Welcome to a supplemental edition of the Greater Lafayette Indivisible (“GLI”) newsletter. Here are the things that have popped up since the main edition of our newsletter a few weeks ago.
As a reminder, we’re imagining that activism is like a waterway that builds in intensity. In addition to calls to action, we’ll also provide information about upcoming events and opportunities to foster community, good news, and places in which we’re finding inspiration.
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Ripples (small direct actions)
- Pride Lafayette is looking for volunteers for their Rainbow Pop-Up Market during the Moseys Down Main Street this summer. You can find a list of volunteer job descriptions and openings here.
- Lakota People’s Law Project has a petition to the newly elected Pope Leo XIV asking the Catholic Church to return church lands to Indigenous people. You can read more about it and sign the petition here.
Rush (action at the county level)
- The Greater Lafayette Legal Defense Fund is hosting an afternoon of solidarity letter writing on Sunday, May 18, from 2-4 pm at Eleventh House (116 N 3rd Street, Lafayette). The team will facilitate a process to ensure that all attendees can send their letters to the jail. Please email the GLLDF if you plan to attend: [email protected].
The GLLDF raises money to provide financial support to community members who are most impacted by criminalization and policing. They cover things such as court fees/services, legal defense needs, travel/housing costs, etc. Donate to help us keep people out of prison. You can donate here to support their work.
Rapids (action at the state level)
- The following was taken from an Indivisible national email alert:
This week, behind closed doors in Washington DC, House Republicans will quietly meet to decide how many American families and senior citizens they’ll kick off SNAP food assistance. Our Representative Jim Baird is on a key committee that decides how many billions of dollars the GOP reconciliation plan steals from SNAP. We need to call Rep. Baird and ask: How many kids and seniors will you let go hungry so that men like Elon Musk can get even richer? You can find more information and resources for calling here.
Here’s what you need to know about how things are going in DC:
- To offset Trump’s tax breaks for billionaires, congressional Republicans need to decide exactly how much funding they’ll cut from popular programs. They’ll comb through thousands of line items, making trillions of dollars in budget cuts, all with one unifying factor: Everyday people get screwed.
- The Republicans know that those cuts are extremely unpopular, so they’re splitting into committees and huddling in small, closed-door meetings — often with no Democrats allowed — to write the bill where nobody can read it until the last moment.
- The Agriculture Committee, specifically, is tasked with cutting billions of dollars from SNAP: a beloved program that helps seniors and low-income parents buy food. Rep. Baird is on the Agriculture Committee, so when the GOP unveils a plan to take food assistance from millions of families, his fingerprints will be all over it.
- The ACLU of Indiana and the National Lawyers Guild (“NLG”) for a Legal Observer are offering in-person “Legal Observer Training” on Thursday, May 29, from 6-7 pm at the ACLU of Indiana’s office space (1031 E. Washington Street, Indianapolis). This training will cover the basics of what it means to be a Legal Observer (“LO”), and you will leave with the skills needed to accept LO assignments. LOs serve as the on-the-ground eyes and ears of a legal team, and their job is to document events that can later be used in defense cases and litigation in order to hold law enforcement accountable. Casey Farrington from NLG is leading the training. Everyone is welcome to attend without RSVPing in advance. If you have questions, you can contact Camelia Manring, Advocacy Speciality at the ACLU of Indiana, at [email protected].
- GenderNexus is an Indianapolis-based non-profit whose mission is to empower gender-diverse people and their loved-ones to lead healthy, authentic, and joyful lives. They envision an Indiana where gender-diverse people of all backgrounds are loved, accepted, welcomed, and valued for their unique selves—with autonomy over their identities and bodies, and freedom from disrespect, discrimination, oppression, and violence. GenderNexus is making it even easier to become a volunteer with new options on their website and a brand new onboarding process that takes into account each volunteer’s individual interests and strengths. You can learn more and sign up to be a volunteer here.
Roar (action at the national level)
- Indivisible national is organizing a “No Kings” day of defiance on Saturday, June 14. Coinciding with Flag Day, this is the day that Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. You can find information and resources for Indivisible’s strategy here and here, and the list of organized protests here.
- Indivisible National also hosts regular virtual trainings and action calls. You can find the list here.
Opportunities to build community
- As a reminder, GLI’s next general meeting will be this Wednesday, May 14, at 6 pm in the Maple and Elm rooms at the West Lafayette Public Library (208 W Columbia Street, West Lafayette, second floor). Based on our work last month, we’ll be organizing into teams to grow our community and take action to push for positive change in our county and beyond. Please sign up on Mobilize to let us know you’re coming.
In addition to street parking, parking is also available in the garage across the street at 117 N Chauncey Ave, West Lafayette. If the cost of parking is prohibitive, the Library staff can validate your ticket at the front desk.
Good news
- Rep. Chris Campbell shared a list of the bills authored by members of the Indiana House Democratic Caucus that made it to the Governor’s desk. This year, House Democrats passed 14 bills!
- SURJ Greater Lafayette (“Showing Up for Racial Justice”) is selling another batch of “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts. They’re $15 each and available in sizes XS – 4XL. You can order them here, and then someone will reach out to you to coordinate drop off/pick up. If you are outside of Lafayette, your shirt can be shipped for an extra $10.
- Politico reported that the Pentagon will resume medical care for transgender service members and is returning to the Biden-era medical policy due to a court order that struck down Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional.
- WFYI reported that a new lawsuit was recently filed in a United States district court against Secretary of State Diego Morales and several Indiana agencies and representatives for banning the use of student IDs at the polls.
What is inspiring us
- The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana is displaying their “Unwelcomed” exhibit at the West Lafayette Public Library (208 W Columbia Street, West Lafayette, second floor) through the end of May. The exhibit features 12 panels that highlight the history of sales and lending discrimination that led to the segregation of our Indianapolis neighborhoods. This installation includes 6 BONUS panels of content that is Tippecanoe County-specific thanks to a special collaboration with the group Racial Reconciliation of Greater Lafayette. You can read more about the exhibit here.
If you have an organization, an event, or a bit of good news that you’d like us to include in a future newsletter, please email [email protected]. For general questions, please email the Steering Committee at [email protected].
As always, you can donate toward our efforts here or by donating cash at our next in-person gathering. Donations are used for expenses such as voter registration booth fees, supplies, and administrative costs. Thank you for your continued support!