• We are up and running! If you have not already, please like and follow the new Social Justice Council & ADORE facebook page:

“Hawaii Justice Action Now”

Our focus is criminal justice reform in Hawai’i and the reallocation of state funds/energy from building a $500 million dollar jail to much needed community resources such as mental health care, rehabilitation, education, and housing. Please share widely with your network so that we can boost our following and community reach.

• The Social Justice Council will be providing sack lunches for approximately 40 houseless individuals at the Kailua Service Care Event on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 from 10:00am to noon. The event is located throughout the parking lots of Windward YMCA and the adjoining Daybreak Church. As we get closer to the date, we will put a call out for donations of clothing, toiletries, and other hygiene items.

 

• We need more postcards writers: ReClaim Our Vote recruited us to write another 1500 postcards for the senate runoff elections in Georgia.  We’ve found writers for 1100, with 400 unassigned.  They will be available in multiples of 30 and are due to mail Dec 7.  To sign up, please email parkinson.h@gmail.com or stay tuned after church Nov 22.  Postcards can be picked up after church November 22 (3-5 pm).  (packets include postcards, script, and addresses, but you’ll need to order or purchase postcard stamps)   

 

• Want to do more to help Georgia residents vote in January’s runoff? [h/t Spread the Vote]

Georgia requires ID to vote, but some cannot afford to get it. Spread the Vote is assisting people in obtaining IDs in time to vote in the upcoming run-off.

Donate: https://www.kindest.com/donate/spread-the-vote 

• SJC Top Picks (what we’re reading, watching, listening to…)

Hilary recommends: Americans of Conscience Checklist , by Jen Hoffman, a list of clear, well-researched actions in support of things we can all agree on (Democracy, Voting access, Equality for all Americans, Basic respect for aspiring Americans).  The link to donate to Georgians to help them get IDs to vote came from this checklist.  Along with action items, it also includes good news.  We could all use some good news right now, yes?  Here you go: 

• Over 10 times as many lawyers volunteered in 2020 to protect voters’ rights compared to 2016.
• Tarra Simmons is elected to the WA state House of Representatives, becoming the first formerly incarcerated person to be elected to the state legislature.
• Maria Rivera is elected mayor of Central Falls, RI, becoming the state’s first Latina mayor.
• A record number of Native American women will serve in the 117th Congress.
• Women comprise the entirety of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors for the first time in history.
• Madinah Wilson-Anton is elected to the DE general assembly, becoming the first practicing Muslim elected to the state legislature. 
• Samba Baldeh is elected to the WI state assembly, becoming the first Muslim elected to the state legislature. 
• Christopher Benjamin is elected to the FL state House, becoming the first Muslim elected to the state legislature.
• Iman Jodeh is elected as a CO state representative, becoming the first Muslim elected to the state legislature.
• Torrey Harris and Eddie Mannis win their respective elections, becoming the first ever openly LGBT+ state lawmakers in TN.
• Aspiring Americans find refuge in Los Angeles-area churches while temporarily closed for services due to COVID-19.
• High school senior Mallory Rogers starts a school club which results in 12 students becoming poll workers.
• Sonoma County, CA voters support a measure to strengthen and expand independent oversight of the County Sheriff’s Office.
• Mauree Turner is elected to the OK state House, becoming the first openly non-binary state lawmaker in U.S. history and the first Muslim state lawmaker in OK.
• Federal court blocks and vacates the administration’s “public charge” rule against aspiring Americans. 
• Federal court confirms that people seeking asylum may receive relief from application of the administration’s asylum ban if they were turned away before July 16, 2019.
• Trans lawmaker Brianna Titone wins reelection following transphobic campaign attacks by her opponent.
• Kristin Graziano is elected sheriff of Charleston County, becoming the first woman to hold the position in SC history.
• Court largely upholds a CA law banning private prisons.
• At 24, Khaleel M. Anderson is elected as the youngest Black state legislator in NY state history.
• Brianna Henries is elected to the RI General Assembly, becoming the first Native American woman elected to the state legislature.
• Puerto Rico votes in favor of statehood in a nonbinding referendum.
• Doug Emhoff will be the U.S.’s first ever second gentleman when Kamala Harris is sworn in as Vice President.
• Coloradans vote to reintroduce gray wolves, a species formerly endangered due to hunting. 
• CA passes a law to fight racial discrimination in jury selection.
• Top Republican lawmakers in AZ, MI, PA, and WI publicly state they would not intervene in the selection of electors, and that state legislatures/governors can’t and won’t illegally intervene.
• Solar and wind made up the majority of the world’s new power generation in 2019.
• Federal court rejects the DOJ’s attempt to represent the president in a defamation lawsuit against him.
• Under the terms of a settlement, ICE will not deport the aspiring American activists who sued the agency after suffering retaliatory arrests.
• King’s County charter amendments for law enforcement oversight are all approved by voters.
• MS votes to end a Jim Crow-era law that effectively discriminates against candidates of color for statewide office.
• Los Angeles voters approve a measure requiring that 10% of the city’s unrestricted general funds be invested in social services and alternatives to incarceration.
• DHS’s “Rumor Control” website fact checks election claims.
• Harris County, TX creates a legal aid fund for aspiring American families applying for legal residence.
• Boulder, CO votes to secure the right to free legal representation for all residents facing eviction.
• Joe Biden’s dog Major will be the first rescue dog in the White House.
• The current anti-democracy president has lost 20 (of 21) election-related lawsuits it filed.
• In solidarity with health care workers, people are posting photos of themselves wearing masks.
• See more good news at Women in the World, Small Victories, Good Black News, and What Went Right.