As salaamu alaykum, Indiana—
I'm not going to be shy about this:
There is nothing I love more than when our movements for justice win.
Repealing Trump's Muslim Ban, slamming Big Tech in the media, and scaring the wits out of the far-right every time a Muslim uses their right-to-vote for a better future.
The only thing sweeter than that is making it all happen with MPower Change members like you, Indiana.
I don't care if that sounds corny, it's absolutely true and we need your help to keep winning.
Will you chip in, Indiana?
Since 2016, MPower Change members and our ally communities have been building towards the kinds of wins we were able to witness this last year.
In the first few weeks of 2021, President Biden ended the Muslim travel ban on his very first day in office — and multiple news outlets name-checked MPower Change as a key driver towards this historic moment.
We reshaped the conversation on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with our partners in the #BigTechSellsWar project — making major news headlines about how Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have profited from the so-called "war on terror."
We were a founding partner in the #FacebookWeNeedToTalk campaign which successfully forced Facebook to step back from categorizing use of the words "zionism" or "zionist" as hate speech.
And that's just the beginning—in recent weeks we've also:
- Our #FreeThemAll campaign successfully pressured ICE to release several members of our community that have been unjustly detained;
- Launched a #NoTechForApartheid open letter of support to Google and Amazon workers who are protesting their companies' participation in a one billion dollar contract with the Israeli government;
- Launched #GazaIsPalestine with a People's inquiry, including Representative Rashida Tlaib and activist Mohammed El-Kurd, on the May 2021 assault on, and ongoing siege, of Gaza;
- Held our fifth annual National Muslim Voter Registration Day, laying the groundwork for making 2022 a historic year for Muslim voter outreach and civic engagement;
- Joined CAIR and Demand Progress in helping tens of thousands of engaged members contact their member of Congress, demanding we end the PATRIOT Act for good;
- Teamed up with Amnesty International and the Center For Constitutional Rights in launching an ongoing campaign to #CloseGuantanamo before its 20th anniversary in 2022, including a delivery action at the White House;
- Directed MPower Change members, with the help of U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Adalah, and others, to take action on vaccine apartheid and medical apartheid, both as it impacts Palestinians and people across the global south;
- Inaugurated our second ever #DigitalRamadan, ensuring we can still connect online and build community even amidst a pandemic.
I think we're living in a paradoxical moment, Indiana.
On one hand, we see real signs that things are changing: the narrative on Israel and Palestine is changing in public consciousness and in the media. Troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan, effectively ending a two decade long U.S. military occupation. Unapologetic Muslims and progressives are building political power in places where it was once thought to be unimaginable.
But on the other hand, the human toll of our existing struggles only continues to grow: from Gaza, to marginalized communities targeted by racist cops and incarceration, to those facing the harshest price of vaccine inequity and climate injustice.
With your support, 2022 will be a defining year for MPower Change.
We plan to grow our presence on Capitol Hill, lobbying daily to law-makers and ensuring Muslim, Black, and brown communities' needs are represented.
We are already in the works with starting our very first MPower Changemakers school — a leadership development program for young Muslim organizers to get skilled up into the leaders we desperately need.
Indiana, I need to know: can we count on your support to help us step it up in 2022?
In solidarity,
Linda, Sijal, Ishraq, Lau, Sadaf and the MPower Change team
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Keep a civil tongue.