Social Justice Corner Newsletter November 22, 2024

Suppose you are wondering why social justice advocacy is part of our Christian values and how to engage. In that case, the Episcopal Public Policy Network has published a very comprehensive guide called "Faith and Citizenship which contains very useful and practical steps. Here is the guide: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/OGR-Faith-and-Citizenship.pdf

For this week's advocacy:

• There are 40 men on federal death row, and time is running out for President Biden to commute their sentences and save their lives. Donald Trump assumes office on January 20. In 2020, he and Attorney General William Barr ordered the execution of 13 people, 12 men and one woman, in just six months. Many of those executed had intellectual disabilities, serious mental illnesses, and histories of deep trauma, and their legal proceedings were tainted by racial bias, junk science, and other flaws. Seven of the 13 killed were people of color. These men were killed despite calls for mercy from victims’ families and demands for fairness from a broad coalition of Americans across political and faith backgrounds. Write to President Biden to ask him to commute these sentences: https://default.salsalabs.org/T8c163ec4-3048-4fdc-9761-602b44bec0ba/891b0373-bdcb-4f36-9189-1f04a19009d1

• Protect Our Right to Stand Up for Justice The U.S. House is reviving a bill that would give the executive branch broad authority to rescind the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations that it disagrees with through H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.

• Call on Congress to block military sales to Israel Please reach out to your member of Congress and ask them to support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval and stop sending offensive weapons to Israel!

• Support Armenians’ Human Rights We urge Congress to support aid for humanitarian relief for displaced Armenians and diplomatic interventions to promote peace in the region.