Tag Archives: Color of Change

Angry Black Woman ? … Shonda Rhimes


There is nothing “angry” about strong, intelligent, successful Black women. NShinda Demand the New York Times retract Alessandra Stanley’s “angry Black women” rant.

Take Action

 

An outrageous New York Times op-ed published today by Alessandra Stanley, steeped in racially inflammatory language, dismisses TV writer and producer Shonda Rhimes and her many complex Black women heroines — labeling them “angry Black women.”1

Join us in demanding an apology and the retraction of Alessandra Stanley’s harmful op-ed immediately.

From the op-ed’s opening line — “When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called ‘How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman’” — Stanley wildly misreads the heroines at the center of much of Rhimes’ work on shows like “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder,” and arbitrarily judges their adherence to white beauty standards.

Characterizing their supreme confidence and competence as “anger” — and describing actress Viola Davis as sexy “in a slightly menacing way,” and “darker-skinned and less classically beautiful” — only plays into destructive stereotypes that impact the lives of Black women every day.

Research shows there are dire consequences for Black people when such harmful archetypes rule the day; less attention from doctor’s, harsher sentences from judges, and discriminatory hiring practices, just to name a few.2

Alessandra Stanley and the New York Times need to know that the dissemination and perpetuation of the “angry Black women” archetype is no laughing matter. With so few Black women both onscreen or behind the scenes in Hollywood, high profile, dehumanizing misinterpretations of their work cannot be tolerated.

Stand with us and demand an apology from the New York Times and Alessandra Stanley, and a retraction of her harmful op-ed.

Thanks and Peace,

–Arisha, Rashad, Matt, Dallas and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
September 20, 2014

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “Viola Davis Plays Shonda Rhimes’s Latest Tough Heroine’,” New York Times, 9-19-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3922?t=7&akid=3666.1174326.YJfcLj

2. “Media Representations and Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys,” The Opportunity Agenda
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3685?t=9&akid=3666.1174326.YJfcLj

These People are Voting … In appreciation of all they do


colorofchange.org created a video in 2010, and it is still appropriate in the year 2024… watch it! Yes, it is offensive

Next Tuesday is Election Day, and one factor above all others will determine the outcome: WHO VOTES.

That’s why we’re sharing this video we created with our friends at Presente called “Look Who Is Voting,” to remind you of some of the people who will be heading to the polls on November 5.

It’s really short, and we promise you will be glad you watched it.

Look who is voting

http://colorofchange.org/whoisvoting

If you had any doubts about heading to the polls, this video should help get rid of them.

And if you have any friends or family who you think might not show up to vote, please send them the video to remind them why staying home is simply not an option.

http://colorofchange.org/whoisvoting

Thanks and Peace,

— James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
October 30th, 2010

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

https://secure.colorofchange.org/contribute/

Kelley Williams-B​olar – 2011- Black History


Story of mother sentenced to jail for enrolling a child in different district, in 2011

Your voice is making a huge difference in the case of , the Ohio mother who was convicted of a felony after allegedly misleading authorities and sending her children to a school outside her district:

•Since we wrote to you about Williams-Bolar, you and more than 67,000 ColorOfChange.org members have called on Ohio Governor John Kasich to take a public stand and commit to pardoning Williams-Bolar.

•Last week, Gov. Kasich acknowledged the public outcry about the case and said he’d investigate.1 Also last week, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges in the case (for grand theft) against Williams-Bolar and her father.2

•On Monday, we went to Gov. Kasich’s office to deliver your signatures, along with thousands more from Change.org and MomsRising.org — more than 165,000 signatures in all. The petition delivery was covered by most of the major media in the state capitol.3,4,5

•On Tuesday, Gov. Kasich responded by asking the state’s parole board to review Williams-Bolar’s case.6

This an important step towards justice: before Gov. Kasich can pardon Williams-Bolar he must receive a recommendation from the parole board. To review her case and make a recommendation, the parole board had to receive a request from the governor or Williams-Bolar herself. Now that Gov. Kasich has made that request, the process for pardoning Williams-Bolar or commuting her sentence can begin.

