The RRT (Rapid Response Team) Action List compiles action items from the week and upcoming events into one place. If you would like to add anything to the weekly update, please send it to Dee Halzack at dee@solidaritylowell.com.

Solidarity Lowell Events and Actions

Save the Date: Solidarity Lowell January General Meeting

Sunday January 23 at 5:30pm, on Zoom
Topic: TBD

Other Events

MoveOn: The Plan to Protect Democracy

Tue 1/11 8pmET/5pmPT
RSVP: http://mvn.to/2xy/5u0idq

Join livestream w/ Elizabeth Warren & MoveOn ED Rahna Epting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
In 2022, we must prioritize:

Ending the filibuster
Protecting voting rights
Expanding the Supreme Court

We need your help to press our elected officials to support these steps to secure our democracy against Republicans’ attempts to entrench minority rule.

Via News-MAGIC

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Virtual Book Drive

Donate a book or two before January 31

Two options for donating books:

Visit the Amazon registry and search for “Lowell 2022 MLK Book Drive”
Drop off a gently used book at the “Little Free Library” on Bourne Street in Lowell’s Sacred Heart neighborhood

Donations end January 31, 2022. Books will go to Lowell community organizations, institutions and families.

Hosted by Lowell’s Black Coalition https://blacklowellcoalition.com

“Racial Justice and Communal Safety: Cultivating MLK’s Legacy” with distinguished guest speaker U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins

Monday, January 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
via Zoom
Register for link: https://tinyurl.com/zser6zeb

20th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute, hosted by Na’aseh the social justice group of Congregation Beth Elohim, Acton

The Black Alliance for Peace: Human Rights from an Anti-war and Anti-imperialist Perspective

Tuesday, January 18, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwscOCprzkvH9TBdgotV92ZdCAbdmrSMH3B

A webinar discussion with Ajamu Baraka, the National Organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). BAP was founded on April 4, 2017, 50 years after Martin Luther King, Jr’s historic Riverside Church anti-war speech. Baraka stated then that BAP’s purpose is ” to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement.”

h/t Susan Labandibar – News-MAGIC team

Learn more about S.2030/H.1905, An Act Establishing A [5-year] Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium

Thursday, January 20, 7pm
To register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlc-yppjgiHNf-SZUkZazf3GQUvgnA0L4Z

Speakers will discuss what this bill does and doesn’t do, how it would be implemented, and what it would mean for Massachusetts to invest $50 million into communities, instead of incarceration.

Via News-MAGIC

Progressive Mass 2022 Annual Member Meeting

Saturday, January 22, 1-4pm

2022 is going to be an eventful year. Progressive Mass is kicking it off with their annual member meeting on Saturday, January 22. They will update us on their work from the past year as well as what’s in store for 2022. There will also be interviews with 2022 Gubernatorial and Lt. Gubernatorial candidates.

Gubernatorial candidates confirmed so far: Harvard professor Danielle Allen, State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz

LG candidates confirmed so far: Businessman Bret Bero, State Rep Dr. Tami Gouveia, State Sen. Adam Hinds

These interviews are going to be key because members will be voting on an endorsement shortly thereafter.

RSVP today! Zoom info upon RSVP. https://tinyurl.com/mtb2jfdh

Climate Change and Nuclear War: What We Can Do About the Twin Existential Threats

Saturday, January 22, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm EST
Group: Mass Peace Action
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpfuqgqz8jE92b1mFuTg8r4Lg3dFyop00T

The webinar will focus on how climate change increases the danger of nuclear war and how a nuclear war would cause further catastrophic climate disruption. This case study of South Asia will show the way the twin existential threats of climate and nuclear risks interact in a way that threatens us all. Solutions such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and the Green New Deal that enable us to confront the threats will also be addressed.

State-Level Actions

MA Needs Bold, Equity-Centered Action on COVID

With the onset of a new COVID-19 variant, we are seeing a frightening rise in Covid-19 cases, including growing hospitalizations and deaths. We need decisive action and communication at the State level to prevent much more avoidable illness and death. Thankfully, we have a range of public health tools, including vaccines, that can reduce the spread of COVID-19 and enable us to have a safer New Year. Stopping the spread of COVID is essential to the safe and consistent functioning of our schools and businesses.

