How do we show our appreciation?
At 12:46 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, it felt like someone had just unplugged the Sun. The utter darkness swallowed up the world, the present moment, and any way forward, absolutely and entirely. President Joe Biden, for all his gaffes and weaknesses, had my trust and my confidence, not blindly believing he was invincible, but feeling that he had put a team in place that would carry us through if he were unable to execute the Office of the President. What surprises me, looking back on that moment, is that my faith in his abilities apparently didn't extend to trusting him to not leave us hanging or to not plunge the world into chaos by standing down from his candidacy for reelection.
Within 30 minutes, he had provided the lifeline - the endorsement of his Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. Following his endorsement, it took only a few hours for the gears of this enormous ship to slip into place as the Party embraced the first Black Asian WOMAN to be a Presidential candidate in this nation. There are processes to go through, but 24 hours later, any serious contenders had announced they would not be seeking to gain the nomination. And the focus now becomes UNITY.
President Biden has been lauded as the most consequential and accomplished leader of this nation in generations. In being the polar opposite of his predecessor, Joe brought decency, integrity, and humanity back to the Oval Office and to our country. As his beloved though flawed son Hunter said, "He is unique in public life today in that there is no distance between Joe Biden the man and Joe Biden the public servant of the last 54 years." How privileged we have been these last 3 1/2 years to have had such a good man and statesman at the helm. We owe him a debt of gratitude for not just continuing to lead us, but for making the difficult decision to do so by bringing new energy into this crucial race.
So where does this leave us? We can show our appreciation and honor the lifetime of service that the President has given by doing our part. VOTING is just the bare minimum. Don't get me wrong, every vote counts and we must be fully committed to being in that polling booth every time there's a new ballot available to us. But beyond that, we can show up by registering voters and working at the polls. This past Thursday night, we had a great evening of information on ways to protect our right to vote. Jenna Royal, the immediate past Voter Protection director for the Texas Democratic Party, told us about the many ways we can get involved in Voter Protection! You can find out about the training opportunities here, and sign up to actually volunteer here!
And our local candidates still need our support! Representative Mihaela Plesa is in one of the most competitive races in the state in HD70. Averie Bishop for HD112, Sam Eppler for CD24 and George King for the State Board of Education District 12 all need your monetary and boots-on-ground support! (Lots of links! Click around to find the place that works for you!!)
This Saturday, the 27th, we return to La Casita Bakeshop to continue our focus on Voting Rights! Please note that we are meeting at 4:30!! We are excited to have Louis Bedford, attorney and director of Voter Protection for DCDP, speaking to us on local efforts to protect election integrity against the GOP voter suppression attempts. ALSO! Crystal Mason, Voting Rights Activist, will join us along with her attorney, Alison Grinter Allen, to tell us of her experience after she was wrongly convicted of illegal voting in 2016. They'll both be speaking on the importance of Voting Rights. Please join us at 4:30 this Saturday!
And we have big news for our August and September meetings!! In August we focus on our right to live free from gun violence and are honored to welcome one of the most vocal gun control advocates in the state - State Senator Roland Gutierrez! Please mark your calendars for August 15th at Four Bullets - 6:30-8:30! Then in September, we are excited to welcome Rep James Talarico, former teacher, to speak to us about the Right to Public Education! This event is going to be a shared event with other area clubs. It is scheduled for Saturday, Sept 21, from 3-5 pm and we are going to try to fill a 450-seat auditorium at Richland College! We're very excited to be hosting both these statewide phenoms as we continue to build engagement and momentum going into the 2024 ELECTION!
SEE YOU SOON~
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