Amplify Values In These Emerging Issues

Final Push for the 2020 Census
This is the final week enumerators will count residents for the 2020 Census. Trillions of dollars in decisions on how to allocate resources over the next decade will be based on the count. The Trump administration imposed an unusually early deadline on the Census bureau despite the challenges of counting accurately amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Hard-to-reach populations such as low-income communities, people of color, Indigenous populations and immigrants are further behind in responding to the 2020 census than they were in 2010, and experts are concerned speeding up the timeline will make it harder to close the gap for those groups. Congress has the power to extend the Census Bureau's Dec. 31 deadline for a final count, though it is unclear whether this deadline is driving the decision to end enumerators' work on Sept. 30.
- Take action: Remind everyone in your community to make sure they are counted, and why the Census matters.
- Read more: A Call for Creativity in the Final Weeks of the 2020 Census (Hyperallergic); Come to Your Census (Art + Action)
- Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Census Data and Storytelling and Census Data: A Fair and Accurate Count; Economic Policy Institute's By The Numbers and Racial and ethnic income gaps persist; Spotlight on Poverty's Five Things the Government’s Poverty Numbers Do (and Do Not) Tell Us
- Hashtags: #USApoverty; #CensusData; #Census2020
Justice for Breonna Taylor
Yesterday, a grand jury in Kentucky returned no charges against the police officers responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor. Three counts of "wanton endangerment" were brought against one officer on the scene for firing bullets into a neighboring apartment during the bungled raid that resulted in Taylor's death. Our communities have been rising up in grief and resistance in response to police violence all summer, and yesterday's developments further illustrated the need for accountability and defunding the police. Our new report, Beyond Policing, analyzes the failings of past police reforms and discusses how the movement to #DefundThePolice opens a pathway for solutions beyond police and punishment.
From The Opportunity Agenda:
- Beyond Policing: Supporting #DefundThePolice
- 10 Lessons for Talking About Race
- Why People Trust Their Lying Eyes: Implicit Bias and the Limitations of Video Footage in Tackling Police Brutality
- Our Transforming the System tool was featured in this Obama Foundation roundup of racial justice resources.
Resources from our partners:
- Petition: Defund the Police and Invest in Black Communities (Defending Black Lives)
- Healing In Action Toolkit (Black Lives Matter)
- Anat Shenker-Osorio and The Race Class Narrative Action’s messaging guide on policing, protest, and racial injustice
- #BuildCommunities Plan (JustLeadershipUSA)
Hashtags: #SayHerName; #BreonnaTaylor; #JusticeForBreonna; #DefundThePolice, #SayTheirNames, #BlackLivesMatter
Upcoming Media Hooks & Events
September 24-30
Events:
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- September is also Hunger Action Month and National Recovery Month
Birthdays, Anniversaries and Cultural Hooks:
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- September 28, 1829 - David Walker published the pamphlet, An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. Walker circulated copies via underground networks to empower enslaved people throughout the South.
- September 29, 2008 - The U.S. Stock Market crashed, contributing to the start of the Great Recession. It’s an important time to talk about how many communities and American families have yet to recover from the previous economic downturn, even as the pandemic downturn hit.
- September 29, 1977 - The 1977 Food Stamp Act was signed, this law is the framework for the modern food stamp program — or, as it’s now known, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- September 30, 1996 - President Bill Clinton signed into law the "Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.” Use this hook to talk about how the law criminalized thousands of people and led to the deportation of more than 4 million people.