On the ballot: Teach your children well
05 Saturday Nov 2022
Posted Uncategorized
in05 Saturday Nov 2022
Posted Uncategorized
in03 Thursday Nov 2022
Posted Uncategorized
in01 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted Healthcare, Missouri Governor
inLate this morning in Jefferson City around one hundred fifty supporters of Medicaid expansion in Missouri rallied in front the Governor’s Mansion. If the right wingnut controlled General Assembly had honored the wishes of voters and the explicit language they approved for inclusion in the Missouri Constitution access to health care for hundreds of thousands of Missourians would have started today.
The rally organizers were aware of a press event at the Missouri Department of Transportation building with Governor Mike Parson (r). The supporters of Medicaid expansion marched on the sidewalk the short distance to the building and continued the rally there, waiting for the governor to exit the building.
The rally and march was sponsored by Missouri Health Care for All, Missouri Jobs with Justice, and Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri.
Previously:
So, why hasn’t Medicaid Expansion happened in Missouri? (March 31, 2019)
Because Medicaid expansion is “too expensive” (October 28, 2019)
Medicaid Expansion Rally – Clinton, Missouri – April 17, 2021 (April 17, 2021)
Medicaid expansion? What Medicaid expansion? (May 3, 2021)
So it begins (May 21, 2021)
17 Monday May 2021
Posted Uncategorized
inYesterday afternoon around 100 Warrensburg area residents gathered to support their friends and neighbors in the Asian American Pacific Islander community in a march against hate and racism.
After the march Anna Mori spoke:
…The first and most important step in solving issues is to show up. And all of you have done that…
…Think about how much potential we lose if we aren’t hiring, electing, promoting, and advocating people because of our assumptions that they are other. And think about the lives lost because of it…
…Find joy in standing up for others. Find joy in learning about other people’s culture and background. Find joy not in helping the oppressed, but helping yourself because we are all the victims of racism from an overall perspective…
AAPI March – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 16, 2021 (May 16, 2021)
AAPI March – Rep. Emily Weber (D) – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 16, 2021 (May 17, 2021)
17 Monday May 2021
Posted Uncategorized
inYesterday afternoon around 100 Warrensburg area residents gathered to support their friends and neighbors in the Asian American Pacific Islander community in a march against hate and racism.
After the march State Representative Emily Weber (D-24) spoke:
…The one serious side effect of this pandemic has been a surge of anti-Asian discrimination here in the United States as a result of racist [inaudible] by people who want to blame others for something outside of their control…
…We have endured dirty looks, sideways glances, we’ve heard the racist, racial slurs. We have witnessed violence against our community. All because of our race…
…We need your voice. And your voice will be heard by getting involved….Get involved with organizations that stand with your values or issues you’re concerned about. You can also register, if you aren’t already, to vote. Then, go get five other people to vote. Then go vote in every single election. [applause] The last action item you can do is run for office. We need you on school boards, city councils, state reps, senate, U.S. Representative, everything…
Previously:
AAPI March – Warrensburg, Missouri – May 16, 2021 (May 16, 2021)
16 Sunday May 2021
Posted Uncategorized
inTags
This afternoon around 100 Warrensburg area residents gathered to support their friends and neighbors in the Asian American Pacific Islander community in a march against hate and racism. The event was planned and organized by local high school students. The march proceeded through Warrensburg, under a threat of rain, and continued indoors to conclude with remarks by three guest speakers.
While waiting for the march:
07 Monday Aug 2017
Posted Standing Rock
inTags
Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL, Lincoln, march, Nebraska, pipeline, protest
Sunday in Lincoln, Nebraska a broad coalition of native American tribes, environmental groups, landowners and others gathered to protest against the Keystone XL pipeline on the day before the Nebraska Public Service Commission starts a week of hearings on the pipeline.
On the steps of the state capitol.
Before the rally and march:
The founder of Bold Nebraska speaking at the rally, flanked by a landowner and leadership of several tribes:
Someone was watching.
Apparently one of the many drones flying over and near the march collided with a building. We missed that.
Previously:
March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 6, 2017)
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network – March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 7, 2017)
07 Monday Aug 2017
Posted Standing Rock
inImmediately before the rally and march to protest the Keyston XL pipeline yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska the organizers held a press conference and then individual press availabilities. Due to our close proximity, we were able to catch one of those short interviews:
Reporter: And why do you think a march like this, how much do you think this is going to help the process of the public hearings? How is the public support that is here today going to help?
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network: I think it’s important for the Public Service Commission to recognize that they do have a large opposition to Keystone XL [pipeline]. And by actually seeing it manifested here is a good way to show to the government of Nebraska that this pipeline is unwanted.
Reporter: And you mentioned that Keystone, or Trans Canada I should say, picks out spots with indigenous people.
Joye Braun: Yes.
Reporter: What facts do you have to support that?