Our voices are also having an impact beyond this particular case. By speaking out for Kelley Williams-Bolar, we’re also helping to focus the country’s attention on the conditions that put her in this situation: the lack of access to safe, quality education that so many of our children face, and the fact that it’s often rooted in economic and racial inequality.

Gov. Kasich acknowledged the public pressure that led him to take action Tuesday, saying “Many people have shared their thoughts with me in letters, email and phone calls, and I appreciate their outreach.”7

We still don’t know if the parole board will do the right thing. And we need to make sure that Gov. Kasich stays involved and committed to doing everything he can to ensure a just outcome for Kelley Williams-Bolar and her family. But we do know that they are a few steps closer to justice now, and it’s thanks in large part to the voices of ColorOfChange members and our friends at Change.org and MomsRising.org.

Thanks for getting involved. We’ll keep you posted on the case, and let you know if there are more ways you can help.

— James, Gabriel, Dani, William, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team

February 10th, 2011

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=2

References

1. “Ohio governor weighs in on Kelley Williams-Bolar case,” Akron Beacon Journal, 2-1-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/720?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=4

2. “Theft dismissed in residency case,” Akron Beacon Journal, 2-1-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/721?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=6

3. “Petition to Pardon Mom,” ABC 6, 2-7-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/722?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=8

4. “Kasich asked to pardon mom in school-enrollment fraud,” Columbus Dispatch, 2-8-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/723?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=10

5. “Groups ask Ohio gov. to pardon district switcher,” Associated Press, 2-7-11 

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/724?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=12

6. “Kasich asks parole board to review Williams-Bolar case,” Columbus Dispatch, 2-8-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/725?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=14

7. Ibid.

found my smile again ..cover


http://youtu.be/WIKt-vD95nI

2015 Spending bill


Six ways Democrats lose out in the 2015 spending bill

The bill guts sweeping laws on banking and campaign finance, slashes environmental and IRS funding, and rolls back trucking safety rules

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, right, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, express their outrage to reporters that a huge, $1.1 trillion spending bill approved by the Republican-controlled House yesterday contains changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that regulates complex financial instruments known as derivatives, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic support for the omnibus bill funding every corner of government faded Wednesday as liberal lawmakers erupted over a provision that weakens the regulation of risky financial instruments and another that allows more money to flood into political parties. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, right, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, express their outrage to reporters that a huge, $1.1 trillion spending bill approved by the Republican-controlled House yesterday contains changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that regulates complex financial instruments known as derivatives, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic support for the omnibus bill funding every corner of government faded Wednesday as liberal lawmakers erupted over a provision that weakens the regulation of risky financial instruments and another that allows more money to flood into political parties. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Late Tuesday night, congressional negotiators unveiled a spending deal to keep most of the government funded through September 2015, but on Wednesday it became clear that the substantial policy concessions made by Democrats in a bid to attract enough Republican votes to keep the government open are likely to shrink the coalition supporting the last-minute bill.

 

The 1,600-page spending document could be forced through the House and Senate in less than one week, giving lawmakers little time to review its contents but enough time to be angered that certain controversial provisions were included, most notably major changes to two of the biggest laws approved by Congress since 2000, which had rewritten Wall Street rules and reformed the campaign finance system.

The current government spending bill expires on Thursday, and failure to pass new legislation by then will trigger another shutdown a little more than a year after Republicans forced a 16-day government closure in October 2013. That GOP standoff over defunding the Democrats’ health care law cost the nation an estimated $24 billion.

Though the so-called cromnibus bill funds the majority of the government through an omnibus package for the rest of the fiscal year, it pays for the Department of Homeland Security only through February via a stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution, or CR. Conservatives hope to isolate the department, which is tasked with implementing President Barack Obama’s recent executive order exempting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, and the bill will give Republicans a chance to freshly debate its funding in the new year, when they will control both the House and Senate.

