Our Revolution Massachusetts Newsletter #8 Special Edition
[Las Vegas Statement on Mass shooting. Donations for Puerto Rico. #M4RJ. Endorsements. National Spotlight.] Do you have a submission* for the newsletter? Email newsletter@ourrevolutionma.com * submissions edited for content and space
TRAGEDY IN LAS VEGAS
With the rapid pace of events in addition to upcoming elections, we have decided to publish a special newsletter. Our Revolution Massachusetts grieves the loss of innocent lives in Las Vegas. Read Senator Sanders statement on the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
ORMA member Caterina Strambio De Castilla sent this graph created by The Guardian, showing that we have a mass shooting (4 or more deaths) 9 out of every 10 days in this country. A Go Fund Me page for victims has been set up by Steve Sisolak, Clark County Commission Chair from Las Vegas https://www.gofundme.com/dr2ks2-las-vegas-victims-fund
When white men commit mass murder, they are called “lone wolves”. When Muslims or Black Americans are the shooters, they are called “terrorists”, observed NY Daily News columnist Shaun King.
PUERTO RICO
Massachusetts is home to the 5th largest percentage of Puerto Ricans in the country. Western Mass United for Puerto Rico coalition delivered 200 boxes via Spirit Airlines on October 2nd. One of the members is Holyoke City Councilor and former Bernie Delegate Jossie Valentín. Read the Mass Live article about their efforts here.
A fund has been set up for donations: visit any Freedom Credit Union 10 branch locations, or through PayPal at www.paypal.me/WMU4PR.
Senators, including Senator Sanders, are proposing bold action steps the president should take to help Puerto Rico. The text of the letter can be read here.
LOCAL AND STATEWIDE ACTIVITY
Speakers LtoR Mehlaqa Samdani, Shanique Spalding, Alicia Fleming (organizer), Jacqueline Velez, Kathleen Anderson Jossie Valentín, Susan Goldman, Ivette Hernandez. (Photo Credit Eric Bauer)
A sister march for Racial Justice took place on Sunday, October 1st in Holyoke. Local affiliates, Our 413 Revolution and Greater Northampton Our Revolution, along with 750 people and local activist groups marched in #M4RJ solidarity. Read the highlights in an interview with the organizer, Alicia Fleming (who also maintains the ORMA calendar). Congratulations to Alicia for a well organized, peaceful march.
ORMA AND NATIONAL ENDORSED CANDIDATE
Special Election for Massachusetts Senate: Paul Feeney – Democratic nominee for the Bristol-Norfolk district. If you missed the debate on Monday, you can watch it here. Please do what you can do–whether it’s knocking doors, phone banking, or contributing to his campaign. This looks to be a very competitive general election and we need for ORMA and Sanders supporters in general to help out Paul between now and October 17th. Paul needs us and more importantly, we need him if we are going to advance a progressive agenda. View the full debate from October 2nd with the three candidates.
Congratulations to two more National Endorsed Candidates Jeff Santos (Cambridge City Council) and Matt McLaughlin (Somerville Ward 1 Alderman) See their profile on the Our Revolution candidate page here: https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/
LOCAL AFFILIATE ENDORSEMENT NEWS
Our Revolution North Berkshires
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Our Revolution Massachusetts endorsed Kevin Towle, candidate for state representative in the First Berkshire District. The Special Primary is next week, October 10th with the Special Election on November 7th. To volunteer for Kevin’s campaign (or if you can make phone calls from your home, please see sign up here) http://www.kevintowle.org/volunteer
Read the interview and the press release
MORE LOCAL AFFILIATE ENDORSEMENTS
Many of the local affiliates have endorsed candidates in advance of the November 7th election. Here is the list (that we know of so far!) Please contact the campaigns directly and volunteer to help make phone calls and door knock for our candidates.
Cambridge (at-large)
- Dennis Carlone
- Jan Devereux
- Sumbul Siddiqui
- Vatsady Sivongxay
- Quinton Zondervan
Somerville:
- Matt McLaughlin (Ward 1)JT Scott (Ward 2)
- Ben Ewen-Campen (Ward 3)
- Will Mbah, William White and Mary Jo Rossetti (at-large)
- Jesse Clingan (Ward 4)
AFFILIATE HIGHLIGHTS
Welcome to new affiliate OR Malden! 
They’re off to a great start: in the first week, their Facebook group got 91 members! They’ve already been hard at work pressuring their City Council to become inclusive, transparent, and responsive to crucial issues such as lead in public drinking water. OR Malden’s new televised round table discussions are bringing public attention to key issues and candidates. They’re busy now vetting candidates for City Council and School Committee.
(R) Welcome to new affiliate Our Revolution Amherst! As a diverse community, we need many voices to support this work for political change. Join us for the future of our political movement!
(L) Our 413 Revolution and Greater Northampton Our Revolution at sister March for Racial Justice on October 1st in Holyoke.
Our Revolution Boston, along with allies and 1000 activists lined up to protest the appearance and scheduled talk of U.S. Secretary of State Betsy DeVos in a Stand for All Students rally outside the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. The protest received national attention in several news outlets.
The Field/Affiliate Team helps new affiliates get started by co-planning local and state actions and first meeting events. To start a local group near you, email Peter Corbett, Field Team Coordinator
STATE WIDE ORMA INITIATIVES
- Signature Collection continues for the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) Safe Patients Limits Ballot Initiative Visit MNA new facebook page for up to date information on signature drives located near you!
- Raise Up Coalition for Economic Justice. Massachusetts campaigns to Raise the Minimum Wage and Paid Family Medical Leave. ORMA has committed to gathering approximately 7000 signatures each for $15 Minimum Wage and Paid Family and Medical Leave. Congratulations to the affiliates below for your collection efforts! Several groups have yet to enter their totals. To join a signature gathering effort see the schedule here. October is a great month to table at local supermarkets or farmer’s markets and to get the word out about your local Our Revolution group. It’s a fun action, especially for new groups to do together.
Track the Raise Up Coalition’s progress in this spreadsheet. You can pick up petitions in a number of locations found on the map here. You can request petitions to be mailed to you by filling out this form here. It’s very important to report signatures gathered by OR local groups or at-large members before turning in the signatures to your town clerk. Contact Rand Wilson for more information rand.wilson@gmail.com
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT. ACTION ON FEDERAL ISSUES
People’s Budget Vote: This week, the House of Representatives is voting on the FY2018 budget. The Republicans are proposing a $1.5 trillion tax cut for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations, a $54 billion per year increase in the Pentagon budget, and massive cuts in domestic spending.
Our friends in the Congressional Progressive Caucus have given us a better plan. They’ve reintroduced The People’s Budget: A Roadmap for the Resistance, and it really truly is. The People’s Budget ends the U.S. endless wars, invests in our infrastructure, health care, the environment, housing, free college, education, Puerto Rico relief, and much more, and raises taxes on the wealthy and closes corporate tax loopholes to pay for it.
Reps. McGovern, Clark, and Capuano support the People’s Budget; Rep. Lynch’s sometimes does. Reps. Kennedy, Moulton, Keating, Tsongas, and Neal have opposed it in the past, but we hope they will change their minds and support it on Thursday. Call your member of Congress at 202-224-3121 and ask them to vote yes, or send them an email message.
TRANSITION TEAM NEWS
SAVE THE DATE! Sunday November 12th will mark ORMA’s transition into a representative, action-oriented, revolutionary force in Massachusetts! Please join us for a ratification of our organizational structure and celebration of our grassroots community.
Quincy SEIU Hall
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
108 Myrtle Street
Quincy, MA 02171
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
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