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!
Watch This: Sacred Politics and the Threat of Christian Nationalism
Christian Nationalists, who are mostly white evangelicals, are a shrinking minority in our population.1 They are desperate to maintain the political power that white Christian men have historically had in American society. They resent the social progress that has moved America closer to our ideal of equal rights for all — progress like same-sex marriage rights, gender equality, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Christian Nationalism is not a religion itself, it’s a political movement made up of a small subset of conservative white evangelical Christians. Watch this short, one minute video about the goals of the Christian Nationalist movement, how they’ve been successful, and the threat they pose:
Christian Nationalists support politicians like Donald Trump — even if he doesn’t live by Christian values himself — because he delivers policies and laws that uphold white Christian male privilege. Now that he is back in office — largely due to Christian Nationalist support — they will continue to have a significant influence on his administration’s policies. To protect equal rights for all, we must keep pushing back on their efforts.
Do This: Tell Your Friends About The Maternal Mortality Crisis
Now you’ve read about how maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are drastically increasing, and how that means more women are dying. You also heard from Georgia Representative Jasmine Clark about how access to preventative healthcare can help women have healthier pregnancies and reduce our maternal mortality rates. Doctors and medical experts have solutions to this crisis, so we can’t let these tragic deaths continue to happen.
So what can we do about it? Raise our voices! Share this information with your friends and family, and let’s demand better reproductive healthcare access for ALL women! We’ve made it super-easy with our social media share tool. Start below, and with just a few clicks, you can share this information and earn your Easy A today!
Watch This: Maternal Mortality Rates in the U.S.
Last week we learned about the horrifically-high maternal mortality rate in the U.S., and how women of color are most affected. Recently our own Jasmine Clark, co-host of The Suburban Women Problem podcast and a Georgia State Representative with a PhD in Microbiology, spoke on the floor of the Georgia State House about maternal mortality rates. The Speaker of the House cut her off and denied her the full 2 minutes to speak.
We find it particularly offensive for a Black woman to be silenced when she is speaking about this crisis in maternal healthcare, and we aren’t going to be quiet about this issue.
Watch Jasmine’s speech below, and stay tuned next week for an opportunity to raise your voice about the maternal mortality crisis!
Read This: Maternal Mortality Rates in the U.S.
Did you know that the U.S. is the only developed country in the world with a high maternal mortality rate? “Maternal mortality” refers to when women die during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after the end of their pregnancy due to complications. In 2021, we were ranked 55th in the world for maternal mortality, despite having an advanced healthcare system. Other developed nations rank much higher, like the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Australia, and most of Europe.
If that’s not bad enough, our maternal mortality rate has actually been increasing in recent years! We are moving in the wrong direction and more women are dying.
In 2021 the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. To put that into perspective, 1,205 women died from maternal causes. That’s a 40% increase in just one year! Those women were our sisters, our daughters, our partners, and our friends.
And women of color are much more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white women. In 2021, Native American women’s maternal mortality rate was 4.5 times that of white women, and Black women’s rate was 2.6 times the rate of white women.
Although not all states track maternal mortality rates, we do know that certain regions, like the south, have higher maternal mortality. And states with stricter abortion laws often have the highest maternal mortality rates. With abortion restrictions increasing throughout the United States, and the resulting deserts of maternal healthcare, experts fear the maternal mortality rate will continue to increase in the U.S.
That means more women will die — people we know and love, possibly even ourselves — due to complications with pregnancy, childbirth or the immediate postpartum period, and that’s unacceptable.
The big question is, what can we do about it? You just took the first step by reading about the problem. Stay tuned for more info and how to take action. Thanks for completing your Easy A action for this week.
Take It One Step Further: Subscribe to the Suburban Women Problem on Substack
As you know, many of our weekly Easy A actions, like the latest series on the problem with school vouchers, have been informed by our awesome podcasts, The Cost of Extremism and The Suburban Women Problem. You know those “Listen to This” clips we share with you? Those come from our pods! If you’ve enjoyed learning from their in-depth coverage of important topics — even if you don’t have a chance to listen — then we have some exciting news for you!
The Suburban Women Problem is now on Substack! Each week, they’ll be sharing stories, updates, and key information about their podcast topic, and you can get those posts delivered directly to your email inbox! What a great way to do a deeper dive into topics you’re wanting to learn more about.
Check out The Suburban Women Problem on Substack here: www.swppod.news and subscribe to get the posts right in your inbox!
