Join the SURJ National Squad Defender Cohort for Cori Bush & Ilhan Omar!

Join SURJ as a Squad Defender to actively protect and support progressive leaders like Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar against targeted attacks. As a Squad Defender, you’ll be part of a dedicated network committed to amplifying the voices of those fighting for racial justice and equity. Stand in solidarity with marginalized communities and help defend the champions of transformative change by signing up today!

For this cohort, anyone anywhere can be a Squad Defender if you can commit an average of 2 hours per week for 4 weeks! The cohort runs from July 15th to August 15th.

The Squad Defenders Cohort is a good place for you if:

you’ve been watching SURJ from afar and are ready to get off the sidelines and take action
you’re feeling overwhelmed about the state of the world
you want to advance racial and economic justice, and aren’t always sure how to

Here’s what past Squad Defenders said about their experience:

“I loved the training & support — how to make a difference with what can feel like overwhelming issues. Such a reminder of what a hopeful thing it is to do these calls with others, in the whirlwind of the news.”
“The overall positivity and warmth makes me want to come back. It was emphasized that every person in the room was welcome – intentional inclusion of everyone. It made each person feel like they mattered in this work.”
“Solidified that we have to get out and talk to people. That it’s possible to have great conversations with strangers, and that people actually answer the phone. I was always scared before and glad after.”

You’ll be joining a community of over 70 other Squad Defenders who will power our strategy to defend Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri & Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota in their August 6th and August 13th primary elections.

About Reps. Cori Bush & Ilhan Omar

Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar are currently serving in Congress, and both are deeply aligned with social justice movements. They’re part of a critical bloc of progressive champions known as “The Squad” (you may have also heard of Reps Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, Summer Lee, Jamaal Bowman, and Rashida Tlaib), and together, they’ve led the charge to advance key legislation on issues impacting all of our lives: healthcare, housing, climate justice, and more.

Cori Bush is a nurse who was a community leader during the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and was elected to Congress in 2020. She’s been a tireless advocate for housing (you might have heard about her highly-effective protest during the pandemic of sleeping outside the White House until an eviction moratorium was passed), and she was one of the first leaders to bravely call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.

Republican and MAGA donors who fund AIPAC are honing in on her race as another Democratic primary where they’re planning to drop millions of dollars.

Ilhan Omar was elected to Congress in 2018 who also has deep roots in her community: she started organizing as a high schooler in Minneapolis, and worked as an educator for years before becoming the first Somali-American, Muslim legislator in the U.S. in 2016. Despite consistent challenges against her seat in Congress since 2018, she has defeated out-of-state, Republican money every time.

As Rep. Jamaal Bowman says, “they’ve got the money, but we’ve got the many!”

What it means to join the Cohort

Becoming an official Squad Defender for Cori Bush & Ilhan Omar means committing to:

Action: 2 phonebanks to have conversations to elect Cori Bush & Ilhan Omar — either by talking with voters or with SURJ members to recruit them to this work
Reflection: 2 (optional) cohort calls where we’ll meet each other, dive deep on big picture strategy, and build confidence about what it’s going to take to win in this moment
- Monday, July 22nd, 6pm-7:30pm ET / 3pm-4:30pm PT: welcome and strategy deep dive
- Thursday, August 15th, 6pm-7:30pm ET / 3pm-4:30pm PT: celebration and debrief
Community: going through it all with 70 other people you can learn from and build meaningful relationships with

You in? Submit this form!

Not sure yet if it’s for you? Email emma@surjaction.org with any questions, or attend our July 17th Welcome Wednesday call to hear more.

Stop the Student-To-Prison Pipeline

Coming Soon – learn how suspension impacts a youth’s education and increases the likelihood that they end up mired in the criminal justice system.

Support LGBTQIA2S+ Youth

Across the country, attacks on the queer community, particularly as they relate to our schools and trans youth, has been growing. At the local level over the past year, there have been threats against queer teachers and youth, and against drag story time events designed to celebrate and model literacy, diversity, inclusion and love. We understand that these attacks are directly tied to groups that promote white supremacist, racist, misogynist ideology, and that we must join together to keep ourselves safe.

In May 2023, following a transphobic, homophobic hate-filled anonymous letter published in the local Good Times newspaper (see the paper’s response and a letter by drag artists Xinistra and Rogue), the Rainbow Defense Coalition of Santa Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley was formed around Watsonville’s first Drag Storytime event. Founding orgs included Raices y Cariño Family Center, Pajaro Valley Pride, SURJ Santa Cruz County, and TransFamilies; other groups have since joined the Coalition and close to a hundred volunteers have signed up to join regular workshops and brigades to defend queer and BIPOC spaces with fierce love and joy, as well as skills in empathic de-escalation and bystander intervention.

In September 2023, the Safe Schools Project alerted a network of concerned individuals and organizations about an event being planned by various groups aligned with the far right group Moms for Liberty. With leadership from Pajaro Valley Pride, based in Watsonville – where the event was also planned – the group decided to respond to the threat with a focus on outreach to friendly local media to alert the public, and a collective letter signed by 44 local community-based groups entitled A far-right hate group is trying to recruit in Santa Cruz County; we stand united to say ‘No’. Local public officials took note: Santa Cruz County Superintendent Farris Sabbah responded to the threat in his weekly newsletter, and three prominent State Representatives made it clear that they have the backs of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Community members showed up to local school board meetings to ensure the passage of resolutions supporting LGBTQ+ history and the flying of the Pride flag.

Take Action/SHOW UP!

Resolutions and public statements are powerful and important but don’t protect from attacks on their own. Rainbow Defense Brigades have helped add color, joy and safety to events like the Safe Schools Project’s tri-county wide Queer Trans and Ally Youth Summit and Queer Prom.