https://d3v9r9uda02hel.cloudfront.net/production/static/widgets.jsVote on our poll for Five Minutes for Freedom Check-In 7!

guinevak:

ofgeography:

fizzygins:

wewithus:

The Five Minutes for Freedom series is a collection of small,
step-by-step walkthroughs designed to help you take concrete political
action in support of the principles of We With Us. The articles in the
series are designed to be read and their steps followed in order, as
later posts frequently build on earlier ones. A chronological index of
all posts in the series can be found here. While this information is targeted primarily at US readers, we welcome readers from all countries and encourage you to adapt these strategies as necessary for your jurisdiction.

5M4F 7: Protest by phone: denounce violence against protestors at Standing Rock (TIME SENSITIVE)
Dependencies: none.

Because the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock have been going on for quite some time, a lot of you may have already contacted people in power to register your protests against the use of militarized police against protestors or against the pipeline itself. (If not: you still can!)

However, yesterday the violence escalated: the highly militarized police who’ve been there for ages have now escalated to using concussion grenades and water cannons, in below-freezing weather, on peaceful protestors, who have extremely limited access to medical services. This is an urgent civil rights and human safety crisis. Even if you have already written letters or sent emails or made calls, your fellow humans need you to do it again, and they need you to do it as soon as you can.

Because I’m desperately trying to get this post out before 7 AM so I’m not late for class ohhhhh too late, I’m counting on you guys to do a little bit more of the work in terms of coming up with your wording than I did on the scripts I posted yesterday. However, you can focus on something like this as the core message of your calls:

The use of concussion grenades and water cannons on peaceful protestors is illegal in some countries because it is a violation of human rights in any country, and it is always an unacceptable abuse of power. Stop the use of force against protestors at Standing Rock immediately.

Just to be clear: focus on the human rights abuses first, because people are being injured and are in imminent danger of losing their lives. If you can fluidly also make it clear that you oppose the pipeline itself, please feel free to do so, but the human rights abuses are the most time-sensitive and mission-critical part of this particular 5M4F task.

Who to Call:

President Barack Obama/White House direct comment line, open 9 AM-5 PM Eastern (6 AM-2 PM Pacific), no voicemail available: 202-456-1414 as per this tweet.
White House comment page, if you can’t make calls: whitehouse.gov/contact

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell/U.S. Department of the Interior: 202-208-3100 as per this article.
USDOI comment page: https://www.doi.gov/feedback

Attorney General Loretta Lynch/U.S. Department of Justice: 202-353-1555 as per their website.
Email: Tracy.Toulou2@usdoj.gov as per this article.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple: 701-328-2200 as per this article.
ND Governor’s office comment email: governor.nd.gov/contact-us

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier: 701-667-3330 as per this article.
Email: kyle.kirchmeier@mortonnd.org

Morton County Commissioners Chairman Cody Schulz: 701-391-9698 as per this article.
Email: cody_schulz@hotmail.com

The police being sent to Standing Rock come from all over the area, not just from the immediate area: that Indian Country Today article I keep linking to has contact info for supervising organizations and the responsible politicians in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Ohio, as well as responsible federal officers. I’m focusing here on the federal level and immediate area just because I understand that you may not be able to contact every single person on that very long list list. Because the federal government has the power to intervene when states get out of hand, I would urge you to make your calls starting at the top of my list and working your way down to hit the federal level and immediate local area; and then go to the Indian Country Today article and contact any listed people from your own state (if you’re in one of the relevant states), and then just call your way down the rest of the Indian Country Today list for as long as you can. Then signal boost as hard as you can, however you can, wherever you can.

(If you just have a second to retweet, I stuck a link to this post on Twitter here.)

Check in on the poll above with whatever you can do. You can keep modifying your response, so if you call the White House now, then the governor at noon, then your state representatives on your afternoon coffee break, you can check things off as you go.

Because I’m trying to get this out fast and I won’t be able to call until after my first class, I’m doing a lot less rigorous fact checking than I usually do, so please do
reblog/reply if you have a hard time getting through to any of the numbers given or you have any corrections to contact info or responsible parties we should know about.

NON-US READERS: YOU CAN HELP WITH THIS ONE TOO–especially if you’re in a country with whom the US has a close relationship. Call your representatives and encourage them to publicly denounce the violence at Standing Rock—and reblog to let us know who you talked to. This is not an American political issue. This should be on the front page of every newspaper in every country that cares at all about human rights.

Signal boosting over here because this is really important and also time sensitive.

hey all! if,  like me, you get nervous making phone calls, this document has been HUGELY helpful with simple, to-the-point scripts that don’t require a 10-minute shakespearean monologue: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/174f0WBSVNSdcQ5_S6rWPGB3pNCsruyyM_ZRQ6QUhGmo/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true#

it’s updated with new things to call about with appropriate scripts AND the numbers to contact. 10/10.

oh good, scripts