Hi there! Welcome to Easy A–Your go-to source for quick and easy actions you can take in five minutes or less about the issues you care about.
Are you a busy mom? Or maybe your work is so hectic you can’t think about anything else during the day? A lot of us are also taking care of parents or other loved ones too, leaving little time for anything else.
The good news is that these are things you can do while you’re waiting in the school pick up line, on your lunch break, or even at your kid’s soccer practice – anywhere you happen to be! And you can easily share Easy A with your friends so they can be in the know, too! We’ll send you a new action to take every week–just one, we promise –and it will always be something you can do in five minutes or less. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Read This: The Truth About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
You’ve probably heard the term “DEI” — an acronym for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” — a lot lately. Far-right extremists are attacking the concept and want to end DEI programs for good.
Unfortunately, their plan is working.
Companies like Walmart and Target have ended their DEI policies. Since 2023, more than 230 colleges and universities in 34 states have stopped programs because of anti-DEI laws or mandates — the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action. President Donald Trump has already issued executive orders and memos that end all federal DEI-related programs and positions. People who work in DEI are losing their jobs. And Trump and members of his cabinet had the nerve to blame DEI for recent tragedies like the D.C. plane crash and the L.A. wildfires.
But when people understand what it truly is, the majority of Americans support DEI and say it’s a good thing, so let’s learn a little more about it.
What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)?
Diversity refers to the differences among people like: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical ability, class, and more. Equity means treating everyone fairly and giving them equal opportunities. Inclusion means creating an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, valued, and heard.
So taken as a whole, DEI means any effort or program instituted to protect us from discrimination! The goal of DEI programs is to make sure that everyone has equal access to school and job opportunities, and that they are treated fairly. Examples include:
- Recruitment programs for women in jobs that have historically been dominated by men.
- Efforts to close gender pay gaps.
- Flexible work hours or locations for working parents.
- Family and all-gender restrooms in public spaces.
- Development programs for young minority leaders.
- Accessibility measures for people with physical disabilities.
- Federal grants and contracts for small business owners who have historically been passed over, like Black or Hispanic women.
- Programs to help first-generation college applicants navigate their admissions process.
When did DEI start?
DEI programs started during the Civil Rights movement, which drew attention to the systemic racism that kept non-whites from getting an equal education, jobs, and fair treatment. Segregation and workplace discrimination became illegal through efforts like the Equal Pay Act of 1963, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity in 1965, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and countless other executive orders and acts that followed.
Over the next six decades, the federal government, schools, and private companies implemented DEI programs to break down barriers to access, to combat biases in hiring and admissions, and to make sure that applicants and employees were treated fairly and equally. And you know what? It turns out that DEI programs benefit companies and organizations too!
How does DEI benefit an organization?
DEI policies help organizations find the most qualified and talented candidates out of the largest possible pool. Despite what critics say, DEI brings more merit to the table. And it doesn’t tell an organization who to choose, it just gives them more people to choose from. Then, it makes sure that everyone is supported and treated fairly once they’re in the room.
Research shows that diversity brings more quality and productivity to a team. DEI combats the mediocrity that can occur when everyone looks and thinks the same way, especially in organizations that were built by “good ol’ boy” networks and nepotism.
Diversity also improves a team’s creativity and communication, and a business’s success. That’s why more than 60 U.S. companies supported affirmative action in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
Companies that value DEI and that have more racial and gender diversity in their leadership are proven to be more profitable. That makes sense, because these businesses actually look and think like their customers, so they’re more responsive to their needs.
Standing up for DEI
DEI is good for everyone — individuals, schools, and businesses. Ending DEI programs will roll back the progress we’ve made towards equality since the Civil Rights movement, and it will hurt more groups of people than its critics might think — even themselves! It’s up to us to inform everyone we know about how we ALL benefit from DEI, and to fight for it to continue.
Watch This: Turning Point USA: The Alt-Right Radicalization of Young Men
We don’t know about you, but we’ve returned from our Fourth of July holiday more committed than ever to protecting our democracy against extremism. So let’s get back to learning about Turning Point USA!
We recently read how Turning Point USA’s founder, Charlie Kirk, is trying to normalize his brand of extremism and make it seem “cool” to young men. Now let’s watch award-winning journalist and author Kyle Spencer explain how Kirk does this, and how, like Donald Trump, he presents anger and rage as acceptable responses to democratic progress being made in our country.
You can see in the clip that Kirk tells his audience directly that “well-armed and disruptive men are the hope, not the problem.” It’s plain to see just how dangerous he and his extremist organization are, and they have the attention of more than 10 million of our young people online!
So what can we do about it? Watch for next week’s Easy A action and we’ll take on this problem together!
How to Confront the Affordability Crisis: Use the Ballot to Raise Wages
The US restaurant industry is on the cusp of historic change. After years of organizing and building power to raise wages and end subminimum tip-based wages, restaurant and service workers and “high road” restaurant owners in many states still work in an industry that offers a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour—a direct legacy of slavery. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, over one million workers have left the industry, resulting in thousands of restaurants raising wages to recruit staff.
In Ohio, advocates have filed a petition to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour and end subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth. Tipped workers in Ohio currently earn $5.05. Nearly a million Ohio workers would receive a raise through this ballot measure.
The partners include a range of organizations, including SEIU District 1199, the Ohio Education Association, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Red Wine and Blue, Ohio Voice, Policy Matters Ohio, and Ohio Working Families Party, as well as One Fair Wage.
Read the complete article at: Non-Profit Quarterly
Do This: Celebrate July 4th with Red Wine & Blue!
Happy Birthday, America!
We hope you take some time to enjoy this Fourth of July holiday, however you choose to celebrate. We know that our democracy is worth fighting for so here’s an easy, patriotic action you can take today — tell your friends about Red Wine & Blue!
Invite your friends to join us by simply clicking on the post below to share on your own social media accounts. Then enjoy the rest of your holiday knowing that you’re not alone in our movement to protect democracy!
Read This: Turning Point USA: The Alt-Right Radicalization of Young Men
Have you seen extremists on the far-right trying to connect with certain groups of voters? We’ve talked before about how they target young women; now, let’s look at how they target young men.
One of the most insidious actors is Turning Point USA, an extreme-right organization run by Charlie Kirk that targets youth across the country. Kirk’s goal is to recruit young people into the far-right movement by making conservatism seem “cool.” They project a clean-cut, straight-laced image in an effort to appear less threatening than other far-right extremist groups, hoping that they can draw more people in and make their radical ideas seem normal.
Turning Point’s messaging is not really “conservative.” Instead, it centers around white male “grievances,” claiming to be victims of liberal values like equality and inclusion. They want to return society to what they consider to be “traditional” values, but what the Anti-Defamation League has identified as sexist gender roles and racist and antisemitic goals. Kirk knows this rhetoric appeals to young men who are feeling disrespected and isolated because it validates their feelings. Turning Point USA offers them a community and a sense of belonging. Once they lure in vulnerable followers by talking about these issues, they expose them to their more radical ideas. Their end goal is to promote a more authoritarian, anti-democratic government in the U.S.
In fact, one of the overarching themes that Turning Point USA promotes is that the U.S. is not a democracy. It gets worse, because their messaging is also filled with hyper-masculine and aggressive themes of defiance, revolution, violence, and guns. They prop up people including Donald Trump, who consistently incites violence, and Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered Black Lives Matter protesters, as heroes. This is especially dangerous because we know that Turning Point keeps a “professor watchlist” and a “school board watch” to name and monitor educators and administrators who they don’t agree with. Stoking rage with this kind of messaging while idolizing violence and keeping lists of perceived enemies is a recipe for disaster.
Kirk and Turning Point USA started off by speaking on college campuses, where they knew they could reach large audiences of people who are in a vulnerable time of transition and self-exploration. They’ve now expanded their reach through social media campaigns, TV and other forms of media, political campaigns, faith-based activities, and their own AmericaFest conference. They have more than 10 million followers online.
The good news is, there are many groups of young people who are countering Turning Point USA’s message, so we need to support them! Red Wine & Blue helps women engage in our local schools and communities and in the coming weeks, we’ll keep talking about what we can do to stop Turning Point USA from radicalizing young men.
Do This: Let’s Celebrate Pride!
We’ve spent some time learning about why we celebrate Pride, so now let’s kick off that celebration! Here at Red Wine & Blue, our work is centered around relational organizing – talking to friends and family about the issues we care about – so that’s our Easy A for this week: talk to your friends and family about Pride Month!
The simple act of talking to the people who love and trust us about celebrating and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community can do a world of good. Our kids learn by example, and we can model for them the behavior we want to see in our community. And let’s be honest, sometimes the other adults in our lives need that too. By openly communicating about Pride Month, we create an affirming, safe, and supportive space for all.
Tips for talking to kids about Pride Month:
- Speak at an age-appropriate level that is comfortable for you and your family.
- Be the one to start the conversation. If you find it hard to start a conversation out of the blue, you can lead into it by:
- reading a story with LGBTQ+ characters.
- watching an inclusive movie or educational documentary.
- going to a local Pride Month event.
- doing rainbow or Pride themed arts and crafts together.
- Create a casual, judgment-free zone.
- Share that it’s about celebrating and including everyone.
- Use inclusive, gender-neutral language and model using chosen pronouns.
- Keep it simple, general, and relatable. Use terms they understand.
- Ask open-ended questions and let them ask questions too.
- Be honest about what you know and don’t know.
- Be positive and affirming.
- Let them know the conversation can continue anytime they’d like.
- Remember that this conversation may also be affirming to them!
Tips for talking to friends about Pride Month:
- Talk to friends who you believe will be open to a meaningful conversation.
- Find common ground. Even if they won’t agree with you on everything, focus on your shared values to get the conversation started. For example, saying, “We can agree that all people should be treated with respect and dignity, right?”
- Share your beliefs and what you’ve learned about Pride Month.
- Ask open-ended questions to learn what they are thinking and feeling too.
- If they share disinformation, don’t repeat it, but don’t ignore it. Counter it with facts and how those facts inform your beliefs.
- If you can’t avoid disagreements, you can always pivot the conversation back to your shared values.
There are ten days left in Pride Month. That’s plenty of time for good conversations and celebrations. Happy Pride!
Watch This: Let’s Celebrate Pride!
It’s Pride Month, and now that we’ve read about the history and purpose of celebrating Pride, let’s watch this video to learn a little more.
This short video about Pride Month has some really cool historical footage and pictures from Pride marches and the LGBTQ+ rights movement over time. It’s hard not to get inspired by seeing those who fought before us.
But it’s also a great reminder that LGBTQ+ rights are still very much at risk and the movement isn’t over. As we’ve learned, Pride is about both celebrating AND advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are always looking for ways to do both.
Next week, we’ll talk about simple actions we can all take during Pride Month — and all year long — to make sure our communities are welcoming and affirming of everyone.
Read This: Let’s Celebrate Pride!
Happy Pride! It’s June, which means it’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month, so we’re going to spend the next few weeks learning about Pride and celebrating together.
Pride Month originated in 1969 with the Stonewall riots, when the New York City police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn and its community fought back. Many consider this the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Since then, annual marches and celebrations all over the country have honored the riots and moved the movement forward. On the 30th anniversary of the riots, President Bill Clinton officially declared June Pride Month.
During Pride, we celebrate the history, culture, achievements, and identity of the LGBTQ+ community, and we also advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. There are huge Pride celebrations across the world each year, but it’s important to remember that Pride is also about protest.
It’s okay to celebrate and participate in Pride, no matter how you identify. That’s because when we all celebrate Pride, it shows that there are welcoming, inclusive, and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ people of all ages to feel safe in their identity. Something as simple as wearing a Pride shirt, or attending a Pride event helps create an affirming community for everyone.
We celebrate the victories of the Pride movement like marriage equality but we also continue to protest for greater equality. That’s why advocacy during Pride Month (and all year long) continues to be as important as ever. In fact, we’re seeing an increase in political attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Book banners continue to target books that feature LGBTQ+ characters. 586 bills targeting the healthcare and basic human rights of trans people have been filed across the U.S. so far this year. Project 2025 threatens the marriage rights and other federal protections of LGBTQ+ people if Donald Trump gets elected. And LGBTQ+ youth are at risk of increased bullying, anxiety, depression, and suicide risk.
This is why it’s so important to honor Pride Month. In the coming weeks, we’ll dig deeper into how you can include your family in your celebration of Pride Month, especially the young people in your life, to be even more impactful.
Do This: Project 2025 Explained
Now we know about the dangers of Project 2025. In it, Donald Trump and his allies tell us exactly what they have planned for our country if he wins a second presidential term, and we know it’s a very different vision than what we have for our families and our communities.
They want to ban books, ban abortion, take away our rights to all forms of birth control including condoms, take away IVF, destroy public education, and so much more. As our founder Katie Paris said, “when they tell us, believe them.”
So what can we do? We need to warn everyone we know about the dangers of Project 2025 and a second Trump presidency. Click below to use our social share tool. You can customize and share your message with friends and family right now. How easy is that?
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Watch This: Project 2025 Explained
Last week, you read about Project 2025, so now you know how it threatens our current way of life and the democratic future that we want for America. And here’s the thing: We aren’t the only ones worried about it!
We work hand-in-hand with many other groups who also want to protect our democracy, and they’re all sounding the alarms about Project 2025.
In fact, just last month our founder, Katie Paris, joined the African American Policy Forum for one of their Freedom to Learn Homeroom events. It was called “We are the Majority: How Parents can Protect Education and Multiracial Democracy,” and it focused on the threats of Project 2025, especially when it comes to our children’s education.
We’ve pulled a short clip of that session so you can watch how — in under one minute! — Katie so perfectly explained Project 2025 and why we need everyone to know about it:
And stay tuned: Next week we’ll talk about quick and simple actions we can all take to spread the word about the dangers of Project 2025 and how to stop it from becoming our reality!
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Read This: Project 2025 Explained
Have you heard about this scary thing called Project 2025? We know a lot of people have started talking about it — for good reason — and we want you to have everything you need to know from reliable sources so you can be a part of the conversation.
Project 2025 is a far-right extremist plan for America’s future. A group of Donald Trump’s political allies and supporters, led by the Heritage Foundation, are upset that he wasn’t able to make more permanent changes to our way of life during his term as president. They infused their white Christian nationalist agenda into this plan for him to use if he wins a second term in 2024.
It’s a 900+ page blueprint to remove our government’s checks and balances and give complete power to the president to make policy changes that go against what most Americans want for our country. It’s so unbelievably anti-democratic it will make your head spin. It’s long and full of disinformation, so we don’t recommend going to their website to check it out — that would give them clicks AND your data, which will let them flood you with their online propaganda in the future. Instead, we’ve reviewed it to give you this summary.
Project 2025 aims to:
- Institute a national abortion ban, reverse FDA approval of abortion pills, demand data from states that currently allow abortion, and restrict our access to STD testing, birth control, and IVF.
- End public education by eliminating the Department of Education and by diverting public money to private and religious school attendance.
- Assume that America is Christian and that Christian beliefs should hold a privileged place in society, starting with enforcing a “biblically based” (heterosexual and two-parent) definition of marriage and family.
- Reduce or eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and end programs that address climate change.
- Allow the mass deportation of immigrants, suspend applications for immigration, and reduce protections for immigrants seeking asylum.
- Make it easier to fire government employees. The people behind this are already creating a hiring database of 20,000+ Trump loyalists to pack all levels of the federal government with people who will not check his power. They’re also creating a training academy for them.
- Threaten our national security by gutting the Department of Homeland Security, ending the FBI’s efforts to combat disinformation, and reducing the military’s efforts to counter domestic extremism. And so much more.
As you can see, all the talk and red flags about Project 2025 are justified. It’s scary to imagine this extreme vision for America becoming reality, but knowing about it can help us stop it from happening!
So, what can we do? We’ll talk more in the coming weeks about how to make sure Project 2025 never sees the light of day. For now, if you’re interested in a deeper dive, you can visit our more detailed explainer at https://redwine.blue/project2025/. And stay tuned for next week’s Easy A action!
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