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Communities Rising's list of ways you can get involved

At the September meeting of the umbrella organization Communities Rising, about 100 people came out to hear King County Executive candidate Girmay Zahilay tell about his journey from Sudanese refugee to a King County Council member. He's running against fellow council member Claudia Balducci in the November election.

A dozen speakers offered a wide range of ways to get involved this autumn:

Signs of Solidarity is an Indivisible project to help local businesses learn how they can protect undocumented immigrants, whether they work at the business or are patrons.
CR's Ballard 2 Neighborhood Group is choosing to form a support group for Washington Congresswoman Marie Glusenkamp-Perez, a Democrat in southwest Washington who is vulnerable in next year's midterms. Ballard suggests that other groups of folks might, in a similar way, adopt a “sister campaign” in another swing district in a purple state.
Hands Around Green Lake: Embracing Democracy is looking for volunteers and participants. Sign up to help, or just simply show up October 4 at noon.
Ceasefire Northwest, a newly formed coalition of Washington and Oregon gun safety groups, is holding a rally/march at Green Lake (north end) on Sunday (the day after Hands Around Green Lake) at 10 a.m.
Common Power does a lot of good work in the nation, including putting puts boots on the ground in critical districts across the country, knocking on doors to very effectively raise awareness and get out the vote. If you want to travel to another state to make a difference, this one is for you.
The Movement Voter Project (MVP)'s mission is "to Invest in the frontline groups organizing to block MAGA, build a broad-based movement for progress, and turn our country around."
The National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) offers day-to-day accompaniment and support to day laborers at Home Depot and elsewhere, locally. In addition, they are working to form a Rapid Response team in the event of an ICE incursion.
Common Defense is forming a Washington chapter of this national group of veterans who "oppose the rise of Trump's authoritarian government and the destruction of our Constitution." They welcome "anyone who has served for any length of time in the military."
The Beautiful Trouble Book Club will meet for the first time Tuesday, 9/23, 7 PM, on Zoom.

The next CR All-Hands Monthly Gathering will be on Wednesday, 10/22, 6:30-9:00, at the Shoreline UU Church. Details to follow in the next couple of weeks!

The little flyer project

Four Phinneywood Rising folks and one Green Lake Rising participant spent Monday evening making small flyers to post around the neighborhoods. The group also spent time planning the October Hands Around Green Lake project. (More on that project to come.) It was deeply satisfying to make flyers together, and we hope the appearance of these small posters around Phinneywood attracts some new members to help us carry out resistance efforts this fall.

In a recent YouTube video titled Five Ways to Fight Fascism, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich outlined ways to make a difference. "Marching isn't enough on its own," he said. No. 3 on his list was Join Local Resistance Groups. Why? Reich said groups like ours help build solidarity and political organizations for the future. "Democracy is not a spectator sport," Reich said. "I know this seems dire, but you are not alone."

You, too, can make your own flyers! Get out your markers and just do it. Here are some phrases we liked: "Democracy dies in silence. Don't be silent!" "Didn't vote for chaos? Join us!" "Protest is the pulse of democracy." "Evil wins when good people do nothing." "This is the government the founders warned us about." "Nothing is more American than opposing a tyrant." Or make up something of your own. Pro tip: Seattle Public Library allows patrons to print 10 B&W copies, or 3 color copies, for free each week. Additional copies are 15c for B&W and 50c for color. If you come up with a poster you really like, you can duplicate it.

CR's first picnic

Communities Rising and Wallingford Indivisible held their first joint picnic at one of the Green Lake picnic shelters Aug. 13, and about 50 people showed up for conversation, food and community. Rick, of Communities Rising, hopes to make it an annual event.

Featured speaker Nick Licata, who held a seat on the Seattle City Council for 18 years and was instrumental in passing a paid sick leave policy, talked about the importance of taking incremental steps, knowing where you are going and having a plan to get there. Licata said citizens first brought him the idea of passing an ordinance requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees working in Seattle. A close read of the city charter led to the discovery that the city has the power to control health and create a safe environment for its citizens. That was the authority the city council needed to move forward with a paid sick leave ordinance.

"Sometimes the biggest opposition is the people in power, who think they can't get something done," Licata said. "If someone said something can't get done, the response should be, 'How could we do it?'" Licata urged Seattleites to think about the sort of legislative changes that could be accomplished in Seattle and serve as inspiration for other communities. "Do something good here, and others will pick it up."

Licata's read on Trump: He knows how to make people afraid, and find loopholes in the law. In order to defeat MAGA, Licata said, "we need to change people's minds about what's good for everyone."

A short report from the Communities Rising get-together

Dozens of Communities Rising members across the city gathered at Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church July 9 to discuss how to build neighborhood resilience in a time of crisis. Neighbors described the many ways they connected with community — for Phinney/Greenwood, those included the Phinney Neighborhood Association, the Greenwood Senior Center, area churches, the Phinney Farmer’s Market and local businesses including coffee shops and bookstores.

How do we strengthen those bonds? A variety of ideas surfaced, including spontaneous deck parties, potlucks, group sign-making parties and using an alley (if you have one) for weekly wine gatherings.

Even those who considered their neighborhood well-connected also said they wanted to build even stronger bonds. And there was an undertone of angst among attendees about the rise of a fascist government, and the importance of strengthening ties in the community to mantain resistance.

Communities Rising is planning an all-neighborhood picnic Aug. 13 at Green Lake. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out CR’s extensive resources on its web page. And sign up for CR’s account on Basecamp, a free and secure project/communications platform being used extensively by CR for projects that include immigrant rights and the environment. If you desire a deeper level of engagement with a wider range of neighborhood groups, CR’s Basecamp account is a great resource.

Our banners are getting around

One of our new banners made an appearance at Federal Building Friday on June 27. It looks sharp, doesn't it? Nice work, team! Lots more bannering is in the works -- take a look at the schedule on the home page.

We're building banners!

More than a dozen Phinneywood Rising folks got together June 16 to build our first lightweight banner. For past bannering efforts, we’ve borrowed the Backbone Campaign’s signs, and while they are wonderful, they are also heavy and need to be returned to Backbone’s Vashon HQ after we are done. These new banners are lightweight, need fewer volunteers to hold steady, and can be broken down into smaller segments that will fit in nearly any car. Volunteers completed STAND UP SPEAK OUT and cut out all of the letters for the second banner, DEMOCRACY DIES IN SILENCE. Thanks to Dan for making the connection with the Tukwila folks and moving this forward.

Bannering on Aurora

A crew of nearly a dozen PWR members, including Liz, Dan, Dave, Jamie, Geri, Paula, LeRoy,Tyrrel and Katherine unfurled the "Defend Democracy" banner and stood it up on the Woodland Park pedestrian overpass June 3 -- the third such bannering event PWR has held. Everything was going well until a fender-bender directly below the bridge ground traffic to a halt. The crew shifted from northbound traffic to southbound traffic, then decided to call it a day. Thanks to Dave for going down to Aurora to find out more about the accident, then giving a ride home to the passengers in the taxi that was involved; they'd been stranded there by their driver. The passengers reassured Dave that bannering did not cause the crash.

Federal Building Fridays are going strong

A determined group of protesters continue to show up every Friday at Seattle's downtown Federal Building. "The honking and thumbs up from drivers was the most I've ever seen in the 5 or 6 Fridays I've done," Anne reports after the latest event June 6. "Definitely a change in the air!"

Tesla Takedown Tuesdays and Saturdays

There was a good turnout at June 's University Village protest. Dave stood next to Joan, age 91, who took the bus to the protest and walked with the assistance of a walker. Inspiring!

The Dance4Democracy group came to the May 17 Tesla protest to lead a small group with dance moves, and a number of Phinneywood Rising folks joined in to tunes like Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People."

Save Social Security and Medicaid protests

Wallingford Indivisible holds weekly protests in Northgate to raise awareness of the threat of cuts to Medicaid and Social Security. The protest location is near subsidized senior housing, and Geri met a 93-year-old woman at the protest who fears she'll be thrown out of her home if Medicaid cuts go into effect.

Communities Rising leaders are networking

A half-dozen leaders of the Communities Rising neighborhood groups met at the Sunlight Cafe in May for coffee and note-sharing. PWR, represented at this meeting by Katherine, is the largest of the groups, with 105 members, and arguably the most organized, with weekly emails and our own website. Other groups are doing a wide variety of activites, including: writing thank-you cards to Harvard University for standing up to Trump, organizing groups of people to appear at protests, and a potential "Hands Around Green Lake" event later this fall.

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