The AZGP, although relieved by the news that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts for the killing of George Floyd, understands there remains much to be done at every level to heal from institutional injustice. There is an entire unjust system to dismantle and replace.

On the same day that the guilty verdict for Chauvin was announced, another white supremacist was released from a Phoenix jail on bond. Burt Colucci of the White nationalist group National Socialist Movement Corporation was arrested in Chandler on April 19 for pointing a loaded handgun at a Black man and threatening to kill him and his friends. 

The AZGP will continue to stand in solidarity with social justice organizations such as Black Lives Matter, Poder in Action, People Demanding Justice Community Coalition, Moms Demand Action, Code Pink, Popular Resistance/The Alliance for Global Justice and Tonatierra as we work to dismantle a system based on racial oppression and class exploitation. This system resulted from genocide and terrorism which killed off and displaced most Indigenous inhabitants and established an economy dependent upon the enslavement of African people and the deprivation of the legal rights of all Blacks in this country. The terrorism continues as this system props up corporate power by treating people as commodities and further militarizing the police. As Margaret Kimberley asserts in her Freedom Rider column of Black Agenda Report (April 21, 2021  --  Gun Violence Starts at the Top):

"It is all connected. State sanctioned violence tells the people that individual violence is just fine. The hand wringing over the latest shooting doesn't mean anything if the wars and law enforcement brutality continue."

The AZGP says DEFUND THE POLICE: cities must decrease amount budgeted for policing and allocate these funds to social programs, especially in the realm of mental health, alleviation of poverty and drug rehabilitation, three areas the police have NEVER, despite vast investments in training, been equipped to handle.  

Furthermore, and interconnected with the push to end state sponsored violence, the Arizona Green Party advocates for the use of sustained, disruptive non-violent action in the streets along with a commitment to withhold our votes from the corporate-ruled duopoly and vote only for independent left opposition candidates.  

Finally, as part of our Ten Key Values, we call upon ourselves to take personal and global responsibility and further educate ourselves on this and other issues.  We must be the change we want to see.  Please explore the recent press release published by the Green Party National Women's Caucus.

Hello Arizona Greens!

WE are calling for volunteers to help collect signatures for Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker to be printed on the Arizona ballot in November. As you are aware on July 11, 2020 the Green Party met online in an all day nominating convention at which Howie Hawkins was nominated as the Green Party presidential nomination along with our vice presidential candidate Angela Walker The Arizona Green Party is excited to help the Howie Hawkins campaign and elevate the Green Party Platform. Link to Hawkins Platform: https://howiehawkins.us/platform/

• Our goal is to collect approximately 40,000 signatures before August 31, 2020. These petitions will be turned in on September 4. So we have a short but achievable deadline. WE believe that if we are able to engage all of the 7000 Greens in Arizona to collect 7 signatures each then we could meet our deadline very quickly.

Each page of the petition sheet has space for 10 signatures, so if we are able to obtain 400 volunteers and they obtain 100 signatures (10 sheets) each then we could reach our goal very quickly, as well.

• WE have steps for each of our petition collectors to follow in order to maintain safety from Covid 19. We have safety drop offs/pick ups and zoom meetings set up for the duration of this campaign.

Steps for volunteers: go to https://howiehawkins.us/volunteer/ complete the information and the campaign will contact you directly.

Feel free to download the Independent Presidential Elector Nomination petition here. The document is a two page document that needs to be printed on one page.

Completed petitions will be collected weekly. Please contact the Arizona Hawkins campaign director Angel Torres by email: [email protected] for date and times of the petition collections.

We look forward to meeting you soon and working with you soon!

~AZGP

*See more videos with Howie and Angela on their website and facebook page, links below.

Website: Howie Hawkins

  Facebook: RunHowieRun2020

What happened ?

... the PPP loan program for small businesses was funded with $350 billion.

The U.S. has 30.2 million small businesses.

That is an average of $10,769 per small business. It should have been plenty to help close a two month gap.

A loophole in the CARES act allowed national corporations with less than 500 employees *per location* to qualify each individual location as a "small business."

According to the CARES act, the restaurant chain Ruth's Chris steakhouse qualified for a loan.

Last year they made $42 million in profits.

Last year they spent $41 million in stock buybacks.

Last week, they received $20 million in PPP loans - earmarked for small businesses.

It is shameful that a national restaurant chain who used the entirety of their 2019 profits to reward investors then greedily took funding that was earmarked to help 200 other small businesses.

The government created loopholes and left the distribution of loans up to the banks. Banks prioritized their top customers while local small businesses were wait-listed.

On April 16, 2020 small businesses that had submitted a loan request were notified that the program was out of money. In Arizona, 4.7% of small businesses actually received funds totaling only $11,000.00.

