28 | July | 2017 | Be a Seed for Change

Trump just banned transgender people from serving in the military. But he’s notorious for changing his mind, and if we create a massive outcry from Americans everywhere, we might be able to reverse this terrible decision. Avaaz will work with influential individuals and groups to make this huge. Add your name to the open letter and share this widely!

SIGN THE LETTER

Dear friends,

Donald Trump’s latest shameful decision, announced on Twitter: transgender people won’t be allowed to serve in the military.

Why? He cites medical costs — but he’s just completely wrong. Medical costs for trans people are just — wait for it — 0.000001% of the military’s budget! Viagra costs the military 10x more than that. Viagra! It’s almost as if he pulled any reason whatsoever out of a hat before tweeting…

But Trump is notorious for changing his mind. Sign on now, and Avaaz will pull out all the stops to get Republicans, LGBT groups, military people, celebrities, conservatives and other influential figures onboard with us — together we could still change his mind:

ADD YOUR NAME

To President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis,

As an American, I strongly urge you to allow transgender people to join the US military. Thousands of transgender people are eager to serve their country in this capacity, and we should proudly let them do so. We sincerely hope you will reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

ADD YOUR NAME

This administration can make us feel hopeless. But our power is in our numbers, and as long as we keep fighting together, eventually we will win. The worst thing we can do is give up.

With hope,

Rewan, Nataliya, Andrew, Sarah, Danny and the entire Avaaz team

More information:
Trump to reinstate US military ban on transgender people (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.html

Transgender Navy SEAL hero: ‘Let’s meet face to face and you tell me I’m not worthy’ (Yahoo)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kristin-beck-transgender-navy-seal-144339198.html

This is Not considered “American Values” !

You know Sandra Bland’s name. In the year after her well-publicized death, 815 people have died in jail awaiting trial. A third of them have died within the first three days of incarceration. Most were in jail for one reason only: They were too poor to pay bail. This reality is what terrified Tai Sherman’s mother, Tracey, and the reason she spent every dime she had – and a lot she didn’t – to get her daughter Tai out of jail.

Watch Tai’s Story: College or Bail?

Tai’s case is a classic example of what is wrong with money bail. Tai had no criminal record. She was arrested for driving away while a police officer was trying to arrest an acquaintance of hers for shoplifting $38 worth of stuff – dish soap and the like.

For this, Tai was slapped with $100,000 bail.

The good news is that money bail reform has a lot of momentum in California and has a good chance of happening this year – and Brave New Films has partnered with the Ella Baker Center and a number of other organizations to #EndMoneyBail this Summer in California.

And Brave New Films has even more work to share right now. In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing “How Much Is Your Freedom Worth?”, a spoken word film that brings the injustice of the money bail system to verse. Next is “A Deal With the Devil” which showcases how defendants are compelled to take horribly unfair plea deals due to money bail. All of these films, plus our collaboration with Pretrial Justice Institute – “Breaking Down Bail“ – are available to screen now. All you have to do is organize a screening at your home, at your school, or with your faith community to see these films about this important issue. Please help us get the word out now about the movement to end money bail.

We all need to do our part – watch, share, take action.

Sincerely,

Robert Greenwald
President, Brave New Films

P.S. We need resources to continue this work, please consider contributing $10 to this effort. With every donation, big or small, you’re helping to tell this story.