April got off to a slow start but your Northwest Indiana Green Party (NWI)  is ready to spring off the staring blocks and get to mobilizing in the region. This important election year we want you to get involved in the only political movement working to protect and restore our planet. The Northwest Indiana Green Party is excited to be returning to the Porter County Recycling and Waste Reduction Earth Day event. 

Come see our table at the Porter County Expo Center at the Fairgrounds in Valparaiso on Saturday, April 20th from 9am to 1pm. If you have time to help us share our environmental and justice message we need a few volunteers throughout the morning. We will also be handing out Milkweed Seeds was we continue our campaign to create healthy communities for people and butterflies.

The Northwest Indiana Green Party will be meeting in Hobart this month. Join us this Sunday, April 14th starting at 2pm at Sip Coffee House Hobart. Sip is located in the heart of downtown at 310 Main Street, Hobart. You can find us at one of the tables, so grab a coffee and settle in to with your locals Greens to strategize. Any updates to the meeting will be posted on Facebook.

The Crying Eagle

On March 31st the Indiana Green Party commemorated the civil rights leader and union organizer Cesar Chavez. This year we recall the movement with a friend of the Indiana Green Party, Beto Barrera who now lives in Portage, IN. Beto joined the United Farm Worker's Movement on the picket lines at the Jewel supermarket in Chicago's Little Village. It was the late 60's when Beto, the son of undocumented Mexican immigrants, began three years of volunteering with the Great Grape boycott to support California farmworkers. Activist like Beto and many in his family would march outside Jewel with signs telling customers to not to buy California grapes. Cesar Chavez had initiated the boycott as farm workers were demanding higher wages.

In 1979 Chavez came to South Bend, Indiana to speak at Notre Dame. Beto, who had been a sergeant in the US Army and had served in Post-War Korea, was put in charge of security at the big rally. He was at Chavez's side during the trip and recalls that everyone adored Cesar. "He was a hero," said Beto, "I learned how to organize with nonviolent action from Cesar."

At the end of the rallies Chavez would always point to a poster that had the words "at the end we will win - we will win". Beto once asked Chavez when is the end going to come?. The response from Chavez was that the end is going to come when you stop working as a volunteer and look back at all that you have learned because "you are the end, the end comes to you."

When Chavez died Beto screen printed the posters for the memorial rally in Chicago. Beto was also training a new volunteer on how to screen print but the new volunteer messed up the red. Instead of a solid background behind the eagle emblem of the United Farm Workers only the bottom half of the red printed. Beto loved the result and told him to leave it like that. On those posters that were carried at the memorial in Chicago the mighty eagle of the United Farm Workers had a tear. The eagle was crying.

Indiana Green Party Lawsuit: The Appeal

Our state Indiana Green Party's lawsuit for Ballot Access in Indiana is headed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Since the ruling last year where the District judge ruled against our petition, our case has been making its way through the appeal process. With responses filed and responses to responses filed our lawyer and the lawyer for the Indiana Secretary of the State appear before the Judge.

The Indiana Green Party is challenging the very difficult requirements set by Indiana for third party candidates to get on the ballot. For those who want to run for state-wide office they have to submit almost 38,000 valid signatures (on paper forms by county, submitted to respective counties for validation, then collected all up from across the state and finally delivered to Indianapolis by early July). This is the most required by any state and the most cumbersome, archaic process. Such requirements make it impossible for Green statewide candidates to just have their names on the ballot as well as limiting local Green from city, town and county races.

Our case is scheduled to go before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on April 10th at 9:30am Central time, (15 minute time slot so don't be late). The court is located in the Dirksen Federal Building at 219 S. Dearborn Street, Room 2271 in downtown Chicago (across the street from the monumental sculpture by Alexander Calder titled Flamingo, a definite don't miss!)

