Help for Moshannon Detainees

Happy Friday, Activists!

We hope you're having a good week so far.  You can see last Tuesday's newsletter here  and last Friday's here, which has detailed election information.

HELP FOR DETAINED IMMIGRANTS

Tomorrow is a nationwide effort to help our immigrant communities.  We have two options for you and they both involve detainees in the Moshannon Valley Detention Facility.  Conditions there are inhumane and reports are that so far there have been three suicides.  Reports in 2024 (before Trump's second term) by the ACLU-Pa and by the Temple University School of Law identified systemic complaints about medical neglect and spoiled, unhealthy and insufficient food being served to the people inside.  There is also an overuse of solitary confinement. 

1.  SEND A FEW SUPPLIES FOR WOMEN (it's easy) - There are about 40 women detained in Moshannon.  You may know that the conditions there are deplorable.  We are able to provide some comfort to these women with the system set up by an Indivisible group in the area of the detention camp.  They have created an Amazon wish list so you can select what items you want to donate and they will go directly to the home of the group leader who will deliver them to the detention camp.  It's a great process and we hope you can participate.  Please don't choose different products, as the ones on the list have been checked and confirmed to be acceptable. Thank you!

2.  PHONE BANKS - Unlike many detention camps, ICE contracts with Clearfield County.  ICE pays Clearfield County nearly $3 million a month plus a daily rate per person held. The county has hired GEO Group to run the facility.  Now, about 100 detainees have gone a hunger strike to protest against the contaminated food, inadequate medical care, and other conditions. 

So we are targeting the Clearfield County Commissioners and demanding they end their contract with ICE.  We're making phone calls to folks in Clearfield County and asking them, as constituents, to contact the Commissioners with that message.  With your calls you'll be helping shut down Moshannon! 

We'll us this easy to use phone bank and script. The phone bank will link you to registered Democrats in Clearfield county. Just use this link and follow the prompts. If you run into and problems or questions, just ask in the comments or send Kali a message.

Election day is May 19.  Make sure you're ready!

You can check all the details for the election in last Friday's newsletter here.  Below are a few highlights. 

The deadline to register to vote is May 4. You can register online at this link.  

If you're not sure about your voter registration status, use this link to find out. 

The deadline to apply for a Mail-In Ballot is May 12.  But don't wait until then - do it now!  You can apply for a mail ballot online, in person at a county election office (or satellite election office if a county has them), or through the mail. 

For online applications, the Pennsylvania Department of State has a full list of the approved forms of identification here.

If you have an emergency and miss the deadline, you may still be able to request an emergency application for an absentee ballot.

Your mail-in ballot must be received at the election office by 8:00 pm on election day.  Otherwise drop it in one of the many Philadelphia Satellite Election Offices and drop boxes.  

Make sure your mail-in ballot is counted!  Check instructions in this good explainer with lots of details about mail-in ballots at the PA Department of State website.  

You can vote in person by mail ballot before election day!  It sounds a little confusing, but here's how it works:  Once ballots have been distributed, you can apply for a mail-in ballot at your election board office before the deadline.  The office will hand you a ballot and you simply vote the ballot and drop it in the voting box there.

You can track your mail-in ballot at this ballot tracker.

Find the Satellite Election Offices here and the locations of all of the drop boxes.  

You can see answers to a lot more questions for college student voting at this link.  

HERE'S HOW TO HELP MAKE OUR ELECTIONS SAFE

You can be a poll worker.  You can sign up to work at a polling place on election day to help make sure the voting runs smoothly.  Check out all the details here.

You can be a Poll Observer and work half a day at a polling place. This is a partisan position and you sign up for the Poll Observer program run by the PA Democrats by signing up for a training here:  Primary Election Day Poll Observer Training  

You can be a Designated Agent.  This is one of the most rewarding efforts you can do - you'll actually be helping get out a vote that otherwise wouldn't be counted!  Here's more info.  You can sign up for a required training to learn more.

PHONE BANK TO PROVIDE VOTING SUPPORT!

Turn Pa Blue and Promote the Vote are calling voters every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm ET to correct misinformation and offer voting support ahead of the May 19th Primary election. They provide training and support during every Zoom phone bank.Join and make a real impact on Pennsylvania's midterms!Sign up here

MORE VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES!

You can register voters and get them ready for this year's elections.  Join us and we'll give you a short training first and all the materials you need.  

Fairmount Arts Crawl

Where:  North 24th Street & Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia

When:  April 26, Noon to 4:00 pm (two shifts)

Sign up here.

Philly AIDS Thrift

Where: 710 South 5th Street

When:  Noon to 4:00 pm (two shifts)

Sign up here.

MAY DAY RALLY!

Join us with our local unions at City Hall on May Day at 4:00 pm to say Workers Over Billionaires!  Besides hearing from speakers, the plan is for folks at the rally to ratify their Working People's Vision for Philadelphia.  And as you can see above, if you're in Mt. Airy, you can come with a group from there.  See you there!

