October Newsletter

Jen S
6 days ago
9 min read

NO KINGS Day! October 18, 2025

Turn out for this historic, peaceful rally against Donald Trump and Project 2025

Find a rally near you by clicking here.

Need inspiration for your sign? Check out these free graphics from Cagle Cartoons

RESISTANCE SUMMIT 5: NO KINGS 2

Thank you for all your support for No Kings Day. As a follow up we will be gathering again for Resistance Summit 5.0 — a statewide organizing event designed to keep our movement energized, organized, and mobilized.

At the Summit, we’ll:

Analyze the threat: Understand the current state of Trump’s authoritarian push and what real resistance looks like.
Expose the playbook: Learn how racism and white supremacy are being used as tools to undermine democracy — and what we can do to stop it.
Defend democracy: Discuss how Trump’s movement is criminalizing opposition and how we can fight back together.
Sharpen our message: Get trained in persuasive communication that reaches beyond our base and wins hearts and minds.
Turn protest into power: Connect with pro-democracy campaigns and ballot initiatives that are building lasting change from the ground up.

This Summit will prepare us for the long haul — to organize smarter, communicate stronger, and move in unison as we face down the growing fascist threat to our democracy.

Will you help us spread the word?We’re looking for volunteers across the state, to pass out flyers and help recruit participants for the Summit. Sign up here:

Attached to this email is the flyer in both PDF and PNG formats for printing (volunteers cover their own printing costs).

Every flyer in every hand matters. Every conversation counts. Together, we’ll prove again that Michigan’s pro-democracy movement is organized, energized, and ready.

VOLUNTEER BLUE INVITES SWIM MEMBERS TO ATTEND THEIR WAKE UP CALL FEATURING HEATHER COX RICHARDSON, EZRA LEVIN, SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO, CRISTINA JIMENEZ AND BILL MCKIBBEN. REGISTER HERE

MIvoter.org is one of our Favorite Things and we think it will be yours too--it is your "one stop shop" resource for Michigan voters.

Seriously.

It will ask for your street address but they DO NOT track your address and they will never ask for money.

Jews for a Secular Democracy has created this concise guide on upcoming Michigan Ballot Initiatives.

De-Escalation Guide

De-Escalation Pocket Guide

Pocket Protest Guide

Laughtivism: The unexpected way to defeat hate and fear through absurdist brilliance. Or put another way, cue "The Frogs of Portland".

Who would have guessed that inflatable costumes would become an effective counter weapon to heavily armed federal agents? When confronted with inflatable (and can we say adorable) characters and frogs, the narrative of Portland being a war zone collapses.

Costumes also serve practical purposes:

They provide protection from tear gas and pepper spray
They make it visually obvious there are no weapons
They make it obvious that the protests are peaceful
They make protesting feel accessible to people who are scared,
They keep Trump from setting the emotional tone

Combine this with some line dancing citizens and one can hardly envision the street being a war zone.

TIME-SENSITIVE CALL TO ACTION!

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is accepting public comments on a proof-of-citizenship voting requirement—the same policy Congress rejected in the SAVE Act and courts blocked. If implemented, it would disenfranchise 146 million Americans without passports (disproportionally affecting students and low-income Americans) and 69 million women with name changes.

Anti-voter advocates are flooding the comment period. Fight back! Submit your opposition by clicking on this link now:

You can comment anonymously if you prefer. Comment period ends October 20, 2025.

(H/T Joyce Vance Blog: https://joycevance.substack.com/p/a-thing-you-can-do-right-now-to-help)

NEWS FROM NATIONAL

CONNECT, SHARE AND SUPPORT:

Do you want to connect with other Indivisibles across the country? Group2Group is back on Tuesdays from 3pm ET - 4:30pm ET.

Do you have questions about EveryAction? Submit them here and we'll answer them LIVE on Tuesday Group2Group call.

Indivisible hosts a daily Coffee and Conversations zoom weekdays at 11am ET. Ask questions, share best practices or just come to listen. This is a wonderfully informal way to plug in and connect with our National Indivisible peeps.

Do you know someone who should be receiving National's emails? Send them the Group Leader Email Subscribe Link to get them connected! Or if they need to reverse a previous unsubscribe, send them this Re-subscribe Link.

