- Havdalah
- Posts
- Havdalah #36: Homelessness Crisis, Bill Tracker, & What to Do Right Now
Havdalah #36: Homelessness Crisis, Bill Tracker, & What to Do Right Now
19 Tevet, 5785 / January 18, 2025
White Rose RI
January 18, 2025
photo courtesy of Katherine
Hello all, and welcome to Havdalah #36 —
Well, it’s T-minus 2 days until the wanna-be fascist-in-chief takes the reins again, not that you likely need me to tell you that. This is a hard intro to write; I don’t know what tone to strike. You, reading this, are you scared? Angry? Sad? Fatalistic? Any of them possible, any of them reasonable. As for myself, my emotional state has simmered down to a flat sullen anger, a reflexive fuck you in the back of my mind whenever I hear him or any of his cronies make the news. Not a pleasant sensation, or one I really like cultivating in myself, but it’s at least an energy-saving state.
The picture that heads our newsletter this week is my own; it’s of a protest sign I made in 2020, during the height of the BLM protests, featuring a quote from JFK (a not unproblematic man) speaking to ambassadors from several Latin American countries on the first anniversary of the Alliance for Progress (a not unproblematic context). He’s speaking, somewhat paternalistically but not, I think, inaccurately, of the need for the rulers, rich, and elites of those countries to enact reforms, and I think it’s an address that equally applies to the present moment, and our own country. Edited for our country:
I know the difficulties of such a task. It is unprecedented. Our own history shows how fierce the resistance can be to changes which later generations regard as part of the normal framework of life. And the course of rational social change is even more hazardous for those progressive governments who often face entrenched privilege of the right and subversive conspiracies on the left.
For too long my country, the wealthiest nation in a continent which is not wealthy, failed to carry out its full responsibilities… In the same way those who possess wealth and power…must accept their own responsibilities. They must lead the fight for those basic reforms which alone can preserve the fabric of their societies. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
I’m not calling for violent revolution; I am, for better or worse, by instinct an institutionalist, and whenever Twitter pundits gleefully predict the political end-of-days, all I can think of is the blood in the gutter of every violent uprising. However, there’s a big distance between acquiesce and armed revolt, and we should use every inch.
Our Fash Watch this week has some particular recommendations for Inauguration Day; the fact that it’s also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day seems especially galling, somehow. And, closer to home, Sidebar has something you can do to help the people around us in ways that are desperately needed, which is the best sort of salve right now, I think.
Bundle up, stay safe, and dig in your heels.
Goodnight, and mind how you go —
Katherine (she / her)
Note: much of this newsletter was written on or before Friday of this week; while we have not forgotten or missed the planned ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, the news is fast-moving and what’s happening on the ground is deeply in flux. White Rose RI is keeping Palestine and its people in our minds and prayers and calls to our politicians, but we didn’t feel writing about it was possible when every hour brings an update; we are not news and don’t pretend to be so.
We Fight Back! Rally
When: Monday, January 20, 1:00pm
Where: Classical High School, 770 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903
Organized by a coalition including AMOR, JVP-RI, DARE, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Black & Pink, The Womxn Project, Providence Youth Student Movement, SURJ, and several other local groups, this rally will begin at Classical High School and transition into a people’s march through Providence.
Rally for the Planet
When: Monday, January 20, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Where: The State House, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903
Organized by Climate Action Rhode Island, this rally is co-sponsored by several local groups including Sunrise Movement, Student Action for Sustainability, RI Working Families Party, RI Transit Riders, RI Democratic Women’s Caucus, RI Environmental Education Association, and others.
Workers and Renters: Providence General Assembly
When: Saturday, January 18, 12:00pm and every other Saturday
Where: 134 Mathewson Street, Providence, RI 02903
From their Instagram:
Worried about Trump?
Want to defend our communities?
Want a world that works for everyone?
