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Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it.

This week, the SOJO Action team has been in retreat for team building and strategizing. This week’s edition of the Truth and Action Round Up is truncated as a result. We want to make sure we are practicing what we preach in prioritizing the rest of our team and ourselves.

This week has also seen the tragic escalation of the war in Iran, with the conflict spreading regionally and the continued loss of life. We pray for a swift end to the war and the resumption of diplomacy as a means of addressing our conflicts.

–Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners

In the News

Here’s a look at what happened this week:

• As the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran continue, the human and material costs of the war continue to mount.

  • Israeli airstrikes hit the capitals of both Iran and Lebanon on Friday while the U.S. attacked an Iranian drone carrier at sea. For its part, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, all countries that host U.S. forces. In its first week, the war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 people in Lebanon, around a dozen people in Israel, and six U.S. troops.

  • President Trump stated that he will not make a deal with Iran to end the war unless he gets “unconditional surrender” from Iran first.

  • U.S. officials say Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces in the Middle East, sparking fears of broader escalation.

• Trump’s cruel deportation regime continued its work.

  • Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and designated Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to replace her. Noem’s firing came after both Republicans and Democrats questioned her leadership around immigration enforcement and disaster relief during Capitol Hill hearings this week.

  • Judges who are ordering immigration hearings are frequently finding that those hearings are a sham, with the outcome “pre-cooked” by the Trump administration. At issue are immigration judges who work for the Trump administration frequently denying bond to migrant people who pose no flight risk or danger to the community. In some cases, federal judges have grown so skeptical of the administration’s intentions that they have begun ordering detainees released outright, thus circumventing a bond hearing with an immigration judge.

• The economy showed some worrisome signals.

  • Payrolls in the United States unexpectedly dropped by 92,000 last month and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, surprising analysts who had expected hiring to remain stable. One area of concern continues to be Federal government employment, which has dropped by 330,000, or 11%, since Trump’s election victory in November 2024.

  • Experts are warning that the Iran war has the potential to affect gas prices and much more, particularly the longer it goes on. The war could cause inflation to rise, raise mortgage interest rates, and affect the stock market.

Take Action

• Next week, Sojo Action will host our Engage and Adapt and Bridging Divides webinars, found here in our events.

• The Circle of Protection will also be hosting a webinar Preparing for the Coming Medicaid and SNAP Cuts from the One Big Not So Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) on March 11th at 4:00 PM

What We’re Reading

“Kings Start Wars. Christians Stop Them.” | It’s not the nonviolent who’ve lost touch with reality; it’s the warmongers.(By Tyler Huckabee)

“Christian Abolitionists Have Always Disobeyed Laws” | In addition to this foundational critique, abolitionists in the 19th century understood that this fight was long, and many did not see success in their lifetime .(By Michael Woolf)

Deep Breaths

This week, I’d like to offer a short passage from Dorothy West’s “The Living Is Easy” written in 1948, for readers in need of a restorative word. Dorothy West was the youngest writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance and offers here an amazing perspective.

“They had been born into a world which took no real notice of their existence. Their leave-takings were as unceremonious. Yet there is no life that does not contribute to history. One added one is the eternal abundance, the greatness and baseness of man, the mortification of his flesh, the purification of his spirit. The death of those done with living opens the door to new life. And in that tender, terrible moment of birth there is a renewal of belief. As long as there is a child alive, man can look upward towards the stars.”

We hope this passage can provide some solace and a source of reflection in this moment.

- Chad Stanton, Political Director

The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:

President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia
Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps
Political Director: Chad V. Stanton
Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris
Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks
Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams
Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims