Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prisons on NOW!


Brave New Films
Friends,

Tune in tonight at 7 pm PT/10 pm ET to our Facebook page – we will be live streaming the premiere of our latest short film, Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prisons, followed by a LIVE panel discussion with Robert Greenwald, President of Brave New Films; Fr. Gregory Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries; and Homeboy Industry alumni and staff.

Don’t miss out on the premiere of our short film – Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prisons – and a LIVE discussion on sentencing justice and how Homeboy Industries creates lives of possibilities.

Not on Facebook? We’ll post the full event on our YouTube page. 

We hope you can tune in!

Onwards,

Amy Korngiebel
Director of Distribution
Brave New Films
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Which corporations are funding today’s KKK?


It’s time to expose the corporations enabling white supremacists groups.

Join the fight against hate and support Black media!

It’s been one year since the deadly Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and we must force America to wake up! As we try to reverse the tide on rising white nationalism, a film coming out this weekend details past efforts to undermine a similarly violent movement aimed at maintaining white supremacy.

In the 20th century, the KKK used a number of recruitment tactics to expand their base- infiltrating community groups, churches and even placing newspaper ads openingly calling for new members.1 They threw over the top mass “Americanism” pageants, showcasing their power and striking fear into the heart of communities. Opening today, the Spike Lee joint, BlacKkKlansman, highlights the true story of how one man was able to infiltrate and destabilize the Klan, even temporarily neutralizing David Duke.2 

We have two asks for you this weekend: 1. Go see this movie and support a high-profile effort to #TellBlackStories, and 2. Visit our Blood Money site and join the fight to destabilize hate groups by hitting them where it hurts the most: their bank accounts.

While KKK chapters are dwindling, hate groups are on the rise – with over 600 groups adhering to some form of white supremacist ideology.3 In the 21st century, the new recruitment tool of choice is the internet — Facebook, Twitter and Amazon all have become the community groups, churches and newspapers used to swell the ranks of violent hate groups. Smaller communities like Berkeley, Portland and Charlottesville have become the site of their grotesque pageantry. And though Klan membership has declined, David Duke and people like him remain as influential as ever because they are able to have prominent profiles online and collect funding quickly through a variety of financial platforms.

The hate and violence of the past thrives today, having been legitimized by the Trump Administration and corporate enablers that profit from hate. Companies like Discover and American Express continue to allow groups like Patriot Prayer to process donations on their platform, while Amazon sells racist propaganda for nearly a dozen hate groups and countless white nationalist leaders across their platforms.4 This has to end. So far, in partnership with members like you, we have already cut off funding sources of over 150 groups. Let’s go even harder and work to get the number of white nationalist groups thriving online down to 0.

This weekend- join the fight against hate by seeing BlacKkKlansman and visiting www.bloodmoney.org to call out these companies online.

Your support helps Color Of Change:

  • Gather thousands of petition signatures and phone calls to send to the desks of CEOs of companies like Amazon and Discover.
  • Expose corporations enabling hate groups through deep research into payment processors and who they serve.
  • Run truth-exposing campaign ads to put payment processors’ image on the line, and pressure them to end their support of the far right.

In just two days, the same racists that rallied in Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer will show up in Washington, D.C., to rally across the street from their Commander in Hate. But they’re flailing for funding because of Color Of Change’s Blood Money campaign. Jason Kessler, the organizer of the “Unite the Right” rally last year in Charlottesville, has recently been kicked off of PayPal. He’s stuck asking people to send him Bitcoin, checks and cash in the mail.5 But companies like Amazon and Discover are still allowing hate groups to use their platforms, which is undoubtedly helping violent groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer to organize armed rallies.

This weekend, while white supremacists are gathering to cause chaos and division, let’s call out the corporations who are enabling them and come together to support Black media.

Until justice is real,

–Rashid, Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Kristi, Eesha, Whitney, Johnny, Evan, Mary, Sareya, Kristen, and the rest of the Color Of Change team

References:

  1. “When Bigotry Paraded Through the Streets”, The Atlantic, 4 December 2016 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/83139?t=9&akid=16739%2E1174326%2EQZj2gb
  2. “BlacKkKlansman trailer: first look at Spike Lee’s fact-based race drama”, The Guardian, 14 May 2018 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/83140?t=11&akid=16739%2E1174326%2EQZj2gb
  3. “The Year in Hate: Trump buoyed white supremacists in 2017, sparking backlash among black nationalists groups”, Southern Poverty Law Center, 21 February 2018 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/83141?t=13&akid=16739%2E1174326%2EQZj2gb
  4. “How Amazon Has Made Money Off Racism and Hate”, Huffpost, 6 July 2018 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/81877?t=15&akid=16739%2E1174326%2EQZj2gb
  5. “Struggling white nationalist running out of fundraising options for second ‘Unite the Right’ rally”, Think Progress, 28 July 2018 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79183?t=17&akid=16739%2E1174326%2EQZj2gb

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

caregivers need your support ~ Tell the administration that you support caregivers and unions!
Dear Friends,

Union caregivers stood side by side with us in the Fight for $15. They helped win paid sick days and paid family leave for all workers in our state. Time and time again they’ve been right there with us to take on income inequality, hold corporations accountable, and push to change an economy that’s rigged against working families.

And that’s probably why the Trump administration is taking steps to try and undermine the union for home care providers.

Trump appointees are using a federal rulemaking process to weaponize the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). They’re trying to go after the home care union by trying to prevent union members from paying dues through their paychecks.

Fight back and show the Trump administration you support caregivers and unions!
SEIU 775 member and caregiver Berta Alvaradoknows firsthand how essential the services she provides for her clients are:

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve known caring for seniors is my calling. I’ll be a home care worker until I am physically unable. That’s why it is so important to have a union contract that provides training opportunities, healthcare, and other benefits. I pay for my healthcare benefits and support my union through payroll deduction, but this latest attempt by the Trump administration aims to weaken our power as union members. This is personal to me. My life is so much better off because of our union.”
I SUPPORT HOME CARE WORKERS!
The Trump administration’s actions are transparent. They’re not interested in improving home care or protecting people in need. They’re simply trying to silence the voices of home care workers — disproportionately immigrants and women of color who work every day caring for the most vulnerable among us.

Caregivers support our community and support our movement. Now they need your support, too.

Act right now! Tell the administration that you support caregivers and unions!

Thanks for your support,
Working Washington
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

When Freedom of Speech Hit an All-Time Low


Remember what the founders said …ALL

white judgmental  privileged

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved,” wrote Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in The Pennsylvania Gazette.

You’ll find more notable quotes on the freedom of expression, a right U.S. citizens have held dear for more than 200 years, below:

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”

— Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Founding Father

“No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press.”

— Thomas Jefferson

“But none of the means of information are more sacred, or have been cherished with more tenderness and care by the settlers of America, than the press.”

— John Adams, second U.S. president

“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.”

— John Adams, second U.S. president

“If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.”

— George Washington, first U.S. president

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

— Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Founding Father

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

— U.S. Constitution

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

— Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Founding Father

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”

— Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Founding Father

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

working overtime ~ workingwa.org
The 40-hour workweek should be the standard, not the exception. Tell Washington State L&I you support expanding overtime rights to hundreds of thousands of salaried workers — because our time counts, too.
SIGN ON TO EXPAND OVERTIME
time clock
Friends—

Nobody should have to work without getting paid for it.

But right here in Washington state, there’s a loophole that lets companies get out of paying overtime — no matter how many hours you work. They simply have to pay you a salary and claim the nature of your job makes you “exempt”… and then they don’t have to pay you an extra dime if you work more than 40 hours in a week.

Technically there are rules about what kind of jobs can be exempt from overtime, but usually your employer is the one who tells you whether you get overtime or not. If you think they’re wrong, you maybe could file a claim over that classification. But unless you have a lawyer on retainer, in the day to day reality of the workplace, your employer gets to decide.

The good news: the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) is working on new rules that could finally close the overtime loophole for hundreds of thousands of salaried workers in our state.

We’re asking the state to require that any worker who’s paid less than three times the minimum wage (about $75,000 a year) gets time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week — regardless of whether or not they’re hourly or salaried, and no matter what fancy title their boss gives them.

Sign our petition to L&I telling them you support expanding overtime rights for salaried workers. Time is money — employers shouldn’t just get both.

It may seem weird to think of a salaried worker getting overtime pay, but as recently as the 1970s, more than 60% of salaried workers got time-and-a-half when they worked overtime. Now just 7% of salaried workers do — and it’s not because people are working less.

Of course, the big business lobby groups aren’t just going to sit back and let workers take our time back without a fight. Big businesses appreciate a good loophole. They like things the way they are.

And they have ways to make their voices heard.

Now we need to make sure the state hears from workers, too — click to sign our petition to L&I to support expanding overtime rights in our state.

Some jobs may require long hours, but if an employer expects you to work more than 40 hours a week, they should be expected to pay accordingly.

Workers are human beings, and our time counts, too.

Thanks for the support,

Working Washington