The Amp

This week, the Senate is deciding the rules for the trial to convict President Trump of the high crimes and misdemeanors outlined in the articles of impeachment passed by the House. This moment in history calls for social justice advocates to weigh in on the importance of interrogating the values of this president and his administration. Discuss the impeachment by citing the values of Voice and Equality.

• Take action: Share Indivisible’s call-in tool to demand that senators support a fair impeachment trial.
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking Impeachment: Protecting our Democratic Values; Center for American Progress’ Trump’s Constitutional Crisis
• Hashtag: #ImpeachmentTrial

The Trump administration wants to change Social Security rules for people who get disability benefits, forcing them to prove their disability every two years. The Coalition on Human Needs points out that, in the 1980s, a massive public outcry reversed a similar Reagan administration policy which denied benefits to more than 315,000 Americans. Discuss this proposal by citing the values of Economic Security and Community.

• Take action: Use these tools to tell the Social Security Administration not to create additional burdens for people with disabilities: Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Center for American Progress
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Opportunity Impact Statement - Expanding the American Dream; Community Legal Services of Philadelphia’s Social Security Action Alert; Huffington Post's Trump Administration Quietly Goes After Disability Benefits and Cutting Social Security Disability Benefits Can Backfire Horribly; The National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives’ public comment
• Hashtag: #NoSocialSecurityCuts; #CripTheVote  

Last week, the acting director of the Dept. of Homeland Security tweeted a scaremongering accusation which reignited discussion about “sanctuary city” policies in New York and other cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE. Mayor Bill De Blasio posted a strong values-based response to shift the narrative to one of safety and community. When discussing sanctuary city policies, cite the values of Community, Redemption, and Economic Security.

• Messaging and communication tools:  The Opportunity Agenda’s Redefining Sanctuary Recommendations; Immigrant Defense Project’s tweet statement; Common Justice’s tweet; New Sanctuary Coalition statement
• Hashtags: #sanctuarycity; #freedomcities

Below is a list of this week's communication hooks as well as events that you can use to reach new audiences and inform existing ones. Click on each link for messaging tools and hashtags.

Events and Cultural Hooks:

• Poverty Awareness Month
• Sundance Film Festival: now until Sunday, Feb. 2
• Poor People's Campaign's "Battle for the Bible: Christian Nationalism and the Movement to End Poverty": Saturday, Jan. 25
• Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day: Saturday, Jan. 25
• Grammy awards: Sunday, Jan. 26
• Fourth circuit hears oral arguments against Muslim ban: Tuesday, Jan. 28
• Fred Korematsu Day: Thursday, Jan. 30

Historical Anniversaries:

• Supreme Court rules in Roe V. Wade: Jan. 22, 1973
• Disability rights activist Edward Verne Robert's birthday: Jan. 23, 1939
• Angela Davis born: Jan. 26, 1944
• Trump issues "Muslim Ban" executive order: Jan. 27, 2017
• Migration Protection Protocols implemented: Jan. 29, 2019
• U.S. House of Representatives votes to add 13th Amendment to Constitution: Jan. 31, 1865 

*Add The Amp media hooks to your work calendar. Here's how...

You don't need to wait each week for the Amp action alert to find out what's coming up. You can easily add our media hooks and events to your work calendar, which will automatically update when you refresh your calendar. Here's how:

• Google Calendar:  Follow these instructions to subscribe to calendar using an email address (not link option). Copy and paste this entire address:      o33rmu231ochbp5i16botmsvus@group.calendar.google.com 
• Outlook: Follow these instructions. Copy and paste this entire link:   https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/o33rmu231ochbp5i16botmsvus%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
• Apple iCal for Macs: Follow these instructions. Copy and paste this entire link:   https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/o33rmu231ochbp5i16botmsvus%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics