectTheCoverup hashtag on social media.

Also continuing are the #SwarmTheSenate protests in Washington, D.C., in the Hart Building. Those have been going since January 6, 2020.

Elsewhere in D.C., the #KremlinAnnex folks continue their nightly protests in Lafayette Square.

And, apparently separate from the #RejectTheCoverup protests, a #TakeItBack protest will take place in Manhattan at Columbus Circle on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 5:30 pm, EST.

If we at OTYCD hear of other protests related to the Senate impeachment trial, we will update this post accordingly.

See the main site for the Reject the Coverup protest:

Home – Events

And to step back to Celeste Pewter, godddess of call scripts, please show your support for her and her noble work in one of these ways:

You can follow her on Twitter: @Celeste_Pewter

You can donate money to her through her Ko-fi:

https://ko-fi.com/A012IFW

You can tweet about calling your MoCs, using the #ICalledMyReps hashtag.

You can follow @ICalledMyReps on Twitter.

And you can subscribe to her peerless newsletter, It’s Time to Fight:

http://itstimetofight.weebly.com

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Action Alerts · Call Your Members of Congress · Community Activism · Marches and Protests

Impeachment Update, February 3: Call Your Senators and Attend a Reject the Coverup Rally on Wednesday, February 5

February 3, 2020February 2, 2020 otycd

Impeachment update, February 3, 2020: Keep calling your Senators, and see if you can get to a Reject the Coverup Rally on Wednesday, February 5.

Choose your Core Four for 2020 PLUS a Voting Rights organization to support:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2019/12/27/choose-your-core-four-plus-a-voting-rights-org-to-support-in-2020/

If you need to do something NowRightNow to fight against [Fresh Horror]:

https://onethingyoucando.com/want-to-do-more/

On Friday, January 31, 2020, the GOP-controlled Senate voted against hearing witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial, ensuring that it would be a sham.

Closing arguments begin today, Monday, February 3. Final votes to wind it all down take place on Wednesday, February 5.