Take Action
Tell Austin City Council: Fund communities, not policing—reject Cronk’s budget proposal!
The community has spoken and called on the city of Austin to defund the Austin Police Department by 50% and divert those funds for R.E.A.L Solutions. Clearly City Manager Spencer Cronk did not listen. The proposal cuts only $150,000 (a third of one percent of the APD budget) in funding to APD compared to last year’s budget, and even falls short of removing all of the currently vacant positions in APD.
Sign this petition calling on Austin City Council Members to refuse this budget proposal
Fill out Austin Justice Coalition’s budget tool to show Council how they should reallocate funds
New website from Grassroots Leadership: defundaustinpolice.com
White allies: join UWSA by putting a sign in your window or yard to support a just Austin budget!
Stop the “Save Austin Now” Racist Petition
A campaign coordinated between the Chair of the Republican Party of Travis County, the Austin Police Association (our police union), and some business owners aims to attack and undo important criminal justice reform that allows people experiencing homelessness to find safe shelter in Austin.
If you unknowingly or with good intentions signed this petition (many of their canvassers are outright lying to people to get signatures), please follow these instructions to get your name removed—you have until around noon-1 pm TODAY Monday, July 20th to do this.
Please complete this form, sign it, and scan and email it to the City Clerk’s office (city.clerk@austintexas.gov). In order for this request to be valid, your (signed) request must be received prior to the petition being filed with the Clerk’s Office.
Additional Actions
- Tell Paxton to drop the dangerous healthcare repeal lawsuit NOW
- Tell Superintendent Cruz: Put Health and Safety First
- Call your Senators and demand they pass the HEROES Act
- Tell John Cornyn: Russian Bounties on US Soldiers Cannot Be Swept Under the Rug
- Make Calls to Voters for the 2020 Election
COVID-19 in Central Texas
Texas will allow schools to keep classrooms closed longer than previously ordered (Texas Tribune)
Greg Abbott’s Penchant for the Path of Least Resistance Has Led Texas to the Brink of Disaster (Texas Monthly)
Texas GOP works toward telling government to back off pandemic response (Statesman)
Excerpt from Jason Stanford’s “The Experiment” newsletter:
One option for good-faith Republicans would be good-faith efforts to fix the problems, but we’re seeing what is happening to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who belatedly and half-heartedly is trying to close down their cities and counties to stop the spiking caseload in Texas. Already, 78 counties have opted not to enforce his rules. In some counties where cases are numerous enough to trigger mandatory limits, local Republican officials are just refusing to do so. The Republican parties of nine counties have even passed resolutions condemning the governor for tyranny for making people wear face masks.
“My party is dead,” a Republican operative friend messaged me this morning. “The inmates are running the asylum.”
Abbott is a good example of the box that all Republican officials are in. Doing the right thing — to obey the laws of epidemiology — shows the President disloyalty, which earns the enmity of Republican voters. This President takes expert advice as personal criticism. In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a report about the dangers pregnant women faced with the coronavirus; an adviser to a top Health and Human Services Department official — that is, one of the President’s men — accused the CDC of “undermining the President.”
2020 Primary Election Results
After last week’s primary runoff and special election, it’s time for all of us to shift into general election mode and rally behind the candidates. Here are some of the winning candidates to support now through November.
- U.S. Senate – MJ Hegar
- TX10 – Mike Siegel
- TX17 – Rick Kennedy
- TX21 – Wendy Davis
- TX25 – Julie Oliver
- TX31 – Donna Imam
Not sure who represents you in Congress?
Events
Wednesday, July 22
Webinar: Indivisible Textbanking Training
6 p.m. Learn how to start texting with the IndivisiText program on our platform TextOut!
IATX Action Meetup—Introducing Our New Series
Join Indivisible Austin for an exciting new series: introductory trainings on anti-racism and community organizing and how approaches need to guide Indivisible’s fight for justice!
Monday, July 27
Payback Project with Indivisible National’s Dani Negrete
7 p.m. Indivisible Grapevine hosts a Payback Project event to unseat John Cornyn, featuring Dani Negrete of the national Indivisible team.
Tuesday, July 28
Webinar: Indivisible Textbanking Training
6 p.m. Learn how to start texting with the IndivisiText program on our platform TextOut!
Friday, July 31
2020 Medicaid/Medicare Anniversary: Take Racism Out of Healthcare
6 p.m. Join the #SICKOFITTX coalition in a discussion about the racial bias that still exists within the medical community, and what we can do to help take racism out of healthcare.
Join the event (Facebook Live)
Your moment of Zen
oh to be a microbat getting pampered with a recycled mascara brush ? pic.twitter.com/jCC5WVL4YA
— sophie mallinson (@sophmallinson) July 16, 2020