FCNL: Advocacy training on promoting legislation to safeguard the health and safety of our Native American siblings

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

I recently attended an excellent online (via ZOOM) presentation from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) titled “advocacy training on promoting legislation to safeguard the health and safety of our Native American siblings” with Lacina Tangnaqudo Onco and Christine Ashley.

Since 1976 FCNL Native American advocacy program has worked to restore and improve U.S. relations with tribes so that the country honors the promises made in hundreds of treaties. Legislation FCNL has worked on includes:

  • Indian Health Care Improvement Act
  • The Indian Child Welfare Act
  • Tribal Law and Order Act
  • The Violence Against Women Act

Lobbying means creating a relationship with your Congressperson or Senator. That can involve sending them letters, calling their office, visiting their offices in the district or in Washington, DC. You can also write a letter to the editor that mentions the representative’s name for a more public form of communication. There is a tool on this web page that will help you write a letter to the editor and get it sent to the newspapers you want. https://www.fcnl.org/updates/publish-letters-to-the-editor-18

In-person lobbying is considered the most effect strategy to influence a legislator. The following steps can help make your visit successful.

It is important to focus on a single issue. This helps you focus on your message, and what specifically you are asking the legislator to do (the “ask”). Once you have chosen your issue, do as much research about that topic as possible. You don’t have to be an expert. Good sources of information are:

The following are steps to help make your visit effective:

  • Introduction – Introduce yourself and those who are with you. If possible send a list of those who will be attending to the Congressional office ahead of time
  • Thank you – for past support
  • “Ask” – Ask for one specific thing, such as to vote for, or perhaps co-sponsor a specific bill
  • Stories and/or facts to support the “ask” – To why you are so interested, and how your are affected personally
  • Follow-up questions – Respond to questions from the staffer or the Representative or Senator. If you don’t know the answer, say you will look into that and send the information back to the office. Listen closely to the answers to further question you have
  • Thank you
  • Repeat the “ask” – Leave a fact sheet if possible
  • Follow-up – Leave your contact information. Within 3 days send a follow-up email

At FCNL our priority for a Native American policy is to bring awareness to the crisis of violence against Native women. We seek to raise awareness on the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women as a part of this Lobby work.

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  • More than 80% of Native women experience violence in their lifetime
  • More than 50% experience sexual violence
  • Murder rates of Native women are 10 times higher than the general population
  • Most of these crimes involve non-Native perpetrators which tribes have limited jurisdiction over.

The Violence Against Women Act is an act that provides a valuable funding to support the investigation and prosecution of crimes against men. This bill is authorized every five years and it allows this funding to be allocated to the programs it supports. The last reauthorization was in 2013. This reauthorization was a significant win for tribes because this created the special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction. This affirmed tribal authority to prosecute non-native offenders. Prior to this special jurisdiction non natives could not be tried in tribal courts and so these cases would typically fall under federal jurisdiction. But many of these cases would go unprosecuted.

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Goals for VAWA 2019 Reauthorization: Expanding Victim Protections

Congress should reauthorize VAWA, including the Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction for tribes and expand this jurisdiction further to protect all victims. This reauthorization is an opportunity to
expand tribal jurisdiction to protect children, tribal law enforcement officers, and victims of sexual assault.

Congress should include the following three bills in VAWA reauthorization:

1) VAWA provisions should include The Native Youth & Tribal Officer Protection Act (which hasn’t been introduced in this session of Congress yet), which would protect children from abuse and protect tribal officers as they carry out Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction.

2) VAWA should also protect Native victims of sexual assault committed by strangers. The Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual Violence Act (S.288), would reaffirm tribal authority over sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking crimes committed by non-Indians. The bill also removes the exceptions to jurisdiction that required the defendant to live or work on tribal lands, or be in a relationship with a tribal member, thus providing Native victims protections from intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

3) VAWA provisions should include Savanna’s Act (S.227) which promotes tribal access to federal databases and creates a standardized protocol for responding to cases of missing and murdered Indians. The crisis of missing and murdered Native women is well-known in Indian Country, but this epidemic of violence receives little attention outside of Native communities. Advocates have called for better tracking of missing Native women as well better coordination between the complex jurisdictions involved in these cases.

VAWA Reauthorization Should Address the Gaps of Protection in Indian Country

• Keep the Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction and tribal authority over Non-Indians.

• Expand current jurisdictions to protect all victims from all forms of violence including: sexual assault, sex trafficking, stalking, and child abuse.

• Protect tribal law enforcement from violence as they are keeping the community safe.

• Provide better tracking of Missing and Murdered Native cases and improve tribal access this this information.

• Create a standardized protocol to missing Native cases to improve coordination across multiple jurisdictions.

FCNL: Expanding Protections for Tribes in the Violence Against Women Act

Following are some pieces of legislation I’ve been able to find at Congress.gov At this point the various Congressional committes are discussing the resolutions and bills that have been assigned to them. Time will tell which legislation will be passed out of committee to go on for consideration by the House or Senate. This is a good time to contact your legislators about bills you support, and/or modifications you would like to see made.

I’m sure FCNL will keep us updated about which legislation is being supported, and the status of the legislation. You can get updated information on the FCNL website here, where you can also sign up to receive a monthly newsletter about Native American advocacy. https://www.fcnl.org/about/policy/issues/native-americans

Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced H.R.973 – Violence Against Women Health Act of 2019 on 2/5/2019. You can find the text of H.R.973 here.

Senator Murkowski (R-AK) introduced Savanna’s Act (S.227) on 1/25/2019. You can find the text of S.227 here.

Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduce the Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual Violence Act (S.288) on 1/31/2019. You can find the text for S.288 here.

  • Christine Nobiss
  • Donnielle Wanatee
  • Kathy Byrnes
Visit to Senator Grassley’s office in Des Moines to talk about Native legislation.
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Youth Climate Strike

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Jeff Kisling
https://www.youthclimatestrikeus.org/platform

What is education? How and where do our youth learn? What responsibility should youth have in the world today?

I spent my High School years at Scattergood Friends (Quaker) School and Farm just east of West Branch, Iowa. The work at the school and farm is done by the students, with adult supervision. Doing dishes, cooking meals, pruning trees in the orchard, taking care of pigs, and baking bread were often more effective educational experiences than lectures in classrooms (although that was also part of the curriculum). This is an experiential education. Besides learning life skills, we also learned how to solve problems that came up while working. We learned how to cooperate with each other to get the work done.

We learned how to throw pots in the pottery. Each year we participated in a play (theater). We attended meeting for worship every week. Soccer and field hockey were the sports we played.

I was there in the late 1960’s, during the Vietnam War and civil rights struggles. The entire school marched 14 miles from the School into Iowa City, and the University of Iowa, to participate in the anti-war activities there. We organized a draft conference at the school.

  • Scattergood Peace Walk 1969
  • FCNL: Scattergood Peace Marches
  • Draft conference, Scattergood 1969
  • SONY DSC
  • KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
  • Muriel Bivens Mary Mendenhall Owen Crosby Helen Fawcett Ernie Beth Wilson

All these are educational experiences. Youth today are leaving classrooms to demonstrate on the streets about climate change. More educational experiences.

Shouldn’t we encourage students to participate in the #SchoolStrikes?

These are not only educational experiences, but they bring attention to the environmental emergency we face now. And these youth are getting the attention of government policy makers.

Our Mission

We, the youth of America, are striking because decades of inaction has left us with just 11 years to change the trajectory of the worst effects of climate change, according to the Oct 2018 UN IPCC Report. We are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address our climate crisis. We are striking because marginalized communities across our nation —especially communities of color, disabled communities, and low- income communities—  are already disproportionately impacted by climate change. We are striking because if the social order is disrupted by our refusal to attend school, then the system is forced to face the climate crisis and enact change. With our futures at stake, we call for radical legislative action to combat climate change and its countless detrimental effects on the American people. We are striking for the Green New Deal, for a fair and just transition to a 100% renewable economy, and for ending the creation of additional fossil fuel infrastructure. Additionally, we believe the climate crisis should be declared a national emergency because we are running out of time.

https://www.youthclimatestrikeus.org/platform
https://www.youthclimatestrikeus.org/platform

Find where Climate Strike actions are occurring this March 15th. https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/youth-climate-strike

https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/youth-climate-strike
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Green New Deal vote is back on Senate schedule

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

The latest news about a Senate vote on the Green New Deal, S.Res.59, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is that a vote is planned to take place in the next few weeks. Originally there had been a report that the vote would be delayed until the end of summer.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the U.S. Senate would vote in coming weeks on the “Green New Deal,” an ambitious Democratic environmental proposal that has become a lightning rod for Republican criticism.
“The Green New Deal continues to be an interesting discussion for, particularly, Republicans and we will, of course, give our Democratic friends who’ve been advocating this proposal an opportunity to debate it and vote on it on the Senate floor sometime in the next couple of weeks,” McConnell said.

Senate to vote on Green New Deal: Republican leader, by Susan Cornwell, Reuters, 3/5/2019

On February 26, 2019, I attended the Sunrise Movement event hosted by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI) at Senator Joni Ernst’s office to talk about the Green New Deal. Similar visits were made by Sunrise members at 75 Congressional offices across the country that day. Joni Ernst’s state director, Clarke Scanlon, met with us.

Other Republicans speaking to reporters at the Capitol denounced the plan, which aims to slash U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to negligible levels in a decade.
Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa called it the “green raw deal” and said: “It is a slam to our agricultural community.”

Senate to vote on Green New Deal: Republican leader, by Susan Cornwell, Reuters, 3/5/2019

Several days ago I wrote about the letter I received from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. He wrote about the “so called” Green New Deal, and was definitely not in favor of it.

Some Democrats were also aflutter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) dismissed it as “the green dream or whatever they call it. Nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?” Pelosi and key House committee chairs refused to back the notion of a special committee tasked with producing a comprehensive 10-year agenda. Across Capitol Hill, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he would force a vote on the resolution in the Senate, certain that anyone supporting it would be in a boatload of trouble. In response, reports are that some Senate Democrats are considering just voting “present” to duck the question.

I’d say: Bring it on, Mitch. Let’s have a vote — preferably in both houses — that reveals the Republicans frozen in denial about climate change and unwilling to do anything serious to address it. Let’s see who on the Democratic side is prepared to stand up and who is not.

The naysayers get it wrong. Just as catastrophic climate events have savaged the United States, from California infernos to ever more destructive East Coast hurricanes, the issue of climate change is finally disrupting our politics. While not one question was asked about climate change in the 2016 general-election debates, in 2020, climate change and the Green New Deal (GND) will be at the center of the conversation. Leading Democratic presidential contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala D. Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar have all endorsed the Green New Deal, and more will join.

GND supporters argue, correctly, that this is both a monumental challenge and a potential opportunity. Addressing climate change before it is too late will require a mobilization on the scope of World War II. That provides the opportunity to transform our economy and rebuild a broad middle class, this time including those who were largely locked out the last time.

Bring on the Green New Deal Vote, Katrina vandan Hauvel, Washington Post, 2/19/2019

Despite the aggressive mischaracterizations about the Green New Deal, the joint resolutions (H.Res.109 and S.Res.59) simply call for the creation of plans to create legislation to accomplish the following goals. The resolutions don’t actually specify any legislation.

This resolution calls for the creation of a Green New Deal with the goals of:

  • achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions;
  • establishing millions of high-wage jobs and ensuring economic security for all;
  • investing in infrastructure and industry;
  • securing clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all; and
  • promoting justice and equality.

The resolution calls for accomplishment of these goals through a 10-year national mobilization effort. The resolution also enumerates the goals and projects of the mobilization effort, including:

  • building smart power grids (i.e., power grids that enable customers to reduce their power use during peak demand periods);
  • upgrading all existing buildings and constructing new buildings to achieve maximum energy and water efficiency;
  • removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation and agricultural sectors;
  • cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites;
  • ensuring businesspersons are free from unfair competition; and
  • providing higher education, high-quality health care, and affordable, safe, and adequate housing to all.

Bill Summary https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109

I haven’t read anything recently about how this will affect the resolution (H.Res.109) in the House of Representatives. My understanding of joint resolutions is if the resolution passes in one chamber, the other has to bring the resolution to a vote within a certain number of days. I guess since it is assumed the resolution will not pass in the Senate, this will not be an issue. I also assume if the Senate actually defeats the resolution, that would nullify the need for a vote in the House.

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“Normal’s Gone”

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

One tactic of the Sunrise Movement is to bring attention to the role of climate change when extreme weather events occur. These past few weeks have seen prolonged bitter cold, with many low temperature records broken over a wide area of the Midwest. There are predictions that low temperature records could be broken in twenty cities today.

We’ve seen multiple severe storms crossing the country, bringing ice, snow, intense rainfall and flooding. And yesterday powerful tornados caused massive destruction and at least 23 deaths in one Alabama county. Hundreds of these people have become climate refugees.

According to Rita Smith of the county’s emergency management agency:

“We are heartbroken for the people who have lost loved ones today. It is sad. You prepare and you prepare and you prepare, you guide citizens on what to do and sometimes even when we do everything right, mother nature has a mind of its own. We’re very upset today about this,” Smith said.


“When daylight hits tomorrow we’re going to see more, we’re going to see the actual effects of this and it will not be an immediate normal. And when people say ‘you go back to normal’ it’s never normal — it’s a new normal for people who live through things like this. So we’re here to support those people.”

Tornadoes kill at least 23 in one Alabama county, CNN, 3/4/2019

I visited Marshalltown, Iowa, after a tornado last year caused catastrophic damage. My family used to live in Marshalltown, and my niece and her family still leave near there. Jasmine was at work in Marshalltown when the tornado hit.

Seeing the damage in person makes these tragedies feel more real.

As the Des Moines Register says, “‘Normal’s gone’: Can this Iowa town turn a tornado’s wreckage into a new future?”

With much of the brush and debris hauled away, community leaders have pivoted to asking broader questions about the future of Marshalltown: What will be lost permanently, what can be replaced — and maybe, what good things might rise from the rubble?

“‘Normal’s gone’: Can this Iowa town turn a tornado’s wreckage into a new future?” Des Moines Register, September 6, 2018.

As today’s youth are demanding, we have to stop treating climate change as an “issue”, and recognize that it is an emergency crisis now, one that will produce increasingly frequent and violent storms such as these. What the youth want is a Green New Deal. This March 15th there will be global #SchoolStrikes, with hundreds of thousands of school children going into the streets instead of school, demanding action on climate change. I believe we adults should encourage and support these actions.

I know plans are being made by the Sunrise Movement to create disaster relief teams, which will go to areas devastated by extreme weather, both to help the victims, and provide yet another way to call attention to climate change and the need for a Green New Deal. I believe these #SchoolStrikes will force politicians to begin to pay attention to, and actually begin to do something about climate change. And the only plan that begins to address this at the scale necessary is a Green New Deal.

The following video by Brian Erickson explains the different ways people think about the Green New Deal:

Brian Erickson


Posted in climate change, climate refugees, Green New Deal, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Youth Climate Strike

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

The massive school strikes, where tens of thousands of students leave classes to demonstrate for action on the climate crisis in Europe and Australia, have not been widely reported in the United States. Here the Sunrise Movement has been demonstrating and holding sit-ins, where a number have been arrested in Congressional offices.

That will change on March 15, as a global strike is being organized.

fridaysforfuture.org

https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/

The following letter was published in The Guardian March 1, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/youth-climate-change-strikers-open-letter-to-world-leaders

Climate crisis and a betrayed generation

We, the young, are deeply concerned about our future. Humanity is currently causing the sixth mass extinction of species and the global climate system is at the brink of a catastrophic crisis. Its devastating impacts are already felt by millions of people around the globe. Yet we are far from reaching the goals of the Paris agreement.

Young people make up more than half of the global population. Our generation grew up with the climate crisis and we will have to deal with it for the rest of our lives. Despite that fact, most of us are not included in the local and global decision-making process. We are the voiceless future of humanity.

We will no longer accept this injustice. We demand justice for all past, current and future victims of the climate crisis, and so we are rising up. Thousands of us have taken to the streets in the past weeks all around the world. Now we will make our voices heard. On 15 March, we will protest on every continent.Advertisement

We finally need to treat the climate crisis as a crisis. It is the biggest threat in human history and we will not accept the world’s decision-makers’ inaction that threatens our entire civilisation. We will not accept a life in fear and devastation. We have the right to live our dreams and hopes. Climate change is already happening. People did die, are dying and will die because of it, but we can and will stop this madness.

We, the young, have started to move. We are going to change the fate of humanity, whether you like it or not. United we will rise until we see climate justice. We demand the world’s decision-makers take responsibility and solve this crisis.

You have failed us in the past. If you continue failing us in the future, we, the young people, will make change happen by ourselves. The youth of this world has started to move and we will not rest again.

The global coordination group of the youth-led climate strike

Posted in civil disobedience, climate change, Green New Deal, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Sen. Grassley and “so-called” Green New Deal

Posted on March 2, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Below is the response I got from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley after I asked him to support the Green New Deal. In my letter I talked about the advantages the Green New Deal could bring to Iowa, including many jobs related to wind turbines, solar energy, and updating buildings to be more energy efficient. He is obviously not impressed with the “so-called” Green New Deal.

My friend Judy Plank received the same letter from Grassley’s office. As she says, “I imagine it’s a form letter to all  about the Green New Deal, but in case you missed it, I’m  sending this.  He seems to have missed the connection  between our climate crisis and how it relates to inequality, militarism, racism and other  problems within our nation.” 

His lack of understanding about the Green New Deal is widely shared by politicians in Washington, and the public in general. They don’t understand the urgency and the scope of the changes needed. The question then is what to do? In days past, I would have tried to think of ways to help him understand.

But as my friends in the Sunrise Movement say, #NoExcuses. It is past the time to spend time with those who aren’t interested in a real discussion about the existential threats we are now facing.

For years I have worked from the premise of lobbying used by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), to patiently but persistently send letters to Congress, letters to the editor, and visit Congressional offices.

Rather than engaging with politicians who don’t support the Green New Deal, the Sunrise Movement instead will only support candidates that do support the Green New Deal, regardless of political party.

Even if we can’t change Senator Grassley’s mind, he will at least notice the interest of his constituents if more of us contact him about the Green New Deal. I plan to continue to try to persuade him, but if he doesn’t change his mind, I and the Sunrise Movement will support a candidate who does, if one runs against him.

  • Student activists with the Sunrise Movement occupy Nancy Pelosi’s office to demand that she and the Democrats act on climate change
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Sunrise Movement update 2/28/2019

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

So much is happening now with the Sunrise Movement that this is the second post about the online meeting last night. Last night’s meeting began with the panelists suggesting this might be a time to pull back a little and rest. But it didn’t sound like anyone on the call planned to slow down much.

Sunrise Principle 9. We take care of ourselves, each other, and our shared home.

Sunrise Movement Principles

Yesterday’s post was the story of how high school students from Kentucky tried to meet with Senator McConnell, to ask him to at least meet with them to talk about the Green New Deal (GND). The following video is about that. Benjamin (below) wrote on his Facebook page:

So damn proud of my friends from Kentucky in their fight against Mitch McConnell and the Fossil Fuel Billionaires. Ya’ll are incredible, powerful, courageous human beings.

Benjamin Finegan, Sunrise Movement

Much of the rest of the meeting were stories Benjamin Finegan told us. Benjamin came from Korea to Montana, and is now living in Philadelphia, and has been one of the leaders of the Sunrise Movement.

In the same way Oli told her story about Mitch McConnel, Benjamin told us the following stories based on his own experiences. Sharing stories is one of the core Sunrise principles.

We tell our stories and we honor each other’s stories. We all have something to lose to climate change, and something to gain in coming together. We tell our individual stories to connect with each other and understand the many different ways this crisis impacts us.

Sunrise Movement Principles

Benjamin began by reviewing Sunrise’s Theory of Change, which is to build People Power (over 30,000 new members is last couple of weeks), Political Power (over 100 Representatives and Senators support the Green New Deal), and People Alignment.

People Alignment is about making connections with other people and organizations that are needed to make a GND happen. Benjamin said the old political power structures are falling apart. Which means we have a huge opportunity to build a robust and diverse movement to support and implement a Green New Deal.

Benjamin then told stories of his work on People Alignment. The first story was about Tonya, a single black mother living in a poor neighborhood, with fossil fuel infrastructure nearby, polluting the air and land (and water?). Tonya has begun working with Benjamin because she sees the GND as a way to work on issues of racial justice and mass incarceration. And she sees the jobs guarantee as important to improving the economic conditions of her neighborhood.

Benjamin told how he and Tonya have become each other’s mental health support. He says they check in with each other to see how they are doing. For example, getting some sleep.

Next, Benjamin told of his developing relationship with a local union organizer. That union is interested in the job guarantee part of the Green New Deal.

Finally, he told us he is working a teacher in Philadelphia, who is interested in the GND to help address underfunded public schools. Problems include school buildings in bad condition, including not having air conditioning. That is especially problematic since the summers are getting hotter due to global warming.

Benjamin says all of this shows that Americans are ready for a Green New Deal.

April 22 is Earth Day. Sunrise plans to use that day to hold town hall meetings across the country, to talk about the Green New Deal. This is another opportunity to work on People Alignment, to bring allies into the movement. Sunrise will be providing more information soon.

The Youth Climate Strike on March 15 is another opportunity for People Alignment. More information can be found here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/strike-for-climate-on-march-15/

Friday 15 March 2019 is expected to be the most widespread of strikes, with tens of thousands of children in at least two dozen countries and nearly 30 US states projected to walk out of school, supported by of some of the world’s biggest environmental groups.[30][31][32] As of 1 March, the website FridaysForFuture.org lists 500 events planned in 50 countries.
On 1 March 2019, 150 students from the global coordination group of the youth-led climate strike (of 15 March), including Greta Thunberg, issued an open letter in The Guardian, saying:
We, the young, are deeply concerned about our future. […] We are the voiceless future of humanity. We will no longer accept this injustice. […] We finally need to treat the climate crisis as a crisis. It is the biggest threat in human history and we will not accept the world’s decision-makers’ inaction that threatens our entire civilisation. […] Climate change is already happening. People did die, are dying and will die because of it, but we can and will stop this madness. […] United we will rise until we see climate justice. We demand the world’s decision-makers take responsibility and solve this crisis. You have failed us in the past. If you continue failing us in the future, we, the young people, will make change happen by ourselves. The youth of this world has started to move and we will not rest again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_strike_for_climate
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/strike-for-climate-on-march-15/
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30,000

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Tonight I was glad to join the ZOOM online meeting for updates about the Sunrise Movement. Over 450 people were on the call.

Over 30,000 have joined the Sunrise Movement in the past couple of weeks!

Last week over 100 Congressional offices were visited by Sunrise Movement members. In the Bay Area, Sunrise students missed school on the 25th in order to go to Senator Diane Feinstein’s office. Although they were finally able to meet with her, she was dismissive toward the students. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2019/02/23/sen-feinstein-rebuffs-youth-and-gnd/

Feinstein told the students about climate legislation she was planning to introduce. Since the visit from the students, and criticism via social media, she has announced she no longer plans to submit her bill.

Actions related to McConnell were planned, because he had announced he would bring the Resolution for a Green New Deal (GND) up for a vote soon. His intention was to force Democrats to be on record about the GND, and to show how little support there was for the GND in the Senate.

The Sunrise Movement organized a #OilMoneyMitch campaign to try to get his attention. Oli, a high school student who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, described her experiences related to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). She said planning began just one week before the action that occurred this past Monday, 2/25/2019.

One night in Louisville they gathered to work on art/banners for the visit to his office. When they went to his office, they were physically barred from entering. Several of them spent the night outside his office. A lot of mainstream news media showed up.

The next day students walked out of school, to return to his office. The students were threatened with suspension if they walked out, although there was no punishment last year when students walked out to attend March for Our Lives. Oli and one other walked out of school anyway, and were suspended.

Last weekend, Oli and other Louisville high school students went to Washington, DC. Monday, 2/25/2019, two hundred and fifty students went to McConnell’s office. Oil said, “I was so scared.” She and the students from Kentucky were placed at the head of the group, and she said she felt supported by the other students.

She wanted the country to know that Kentucky is more than coal country. The students told the stories of how fossil fuels had impacted them. Oli had never given a speech before, and even though she was “terrified”, she was one of the student who told their stories to the gathered students and reporters.

The students were dismissed from the office. 42 were arrested. Oli said there was a “crazy amount of news coverage.”

Oli plans to participate in the (global) Youth Climate Strike, March 15. And she plans to meet with the Louisville School Superintendent, to ask that the strike be sanctioned, so the students don’t face suspension if they participate. If that doesn’t happen, the students plan an escalation. They will get signatures on a petition, and walk out anyway.

This Tuesday, 2/26/2019, Sunrisers visited 75 Senate offices. Here in Des Moines, about 55 of us visited Senator Joni Ernst’s office.

There was also quite a discussion about people alignment and the March 15th global Youth Climate Strike. I’ll discuss that in tomorrow’s blog.

