Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we will provide a brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment, share immediate actions you can take, and provide helpful resources to deepen knowledge and practice of our collective work to side with love.
Nothing is inevitable. All justice movements are powered by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and build a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together we can practice and win a just and loving world where all of us thrive.
Remember we build strong movements when we take action together. Organize teams and networks that can take these actions together. For support on practical organizing skills and support check out our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Top Lines for this week:
The Trump Administration is expected to release Executive Orders targeting the tax-exempt status of nonprofits this Earth Day which could do anything from revoking tax exempt status to designating organizations as “terrorist organizations” for working on climate change, immigration, human rights, and anything counter to the Trump administration’s agenda. Add your congregation to the Open Letter Rejecting Presidential Attacks on Nonprofit Organizations, and encourage your community partners to also sign in solidarity.
Democracy
We are witnessing the consolidation of power in the hands of the few instead of the many. Democracy is a process and practice grounded in our values of interdependence that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all. We are the majority, but we must organize our communities to build the power to defeat authoritarianism and build a truly multiracial democracy.
The Update:
At a public GOP political forum in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho last month, a local sheriff directed several men to remove Teresa Borrenpohl for speaking disruptively (video here).The trouble is, the men were neither law enforcement staff nor uniformed security, so their assault was a disturbing precedent. This week, battery and false imprisonment charges were filed against six men who seized Borrenpohl and a civil lawsuit is pending. We await news on holding the sheriff accountable.
North Dakota Republicans placed a proposal on the 2026 statewide ballot to prevent ballot initiatives from amending the state constitution with a mere majority of votes. The legislative referral would require that future initiatives and referenda to win 60 percent of the vote to succeed. Even in “red states,” voters have consistently approved progressive ballot measures on a range of issues in recent years. North Dakota follows a trend of GOP lawmakers attempting to weaken citizen lawmaking to obstruct the will of constituents. Only Florida and Illinois currently require a 60 percent supermajority for such initiatives.
Read:
Without a functioning Bill of Rights, democracy no longer exists. Historian Thomas Zimmer wrote an unflinching analysis of the motives behind the Trump regime’s lawless attack on immigrants and our constitutional rights (especially the 6th Amendment) and its consequences. Read How the Republic Falls.
Act:
Choose a point made in the article above, or your own to craft a letter to the editor on the imperative of defending the constitutional rights of every person (the Bill of Rights applies to citizens and non-citizens equally). Use any current news story for a “hook” and refer to our ”Crafting words that inspire” resource for helpful tips.
Join:
Join Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice to learn about Democracy Forward at this month’s Democracy Leaders' Event, Wednesday, April 23. Register for free here.
Watch/Listen:
Faithful Witness Wednesday. A coalition of 29 faith-based groups organize vigils calling on Congress to exercise greater moral courage in upholding its powers as a co-equal branch of government to fight fascism. The next gathering on April 30 will be available on YouTube live and post-event.
Gender & LGBTQ Justice
Every body is sacred. Side With Love unapologetically affirms that trans people are divine, that abortion is a blessing, and that no one is disposable. Attacks on identity is a part of a divide and conquer tactic that relies on the belief that one group's safety comes at the expense of another group's safety. Solidarity is the moral and strategic mandate of our time, and we must rise to challenge these attacks and build communities of care and safety for all.
The Update:
This collection of resources and news highlights the ongoing fight for trans rights and collective liberation. It includes a practical guide for testifying at public forums to support trans rights, updates on a federal judge’s order requiring the State Department to issue accurate passports to transgender individuals despite a restrictive policy, and safety tips for using Signal in light of cybersecurity concerns. Also featured is an opportunity to become a facilitator for SACReD’s Reproductive Justice curriculum, promoting healing and organizing in faith communities. Finally, a conversation with ACLU’s Chase Strangio underscores the alarming rise of anti-trans legislation across the U.S., which poses significant threats to trans youth and their access to essential care.
Act:
How to Testify for Trans Rights: A comprehensive guide to testifying for trans rights in front of school boards, city councils, state legislatures, and more
Read:
Judge orders State Department to provide passports to transgender people despite Trump order: A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the State Department to issue passports to six transgender and nonbinary people while litigation continues challenging President Donald Trump’s policy recognizing people only by their sex assigned at birth. Trump’s order signed on his first day returning to office Jan. 20 directed the government to recognize only two sexes, male and female. The State Department changed its policies to issue passports that “accurately reflect the holder’s sex” assigned at birth, as directed in Trump’s order.
Learn:
RSF Resources for Signal - How to be safe while using Signal for communication: The open source messaging application Signal was recently rumoured to be the victim of cyber attack on its servers. Following this, the European Commission published a useful guide providing advice on how to safely use the application, widely used by journalists.”
