Here’s a partial reprint of Jessica Cravens’s incredible newsletter Chop Wood, Carry Water. Good news all around so I thought I’d reprint some of it here. Make sure you subscribe to her newsletter to get the rest, it’s way worth it! She offers tasks you can do to help save democracy as well as information like this.
Good news from the week of 2/6/2023.
Actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at Sunday’s Super Bowl. It marks the first time the song, widely considered the Black National Anthem, has been performed on-field at the NFL’s championship game.
This fall, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School became one of only 60 high schools across the country selected for the College Board’s AP African American Studies pilot program. These are some of the students’ (wonderful) reactions.
Biden KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK in his SOTU and Americans noticed!
Finland passed new transgender rights laws on gender recognition with overwhelming support. The new legislation makes it easier for transgender individuals to change their legal gender through self-declaration rather than a prohibitive medical and psychiatric process.
Tribal nations and environmental groups in the U.S. Southwest scored a victory last week when a federal appeals court rejected nearly 200 new oil and gas drilling permits in the Greater Chaco region of New Mexico.
Both houses of the Virginia Legislature rejected Education Savings Accounts, aka vouchers, which take money from public schools. (More about this here)
When Pennsylvania Democrats won three special elections in the Pittsburgh area on Tuesday night, they didn’t just cement the party’s first majority in the state House since 2010: they also turned in performances far stronger than we’d have any reason to expect based on history.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Democratic lawmakers announced that they’re pursuing an amendment in the state constitution to enshrine abortion rights.
Republicans’ show hearings got off to a very bad start.
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill guaranteeing free lunch and breakfast to all Minnesota students, regardless of income requirements set by federal programs as part of an effort to reduce child hunger and ensure no students fall through the cracks.
The College Board is back on its heels over their AP African American History course (and you helped!)