Yahoo News’ list of the most interesting and significant policy changes in the year-end spending bill:

Eliminating a key Wall Street reform. The Democratic-controlled Congress in 2010 approved sweeping changes to the nation’s financial systems, many of them tailored to prevent the kind of crisis that tanked the economy in 2008. One of the centerpieces of the bill was a measure designed to spin off banks’ riskiest activities into subsidiaries, isolating the main functions of banks from those risks and also ensuring that taxpayers would not be on the hook to pay for losses created by those risky trades in the event that they failed. The spending bill approved by Congress eliminates the so-called push-out provision from the Dodd-Frank law, meaning that the trading of derivatives — the risky swaps or bets made against the rise and fall of value in assets — can now once again happen in-house in Wall Street’s largest banks.

Democrats led by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are outraged by this return to old ways, and she has said she will oppose the whole bill if the provision remains in it.

Dismantling what was left of campaign finance reform. The Supreme Court since 2010 has repeatedly struck down political donation restrictions approved by Congress in the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. With the spending bill approved by Congress this week, lawmakers at the last minute agreed to undo the most significant remaining changes from the law: the limits for individuals on how much they can give to political parties. Before the change, which was inserted in the last few pages of the mammoth spending bill, the most any one person could give to a party group like the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee was $32,400 per year. Now any individual will be able to give anywhere from $97,200 to $777,600, depending on the interpretation of the language included in the government-spending bill.

Meddling in D.C. politics. Because the District of Columbia is not a state, it relies on Congress annually to appropriate its budget. And so Washington, D.C., perennially bears the brunt of congressional compromises as Republicans target D.C. programs to highlight social issues they oppose and Democrats acquiesce in the knowledge that the District will vote overwhelmingly for Democrats no matter what Congress does. During the first shutdown threat of Obama’s tenure in 2011, the GOP pushed through a ban on funds for abortion services in D.C. and started a school voucher program.

This year, Democrats agreed to support Republican language targeting a D.C. ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana, which voters approved by nearly 70 percent in November. The wide-ranging appropriations bill bars funds from being used for the implementation, regulation and taxation of marijuana and also, adding insult to injury, mandates that no money provided by Congress can be used by D.C. officials to petition for representation in Congress. Instead of a regular congressperson, D.C. has a delegate, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, who does not have voting privileges in the House.

Cutting IRS and EPA funding. Republicans are touting cuts to the budgets of the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. The spending deal reduces IRS spending by $345 million in an olive branch to conservatives still miffed over a scandal involving the agency and its targeting of political groups that were using nonprofit loopholes to avoid paying certain taxes. The IRS funding levels in 2015 will now be lower than they were in the 2008 fiscal year.

Republicans have cut the EPA’s budget for the fifth consecutive year. In a press release the day after the deal was announced, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, touted cuts to the EPA as one of the “Ten Things You Should Know About the Omnibus Appropriations Bill” and the fact that the bill reduces EPA staffing “to the lowest level since 1989.”

Setting up a messy immigration funding fight. A key feature of the deal for Republicans is that it funds most of the government while specifically preventing Congress from filling the Homeland Security department’s coffers. That particular bargain will allow the House and Senate GOP majority in 2015 to fight over how to appropriate overall Homeland Security programs while withholding funds for the implementation of the president’s immigration executive order. As Yahoo News previously reported, it will be difficult for the GOP to defund implementation of the order because the DHS agency that oversees immigration status changes is self-funded through fees it levies on immigration applications. And yet by agreeing to this particular deal, Democrats are setting themselves up for a messy fight with Republicans about the immigration issue at a time when they will have much less leverage to get their way.

Rolling back truck safety regulations. A policy rider added to the bill to sweeten the deal for Republicans will roll back truck safety regulations issued by the Department of Transportation in 2011 to prevent traffic accidents resulting from trucker fatigue. The two basic requirements were that drivers take a 30-minute rest break within the first eight hours of their shifts and take a “restart” period of 34 hours of rest weekly. According to the Department of Transportation, the “net effect of these changes was to reduce the average maximum week a driver could work from 82 hours to 70 hours.” Trucking companies have been lobbying against these changes and now appear to have secured a victory by getting their repeal included in the spending bill.