HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE

Hitler. Mussolini. Hirohito. Totalitarian dictators whose names and ideologies are trapped in the pages of 20^th century history lessons – or are they? Is it possible their ideas and policies are taking root in America right now, at a frighteningly rapid pace?

Authoritarianism, illiberalism, nationalism, fascism: these words appear with alarming frequency in editorials, analyses, and popular articles in 2020. What are the shades of meaning among them? How do they play out in the politics of our time? What can we learn from recent history to help us understand and combat a darker future than many would wish to see?

Moderator A'Lelia Bundles ’74, award-winning journalist, writer and historian, will lead our outstanding panelists William Kristol ’73, political analyst; Nadine Strossen ’72, J.D. ’75, the first female President of the ACLU; and Dr. Chad Williams, RI ’17, Chair of African and African American Studies, Brandeis University, in a wide-ranging and provocative conversation.

Join us October 20 for this eye-opening discussion of fascism and its very real presence in our country’s past, present, and possibly its future.

To sign up, click here.

Given the challenges with Covid-19 and all the misinformation about voting in the upcoming election, everyone we talk with wants to do something other than sit around and complain. Well, here’s your chance!

ClassACT HR73 and JusticeAid have teamed up to provide you with opportunities to make a difference.

1. JusticeAid Film Forum, September 17^th, 7pm  

• https://justiceaid.org/film-forum/

• Cross platform live stream, screening JusticeAid Prize winners in documentary & social media, meet youth film makers. Special appearances: Jason Hehir/ Director The Last Dance; Kimberley Martin reporter ESPN. Live link to share to come.  (links to 2 finalists below.)

• Democracy Must Be Learned  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6VoCzt9GNQ
• You Need to Vote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yNRP1CPqD0&feature=emb_title

• A rockin’ for Justice virtual concert featuring Grammy award winner Rosanne Cash;  multi-instrumentalist Ivan Neville;  musician, songwriter activist Tom Morello; and others. 

• Hot line for lawyers, 866- OUR-VOTE UPDATE - if you have legal experience, contact Ryan O’Connell
• Link to volunteer as poll monitor https://protectthevote.net/

Join us for a different kind of ClassACT Forum. Many of us are struggling to figure out what we as individuals can do to promote a fair and safe election process. We have enlisted a team from the 501(c)(3) Open Progress/Vote.org initiative to train us, as the "ClassACT Text Troop," to mobilize Vote by Mail! and potential voter registration efforts. Those who have done the training and who are already using this platform say it is effective and fun—and easy! If you know how to text, you can do it. We will start off with a short screening of a few JusticeAid Prize award winning entries of the Democracy 2020 Youth Film Festival, and a call to action from youth 15-25 to vote.  

Register here

Learn more about ClassACT's newest bridge project!

Understanding Our Differences’ mission is to educate communities to value and respect people of all abilities, through school-based interactive disability-awareness programs.  The goal is to foster a society that includes people with disabilities – who, at 20 percent of the US population, make up the largest minority group in the country – in truly authentic ways that benefit individuals, schools, workplaces and communities. Since 1978, Understanding our Differences volunteers have regularly been presenting its programs to students in grades 3-5 in our home district of Newton, MA, and in other Eastern Massachusetts cities and towns. The lessons increase students’ understanding of a range of disabilities and chronic disease conditions, with visual presentations, hands-on activities, and speakers with disabilities discussing their experiences and answering questions. The approach has demonstrated repeatedly that accurate information about disabilities makes the difference between discrimination and acceptance. Understanding Our Differences teaches children – at a young age when they are open and receptive to these lifelong lessons – to see the whole person and understand how specific disabilities don’t prevent active participation in the community.

Jeff and Marcia Herrmann (‘73/’74) have been passionate volunteers and supporters of UOD and its mission for decades. Marcia is a Past President of the Board of Directors and continues to serve on the Board.

Note: Multiple UOD Board and Advisory Board members have ties to Harvard University, including Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Business School, the School of Education, the Kennedy School, the Divinity School, the Medical School, and the School of Public Health.

