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 Quiet Danger of Soft Censorship
We’ve been fighting the explosion of book bans since Red Wine & Blue started. PEN America reports 16,000 book bans in public schools since 2021 — a level not seen since the 1950s during McCarthyism. This increase has been driven by organized groups with a political agenda — and lately even by the White House. They want to remove books because they don’t like the truth the stories tell, the characters they feature, or the personal identities of their authors.
But the American Library Association shows a slowing of reported book bans in the last year, so is it time to celebrate? It’s actually a little more complicated than that. This decline might be due to successful legal challenges to book bans, which is good news. But it’s also likely due to an increase in soft censorship.
What is Soft Censorship?
Soft, or quiet, censorship can come in many forms, but in general it’s defined as removing a work without officially banning it. Here are some examples:
- An organized group coordinates to check out all the books they don’t like for as long as possible so that they are never available for the people who actually want to read them. (Yes, people are actually doing this!)
- Books are quietly removed from shelves during a routine process called “weeding” which is normally used to remove books that are damaged, outdated, or no longer in demand.
- Books are purposefully not ordered or added to a collection because they are known to have been challenged elsewhere.
- Books are moved to age-restricted areas of the library or removed from public displays, even if they are written for younger audiences.
- Entire shelves or libraries are closed off while large reviews take place for extended or indefinite amounts of time.
- Book bans and challenges simply go underreported to the organizations that are tracking them, either because librarians and teachers have been silenced by fear or have left their jobs altogether in the face of unprecedented public scrutiny and attacks, or because the local news outlets that cover this issue are dwindling.
Censorship is wrong, whether it’s loud or quiet. It’s a violation of our freedom to read, speak, think critically, and be given equal legal protection. It’s also bad for our kids and our communities. Censoring or banning books keeps us from understanding ourselves and the world around us and it takes teachable moments away from our families.
Not to mention the fact that it’s expensive! Just like we found in the Costs of Conflict report, some school districts have spent up to $135,000 a year fighting book bans and soft censorship.
Successfully Fighting Book Bans
There actually is some good news in all of this. Recent surveys show that up to three quarters of Americans oppose book bans and trust librarians and teachers to provide appropriate reading materials. And standing up to book banning extremists works. We’re seeing people fight back in places like Idaho, South Carolina, and Tennessee. At least 12 states have already passed laws to protect the right to read and give legal protections to librarians.
So what can you do about it where you live? You can start by paying attention to what’s happening in your local public schools and libraries. Attend school board and library board meetings. Read district and school newsletters and other communications. Have a library card and participate in library and school programs. Get to know your local teachers, librarians, and their collections. Let them know that you have their back!
You can also pay attention to your state legislature. The organization Every Library tracks bills that threaten our right to read as well as bills that support libraries, so you can see what is happening in your state. If bills are being considered, visit your state legislature’s website to see if you can sign up for bill tracking alerts.
All of this will help you to be ready to speak up and fight back if any form of banning shows up in your community. We’ll cover more easy actions you can take to fight soft censorship in the coming weeks.
Watch This: We Got This! Because We’ve Got Each Other
We wish you could see the messages we get every day from our community members. We hear from so many of you — literally daily — either by email, DMs on social media, or in direct conversations with our regional organizers, about how important the Red Wine & Blue community is to you. Watch this short video to see what we’re talking about:
We wanted you to see for yourself that you are not alone! Our community is 600,000+ women strong and still growing, and that’s something to celebrate! So we’re lifting up our community with our year-end celebration, We Got This!
You give us the hope and the motivation to keep going in our work to fight extremism. We hope this video has done the same for you!
Read This: We Got This! Because We’ve Got Each Other.
As we reflect on 2024, a year filled with emotional highs and lows, one thing stands out to us the most — the passion and the commitment of the women of Red Wine & Blue.
Our community came together — and grew — with a level of energy and a desire to take action like we’ve never seen before. We worked hard, and we had fun, too! The joy we found in our connection and shared purpose was undeniable, and while we didn’t get every victory we wanted, what we’ve built together can’t be taken away.
It’s a beautiful thing to know that we’re not going away and that no matter what we face in 2025, we’re not facing it alone. We got this, because we’ve got each other.
That’s why we are holding our annual, year-end celebration of community and giving campaign! We’re:
- Celebrating friendships that have been created through Red Wine & Blue.
- Highlighting successful advocacy efforts in your communities.
- Holding a friendly We’ve Got This: Coast-to-Coast state contest and a raffle for Red Wine & Blue swag.
- Hosting a Friend-a-Thon: RWB Girls Night Out event for you to meet other community members in your area.
- Giving you a carefully curated digital care package to treat yourself and your besties this holiday season.
- Asking for your support to power our work in 2025.
Our community is more than 600,000 women strong with more than 500 local groups across the country. In 2025 we plan on fighting harder than ever against extremism. Whether it’s more book bans, attacks on trans kids, bans on our reproductive rights, or any other threats to our freedoms that extremists cook up, we got this.
We got this because we’ve got the support of our community. Everything we do is possible because your donations give us the funding we need. That’s why it’s so important that our community knows about our year-end giving campaign.
While we take the end of the year to celebrate our community, rest, recover, and prepare for 2025, we hope you will join us with your support! Thank you!
Do This: Immigration, The American Fabric
Immigration was a deciding issue for a lot of voters in the 2024 election. We saw politicians use misinformation and partisan talking points to dehumanize immigrants and scare voters, but we know the facts.
We can stand up to these extremists and counter their harmful misinformation by having conversations about immigration with people who know and trust us, and by sharing the truth on social media. We’re making it easy for you!
Use our tool below to share this ready-made post on your favorite social media platform(s). The post includes the text and image you need, and a link to our shareable pdf with facts about immigration. We also have real stories about immigrants who are a vital part of the American fabric. All you have to do is a few clicks to share! Earn your Easy A by sharing today.
Watch This: Immigration, The American Fabric
The incoming Trump administration is doubling down on their campaign promises to curb immigration and conduct mass deportations, possibly even targeting naturalized citizens.
Amidst the hateful rhetoric, it’s important to remember that, while Americans disagree on how to improve our increasingly stressed immigration system, the majority of us support humane immigration policies and legal pathways to citizenship.
Watch this quick video as a reminder of how extremists are using immigration as a topic to scare and divide us, and how we can — and must — rise to this challenge and reject their hate and division.
We’ll be taking a break from our >Easy A next week to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, but we’ll be back the following week to talk about what we can do to support immigrants and immigration in the face of oncoming threats.
Read This: Immigration, The American Fabric
Many extremists made immigration and the fear of immigrants a central issue in their 2024 election campaigns, and it worked. A lot of them got elected, including Donald Trump with his promise to conduct mass deportations. So let’s talk about immigration.
Who Are Immigrants?
The United States is largely a nation of immigrants from all over the world. We are each diverse threads that weave together to create the beautiful American fabric.
Immigrants are not a monolith. They come from many different countries for many different reasons. Everyone is an individual with their own unique story. Whether they are fleeing war, violence, corruption, economic instability, climate disasters, or looking for opportunity, they share a desire for safety and a future for themselves and their families.
Immigrants come to the U.S. through work, student, or family visas, as asylum-seeking refugees, or meet the legal requirements for naturalization. They contribute to our communities and economy by starting businesses, serving in the military, or working in areas like healthcare, childcare, agriculture, construction, government, and service, to name a few.
Truths About Immigrants
Extremists want us to fear immigrants, so they spread dangerous myths and disinformation. But immigrants are not the problem. The problem is the partisan politicians who are dehumanizing and othering immigrants to divide us and gain political power. The scarier and more negative the lies are, the more quickly they spread and take hold. Let’s look at some facts instead.
- TRUTH: Immigrants are less likely to be criminals. US Census data shows that immigrants have never committed more crimes than native-born citizens.
- TRUTH: Most fentanyl is brought into our country by American citizens, not by immigrants.
- TRUTH: According to economists, as immigration goes up, more jobs are created — including jobs for native-born citizens. Many of the industries listed in the section above rely heavily on immigrants for their workforce.
- TRUTH: The health and stability of our economy depends on immigrants. They reduce labor shortages and contribute billions of dollars a year — yes, billions — to Social Security, Medicare, and state and local services.
- TRUTH: Only citizens can vote and have their vote counted in federal and state-wide elections.
It’s also true that our current immigration system is not equipped to handle the increase in people seeking citizenship. We can debate how to fix it, but most Americans agree, we want to solve our immigration challenges with humane policies and legal pathways to citizenship. We want our politicians to find solutions, not scapegoats.
Keeping the American Fabric Strong
So what can we do? It may feel difficult in light of the recent election results, but we don’t have to lose our values or our hope for the future.
We can have conversations with the people we know. We can stand up to partisan talking points and myth-bust their disinformation by sharing facts and real immigrant stories — starting with our own family histories. We can reject the othering of immigrants and seek to find similarities and honor our differences. We can support immigrant-owned businesses in our communities and immigrant families in our local schools. And it’s never too soon to look for like-minded politicians to support in the next election cycle.
The strength of our American fabric comes from the tight weave of our diverse threads. Let’s not let hateful politicians tear that fabric apart.
Take care of yourself through community
It’s only been about 24 hours since we woke up to the bad news. Donald Trump has won the 2024 presidential election and Republicans took control of the Senate. It hurts.
We’re feeling all the feelings, from shock to sadness to fear to rage. It’s important that we take the time to allow ourselves to feel these feelings and grieve the loss of the future we worked and hoped for.
But you don’t have to cope with any of this alone. Your Easy A this week is simple — take care of yourself and find support from the Red Wine & Blue community however you need it.
We have each other in this moment and we’re not going anywhere. There are over 600,000 women and 500 local groups in our community, and we’re leaning on each other right now for comfort and strength.
