Photo: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belmont,_NV_Courthouse.jpg)
One of the most powerful elected officials in your city is also one of the most overlooked. Across the country, prosecutors have the ability to shape criminal justice policy. Because most cases in the criminal justice system are resolved via plea bargain, prosecutors hold the power to decide who gets a second chance and who is incarcerated, and for how long.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Community_Meeting.JPG / Community Meeting La Union in Sunset Park, field trip with students by non-profit organization La Union)
The single most important thing you can do to influence politics: join up with other people to do in-person organizing. For today’s workout, we’re going to walk you through the process of joining Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, a fantastic grassroots organization that’s supporting the student-led movement to end gun violence. You could take the same steps to join Swing Left, 350.org, Indivisible, or one of the other groups in the MCW directory.
By Ben Shahn (1898-1969). For All These Rights We've Just Begun to Fight, CIO Political Action Committee, 1946. Courtesy of the HUC Skirball Cultural Center Museum Collection, Los Angeles, Library of Congress (164)hh0164s.jpg via https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/haven-home.html#obj8, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6426482
We are in an election year! All of the House of Representatives, 33 US Senators, 36 Governors, and numerous state and local offices are up for the vote in November, with many primary elections coming up before then, starting this month. This issue will focus on voter registration, the first step in turning resistance into electoral change.