Please use your voice to support a comprehensive public health approach — along the lines of the Massachusetts Covid19 Action Plan delivered Last month, Senator Becca Rausch (D-Needham) and a dozen state legislative colleagues delivered to Governor Baker in a letter urging the adoption of a slate of data-driven public health policies set forth in a Massachusetts COVID-19 Action Plan, crafted and endorsed by a coalition of over 100 public health and medical professionals and 36 community organizations.

We need quick action from the Governor and the Legislature. This includes: Funding and staffing daily mobile vaccination clinics in frontline communities and school-based vaccine clinics Making testing widely available and distributing free rapid tests Implementing a county-based mask mandate according to CDC recommendations Providing free high-quality masks, like KF94, KN95, and N95, to frontline communities Applying safety standards in the workplace that mitigate aerosol transmission through ventilation and/or air filtration, appropriate distancing, and masking Applying and enforcing federal and state occupational safety standards and guidelines. Protecting against foreclosures, evictions, and rent increases to decrease home crowding using the measures in H.1434 and S.89 Adhering to CDC guidance for universal masking in schools regardless of vaccination status Making remote learning options available so infected or ill children do not get left behind.

Use this form to write:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ma-needs-bold-equity-centered-action-on-covid

Sign a Letter of Support for the Indigenous Legislative Agenda

The 2021-2022 Indigenous Legislative Agenda includes 5 priorities: Remove Racist Mascots, Honor Indigenous People’s Day, Celebrate and Teach Native American Culture & History, Protect Native American Heritage, and Support the Education and Futures of Native Youth. Join us in calling for each of these bills to move out of committee!

Sign here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/move-our-bills-out-of-committee-before-the-deadline

Email your state rep today in support of the VOTES Act!

The House allowed the expiration of temporary reforms that made it safer to vote in the pandemic. Those reforms would also have ended disenfranchisement of people who find voting in person or on election day difficult or impossible. To restore those forms, the House needs to pass the VOTES act, which the Senate passed last summer.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/we-need-to-strengthen-democracy-here-in-ma

Our State Legislators’ Info

House Speaker Ronald Mariano: Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov 617-722-2500
Senate President: Karen E. Spilka: Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov 617-722-1500
Rep. Thomas Golden Thomas.Golden@mahouse.gov 617-722-2263
Rep. Vanna Howard Vanna.Howard@mahouse.gov 617-722-2800 x7302 / Google Voice: 978-272-9078
Rep. Rady Mom Rady.Mom@mahouse.gov 617-722-2460
Rep. Colleen Garry Colleen.Garry@mahouse.gov 617-722-2380
Rep. Tram Nguyen tram.nguyen@mahouse.gov 617-722-2425
Sen. Edward Kennedy edward.kennedy@masenate.gov 617-722-1630
Sen. Michael Barrett Mike.Barrett@masenate.gov 617-722-1572
Sen. Jamie Eldridge James.Eldridge@masenate.gov 617-722-1120
Sen. Barry Finegold Barry.Finegold@masenate.gov 617-722-1612
(… or find yours here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator)

Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133

National Actions

Our Federal Legislators’ Info

Senator Elizabeth Warren: 617-565-3170
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
https://www.warren.senate.gov/contact/shareyouropinion

Senator Edward Markey: 617-565-8519
255 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
https://www.markey.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion

Representative Lori Trahan: 978-459-0101 / 202-225-3411
https://trahan.house.gov/contact/write-your-rep.htm

Representative Seth Moulton: 978-531-1669 / 202-225-8020
https://moulton.house.gov/contact

Solidarity Lowell is a volunteer group of community members of Greater Lowell working toward social justice by defending the human rights, dignity, and equality of all persons against all forms of hate and discrimination.

Visit the Solidarity Lowell website: http://solidaritylowell.com

For more events not listed here, visit the full Events calendar: https://solidaritylowell.com/events/

November meeting notes: https://tinyurl.com/fxzzbnzw

November meeting recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQYfI7C4vdA

See recordings of past Solidarity Lowell meetings on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCohwMIkVdabQdDHsVTLIGsQ

For positive news visit Solidarity Lowell Upbeat on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/326202548419687

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Solidarity Lowell is a chapter of Progressive Massachusetts. Click here to join: https://www.progressivemass.com/contribute

RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ACTION LIST FOR JAN 15, 2022