Joye Braun: Well, I come from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. That’s my home. And originally Keystone XL wanted to go straight through my reservation. Another point is, with Dakota Access pipeline, they originally wanted to go just north of Bismarck. They moved it because of the outcry of the non-native population in Bismarck, to just north of Standing Rock. Those are two very recent ways of showing that.
Reporter: Then I’m guessing you had, so you were a protester with the Dakota Access pipeline?
Joye Braun: I am a protector, not a protester. [crosstalk] I’m a protector.
Reporter: Protector, fair enough. And how are these two situations similar and how are they different?
Joye Braun: They’re similar because we’re going up against big oil. Trans Canada or Energy Transfer Partners, which was Dakota Access, is a [inaudible] with Keystone XL. Both of them don’t like safety issues brought up. Both of them don’t like to do environmental impact statements. Both of them do not look at the indigenous populations or other populations that don’t necessarily have access to big lawyers, farmers and ranchers. They don’t have access to big lawyers. So they target these areas to, to, to push their pipeline through. Pipelines leak. We know that. Dakota Access has already leaked twice. And…
Reporter: And, so, you say this does happen. You think it’s just going to leak and ruin a lot of your land as well?
Joye Braun: It will leak a lot of our land. It’s going to leak a lot of Nebraska land as well. Nebraska has the Ogallala Aquifer underneath it. Without that aquifer underneath it the breadbasket of America is not, not going, to be no longer. I mean, what are people going to do when, when they have to pay fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread? I know I, as a family, can’t afford fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread. Can you afford that? I don’t think so.
Reporter: Thank you.
Previously:
March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 6, 2017)
06 Sunday Aug 2017
Posted Standing Rock
inTags
Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL, Lincoln, march, Nebraska, pipeline, protest
Sunday in Lincoln, Nebraska a broad coalition of native American tribes, environmental groups, landowners and others gathered to protest against the Keystone XL pipeline on the day before the Nebraska Public Service Commission starts a week of hearings on the pipeline.
Bold Nebraska, 350.org and the Sierra Club sponsored a Pipeline Fighter Summit in Lincoln before the march, bringing together groups and individuals from surrounding states to share and discuss strategies in fighting tar sand pipelines. People from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and other states attended the summit and marched in protest.
Various local news reports stated that anywhere from 500 to 600 or more people attended the rally at the state capitol and marched through downtown Lincoln.
01 Monday May 2017
Posted Resist, Uncategorized
inTags
#resist, climate change, Kansas City, march, missouri, protest, rally, Terrence Wise
“…my three girls are like, Daddy, where are you going this morning, a climate march? We, we, march, uh, for fifteen and a union. I was like, no baby, we march for justice…”
On Saturday the Climate March for Kansas City took place on the Plaza with a march around the Plaza in the rain and a following rally at Unity Temple. Over a thousand people attended the rally.
Several speakers at the rally addressed climate change.
Terrence Wise’s remarks at the rally:
Terrence Wise: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I can tell you, uh, I won’t let the weather get me down. It’s easy to wake up and look out the window and see the rain and kind of be down. You know, feel that way. But today I was inspired when I woke up. [voice: “All right.”] I knew I had a, a march to come to, a climate rally is what they want to call it. But I knew I was coming to be a part of a movement. Not a moment, a movement, as this sign right here says. And then I walk in the room and I read the back of your shirt, Manny [Abarca] and I see signs like Our Labor, Our Planet I know I’m in the right place. [cheers, applause] [inaudible]
As Manny stated, my name is Terrence Wise and I’m a McDonald’s worker, a leader in the fight for fifteen. Four years ago I was working two full time jobs in fast food here in Kansas City while my fiancé worked a full time jobs as well as a home health aide. Our family, despite our three incomes, still lost our home here in Kansas City. We found ourselves living out of our purple Dodge minivan. Right out in front of my job, right here close to where we are today. This was the reality for my family. I felt depressed. I was angry. Listen to my three girls, one of whom has asthma, in the back seat of our minivan, sharing a blanket , that was our habitat for the night. No parent should have to go through this. None. To see our belongings piled high in the back of our minivan. Even though I work in the richest nation on Earth, the planet we live on right now, my family has continued to live in poverty. And not only my family, but many families here in Kansas City have endured these conditions.
I’ve worked in fast food for nearly twenty years. But I only make nine dollars an hour as Manny stated. I have no sick days, no vacation, no voice on the job whatsoever, and as a result of these conditions the lives, the conditions, the lives of my children, my fiancé have been on the decline over the years. Not just my family, but workers all across Kansas City have experienced homelessness and struggle to provide the basic necessities for our families. Each month we chose between paying the rent, keeping food on the table, or keeping utilities on. Those are decisions we’re faced to make every day.