Posted in Arts, civil disobedience, climate change, Green New Deal, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sunrise Movement call tonight

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Many of you know I’ve had a life-long concern about care for our environment. After decades of unsuccessful attempts to get people to reduce their carbon footprint, I’m enthused to see, and be part of the Sunrise Movement. Our strategy of building people power and political power is working.

This is where you come in. We need literally millions of people to rise up and support the Green New Deal (GND). Please consider joining the movement, and encouraging others, especially young people, to do so, too.

If you are not young (over 35 years of age), your participation is needed and encouraged. But it is important to keep in mind this is a youth led movement. “Sunrise’s decision to be youth-led and youth-centered is both a strategic and cultural one.” Those of us who are older need to step back and let the youth lead. The Sunrise Movement has some very helpful suggested guidelines for older supporters that can be found at the end of this post.

To learn about the next steps of the Sunrise Movement please register to attend tonight’s online meeting: bit.ly/next4gnd-soc

Our movement has spent the past 2 weeks sprinting, and we have so much to show for it! There are now nearly 100 cosponsors of the Green New Deal resolution across the House and Senate, including every Senator running for president.

And it looks like Mitch McConnell is letting his Green New Deal vote plans fade away, telling the media it will happen sometime before August.

On Thursday, we’re holding a movement-wide mass call to strategize and plan next steps, including the launch of the nationwide Road to a Green New Deal Tour, the upcoming #ClimateStrike, and how we can build support for the Green New Deal locally.

Sunrise Movement bit.ly/next4gnd-so

42 Sunrise Movement youth were arrested Monday during a sit-in at Mitch McConnell’s office.

Young At Heart Guidelines For Adult Allies at Sunrise       

Welcome!    Here at Sunrise, we know that everyone has something to lose to the climate crisis and everything to  gain by stopping it. We deeply respect and appreciate the wisdom, experience, and support of our  elders in the organizing community and understand that we can learn a lot about social movements,  fighting for justice, and what does and doesn’t work. That being said, Sunrise is a youth-led,  youth-centered movement where we’re focused primarily on organizing young people: ~35 and  younger. If you’re not a young person, but still want to support and organize with Sunrise, this  document is the place for you!   

Sunrise’s decision to be youth-led and youth-centered is both a strategic and cultural one. In the  climate crisis, young people face an unfortunate reality: every one of us will see the devastating effects  of climate change in our lifetime. We have inherited a crisis that we did not create— and there is a  story to tell about a new generation of Americans who are standing up to protect their future.  Throughout history, we have seen that youth voices hold a unique moral clarity, and the climate crisis  is no exception. Choosing to focus on young people is a key part of our strategy to reach millions. 

Sunrise is also filling a cultural gap for young people in the movement. Young people today have  grown up knowing that the stable climate that human civilization has depended on for millennia  could crumble within our lifetimes. Yet, we’ve seen political leaders continue to fail us, often laughing  us off or calling us young and naive. That’s been deeply discouraging for many of us. In our society,  there aren’t many spaces that trust and uplift the leadership of young people. Young people were  searching for a space that would not only allow them to organize but would also give them the  community they were searching for. Our youth-centered focus makes sure that we are building a  community and an identity— vital ingredients to keep a movement together.    

We need the support of all of you— it just comes in a slightly different form. We love the enthusiasm  you’ve shown and appreciate the organizing that you’ve already done to help get us to this point! This  #YoungAtHeart document will provide key principles on how to be an ally with Sunrise, suggestions of  how to uplift youth leadership, and roles to be taken on. We’re also in the process of putting together  a #YoungAtHeart caucus for Sunrise members that are older than ~35 and have a set up a  #youngatheart slack channel for our adult/elder allies to connect, coordinate and form a community.     

Principles for Young at Heart Members 
 
● We respect the value of a youth-led movement​. While we all have much to lose to climate  change, young people are the ones that will face the consequences of our actions today and  should be at the forefront of our movement. Young people need youth-led and youth-centered  spaces to come into their own as leaders, find their voices and to learn from one another. We  trust the knowledge and skills that youth bring to our collective fight and ​follow their  leadership ​ as allies.  

● We are guides/supports, rather than leaders​. We understand that local and national  leadership roles at Sunrise will be held by young people, and we are allies and supporters. We  keep the space open for the voices of our youth leaders before we share our own. Our life  experiences are valuable and add significant value to the movement but shouldn’t take  precedence over the ideas and thoughts of our youth members. 