The Indiana Green Party is represented by Oliver Hall, Executive Director and General Counsel for the Center for Competitive Democracy. He is also the author of Death by a Thousand Signatures: The Rise of Restrictive Ballot Access Laws and the Decline of Electoral Competition in the United States.

Supporting Greens

Become a Member Today
Support your Northwest Indiana Green Party by making a contribution to our green movement. Contributions can be made through our secure square site at nwigreenparty.square.site. While you are there consider becoming a member of the NWI Green Party. Annual membership are $10 for adults, $5 seniors and students. You can join by clicking on the appropriate membership to add it to your cart. Your contributions will help us to engage the political machines in our region and to promote Green candidates in the upcoming election cycles.

Discover Memberships

If you would like to pay your membership with cash or check, you can bring your dues to the upcoming meeting. The NWI Green Party also wants to make membership feasible for those who have financial restraints, please contact us about the option for free membership. You can reply to this email or fill out the contact from on our website, https://nwigreenparty.org/contact-us/

Connecting Greens

Are you interested in becoming more involved in environmental, social justice and democracy advocacy in your local community? Then reach out to us to begin a dialogue of how you can promote our Green Values in your area. From local projects to parades, from city meetings to advisory boards, from door-to-door canvasing to the comfort of your computer desk there is something you can do to help your Green Party right here in Northwest Indiana. Reach out to us or join us at our next meeting to discover how we can work together for a Greener NWI.

Empowering Greens

Make a Contribution
Consider making a contribution to the NWI Green Party. Your support for our local grassroots movement right here in the region will empower us to get our issues out and our candidates on your ballot. Become one of the many people making Northwest Indiana the Crossroads of Green America. Click on the button to make your secure, online contribution through Square.

Contribute Today

Contributions to the NWI Green Party are not tax-deductible and subject to restrictions established in Indiana Campaign Finance regulations.

Running Greens

Interested in Running for Office in 2024?

The time is now to explore your run for local elected office in 2024 and your local Greens are here to help. The Northwest Indiana Green Party is getting candidates resourced for getting on their ballot. We have three people with campaigns ready to go and we want a lot more candidates running to turn the region Green. Have you been considering make a value-based run to place our environmental, social justice and democracy platform on the ballot? Then this is the time begin to build our coalition in Northwest Indiana! So reach out to us by replying to this email, contacting us through our website (www.nwigreenparty.org), messaging us through Facebook or attending our monthly meeting. Our region needs you to run as a Green in 2024.

Primary 2024

The Indiana Green Party 2024 Primary

The Indiana Green Party, which is our state party, has set the date for its Primary election. If you want to vote in our online ballot then now is the time to register with the Indiana Green Party. With the most diverse group of candidates vying for the Green Party, Hoosier Greens have once again shown the nation that we value both democracy and the open process towards democracy.

As a minor political party in Indiana, the Indiana Green Party does not participate in the primary elections that the two major parties hold. Instead, we will be holding our own internal presidential primary that is completely independent. The Indiana Green Party has four (4) voting delegates to the Green Party US 2024 Presidential Nominating Convention. The allocation of those delegates for our state will be determined by an online ranked choice vote that will take place from Friday, May 24, 2024 at Noon Eastern / 11am Central to Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 8:30pm Eastern / 7:30pm Central. All Indiana residents who are registered with the Indiana Green Party by Friday, May 10, 2024 are eligible to receive a voting link via email. The election results will be revealed at the Indiana Green Party monthly ZOOM on Thursday, May 30th 8:30pm Eastern / 7:30pm Central.

Voting in the Indiana Green Party primary will be for members of the Indiana Green Party. Information on the Primary as well as a listing of our the candidates can be found at greenpartyin.com/2024-indiana-green-party-primary/ You do not have to be a registered voter in order to receive a ballot in the Indiana Green Party Primary, however you will need to be a resident of Indiana. Deadline for joining the party or renewing your yearly membership is Friday, May 10, 2024 11pm Eastern / 10pm Central.