Healthcare (Again!) and Getting to Know the DC Council Vol 9: Brianne Nadeau and Ward 1
Dear Runners,
This week the fight for healthcare continues, and this is seriously the last ditch. If we don’t stop the Senate bill, Obamacare as we know it is dead. Now’s the time to pull out all the stops. Lots of different groups have been writing about this all week, so I am just going to attempt to summarize some of the information that’s already out there and give you the best resources possible. Then it’s up to you.
After that, we have my ongoing series on the DC Council with Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau.
But first your small acts of resistance for this week. These will only take about two minutes each. Well…plus watching an eight minute video. You can do it!
Small Immediate Acts of Resistance
That are never calling your Senator or Representative
- Use the hashtag #HonorThemWithAction to commemorate the PULSE Nightclub shooting victims. June 12 was the one year anniversary of the PULSE Nightclub shooting in Orlando, in which 49 mostly young, mostly queer, and many Latinx people were shot to death. It was the most deadly mass shooting in modern American history. The queer community is showing support for the victims’ families, the survivors, and all LGBTQ+ people this week, and one way you can do that is by tweeting with the hashtag about something you did this week that was affirmative political action, either directly in support of the queer community or just to help a generally progressive cause. Opposing this administration in any way serves queer people so pretty much anything goes.
- Watch this video on Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and then report him to Instagram. The video, from Vox, pretty much covers everything you need to know but I’ll break it down for you anyway. Ramzan Kadyrov is the current President of Chechnya, a semi-autonomous state in Russia. He is the man responsible for the recent capture and torture of over 100 gay men in Chechnya. He is also in favor of honor killings of women who are “immodest” and has been linked to various assassinations in the country. He also has an Instagram account in which he posts many pictures of himself with adorable animals and on which he boasts almost three million followers. Instagram’s community guidelines specifically state that “Instagram is not a place to support or praise terrorism, organized crime, or hate groups”. Kadyrov has a literal trained militia at his disposal that intimidates his citizens, especially women and gay men. Report Kadyrov’s account to Instagram for violating its community guidelines and get his account shut down. No one like him deserves a free public platform to an audience of millions.
- File a complaint to NBC about Alex Jones. Later this week, Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News, is going to host known conspiracy theorist and asshole Alex Jones on her show. Alex Jones is, among other things, a “Sandy Hook Truther”. I wish that none of us even had to know that such a thing existed, let alone what it means, but essentially Jones claims — loudly and frequently — that the Sandy Hook massacre in New Town, CT never happened and that it was all an elaborate hoax. In case anyone isn’t already angry enough about that statement, I will make it even worse by saying that there are people who really listen to this guy and who, in real life, harass the parents of children who were killed at Sandy Hook. Literally in the last couple of weeks, a woman in Florida was arrested for sending death threats to a Sandy Hook parent because of hoax media and conspiracy theorists. You can complain to NBC for giving voice to Alex Jones. Fill out their form here, with the following boxes:
Resistance Events this Week
Local to DC unless otherwise noted
June 15: Safety Beyond Policing, hosted by the DC Movement for Black Lives Steering Committee
June 17: Storytelling for Canvassing Training, hosted by Good Guys DC, RSVP required
June 18: Solidarity Sundays NE DC Meeting, hosted by yours truly (NOTE: this was rescheduled from last weekend due to Pride events) (OTHER NOTE: The link takes you to the Facebook group which you will have to join to see the event)
June 20: BLM DC Open House, hosted by Black Lives Matter DC
June 25: Resist, Retreat, Resign? A Workshop for Federal Employees, hosted by Takoma Park Mobilization, RSVP required
Now through June 20 (nationwide): Call Your Ossoff and Phone Bank for the GA-06 Election, hosted by many people everywhere
Topic 1: Save Our Health Care
This week, Mitch McConnell and the cowards in the Republican Senate are trying to shove through a version of Trumpcare that is almost identical to the House Bill with 1.) no public debate, 2.) no hearings, and 3.) no release of the draft text. Sound familiar? But this time it’s worse
That’s right, we, the opposition, are asleep this time. We need to wake up and stop this. When asked why they weren’t releasing the draft text of the bill, a Senate aid told the media:
“We aren’t stupid.” — A stupid person
That’s about the stupidest thing a stupid stupid person has ever said. Don’t let them get away with this. Indivisible has created a new website called trumpcareten.org which is focusing on ten states with GOP Senators that we have even the remotest possibility of getting to not vote for this bill. The ten states being singled out are:
- Alaska
- West Virginia
- Maine
- Nevada
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
If you live in these states, you need to be going insane with these guys right now. Many Republicans that we thought were vulnerable, such as Dean Heller of Nevada and Jeff Flake of Arizona, both of whom are up for reelection in 2018 and are sitting in blue-leaning (at the moment) states, have said they are going to vote for this bill. Pressure from constituents is the only thing that can change their minds. We need to make them fear for their jobs with this vote. If you do not live in one of these states, then please do not call these Senators. We need Senators to be able to continue trusting that phone calls are coming from their constituents, or they will not listen to them any more. If you want a very compelling reason not to call Senators and Reps that are not your own, read this Twitter thread from Move On Director Ben Wikler. Here is the gist of it:
If you don’t live in one of those ten states, instead find your friends and family and that do and ask them to call. Tell them you’ll help them find the numbers and brainstorm a script if they want. Indivisible has one. Ask people if you think they’re conservative but might care about this gross violation of the norms of the democratic process, or if they’re conservative and might lose their healthcare, or if they’re liberal but have not gotten politically involved. Ask even if you’re not that close. Ask in a nice way but ask. This is what social media was made for, is connecting networks of people: find your network in those states.
If you do call, make sure you are polite. Register your opinion as strongly and succinctly as possible. Make sure the most salient point they person gets from talking to you is that you oppose this healthcare bill and will fiercely oppose any senator from your state who votes for it the next time they run. Also, here is a reference list of how many people from each of those states would lost healthcare coverage were this bill to pass:
Even better if you’re calling Senate offices in one of those states: ask to speak to the health legislative assistant specifically. Ask them what the specific parts of this bill that they support are. Use the resources above to give them the numbers of people in your state who will lose coverage and ask them to comment on it. Be polite! Here is a list of names and phone numbers. How handy!
Here’s another one!
If you’re in Nevada or Ohio, calling Dean Heller or Rob Portman, respectively, it might interest you to know that your GOP Governors have publicly opposed parts of this bill or process (see Sandoval from Nevada and Kasich in Ohio) . Maybe you should call them and ask what they’re doing to help ensure Sens Heller and Portman don’t vote for this bill?
Another thing you can do if you live in a place where you have Democrat Senators (aka not DC! Wheee!) but aren’t from one of the ten states above is call them and ask them to grind all Senate business to a halt until this bill is brought into the light of day. Tell them to call procedural motions on everything; filibuster every piece of legislation that comes up; get us to the July 4th recess with no time to vote on healthcare. This is the time for civil disobedience, regardless of whether or not it has a high chance at succeeding. People’s lives are on the line.
Call; ask people to call; ask them to call again. I made a facebook post in which I explained why I was tagging people, told them they could ignore me if they wanted, and then tagged them in the comments if they had ties to or lived in one of the ten key states. I tend to have very liberal facebook friends, but not one of them got angry at me even if we didn’t know each other well. In fact almost all of them said they would call. Try it!
Topic 2: Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1, and the Committee on Human Services
This week on Getting to Know the DC Council, I am focusing on Ward 1 and its Councilmember, Brianne Nadeau. Councilmember Nadeau represents Ward 1, which is kind of the donut hole in the middle of DC.
Ward 1 includes neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Howard University, Adams Morgan, and Mount Pleasant. According to 2010 Census data, Ward 1’s population was 48.4% White and 32.5% Black. It also has the highest Hispanic population of any ward with 20.8% identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Ward 1’s median household income in 2010 was $60,998 a year compared to $85,000 a year in DC generally that same year.
Councilmember Nadeau has been Ward 1’s councilmember since the 2014 election, where she defeated four-term councilmemebr Jim Graham in the primary and won handily. The DC Board of Ethics and Accountability in Government had found “substantial evidence” that Graham had, in 2008, funneled money for a DC contract from one firm to a different firm in which he had a financial stake. Nadeau was critical of Graham during the campaign and focused on issues such as affordable housing and transportation. She has a history of working with women and children, and her bio specifically mentions a program she worked on in college that involves helping to treat women suffering from addiction. Therefore, I feel I have her Star Trek character pretty well mapped out:
Nadeau is currently the Chair of the Committee on Human Services, which is responsible for “matters concerning welfare; social services; youth affairs (other than juvenile justice); homelessness…; and disability services”. The other members of the committee currently include Councilmember Trayon White of Ward 8; Councilmember Todd of Ward 4; Councilmember Grosso (at-Large); and Councilmember Robert White (at-Large). DC Government offices under this committee’s purview include child protective services, the department of disability services, and the interagency council on homelessness. So Councilmember Nadeau is who you would call to report child abuse or neglect; to ask for funding for a homeless shelter, perhaps; or to make sure buildings in your community are accessible to those with disabilities. Current legislation being considered by this committee includes B22–0154, or the Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities Civil Rights Restoration Act of 2017. This bill would “remove the requirement that persons with intellectual disabilities who are supported by the Department of Disability Services (DDS) be civilly committed in order to receive residential services”. Under current law, DC residents with intellectual disabilities cannot receive services from the city unless they are committed to an institution. According to a letter from Mayor Bowser introducing this legislation,
“The District is the only jurisdiction in the country to require civil commitment as a necessary predicate to community-based residential services for people with…moderate intellectual disabilities.” (emphasis added)
So this bill seems like an important update to our handling of those with intellectual disabilities. Maybe call Councilmember Nadeau and tell her you support it. Or better yet, submit written testimony on the bill, especially if you work in disabilities services or related fields.
I wrote to Councilmember Nadeau and asked her to answer some questions about activism in DC. As of the time of this writing I had not received a response.
Welcome to the end of the newsletter for those of you who made it. I wanted to say a brief word about the shootings in Alexandria at the the Republican Congressional baseball practice on Wednesday. I know this is an emotionally difficult time for many of us, and having a shooting in our backyard may be very frightening and disheartening. Please take a moment to hug your loved ones if you so desire, or curl up on the couch for an afternoon if you can, but please also don’t give up the fight. We cannot let the actions of a lone actor discourage us from helping others. I hope all of you are alright and will continue on with me. We need you.
See you next week.
In solidarity,
JM
You can reply to this newsletter or email me at theforerunnerletter@gmail.com with your thoughts, criticisms, or ideas. Check out my Medium page if you’d prefer a blogged version of this newsletter or would like to read any of my previous issues. Last week’s letter was on Chairman Phil Mendelson and Pride.
Follow me on Twitter at @speaknojessica. And get your friends to subscribe to The ForeRunner at http://tinyletter.com/theforerunner because where else will you get someone randomly assigning the personalities of Star Trek characters to DC’s elected officials? Who will your Councilmember be? The suspense is killing you I’m sure.
Jessica, the writer, has written for Gender Avenger and been a speaker for Trybe. She is the DC state captain for the national activist group Solidarity Sundays (solidaritysundays.org, look for the NE DC/Brookland group) which meets once a month to take progressive political action. She developed this newsletter in response to the 2016 election.