Did you miss the One Million Rising Trainings? Despair not! You can access the recordings here.

One Million Rising Host Toolkit.

FROM OUR REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT ICKES

Scott has so much to share that we have put it into a separate document for you to look through. You can access it here.

GET LOUD FOR DEMOCRACY

SILENCE IS VIOLENCE

WHAT ARE OUR SENATORS UP TO

We had two informative meetings with our Senators this month as well as a town hall with Dana Nessel. Many thanks to Greg Levine for setting these up.

Here is the follow-up on the meeting with Senator Peters' Staff.

Thanks to all of you for registering for this meeting. We hope that you were able to attend and hear the excellent summary Terry and Aubrey provided at the meeting on various issues. We discussed the Big Ugly Bill, Middle East, Russia, US Troops in our cities, redistricting, upcoming budget negotiations, the Epstein files, and water protection. It was great to hear that the Senator is in alignment with most of our members' positions and continues to work on all these issues. As with Sen. Slotkin, we encouraged the team to have Sen. Peters leverage his position as a moderate to push some of his colleagues.

Many of you asked about the ICE registration protection Terry mentioned, so there are links below for that and for reaching out to the Senator's office.Here is the link for the ICE privacy waiver.

The Form, which is 60-001, can be downloaded in several languages at: https://www.ice.gov/forms. (The ICE Privacy Waiver is a form that allows individuals to authorize the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to disclose their information to a third party, such as a family member or legal representative, particularly in the event of an ICE detention. This form is voluntary and helps facilitate communication and advocacy on behalf of the individual if they are detained.) When completing the form, if the constituent is seeking information to be shared with our office, they should fill out the recipient information.Here’s a link to the Senator's website that may also be helpful: https://www.peters.senate.gov/services/help-with-a-federal-agency

CALLS TO ACTION

MAN THE PHONES! WE HAVE OUR DEMOCRACY TO SAVE!

CALL SENATOR PETERS (202-224-6221) AND SENATOR SLOTKIN (202- 224-4822) and

1.) Ask for their support to oppose the deployment of National Guard and military in Washington, DC and other cities.

2.) Ask them to oppose the new FDA decision to limit COVID vaccines to people over 65 years of age or to people with a medical condition

3.) Demand the Federal Reserve remain independent of the President

4.) Oppose Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule change shifting responsibility and cost of cleaning up forever chemicals from polluters to the government. This means forever chemicals would either be cleaned up at taxpayer expense or not at all.

ABOVE ALL! Watch for an emergency notice that the Senate will debate and vote on The SAVE Act--and call immediately if you see one.

(H/T Indivisible of Greater Grand Rapids)

GET YOUR PEN AND PAPER OUT AND WRITE A LETTER TO THE DETROIT METRO AIRPORT AUTHORITY, 11050 ROGELL DRIVE, BUILDING 102, DETROIT, MI 48242 USING ANY OF THE TALKING POINTS BELOW:

I oppose the Detroit Metro Airport Authority allowing Avelo Airlines to fly out of our airports. Review, suspend and cancel your contract and subsidies that support Avelo's operations.

Avelo Airlines has accepted a $150 million contract to fly deportation flights. Boycott Avelo Airlines until they stop this activity.

Avelo's contract with ICE is inhumane and a direct violation of the US Constitution. Avelo Airlines enables and profits from the cruelty inflicted on our neighbors denying them their right to a fair hearing before deporting them.

Avelo Airlines enables and profits from the cruelty imposed on individuals, even hiding its name on deportation planes.

Flying passengers in handcuffs and/or shackles is a safety hazard should they need to evacuate in an emergency. Avelo Airlines allows this!

Passengers being deported without due process assurances could sue any and all, including the Detroit Airport Authority. (H/T Indivisible Fighting 9)

NATIONAL BOYCOTTS

Mark your calendars and plan ahead!

BOYCOTTS WORK!

(ask Tesla dealerships...)

All of October - Boycott Target

All of November & December- Boycott Walmart, Amazon & Target; shop minority-owned businesses (search Black-owned businesses here.)

Check out https://choosedemocracy.us/boycott-central/#active for lots of active boycotts!

Did we miss any? Post them to our social media pages - see below for direct links.

