"Courage Starts with Showing Up"
Action on Every Front: How IMV Will Help Defeat Autocracy
If you were at IMV's September meeting on Wednesday, you probably caught the wave of excitement as many new groups formed to focus on creative ways of throwing a wrench in the works of accelerating MAGA authoritarianism,
Groups formed on the spot around:
Protests, Rallies & Parades
Media & Comms
Policy & Lobbying
Political & Electoral
Tech & Backend
Community Buiiding
People joined around tables and brainstormed and shared ideas, raised questions and concerns, and then exchanged contact information so they could set up their next meeting to start turning their ideas into actions.
What's next?
Next week in this newsletter we'll share out the projects that are underway and the contact email for how YOU can join in any effort that fits your interest, skill, or passion.
There is a place for everyone in this work. Everyone. All you need is a commitment to do something to stop this madness, something to connect people of good will, something to build up courage, something to reach out wider than our current circle, something to build a better future for all of us.
As Colt Brumm said as he charged the groups, "You keep hearing that SOMEBODY should do something. But every person in this room is SOMEBODY."
No Kings Oct. 18: Utica, Rome and Herkimer
Have you seen the #NoKings.org map explode? Our Utica, Rome and Herkimer rallies are now on the map!
Thousands of people joined the No Kings Mobilization Kickoff Call last night. What we heard was that our only path out of this autocratic freefall is to bring millions more people --a very big, wide coalition--into the public, open, transparent movement against authoritariansim.
The goal of the No Kings events on October 18th is not necessarily to connect with motorists, as we do at our honk and wave pop up rallies. The goal is to get as many people in attendace at the rallies as possible--in every rally in every city and town possible. And when we come together, the goal is to honor freedom of speech by speaking just as we honor freedom of assembly by gathering. Events will have music, creative signs, and inspiring speakers. And whatever else our organizers plan. There is one goal for @NoKings: To blow past the 5-6 million who came to #NoKings in June. If we hit 11-12 million, we are at 3.5% of the population showing up against authoritarianism. No pro-democracy movement with 3.5% of the popualtion showing up in the past 100 years has failed to stop authoritarian regimes from consolidating their power.
Safety is a top priority, and IMV, like every other event across the country, ours will have a clear safety plan with safety marshals. We will need many of you to volunteer. What if hundreds of you on this email were safety marshals or took on other event roles, so that we could have 10,000 people at our three events? We are thinking big!
#NoThrones.
#NoCrowns
#NoKings
Utica-10 Broad Street, 12-1:30 pm Register for Utica.
Rome- Fort Stanwix National Monument, 12-1:30 pm Register for Rome.
Herkimer -Bassett Convenient Care Center, 4:30-6:00 pm Register for Herkimer
If you want a deeper dive, check out the Toolkit and the Trainings. We need all hands on deck. Not just to show up. But to get the word out. To invite other people. To make our rallies HUGE.
"We are not without fear. But we walk through it in courage. The kind of courage that topples kings." -Greisa Martinez Rosas of United We Dream Action
Rome Rally on Saturday
"Resist the Regime"
Saturday, September 20, 2025
12-1:30 PM
Fort Stanwix National Monument
Black River Blvd at E. Dominick Street
A peaceful protest. We will raise our voices together in songs and chants
Bring your favorite signs, banners, noise makers and music
Rome Concerned Citizens and Indivisible Mohawk Valley
Please, do not engage with dissenting voices!
Climate Crisis Working Group
Please Join IMV Members this Sunday, September 21st, in Albany for the SUN DAY Event
If you are interested in car pooling please contact Maggie Reilly at margaret_reilly@mac.com
SunDay is a day of action sponsored by a coalition of groups, including Third Act and 350.org, celebrating the unstoppable rise of clean energy and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. We’ll come together to showcase the power of the sun and wind, the energy sources that can power our world without pollution.
Register for SUN DAY in Albany!
NAACP Freedom Fund Event Honorees IMV Members & Friends
IMV Steering Committee member Rev. Jill Farnham-Us is among those being honored at this annual event. Other IMV members & friends on the honoree list include Heather Wasielewski, who is currently running for Utica Common Council, James Paul, for whom we knocked doors three years in a row to elect finally successfully to the Utica School Board, and our ally on many fronts, the Oneida County Democratic Women's Club. Buy your tickets now!
