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BLACK LIVES MATTER

@pkmlesbian / pkmlesbian.tumblr.com

jae, 22, she/her she-ra broke my entire heart and then put it back together
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reblogged
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plvtarch

This is THE most important vote

Things aren’t over quite yet: Both Georgia Senate races are headed to a January 2021 runoff that could decide Senate control.

This is where we are: Democrats (including the 2 independent senators Sanders and King) currently hold 48 seats. Republicans currently hold 50 seats.

If Democrats gain the 2 seats from the runoffs (Ossoff and Warnock) we will be able to TIE the Senate 50-50. In which case, Kamala Harris, the VP, will tie-break votes in favor of the Democrats, therefore giving us a “majority” in the Senate.

I cannot stress enough how important this is for Democrats. We need to get both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in, otherwise Biden will have a very difficult time getting anything done in office over the next 4 years.

FOR GEORGIA VOTERS:

  • MARK YOUR CALENDARS. The federal runoff election date (aka for the Senate seats) is JANUARY 5, 2021! (State and local runoffs are held December 1, 2020!)
  • Request an absentee ballot by NOVEMBER 18, 2020. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE, EVEN IF YOU VOTED IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. For those who voted absentee in the General Election, you will NOT be automatically sent another absentee ballot for the runoff if you don’t make a separate request for one! Your prior absentee ballot request for the General Election does not apply to the runoff!
  • Register to vote for the runoff by DECEMBER 7, 2020.
  • Early voting for the runoff will begin on DECEMBER 14, 2020. (Please get your ballots in before the Jan. 5 deadline, and try to drop off your ballots instead of mailing them in when it gets very close. For info on in-person voting on election day, check here.)
  • Check your voting status, track your ballot, find polling locations, verify your mail-in application status, and more HERE.
  • Are you 17 years old but will be 18 by JANUARY 5, 2021? You are eligible to vote in the runoffs!
  • If you’re a college student coming from another state who is currently living on-campus or off-campus in Georgia, you can register to vote in the Georgia runoffs. (Go here, here and here for more info about this.)
  • Go here to find the contact info of your county’s board of registrar’s office. Contact them to discuss the voting options available to you!
  • Check the official Georgia website for more runoff election information. 

FOR NON-GEORGIA VOTERS WHO WANT TO HELP:

DONATING

For those who can’t vote in Georgia, but still want to help with the Senate runoffs somehow, please consider donating to the following and/or encouraging your friends and family to do so:

The amount of money the GOP is going to spend on this election will be staggering, so even a dollar helps. If you’re not able to donate, even just sharing this with others makes a big difference!

VOLUNTEERING

If you can donate your time instead of money, please consider volunteering.

More good sources of volunteering opportunities, including opportunities to volunteer directly with/for Ossoff’s and Warnock’s teams can be found at the Read More at the bottom of this post.

If anyone has more helpful info, please reblog and add it or contact me. Info in this post will be updated, so please check the notes and reblog the latest version of this post if possible.

Finally, if you can’t vote, donate, or volunteer, please reblog and share this via Facebook, Instagram, etc. Everything helps. Thank you!

We can do this. We can flip the Senate and take back the next 4 years.

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smartbra1ned

Celebrating these wins for increasing the diversity of representation in government! 🎉

Sarah McBride became the US’s first openly trans state senator and the country’s highest ranking openly trans legislator, as well as Delaware’s first out LGBTQ+ person elected to the state’s legislature.

Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres, both in New York, became the firstly openly gay Black men elected to Congress.

Cori Bush became the first Black woman elected to Congress in Missouri’s history. She is a community organizer and activist who became involved with politics after Ferguson.

Iman Jodeh, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, became Colorado’s first Muslim lawmaker.

Shevrin Jones became the first out LGBTQ+ person to be elected to Florida’s state senate.

Michele Rayner-Goolsby became the first openly queer Black woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives.

Jabari Brisport became New York’s first openly queer state senator of color.

Kim Jackson became Georgia’s first openly LGBTQ+ state senator, and Torrey Harris became the first out LGBTQ+ member of Tennessee’s state legislature.