Do This: Sign the Petition to Stop School Vouchers
Ok, now that you know more about the harm that school vouchers can do to a public school system, you’re probably wondering what you can do to help — We’ve got you.
We are committed to protecting public schools so that all children can learn and thrive, and we know you are 100% with us on that. Let’s take the next step together: sign our petition to protect public education for all kids.
Thanks for taking action this week!
Watch This: The Problem with School Vouchers
Now that you’ve read about school vouchers, let’s dig a little deeper. Watch this video with education journalist Jennifer Berkshire where she shares how school vouchers are not a new idea. These programs have been around for awhile, but get renamed and rebranded by those who advocate for them because they know they are unpopular. Voters have historically rejected vouchers because they don’t want taxpayer dollars going to private religious schools, and because they see how school choice programs don’t benefit most students. We support public education as an institution that benefits all of us.
To hear more of our discussion about school vouchers, check out the full podcast here, or stream anywhere you get your podcasts.
Read This: The Problem with School Vouchers
School vouchers sound fairly innocent, don’t they? But did you know that school vouchers take taxpayer funds away from public schools and direct it to religious and private institutions that are not held to the same standards of education, equity and opportunity?
Proponents of school vouchers like to call this “school choice” — implying that vouchers are giving parents more options in their children’s education. But in reality, the actual choice is with the schools. Private institutions — even if they’re receiving public funds through voucher programs — are not required to admit students and can deny entrance to anyone. This means students with learning disabilities, students of color and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds often get left behind. All while these funds are diverted from public schools, making it harder for them to serve everyone.
So if school vouchers don’t give all students more choice in education, what’s the point? The real reason behind school voucher programs is to defund public education. It’s one step in a plan to eventually privatize education in the United States. We can’t let that happen. All students deserve access to well-funded public schools that provide equitable opportunities to learn and succeed.
Do This: It’s Survey Time. We Want to Hear From You!
Happy New Year! ? Red Wine & Blue is committed to listening to the people who make up our sisterhood – people like you! That’s why we want to hear from you.
We want to make sure we never lose sight of what our women care about – because that tells us what Red Wine & Blue can and should do. That means finding out from you whether you are finding the work we are doing – and the way we do it – valuable.
With that mission in mind, we are hoping that you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to complete our 2023 Red Wine & Blue Survey!
Take It One Step Further: Look Back on 2023, Look Ahead to 2024
There’s just a few days left of 2023 and we want to celebrate with you! Not gonna lie, it was a busy year. We accomplished SO MUCH and we did it together, as a community of badass superheroes. Check out our 2023 Year in Review now:
We are so proud of our wins – You should be proud too! – And looking ahead, we know that 2024 is going to be an even bigger year. And we could really use your help.
There are so many different ways to get involved with RWB and making a year-end donation is one of them. It’s an easy way to invest in the future of our fight against extremism. If you make a donation this week, your gift will be doubled thanks to a generous matching gift donor! That means $10 becomes $20, $25 becomes $50! If you’re a first time donor, your gift will even be tripled!
Are you ready to take the next step and help us continue our fight against extremism in 2024? Click here to make a donation and become a Red Wine & Blue superhero!
Oh, and one more thing: Happy New Year! ?
Do This: Become a Troublemaker!
Wow, what a year! We accomplished a ton in 2023. Thank you for being a part of our community – We couldn’t have done it without you.
Here are some other amazing things that happened this year: 
- Over 20,000 people attended Red Wine & Blue events.
- 110 members of our community ran for office.
- RWB members in Ohio collected 57,000 signatures to help put Reproductive Freedom on the ballot. And then they passed the ballot measure enshrining repro rights in their state constitution!
- TroubleNation (our national distributed organizing program) started in the fall and already has 112 grassroots groups in 37 states, with 38,000 mostly female members!
- Across multiple states we stopped extremists from winning seats on school boards.
- Over 14,000 people attended an RWB training in 2023. Were you one of them? If not, now’s your chance!
Are you ready to level up in 2024? How about making it one of your New Year’s resolutions to cause a little good trouble next year? We can help you get started with one of our upcoming Troublemaker Trainings. These trainings are super easy to fit into your schedule – They are entirely online, so you can do them from anywhere, and they’re only about one hour long. You’ll learn how to be a Troublemaker and meet like-minded women. You might even make a new friend! So are you ready to take the next step? Sign up now for a Troublemaker Training this January!