When you're at the rally you can bring signs to say thank you unions: for our 40 hour work week, no child labor, etc. 

NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING.

This is another part of the May Day effort.  It's about flexing our economic power on May 1, sending a message to Trump and his oligarch enablers: We refuse to do business as usual as you trample our rights, terrorize our communities, and conduct your war. The goals is to be a day of mass refusal to engage with the American economic engine.  

Part of this effort is the rally noted above.  Of course, not everyone will be able to refuse work, school, or spending entirely, but it's vital that each of us does whatever we can do to show the regime that we don't just have numbers -- we have economic leverage. 

This type of action is new for Indivisible - our national movement has never done this type of economic disruption before. But we need to be prepared to do it in the future. 

We know that Trump and his cronies are going to try to sabotage the election. And when that happens, it won’t be enough to pull from our regular playbook. We will need to demonstrate a widespread backlash that lets Trump know that we won’t just go along while he tries to rig our democracy.  So we’re taking inspiration from the powerful organizing in Minnesota. 

Next Citizens Bank Protests

Citizens Bank has long financed private prison and detention facility companies even though there have been years of allegations of forced labor, healthcare neglect, and other abuses. Citizens is a lender to companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, which have caused widespread, documented harm to people in their facilities.

Here in Pennsylvania, GEO operates the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest ICE detention facility in the Northeast. When people in our communities are abducted by ICE, they are usually taken to Moshannon.

Join us to tell Citizens Bank that we want them to stop supporting this cruelty. We will protest peacefully with signs on the sidewalk outside the branch and we will have handouts for passersby, to tell them about Citizens' support of abusive detention facilities.

Two protests in Philadelphia on May 2nd -

Chestnut Hill Citizens Bank

Where:  Corner of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike

When:  May 2, 10:00 - 11:00 AM

Sign up here.

Center City Citizens Bank Branch

Where:  1515 Market Street

When:  Saturday, May 2, 11;00 - Noon

Sign up here.

JOIN OUR DETENTION CAMP LABOR PROJECT

Write Some Letters!

Join the 800 others who are writing two letters a week in our new Detention Camp Labor program!  You can join the team too and write a couple of letters a week to the companies we are focusing on. Sign up here and we'll give you all the information you need!  Check out the project's background at this link.

JOIN OUR LEAFLET PHILLY PROJECT

Today is the last day to sign up to get your leaflets for May.  This month we're focusing directly on getting out the vote for the May 19 primary election. 

Join over 450 of your fellow Indivisible Philadelphia activists making a real difference! Just one time every month you’ll hang one hundred eye-catching leaflets on doors in your neighborhood.  Sign up here!

MORE PROTESTS YOU CAN JOIN

1.  Springfield protest - Every Saturday, 1:00 - 2:00 at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and PA Route 320.  Bring your signs on your favorite topic!  

2. Tesla Takedown Protest - Every Saturday - 11:00 - Noon

Tesla Takedown Devon - At the Tesla showroom, 470 Lancaster Ave, Devon, PA 

3. Every Friday -- 11:15 am - Join Fridays@Fetterman's for the weekly Friday vigil for peace in Gaza/Palestine outside of Senator John Fetterman's office at 200 Chestnut Street from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm. Register here  

4.  NEW/OLD TIME Fitz Friday - 5:00 - 6:00 pm -- Protest at Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick's office at One Summit Square, Langhorne, PA. Bring signs about whatever you want. There's a lot to complain about!

5. Every Wednesday 5:30 - 6:30 pm -- Join this resistance group at #WeThePeopleWednesdays for Singing for Sanity at Unitarian Universalist Church, 6900 Stenton Avenue.  More information is here.

6.  NEW!  Every Thursday, 4:30 - 6:00 pm.  Join your Northern Liberties neighbors in peaceful protest at the corner of 2nd and Spring Garden Streets. Bring signs or borrow ours! 

7.  Every Wednesday at noon - Outside the Philadelphia ICE Office, 114 N. 8th Street.   Sponsored by New Sanctuary Movement.  This is a 40-week series of Interfaith Prayer Vigils.  

8. Every Monday at Noon - Monday at McCormick's -- Join our friends at Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW for Monday's at McCormick's,, in front of Senator McCormick's office at 20th and Market Streets.

9.  Every Monday at 11:00 AM - Vigil outside the ICE office, 114 North 8th Street, Phila. sponsored by State Senator Art Haywood and led by local clergy.

10.  Every Friday at 3:00 - Join a vigil outside the ICE office at 114 North 8th Street.  

11. Are you outside the Philadelphia area?  You can see all the protests planned by Indivisibles in your area at this link. 

And A Few More Things:

We can send you our No Kings t-shirt!  For the short sleeve shirt, make a donation of $35 and then sign up for your choice.  Or, for the long sleeve shirt, make a donation of $45 and then sign up for your choice.  Your shirt will be mailed directly to you. 

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