Greetings,
As we prepare to arrive in Minnesota for the Pre-RA and RA, I know you all are aware and as disgusted as I am about the immoral actions happening at the border, separating children and families. We’re not fooled by Donald Trump’s cynical signing of an executive order yesterday that does nothing about reuniting the thousands of children taken from their parents and we certainly don’t support a “solution” that simply declares, “Families belong together… in jail… indefinitely.”
The outrage continues, and we will speak out.
As many of you know, national partners have called for a day of protest on June 30th. NEA will be standing in solidarity and joining Minneapolis-based organizations on June 30th for a rally and march.
Our staff is coordinating with our state host, Education Minnesota, in order to support and stand with our local partner activists who are organizing this event. We have no NEA events or meetings that would have to be rescheduled for this, but we realize that state delegations or caucuses may have conflicts. If any delegation or caucus chooses to change their schedules to participate in the rally, please let us know if we can help in any way. This is completely voluntary, but we hope that our delegates will want to participate in this important event of solidarity and action.
The tentative plan for June 30th will be to gather at the Minneapolis Convention Center at approximately 2:00 pm for a short rally followed by a 1.5 mile march and return to the Convention Center for a closing rally.
For those of you who will be in Minneapolis, you can stay up-to-date on action/event by following this link:
https://act.moveon.org/event/families-belong-together/19939/signup/?source=&s=
We also know that a great many of our members will not be in Minneapolis but may want to lend their voices to the day of protest. We are encouraging you, if you haven’t already, to direct your members to the “Families Belong Together” landing page hosted by MoveOn to identify local actions/events to participate in:
https://act.moveon.org/event/families-belong-together/search/
In addition, many delegates have asked if they can bring clothing or school supplies to donate to incarcerated children. Our national partners have told us that detention facilities may or may not allow such donations. They suggest that what is truly needed is legal help for these families. They ask delegates to consider donating to organizations supporting and assisting families in need. Their recommendations are below:
Donate directly to organizations leading this work on the ground and nationally:
· ProBAR and IJP
· The Florence Project
· Al Otro Lado
· LUPE
· Fuerza del Valle
· Texas Civil Rights Project
· Women’s Refugee Commission
· Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
· National Immigrant Justice Center
We will keep you posted on any developments and/or changes.
In Unity,
Lily