If you aren’t already connected with a Red Wine & Blue group on Facebook or locally through TroubleNation, we invite you to join one here:
Facebook Groups:
Red Wine & Blue: North Carolina
SWEEP by Red Wine & Blue (national)
Local Groups Nationwide:
Right now, our women are connecting and supporting each other in all of these spaces. We have seen how these connections can make a difference in so many ways. Today, we need them to help us process this loss.
You are not alone. We can grieve together in this moment and then heal, because we are not giving up. Women have found their power in our community and we won’t stop going, no matter who is in office.
Do This: It’s time to get out the vote!
The scariest thing to us this Halloween isn’t a movie or a costume, it’s the reality we face on November 6 if extremists get elected. So let’s make some time over the next five days to make sure that doesn’t happen!
Take 5 minutes to visit our website and sign up for Rally.
Rally is our organizational tool that helps you have conversations with friends and family about the importance of voting. Signing up only takes a few minutes. Then, you can come back to it and spend a few minutes every day picking from a list of quick actions to help inspire your people to vote.
We’ve proven that relational organizing with Rally works. Red Wine & Blue Ralliers increased voter turnout by more than 10% last election! That’s a big deal, because we know that this election is going to be close and that every vote matters.
If everyone who reads this blog uses Rally to help turn out other voters, we can mobilize tens of thousands of people to help secure big wins on November 5.
Look, we’re all feeling some election anxiety. It’s totally fine if you want to stress-eat Halloween candy for the next five days — we know we will! — but don’t let that be all that you do!
Sign up for Rally today, and take just a few minutes every day through November 5 to take simple actions. We promise it will help you feel better, and together, we’ll defeat extremism!
Watch This: It’s time to get out the vote!
How are you feeling about the upcoming election?
We’re hearing from some Red Wine and Blue members who are filled with joy and hope, and others who are filled with anxiety. Either way, you are not alone!
It’s natural to feel some anxiety, especially if you’re prone to doomscrolling, but there are many reasons to be excited about the importance of this election. Just think of what we can accomplish if we get our common sense candidates elected!
Our favorite piece of advice for how to overcome election anxiety is to take action! You’ve already taken the first step by reading this post, now watch this quick video about how Red Wine & Blue can help you take action and overcome election anxiety between now and November 5.
Feeling inspired? Stay tuned and we’ll talk more next week about how our Rally relational organizing tool can help you channel your anxiety and hope into action!
Read This: It’s time to get out the vote!
We are less than three weeks away from Election Day, and early voting has started in many places. It’s time to get out the vote!
No matter where you live, extremists are on the ballot, from the Presidential race to state houses to judicial races to school boards. It’s not hyperbole when the pundits say that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime. It’s crucial that we all show up and vote for common sense candidates and the preservation of democracy.
As a member of the Red Wine and Blue community, chances are you are a more engaged voter than the average citizen. That’s why your friends and family look to you — and trust you more than any other source — for guidance on elections. So let’s all be prepared, not only to vote ourselves, but to help everyone we know vote confidently too!
Here are some things informed voters are thinking about right now:
- Double checking our voter registration status.
- Learning our county’s early voting schedules and locations.
- Confirming mail-in or absentee voting requirements if we’re voting that way.
- Making note of our state’s voting rules and requirements, like: Do we need an ID to vote? Or, is it illegal to take a picture of our completed ballot? These things vary by state!
- Knowing our Election Day polling location and hours.
- Researching who’s on our ballot.
- Making our voting plan. Studies show that people who have made a plan to vote are more likely to do it!
Suburban women are a powerful part of the electorate. We can — and will — make a difference in this election. It starts by being up to date on all of this information, and then sharing that knowledge with everyone we know.
Start working through this list today, and in the coming weeks, we’ll share even more about how we can get out the vote and defeat extremism everywhere in November.
Do This: The Growing Movement to Ban Books
We know that book bans are on the rise at a shocking pace, and we know how bad that is for our children’s education and well being. Now, do you want some good news? The majority of Americans agree — book banning is bad for all of us.
More than 80% of Americans disagree with banning books about history or race. And a Washington Post study found that in the 2021-2022 school year, only 11 people were responsible for the majority of book bans. Book bans are being driven by a small but vocal minority, so we can stop them. And that’s exactly what we do with Book Ban Busters!
So earn your Easy A today by signing up to receive Book Ban Busters updates. We’ll keep you up to date on book bans and ways to take action. Together, we can reverse this dangerous trend.
Here are a few ways Book Ban Busters take action:
- Raising awareness by sharing information about book bans with friends and family.
- Publicly showing support for authors, educators, and librarians.
- Going to local school board and library board meetings to stay informed and ready to fight book bans if they arise.
- Voting for candidates who support the freedom to read.
- Running for a school or library board or volunteering on a campaign.
- Joining our banned book club.
- Hosting read-ins.
- Writing Letters to the Editor.
- Contacting elected representatives about legislative threats to our freedom to read.
Basically, the way we fight book bans is to organize — and that happens at the local level! Localized efforts are the most effective way to beat book bans. We win when people like you take action with the same boldness and fervor as the small groups bringing the bans in the first place. So let’s do this!