Posted on July 21, 2020
Six great books to add to your summer reading list
If you’re like us, you’re spending a lot more time at home this summer. While that’s been a drag on our summer barbecues, trips to the beach and vacation plans, it does mean we have more time to catch up on some great books we’ve missed.
We reached out to a few of our grantee partners to help us compile a great summer reading list just for our members. Here are six great book recommendations ranging from topics like women’s rights, voting rights, climate change, economic justice and more from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Sunrise Movement, Women’s March, Economic Policy Institute and Free Speech for People.
Fumbling Toward Repair: A Workbook for Community Accountability Facilitators
by Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan
Recommended by Nana Gyamfi, Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration:
“Building a world without cops and cages is going to require more than desire and vision – it’s going to require us to learn new ways of understanding and addressing interpersonal and community harm that are accessible to the people most impacted by violence in our society. This workbook lights and guides the way for those of us working for abolition in our lifetime.”
Assata: An Autobiography
by Assata Shakur
Recommended by Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs, Director of Community Engagement, Women’s March:
“Assata’s story is one of injustice and pain but also one of inner liberation, of love and of laying it all on the line for the pursuit of that dream of liberation. It lays bare the failings of systems designed to marginalize and harm Black people and how community is sometimes all we have.”
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Recommended by Thea M. Lee, President, Economic Policy Institute:
“I decided to go with Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, as it is a book I have loved and reread many times. As a young girl reading Jane Eyre, I was struck by the central character’s fierce independence, integrity and assertion of her humanity and inherent rights – despite her poverty, orphanhood, and lack of conventional beauty.”
Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can
By Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti
Recommended by Varshini Prakash, Executive Director, Sunrise Movement:
From the publisher: “An urgent and definitive collection of essays from leaders and experts championing the Green New Deal—and a detailed playbook for how we can win it—including contributions by leading activists and progressive writers like Varshini Prakash, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Bill McKibben, Rev William Barber II, and more.”
The Undocumented Americans
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Recommended by John C. Bonifaz, President, Free Speech For People
“The march for justice, equality, and human dignity for all must include undocumented Americans. In this powerful book, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio gives voice to what it means to be undocumented in America today. And, she challenges us all to see the undocumented for who they are: human beings, whose stories, whose hopes and whose dreams must be heard.”
Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine
By James Maskalyk, MD.
Recommended by Avril Benoît, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the United States (MSF-USA):
“From the inside of an ER, this MD and writer who first came to my attention because he was a gifted blogger while on assignment with Doctors Without Borders, takes us on a journey into the viscera of bodies and souls under stress. If medical textbooks were written with such literary skill, we’d all want to be doctors.”
Posted on July 20, 2020
Sunrise Movement pressures the media to cover climate change (thanks in part to CREDO members!)
Last year, thanks to the support from tens of thousands of CREDO members voting to donate to Sunrise Movement, our country experienced a sea change in how the news reports on the climate crisis.
In all of 2019, the mainstream media spent 4 hours total covering climate change, despite historic floods and fires. That changed after Sunrise launched our #Climate Debate campaign, calling for the Democratic candidates for president to spend significant time discussing their solutions to the crisis. Our movement led a 3 day sit-in of dozens of young people blockading the DNC headquarters calling for an end to this media blackout.
Our actions resulted in multiple climate panels and forums on cable news devoted to climate action and the presidential primary. The highest profile of these, CNN’s Climate Crisis Town Hall, resulted in 7 hours of sustained coverage of climate change in the news. We couldn’t have done it without CREDO’s help.
While we started out in 2017 with a dozen members, Sunrise Movement has grown into one of the largest youth-led organizations in the country, with more than 350 volunteer-driven hubs in all fifty states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. We lead the struggle to make climate change an urgent political priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people. Sunrise fights for good jobs and a livable future through bold, equitable, federal climate action in the form of the Green New Deal.
We now face a pivotal moment in our country’s history. The 2020 elections will have global ramifications, representing our last best chance to prevent irreversible damage to our homes by finally introducing comprehensive legislation to halt the climate crisis while building a more just and equitable society. Thanks in part to our movement, Joe Biden recently announced a major shift in his climate platform, adopting the just frameworks that we’ve been fighting for. We pushed him to embrace a more aggressive timeline for a 100% clean electricity transition, now at 2035 instead of 2050. That’s the power of our movement. But we know we can’t stop now.
