From Detroit to D.C.: a pro-working families vision for tonight’s #SOTU
Across the country, working-class Black, LatinX and AAPI Americans are still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our economy. As we see the cost of everyday necessities continue to rise for working families, we also witness corporations continue to rake in record profits. Organizations like ours at Detroit Action, and our friends at the Working Families Party, offer working-class people an opportunity to imagine politics being done differently — policy being done in the name of the many and not the few. That is why, as a member of the national movement being led by WFP and co-governed elected officials like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, I am excited to tune in to the 2022 State of The Union address and hear how we can win together and build the multiracial democracy that we deserve.
Our friend, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) will be offering a “response” after the President’s State Of The Union address that elevates the experiences of Black and Brown Detroiters during this pandemic and calls attention to the needs we face. This year’s State of the Union speech is an opportunity for President Biden and Congresswoman Tlaib to fight for the working people across the country who elected him to build back better after the previous four years of Trumpism. For Detroiters during this period, we’ve seen a consistent and deliberate attack on our families by corporations, billionaires and the politicians that love them. Tonight is about how our communities can stand up together and organize for something better. As Congresswoman Tlaib articulates a vision for how Democrats can fight for the President’s policy agenda, it’ll also be an opportunity to re-center what a just, equitable recovery looks like for those who are directly impacted. Rep Tlaib is Detroit. She represents one of the poorest communities in the country in the 13th Congressional District and there is no better person to talk about how far we’ve come under President Biden’s administration and how far we can go together.
President Biden has a number things to celebrate after this last year, including the American Rescue Plan and the historic infrastructure package. Organizations like Detroit Action and many of our partners championed these policies as necessary to create a real recovery from the economic downturn of the pandemic. These policies allowed working families, like mine, to keep their heads above water with support like the direct stimulus payment of $1,400, the eviction moratorium, the forbearance of student loans and enhanced unemployment insurance. But organizations like Detroit Action and our friends across the country, like at WFP, know that we can — and should — do more for families like mine that have struggled before and during the pandemic. Democratic elected officials, instead of criticizing Congresswoman Tlaib and the Working Families Party can instead work to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and ensure that the President’s signature #BuildBackBetter agenda makes it through the house and senate. Back home, here in Detroit, elected officials can stand with our grassroots movement in supporting our local Agenda For a New Economy — our radical budget and policy initiative for the city of Detroit — and stand with Detroit Action and our partners against the onslaught of voter suppression bills coming our way.
Join us tonight as we watch President Biden’s address and watch Congresswoman’s Tlaib’s message to the grassroots on how we can make the president’s ambitious racial justice policy platform a reality: https://www.mobilize.us/workingfamilies/event/441987/
Branden Snyder & Jennifer Disla
Co-Directors, Detroit Action
