Mark Sniderman, of Jewish Voice for Peace, shared these remarks at the "Equal Justice For All" Rally on Monday, April 6 at the Indiana Statehouse. His speech energized the crowd and with his permission, we are sharing his powerful words here.

My name is Mark Sniderman: I am privileged to stand with you today, in the name of justice, equality, and civil rights for all. We know that faith communities across this country favor the use of law to ensure equal rights. American Jewish communities also support the core values of separation of church and state; religious liberty; the safeguarding and advancement of civil rights; and the principle of equal protection of the laws for all.

Despite the damage and hurt caused by Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA), those of us in Indiana working to promote social and economic justice for everyone have been extremely heartened by the reaction and support of so many people and organizations across our city, state, and country.  We are very thankful, because otherwise we would be left with legalized discrimination.  Although the motivation for RFRA was related to LGBT rights, the law affects every Hoosier.   It appears that using social wedge issues like this is no longer an effective political strategy.

This post was written by Mike Milsap, Director of the United Steelworkers in District 7, and first appeared at www.nwi.com. With the writers permission, we are sharing it here.

Another 1,500 Northwest Indiana steelworkers will be out of work, The Times reported in February. "If this were wholly unexpected it would be more of an emotional and psychological shock. But we expect this from steel jobs," responded an economics professor. "Fortunately, the steel layoffs are not the hit to our economy they once were," added a broker-owner.

Raising the minimum wage is an issue that has received broad popular support throughout the nation. At the federal level, President Obama and many members of Congress have expressed support for an increase in the U.S. minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for most workers  via the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Though the federal bill has not passed, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have all raised their minimum wage above the federal level. However, Indiana is one of the few states remaining whose minimum wage is still equal to the federal (bare) minimum wage of $7.25. Bills proposing an increase in Indiana’s minimum wage, currently set to mirror the federal level, failed to get a hearing in the 2015 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

As a demonstration of support for raising Indiana's minimum wage, fasters will be going without food, some for as long as 72.5 hours, the weekend of March 21, 2015. All ranges of participation are welcome in the Fast for Living Wages. If you can give up a single meal, that means a lot, as does fasting for the entire period.

#FastForLivingWages #RaiseTheWageIN #Forward Together

In keeping with its values of social and economic justice and the use of resources for the common good, Indiana Moral Mondays stands for the promotion of renewable sources of energy.

As our nation marked the fiftieth anniversary of the civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, over 60,0000 people converged on the streets of Selma this weekend. They were there to honor the brave men and women who set out in a voting rights march over the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965, and were stopped with clubs and tear gas by state troopers in a violent encounter known as Bloody Sunday. The people flooding Selma this year also continued to stand for equal rights and especially voting rights and were welcomed warmly on a bright clear day.

"Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; shall be the duty of the General Assembly, to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement; and to provide by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equal open to all."

Indiana State Constitution (1851), Article 8:1.

Indiana Moral Mondays is committed to the values embedded in the state Constitution.  We believe that the state laws on charter schools and publicly funded private schools violate the Constitution.

This post was written by Rose M. Tinder-Obrien, a home healthcare worker from South Bend, Indiana. You can hear more stories from working Hoosiers like Rose who are struggling on minimum wage at the People's Assembly on February 23. RSVP here.

Since 1970, government action has been instrumental in protecting air and water quality for the residents of Indiana.   Regulations implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been a key part of this.  Our air and water are cleaner.   Hundreds of thousands of premature deaths due to air pollution have been averted.   The scourge of lead poisoning among children has been dramatically reduced.  

TODAY, Tuesday, February 17, is a Digital Day of Action to tell our legislators that we want a hearing on the two bills to raise the minimum wage in Indiana (SB41 & SB160). Wednesday, February 18 is the deadline to request a hearing. If we are able to get a hearing in the Senate Pensions & Labor Committee, we will be able to get low-wage workers, business owners and members of the community a chance to testify in favor of raising the wage in Indiana.