Three Wins Today: April 17, 2025

The goal of this series is so that you learn about even more wins than you already know about (with the hope that you have heard about some already) and I feel like today, that’s more true than ever. So here are three wins you might not have heard about today

1. We’re not hearing much about it, but the entire staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services have been put on leave. That will mean unless they get enough donations, many libraries and museums around the country may have to close. And that was the fear for the St Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, but they received an anonymous donation. That donation will ensure that they can continue digitizing their 300+ stories with Holocaust survivors and so much more. Museum director Helen Turner explained the importance of these testimonies:

   These testimonies are absolutely crucial to combat antisemitism, denial and hate. They're the greatest source of evidence that we have of what happened during the Holocaust.

   This is a huge win for now and for history.

2. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has said she will not sign a single bill until the legislative extremist Republicans agree to include protections for disabled Arizonans in the proposed budget.

   It is shameful that Reps. Livingston, Gress and other members of the legislative majority continue to hold Arizonans with disabilities hostage to their manufactured chaos. While they leverage a crisis of their own creation to engage in political warfare, Arizonans with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities are the ones harmed by their partisan attacks. That’s unacceptable to me, and after meeting with families dependent on these critical services, I know it’s unacceptable to the nearly 60,000 Arizonans who rely on the Division of Developmental Disabilities to live their lives with independence and dignity. Their introduced proposal is unserious and a complete nonstarter.

   If you are an Arizonan, you should feel so proud right now.

3. Led by Peter Stanley, a group of activists descended on the US State Department with 200 hand made life size coffins. Each coffin represents the 100k lives at risk if the PEPFAR program that gives HIV meds globally is not restored. Stanley said:

   We could see five million deaths in the next five years unless the spigots turn back on — fully, fast

   For perspective, 6m Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. So it’s pretty much on par with that.

   We’ve seen many many protests in the past few months change what the Admin does. This protest is exceptionally powerful and hopefully will move the needle, and if not, I’m sure they’ll do it again and again until it does. Just another examples proving we all have the power to change the world.

Never let anyone convince you there aren’t any wins.

Our voices are our superpower, but ONLY when we use them!