Hi everyone, happy AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) month. If you’re free this Wednesday May 21st at 9am Pacific Time, here’s a great free virtual panel featuring Asian women entrepreneurs discussing the intersection of business and social justice.
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I hope you are hanging in there despite the daily bouts of chaos and cruelty. With everything going on, it’s easy and understandable to fall into despair. But we need to remind ourselves that amazing things are happening daily. There are stories of hope, community, and resistance. Good people are fighting back against injustice every day. Here are a few good things that have taken place recently. Thank you to colleagues and to Zann Zsuzsannika (on Facebook), who let me know of them:
- Omaha Nebraska has its first Black mayor, as Democratic candidate John Ewing Jr. defeating a transphobic three-term Republican candidate. He won by double digits.
- In Montana, 17 Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats in defeating a horrible Anti-Trans bill that would have criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including classifying doctors, nurses, and parents as felons.
- In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul signs a bill that would force fossil fuel companies to pay for the damage they cause to the environment.
- The Supreme Court rules 7-2 against Trump in the Alien Enemies Act case, preventing the administration from deporting Venezuelan nationals with little notice.
- A federal judge orders ICE to restore the legal status of the 133 students whose visas they revoked.
- Maine Governor Janet Mills, who told Trump she would “see you in court,” successfully sued the administration after it froze funds as punishment for the state not complying with Trump’s orders to ban transgender athletes on girls’ sports teams. And she’s getting an award for it!
- Ranked-choice voting is making progress, including in Boston, Multnomah County Oregon, and in Maine.
- In Alabama, Trump-appointed federal judges ruled that Alabama’s 2023 congressional map is racially discriminatory and is in violation of both the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment.
- In Seattle, 63% of voters voted to support social housing, despite tech giants spending big money to oppose it.
- In Michigan, a judge struck down three of the state’s remaining abortion restrictions, ruling that they are unconstitutional.
- In Australia, center-left prime minister Anthony Albanese won reelection over Trump-like Peter Dutton, who also lost his own seat!
- That follows Canada, where Trump-like Pierre Poilievre, who had be poised to win as prime minister, also lost that election and lost his own seat.
- In Tarrant County, Texas, several right-wing-backed candidates lost elections, including conservative Julie Short, who was defeated by Michael Evans, Mansfield’s first Black mayor. Right-wing Tammy Nakamura got ousted from the school board; she had helped passed a policy to allow schools to ignore kids’ preferred pronouns, even when their parents approved.
- In Naples, a judge granted a preliminary injunction against the City when it tried to prohibit drag shows at the Napes Pride Fest.
- In Columbus, Ohio, the City is taking a stand in support of local LGBTQ+ youth, unanimously passing an ordinance to provide 100K in funding to Kaleidoscope Youth Center.
- Washington State became the first state to pass a law to increase access to hormone therapies, an important protection for trans people.
- Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri has been released from ICE detention. He was taken as part of Trump’s targeting of pro-Palestine activists. A US district court judge ordered the Trump administration to release him.
- Chicago’s city council passes “Green Social Housing” plan, which will create more affordable housing in the city.
- The Episcopal Church takes a stand against racial injustice, calling out the government for its preferential treatment of white Afrikaners from South Africa.
- Salt Lake City and Boise leaders, in response to Republicans passing laws to prohibit the Pride flag from being flown on government property, creatively found ways to fly the flags anyway, by redesigning the flags and voting them in as official flags. Brilliant.
I am sure there are plenty more good news. Please list any additional ones I missed in the comment section. Let’s remind ourselves that good people are fighting against cruelty and injustice every day, and are winning!