We need your help. To support Green New Deal champions across the country, our movement has made over 1.6 million calls across the country in just a few months, driving progressive candidates to victory in both red and blue districts. Ahead of the November general election, we are continuing this push to ensure that the Green New Deal becomes flagship policy. Learn more about the fight and sign up to join us here: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/join.
Be sure to check out this month’s grantees and consider casting your vote for Sunrise here: https://www.credodonations.com/.
Posted on July 15, 2020
CREDO Tip: How to record a police traffic stop on your phone
Getting pulled over by the police is stressful. It’s even more stressful if you’re Black, Brown, another person of color or an immigrant. A recent study of nearly 100 million traffic stops found that Black people are 20 percent more likely to get pulled over. In California, a disproportionate number of people of color are pulled over, arrested and subject to excessive force compared to white people. In the city of Boston alone, 70 percent of people stopped by police are Black.
And it’s not only profiling; it’s the increased use of force against people of color. Overall, police are twice as likely to threaten the use of force against people of color and twice as likely to use it. We’ve seen this police brutality play out time and again with viral videos of police encounters, as cell phone recordings of these interactions become ubiquitous.
If you’re pulled over by the police, it may be a good idea to record your interaction. It could protect you and provide evidence in cases of excessive force or brutality, as well as increase accountability of the policing system. Here are some quick tips on how you can record your encounter with police during a traffic stop.
“Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.”
If you have an iOS device, you can enable a little-known shortcut to trigger a sequence of 18 actions on your phone to begin recording your traffic stop.
By speaking the command, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” your device will dim the screen, turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode to block incoming calls, and initiate the front-facing camera to begin recording. The shortcut can also send a text message to a predesignated contact letting them know your location and that you’ve been pulled over. After the video is done, your video can be automatically backed up to iCloud or Dropbox.
Here’s how to enable the shortcut:
- Confirm your device is running iOS 12 or higher. If not, update your iOS version.
- Download and install the Shortcuts app to your device.
- Visit this link from your device to install the “I’m getting pulled over” shortcut
- If your device prevents you from installing untrusted shortcuts, you’ll need to adjust your settings to allow the shortcut.
- Once installed, you can choose your predesignated contact and cloud service to backup your video.
“Hey Google” version for Android users
If you use an Android device, you can create a set of similar actions on your phone. While there isn’t an exact corollary shortcut for Android, you can create routines on your device to perform similar actions.
Here are some tutorials from Android Central and Lifewire that can get your started.
ACLU’s Mobile Justice app
In 17 states and the District of Columbia, our allies at the American Civil Liberties Union offer a mobile app that puts police accountability in your hands to help you record your interactions with the police and automatically upload the video to the organization.
The app lets you easily record, witness and report police interactions and misconduct right from your phone. The app also lets you add additional information, share your location and include contact information for follow up from the ACLU affiliate. The free app is available for iOS and Android on the ACLU’s website.
Final note about recording the police
Some people may have questions regarding issues that may arise when recording a police interaction, like whether it’s legal to secretly record a police officer, or what to do if an officer gets angry, tells you to stop recording, tries to confiscate your device or other concerns. Our grantees at the Electronic Frontier Foundation believe you have a First Amendment right to record your interaction with the police, as long as you are not interfering with their official duties.
Here are some additional resources that may address some concerns:
- EFF: You Have a First Amendment Right to Record the Police
- ACLU: What to Do If You Get Pulled Over by a Cop
- ACLU: Know Your Rights: I’ve been pulled over by the police
- ACLU: What To Do If You Are Detained For Taking Photographs
- ACLU: The Right to Record Police Doesn’t Disappear When You Put Your Phone in Your Pocket
Posted on July 13, 2020
CREDO joins Planned Parenthood to protect access to birth control
This month, the Supreme Court ruled that employers can deny birth control coverage to their workers based on a religious or moral objection. This decision puts birth control coverage at risk for millions of women, especially low income women, and we are outraged at yet another affront to women’s reproductive rights.
But we are also resolute and unwavering in our commitment to providing no-cost birth control coverage for our employees.
Just weeks before this ruling, CREDO again joined Planned Parenthood’s #BusinessForBC campaign, a public pledge to guarantee employee birth control coverage and to support policies that protect reproductive health care access for all workers. We have called on other companies and business leaders to join us to ensure affordable birth control access is covered, no matter what.
