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Demanding the passage of Biden’s American Rescue Package, advocates and activists are calling for economic relief on International Women’s Day. People’s Bailout will honor the contribution of women and femme-identified folks who’ve struggled most during the pandemic with a virtual event on Monday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The livestream event, titled “Bread and Roses: Demanding Care and Relief,” will feature leaders from around the country and will give guests an opportunity to take action. Barbara Smith, a Black feminist author and activist who has been organizing for social justice since the 1960s will headline the event. She is co-founder of the Combahee River Collective, a decades-old group of Black feminists who work to dismantle racism and patriarchy.
Oklahoma’s Ashley McCray will be a speaker
Among the impressive slate of speakers stands Oklahoma’s own Ashley McCray, a lead organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network and a community organizer known across the state. She and other Indigenous activists famously dropped a banner reading “Oklahoma State of Despair” during former Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin’s final State of the State address. She’s also been featured in national publications such as Vice News and was arrested for climbing a flagpole protesting Donald Trump’s Tulsa campaign rally in June 2020.
“I will be specifically discussing the THRIVE agenda, which is the policy piece we are pushing forward at Indigenous Environmental Network, in concert with the United Frontline Table and the Green New Deal Network,” McCray told theBWSTimes.
Demanding the passage of Biden’s American Rescue Plan
Thrive stands for Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy. It’s a partner of the Green New Deal Network, which is committed to a just transition into a sustainable economy.
Indeed, each of the speakers come from an environmental justice or economic justice background.
“After a long year of unprecedented suffering, we are all gathering to demand relief,” a spokesperson for People’s Bailout said in an email. “The American Rescue Plan is not perfect, but it’s a start towards the lasting change we desperately need. The Senate bill is returning to the House, and it is all hands on deck to pressure our elected officials to pass it.”
The package, which the U.S. Senate passed on Saturday, would give most Americans a third round of $1,400 stimulus checks and an expanded child tax credit. Moreover, it would also expand nutrition assistance to hungry people, give relief to states and local governments, provide $300 supplemental federal unemployment checks, and further delay evictions.
The U.S. House is set to vote on the final version of the bill on Tuesday, and Biden plans to sign it immediately with the intention of the checks reaching bank accounts and mailboxes this month.
To register for the People’s Bailout event tonight at 7:00 EST, visit this website.