Date: Sunday, November 2
Time: 3:00-6:00 pm
Place: Irish Cultual Center, 623 Columbia Street, Utica
Theme: "The Fierce Urgency of Now"
Tickets for the Freedom Fund Dinner are available now on Eventbrite! You can find them at this link. Here's some additional information:
Early bird tickets are available until October 1. Early bird ticket prices are $70 for adults (21 and older), $50 for youth (20 and younger). Tickets for lifetime members are $50. A one year NAACP membership is included with youth and adult tickets.
General admission tickets are available until October 20. The price for tickets purchased between October 1 and October 20 are $75 for adults (21 and older), $55 for youth (20 and younger) Tickets for lifetime members are $50. A one year NAACP membership is included with youth and adult tickets.
Please reserve your seat in advance - tickets will not be sold at the door. For any questions, please contact Dawn Michelle Laguerre at laguerremedia@gmail.com.
Message from Planned Parenthood: An Ask for Action
Planned Parenthood is facing relentless and harmful attacks every day. With volunteer support, we continue to be out in the community, pushing back and sharing actions with our community - we need you!
If you’d like to help us get the word out about what we do, please sign up for this online training from our “Action Fund.” It will give you the tools to defend Planned Parenthood of Greater New York and you will learn how we plan to fight back.
Sign up here! Tabling and crowd canvassing are two of the best ways to educate and encourage our community to take action. From this training you will learn about our current political landscape, why visibility matters, tabling and crowd canvassing best practices, and how folks can get involved and fight back.
Want to start today? Email Ruth at Ruth.AndradeVidal@ppgreaterny.org to learn about our current volunteer opportunities and let’s explore other ways PP can show up in our communities or sign up today to table with us at the Carrot Festival in Schenectady! https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/a/carrot-festival-tabling
Don’t have time today? Stay tuned as we will call on our volunteers for upcoming actions- be ready to answer the call because we need everyone.
https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/a/ppgny-action-fund-volunteer-visibility-training
Elizabeth Snyder Fortino for Supreme Court Fundraiser
You're cordially invited to attend a fundraiser in support of Elizabeth Snyder Fortino, candidate for the New York State Supreme Court in the Fifth Judicial District! Please see the event details below, as well as a flyer that you can share far and wide with friends, family, on social media, etc.
What: Fundraiser in Support of Elizabeth Snyder Fortino
Where: Hart's Hill Inn (135 Clinton Street, Whitesboro, NY 13492)
When: 5:30-7:30 PM on Thursday, Sept. 25
RSVP: https://snyderfortinoforsupremecourt.com/hartshill/
You're Invited to a Blake Gendebien Bonfire
Please come to a fun bonfire at Chris Brown's farm on Sunday, September 28th, 5:30-8:30 pm. "Bonfire Get Together in Support of Blake Gendebien for NY21." 396 Ritter Road, Little Falls. Come as you are. Pizza, snacks, s’mores. Blake will join at 7 pm for Q&A. For suggestions donations and RSVP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/9.28herkimer
Thank You for Your Generous Support!
IMV's Treasurer reported that $1039.47 was collected into Dawn's plastic pail at the meeting on Wednesday. Those funds will help offset the cost of our annual insurance policy so we can hold events, and for the rental of the space. Thank you! If you didn't have cash or couldn't make the meeting, you can go to the Donate button on the top right of our IMV webpage.
Another $116 was raised by Erica Zalatan who sold Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport buttons and received additional contributions for the stickers she had on the table. We still have a lot of buttons and well have them available at some of our upcoming events.
Sum Up and Inspiration
Want some good news?
There have been Saturday rallies in Rome for 7 straight weeks-and it continues tomorrow!
Once again this week, we had signs up on pedestrian bridge in Utica. Thanks to the small but mighty team doing that on Thursdays. Yesterday the signs were over the I-90 thruway in Marcy.
Candace Randall and Betsey Fortino, both running for 5th District Supreme Court, came to our meeting on Wednesday and brought lawn signs. All of the signs were picked up --thank you!
The group activity at IMV's meeting on Wednesday and other new IMV strategies have been organized by Lauren, Colt, Erica--new IMV leaders who bring a lot of energy and creativity.
On the #NoKings kickoff call last night, the movement reached 110,000 people joining on the platforms to participate in organizing and training.
We are JUST GETTING STARTED.
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen” - Brene Brown
“Power concedes nothing without an organized demand”- Charlene Carruthers
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Website: indivisiblemv.org
Follow us on Bluesky: @Indivisiblemv.bsky.social, on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv and of course on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