CREDO will always work to ensure gender equality in our company, and we will never stop fighting for the rights of women across America. We understand deeply that reproductive care, including birth control, is essential health care for all workers and is critical for diversity and inclusion, recruitment, retention, advancement and financial stability for all of our employees.
We’ve always been proud to stand with Planned Parenthood, and we’re honored to be one of their largest corporate donors. Our members have helped us donate more than $3.5 million to the organization, and over $10.5 million to groups fighting for women’s rights and reproductive health.
In light of this misguided Supreme Court ruling, it is more important than ever that companies commit to protecting access to birth control for their workers. We urge other businesses to join us and sign the pledge on Planned Parenthood’s website.
Posted on July 8, 2020
Watch: What Pride means to CREDO members
Love. Acceptance. Celebration and inclusivity. Basic human rights for everyone. Empowerment for people to feel safe and free to be themselves. “I am proud to be me.”
Those are some of the great responses — nearly 16,000 in total! — that we received when CREDO members took our Pride survey and participated in our #PrideInSixWords Twitter campaign last month.
Take a minute to watch this short and heartwarming “Virtual Pride Celebration” highlighting some of the great submissions from members like you from all across the country:
In our survey, we also asked our members an important question: “Compared to 4 years ago, do you feel your environment is more supportive of the LGBTQ community?”
Remarkably, after four years where the current administration and some lawmakers have worked to roll back rights and protections for LGBTQ people, a majority of respondents — 72 percent — who self-identified as a member of the LGBTQ community “somewhat” or “definitely” feel like their environment is more supportive today.
While that’s really great news, it also means 28 percent of respondents feel no change or that things have gotten worse. That’s why our fight for equality, along with our allies, will continue until all LGBTQ people, as our members told us, have “equal protection under the law” and when we “remove prejudice and discrimination,” “delete sexism, “end LGBTQphobia,” and “erase hate.”
And that’s why our members, who use our products and services every day, will continue to help us fund organizations fighting for LGBTQ rights, like the Transgender Law Center, the LGBTQ Task Force and the Trevor Project. In fact, our members have helped us donate over $14 million to groups fighting for equality and civil rights.
Even if you didn’t have the chance to make your voice heard in June, that’s okay! Feel free to tweet at us what Pride means to you, using the hashtag #PrideInSixWords — because here at CREDO, Pride isn’t just in June. We celebrate equality and LGBTQ rights all year long.
Music: www.bensound.com
Posted on July 4, 2020
Vote for Feeding America, the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Sunrise Movement this July
Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute our monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This July, you can support groups working to end hunger, to help survivors of domestic violence, and to fight for climate justice by voting to fund the Feeding America, the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Sunrise Movement.
Feeding America
Feeding America’s mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
Funding from CREDO members will help Feeding America and its network of food banks provide food and support to our neighbors in need across the country, reaching families and individuals in every county in the United States.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
For nearly twenty-five years, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has answered the call – over 5.2 million calls, chats, and texts to date – for those affected by relationship abuse. It works to shine a light on domestic violence by providing hope in times of crisis.
Funding from CREDO will help The Hotline meet the increased demand for critical, life-saving services for survivors, as well as purchase additional equipment for The Hotline’s Advocates that are now operating on a remote basis. Advocates answer contacts 24/7/365 via phone, chat, and text.
Sunrise Movement
Sunrise Movement is building an army of young people from the plains to the mountains to the coasts to win the Green New Deal and center racial and economic justice in the fight against the climate crisis.
Funding from the generous support of CREDO members will power our youth voter registration and mobilization program as it works to elect champions of the Green New Deal into the halls of power.
Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by July 31.
CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy and join our movement.
Posted on July 1, 2020
Our June grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups fighting for economic equality, climate justice, and LGBTQ rights. In June, nearly 50,000 CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to Economic Policy Institute, League of Conservation Voters and The Trevor Project.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our June grant recipients thank you.
Economic Policy Institute
$54,765
“Thank you! CREDO members like you make it possible for EPI to advocate for workers through original research, timely analysis, and a comprehensive policy agenda to strengthen worker power.” – Thea Lee, President, Economic Policy Institute
To learn more, visit epi.org.
