Yeah -- I know, no posts for 2 1/2 months and now I want you to hand out more money yet. Still, the first one is only $5 and think of the satisfaction!
This came to me in email. After being involved in the election and donating money and writing letters and stuff last year the only thing I really accomplished was to get on EVERYBODY'S mailing list. Well, all the liberal ones anyway.
Begin email
WORKING ASSETS -- Making Your Voice Heard
ACTIVISM UPDATE: September 14, 2005
IN THIS BULLETIN:
Political Justice for Hurricane Families
Shame on America. The horror of Katrina has revealed, not just to this
nation but to the world, the growing fissures between the working poor
and the ultra-rich, between African American and white citizens,
between those who had the resources to get out of New Orleans -- and
those who were left to drown.
You've given to relief. Now it's time to stand with those who were
left behind to ensure that when the next Katrina hits, America
does not fail the least among us. There are three ways to give.
1. FEATURED ACTION
Tell Washington: The common good depends on good government
Give now -- $5 will help us put a billboard up in Grover Norquist's
neighborhood:
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04WZ0Es
After you've given money to help evacuees with basic human needs, make
a $5 donation to send a message to Washington, D.C. Our lawmakers need
to know that the common good depends upon good government. Your token
contribution of $5 will help us put a shocking graphic on a
billboard outside of Grover Norquist's office at Americans for Tax
Reform where 100 influential conservative leaders hold a weekly
strategy session each Wednesday.
Click here to see the graphic and help us raise the billboard:
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04WZ0Es
ACTIVISM OPPORTUNITY
2. Reunite families brutally separated by the haphazard and too-late
evacuation
Give now: If you act now, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar -- and a
$49.50, $99.50 or $149.50 contribution buys a $99, $199 or $299 ticket to
reunite a family.
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04Wa0Ez
During the evacuation, mothers -- almost exclusively African American
-- had to choose between remaining with older children and carrying
infants to safety. Extended families boarded separate buses, unsure of
their fate, only to find themselves separated by thousands of miles
and trapped in shelters with no way out. Husbands and wives, parents
and children, now in shelters, have to endure the continuing trauma of
separation. You can reunite a family today by helping us buy one-way
airline tickets which we are providing, without bureaucratic red tape,
to families in shelters identified by our friends at the NAACP, ACORN
and other groups on the ground.
Click here to help reunite a family:
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04Wa0Ez
ACTIVISM OPPORTUNITY
3. Help evacuees organize to demand a say in relief funds and
reconstruction efforts
Give now -- Don't let the government leave evacuees behind again:
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04Wb0E1
As Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center puts it, the governing
philosophy of the people who run our government is sink or swim for
almost everybody unless you are a crony, and then different rules
apply. We must act now to ensure that evacuees have a say in how
resources are allocated to survivors and to protect the long-term
redevelopment of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities from
opportunistic cronyism. Corporations with close ties to those in power
-- like Halliburton -- cannot be allowed to treat disaster recovery
efforts as a corporate ATM. Humane treatment of survivors demands more
than a handout -- it demands a sea change in politics as usual.
Make one donation to our Political Justice for Survivors fund and
we'll support a range of local community-based organizations who won't
pack up and leave once the media spotlight goes away. Click here:
http://values.workingassets.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eh2G0ICPCm0QZR04Wb0E1
These groups include:
* ACORN supports the political organizing of evacuees to get the
respect they deserve from local and national political representatives
and fight for humane treatment. A national network of community
organizations, ACORN is headquartered in New Orleans and has been
particularly hit hard by this tragedy.
* New Orleans People's Committee was convened by Black community
activists and organizers of color from Community Labor United. The
goal of the committee is to unite evacuees to demand a role in
reviewing and influencing how resources are allocated on behalf of
survivors and to fight for decision-making power in the long-term
redevelopment of New Orleans.
* Long after the aid agencies and relief volunteers have gone, the New
Orleans Network, Sparkplug Foundation, Biloxi-based Gulf Coast
Community Foundation, and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation will still
be working on the ground to help evacuees and the families of
hurricane survivors as they forge new lives in the wake of Katrina.
***Please forward this newsletter to your friends, mailing lists and
bloggers you know to help spread the word about this important
campaign!
Please give generously to reunite families and help us build a
better, more humane Gulf Coast.
Michael Kieschnick
President
Working Assets
End email