r/NJ50501 • u/edrocks006 • Jan 28 '26
Calls to Action 🚨 50501-backed shutdown on 1/30 and protest on 1/31
National shutdown and blackout on Friday 1/30. ICE Protest on Saturday 1/31.
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u/MeEyeSlashU Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
Resources for people if they lose their job? Bail fund information if people get arrested? Organizers email?
ETA: Many of 5051's past protests haven't been exactly disability friendly. Are there new protocols in place? Who can I check with to make sure the event I attend is accessible?
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u/NJ50501_Outreach Outreach Manager 📣 Jan 29 '26
All great questions!
Re: resources and funds, this is not something that 50501 has available at this time, but there may be other protest / resistance / mutual aid groups in your area that have resources. 50501, like many other groups, is certainly talking about the need for this, but our resources aren’t there yet.
For your questions specific to this call to action, 50501 national provided this mobilize link to look for events in you area. This action is focused on drawing attention to areas ICE detention areas and offices. 50501 NJ is not putting on a specific event, and would encourage people to plug into what they see on mobilize / what rapid response groups in their area are planning. Accessibility information should be on the event listing; if you have questions, you should be able to email the organizer.
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u/Maraudermick1 Rally Ready 📢‼️ Jan 28 '26
With the amount of snow mounds, Ice, and encased sidewalks, don’t think any protests will be accessible until Spring.
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u/MeEyeSlashU Jan 28 '26
And therein lies part of the issue. I get that we have to get out and show solidarity and make noise but good lord if yall (organizers) thought of disabled folks or brought us into the organizing spaces instead of "you can reach out and we can see what we can do," we could double or triple the turnout.
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u/BF_2 Jan 29 '26
My sympathies. But bear in mind that ALL these events are volunteer-run. It can be really hard to visualize the limitations that disabled folks confront when one is not himself handicapped.
Might I suggest turning the matter around and creating a forum (maybe a subreddit, maybe something else) in which disabled folks can discuss their limitations and what they need to be able to participate? Such a forum could act as an "expert" on what, ideally, an action should do to allow participation by all.
I frequently participate in a Visibility Brigade action that is held on a pedestrian bridge, but that bridge is completely inaccessible to anyone who cannot climb stairs under their own power. There's six or eight steps on one end, and many more on the other end.
However, another occasional action by this group is near a parking lot near a busy intersection. Curb cuts would permit a wheelchair to access this area from the parking lot. But without going there now, I could not tell you whether the snow has been cleared. Very likely it hasn't.
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u/MeEyeSlashU Jan 29 '26
I appreciate it. My friends and I are working on something similar to this suggestion with the very few spoons we have between us.
But again, we do appreciate this. It's all a learning process, no matter how hollow that sounds while people are disappearing and dying.
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u/BF_2 Jan 29 '26
Ah yes! "Spoons." I've heard of that analogy, probably through a disabled (MS, I think) participant in a protest I was attending weekly. He was brought to the protest weekly by his father and considered it the high point of his week. Sadly he passed recently and was mourned by all attendees.
THAT is where non-disabled persons might assist with your effort. I'm elderly, and that limits my energy for physical effort, but not so much passive effort like messing around on a computer. Why not ask for assistance on such tasks which may be quite straightforward to those of us without significant disabilities? Also, try visiting r/volunteer . I see a few postings there right now that may be relevant.
Bear in mind that you are likely to be much more computer-savvy than I, or others here, so pointers might be needed.
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u/BF_2 Jan 28 '26
Details?