Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
2010elections
Another Midterm Lesson: It’s the Money, Stupid
01 year ago
In last week’s The Nation, John Nichols and Robert McChesney had an important breakdown of how corporate money combined with a gutted local-level news media to deeply skew the political landscape in dozens of key races. Nichols and McChesney offer data to bolster Roberto Lovato’s declaration that electoral politics have become a dead-end road to racial justice. They write:
Of fifty-three competitive House districts where Rove and his compatriots backed Republicans with “independent” expenditures that exceeded those made on behalf of Democrats–often by more than $1 million per district, according to Public Citizen–the Republicans won fifty-one. Roughly three-quarters of all GOP House gains came in districts where independent expenditures by groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Rove’s American Crossroads gave Republican candidates, some of them virtual unknowns until the outside money flowed in, the advantage. The money is powerful, of course, but that power is supercharged because of the decay, and in many cases disappearance, of independent and skeptical journalism at the state and regional levels, where elections are decided. Campaign narratives used to be created by reporters who, imperfectly but seriously, pulled together the multiple threads of an election season to give voters perspective. Now that narrative is driven by commercials–millions of them, most negative. The narrative for the most part still comes from broadcast and cable TV stations, as it has for some time, but it is now produced and paid for by economic elites that seek to define not just the results of an election but the scope and character of government itself.
The January 2010 Citizens United ruling made the monstrous spending possible. But the rot of local-level journalism is arguably the greater problem. As Nichols and McChesney explain, local news outlets have gone from watchdogging elections to cashing in on them.
The most important yet least-recognized piece of the money-and-media election complex is the commercial broadcasting industry, which just had its best money-making election season ever. Political advertising has become an enormous cash cow for it–roughly two-thirds of the campaign spending this year flowed into the coffers of TV stations; the final figure is likely to be well above $2 billion. Whereas in the 1990s the average commercial TV station received about 3 percent of its revenues from campaign ads, this year campaign money could account for as much as 20 percent. And station owners are not missing a beat; thirty-second spots that went for $2,000 in 2008 were jacked up to $5,000 this year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Much of this money will go to stations owned by a handful of Fortune 500 firms.
[snip]
However, local TV covers far less than it did two or three decades ago; according to the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, a thirty-minute newscast at election time has more political advertising than campaign news. Even when politics does get covered, the focus, increasingly, is on “analyzing” ads. And the cumulative effect of endless advertising overwhelms what little remains of independent on-air coverage.
Read the whole article here. It’s worth it.
The DREAM’s Alive! Obama, Dems Plan Lame-Duck Immigration Vote
01 year ago
UPDATE 5:07pm ET: After a brief conversation with DREAM Act activists in which Sen. John McCain was encouraging but noncommittal about his support for the bill, McCain left his offices, which were scheduled to close at 5pm. Police arrived shortly after, and arrests of the six activists are expected.
UPDATE 1:30pm ET: Six undocumented youth are camped out inside Arizona Sen. John McCain’s D.C. office and plan to say there until they can get a statement of support from McCain. In doing so they risk arrest, and deportation.
“Not too long ago, Senator McCain was a champion, he supported and rallied for us,” said Guillermo, one of the young people taking part in the sit-in. “I look up to him as a war hero and are only asking from him to give me the same opportunity he had to serve and protect this nation, I want to be Marine.”
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The DREAM Act, which has been unable to clear filibuster threats for years, clawed its way back to life again yesterday as Democrats plotted an attempt to move the bill before a new, Republican-powered Congress takes over next year.
The day began with a White House meeting between President Obama and Congressional Hispanic Caucus leadership, and ended with the announcement from New York Rep. Nydia Velasquez that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had tentatively set Nov. 29 as the date to bring the DREAM Act up for a vote.
President Obama has been a reliable DREAM Act supporter, but has done little publicly to get the bill moving, until now. In a stark departure from his administration’s hardline stance on immigration, the White House announced that Obama promised to put his weight behind passing the DREAM Act in the lame duck session.
“The President and the CHC leaders believe that, before adjourning, Congress should approve the DREAM Act,” a White House statement read. “This legislation has traditionally enjoyed support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers and would give young people who were brought as minors to the United States by their parents the opportunity to earn their citizenship by pursuing a college degree or through military service.”
New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, both of whom have been vocal proponents of focusing on a more comprehensive immigration reform bill, were also in the White House meeting, which Gutierrez said was productive.
“Passage of the DREAM Act is achievable right now,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “With the White House, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and every Democratic Leader in the House and Senate pulling in the same direction, we can pass the DREAM Act before the end of the 111th Congress.”
Reid vowed during his hard-fought re-election campaign to bring the bill up for a vote after the election. Latino voters are widely considered to have made the difference in Reid’s narrow victory over tea party-backed challenger Sharron Angle.
The DREAM Act would give nearly a million undocumented youth with a clean criminal record a green card if they committed two years in the military or college. After a contentious year of aggressive organizing, the immigrant rights movement has coalesced behind the bill, which is considered low-hanging fruit in the decades-long fight to get immigration reform passed.
President Obama’s support of the bill is not new, but his willingness to take on a public role to fight for the bill is. Politico reported that Gutierrez said Obama was prepared to pick up the phone to urge senators to vote for the bill when it comes to a vote.