League of Conservation Voters
$51,841
“Thank you for your continued support! CREDO members like you make it possible for LCV to build the political power necessary to fight for a safe climate that is protected by a just and equitable democracy for generations to come.” -Gene Karpinski, LCV President
To learn more, visit lcv.org.
The Trevor Project
$43,394
“The Trevor Project hopes to provide crisis counseling to 120,000 LGBTQ youth in 2020. Now more than ever, LGBTQ young people need to know they are supported. Thank you for helping us reach as many LGBTQ youth in need as possible.” – Shane Michael Singh, Corporate Development Manager, The Trevor Project
To learn more, visit thetrevorproject.org.
Now check out the three groups we are funding in July, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on July 1, 2020
This Independence Day, Being Patriotic Means Knowing Your Rights
For many, Independence Day means “patriotism,” and these days, that can feel like an awfully loaded term. Conservatives have certainly co-opted it to mean flags and anthems, blind loyalty, militarism, nationalism and xenophobia.
For us progressives, patriotism means just the opposite. It means working to fix our imperfect democratic system of government and fighting for liberty and justice for all people, no matter their gender identity, immigration status, race, age or physical ability. It means protesting and speaking out when our government abuses power. It means exercising our right to vote.
It means fighting to protect our rights and the rights of our country’s most vulnerable.
This Independence Day, we’d like to highlight some resources from our allies and grantees to help you know more about your rights for this socially-distanced Fourth of July weekend. Enjoy!
Your rights at the voting booth
From the American Civil Liberties Union
This November’s election will be one of the most important in our lifetime. Yet many people face significant challenges accessing their right to vote because of a fundamentally unequal process rigged against people of color, seniors, immigrants and other marginalized communities. It will become that much more difficult amid a pandemic as some states and local governments will force voters to choose between their health and exercising their right to cast a ballot.
Our long-time grantees at the ACLU have compiled a great guide on knowing your voting rights, including what you’ll need to register to vote, documentation you may need on Election Day, and what to do if a poll worker says you’re not registered to vote.
Your rights when stopped by the police
From the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
As demands for justice and reform of our current policing systems echo across the country, it’s important to know our rights if we encounter police. Our grantees at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund have published a useful handout that can provide more information on what you can do if you’re stopped, questioned or arrested by the police, including suggestions on how to act, what to say and *not* to say and information you should collect.
Your rights to access abortion services
From Planned Parenthood
The Supreme Court recently overturned Roe v. Wade, which has put access to abortion at risk for millions of people across the country. States have already enacted harsh restrictions and bans on abortion services.
Our allies at Planned Parenthood can help. They have a multitude of resources to help you know your rights when it comes to accessing abortion, no matter where you live, including where you can find services, how to get help paying for it, and understanding the laws where you live.
Your digital privacy rights at the border
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Border agents have drastically increased their searches of electronic devices at the border in recent years, and generally speaking, the Fourth Amendment protects an individual’s property or person against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. However, searches of digital devices at the border fall into a complex maze of rules that are still being sorted out by courts and legal experts.
Our allies at the Electronic Frontier Foundation provided CREDO members with a guide, “How to Protect Your Digital Data at the Border,” which can help you understand your risk for a search at the border and tips on securing and protecting your data.
Additional Reading
While the list above is far from comprehensive, the ACLU has published an incredibly useful “Know Your Rights” website with detailed guides for students, LGBTQ people, religious freedom, protesters, sex discrimination, prisoners and more.
Posted on June 30, 2020
CREDO Calls on Facebook to #StopHateForProfit
Over 30 years ago, our co-founders started CREDO so that consumers could do business with a company that shares their progressive values. Today, CREDO is following those same founding values.
Starting on July 1, CREDO will pause all advertising on Facebook and Instagram through at least the end of the month. We stand in solidarity with our allies and demand that Facebook take clear, actionable steps to end hate, racism and disinformation on its platform immediately, as laid out by the #StopHateForProfit campaign.
It’s long past time for Facebook to make these changes, and we simply cannot stand by and contribute to a platform that allows voter suppression and the amplification of hate, white supremacy, violence and racism.
We’re proud to join our long-time allies and grantees Color of Change, NAACP, Free Press and others who are leading this campaign, and we urge other companies to pull their advertising from Facebook until the company addresses hate and disinformation on its platform.