I know fast food workers with go with this past winter without working heat, without running water. We work in a two hundred billion dollar industry where companies like McDonald’s make over five billion dollars a year in profits. [voice: “Unbelievable.”] Unbelievable is correct. For CEOs like Steve Easterbrook, the CEO of McDonald’s, is making fourteen million dollars a year, nine thousand dollars an hour, folks. We work hard every day making these companies filthy rich. But our children continue to live in poverty.
The fast food industry wants to perpetuate a myth that I am not a typical fast food worker. They would have the public believe that fast food workers are just teenagers looking for a little extra spending cash. Well, the Washington Post recently reported the average fast food worker is twenty-eight years old. Seventy percent are twenty years or older. And one third of fast food workers are over the age of forty years old. Two thirds of fast food workers are single working mothers. Why should people who work hard every day in the richest nation on Earth wake up and still live in poverty? [applause] Why?
I’ll tell you. Some people might say, and people do ask, they come up, they say, Terrence, why don’t you get a better job? You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, get a better job Terrence. Well, I’m gonna tell you there simply aren’t any other jobs. Low wage jobs like fast food and retail are the fastest growing in America’s economy today. There are sixty-four million Americans who make less than fifteen dollars an hour. It’s why fast food workers like me and my coworkers across Kansas City have been organizing to win a union, have been organizing to win fifteen dollars an hour. [voice: “Yes.”] [applause] That’s the only way to make those bad jobs good jobs. We’re working on it. [applause, cheers]
I just want to let the cat out of the bag. As organizing is a way to make our planet a better planet as well. [cheers, applause] Don’t forget that. Low wage workers in Kansas City and across the country have been organizing for four years now. We’ve gone on strike ten times. We’ve fasted in front of City Hall. We’ve marched and rallied and shared our stories. And spoke out about winning a living wage and a voice on the job. We’ve been in this fight and our allies have been right beside us the whole way. And the labor, faith, and civil rights communities have been on the strike lines with us. And the monsoons like you see today, they’ve been out there with us the hundred degree heat and sometimes in the snow, standing with us.
Our allies in environmental justice community have stood with us as well. The president of the Sierra Club, he stood with fast food workers when we first went on strike. Because he knows when we are united we have the strength to win justice for all. While workers like me live in poverty these billion dollar companies make record profit. But it’s not just the workers that are suffering under these corporate business models. Companies like McDonald’s and WalMart treat our environment no better than they treat their employees. [voice: “All right.”] [applause, cheers]
These same, these same corporations that are leading the global race to the bottom are also engaging in unsustainable practices that harm our planet and waste vital natural resources. McDonald’s, for instance, the second largest employer on the planet, they [inaudible] our environment by clear cutting the rain forest, they do this to keep up with their packaging needs and to grow the palm oil the use to make their famous McDonald’s French fries. They’re clear cutting our rain forests.
On one hand these companies that are fighting to, efforts to decrease [inaudible] and regulate the industry and on the other hand they’re attacking unions and workers across the country. [voice: “Boo.”] And, in a quest for profits above all else the workers and the environment loses. [voice: “That’s right.”] But it’s time we start winning y’all. [voice: “Yeah.”] [cheers, applause] We must unite and fight together as we are today. Because as Dr. King once said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I don’t care [applause] if you’re talking about climate justice, economic justice, racial equality. A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. [applause]
And I can tell you [applause], I can tell you, that line stood out to me because my three girls are like, Daddy, where are you going this morning, a climate march? We, we, march, uh, for fifteen and a union. I was like, no baby, we march for justice. [cheers, applause] Whether it’s climate justice, whether it’s racial justice, whether it’s economic justice. And that’s why we march, baby. [applause, cheers] And that’s why daddy’s going.
‘Cause we must continue to fight together y’all. We must continue to march and rally together to insure that our planet and our community is working for everyone. [voice: “Yeah.”] For real. And we invite you all to come out with us. I can see the flyer in your hand, the yellow one you had, in there, it’s a useful tool. I invite you all to come out with us on Monday, May first for our May Day rally and march. It’ll be at five p.m. at Twelfth and Wyandotte. To fight for the economy that works for us all, ‘cause when we organize and build our strength in numbers y’all we have the power to win climate justice. We have the power to win racial and economic equality as well. But we have to build our strength in numbers. We really do. [applause]
We have a long fight ahead of us. I won’t sugarcoat it, it’s a long fight. We have a long fight ahead of us. I know it won’t be easy. Especially with this administration. For real. And its attacks on working people and science and climate justice, and attacks on Democratic ideals. It will be a long fight. But it’s a fight we need to win. It’s a fight for our future, our country, and our planet. We are stronger together, united we stand y’all.
Thank you for having me. Thank you. [applause, cheers]
A sign from the march and rally:
Previously:
Climate March – Kansas City – April 29, 2017 (April 29, 2017)
Climate March – Kansas City – April 29, 2017 – Sergio Moreno (April 30, 2017)