Come to the Providence General Assembly
Spanish, ASL Interpretation and childcare available upon email request
Masking requested and masks will be provided
Direct questions to [email protected]
ACLU Legislative Advocacy Training
When: Saturday, January 25, 10:30am-12:30pm
Where: William Hall Public Library, 1825 Broad Street, Cranston, RI 02905
If you want to get involved in the legislative process but don’t know where to start, join the ACLU at their free Legislative Advocacy Training. You’ll learn how to be an effective advocate during the legislative session and how to communicate with your state legislators so that they will listen.
In the training, the ACLU will explain the legislative process, talk about some bills that are being heard this session, and equip you to make your voice heard in multiple ways. Plus, a state legislator will join to provide an inside look at the legislative process, and to answer questions.
Registration is appreciated but not required
Free and beginner-friendly
The event is not endorsed by or affiliated with the Cranston Public Library
AMOR: ICE Out of RI Legislation Testimony Prep Workshop
When: Tuesday, January 28, 6:30pm - 7:00pm
Where: Zoom
Across the country states are passing legislation to close private prisons and remove ICE detention from public facilities. AMOR’s bill will end ICE contracts here in RI.
AMOR will be facilitating a brief testimony writing workshop to prepare folks to submit written or verbal testimony for future hearings with the state Senate & House.
Learn about important points to make in your testimony.
They will share tips for giving verbal testimony and information about the Wyatt to help you feel confident in your testimony.
Contact AMOR if you have any questions at [email protected]
RI Food Bank: Food Insecurity Awareness Day
When: Thursday, January 30, 3:30pm
Where: Rhode Island State House Library, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903
The RI Food Bank’s recent Status Report on Hunger revealed that a staggering 38% of Rhode Island households are food insecure — an unacceptable number.
Join the Food Bank at the State House for Food Insecurity Awareness Day to sound the alarm on the problem of food insecurity. They'll highlight the steps our State leadership can take to address the issue, announce their policy priorities for 2025, and share how the change in presidential administration could impact federal nutrition programs.
The Womxn Project’s Bodily Freedom Forever Index
When: Up now, updated every Tuesday
Where: Online
The Womxn Project has put together an index of politicians in RI, showing how candidates did in the 2024 election compared to their stance on bodily freedom. TWP will post weekly reports on Tuesdays, highlighting some of their findings from the BFFI.
They’re also welcoming people to come join them as they organize in each district, creating small hubs. With volunteers, they will keep building a more transparent political landscape with data-informed action and strategy. Check them out if you want to get involved!
ACLU Firewall for Freedom
When: Up now
Where: Online
The ACLU Rhode Island has been strategizing around RI’s strengths and weaknesses to create a Firewall for Freedom page. It covers issues including free speech, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigrants’ rights. They lay out some context for where Rhode Island stands, what rights are safe for now, and protections we need to push for. It also explains some of their priorities for the upcoming Rhode Island legislative session. Check it out!
Office Hours with The Womxn Project Team
When: Every Tuesday, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Where: Zoom
Need a little support or just want to know what’s going on? The Womxn Project team will be on a live Zoom to answer your questions or point you in the direction of where to turn.
Continuing Actions for Palestine
Weekly Kaddish
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.
Ceasefire Today Toolkit
This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more
News Coverage
As always, especially when getting news from social media, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.
Al Jazeera Coverage of the War on Gaza has continued to be a reliable source
Mondoweiss has also provided excellent context and deep dive pieces.
Documentary & Discussion: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
When: Sunday, January 26, 1:00pm and Wednesday, January 29, 6:30pm
Where: Barrington Public Library, 281 County Road, Barrington, RI 02806
Join the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for two screenings of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, a documentary about a Chinese-American woman who has immersed herself in social activism for more than 70 years.