We are a mobile phone carrier that puts progress over profits and shares your values. Please consider joining CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience. Since 1985, CREDO has donated more than $14 million to groups fighting for civil rights, and nearly $90 million total to nonprofit organizations supporting climate justice, peace, women’s rights, voting rights and more.
If you’re already a CREDO Mobile customer and would like to refer your friends, don’t forget that you’ll get a $100 bill credit for every friend you refer that joins CREDO — and they’ll get a great deal on a great phone on the nation’s best network. To learn more, visit CREDOMobile.com today.
Ray Morris, CREDO
Posted on June 24, 2020
7 Podcasts Lifting Up Black Voices, History & Lives
As protests continue across the country calling for justice and reform, Americans are grappling with this nation’s shameful history of slavery, discrimination, brutality and the systemic racism that persists today — and what they should do about it.
Many people, including a lot of us here at CREDO, are heeding the calls of Black activists and leaders to educate ourselves even more about Black history and racism. That means more reading, more watching and more listening, especially to podcasts that feature Black hosts and topics meant to educate, inform and challenge.
We’ve compiled a short list — which is by no means comprehensive — of some of our favorite podcasts lifting up Black voices, history and lives. These podcasts are not meant as a substitute for the hard work of being anti-racist, but merely a starting point for discussion and to spotlight the issues facing Black America. Take the time to invest in a few or all of these podcasts and let us know what you think.
Code Switch
Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has spiked in recent weeks — two-thirds of all Americans support the movement in a recent poll — and so has the interest in podcasts about race. Gene Demby, co-host of Code Switch, NPR’s flagship podcast on race and diversity, recently revealed that the podcast hit number one on Apple’s Podcast chart as their Twitter following exploded with new, mostly white, followers (find out why here).
Learn more and subscribe to Code Switch.
Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
In their brand new, twice-weekly podcast, hosts Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss current events, Black pop culture, politics and sports. Recent episodes have examined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Black Lives Matter statement, nationwide protests following George Floyd’s murder and Donald Trump’s recent, poorly attended rally.
Learn more and subscribe to Higher Learning.
QueerWOC
Hosted by Nikeeta and Money, two self-identified Black Queer Troublemakers, who are, respectively, a Black feminist organizer and a mental health expert working with queer and trans women. QueerWOC is a bi-weekly podcast that shines a light on a different queer woman of color in each episode as they build an “insurgent audio syllabus that unites, ignites, and excites the queer women of color community.”
Learn more and subscribe to QueerWOC.
Still Processing
This is one of our favorites. Hosted by the incredible duo Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, culture writers for the New York Times, Still Processing explores pop culture, art, music and the internet. Although their most recent season ended before protests erupted across the nation over the murder of George Floyd and other Black people by police, the two reunited recently for a livestream to discuss the current moment.
Learn more and subscribe to Still Processing.
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
With recent episodes covering Black Lives Matter, white supremacy, police abolition and honoring Juneteenth, the Momentum podcast is, without a doubt, a place to “deepen your racial justice lens and get inspired to drive action.” Co-hosts Chevon Drew and Hiba Elyass discuss race and pop culture while lifting up the work of community organizers and leaders who are fighting to advance racial justice.
Learn more and subscribe to Momentum here.
Pod Save the People
Part of the Crooked Media podcast collection, Pod Save the People — hosted by activist DeRay McKesson and Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Samuel Sinyangwe, and Dr. Clint Smith III — explores news, social justice, culture and more with special guests in their hour-long shows. Recent episodes covered reforming the criminal justice system, recent protests, climate change and the experience of Black farmers.
Learn more and subscribe to Pod Save the People here.
1619
Hosted by New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, this audio series examines the fateful moment 400 years ago when a ship carrying the first enslaved Africans arrived in the colony of Virginia — and the hundreds of years of slavery that followed. The podcast is part of the Times’ 1619 Project, an initiative that “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
Learn more and subscribe to 1619 here.
Don’t listen to podcasts?
That’s okay, too! Netflix recently launched a “Black Lives Matter” collection to U.S. subscribers featuring over 40 films, series and documentaries about racial injustice and the Black experience in America. Plus, when you join CREDO Mobile today, you’ll get a year of Netflix (valid for new and existing Netflix subscribers) on us. Already a CREDO Mobile customer? Get a year of Netflix on us when you add a line!
