Sorry, We're Closed: Dec. 27th 2018-Jan 21st 2019

Happy New Year Teen Resisters! After a brief break, we're back with our biweekly lists, and there's a lot to cover! If you don't know, the government is currently shut down. More on that later, but that's (partially) why everything's been so chaotic. 
We wanted to point out two things before the list starts:
- We're sure you've seen the video of the MAGA boys and the indigenous elder. Please check out the Issues Affecting Indigenous Peoples section on our Index by the Issue page for all of the lists where we highlight issues of indigenous rights & actions.
- Just as an update: so far, here is who has officially announced candidacy for president in 2020 or an exploratory committee for a 2020 campaign. We've linked their campaign videos or websites: 
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D, MA)
Julian Castro, former mayor of San Antonio and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (D, TX)
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D, HI)
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY)
Senator Kamala Harris (D, CA)
John Delaney, former Rep for Maryland (D, MD)
Richard Ojeda, former State Senator from West Virginia (D, WV)
President Donald Trump (R)
Now let's jump in!

What Went Down:

*URGENT* The Government Shutdown, Explained: 
Today, January 21, 2019, marks the 30th day of President Trump’s petulant government shutdown. This shutdown officially started on December 22 of last year, when President Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill (AKA a federal spending bill) that wouldn’t allocate $5.7 billion to the funding of his Mexico-United States border wall.

Already the longest in U.S. history, this shutdown has adversely affected millions -- 4 million government contractors have been laid off. 800,000 direct U.S. government workers have been furloughed, and of those, 420,000 are still being forced to work without pay. The maltreatment, including missing their first paycheck of the year, has brought some workers to the breaking point -- a number of government employees, including many TSA agents, have quit. Additionally, small businesses have been denied loans by the U.S. SBA, federal courts are running out of money, and private companies have refused to go public, leading to a significant decrease in 2019’s overall economic growth. According to the President of the U.S. Federal Reserve, this will likely lead to an overall 1% less of an increase in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which amounts to over a third of our annual economic growth lost because of Trump’s shutdown. Other problems include a lack of quality food testing, native reservations struggling due to a lack of government funds, and some government workers have been forced to ration medical necessities like insulin in the face of no pay.

The House of Representatives has already passed a spending bill that would end the shutdown and allow formal debate on immigration to reopen, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refuses to bring it to the floor. This is clearly only as a deterrent -- the exact same spending bill passed the Senate with unanimous bipartisan support just weeks before. Negotiations are still in full force -- just two days ago, President Trump offered a three year cessation in deportation attempts for DACA recipients (immigrants brought into the U.S. illegally as children) in return for his $5.7 billion in wall funding. Speaker of the House Pelosi (D-San Francisco) refused. There’s an important reason that Democratic Congressional leadership has refused to make any deals with President Trump during the shutdown -- if he sees that using millions of government workers as a bargaining chip works as a political strategy, the President is going to shut the government down every time he wants a policy change. Majority Leader McConnell needs to grow a spine and introduce the spending bill; our politicians need to stick to their guns and fight for what’s right -- ending this government shutdown as soon as humanly possible. As Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have stated, debate on immigration should be happening in a government setting and should not require a shutdown or presidential temper tantrum where hardworking Americans are the collateral damage. 

What You Can Do:
CALL! YOUR! SENATOR! This spending bill has to pass the Senate. Even if you don't think it matters because your senators are super liberal or super conservative, it really does. This thread explains why. 
Script:
Hi, my name is ______, I’m from _____, and I'm calling to ask Senator ______ to vote to take up and pass the bills to reopen the government that passed the House last week, and to insist that the government be reopened before long-term negotiations on border security or immigration continue. The millions of furloughed employees and lack of funding for vital programs should be prioritized over politics. I urge you to use your conscience in making your decisions on this topic. Thank you.
​Number: 202-224-3121

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Racial Justice Legislation Feature: End Racial Profiling Act: Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is a day off of school in the U.S. But it also ought to be a day of service - and an opportunity to reflect on how MLK and other civil rights leaders would view America today in the lens of the struggle for racial justice, and how they would urge us to respond to the problems the country faces. 
Teens Resist is spotlighting one particular bill that we believe deserves your support. H.R. 1498 - or the End Racial Profiling Act - is a proposal reintroduced in this Congress aiming to eradicate racial profiling in law enforcement. Black men and other people of color are disproportionately targeted by police all over the country with damaging and widespread results. Black men are much more likely to be arrested and incarcerated than their white counterparts, with one in three Black men being incarcerated at some point compared to one in 13 white men. An oft-pointed to statistic is that Black people are much more likely to be arrested for using drugs that are used at roughly the same rates as white people. H.R. 1498 would officially prohibit racial profiling (allowing victims to bring complaints to court) and would require local law enforcement offices to “maintain policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling, including training on racial profiling issues, the collection of data, and procedures for handling complaints.” It would also authorize grants dedicated to collecting data about the practice.

