Reports from webinars and events
Meeting with Sen. Anne Gobi’s legislative aide, Jan. 17: Focus was on issues faced by rural towns and how they are not adequately represented in Boston. Sen. Gobi’s aide said her #1 priority is crumbling foundations of residential homes (bad concrete due to a type of sand in Central Mass). Moms Demand Action members were hoping Sen. Gobi would support gun control legislation (includes ghost gun ban); aide was non-committal. Aide said amendments can change the intent of bills, so he felt Anne couldn’t commit to supporting a particular bill before the wording of the amendments is known. The Prison Moratorium bill also came up but he said he was not sure of Anne’s position. He argued that some state prisons are old and crumbling so new ones may be needed to keep prisoners safe and that the Prison Moratorium bill was problematic because it took no account last time around for this fact. Those in favor of the Moratorium feel that if new prisons are built, it will increase incarceration rates in order to fill them – a problematic outcome.
IMC conversation with women who were “Janes” prior to Roe v. Wade, Jan. 22: Jeana attended this. It was a fraught time before Roe but the women felt it was important to provide counseling and abortion services to women. Jeana will look for a recording of this presentation. There is a current organization in Massachusetts called the Jane Fund that helps women with abortion related expenses and travel.
CARE presentation on BIPOC education and staffing and upcoming legislation, Jan. 24: Jasmin attended. Educators talked about their roles in their respective schools; they talked about the importance of representation and how they help students of color see themselves in the curriculum (use this link to view).
Rural Indivisible call, Jan. 25: Patricia attended; others watched the recording. Summary: we need to change our message! Three important points were raised: (1) We need to build partnerships (get to know others as people, support candidates who share our values and can win, most important candidate quality is authenticity, avoid being seen as partisan, present a united front, be active and visible on the local level), (2) We need to build our brand (get the word out about who we are, send out newsletters, use email and other formats, use visual graphics that are clear, put logo on everything you do), (3) We need to commit to community service (take action now, support local businesses, be a good neighbor, donate to needy families, be a positive presence, join with faith leaders). Founder Ezra Levin spoke, as well as other experienced organizers. Jeana concurred with these points and said that commitment to our local communities is our “raison d’etre” as evidenced by our name Grassroots. She said that the original Brookfield Indivisible did a lot of educational programming, on topics such as the legislative process, immigration, and community policing; she also felt that we can’t continue to preach to the choir but need to do more outreach instead.
Progressive Mass Annual Member Meeting,Jan. 28: Dylan attended and suggested a member to speak to us about good approaches to take in rural areas.
National Women’s March, Jan. 22: While the national media did not cover this event hardly at all, some members of BFF attended the Bigger than Roe/Show Up for Freedom Rally in Northampton and found it inspiring. The reason Wisconsin was chosen as a central focus for the March is that there is an election for judges to the Supreme Court which will be critical to women’s rights; our postcard contact person, Ellen, is running phone banks if you’re interested in helping. To donate: www.janetforjustice.com. Many of us had written postcards in support of the Progressive candidates running in the primary there.
Prison Moratorium meeting to launch the #FreeHer campaign, Jan. 30: This was sponsored by two groups, Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls. Often women are locked up for non-violent crimes or due to addiction issues. Separation from families is not helpful to rehabilitation. This bill was passed last session but Governor Baker vetoed it (it was NOT a question of enough time to override the veto). We do not know if Governor Healey would be an ally on this issue but the organizers felt she was not supportive, unfortunately.
Program sponsored by Innocence Project: Sherry attended, and reported it was excellent. Many towns have an Office of Oversight for the court, but many do not. There is only a narrow range of reasons which would justify an appeal of a sentence (even the existence of new evidence may not be enough). It might make sense to explore this issue more fully in future meetings.
Other updates
Anniversary of the incarceration of Leonard Peltier, AIM activist: If it moves you, please write a letter to President Biden petitioning for his release on humanitarian grounds. David Detmold has placed a sample letter to Biden on this matter on the Grassroots email list.
The two state representatives who won their seats by narrow margins have finally been seated.
Colin said Anne Gobi met with them yesterday at his school: Colin’s group, Teens 4 Change, encouraged Anne to sponsor a bill, HD.339 (on climate justice education in elementary and secondary schools). He is going with other students to Beacon Hill next week to lobby for their concerns and hope to convince Rep. Berthiaume to also co-sponsor the bill.
Upcoming meetings for our calendar
Racial and Social Justice Committee – Feb. 5, 10:30 AM (Karen will send out the Zoom link)
Mass Dems Rural Affairs Committee Roundtable – Feb. 8, 7 PM. A survey was sent out to rural members last fall; MassDems Chair Gus Bickford will attend to hear people’s concerns.
Climate Committee Meeting – Feb. 9, 9 AM (Sarah Heller will send out the Zoom link)
Committee reports
Website Committee, Jan. 21: One of the enhancements we would like to put in place is to feature GCM people “in the news” – we would like to add Jasmin, Eric, Patricia, Dylan, and Karen to this page (please send a photo and short blurb so that Danielle can update the website). Sherry suggested adding Colin as well.
Legislation Committee, formed at our January meeting: The Committee is still gearing up. We have received lists of bills to support from the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) on pesticide use reform, MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda with several initiatives (at http://maindigenousagenda.org/), Progressive Mass on multiple issues, Care for EduEquity on diversifying the curricula in Mass public schools, Act on Mass on Legislative Transparency; in addition, the Climate Committee follows bills dealing with climate. Danielle said she thought that our membership should feel that they can lobby the group for help with the legislation they personally want to support. Example: David Detmold is working on the issue of the state flag and seal – he is encouraging the 351 towns to pass resolutions in support of the changes. Eric said that the DTCs and even BFF are ready to help with promoting a legislative agenda. Jeana felt that our subcommittees can determine issues they want to bring forward to the larger group. Jeff and Dylan recommended using the agenda created by Progressive Mass (go to www.progressivemass.com). For environmental issues, Janet recommended Mass Power Forward Coalition (https://www.mapowerforward.com/) with 7 top priorities.
Climate Committee: Meeting is taking place this week, so after that they will update us on how to help with Trees Are Treasures, as well as with finalizing the book project.
Racial and Social Justice Committee will meet tomorrow; Janet will be the speaker. They will also discuss other subjects, such as Eric’s meeting with the new West Brookfield police chief and support for the Educator Diversity Act (sponsored by Latinos for Education), the legislative agenda put forth by the team at MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda, etc.
Next Meeting: February 25, 2023, at 9:30 AM.
Meeting Adjourned, 11:00AM
