Demand Immediate Aid for Puerto Rico

Demand Immediate Aid for Puerto Rico

You can also register your friends and family to vote and march for racial justice.

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Almost a week after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, millions remain without power, hospitals are running out of needed supplies, and even clean water is becoming scarce. For Take Action Now this week, we’re calling on everyone to call Congress to demand aid for the Americans facing this humanitarian crisis. We also include information on registering your friends and family to vote and joining a march for racial justice.

You can sign up here to get actions like these in your inbox every Tuesday.

NO TIME TO SPARE?

Call your members of Congress and demand immediate aid for Puerto Rico and an end to austerity measures. While the president callously tweets that Puerto Rico’s “massive debt” “owed to Wall Street and the banks…sadly, must be dealt with,” members of Congress insist that they will vote on a federal aid package… in October. That is not nearly soon enough. On top of that unconscionable delay, Puerto Rico’s crisis is magnified by austerity measures imposed by an oversight board appointed by the US government to manage the island’s debt (you can read the latest from The Nation on that struggle here). Call your members of Congress today (dial 202-224-3121). Demand that they immediately pass a comprehensive aid package for Puerto Rico and insist that they prioritize the lives of Puerto Ricans over debt payments to Wall Street.

GOT SOME TIME?

Make sure you’re registered to vote, then register your friends and family. Today is “National Voter Registration Day.” If you’re not already registered, use this simple website to do so. Then make sure everyone you know is also registered: Choose at least two friends or family members to reach out to and then share the call on Facebook and Twitter.

READY TO DIG IN?

Join the March for Black Women or the March for Racial Justice this weekend. From the protests in Charlottesville to the recent acquittal of the police officer who murdered Anthony Lamar Smith to the repeal of DACA, white supremacy continues to rear its ugly head in America. One way to join the movement fighting these injustices is to attend the March for Black Women or March for Racial Justice marches in your community this weekend. The two marches are in support and solidarity with each other, and there are ways to participate both Saturday and Sunday. You can get more information on the March for Black Women here (or contact the organizers of sister marches here) and get more information on the March for Racial Justice here.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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