Still Busy, Still Moving Forward!

"Always Be Kind"

Timothy Snyder, 9/16/2025

Happy Tuesday, Activists ~

We hope you had a good weekend.  The quote above comes from our guest tomorrow night, Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny and other books.  He wrote it as a result of his recent trip to Ukraine and it's from his most recent post of the same title.  I thought you might find it relevant, thought provoking, soothing maybe (?) for the times we're living in. 

Tomorrow, professor Snyder will join us on zoom to talk about the importance of our newest project.  See below for details below and we hope you can make it.

In case you missed it, check out last Friday's newsletter at this link for more information about the important Call to Action and events.

VIDEO FROM THE PA JUSTICES MEETING!

In case you couldn't come to it, below is the link to the video from our recent meeting with the PA Supreme Court justices.  So many of you told us afterward how much you learned and appreciated about what this court does.  And of course the importance of voting YES on November 4!

Here is the link.  Please share it far and wide so that many voters understand that they must be a voter in this election.  There are no off-year elections!  

DETENTION CAMP LABOR PROJECT

If you saw last Monday's special newsletter, you know we are starting a new project.  All the details are in that newsletter and you should read it at this link.  In short, our project is about writing the letters to companies to ask them to pledge not to use detention camp labor. We'll be starting that part of it soon.  Again, please read Monday's newsletter to see what it's all about, with links to more information.  

This is the part of this project we are starting now.  Two major companies with government contracts to run private prisons and detention centers are GEO Group and CoreCivic.  The largest lender to companies like GEO and CoreCivic is Citizens Bank. In 2019 most lenders backed out of these relationships but not Citizens. 

We had very successful statewide protests at Citizens branches - two in Philadelphia - this past Saturday and we'll be announcing more very soon. 

Here is the best part!

We invited Professor Snyder to speak to our group to describe the importance of this project and he said yes!  He is thrilled we are doing it and he will be on a zoom meeting with us on September 17th at noon.  We will record it in case you can’t make it but if you come, you can ask questions. 

So sign up here!

NO KINGS 2.0!

Yes, it's coming!  It's time for us to raise our voices again against the autocracy forming in front of us.  That means it's time for another No Kings protest to show we will do all we can to ensure that it fails.

The next No Kings peaceful protest will be on Saturday, October 18th.  Our plan is for a rally and march from City Hall to Independence Mall where we'll have music and hear from some exciting speakers.  However, please be aware that these locations may change depending on how big we expect the crowd to be. So PLEASE sign up and urge your friends to as well, so we have an idea about crowd size.  Thanks! 

We're making our plans for a meaningful and exciting - and peaceful - event.  Sign up now so you get all the updates.

When:  Saturday, October 18, Noon - 3:00

Where:  North apron of City Hall with a march to Independence Mall

Sign up here. 

TOMORROW IS NATIONAL CONSTITUTION DAY

-->  TWO PROTESTS

Yes, tomorrow is the Constitution's anniversary.  It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document right here in Philadelphia. 

So we have two different protests for you tomorrow!  

1.  Stop Shredding the Constitution protest.  Justice Amy Coney Barrett will be speaking at the Constitution Center tomorrow. So Defend Our Courts will have a "welcome wagon protest" as she talks about her new book “Listening to the Law.” 

When:  Tomorrow, September 17th at 5:30 -  9:00

Where: National Constitution Cemter, 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia

Sign up here.

2.  The Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition is also holding rallies at the same time and for Philly, at the same place!  Plus three other locations, below.  They will be hosting a Statewide Day of Action to tell Governor Shapiro that it's time to end the various ways the state collaborates with ICE.  They are calling on the Governor to take administrative action to end this ICE collaboration and expand protections to immigrant communities.

Four locations all tomorrow, September 17th

Philadelphia Rally - 5:30 PM 

Constitution Center: 525 Arch St, PA 19106

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Haverford Rally, 5:30 - 6:30 PM

Old Haverford Friends Meeting House: 235 E. Eagle Rd, Havertown, PA

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State College Silent Vigil - 5:00 PM

Allen Street Gates: At the intersection of College and Allen Streets, State College, PA

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Wilkes-Barre Rally - 5:30 PM

Public Square Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

PHONE BANKS ARE HERE! 

Now that you've seen and heard the PA Supreme Court justices speak about the importance of the November 4th election, you can phone bank and talk to Pennsylvania voters about it!  Our friends at Red To Blue with One PA are hosting virtual phone banks to get out the vote.  So sign up and make a difference!  They will use the easy Scale to Win autodialer and will provide plenty of training and support for new callers.

When:  Every Thursday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Where:  Zoom

Sign up here.

CANVASSING IS BACK!

You can canvass to voters in Northeast Philly now too!  Sign up here to see the dates and for more information.

Two New One Million Rising Meetings

We had a fantastic meeting last week and we have at least two more in-person meetings as part of the One Million Rising project.  We hope you can come to one of them if you haven't made it to the other ones. 

At the meeting, we'll have a quick review of why we are doing this and how this strategy works in breaking down the pillars of the autocracy's support.  Then we'll meet in small groups to discuss what part of a pillar each of us is involved in.  Are we in an alumni association, a professional association, a faith group, are you just a consumer?  This is where your power lies and that's what we'll talk about.  This is your power!

Please invite a couple of friends and neighbors too and they can join your small group.  And we'll have pizza and beverages!

For those of you who have already come to one of the others, we will have follow-up meetings on zoom.  Stay tuned for those.

Here is our Northeast Philly meeting

When: THIS THURSDAY, September 18th at 6:00 PM

Where:  American Legion Post 366, 7976 Oxford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19111

Sign up here.

Here is our second Northwest Philly Meeting

When:  Monday, September 22, 6:00 - 7:30 PM

Where:  First United Methodist Church of Germantown; 6001 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia

Sign up here.

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES

We're registering voters every Saturday at Philly AIDS Thrift.  We had a super successful day there on Saturday registering voters.  So let's keep it up! 

PLEASE REMEMBER - IF YOU SIGNED UP AND CANNOT MAKE IT please, please, please reply to this email and tell us so others can sign up. 

Where:  Philly AIDS Thrift, 710 S 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147. 

When:  Saturdays, September 20, 27, October 4 - two shifts on each day, Noon - 2:00; 2:00 - 4:00. 

Sign up here to pick your date and time.

WEEKLY PROTESTS 

1.   Avelo protests! Bring your signs and tell Wilmington to stop hosting Avelo when it flies our neighbors to detention camps for ICE.

Where:  Wilmington Airport, 151 N Dupont Hwy (near the intersection of Rt. 13 and School Lane), New Castle, DE 19720

When:  September 27th, 11:00 am to Noon.

Sign up here.

2.  Springfield protest - Bring your signs on your favorite topic!  

Every Saturday 1:00 - 2:00 protest in Springfield at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and PA Route 320. 

3.  Tesla Takedown Protest

Every Saturday - 11:00 - Noon

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

4.  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  

5.  Every 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!

6.  Every Wednesday 4:00 pm -- Join this resistance group at #WeThePeopleWednesdays for Singing for Sanity at Richard Allen Lane train station, Cresheim and Allen Lanes.

More information is here.

7.  Every Monday at Noon -- 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.

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

And One More Thing:

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