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- Havdalah #15: Banning ICE, The Twilight Zone, and Echoes in a Cathedral
Havdalah #15: Banning ICE, The Twilight Zone, and Echoes in a Cathedral
21 Adar II, 5784 / March 30, 2024
White Rose RI
March 30, 2024
Hello all,
If you’ve been with Never Again RI since before we had this newsletter, or even if you haven’t, you’ll definitely want to check out the first bill in our Bill Tracker section this week. It’s a bill we’ve worked on and supported before, one that would ban ICE contracts in RI. Let’s each do our part to push for an end to inhumane immigration detention — here in our state and, someday, everywhere!
Then check out more opportunities to learn, give, and connect in the coming weeks, along with a poem from Katherine reflecting on the liturgical calendar.
In solidarity,
Lee
Reminders for Legislative Advocacy
Be aware that written testimony submitted to any committee is considered public and will be posted to and accessible on the General Assembly website.
All times and locations given below are accurate as of the writing of this newsletter, but the RI Legislature is prone to changing time and locations of hearings with little notice. If you want to give in-person testimony for a bill, go to this Bill Lookup Page to double check the bill status and meeting information before you go. Put the bill number (no H, no S) in the Bills input field and hit Enter for the most up to date information.
Rise of the House or the Senate is when the full House or Senate finishes meeting together and breaks into separate committee meetings.
For in-person testimony, when you arrive and/or during the meeting, you will receive instructions on when and how you can give testimony. Don’t be afraid to poke someone who looks like they know what they’re doing and ask.
Ban ICE Contracts with Prisons in Rhode Island
Summary: This bill will end ICE contracts in RI and effectively eliminate immigration detention in our state.
Our position: FOR / IN SUPPORT OF
Current Status: Scheduled for committee hearing (Senate)
Resources: Check out AMOR’s S2769 Testimony Toolkit for background information and guidance on submitting testimony. They’re having a Zoom testimony writing workshop to help people on Monday, April 1, 6:30pm.
How to Submit Written Testimony:
Submit testimony by: Tuesday, April 2, 3:00pm
Write a short statement, 1-3 paragraphs, explaining why you support the bill
Include your name, the bill number (S2769), and your viewpoint (FOR)
Email written testimony to:
How to Give In-Person Testimony:
Attend the Senate Committee on Judiciary meeting, Tuesday, April 2, at the Rise of the Senate (usually around 4:00pm) in Room 313 at the State House
Be prepared to share a brief statement about why you support the bill, including your name, the bill number (S2769), and your viewpoint (FOR)
“Parents Bill of Rights”
Bill Number: H7781
Summary: This boilerplate bill delineates an expansive list of “parents’ rights” that gives parents substantial overreach and veto control over their children’s health, education, school experience, and governmental data collection. Specifically called out are sexual and health education, immunization, and religious education. Additionally, these types of laws have been used through the US to create safety risks for LGBTQ students; this bill would make it possible for school employees to face disciplinary action if they encourage a child to withhold information from a parent, even if it’s for the safety or well-being of that child.
Our position: AGAINST
Current Status: Scheduled for committee hearing (House)
How to Submit Written Testimony:
Submit testimony by: Tuesday, April 2, 4:00pm
Write a short statement, 1-3 paragraphs, explaining why you oppose the bill
Include your name, the bill number (H7781), and your viewpoint (AGAINST)
Email written testimony to:
How to Give In-Person Testimony:
Attend the committee meeting:
The House Education Committee meeting, Wednesday, April 3, at 4:00pm in Room 135 at the State House
Be prepared to share a brief statement about why you oppose the bill, including your name, the bill number (H7781), and your viewpoint (AGAINST)
“Biological Identity” in Women’s Sports
Bill Number: H7727
Summary: This bill would categorize athletes by their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity in organized sports.
Our position: AGAINST
Current Status: Scheduled for committee hearing (House)
How to Submit Written Testimony:
Submit testimony by: Tuesday, April 2, 4:00pm
Write a short statement, 1-3 paragraphs, explaining why you oppose the bill
Include your name, the bill number (H7727), and your viewpoint (AGAINST)
Email written testimony to:
How to Give In-Person Testimony:
Attend the committee meeting:
The House Education Committee meeting, Wednesday, April 3, at 4:00pm in Room 135 at the State House
Be prepared to share a brief statement about why you oppose the bill, including your name, the bill number (H7727), and your viewpoint (AGAINST)
Emergency Medical Care for Ewul
Cata, a longtime Providence community organizer, is fundraising for her sister-in-law Ewul’s medical costs after Ewul experienced birthing complications that led to the loss of her baby and serious ongoing health complications for herself. Any help is greatly appreciated.
ACLU Twilight Zone Screening & Discussion
When: Monday, April 8, doors open at 5:30pm
Where: Warwick Public Library, 600 Sandy Lane, Warwick, RI 02889
ACLU'll bring the popcorn, you bring an appetite to analyze issues with civil liberties — they're screening the Twilight Zone!
In honor of their 65th anniversary year, the ACLU thought it would be illuminating to look back at some classic Twilight Zone episodes from the 1960s that shed light on some of the issues we were facing then, many of which (spoiler!) we're still facing today.
They are also putting together a small panel of experts to lead a thoughtful conversation about the intersection of the episodes’ themes and civil liberties.
Event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required.
Katherine (she / her)
The Liturgical Year
The liturgical year interlocks like an infinite load path:
It is an ouroboros of a calendar, a seamless tunic, looping and indivisible.
From the Good Friday tomb we can see Easter resurrection;
The palms of Passion Sunday already adorn our foreheads on Ash Wednesday
And Christmastide has the strepitus of Tenebrae ringing in the spaces between the carols.
Easter is full of weeping
And Lent is littered with joy.
Our rejoicing always has repentance in it;
Our glory: fasting;
And our mourning: relief.
Your humble birth, Your glorious resurrection,
And Your wretched obscenity of an execution
Bleed into each other like ink in water, like echoes in a cathedral.
And so we are caught between extremes.
We repent in sackcloth and ashes
While we should rejoice and be glad.
Instead it should be both, always:
Together and forever, until the coming of eternity.
Needledrop: “The Beautiful Letdown”, Switchfoot
Life has gotten away from us a bit this week, so FashWatch will be somewhat abbreviated — though don’t think that means we aren’t paying attention!
Westerly School Committee Ditches Current Transgender Policy in Favor of Nonsense
Steve Ahlquist continues to be the stealth MVP of this newsletter with a report on the Westerly School Committee meeting where they chose to replace their current Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Transitioning Student Policy — “based on the best application of state and federal law and top-tiered medical knowledge” — with their own as-yet nonexistent one. Those calling for the change referenced a variety of nonsense, ranging from outright bigotry against trans students, to a reference to compelled speech. No one, neither the people giving testimony nor the Committee members, gave an example of an actual problem with the current policy. Also, since the Committee didn’t have an alternative ready to go, the current one stays in place until they manage to actually write something. Here’s hoping they forgot they even took this vote.
PINE is Back and as Annoying as Ever
PINE (the Nationalist Social Club-131’s astroturfed “People's Initiative of New England”) has put out another idiotic and ahistorical call, this time trying to take advantage of the housing crunch to call for a citizenship amendment to Massachusetts’ 1983 Right to Shelter. While I am also not a fan of the lack of affordable housing and homelessness, I’m afraid the issues are landlords, zoning laws, lack of government investment in public support and housing, and a variety of other tedious and unsexy issues, not migrants, Jesus fucking Christ. Anyway, they call for their dubiously existent audience to speak up at town meetings, call their reps, etc. etc., so if you’ve got the spoons, do the reverse and let the Mass gov know that housing is a right for everyone.
Motivational Workshop (in Spanish)
When: Tuesday, April 9, 5:30pm-7:30pm
Where: The AMOR Office, 545 Pawtucket Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860
Speak to a panel of people in our community who have faced the immigration system in their personal lives. AMOR will facilitate a discussion exploring how they have navigated the broken immigration system, while staying motivated to achieve their life goals.
This workshop will be held in Spanish.
Jewish Voice for Peace Weekly Flyering at the Train Station
When: Every Wednesday, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Where: Providence Train Station, 100 Gaspee Street, Providence, RI 02903
JVP RI invites all to join them in their efforts to spread the word about their work and simple actions people can take to demand an end to the genocide in Palestine. They meet on the Statehouse side of the train station.
Weekly Kaddish on Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge
When: Every Sunday, 1:00pm-1:30pm
Where: Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge, Providence, RI 02903
Jewish Voice for Peace RI and allies will be hosting a weekly gathering on Sundays to recite the Mourners Kaddish and communally grieve the Palestinians murdered by the Israeli military. You need not be Jewish to attend; all are welcome to participate.
Power Half-Hours for Gaza
When: every day, Monday through Friday, 3:00pm EST
Where: online
Jewish Voice for Peace is holding Power Half-Hours for Gaza every day — join us as we channel our fury and sorrow into collective action to stop genocide.
The same link will work every day.
Continuing Actions for Palestine
The siege of Gaza has continued and intensified. Palestinians are in desperate need of water, fuel, medical supplies, and more; however, this aid has been locked up at the border and prevented from entering into Palestine. Please contact your representatives to call on them to work for a ceasefire and to get aid into Gaza.
This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more:
Telecom services in Gaza are periodically being disrupted. This makes knowledge of what is happening there very difficult to get and to verify. Various social media websites — including and especially Twitter — while vitally necessary in getting ordinary voices heard, have also been full of dis- and misinformation of people deliberately trying to cause trouble. Especially now, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.
Al Jazeera reporting has continued to be the most accurate and reliable so far:
