Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced his economic policy advisory team on Friday — a collection of 13 white men…(read more)

Trump Made Up An Entire News Story On Iran — And He’s Standing By It

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Police accountability

08/09/2016 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

change.org
The tragic incidents of violence against citizens and police officers during the last couple of weeks have served as the latest reminder of how far we as a nation have to go to improve police-community relations.

While we continue to mourn the loss of life, we still confront the reality that more work must be done to change the systems that have long bred injustice in communities across the country. By improving police accountability and transparency, we can take the steps to renew our trust in those who have taken the solemn pledge to protect and serve us.

If you are looking for ways to improve police accountability, you can add your signature to one of the petitions below.

Create a National Database for Police Shootings: Neill Franklin, a 34-year veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department, started a petition in 2014 that continues the calls for a national database for police shootings. He’s urging the U.S. Department of Justice to make the tracking and reporting of deaths by police mandatory by local authorities.
Reform Ohio’s Grand Jury System: Following the deaths of John Crawford and Tamir Rice in her state, State Senator Sandra Williams was moved to introduce legislation to help reform Ohio’s grand jury system. She hopes that these recommended changes will help to increase transparency for the general public by moving away from the closed-door grand jury indictment process.
Make NC’s Police Body Cameras Public: In the last few years, police departments across the country have tested and mandated body cameras on their officers. Candace started a petition calling for greater accountability after North Carolina governor Pat McCrory recently signed legislation that limited public access to body camera footage.
No Grand Jury for Bettie Jones and Quintino Legrier: More than 100,000 people have signed Jahmal’s petition calling for justice for his family member Bettie Jones and her neighbor Quintonio LeGrier, who were shot to death by a Chicago Police Department officer last December. Jahmal does not want the cases like this one or others involving police shootings to go to a grand jury.

Sincerely,

Justin Lyons
Associate Campaigns Director
Change.org

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Dr. Evil …

08/09/2016 Nativegrl77

Remind you of someone

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#BlockTheAbuse

08/08/2016 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

They sent her racist slurs and called her an “ape.”

They directed rape and death threats at her — and her five-year-old daughter.

They threatened her and posted her personal information on the Internet, which led to a bomb threat at an event where she was scheduled to appear. She had to cancel her speaking engagements because she feared for her life.

These women are actress Leslie Jones, author Jessica Valenti, and blogger Anita Sarkeesian, respectively, and their stories are all too common. What did they do to deserve these horrific threats? Simply put, they were women on Twitter.

Twitter has become a haven for trolls, spam, insults, abuse, and harassment. It’s not surprising, given that each tweet has the potential to reach millions of users — and there’s very little preventing people from sending threatening and hateful messages. Even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admits the company, despite having a policy on harassment and abuse, is not doing enough to stop it, saying, “We need to do better.” But admitting you have a problem is only half the battle — the other half is taking real steps to solve it. It should never be acceptable to threaten people because of their gender or race. It’s past time for Twitter to #BlockTheAbuse

Join us in telling Twitter to put an end to harassment on its site NOW.

Unfortunately, harassment and threats are a reality for many women, whether on the street or online. And for women of color, LGBTQ, and disabled women, that threat is often magnified. If you’ve experienced harassment, you’ve most likely wished you could put a stop to it. But that’s the thing — Twitter can.

There are simple steps Twitter can take to make its platform safer for its users, beginning with enforcing its own policies and suspending or removing abusers. Send a message to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and ask him to #BlockTheAbuse.

Twitter is a valuable platform that can lift up diverse voices. In fact, I use it regularly and love being able to share my perspectives on my work — and the work that the National Women’s Law Center is advancing on behalf of women and girls. But every time I hit send, I could be in the crosshairs of trolls and abusers. I want to know that if I am trolled with the sort of attacks that too many women on Twitter face I can report the harassment, #BlockTheAbuse, and go back to my work. For that to happen, Twitter first needs to fix its harassment problem. Join me in asking the company to take action.

Send your message to Twitter now.

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,
Fatima Goss Graves
Senior Vice President for Program
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. I’m at @fgossgraves if you’re on Twitter, too.