BLACK LIVES MATTER

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:

Stacey Abrams/Fair Fight - https://fairfight.com or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fair-fight-1

Jon Ossoff - https://electjon.com or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jon-ossoff-1

Raphael Warnock - https://warnockforgeorgia.com or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/warnock-for-georgia-1

The New Georgia Project - https://newgeorgiaproject.org/ or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/new-georgia-project-1

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.

Begin at this volunteer from home spreadsheet! This is continuously updated with the latest volunteering opportunities!

If you are in or near Georgia, help voters cure their ballots!

You can also start making calls for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff wherever you are!

Phone bank, text bank, and more with Fair Fight! (Georgia) (Nationally)

Help Georgians register with The New Georgia Project!

And you can write postcards from anywhere at any time! (More Here)

Letter writing starts soon too! Look here, here, or here to learn more!

Want to donate but you’re not in the US? Try an organization like Spread the Vote!

Email Fair Fight/Stacey Abrams at [email protected] and indicate your interest to volunteer for the Georgia Senate runoffs!

/r/VoteDEM is also a great resource! It is a subreddit dedicated to promoting and helping elect downballot Democratic candidates all across the US.

Share the infographic below!

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.

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.

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! :) 

https://electjon.com/

This is the biggest news to come out of the 2020 election so far!!!!

**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. 

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.

here’s my entry for @pkmlesbian fic: Win the cat 

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!

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!

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.)