According to a civil complaint filed by high school student and dancer Camille Sturdivant, her dance team coach, Carly Fine, and dance team choreographer, Kevin Murakami, excluded her from performing while she was a member of the dance team at her high school. These educators told Camille that her “skin clashed with the color of the uniforms” and that her “Black skin would cause the audience to look at [her] and not the other dancers.”

If that was not enough, Camille notes that along with her dance team coach and choreographer, other teachers in the district and parents of other dance team students reinforced her exclusion by continuing to work with Coach Fine, even after she was fired for a series of racist texts she sent about Camille.

When Camille’s parents met with the principal of the school, Amy Pressly, to inform her of the coach’s actions, they received this response: Coach Fine “had the authority to pick whomever she wanted for the dance routines.”

Principal Pressly’s actions were not enough. Join us in calling on the Blue Valley Schools’ Board of Education to hire an independent investigator to investigate this blatant discrimination.
Below is the letter we will send to the Blue Valley Schools Board of Education:

Here is the Petition:
Dear Blue Valley Schools Board of Education:

Camille Sturdivant was forced to deal with racist abuse from educators at her school. Dance team coach, Carly Fine, dance team choreographer, Kevin Murakami, and another teacher at the Blue Valley Northwest High School excluded Camille from performing on the dance team. These educators told her that her “skin clashed with the color of the uniforms” and that her “Black skin would cause the audience to look at [her] and not the other dancers.”

School is supposed to be a safe haven for students. Students should be able to learn and grow, free from bigotry and racist judgments. Camille was denied this experience. he was forced to deal with flagrant, racist comments during what was supposed to be a fun extracurricular activity.

This is absolutely unacceptable. There must be accountability for Coach Fine, Choreographer Murakami, and Principal Pressly who allowed Coach Fine to continue working with the dance team, even after she was terminated from the school for her racist comments. We demand you hire an independent investigator to thoroughly investigate the racism Camille faced.

When industry giants offer to write their own regulatory rules, we all lose. Just look at any industry, from manufacturing to fossil fuel extraction.

The same thing should go for Silicon Valley. But tech giants like Amazon, Facebook, and Google want to regulate themselves, and they’ve pitched Congress on a “grand bargain”1 that will destroy existing protections and leave us with much weaker rules. Tell Congress Not to listen: Don’t allow tech companies to regulate themselves when it comes to our privacy.

Amazon, Facebook, and Google have teamed up to push Congress to write their own rules when it comes to privacy law. In the process, they’ll step over any state-level legislation designed to protect to consumers’ data online — like California’s new, groundbreaking privacy law.2

Silicon Valley isn’t shy about this: they clearly value “innovation” over people’s privacy. In the past, Facebook and Google have been sued multiple times for violating existing privacy regulations.3 If tech companies are allowed to write their own industry regulations, there will be nothing to hold them accountable when – not if – they invade our privacy.

Thanks for taking action,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:
1. The Verge, “Democrats aren’t buying a proposal for big tech to write its own privacy rules,”  January 14, 2018

2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

Even though Congress passed the Equal Pay Act more than 50 years ago, women on average still only make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. It’s 2019, and it’s long past time for this to change.
Every worker in America deserves to be paid based on their work, not their gender. That’s why I’m introducing the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate this week to change and improve equal pay laws and continue the important work of closing the gender wage gap.

I’m fighting for legislation to finally make equal pay for equal work a reality, but I need your help to make it happen. Add your name now to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The gender wage gap is hurting all of us — women, our families, our communities, and our economy. Combined, working women are losing out on $900 billion a year that could be used to buy groceries, pay for child care, support local businesses, and build retirement savings.

Ten years ago this week, I watched as President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, a good step forward in the fight to ensure women are paid fairly. We’ve made great strides in the last decade, but our fight isn’t finished until we fully close the wage gap and ensure every woman and man in this country is paid according to the quality of their work, and not their gender.
Sign your name now to join our fight for equal pay for equal work.
Thank you for your support,
Patty

pattymurray.com

A school nurse and vice principal at Binghamton East Middle School stripped searched four Black girls because they were acting “giddy” at lunch and school authorities suspected they were using drugs. Normal behavior for 12 year olds was used to justify strip searching four young Black girls in front of adults and traumatizing them. Three of the girls were forced to strip down to their underwear, while a fourth girl refused a search and was served with an in-school suspension instead.

We know that racist and sexist assumptions about Black girls lead to the perception that they are less innocent than white girls. These warped views play directly into the criminalization and rampant sexual abuse of Black girls; perpetrators aren’t worried about suffering serious consequences because societal messages tell them Black girls are without protection. These assumptions play directly into the fact that Black girls are six times more likely to be suspended from school than their white counterparts and lead to long term negative effects for their emotional and educational development. From the over-policing of Black girls hair, to strip searching them for exhibiting normal pre-teen behavior, the criminalization of Black girls must stop.

colorofchange.org
Here is the Petition:
Dear Dr. Tonia Thompson,

The events that took place at East Middle School on January 15, 2019 are unconscionable and cannot be allowed to go without just for the four girls who were embarrassed and traumatized. Strip searching four 12 year old Black girls because they were “giddy” during their lunch hour plays directly into harmful racist and sexist stereotypes that are pervasive about Black girls and results in their being suspended from school at six times the rate of their white counterparts. As the superintendent of Binghamton City School District, it is up to you to make this right.

Demand the Binghamton City School District End the Criminalization of Black Girl

At Color Of Change, we’re making the following demands of the Binghamton City School District:

• Fire the nurse, assistant principal, and principal of the school and any other personnel who oversaw the strip searches
• End all school strip searches district-wide
• Pay for culturally competent counseling for the four students involved
• Require all district employees to undergo ongoing cultural competency training