Taylor Small became the first openly trans member of the Vermont State Legislature.

Stephanie Byers became the first openly trans lawmaker ever elected in Kansas and the first trans person of Native American heritage ever elected to any state legislature. She’s a member of the Chikasaw Nation.

Here’s to progress being made at any level, and here’s to hoping that those elected tonight are only the first of many. ❤️

LOOK AT THEM!!!!!

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there is going to be an arguably even more important election than the presidency happening on january 5th in georgia. the two senate seats in their state did not reach enough of a majority in this election to decide a winner, so theyre doing a “run-off election”. 

if these two seats are won by democrats they will flip the senate to a MAJORITY for democrats. we will have the presidency, the house AND the senate if the democratic candidates in georgia win. the policies biden promised could have a better chance at being passed!

if you live in georgia PLEASE vote for the democratic senate candidates on january 5th

if you do not, i recommend donating to the candidates election fund! :) 

HEY GEORGIA ZOOMERS, IF YOU’RE TURNING 18 BEFORE JANUARY 5TH YOU CAN VOTE IN THIS TOO

Go ahead and request your ballot, it takes like two minutes. http://ballotrequest.sos.ga.gov

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**Two Senate runoff elections in Georgia means WE CAN STILL TAKE BACK THE SENATE!**

WE CAN THE SENATE RIGHT OUT OF MITCH MCCONNELL’S DISTURBINGLY PURPLE HANDS.

**It’s a long shot, but if Democrats win both seats, the Senate will be 50-50.**

If you live in Georgia, go to votesaveamerica.com/register to register to vote if you haven’t already. Then remind three friends to register or check their registration and VOTE AGAIN! The special election for both seats will be on January 5th. 

Everyone else, get ready to organize/volunteer/call every single voter in Georgia! Let’s take back the Senate!

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reblogged

To my younger (American) followers:

Even if the polls are ridiculous you still have to vote Even if the experts say it’s over you still have to vote Even if the newscasters have called your state you still have to vote

Elections are decided by the people who show up on election day. All the polls in the world don’t mater if you don’t go into the booth and make a choice. All the experts can be (and frequently are) wrong if you don’t go into the booth and make a choice. News media tend to call stats at 5% of votes tallied. If your polls are still open, you can still change things.

Don’t let a strong summer showing in the media dissuade you. You still have to show up in November. It does matter. If people see their candidate winning and decide that they don’t have to show up and be heard, there is a chance the other side will rally. You have to participate. No matter what.

I wore this for years ago. I was right then and I’m right now.

You still have to vote.

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tayefeth

Change is caused by those who show up. (You can vote and protest.)

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pimentogirl

You can vote for the least worst option and then protest and use your vote to hold them to account…

I elected you, now I want you to represent me is the point of democracy…

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charcubed

We’re all having “hard conversations” about racism, police brutality, and #BlackLivesMatter I hope. 

You’ve probably noticed that detractors often use the same “racist talking points” in response. Here’s a researched and sourced guide to help you answer, for the times you may get stuck.

Feel free to save these images and share them!

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anarchopuppy

Most of the “keep up the work after the protests have ended!”-type posts I’ve seen are mostly focused on like, reading Black authors and listening to Black voices and unlearning racism, and obviously all of that is absolutely vital - but no amount of individual self-reflection will be able to dismantle institutional systems of oppression. So I wanted to put together some resources for continuing to build a culture of noncompliance and resistance to the police and prison system even after things have calmed down

But first, be aware that the protests aren’t over. It’s June 29th and there are still events and actions being planned regularly across the nation, and they still need your participation and support. If you’re able, please keep your focus there; this list is for what can be done long-term outside of the protests

