Tag Archives: John Locke

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If you’re not outraged...

10/10/2014 Nativegrl77

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention – or so the saying goes.

Well, we’re paying attention – to the many harmful effects of the low-wage economy – and yes, we’re outraged.

So, on October 16th, we’re taking a stand – and we hope you’ll join us.

What: Low-Wage Rage: Workers Fight Back!

When: Thursday, October 16th at 12pm

Where: Midtown East, meeting location TBA

Why: It’s time to end the financial crisis that the Waltons and other one percenters have created for American families.

RSVP for details and updates: Click here.

Spread the word: Through Facebook.

With nearly half of all NYC residents living near poverty today, we’re at a breaking point. Many of us are burning up with low-wage rage, and it’s time to call out who is responsible: Walmart and the Walton family. If you’re fed up, it’s time to rise up!

Here’s why: Walmart’s worst practices have been adopted by NYC retailers, fast-food chains, and other low-wage employers. Walmart’s harm to NYC’s low-wage retail workers and fast-food workers can be seen and felt in growing poverty, erratic schedules, lack of stable hours and few opportunities for real career advancement among people of color, women, and immigrants.

Retail workers, fast food workers, and other low-wage workers are therefore coming together for a massive march on October 16. We’ll take our issues to employers on the Upper East Side that are perpetrating these Walmart practices, and we’ll culminate at Alice Walton’s new $25m condo, to demonstrate the urgent need to address the dramatic and deepening inequality that the Walmart economy is driving. It’s time to tell Walmart and the Walton family to stop holding America back.

Are you fed up? Then rise up!

Hope to see you then,

Bertha Lewis, on behalf of Walmart-Free NYC & The Black Institute

The Black Institute
http://www.theblackinstitute.org/

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org

10/04/2014 Nativegrl77

Police killings & Jim Crow era lynchings

We have a key opportunity to transform discriminatory and violent policing nationwide.

We have a key opportunity to transform discriminatory and violent policing nationwide.

Ferguson activist holds a sign that reads: Hands up don't shoot.

Urge the federal government to take definitive action to enforce a higher standard of policing:

The tragic police killing of 18-year-old Mike Brown hit home for millions across the country. The horror of losing a loved one, to senseless, racially-motivated police violence is a daily threat in the lives of Black people in America. In a time when law enforcement kill Black Americans at nearly the same rate as Jim Crow era lynchings,¹ discriminatory and violent policing is a national crisis.

National leaders are paying more attention to racial profiling and police brutality than they have in years, due to the hard work of Black youth and community leaders in Ferguson and across the country.² In order to capture the momentum of this moment and secure long-term, systemic reforms that transform policing nationwide, we need the federal government to intervene and set a higher standard of policing.

If enough of us demand action, we can change things. Will you join us in calling on the federal government to implement critical reforms to end abusive, militarized, and biased policing targeting Black and brown communities?

While we continue to fight for justice for Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Ramarley Graham and so many others whose lives have been taken at the hands of racially-motivated and violent local law enforcement, the federal government has a clear role to play in overturning the conditions that led to these tragedies, and setting a higher standard of policing across the country. In key ways, the standards, policies, and practices of the executive branch set the tone and tactics of local and state law enforcement.

For decades, our communities have worked tirelessly to combat the wholesale criminalization of Black Americans and the unimaginable police violence that threatens our children, parents, and friends every day. A walk to the store or drive to the mall have long held the risk of an unwarranted search, false arrest, or death. But we are in a historic time and how we capture this time will impact generations to come — the kind of world our children live in, the types of freedoms they have to fight for.

With Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation approaching, now is the time to push the Department of Justice to do much more.⁵ Widespread public pressure can keep this issue at the top of the administration’s agenda, and push them to move forward before this major change in DOJ leadership. Next week, community members in Ferguson are organizing a Weekend of Resistance to build momentum for a nationwide movement to end police brutality.⁶ We need your support to move federal officials beyond symbolic actions to systemic reforms that protect the civil and human rights of all communities.

Join us in calling on the Obama administration, DOJ, and other federal agencies to take immediate action to strengthen police accountability and end discriminatory policing.

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Lyla, Jamar and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
October 3rd, 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. “Mike Brown’s shooting and Jim Crow lynchings have too much in common. It’s time for America to own up,” The Guardian 08-25-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3985?t=7&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

2. “Justice Dept. opens civil rights inquiry of Ferguson police,” LA Times 09-04-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3979?t=9&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

3. “Nobody Knows How Many Americans The Police Kill Each Year,” FiveThirtyEight Politics 08-19-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3983?t=11&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

4. “Stop and Seize,” Washington Post 09-06-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3984?t=13&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

5. “Eric Holder To Step Down As Attorney General,” NPR 09-25-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3992?t=15&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

6. “Join us in Ferguson for a national mobilization,” ColorOfChange
http://act.colorofchange.org/signup/nationalmobilization/?t=17&akid=3717.1174326.CH01Xf

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Planned Parenthood: Time to Clean Up the Supreme Court’s mess

09/30/2014 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

Two months ago, the Supreme Court handed some bosses the power to deny women coverage for birth control. Now we have a chance to put these health care decisions back where they belong: with women and their doctors.

Help make sure employers can’t block access to birth control — support the Obama administration’s effort to make birth control available to all women, regardless of where they work.

Last week, the Obama administration proposed new rules that would guarantee women’s access to birth control, no matter what their bosses think. It’s up to us to make sure these rules are strong enough to get the job done.

The first step is to stop billion-dollar corporations from following Hobby Lobby and trying to take birth control coverage away from women. Help make sure these corporate giants don’t slip through the loophole the Supreme Court opened.

It is up to us to make sure that women aren’t denied the care they need because of their bosses’ personal ideology. A narrow Supreme Court majority gave Hobby Lobby and companies like it the power to place employers’ beliefs over women’s health — but the Obama administration has found a way to protect access to birth control for these women. Speak out now and show your support for this effort to restore women’s access to birth control coverage.

We also have to make sure that women know exactly whom they’re dealing with. Companies like Hobby Lobby shouldn’t be able to hide their anti-women’s health agenda from employees. If a company refuses to cover basic health care, including birth control, current and prospective employees have a right to know.

We have less than 60 days to make our voices heard before the Obama administration issues its final rules. Stand with President Obama and send a message to anyone who would stand in the way of women’s health. It’s time to protect women’s access to birth control, guarantee coverage for all, and require anti-birth control bosses to come clean.

Women’s health — including access to birth control — is too important to give up on. This is our chance to make sure bosses do not interfere in women’s health care decisions. Let’s make sure we get it right.

Thank you for standing up for women’s health, no matter what.