ENVIRONMENTAL CORNER

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters is asking you to TAKE ACTION!

Consumers Energy has just asked state regulators to raise our energy rates, costing customers $436 million – the utility company’s largest request in decades. If approved, that cost would be passed on directly to customers.

Consumers Energy just raised our rates by $154 million in March! Not to mention, DTE Energy is currently trying to raise rates for customers by $574 million – that’s a combined $1 billion-plus in total rate hikes. These constant hundred-million-dollar rate hikes are getting out of control. Our bills are already too damn high!

According to federal energy data, we pay the highest costs for energy in the Midwest for some of the worst reliability in the country. We keep paying more for our energy and continue to be left in the dark.

For Consumers Energy’s rate hike to take effect, it must be approved by state regulators at the Michigan Public Service Commission. You can make your voice heard by submitting a public comment urging them to reject the rate hike.

Send a message to the Michigan Public Service Commission urging them to reject Consumers Energy’s rate increase request and protect Michigan ratepayers →

A local developer with Indivisible Metro Detroit is working on a Michigan model of the wildly successful 5 Calls app, called “Call MI Reps”. He’s far enough in the design process that he’s looking for a web developer or designer to help with the front end design. Interested? Contact Katie Page at indivisiblemetrodetroit@gmail.com

RESOURCES TO AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGING

PARTNER TOOL KITS

PROTECT YOURSELF

As protests gear up, it's important to keep yourself and other protestors safe. This document has a bunch of resources to help you do just that! Share with your crew! Updated safety protocols are posted on the SWIM Leader Slack site!

OPTICS ARE IMPORTANT

The American public judges who's right and wrong almost exclusively based on the images they see on the news and on social media. This makes managing protest optics absolutely critical for movement success. This document has many suggestions on how to put our best foot forward.

POLITICAL ACTION ROADMAP FOR MICHIGANDERS

Political action is a way to support your community and fight for a society that is feminist, anti-racist, and pro-democratic. Casting your vote is just one of the many tools at your disposal! Here are some additional ways you may already be engaging in political action. This resource can be used to help scaffold new people to the movement - share with your CHECK OUT FIVE CALLS

Many local groups are having their members use this great tool to contact their legislators about the hot topics in front of them. This could not be easier. Sign up here.

CARD CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY makes it easy for even the shyest activist to get their voice heard. Here is a downloadable postcard protesting Donald Trump and "his rape of our democracy and country." Sign up for their emails here and pick up the 2025 Card campaigns.

USE THE POWER OF YOUR SPENDING!

Check out Goods Unite Us (link here; there is also an app) for verifying who the merchant may be supporting before you purchase!

COLLABORATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME!

WANT MORE? Check out more toolkits on our website here!

And we can't ever forget the need for self-care! Cara Erskine from Great Lakes Democracy Action Indivisible shared this amazing list of self-care tips and resources. Thank you, Cara!

SWIM WEBPAGE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Bookmark our Website: www.statewideindivisiblemi.com. The website is a repository of resources and network partners amassed since 2017.

Members: Send us your announcements, events, photos or writings to our email at info@statewideindivisiblemi.com! We need to share our successes - we're better together!

SOCIAL MEDIA

BlueSky: @mi-swim.bsky.social

Facebook: SWIM (StateWide Indivisible Michigan) Members

Instagram: statewideindivisiblemichigan

YouTube: newly available for groups to post to @SWIM-StateWideIndMI

For the time being, we maintain our Facebook & Instagram accounts, but foresee a time in the not-distant future when we will leave these platforms like we (and many others) did X.

Join us on BlueSky!

USING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO AMPLIFY GOOD NEWS

Truth Bomb Toolkit – this is a very comprehensive toolkit with EVERYTHING you might want to know about Truth Bombs and how to do them.
Into Action Labs allows you to download hundreds of gifs and add your own message(s).
Indivisible's Trainings-to-Go - Slides, handouts, discussion questions, as well as notes/directions for the person leading the space. Start with a pilot batch of 3 Trainings-to-Go: Recruitment 101, Indivisible 101, and Tools for Building Inclusive Groups! These are located in the Support Hub along with a lot more! Questions or suggestions can be sent to training@indivisible.org.