  • Know your rights. Giving the police any more information than you absolutely have to will never and can never benefit you or anyone else - positive evidence given to the police is regularly thrown out in court, whereas negative evidence will be used against you. Know what to say and what you have the right to refuse. You don’t have to answer any questions without a lawyer present, you don’t have to give the police access to your house or car unless they have a current warrant signed by a judge. They will try to intimidate you - learn your rights and don’t let up, don’t ever cooperate with the police
  • Don’t snitch. If you see someone breaking the law in a way that doesn’t hurt anybody, keep your mouth shut. If cops knock on your door asking you questions about your neighbors or anyone you know, don’t answer
  • Don’t call the cops. If you can solve the problem in a different way, do it. Cops have on multiple occasions murdered the people they were called to help (or bystanders) without provocation. Don’t be complicit in that. Learn how to handle situations as a community or with the help of qualified experts
  • When you see an interaction with the police happening, stop and observe. If necessary, film the interaction. Organize and work with groups such as Copwatch to observe the police and hold them accountable
  • Use proper opsec, especially if you’re involved with anything that might make you a target for the cops. Downloading Signal is a great simple place to start
  • Learn about jury nullification, and spread the word. When serving in a jury, you have the right to vote not guilty on a defendant that you believe did commit the crime but doesn’t deserve punishment for it. Don’t be complicit in unjust punishment
  • Refuse to do work for the police or prison system. Workers keep the world running and the state relies on our compliance to keep our neighbors under their thumb. We can shut it down
  • Continue to support bail funds, even for non-protesters. Cash bail is unjust, and people shouldn’t be in jail just because they can’t pay
  • Continue to support legal defense funds as well, such as that of the National Lawyers Guild
  • Write to prisoners, either by yourself or with groups such as the Anarchist Black Cross or Black And Pink, and organize/support books to prisons programs, commissary funds, reentry programs, and other forms of prisoner support
  • Organize and support community-run crisis response organizations like the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon or the Birmingham Peacemakers in my hometown

Here are some other organizations to join that are doing good work in this area:

  • Black Lives Matter is obviously a huge voice in racial justice right now. The list of “official” chapters on their website is very incomplete, though, so you may have better luck doing a web search for “[your area] black lives matter” (beware of fakes though)
  • Showing Up for Racial Justice is another very active and widespread racial justice network
  • Critical Resistance is a grassroots prison abolitionist organization founded by Angela Davis
  • The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is another active prison abolitionist organization
  • The IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee works with prisoners to organize strikes, phone zaps, and other actions combating injustice in prisons
  • Again, the Anarchist Black Cross does great work supporting political prisoners through letter-writing and more. The link I’ve been including is to an unofficial federation of ABC groups, though - there may be a group in your area that’s not part of that federation, so a web search for “[your area] black cross” may be better
  • Black And Pink is a prison abolitionist organization focused on queer people and people living with HIV/AIDS
  • Antifascism is of course an important aspect of racial justice and community safety. See @antifainternational‘s guide to getting connected to your local antifascists - though, again, beware of fakes (the “antifa checker” accounts on fedbook and twitter can help)

The police state and prison industrial complex rely on the complicity and cooperation of all of us to function and be effective. By building a culture of noncompliance and active resistance, we can drastically reduce the state’s ability to oppress communities of color. Don’t let the struggle be forgotten with the changing of the news cycle - keep up the struggle until all are free!

Boosts and additional resources are very much appreciated!

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Oh hey I haven’t yelled about voting in a while

Reposting this because some of y’all need a reminding.

Another reminder:

VOTE YOUR WHOLE BALLOT.

A Democratic President does nothing if Congress is controlled by Republicans. Your local elections are important, too. (It took us 20 years, but you notice we don’t have issues with our sheriff out here in Phoenix now we’ve voted out Joe Arpaio.)

Don’t skip any. Look up names on your phone while you’re in the ballot booth if you have to. VOTE YOUR WHOLE BALLOT.

A PSA because a lot of people don’t know this: You CAN take your phone into the ballot booth, no one will stop you. You CAN google names from inside the ballot booth, no one will stop you. The only time you can get in trouble is, in some states, if you take a photo of your ballot. You CAN also take a long time voting. There are lots of booths usually, don’t worry about the line if you need to think about anything. Voting is not a high school exam. You’re allowed to bring your phone. Please do that in case there’s something on the ballot you don’t understand!

You can also register to vote by mail! That means you can use google and take all the time you need to fill out your ballot! I don’t know how it works in other states but California specifically has made voting by mail extremely easy and hassle free and most people I know vote by mail.

VOTE GUYS PLEASE GOD

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