Dear John,

I’ve been sitting with and appreciating these words and this practice from Cole Arthur Riley (Black Liturgies): 

Inhale
This is too much to hold.

Exhale
So we hold it together.

None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something – and together, we are mighty. We continue to call on our elected officials to act for a ceasefire, and we continue to mourn the lives lost in Israel and Palestine. We reject despair by taking action.

As we act for global liberation, we can also take easy and meaningful action to materially improve our lives and the lives of our communities by voting in our local elections. We can support progressive, accountable candidates by knocking doors and helping to get out the vote this weekend. Sign up for a shift with TakeAction. Training, scripts, and snacks provided. Check out and share TakeAction’s Busy Voter Guide, and make sure your loved ones have the information and resources they need to vote by 8pm on Tuesday, November 7. 

Here are the stories that have grounded me and given me hope this week: 

1. What we talk about when we talk about Gaza

Waleed Shahid explores divisions on the left, and rejects the toxicity of fighting over who has been hurt more, urging “a different path forward: a politics of solidarity where every human being is precious and has value.”

2. United Auto Workers reach a tentative agreement

United Auto Workers (UAW) has reached a tentative agreement after 50,000 workers went on a six-week long strike. “All three of the tentative agreements include 25 percent wage boosts, nearly three times the size of the 9 percent raises that GM and Ford offered when contract negotiations began in July. Stellantis initially offered union members a 14.5 percent raise.” 

3. "What could we win together?" Labor in MN gears up for major escalation

Thousands of Minnesota union workers’ contracts are set to expire in 2024 – and they’re already working in solidarity to win more, together. “Workers are laying the groundwork for solidarity and mass action if contract negotiations do escalate … this kind of cross-sectoral organizing is not common in the United States and workers in Minnesota are taking a bold and unique step toward building greater unity within the broader labor movement.”

4. UAW urges all unions in U.S. to prepare for May Day 2028 strikes

Minnesota unions are setting the stage for nation-wide union strikes in 2028. “We invite unions around the country to align your contract expirations with our own, so that together we can begin to flex our collective muscles. If we’re going to truly take on the billionaire class and rebuild the economy so that it starts to work for the benefit of the many and not the few, then it’s important that we not only strike, but that we strike together.”

5. Mourning and remembering Ady Barkan

We are mourning the passing of healthcare activist Ady Barkan. Learn more about Ady and his work from Democracy Now, and revisit his 2019 article on AIPAC and right-wing attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar: “I do not expect to live to see the liberation of the Palestinian people. But I maintain hope that my toddler son will. If he does, it will be because young American Jews like him do the honest self-reflection taught by our forebears, take pride in our tradition of justice, and join in solidarity and struggle with fellow Semites like Omar.”

6. 30 Israeli groups urge community to help stop surging West Bank settler violence

“With international focus on the horrors of Israel's assault on Gaza, 30 Israeli human rights and anti-occupation organizations on Sunday aimed to draw attention to a surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank … The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday that 111 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed since October 7.”

7. Fighting Antisemitism is a critical piece of a racial justice agenda

From 2021: “The fact is that white Jews both benefit from whiteness and are targeted by white supremacy. By not talking about that, we’d allowed ourselves to avoid grappling with that complicated truth and messy identity. We weren’t working on our own trauma, nor had we been vulnerable with our organizing partners the way they had been with us. I wondered if by hiding our own fears and pain points, we’d been in service rather than relationship.” 

8. The possibility of an off-year election

In Minneapolis, we’re fighting for a veto-proof progressive majority when we go to the polls on Tuesday. Learn about Soren Stevenson’s campaign for a kinder, safer Minneapolis in Ward 8, and take action by door knocking and phone banking this weekend: “An off-year election typically has a lower voter turnout. So the winner may be decided by whichever candidate is better at old-fashioned grassroots campaign techniques like door knocking and phone banking: ‘I think the potential for surprises is really there.’”

9. The Palestine double standard

I’m deeply grateful to Palestinian-American writer and psychologist Hala Alyan for this piece in The New York Times. She writes, “The task of the Palestinian is to be palatable or to be condemned. The task of the Palestinian, we’ve seen in the past two weeks, is to audition for empathy and compassion. To prove that we deserve it. To earn it.”

10. The Kansas City Tenant Union is demonstrating renter power

More union power: as rent costs and eviction rates skyrocket, the Kansas City Tenant Union is one of over 50 tenant unions around the country building collective power for renter rights. The goal of their movement is a "wholesale transformation of how we treat housing in this country, from housing treated as a commodity to housing that’s guaranteed as a public good."

What’s been grounding you this week, and where have you been reminded of our collective power? 

In care and solidarity,

Jessie Lee-Bauder (she/her)