Tag Archives: Dangerous goods
Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org … What happened yesterday
To be real with you, I was hoping that I’d never have to send you this email.
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To be real with you, I was hoping that I’d never have to send you this email. With Republicans now in control of the Senate, we will see a change in Congress that signals deep challenges for our families and communities.
Over the coming weeks and months, analysts will have much to say about the role that Black voters played in this election. Already we know that across the country, Black voters defied expectations and turned out at rates higher than in 2010 despite continued attempts by the right wing to suppress our votes.
And, unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t enough for Kay Hagan (D-NC) who lost a must-win Senate seat to Thom Tillis (R-NC) by a razor thin margin — while our communities faced the most aggressive voter suppression laws passed in the country since the Voting Rights Act. It wasn’t enough in Georgia, either, as we watched Michelle Nunn (D-GA) concede while thousands of voter registration forms remained unprocessed. And it certainly wasn’t enough in Kentucky where Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Democratic challenger wouldn’t even admit to voting for President Obama.
As a movement, we’ve got a lot to figure out; a lot more work to do to hold the people in power accountable.
I know this much: an America in which candidates are afraid or unwilling to speak directly to Black voters about the issues that matter to us is an unacceptable, insufferable status quo; an America where politicians ignore police violence and support a broken criminal justice system, prioritize corporate interests over community values and fight to make it harder for us to vote is intolerable.
If we learn one thing from yesterday’s election, it’s that — now more than ever — is a time to organize.
Will you help sustain this movement with a $3 monthly contribution?
Obscured by the larger national picture, yesterday had some meaningful victories which demonstrate the strength of our movement. Californians passed Proposition 47 which will force the state to change course from four-decades of misguided, incarceration-only policies which have destabilized Black families and drained resources from Black communities.
Massachusetts passed a bill providing for earned sick time that will relieve working folks of having to choose between their job and the health of their families. Additionally, voters in South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas and Alaska passing ballot measures to increase the minimum wage shows that there is a groundswell of popular support for issues of economic equality but candidates must exhibit political courage to move this agenda forward.
And despite the Republican takeover, the 114th Congress will have more Black members than at any time in history.
With announcements coming soon about the indictments of the officers responsible for murdering Mike Brown and Eric Garner our movement has never been more important. We can’t afford to stop fighting.
Thanks and peace,
Rashad
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BREAKING NEWS: Victory for New Jersey Women! repost
1/2014
a repost
The New Jersey Legislature passed an important pregnancy discrimination bill(s2995/a4486)by an overwhelming majority earlier this year. Governor Christie signed the bill into law. According to Dina Baskst,Co-Founder and Co-President of A Better Balance,”This is a great day for the women of New jersey-this path breaking law will allow women the ability to stay healthy and on the job while pregnant,ensuring economic security and fairness for them and their families.”
A huge thanks goes out to our New Jersey supporters, who called and e-mailed Governor Christie to encourage him to sign the bill. You made this happen!
The law will protect New Jersey women who are pregnant and need a simple accommodation in order to stay healthy and on the job. Unfortunately, despite the fact that pregnancy discrimination has been illegal in the United States for over thirty-five years, women are still forced off the job when they need a simple adjustment at work, such as temporary relief from heavy lifting, extra bathroom or water breaks, or time off to recover from childbirth. The law will put an end to this practice in New Jersey. A Better Balance was instrumental in getting the law passed, including testifying at both a Senate and Assembly hearing on the law and crafting bill language.
The law goes into effect immediately, so if you or someone you know has any problems at work while pregnant, please call our advice and counseling legal hotline at 212-430-5982.
This bill, which passed with vast bipartisan support, represents the latest victory in a growing movement for stronger pregnancy discrimination protections. Philadelphia and Wisconsin recently introduced pregnancy discrimination legislation and later this month, a similar law in New York City will go into effect. Finally, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act currently has 117 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 20 cosponsors in the Senate.
Thank you for all your support,
Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Liz, Risha, & Rachel
P.S. Watch this video of NYC Mayor de Blasio at last week’s New York City Paid Sick Days press conference, where he thanks A Better Balance for our leadership (at the two minute mark).
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It’s On Us: A Week of Action
The White House
Since its launch in September, the It’s On Us campaign has rapidly expanded to reach hundreds of thousands of students on college campuses across the country. It’s On Us is a cultural movement aimed at fundamentally shifting the way we think about sexual assault. In addition to a celebrity PSA with almost 4 million views, the campaign has generated more than 100,000 pledge signatures from people committing to be a part of the solution.
On Monday, It’s On Us launched its first Week of Action to engage thousands of students in the conversation about how to end campus sexual assault. Partner organizations and hundreds of school leaders joined together to hold over 200 events in 38 states across the country.
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
The week kicked off with the release of a new PSA encouraging bystander intervention. Snapchat sent a special PSA to more than 250,000 student users via the app, and offered special It’s On Us picture filters to help spread awareness. Xbox also featured the PSA on the game console’s dashboard, and SB Nation not only released two original PSAs with athlete spokespeople, but also created custom content for each of their individual partner sites.
Student leaders across hundreds of college campuses held events ranging from pledge drives at athletic events to panel discussions with college administrators and experts in the field. At the University of Texas at Dallas, the student government, sororities and fraternities, and other student stakeholders came together to launch their Week of Action. The It’s On Us logo and branding were incorporated into their homecoming festivities, and student leaders were featured in “We Are UT Dallas,” a one-minute video highlighting UT Dallas’s participation in the campaign.
On Monday, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted an “It’s On The Quad” pledge drive and photo booth. Throughout the week, they will distribute 500 It’s On Us t-shirts to students who take the pledge.
More than 50 colleges and universities have also created their own PSAs, including MIT, University of Arizona, Ohio State University, and even the staff and faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Throughout the Week of Action, thousands of young people have stepped up and turned their pledge into action — and there will be more opportunities to engage with the It’s On Us campaign beyond this week. Over the coming months, we will work with our partners on college campuses and in communities to continue to engage students across the country.
It’s on us to realize we all have a role to play in preventing sexual assault, and we must challenge each other to do everything we can to make our college campuses safer.
Kyle Lierman
Office of Public Engagement
The White House
Be a Seed for Change 
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