Activism

We feature a timely "Take Action" item at each of our club meetings; these are always posted on the Agenda so that anyone can do them, even if they cannot make the meeting. You can find the Agenda on our Schoology page.

There are many ways you can take action and be an activist or upstander, both of which mean that you are an active member of this democracy. If you need some strategies for being an upstander on a daily basis, try the "Speak Up At School" guide (and the "Pocket Guide" linked there) from Learning for Justice.  To be an activist on local, national and international issues, we encourage you to use the links below under General Resources to stay informed about issues, legislation and the actions you can take.

And in case you are interested, here is a link to the ACLU's information on students' right to protest.

General Resources

• Deerfield Village Government: http://www.deerfield.il.us/449/Mayor-Board-of-Trustees has their contact information

• State: Senator Julie Morrison & Representative Bob Morgan (links have their contact info & their bills/committee work)

• National representatives in Congress: Representative Brad Schneider, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Senator Dick Durbin

• Deerfield area: check Patch or Deerfield Review for news stories, and check the Deerfield Village page under "Government" and "Community" tabs for various ways of getting information

• Illinois: go to www.ilga.gov and search for legislation by key word

• National: Check what legislation is pending in Congress by going to www.congress.gov and search by key word

Use the links below to access organizations with many ways to take action:

Specific resources on various issues

The topics and links below will be updated in response to student interest throughout the year.

Racism

• Respond 2 Racism has a website and Twitter with suggested actions and resources on what to do in certain situations, for example
  • how to make a "truth sandwich" if you hear something racist,
  • or more specifically, what you can do if you hear someone say a racist joke
• The Ohio State University Kirwan Institute's Guide to Being An Active Bystander
• If you would like to get training on bystander intervention, check the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Trainings page
• The ADL has a program called The Repair Plan: Fighting Hate in the Digital World.
• Love Has No Labels has a guide for acting inclusively at school.  Below is a YouTube clip with a short film from the Ad Council

Guns/Mass Shootings

Here are two organizations that may help you take action. You can simply use their website or search for them on the web to get to their Facebook pages (which may be updated more), or you can also sign up for email or text alerts.

nationwide:

• Everytown https://everytown.org/  — This is a coalition of organizations. See their Act button. You can get text alerts from Everytown. These connect you via your cell phone to a pre-recorded message on the issue, then automatically connect you to your member of Congress with specific talking points to share with that person on the issue. For example, the week of Nov. 6, 2017, they were promoting Senate bill S1539 which is meant to keep guns away from domestic abusers (like the TX shooter). This takes about 20 seconds.

• Gabby Giffords organization https://giffords.org/act/)

state of IL:

• First, get informed about "What is and isn't allowed by Illinois' gun laws" - this is a report by WBEZ from May 2022 in the wake of the Uvalde massacre 

• People for Safer Society http://www.peopleforasafersociety.com/  —They teach you how to use Witness Slips to share your opinion with state legislators (not just your own representatives in the IL General Assembly). They give information or advice on how to check for pending legislation on your own, by going to ilga.gov, then searching for something like "bump stock" and pending legislation comes up. (Incidentally, the House rejected a bill recently, but there are other bills that are in the works - read that story here.) You can also write directly to your IL representative (see contact info above).

• The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence http://www.ichv.org/ —Under "Advocacy" they have instructions on how to write (to newspapers, to legislators, etc.), and they also have other links to legislation.