Michigan Archives - Red Wine and Blue

Moving Macomb Forward event connects community

Sarah Kester — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 01:32:02 +0000

Community activists, residents and political leaders gathered at Macomb Community College South Campus in Warren Saturday morning to discuss how they can help each other and how voters can be better engaged — particularly in municipal and school board elections.

The Moving Macomb Forward event was hosted by Red Wine and Blue, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, For Our Future Michigan and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

“We are an unlikely alliance because women’s groups don’t traditionally work closely with environmental groups, so we are just trying something new,” said Kelly Dillaha, Michigan Red, Wine and Blue program director. “We wanted to bring the different groups together to see if there was any kind of crossover in the work that we are doing and if we could help each other.”

People from around Macomb County attended the brainstorming session and networking event and discussed issues facing local residents including the lack of affordable housing, high energy costs, flooding, gun violence, education, access to mental health services, and updating water infrastructure.

“People are coming to us because they see things that are happening at the school board level, or a lot of moms are concerned about gun violence issues,” said Dillaha. “It is those kinds of issues that are motivating people to feel like they need to show up and get involved and to vote.”

Tlaib introduces Safe Storage Saves Lives Act to reduce firearm deaths of children

rwbdrew — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 11:29:05 +0000

During National Gun Violence Awareness Month, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-12th District), member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02), and Congressman Maxwell Frost (FL-10) introduced the Safe Storage Saves Lives Act to reduce firearm deaths in children.

Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Every year, 19,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded, and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence. A significant portion of these deaths involve the accidental discharge of a firearm, including a number of recent horrifying incidents in Southeast Michigan.

Oxford mother advocates for national parent group

rwbdrew — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 13:45:31 +0000

A chance meeting in Lansing led to one Oxford parent joining a group looking to push back against extreme views being brought before school districts around the state.

Cara Erskine was in Lansing earlier this year to testify on new weapons laws being proposed in the wake of mass shootings in Oxford and at Michigan State University.

While she was waiting to speak, she met members of Red, Wine and Blue, a group geared toward suburban parents who want to organize and push for change in their schools, as well as push back against ultra-conservative activists that have become more prevalent in the past few years.

The group recently created a campaign dubbed “Freedom to Parent 21st Century Kids”.

What are local schools doing for student safety?

rwbdrew — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:11:55 +0000

The list is long, as are our memories, of youths who have been victims of school shootings. And as the public cries for a solution become deafening, it is left to school districts and law enforcement to fortify schools with what amounts to bandaids as prevention as lawmakers at the national and state level tussle over gun control.

If the last 50 years is any predictor – if 2023 continues as it has begun, there will be approximately 400 school shootings this year, up considerably from 2022’s record high of 273, so says David Reidman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, which is updated daily,

Stateside Podcast: The parents on the other side of the phone

rwbdrew — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 22:54:18 +0000

On the night of the shooting at Michigan State University, students faced four hours of a shelter-in-place order. During that time many students were in communication with their parents; texting and calling them. On the other end of the phone, parents had to manage their own fears while reassuring their children.

Kelly Dillaha was one of those parents. Her twin sons are juniors at Michigan State University.

“[M]y son texted a picture of how they had barricaded furniture against the doors and window of their apartment and asked my husband if he thought it was going to be secure enough to hold anyone back and if there was improvements they could make to how they had barricaded,” Dillaha said. “And that was kind of the low point of the evening because you’re trying to remain calm as a parent.”

After Oxford, gun violence advocates felt helpless. But there’s hope for change in Michigan now.

rwbdrew — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 22:46:34 +0000

Kelly Dillaha, the mother of twins who attend MSU and were barricaded in their room just off campus during the mass shooting, said the school could not have done anything differently to prevent Monday’s violence. What would make a difference, she said, is gun reform.

“The vast majority of people in Michigan are for this kind of reform with our legislation, and I don’t think all of the legislators are listening to us,” said Dillaha, a Birmingham resident and the Michigan program director for the progressive women’s group Red Wine & Blue, which advocates for gun reform.

In addition to the bills introduced by Republicans, a flurry of press releases from Republican Senators and House members have focused on mental health access and school safety measures.

‘We all ran for our lives’: MSU students describe mass shooting as a never-ending nightmare

rwbdrew — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 22:43:44 +0000

Michigan State University students are angry.

Yes, they are traumatized; yes, they are overwhelmed with grief and sadness. They know they will need mental health support in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. But, right now, in the wake of three students being killed and five others being injured in a mass shooting at Michigan State University Monday night, they are also deeply angry.

MSU mom, anti-gun violence advocate calls for solutions after campus shooting

rwbdrew — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 22:40:14 +0000

A Michigan State University mother and anti-gun violence advocate says Monday’s deadly shooting on campus reinforces her efforts to achieve sensible gun control.

Kelly Dillaha’s phone was flooded Monday night with messages from concerned friends asking about her twin sons who both attend MSU.

As the chaos on campus unfolded, Dillaha remembers the worst part of the evening for her:

“My kids texted a picture showing how they’d moved their furniture in their house to barricade their door and they’d sent it to my husband asking if he thought they’d reinforced the door well enough,” Dillaha said.

Michigan State Mom, Activist Hopes Shooting Will Lead To Gun Reform

rwbdrew — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 22:35:49 +0000

Kelly Dillaha and her husband, Scott, were watching television in their Birmingham home Monday evening when their phones started blowing up with texts asking if their twin sons, Aidan and Brandon Johnson-Hill, students at Michigan State University, were OK.

They switched to a news channel and learned the East Lansing campus was on lockdown. A gunman had opened fire in two buildings, killing three students and wounding five others.

Good News Alert: Democrats Might Actually Flip the Michigan Legislature

rwbdrew — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 14:13:21 +0000

When Michigan voters go to the polls, they’ll also be deciding whether to enshrine abortion rights in the Michigan Constitution, or to let stand a 1931 law that would essentially ban abortion in the state. Kelly Dillaha, Michigan Program Director for the grassroots women’s group Red Wine and Blue, which claims 11,000 members in the state, says that the issue is galvanizing suburban women, but that it’s not the only one. The public school culture wars, largely orchestrated by the far right, are also activating voters.