20251014 STAND Newsletter – Anticipating No Kings 2
What’s new with STAND
Because of your activism, NDUMC has been selected as a site to host a dinner and lecture on religious Nationalism on the 18th at 6:30pm. Food is free to those attending, and the information has never been more relevant than it is right now.
Action NOW!
The next national day of action is Saturday, October 18th. Join STAND for NO KINGS 2: Democracy Rising in Downtown Decatur. It’ll be family friendly, and impactful – you know how we roll.
We’ll take a big breath on October 22nd at STAND In a Pub (SIP) to reflect on a couple of months of intense organization and execution. Please note the date change! We’ll see you at The Marlay House.
Here are some other vetted actions sponsored by allies in the area including an opportunity to volunteer at a vaccine clinic.
Dear Friends,
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days thinking about what people need to hear at NO KINGS on Saturday. It’s a challenging environment – people are rightfully angry about a failure of our government to support those in our communities in greatest need of our support. We have watched the rapid disassembly of organizations and infrastructure designed and built to protect our kids, our workers, our families, and our democracy. We’ve watched friends fired, neighbors disappeared, free speech villainized and suppressed, and even attempts to erase the identities of our trans-identifying siblings.
I also know that you don’t need me to remind you of those things. You’re awash in it. The way that I see it, the question before us isn’t whether these things are happening, or whether they will profoundly impact our society – they are and will. Instead, we are tasked with if and how we continue to respond.
At STAND, we made that decision on the first day we came together. We will support those impacted by policy designed to divide, suppress, and marginalize. We will communicate and amplify truth out into the world where we have the opportunity. We will protest the diminishment of our shared humanity due to unjust policy. We will build community to assert and defend the dignity of all people.
At the end of the day, that will be what we will be doing on the 18th. We will peacefully, but forcefully remind ourselves and our community that our government is beholden to the voice and the will of the people, and not the other way around. We will do our small part to keep the spirit of freedom and dissent alive in our corner of Georgia, and we will do it by proclaiming and modeling the society that we actually want to live in.
See you on Saturday for NO KINGS 2.
STANDing with you,
Matt