What You Can Do:

• Read more about racial profiling here:
  • https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/racial-profiling
  • https://news.stanford.edu/2016/06/28/stanford-researchers-develop-new-statistical-test-shows-racial-profiling-police-traffic-stops/

• Call your representatives to ask them to cosponsor and vote for H.R. 1498. If they have already cosponsored the bill, thank them and encourage them to sponsor it again in the new congress..

SCRIPT:
    Hello, my name is ______ and I’m a constituent in Congressman/women _______’s district. I’m calling to urge _______ to cosponsor and vote for the End Racial Profiling Act, H.R. 1498. Discriminatory law enforcement practices are rampant and have caused serious harm to communities of color and other marginalized groups. The government needs to take all possible steps to end racial profiling, starting with this important resolution - so I’m asking ______ to support H.R. 1498. I will be keeping up to date on the bill’s progress and hope to see their contribution. Thank you.

• Additionally, use today as a reminder to do the work of learning and informing yourself. You can educate yourself on race-related issues - including by reading articles that might force you to confront your privilege or make you feel uncomfortable. One issue that is particularly close to us as teenagers is how race is involved in our education system. Read more about that here:
  • School segregation in New York City: read about this from a local organization working to combat the problem at https://www.integratenyc.org/

The school-to-prison pipeline: read about it from the ACLU https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-inequality-education ​

Image via NCLR

Info on the 2020 Census Citizenship Status Question: Every 10 years the US government takes a census, a means of recording how many people live in the country and get a general understanding of their demographics. The Trump administration moved to add a question to the 2020 census about whether or not the resident in question is a legal citizen of the United States. Many believed this would discourage non-citizens from partaking in the census, therefore misrepresenting the number of minority members living in the US.
Earlier this week, Judge Jesse Furman, a Federal judge in New York prohibited the Commerce Department from making this addition to the 2020 census, writing that  that "[Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross'] decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census -- even if it did not violate the Constitution itself -- was unlawful for a multitude of independent reasons and must be set aside." The Trump administration then appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court, who, on January 18th, decided to drop the case. This implies that SCOTUS agrees with Judge Furman’s initial ruling, a major blow to the Trump administration and a major win for organizations like the ACLU and others supporters of undocumented immigrant rights.

Big Victory in New York State Legislature: GENDA: On January 15, the New York State Legislature passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (or GENDA), granting long overdue rights to LGBTQI+ New Yorkers. Sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman, GENDA outlawing discrimination on the basis of gender identity in the areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation. Additionally, this bill  adds transgender New Yorkers to those protected by New York’s hate crime laws. Also passed on January 15, the New York State Legislature passed legislation protecting LGBTQI+ youth by prohibiting the dangerous and long-debunked practice of conversion therapy for minors.

New York State’s solidification of LGBTQI+ rights came largely due to November’s midterm elections and the consequent Democratic Senate majority, which, in turn, enables other pieces of progressive legislation to pass the Senate in the future. GENDA, specifically, had passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly eight times since 2008, yet the formerly Republican-controlled Senate failed to pass the bill each time. So, what can you do if you want to see more progressive legislation pass in New York, and continue to see LGBTQI+ rights protected?

• Know your representatives. Though you might know who your Senators are, and also who your representative is to the House, few people know their State Senators and Assembly members. Click here (https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/) to find your State Assembly member, and here (https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator) to find your State Senator.
• Though GENDA provides critical protections to transgender New Yorkers, discrimination is still (obviously) rampant. If you are able, donate to organizations working to fight homelessness in LGBTQ+ youth, like the True Colors Fund (https://truecolorsfund.org/our-work/) or the National Coalition for the Homeless (http://nationalhomeless.org).​​

Not A Puppy Video but a Funny Video!

Sending love!
Peace & Power,
​Teens Resist