National purpose with local action
Next meeting: Monday July 21, 2025 @7pm
with guest speaker Reena Szczepanski (see below)
Christ Lutheran Church
1701 Arroyo Chamiso Road, Santa Fe
Authoritarianism is breaking out! 😬 This will require more action than we've had to use in the past. The regime is pushing the boundaries of executive power by taking power from elected officials and slashing the mechanisms of accountability, they are trying to create the appearance of inevitability so people give up and "obey in advance", and they are trying to consolidate control over distributed sources of power – business, faith communities, civic institutions, etc. Our mission is to interrupt the cycle and keep them from getting a foothold. This includes strategic non-cooperation. The One Million Rising campaign is all about being strategic and reversing the authoritarian cycle, and is kicking off this week. See the newsletter from Indivisible National below for details!
There was a great discussion at the Monday meeting yesterday about protest style. I thought it was good perspective to recognize that protests are best when strategic and not random, and that the city is not our enemy. We are fighting against authoritarianism, and our local and state governments are our friends in this, not our enemies - let's keep them that way ❤️
From the "find the joy that sustains you desk", IFAM was in town last weekend:
Debra Efroymson
Upcoming Events
Guest post
Voter Registration Training
It's easy to become a Voter Registration Agent, which makes you part of the democratic process in a very direct way – not just by voting, but by helping everyone vote. The Democratic Part of Santa Fe County works with the county clerk's office to hold VRA training; the next one is July 21 shortly before our regular Monday meeting and not too far away:
Guest Speaker Series - July 21
For our July 21st meeting, we will have Reena Szczepanski, the state Representative from District 47 and majority floor leader. See this newsletter on the Big Brutal Bill with the latest summary of legislative status and interim committees at the Roundhouse:
Reena Szczepanski
House Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski was elected to represent House District 47 in 2022 and made history earlier this year as the first Asian American to serve in legislative leadership in our state.
Born in Decatur, Georgia to immigrant parents and a graduate of Brown, Reena has always been driven by a passion for public health and justice. As a teenager, she worked with babies and toddlers affected by HIV/AIDS, sparking her deep commitment to underserved communities.
She served in AmeriCorps’ before returning to New Mexico, where she joined the Department of Health as Hepatitis Program Manager. From there, she became State Director for the Drug Policy Alliance, leading statewide efforts on medical cannabis, overdose prevention, and harm reduction.
Her leadership continued as Executive Director of Emerge New Mexico from 2006 to 2016, training and encouraging women to run for office. She also served as President of the New Mexico Public Health Association and chaired the Santa Fe County Health Policy and Planning Commission.
In the legislature, she has championed public health, reproductive rights, climate action, economic justice, gun violence prevention, and support for working families and the creative economy.
Staying Visible
(Quick reminder: the Wednesdays Walk the Talk event has moved to summer hours, so 11-12am instead of 12-1)
Donovan Kolbly
Donovan Kolbly
In the News
What folks are saying, of interest around here and elsewhere
A judge in the California granted a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from violating the constitution, and other rulings:
Joyce Vance
and a reminder that, although Trump has "presumed immunity" for his crimes, but everyone else in the administration – from DOJ lawyers lying in court to ICE officers abusing detainees – doesn't get such a pass:
Jennifer Rubin
Happening Around New Mexico
On the heels of the tragedy in central Texas, our own Ruidoso was hit with its own flooding. We are organizing a donation campaign to help those affected:
ISF Leadership
Check out the web calendar of grass-roots events from around New Mexico. Filter by Santa Fe or your area of interest!
Legislature Interim Committees
Committees have started to meet in the gap between sessions; this is a great way to get an idea of how the different agencies operate, and get ahead of what is likely to come up in the regular session.
ISF Leadership
Stay in touch with us
Check out our resources page with lots of links to useful information! We just added a link to help you vote with your dollars to GoodsUniteUs.com, a great resource for knowing who to boycott and why.
And we are still developing our social media accounts, reaching significant audiences through them. We're currently focused primarily Bluesky and Facebook. You can help out with this effort by following us and liking and re-posting our messages. Help us get the word out and expand our digital presence!
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Indivisible National
(published July 14, 2025)
Yesterday, I protested outside an ICE detention facility and visited with an Indivisible member detained there. As I covered last week, with the passage of the Big Bullshit Bill, ICE is now the largest law enforcement agency in the country. So I want to tell you about my experience this weekend because I think a lot of us -- especially us white, native-born Americans -- are going to need to get better acquainted with these secret police headquarters in the weeks and months to come.
This action took place as part of Washington state’s statewide convening in Tacoma. Across the country, we’re seeing Indivisible statewide groups host these types of statewide convenings to bring local Indivisible groups together, build connections across the movement, and develop strategic plans for coordinated local, state, and federal action. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at Washington’s agenda.
At their two-day convening, Washington state Indivisible group leaders heard from their state and federal elected officials, trained on responding to ICE by local immigrant rights groups, and co-designed campaigns to put into place at the local and state levels. I sat in on a campaign strategy breakout session on “demasking ICE” -- when Indivisible groups around the state started planning a local and state campaign to use their blue-state and blue-city power to push back on Trump’s secret police force.
