Dear Friends and supporters of Women’s Rights !

So much happening in the news these days it can be hard to keep up, but this one is big so wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. Late last week, the Trump administration announced new rules that will allow companies to stop covering birth control on employer-based healthcare plans if they feel like it. That’s right: if the rules aren’t blocked, companies will be able to just straight-up not cover a vital part of healthcare for women. Just because. The only test is whether the company is willing to say that they have a moral or religious objection to basic healthcare.

The very same day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued new legal guidance holding that employers can claim exemptions from anti-discrimination laws if they say they have a religious objection to basic workplace rights.

It’s a little ridiculous to even have to ask this but here goes:

Do you think your employer’s supposed sense of morality should have anything to do with your healthcare benefits or your rights at work?

– No! Your body is none of your employer’s business.
– No! Discrimination isn’t a religion.
– No! Employers have enough power already.
– No! This is a stupid question of course the answer is no!
– No! All of the above!
– No! Just no!

I mean, if they think this is ok what laws they going to let employers pick & choose not to follow next? Are they going to allow exemptions from paid family leave if your boss doesn’t happen to approve of the kind of family you have? Are they going to allow price-gouging if a home improvement chain’s controlling shareholder thinks the victims of a natural disaster deserved it? Are they going to allow restaurants to opt out of health and safety rules if they find latex gloves to be morally distasteful?

And let’s be clear, this isn’t about the cost. Birth control may not always be cheap out-of-pocket, but it doesn’t add much of anything to health insurance premiums. And not discriminating doesn’t cost a penny.

This isn’t about money. It’s about power.

And it’s time to build our power to fight back.

Joining Working Washington is a first step. And an important one. We’re winning breakthrough after breakthrough for workers’ rights in our state. We’re changing the balance of power. And we’re not about to stop now — which is why we need you in our corner to fight back against atrocious nonsense like this.

Thanks for the support,

Sage, Working Washington

Source: Trump Administration Rolls Back Birth Control Mandate, NY Times, 10/6/2017

DeAndre Harris, a young Black man, 20 years old, was brutally beaten by six white supremacists during the Charlottesville attacks in August. He is now being charged with felony charges of “unlawful wounding” by an accuser who Charlottesville police have yet to identify. The accuser, who is believed to be a member of a white supremacist group, is using this charge as a form of retaliation against DeAndre Harris.

DeAndre Harris, a victim, is being charged with a crime, while the white supremacists who beat him until he was bloody remain free.

The white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia in August is another painful and ugly stain in the U.S. It is a constant reminder that white violence and the vicious attacks on Black folks are seen as a common practice with no accountability. With a White House led by Trump and Sessions who promote and push an agenda that criminalizes and silences Black communities and communities of color, it’s no surprise right-wing, white supremacists are emboldened to act violently. When Trump referred to the attacks in Charlottesville, he said “there is blame on both sides”. By pressing charges against DeAndre Harris, the Commonwealth’s Attorney is both agreeing with and supporting Trump’s racist statements. The Commonwealth’s Attorney is choosing to blame and press charges against people on “both sides”. However, there is only one side that is guilty here– and that’s the white supremacists and klansmen who were in Charlottesville holding tiki torches, chanting racist antics, and running cars into crowds of people.

Join us in demanding that Commonwealth Attorney Warner D. Chapman immediately drop all charges against DeAndre Harris.

The accuser is saying that Harris instigated the fight. However, video footage clearly shows differently. Harris was actually attacked after police dispersed the August 12th white nationalist rally. Our communities deserve justice. The criminal justice system continues to lock up and kill Black people at alarming rates without impunity. Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Warner D. Chapman must do the right thing and drop the charges. As the chief law enforcement officer, it is vital that he uses his leadership to heal communities inflicted by this violence in Charlottesville.

This morning, DeAndre turned himself in to the Charlottesville Police Department and was released. This means that we still have time to get his charges dropped, we need your support now to make sure all charges are dropped before a court date is scheduled. 

We all need to stand up together in order to get these charges dropped immediately.

Sign the petition.

Until justice is real,

Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Kristen, Clarise, Anay, Enchanta, Malaya,Katrese, and the rest of the Color Of Change team

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The White House just released a list of “immigration principles and policies,” the foundation for Trump’s plans for immigrants in the United States, and it’s sickening. It reads like a white supremacist wish list, demonizing immigrants and attacking communities of color.

Trump keeps pushing a white supremacist agenda, and we need to fight him every step of the way. Call the White House comment line at 888-907-5441 and tell them that Trump’s attacks on immigrants are unacceptable.

At a moment when Trump should be working with Congress to secure protections for 800,000 young Americans at risk of losing their DACA status after he terminated the program, here’s what Trump is doing instead:

• Demanding money to build his expensive and ineffective border wall.
• Demanding money to hire 10,000 more ICE agents who will ramp up detentions and deportations that tear families apart.
• Attacking the sanctuary cities that protect the members of their communities, harshly penalizing them if they don’t comply with his new rules.
• Cracking down on the undocumented workers that help revitalize America’s economy (while he, his children, and other wealthy CEOs continue to ship good jobs overseas).

Trump doesn’t care about the real contributions immigrants make to our economy, and he doesn’t care about the families and communities he’s destroying with his harsh enforcement practices. But we won’t let him do this. And if we stand together, we will win, because love will always triumph over hate.

Let’s flood the White House comment line today. Call 888-907-5441 and tell Trump that you reject his principles of hate.

Thanks for taking action,

Donna De La Cruz
Reform Immigration FOR America