20250429 STAND Newsletter – Launching protest workshops

Dear Friends,

Today we held our first meeting outside of our “normal” STAND programming on the use of technology in protest movements. Leadership from Protest and Communications walked us through how to use our cameras legally and safely, we reviewed some of the technologies used to control crowds at protests, how we can think about AI-based facial recognition, and how we can communicate with each other effectively and securely. I’m grateful to those that attended, and for those of you that couldn’t be there this evening, we will be working to turn some of these topics into documents that you can look over and reference in the future. Thank you to the folks who organized the event! It was a great way to kick off our team-specific gatherings, and I’m looking forward to holding more in the coming months.

It was also timely, because it’s time for STAND to, well, stand! We are going to take our words to the streets in our first STAND-led demonstration on May 17th with a rally and mini-march starting in downtown Decatur. I am extremely excited about it, and I can’t wait to fill you in on all the details in our next meeting on May 3rd. That’s this Saturday!!

If you’ve been on the fence, please consider joining us for this one. I believe that you will get to see a different side of STAND this week as we take our growing community and we begin to plan and execute targeted and meaningful action. Hard work from Communications through the FOIA request efforts have begun to pay off, and we believe that we have a path forward. While we will focus at this meeting on defense of federal workers (CDC, HHS, HUD, etc.), what we will really be unveiling is a strategy to take the resources we have built and wield them in coordinated action. It’s time to act, and this meeting is going to feel like it!

As always, we will offer the opportunity to be with community, be heard, and be supported. Community building has been, and will continue to be, a core piece of what we do. Arguably, the core piece of what we do. We will continue to voice our values that all of us are worthy of community, dignity, and fair treatment under the law. You will just see us voice those values more publicly over the coming weeks and months. 

I’m excited, y’all. I hope you are too. It’s you that’s gotten us here.

STANDing with you all,

Matt