Learn more here: https://www.classacthr73.org/sys/website/system-pages/?pageId=18002

ClassACT for Election Protection

Class Act has found an important and convenient opportunity for lawyers to volunteer and help voters during this election season.  

Election Protection (EP), a non-partisan organization that advises voters on their rights, is looking for lawyers to staff its hotlines on a remote basis.  You can take voters' calls at home to assist them with problems they encounter registering or trying to vote.     

EP needs volunteers now, as several states are conducting primaries.  Your service for EP will count for pro bono credit.  EP will assign you a particular state, which may not be your home state.  EP will provide you with three hours of training online, in two separate sessions, which you can watch at any time.  

Please see EP's message below, which includes the link for signing up and more details.  You can also contact Ryan O'Connell of Class Act (ryanoconnell2@gmail.com) if you have questions; please copy him if you sign up.  

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law seeks the pro bono assistance of volunteers with staffing remotely the Election Protection English language national voter hotline.  Please see below for additional information. 

Election Protection – Staffing National Voter Hotline Remotely (Remote)  - Record Call Volume

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its coalition partners seek legal volunteers to remotely staff Election Protection’s English language national voter hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE)). The hotline is answered by remote volunteers seven days a week from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Eastern, with additional shifts on Election Day.  The hotline provides assistance to voters with problems and guides them throughout the voting process.  Volunteers must complete two 1.5 hour trainings, including one on accessing the technology remotely.  Support is provided to the volunteers via a captain during their shift and “user guides” and substantive information on voting.   The Lawyers’ Committee is the client.  Volunteers sign up directly using the link provided below. 

The national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition works year-round to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. Made up of more than 100 local, state and national partners, Election Protection provides Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive information and assistance at all stages of voting – from registration, to absentee and early voting, to casting a vote at the polls, to overcoming obstacles to their participation. Election Protection helps voters make sure their vote is counted through a number of resources, including a suite of voter hotlines (866-OUR-VOTE,  888-VE-Y-VOTA, 888-API-VOTE and 844-Yalla-US), field programs and digital outreach tools.   Election Protection is not affiliated in any way with any candidate or political party and is available to all Americans.  For more information about Election Protection, please visit www.866OurVote.org.

 

What:	Staff Election Protection Hotline remotely from home
Who:	Lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants and law students
When:	Ongoing
How:	Online platform; computer with internet plus headphones needed
Training:	The training consists of two parts. YOU MUST DO BOTH OF THESE. o    Part 1 – 1.5 hour on-demand (i.e. watch at any time) substantive training Available at “2020 National Call Center Volunteer Training”:https://electionprotection.northpass.com/c/e02342166dc6187b66e92005ce98d8963f56a786 o    Part 2 – 1.5 hour on-demand training on how to use the technology. You will receive this link via We the Action.
Other Support:	Captains will be available during a volunteer’s shift. Extensive helpful documents available online.
Volunteer Code of Conduct:	Volunteers must “virtually agree” to Code of Conduct. https://forms.gle/EAq8AsM39DA5MeeY9
How to Volunteer:	Sign up directly using the link:  https://electionprotection.wetheaction.org/volunteering/private/A9XBmdJfCi4x   NOTE:  If you have a We the Action volunteer account, you must login before signing up for a shift. NOTE:  All shifts and trainings posted are Eastern Standard Time.

Share the pdf version of our volunteer opportunities here!

Per our mission to address vital issues on a local, national, and international level, ClassACT stands with Black Lives Matter. Click below for our statement in support,  join us in our current work fighting voter suppression, and take a look at future initiatives we are taking towards strengthening civil and human rights.

Click here for our full letter to the community.

Our classmate Jono Quick has newly been appointed the Managing Director of the Pandemic Response Preparedness, and Prevention Team at the Rockefeller Foundation. Congratulations, Jonathan!

Click here for more information.

ClassACT is thrilled that our sustained collaborator JusticeAid is hosting their Benefit Concert on May 18th!

JusticeAid invites you to Voices to Protect the Vote, an at-home concert with an amazing line-up of talent in support of JusticeAid’s beneficiary, Election Protection 888-OUR-VOTE. If you are not on the JusticeAid list, please sign-up for JusticeAid’s news, so you’ll receive a reminder on the day of the concert.

Join us on May 18th at 7:00 pm on JusticeAid’s YouTube Channel.

Featuring musical artists Paula Cole, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Leyla McCalla, Kandace Springs, David Shaw and Zack Feinberg of The Revivalists, and Paine the Poet. Hosted by Rita Houston, NYC’s WFUV (90.7) Program Director, with a special video presentation by our Emmy Award-winning team.

This is a question a lot of us are asking ourselves these days! The COVID-19 pandemic is creating personal and emotional challenges for all of us.

For its third ClassACT ZOOM Forum on Thursday, May 7 at 7pm EDT, ClassACT HR73 has assembled a remarkable group of  HR73 mental health professionals to share their insights about the effects of the pandemic on our mental health and to provide suggestions for effective coping strategies. They will examine the range of reactions to the unprecedented challenges of the illness itself, and its personal and societal consequences for adults and children alike: physical distancing and isolation, financial insecurities, and conflicting medical and political information. We invite you to listen, learn and ask questions.

Register here

We will get back to you with a Zoom link on the day of the panel.

OUR PANELISTS

DR. PATRICIA POTTER

@Psych_BPSI   @MIP_Boston   @harvardmed

Dr. Patricia Potter is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist, and an adult psychoanalyst. She is on the faculty of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis. She has also been an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

DR. ROBERT WALDINGER

@robertwaldinger

Dr. Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Zen priest. He is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever done. The Study tracked the lives of two groups of men for over 75 years, and it now follows their Baby Boomer children to understand how childhood experience reaches across decades to affect health and wellbeing in middle age. He writes about what science and Zen can teach us about healthy human development.

Dr. Waldinger is the author of numerous scientific papers as well as two books. He teaches medical students and psychiatry residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and he is a Senior Dharma Teacher in Boundless Way Zen. robertwaldinger.com.

HENRIETTA W. LODGE, LCSWR

@pnwboces

Henrietta W. Lodge, LCSWR, is a recently retired school social worker with 40 years’ experience working with both middle and high school students, their families and school staff in public and private schools.  She serves on the Putnam/Northern Westchester (NY) Regional Crisis Team and the Putnam County (NY) Suicide Task Force. She is also a member of ClassACT’s Communication Committee.

The right to vote is a fundamental Constitutional right and a guiding principle of American democracy.  Yet this right is increasingly being put to the test this election year, challenged by voter suppression, uncertain access to the polls, accessibility of ballots, vote by mail restrictions, COVID-19 and other issues.

 For its second ClassACT ZOOM Forum on April 23^rd at 7pm EDT, ClassACT HR73 and its Voter & Civic Engagement initiative has assembled a terrific line up of guests to discuss these challenges. Join us for:

Voter Suppression and the Impact of COVID-19 on Voting Rights

Email us here to register for the forum!

Learn more about the forum here!

Featured panelists include classmate Steve Milliken, CEO and Founder of JusticeAid, a ClassACT Sustained Collaboration since 2014 whose 2020 theme is Voter Suppression; Julie M. Houk, Managing Counsel for the Election Protection Voting Rights Project, which is JusticeAid’s 2020 beneficiary; classmate Helen Hershkoff, Professor of Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties at NYU Law School and Co-Director of the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program; Myrna Perez, Director of Voting Rights & Elections Democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice; and Kevin D. Benish, Associate Professor of Law at NYU, who has been directly involved on issues relating to safeguarding the right to vote and access to the polls in Wisconsin. Therese Steiner, Co-Chair of ClassACT’s Voter & Civic Engagement Initiative and JusticeAid Board member, will moderate the panel.

The forum will end with a ClassACT CALL TO ACTION: How you can help fight voter suppression and get involved in protecting our constitutional right to vote.