● We are Americans from all walks of life​. We are people of all ages coming together for our  future and appreciate that some members have many years of organizing experience and  others are organizing for the first time. We respect what everyone brings and listen to  everyone’s experience.    
 

Practical Tips   

● Talk to youth leaders about what support they need. ​Don’t assume what information or  skills are needed, ask youth leaders how adult members can best help them and how adult  members can best show up in youth-led organizing spaces. 

● Be aware of adultism. ​Adultism is the negative stereotyping of young people​. We all have  implicit biases and it’s important for us to be aware of them before we speak. When you see it,  take a stand against it with care and respect. 

● Speaking order. ​Leaving space for youth members to share their ideas first is a great way to  support youth leadership.  

● Stay in the “now.”​ We celebrate the accomplishments of all activists of whatever age and  value learnings from the past, but spending time recounting work from the distant past  (outside of designated spaces) uses precious time we need to focus on what is happening now  and in the future.   

Roles   

Here are some concrete roles that Sunrise’s #YoungAtHeart members can step into (note: this is not a  complete list but a good place to start): 

● Help with fundraising​: We’re a grassroots movement, and we always need more resources to  continue our growth!  

● Amplify Sunrise’s message on social media​: We have a team of digital amplifiers, ready to  share our message across social media platforms— help us get the word out.  

● Providing meeting space + housing​: If you live somewhere that could be a meeting space, or  if you can host people during gatherings and trainings, let us know. 
● Show up at Sunrise actions​: We need everyone we can get at our actions— no matter your  age. Show up, and be sure to uplift and center the leadership of the young people around you. 

● Utilize your network​: Maybe you have connections to an editor of a newspaper, a celebrity  influencer or politicians. Maybe you have friends who can donate, or cook for the movement,  or want to show up. We’d love if you could use your network to help Sunrise. 

● Show up as an ally at local Hub meetings/events​: Help out with your local organizing  efforts, while being sure to check-in with and follow the lead of the young people who are in  leadership roles in your area’s Hub. 

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Senator Ernst and Green New Deal

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Yesterday Iowa Citizen for Community Improvement (ICCI) hosted a meeting with Senator Joni Ernst’s state director, Clarke Scanlon, to talk about the urgent need for a Green New Deal. A number of ICCI staff and members were at the event, including Adam Mason, state policy director, and Matt Ohloff, senior campaign organizer. Also there were Ed Fallon (Bold Iowa) and Peter Clay, a member of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). Virginia Wadsley, who I met while working with the Poor People’s Campaign in Iowa was also there.

  • Clarke Scanlon and Matt Ohloff

A similar meeting about the Green New Deal was also held at Senator Ernst’s Cedar Rapids office yesterday.

In addition, Judy Plank, a member of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee sent the following message:

Jeff, yesterday was my monthly visit to Senators district offices in Sioux City. I talked about the need to pass the Green New Deal resolution in both offices and left letters with each reviewing my concerns. It just happened that that was the same day as more outreach by many others.

Judy Plank, Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)

When I asked Judy for permission to use her message, she said:

Yes, and just prior to my going to the Senators offices, I attended the monthly Siouxland Progressive Women’s luncheon. The guest speaker was from Morningside College speaking about the myths out there about global warming. He was speaking to a sympathetic group, but it was good to hear on a very cold late February day, and good to hear just before I was urging our Republican Senators support of the Green New Deal resolution.

Judy Plank, Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)

I was anxious to see if the youth in Iowa were as concerned about our environmental emergency as the youth we have seen going to Congress to bring attention to the idea of a Green New Deal. I was very happy to see youth passionate about the Green New Deal show up yesterday. And I was glad to hear how articulate they were as they spoke, and many of them did. One of them told us she had traveled an hour to be there, and had never done anything like this before. One student mentioned she was 18 years old. Others were high school students who had to miss school to be there.

Asking Sen. Ernst to support a Green New Deal

I admit I was uncomfortable with the loud chanting that occurred at times, amplified further with a megaphone. But this is what these youth feel they have to do to bring attention to an issue that has so long been ignored. This is definitely a youth-led movement and I feel the role of those of us who are no longer young is to support these youth.

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