Tomaquag Museum Lunch & Learn: Signature Sovereigns: The War for Connecticut, the Treaty of Hartford, and the fallacy of settler supremacy
When: Monday, January 27, 12:00pm
Where: Online
Grab your lunch and join the Tomaquag Museum for a free virtual presentation:
“In 1638, a fledgling community of Newcomers residing in the enclave that they called Hartford declared that the Pequot Country was “now the Englishes [sic] by conquest.” Although the declaration was more wish than reality, settler communities throughout the Dawnland filled their correspondences, deeds, and treaties with this aspirational language to claim an authority they did not possess. In this way, colonial regimes became signature sovereigns, meaning that the authority they claimed only existed in the records they produced.“
This talk examines the inter-tribal and cross-cultural conditions that framed the War for Connecticut commonly known as the Pequot War and demonstrates how colonial leaders used the conflict to refashion themselves as signature sovereigns.
Register at www.tomaquagmuseum.org/events
Volunteers Needed at West Warwick Warming Center
West Warwick is running an emergency warming center and needs volunteers for night shifts or driving unhoused community members to the center. Please consider signing up if you are available.
When: Saturday, February 15, 5:00pm-11:00pm
Where: AMOR Office, 545 Pawtucket Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860
Schedule:
Event Start: 5:00pm
Bachata Workshop: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Dance Social: 7:00pm-11:00pm
General Admission: $15
All proceeds go to support the work that AMOR does to support our RI community members with an undocumented status.
The Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (AMOR) is celebrating eight years of resistance and community work, supporting community members and families who are suffering the injustices of the broken immigration system.
From the Trump administration to the Biden administration, for 8 years the AMOR community has continued to resist the systems of white supremacy that see the lives of Black, Indigenous, and people of other colonized races and nationalities as unworthy of the right to cross borders with dignity and life.
Join them for a night full of community, joy, food, music, and raffles to celebrate community resistance!
Masks will be available. They ask that you wear a mask during the event to prevent the spread of COVID.
If there are bills you’d like updates on, let us know! Email us at [email protected] with the bill number, and we will track it!
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.
Raise the Minimum Wage
Bill Number: H5029
Summary: This bill would set the minimum wage for 2026 at $16 per hour, 2027 at $17 per hour, 2028 at $18 per hour, 2029 at $19 per hour, and 2030 at $20 per hour. While this is woefully inadequate — the current living wage for RI is just under $25 per hour — this bill is worth supporting if the bill can be improved in committee.
Our position: FOR / IN SUPPORT OF
Current Status: Introduced; referred to House Labor Committee
Contact the House Labor Committee to push for higher wages for this bill:
Representative Arthur J. Corvese: [email protected]
Representative Mary Messier: [email protected]
Representative Karen Alzate: [email protected]
Representative Jon D. Brien: [email protected]
Representative Stephen M. Casey: [email protected]
Representative John G. Edwards: [email protected]
Representative Deborah A. Fellela: [email protected]
Representative Carol Hagan McEntee: [email protected]
Representative Joseph M. McNamara: [email protected]
Representative George A. Nardone: [email protected]
Representative Ramon A. Perez: [email protected]
Representative Brandon C. Potter: [email protected]
James (he / him)
I’m not wasting much of my energy for elegance in this Sidebar. Here’s the deal:
The homeless population of Rhode Island is once again facing a crisis, as it does every single fucking winter. And once again, Governor McKee is dragging his heels on calling it such.
We do this every fucking year. Every winter, we lose people to the cold while the powers that be bitch and moan about how it’s just so hard for them to do their fucking jobs and stop people from dying. Every spring, summer, and fall, we forget that winter happened and do nothing to prepare for it. Then, the next winter, we lose more people while the Governor and mayors make excuses that they just don’t have the time to solve such a sudden, unforeseeable emergency.
I’m sure this isn’t new to our audience. For one thing, I’d be shocked if our readers weren’t also subscribed to Steve Ahlquist [ed: our beloved], who has gone above and beyond for years to document this. I don’t have anything unique or profound or insightful to add to what he and other community leaders have written. I say only this:
It’s not an accident. It’s not mismanagement. It’s not incompetence.
This is not the same as saying it’s a conspiracy. A conspiracy isn’t necessary.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, the AIDS epidemic has sometimes been referred to as a genocide of indifference for its apocalyptic toll on the gay population. This is only one of history’s examples that it does not take a conspiracy or a strategy to wipe out a people. It only takes intentional indifference.
When I was volunteering at Providence City Hall on the 7th, a housing advocate told me that one of McKee’s latest excuses for his inaction was that it hadn’t yet hit 5° F outside, though he certainly knows full well that a human being will freeze to death long before that magic number. Smiley castigated the Providence Council Members who had opened the Chambers as a warming center, all but outright accusing them of doing it as a publicity stunt. The City of East Providence closed its extreme weather overnight warming shelter on January 12th despite forecasts indicating it would be 24° F the following night; Matthew Paddock, spokesperson for Mayor Bob Silva, claimed that “extreme weather” was defined as temperatures 20° F or below. When the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness’s director, Kimberly Simmons, was critical of McKee’s handling of the crisis, he retaliated.
This is not merely disorganization. This is thinning the herd.
While McKee and his administration waffle about sustainable long-term solutions, people are freezing to death now. They hem and haw about the safety and legality of opening warm spaces for the homeless to rest, but don’t seem to care whether the streets are up to code for residence, whether the sidewalks provide adequate shelter from the elements, or whether the benches are outfitted with sufficient heating for human dwelling. Presumably, despite owning the public streets, the government does not feel as though it is responsible for the deaths that take place on them.
It is enough to say that this is monstrous. The cherry on top is that it’s also fucking stupid.
We are experiencing a homelessness crisis because we are experiencing a housing crisis. There is no thinning the herd when its ranks continue to swell. This is the mass murder of a population that the majority of Rhode Islanders seemingly regard as disposable.
We need more than what we currently have; we need long-term solutions quickly and short-term solutions now, and we need both of them in tandem. We need to step up for our neighbors because, left to our leaders, they will die. They will die and the government will shrug and add them to a webpage of statistics. At some point. When they get to it.
We need to stop treating deaths of the homeless as inevitable. They are foreseeable, but that is not the same as inevitable. Foreseeable means preventable. But they become inevitable when they become acceptable. When something is foreseeable but acceptable, that often means it’s intentional.
Yes, volunteer. Yes, donate. Yes, harass your public officials and your local leaders. Yes, treat your neighbors as your neighbors. But crucially, we need people like McKee and Smiley out of office at the first opportunity. They’ve demonstrated what they do with power: ignore the deaths of their constituents and evade responsibility for them. They’d ignore yours, too.
In the meantime, if you’d like to help make the remainder of their terms in office as miserable as possible, here’s what you can do:
Harass McKee about his refusal to declare a state of emergency:
Office telephone: (401) 222-2080 (TTY: 711)
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://x.com/GovDanMcKee
Hound Smiley to put pressure on the Governor to declare a state of emergency:
Office telephone: (401) 680-5000 (TTY: 711)
Email: [email protected]
For our Jewish readers: Brett Smiley is a member of Temple Beth-El in Providence. Like most synagogues, Temple Beth-El has robust social justice initiatives in keeping with the sacred obligations of tzedakah — including, notably, a project devoted to supporting unhoused Rhode Islanders.
Consider respectfully contacting Rabbi Sarah Mack and / or Rabbi Preston Neimeiser at Temple Beth-El to ask how they feel about their congregant, Mayor Brett Smiley, allowing the homeless to freeze to death, something that runs counter to the shul’s professed values and violates key Jewish commandments such as Pikuach nefesh. If you are a congregant at Temple Beth-El, please consider approaching your rabbis or Brett Smiley yourself to ask these questions.
Temple Beth-El telephone: 401-331-6070
Temple Beth-El email: [email protected]
Rabbi Sarah Mack email: [email protected]
Rabbi Preston Neimeiser: [email protected]
Note: after this piece was written and shortly before this issue was scheduled to go out, more warming centers were set to open ahead of the inclement weather on Sunday. Please consider contacting these locations to see if they need volunteers or donations.
