Take Action Now!
Want to make a difference but not sure how? These one-time actions are a great place to start.
3/7, 3:30-5:00 PM: Shalom Supper Celebrating Refugee Shabbat • Register here now! • Ahead of time, recipes and video instructions will be sent to all registrants.• During the meal, hear powerful stories about the journey to freedom from Austin refugees and asylum seekers.• Sponsored by the Austin Jewish Community in partnership with HIAS and Refugee Services of Texas.Now-3/12 & 3/12-31: RAC-TX Legislative Advocacy: Democracy Protection + Racial Justice
• For Everyone: Join the RAC-TX 2021 Democracy Protection Campaign
o Last week, we launched RAC-TX’s democracy protection campaign. If you were not able to join the webinars, you can find the recordings and slides in the RAC-TX group in The Tent . To continue our important work, please sign up to join the democracy protection campaign. Phase one (outreach to county election officials) is already underway, and phase two (legislator meetings) begins late March.
• For Teens (and allies): Join the RAC-TX 2021 Racial Justice Campaign
o Sign up to attend one of two issue briefing/lobby prep sessions. (The same session, offered two different times.) We will be organizing teen specific lobby and advocacy meetings supporting criminal justice reform in the state. Sign up to receive RAC-TX updates and be notified when issue briefings are scheduled.
• Questions? Contact dsegal@rac.org.
Now-4/5: HIAS Welcome to Congress Advocacy Campaign
• Welcome the new Congress to Washington, D.C. and tell them their constituents want them to prioritize the rights, dignity and safety of refugees and asylum seekers. To communicate this, congregations and communities will collect signatures for their online welcome cards. Please go to this link, find Temple Beth Shalom (TX) in the dropdown menu (even if you're at CBI!), sign at the bottom of the letter, and hit send.
Timeline:
o March 10 - Circulate and finish getting as many signatures as possible
o March 15 - HIAS will send back PDF card with signatures to Nancy
o March 17 - Take PDF and send to TX Members of Congress with language provided by HIAS and request to set up a virtual meeting in early April
o April 5 - Lobbying Training on how to hold MOC Virtual Meetings
o Mid-April - Meet with Members of Congress
Interested in joining the Austin Advocacy Team? Questions? Contact Nancy Wolf at 512-917-3731 or nwolf1000@gmail.com
Refugee Actions Now
• Food Deliveries for Refugees: Anyone interested in providing food to a family on a weekly basis (directly or through a donation) can contact Cathy Campbell.
• Donations to Refugee Fund: Anyone who can contribute (from either congregation) can give to the Temple Beth Shalom Refugee Task Force Fund on the Temple Beth Shalom website or contact Russ Apfel.
Join a Movement!
Change happens person by person. Our community social justice leaders would love to talk to you about how we can make it happen, together.
Religious Action Center - Texas (RAC-TX)
• Email Rabbi David Segal, Liz Mitlak (CBI), or Sandy Dochen (TBS) to get involved, or learn more about our main issue, Democracy Protection, here.
• Advocate for our Jewish values at a statewide level with other Reform congregations.
HIAS Jews for Refugees
• Check with Russ Apfel and Cathy Campbell for updates on the Temple Beth Shalom Refugee Task Force, Austin Sanctuary Network, and refugee activities at CBI. They work closely with Ahmed Abbas, the asylum caseworker at Refugee Services Texas. For more info about HIAS contact Nancy Wolf or click here.
• HIAS is a national Jewish organization that fights for a world in which refugees find welcome, safety, and freedom.
Advocates for Social Justice Reform
• Email Bob Batlan at asjraustin@gmail.com to join or learn more here.
• Next Meeting: 3/8 10:00 AM
• ASJR is a local advocacy group focusing on issues surrounding criminal justice reform, especially indigent defense, or representation of the poorest defendants. We focus on developing positive relationships with government officials, community leaders, diverse fellow advocates, and people impacted by the criminal legal system. This approach helped lead to the creation of the Travis County Public Defender's Office.
• Current main projects: Implementing funding for legal representation at or before first court appearance (magistration), and supporting County Attorney and District Attorney actions to evaluate cases for dismissal prior to magistration. This can minimize the disruption to people's lives at the earliest possible moment.
Texas Anti-Poverty Project
• Email Larkin Tackett at larkin.tackett@gmail.com to join or learn more here.
• Next Meeting: 3/24, 10:30 AM
• Advocate for living wages in Austin by focusing on access to high-paying jobs at the new Telsa giga-factory, for our neighbors experiencing poverty.
MLK Continued Conversations--Third of Three Coming Soon!
• Conversations on diversity, equity, + inclusion as individuals + community
• If you are interested in watching the videos from the first two session on implicit bias, they are available to view below:
o Session 2 full video
o Implicit Bias
o Why We're Awkward
o Four i's of Oppression video
o MLK Discussion Guide
o Identity Mining Worksheet
o Bias Recognition Worksheet
A Word from Your Social Justice CoordinatorShalom y’all!
We have had no shortage of reasons to kvetch lately. Our neighbors still might not have running water. You might still be exhausted from a week of freezing cold, repairing your pipes, or just coming to terms with the residual exhaustion from a week of fear of your power going out any minute. You might be afraid that maskless crowds will take over your favorite H-E-B. You might still be incensed at the difficulty of voting by mail or other lingering voter suppression. And the only recourse you may feel is available to you, is complaint.
Kvetching, however, is very powerful. We just have to do it the right way: together. Once the mutual aid work to reduce harm is done, the drinking water all delivered, our attention must turn to collectively holding accountable those who endangered us. Complaint, and specifically sharing the human stories that upset us, is a powerful form of advocacy. One complaint is a kvetch, but an organized spreadsheet’s worth of complaints is a movement.
For every seemingly intractable problem, there is a person with the power to change it. Often these politicians and power-brokers like to point fingers and obfuscate. Perhaps they’ll portray problems as natural and unsolvable. Yet if you follow the chain of command, there will almost always be someone who had the power to prevent a tragedy, but for whatever reason, did not. That person is a human, who might not flinch at data, but will absolutely understand the emotion of a story.
I don’t guarantee that kvetching will always lead to success. However, at the very least, we can use our humanity to affect humans with the power to make change. So whatever you’re kvetching about, let’s do it together. Let’s Zoom with the people responsible for causing these complaints, and make sure they hear them, loud and clear. At worst, we’ll feel better for having gotten it off our chest productively, and at best, we’ll have less to kvetch about.
And as always, regardless of shul affiliation, the point of contact for every initiative listed would be happy to have your help. And if you simply want to ask how best to be an ally, or how we got here, please reply to this email, fill out the form above, or call me. My email is jason.austinsocialjustice@gmail.com, and my number is 469-834-9987. Thank you!
L'shalom,
Jason Taper, Social Justice Coordinator |
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