Small businesses in Arizona were denied access to funding that was needed to cover payroll. Small businesses such as your local coffee shop or cafe which are listed as essential services were denied adequate funding to support their workers.

This is our chance to truly raise our voices and help small businesses in Arizona and all across the nation.

The deadline is May 4, 2020.

The Citizens' Toolbox, a grass roots initiative to empower and enable our fellow citizens to advocate for themselves and for each other. The Citizens' Toolbox serves to amplify our collective voices and project them upward for rapid reaction to existing initiatives with policy-specific conversations.

Our first objective is to enable increased communication with our senators and representatives in order urge them to replenish the SBA/PPP loan fund.

This fund previously held $350B but ran dry only 14 days after opening. A closer look revealed that millions in funds were disbursed to large chain companies, including 50 publicly traded ones, and showed uneven access to loans across our Nation. Congress is in recess till May 4th, a delay we cannot afford.

Friends, the time to act is now and bring this to the forefront. The link below leads to a fillable form, applicable to EVERY state.

Citizens' Toolbox

Once you have been redirected to the Citizens' Toolbox the following questions will display:

1) Input your name

2) Look up your representative, link provided- and enter the name of ONE of your representatives. Be sure to secure their contact information from their official website.

3) Choose your voice: Small Business Owner or Concerned Citizen.

4) Enter your email address and TCT will send you a personalized letter you can then forward or mail to your representative.

After clicking on SUBMIT you will receive the email template that you can then forward to a senator or representative of your choice. Repeat steps 2-4 for each of your representatives. Mail, email, post & tag your elected officials.

Below are links for Senators and House of Representatives. Most have Contact pages on their own websites where you can paste the template letter and send directly to their office.

Contact U.S. Senators

Contact the House of Representatives

It is our hope to grow this quickly to serve as additional support to coalitions and platforms in service of the greater good of our local & national communities. Information gathered is secured strictly to facilitate advocacy opportunities. We’re in this together, and we will be successful together.

Friends, we’ve got work to do. It’s time to raise our voices and #SpeakUP.

As we follow the Covid 19 news, we all are seeking true helpful information. As cities in Arizona post financial assistance for residents we will add them to this page. If you have updates to share from your city or county, please forward to the admin at: [email protected]

To read about each of the following updates click on the links and you will be directed to the full article.

Updates

If you need assistance finding food, paying house bills, accessing free childcare, or other essential services, dial 211, search on the homepage of 211Arizona.com or download the 211 Arizona app.

Utilities, phone companies change policies to help customers amid coronavirus spread. AZ Central reporting on March 15 2020.

City of Mesa, Az link

City of Tempe, Az link

City of Phoenix, Az link

City of Chandler, Az link

"It is my honor to appoint Celeste Castorena, long-term AZ Green, as cochair and delegate to GPUS to serve until the election at our May, 2020, statewide mtg in Tucson. She will vacate her position as recorder. Celeste has voting rights/responsibility as a member of the AZGP state committee.

We The Voters 2019 Conference on Saturday, Oct 26, 2019. Hear from the panel of chairs from the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Green Parties. Each party chair explains the beliefs and goals of each of their parties.

https://youtu.be/_MMMVhmCh3Q

The article published on Sept 20, 2019 in AZCENTRAL, by Andrew Oxford iterates the challenges to maintaining Green Party ballot access for 2020 in Arizona.

"Greens in Arizona are scrambling to keep their status as a recognized political party in 2020 after state lawmakers moved up the deadline for them to submit tens of thousands of signatures.

The Greens and any other party aiming for recognized status must now file at least 31,686 signatures by Nov. 28, instead of the previous deadline that was in February — 70 days later.

The new deadline is one of the earliest of its kind in the country, according to Richard Winger, editor of the San Francisco-based newsletter Ballot Access News.

Losing 70 days to gather signatures has been a hardship, said Liana West, secretary of the Arizona Green Party.

"It makes us feel like we are being targeted," West said."

Read the full article here.

Want to help keep democracy alive? Do you want to see Green party candidates on your 2020 ballot? It is easy to volunteer! Click on the Ballot Access 2020 here and download the New Party Petition form (directions included). Ask your friends and neighbors who are registered to vote to sign along with you. Mail the petition forms to the AZGP P.O. Box.

AZGP is offering fair compensation for your time and efforts. Read on to see how that works...

Green Party of Pima County sues city of Tucson

posted at 7:06pm on July 1, 2019

"TUCSON- The city of Tucson is facing a lawsuit from the Pima County Green Party. The lawsuit claims the Green Party of Pima County was illegally removed from the 2019 primary ballot.

On Monday, July 1 a hearing in Superior Court was held. The judge is set to decide in the next few days if the Green Party should be allowed on the 2019 ballot."

Read the whole article and watch the video: