We in Grassroots Alexandria are getting a lot of inquiries from prospective volunteers. Here is some info to help you get started.
If you want to rally for democracy
Our Community Voices project raises awareness of events and actions that might help us protect our community from the dismantling of public services and the public square (that is, democracy itself), and the looting of public resources by kleptocrats. The Community Voices Update goes out to our email list and to this Facebook page.
To see the weekly Community Voices Update, see our events page or subscribe to the Grassroots Alexandria email list.
In addition, you can connect directly to any of these organizations (this is not a comprehensive list):
https://www.fiftyfifty.one
https://www.harrietsdreams.org
https://indivisible.org
https://linktr.ee/50501DC
https://mdcdsa.org/
https://www.movementinfrastructureproject.org
https://www.peoplepowerunited.org
https://www.anddemocracy.com/events/
Virginia Grassroots resistance events list
If you hear about a local rally or relevant national boycott, please let us know at grassrootsalexandria@gmail.com.
If you want to resist mass deportation
Organizations that are leading this effort in Alexandria are Tenants and Workers United and Legal Aid Justice Center:
https://www.tenantsandworkers.org/
https://www.justice4all.org/
People who do this work are cautious, even more so than in 2017. To get involved with direct action, show up at meetings and talk to the other activists. You can also reach out to City Council, the Alexandria Police Department, or the Alexandria Sheriff, with a simple message: “I live in Alexandria and I don’t want to see my friends and neighbors deported. Within the law, please refuse to cooperate with ICE.”
https://www.alexandriava.gov/Council
APDNews@alexandriava.gov
sean.casey@alexandriava.gov
If you want to work locally
In Grassroots Alexandria, we work on Alexandria Human Rights (Palestinian Human Rights, ICE Out of Alexandria, Anti-Fascism Response, Community Voices), Education (Restorative Practices), Housing Equity (affordable housing and tenants rights), and Transportation Equity (Frequent and Free DASH Bus Service).
Join the Grassroots Alexandria email list (https://groups.google.com/g/gra-announce) or write to grassrootsalexandria@gmail.com and we’ll get in touch with you to help you get involved.
If you want to be assured that you are not crazy
We can take time to educate ourselves. Be assured, what is happening is truly dangerous and unprecedented. At our meetings, in our reading group, and our discussions, we share information and resources. We will share two here.
For a clear understanding of the present constitutional crisis and the precise legal issues, we recommend the Amicus podcast. If someone seems to be breaking the law, sometimes it feels better to know which law is being broken and what, legally, is likely to happen next.
For historical context, including recent history of the “gravedigger of democracy,” the “masculinity grifters” behind Elon Musk’s deranged dictatorial cosplay, and the tech-bro would-be philosopher king that invented the acronym RAGE (retire all government employees), we recommend Behind the Bastards. Here, historian Robert Evans tells funny and informative stories about historical (and present-day) “worst humans in history.” Yes, it might take years to defeat today’s crop of bastards. But we can laugh at them right away.
If you need motivation
According to political scientist Erica Chenoweth, we need “a coalition of pro-democratic grassroots and grasstops [high profile] civic groups, political leaders, business leaders, faith leaders, unions and workers’ groups, and the like, working in concert at the local, state, and national levels to build and implement a strategy for expanding democracy in the US.”
We in Grassroots Alexandria cannot create this coalition, but we do our best to support its emergence and to help people find it. For a map of recent actions across the USA, see here.