One member of Indivisible Skagit was notably not present: Lelo. You can read about his story in The Guardian. Lelo is a farmworker, organizer, and community leader. He joined Indivisible Skagit to help link the Indivisible world with the farmworker world. But he was detained earlier this year when an ICE agent broke the window of his car with his wife in the passenger seat and forced him out. He’s been held in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for the last 111 days.
While a crowd gathered outside -- singing, chanting, and playing music in solidarity with Lelo -- I visited with him in this privately-run detention center, a dystopian scene in a remote part of Tacoma. I asked Lelo if he had a message to share with those gathered outside and the many more he knew were rooting for him. He did, and it was simple: “Keep paying attention, keep organizing.”
Just as we were getting ready to hit send on this newsletter, we learned that Lelo had opted for “voluntary” departure to Mexico due to the inhumane conditions at the detention center. The cruelty here really is the point.
In a statement today, Lelo committed to remaining in the fight for justice wherever he ends up. And he urged all of us to do the same:
“I encourage everyone to stay strong and keep fighting. There are many actions that you can be part of, for example show up at a protest, attend your city council meetings. Use your First Amendment right. Talk to your Representatives, let them know your concerns.”
I’m furious at what this vicious regime is doing to Lelo. And I also know they’re doing it to thousands of others. This regime is ripping people away from their families, tearing communities apart, disappearing our parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends to unimaginable conditions in camps here and abroad.
You can contribute to Lelo's legal fund here. And I hope you’ll follow his advice to keep organizing, and keep taking action. We’ve got a number of to-dos below and I especially want to pull out #2 on the list -- our One Million Rising series on strategic non-cooperation. That’s Wednesday, and we’ll have a special What’s the Plan on Thursday with authoritarianism expert Erica Chenoweth (of 3.5% fame) as a guest. If you’re looking for next steps -- this is it.
In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible
Your weekly to-dos
- Prepare to march this Thursday at a Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action near you. Each day brings new attacks on our rights as the Trump regime chips away at our democracy. But in the tradition of the late John Lewis, Americans across the country will rise up this Thursday in a mass, nonviolent demonstration for freedom and justice.
- Learn the tools of strategic non-cooperation to fight authoritarianism at our One Million Rising training series beginning this Wednesday. There’s no escaping it; Trump and his enablers are becoming bolder and our slide toward authoritarianism is accelerating. With institutions failing to meet the challenge, it falls to us -- the pro-democracy majority -- to defeat fascism. Join this training to help lead the fight within your networks and pass on these skills to others.
- Contact state and local Dems to demand action against masked ICE abductions. If you live in a blue city or state with a Democratic trifecta, your Democratic governor, mayor, and lawmakers have the power to stop secret police tactics like abductions by masked ICE agents. Our Blue State Defiance toolkit helps identify who to contact and what to call for.
- Join our “Fight Back with Friends” training on Tuesday, July 22 for new tools to help get your friends and family off the sidelines! We all know someone who wants to join our fight but isn’t sure where to start; Fight Back with Friends is a new program designed to break down that barrier. Each call details ways to get your friends involved in specific, impactful tactics to defend our rights, our safety, and our democracy. Tuesday’s will focus on our upcoming One Million Rising campaign (more info below).
- Join our “What’s the Plan?” call on Thursday as Indivisible’s cofounders break down the latest news and take questions from the movement. Every Thursday at 3pm ET (12pm PT), Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin go live to take questions from Indivisible activists. This week they’ll be joined by a special guest -- Professor Erica Chenoweth (the scholar behind the 3.5% rule) -- to dig into the strategic logic of our One Million Rising campaign (more info below).
- Check out Truth Brigade tools for pushing back on the regime’s efforts to silence dissent. Americans care deeply about free speech, so enemies of the First Amendment have to justify their attacks on constitutionally-protected speech with lies and fearmongering. This month, our disinformation-fighting Truth Brigade team has some expertly-crafted messaging you can share to help expose these authoritarian tactics.
We want YOU to be part of One Million Rising
Across the country, authoritarian forces are growing bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and unprecedented interference in civil society.
Fighting back requires more than one-off days of protest or calls to Congress (both still vitally important). It requires us to expand our toolbox and construct millions of points of defiance that grind the gears of the regime.
This Wednesday, we’re launching a new training series that aims to equip one million Americans with the tools of strategic non-cooperation so that we can slow, delay, and reverse the spread of autocracy.
We’ll talk about how folks can work within their membership organizations, alumni networks, professional guilds and other small and large scale institutions to push back on the Trump regime.
This is a new kind of training for Indivisible, and more than ever before we are urging every single member of this movement to attend this series.
Make good trouble at this Thursday’s national mass mobilization
This Thursday, people all across the country will take to the streets on the fifth anniversary of John Lewis’ passing for the Good Trouble Lives On National Day of Action.
We are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations. Whether you’re outraged by attacks on voting rights, the gutting of the social safety net, the disappearances of our neighbors, or the brutal efforts to crush dissent, this is a moment to show up, speak out, and -- following in John Lewis’ footsteps, make “good trouble” to redeem the soul of our nation.
At over 1,000 events throughout the country people will reject the division being pushed on us by this administration by coming together for peaceful vigils, marches, and other nonviolent acts of protest. Find your closest event here.
Follow Indivisible national on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program, where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.