News Round-Up: Local
Christian Nationalists have plans for Rhode Island (Steve Ahlquist, January 11, 2025)
McKee’s missteps on press and protest access made for a sorry State of the State (Philip Eil for The Current, January 17, 2025)
The Second Trump Administration: What Next?
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Trump returns to the White House.
It's going to take all of us to reduce the impact his second administration will have on the world. The first assignment we all have, the most important step, our homework for this day:
Rest.
Don't panic. Don't doomscroll. Don't listen to that depressing podcast. Don't compulsively refresh the newsfeed. Don't watch the profane celebrations. Don't pick open the wounds that have only just begun to scab.
Rest.
Don't plan. Don't organize. Don't strategize. There is time. Leave it for tomorrow.
Rest.
Don't compartmentalize. Don't repress. Don't soldier on. Don't put on the brave face. Take off the mask, put it away. Make sure it's clean for when you need it.
Rest.
Don't brood like Bruce Wayne over his grim city of which he is the sole guardian. Don't force the smile or the levity; it's not your job to be the clown. There should be no jobs today (it's a national holiday, after all).
Rest.
Don't treat yourself as the exception. That means you, the organizer who tries to carry the whole activist infrastructure on your back because if you don't do it then it won't get done. That means you, the new parent trying to negotiate a worthy world for your child, or even a world that's worth it. That means you, the frantic flame searching for something to burn because you need the fuel, you need something to do. That especially means you, the person who is uniquely and disproportionately targeted, one of the chosen sacrifices to cook on the fat.
That means you, reading this, thinking it would be a list of resources, a procession of clear steps to a better future. Not today. Those resources are out there, those steps are written somewhere. There is time.
Rest.
The revolution will wait. It's not a rapture; there is no before and after, and therefore, there is no deadline. There is only the long march. But without respite, it is a death march.
Rest.
The horrors will wait too. Today they are busy, boasting and bloviating, ugly in their coronations. There is time for us to grieve, for us to mourn, for us to sleep. It is, in fact, crucial.
Rest.
Today, I will stay in bed with my Dodi. We will nest in blankets and pillows. We will have funny videos and snackie snacks within reach. We will have cats gracing us with visitations, perhaps even lingering for affection if we are so fortunate. We will be warm and cozy. We will have each other. We will rest.
Maybe you need to sob. Maybe you need to laugh. Maybe you need company. Maybe you need to be alone.
Maybe you need to vent. Maybe you need to journal. Maybe you need to take a walk, admire the beauty of the bare branches cutting the winter sky into shapes like a grey stained glass window.
Maybe you need to eat a lemon. Maybe you need to play Settlers of Catan with your stupidest friends. Maybe you need to order takeout that will hit your lower intestine like a car bomb. Maybe you need to gossip with your childhood friend about people from your high school.
Maybe you need to drink. Maybe you need to eat your weight in circus peanuts. Maybe you need to smash some plates. Maybe you need to start a fight with your Nana until she writes you out of her will. Maybe you need to spread a rumor about Linda in HR. She knows what she did.
Maybe you're working today. Maybe you just need to do whatever it takes to get through the shift. Maybe that means finding the strength to not strangle your fascist boss. Maybe that means being a doofus with your coworkers. Maybe that means half-assing every task. Maybe that means taking double the smoke breaks and disappearing to the bathroom to text your friends on the clock. Maybe that means being a menace and stealing all the candy from the offices.
Maybe you're home today, left to your thoughts. Maybe you need to kiss your baby girl. Maybe you need to snuggle your cats. Maybe you need to have coffee with your neighbor. Maybe you need to hug a friend you haven't seen in months.
This is the time.
Tomorrow, we need you. But today is yours. It is owed to you. And if you're going to be any good to the world, there must be a you, not a blackened wick that will crumble at the touch of a fingertip.
The work will be there tomorrow. That's the truth: there will always be work. It will never be done.
Rest.
Needle Drop: “We Rise”, Batya Levine