Join:
A SACReD Journey: Toward Healing, Transformation, & Organizing for Reproductive Justice!
“Become SACReD Journey Curriculum Facilitator! May 5-6, 2025 in New Orleans
This 12 hour training will prepare you to facilitate the SACReD curriculum for your congregation, faithful organization, or curious community.
Trained facilitators will be ready to lead a curriculum that: deepens understanding of Reproductive Justice, engages complex theological approaches to liberation and systemic oppression, and introduces practices of healing, and strengthens our community organizing.”
Watch/Listen:
The Fixation on Anti-Trans Legislation with Chase Strangio: State legislatures have significantly advanced a record number of attacks aimed at restricting LGBTQ+ rights this year. Our guest this week points out that “the number one priority, without any ambiguity” of Republicans has been attacking trans people. Nearly half of the country could see health care bans for trans adolescents by May. This tidal wave of anti-trans legislation, which restricts gender affirming and medically necessary care, continues to have wide-ranging and deleterious impacts, especially on adolescents. Chase Strangio, who is transgender, is deputy director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project and a nationally recognized expert on trans rights.”
Decriminalization & Immigration
As you know, there are too many deportations, abductions, and arrests to share in this update, from Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Durham HBCU students. Inevitably, more will have changed between when we are writing this and when you read it. So if you’re not already following Democracy Now, Interrupting Criminalization, and Convergence Magazine’s Block and Build podcast, we commend them to you! Please remember to tend to your spirit as you digest the overwhelming news of increasing criminalization. Don’t forget to read the Resist List for a boost in the power of resistance in realtime.
Act:
Make a plan to show up for May Day at an action near you (or learn more at this call Wednesday, April 23rd @ 8:00ET
Tell Judiciary Committee Democrats: Go to El Salvador and Demand Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Release
Read:
Prisons Must Fall, the newly published children’s book by Mariame Kaba and Jane Ball and gorgeously illustrated by Olly Costello. “On a moonlit road, tucked away from prying eyes, a child sees a prison complex — cinder blocks, watch towers, barbed wire. Page by page, we come to see the prison as a child sees it. Prisons hurt people and leave them lonely, without loved ones to comfort them or lend a listening ear.”
This article about farmworker organizing and targetted deportations
Learn:
About the 4th Amendment Workplace Campaign as our defense guide against violations of the Constitution by ICE at work on this call April 29th
Join:
Digital Security Training by Vision Change Win April 30 (Thirtieth), 2-4 pm EST
Come learn about the best practices to safeguard against digital safety threats, how to build up your organizational practices in digisec, and how to start assessing what your group needs.
Fourth Amendment Workplaces Training – Tuesday April 29th, 7-8:30pm
Learn to put in place measures that reduce the risk of unconstitutional entry by federal agents, and support employers and employees to understand their rights in the event of an unexpected visit by law enforcement. Join the training to learn how you can expand community defense with Siembra NC’s Fourth Amendment Workplaces strategy.
The ACLU is hosting workshops twice per month on Know Your Rights.
Join the ACLU for a Know Your Rights training ahead of May Day to prepare yourself, your friends, and your community. Whether you're planning to protest, support from the sidelines, or just want to stay informed—this training is for you. The next one is Tuesday, April 29th at 7 PM EST
Climate Justice
A just and loving world is a flourishing world. If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence.
Climate change affects not only the weather extremes people face but also food production. The latest news of impact involves rice. From the BBC: “Rice is a staple food for more than half of the global population. It is consumed on a daily basis by more people than either wheat or maize, also known as corn. So it is with some concern that scientists have unveiled a recent finding: that as carbon emissions rise and the Earth continues to warm, so too will arsenic levels in rice” Although rice does contain non-harmful levels of arsenic, scientists have found that arsenic levels increase with CO2 emissions. “The doubling of inorganic arsenic in rice grain at any soil arsenic concentration with temperatures increases of 5 °C severely enhances the potential for human dietary exposure to arsenic.” The consequences of this dietary exposure could mean increased cases for cancer, just due to arsenic poisoning alone. This is just one example of the ways climate justice is food justice and economic justice.
Act:
Spread the word in your community on best practices for preparing rice in the age of climate change: Researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK also recently discovered a way of cooking rice that can remove 50% of the arsenic in brown rice and 74% from white rice. They recommend first parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining. Then add fresh water and cook it on a lower heat to absorb all the water.
Sign up for a free training on the Environmental Resilience Institute website at Indiana University: https://eri.iu.edu/erit/trainings/index.html
Read:
How climate change could affect arsenic in rice
Climate is not just a problem of physics but a crisis of justice