“We feel it’s a positive step that Obama is coming out,” said Matias Ramos, a DREAM activist and founding member of United We Dream. ”It’s fantastic,” echoed Gaby Pacheco, a DREAMer and an organizer with Presente.org. “We are really excited to finally see some leadership, but at the same time we know that we’ve heard this before.”
Pressure is high for Congress to deliver the DREAM Act now before the new class of Congress steps in next year. Democrats lost six seats in the Senate and gave up their majority in the House during the midterm elections. Many immigration advocates worry that if the DREAM Act doesn’t happen now, the immigrant community will have to wait a long time before it has the chance to see the light of day again.
Even though DREAM Act activists continually boast about the bill’s bipartisan support, many of its Republican cosponsors have abandoned the bill, and even conservative Democrats appear to be skittish in today’s anti-immigrant climate.
“There are senators that were co-sponsors of the DREAM Act before who are so far away from us now,” said Ramos, citing Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley among Republicans who cosponsored the DREAM Act in 2003. “Their absence in this movement symbolizes the rightward shift on the Republican party and that’s something that’s going to hurt them in 2012 if they don’t get their act together. We’re hoping it’s enough.”
In the coming days DREAM activists will be pushing hard to win back former cosponsors of the DREAM Act, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose dramatic re-branding of himself as a hardline anti-immigrant foe makes him an unlikely ally. “We’re going to try to bring him back to the table,” Ramos said.
Pacheco said that Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has so far refused to meet with DREAM Act activists who are on the ninth day of a hunger strike to gain attention for the bill, would be a crucial vote. “Not only did she vote for it in 2007, but she’s retiring this year,” Pacheco said. “She has the opportunity to support the DREAM Act.”
Pacheco imagined the script Obama should use to sway hesitant Democrats: “Every Democrat needs to vote for this. This is something that’s important to the immigrant community. If I’m going to ask them for my vote in 2012 we need to deliver for them now.” She suggested that Obama turn to Republicans and remind them that the Defense Department fully supports the DREAM Act.
Several key Democrats owe their jobs to Latinos, who turned out in support of them during the midterms, and many see this as Democrats’ only chance to fulfill promises of immigration reform before 2012.
In September, as campaign season heated up, Reid attempted to attach the DREAM Act and a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal to the defense authorization bill. Both failed to make it to the Senate floor by a 56-43 vote, with not a single Republican voting for in favor. Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat who lost her seat in the midterms, sided with Republicans as well.
Pacheco said that DREAM activists are using the September vote as a road map for who they need to target in the coming days.
“But the line that’s also going around right now is that we might run out of time,” said Ramos. “The only certain things we know are that we’re going to have to keep pushing and holding their feet to the fire, and telling them what the DREAM Act means to so many young people who are caught in the middle.”
And what happens if the DREAM Act doesn’t make it through during this lame duck session?
“We’re in the mindset that that’s beyond our level of consideration right now,” said Ramos, adding that a group of leaders is, however, already strategizing for the next Congress. “Right now we are ready to mobilize to make our presence felt on Capitol Hill.”
Jean Quan Is Oakland’s New Mayor
01 year ago
After a dramatic week of vote tallying, the race has officially been called: Oakland city council member Jean Quan beat former State Senator Don Perata by the narrowest of margins to become Oakland’s next mayor. Quan is the city’s first Asian American mayor, and also the first woman to hold the job.
Oakland used a new ranked-choice voting system for this election. Even though Perata received the majority of first-choice votes, more people chose Quan as their second and third choice candidate. Quan won 50.98 percent of the vote, Perata 49.02. The Perata team is said to be mulling legal action.
Quan has a long history of progressive leadership in the city, where she served for several terms on the city’s school board, and for eight years on the city council. Quan faces a tough job in a city with no shortage of urgent needs and a demanding constituency. For now, congratulations are in order for Quan’s milestone achievements.
What It Will Take to Win the Latino Vote In 2012
01 year ago
The growing Latino electorate is part of the country’s political destiny; it’s estimated that every year for the next 20 years another 500,000 U.S.-born Latino youth will reach voting age. The fight for the Latino community’s vote will definitely be a vicious one, and the midterm elections provided a glimpse into what we can expect for 2012.
Latino voters in the West saved the Democrats from what would have been total obliteration in the midterm elections last week, that much we know for sure now. Pollsters found that Latinos were galvanized by GOP candidates Sharron Angle and Meg Whitman’s anti-immigrant bullying, and turned out to vote for Democrats who’ve been friendlier on immigration issues.
But elsewhere around the country, Democrats fared less well, even in places with large Latino populations. Case in point? Florida, where first-time candidate and former hospital executive Rick Scott, who favored an SB 1070-style law for Florida and was hit with the largest Medicare fraud fine ever, beat Democrat Alex Sink by a single percentage point.
“Florida is a mess,” Gaby Pacheco, an organizer with the online Latino organizing group Presente.org told me last week. “Democrats lost the opportunity to have Alex Sink as the next governor because she didn’t pay attention to the Latino community. This is a warning sign to everybody in the country, they need to start paying attention to the Latino community.” Sink’s loss serves as a tough lesson that candidates ignore Latino voters at their own peril.
Florida also complicates the electoral picture because of Tea Party-backed Republican Marco Rubio’s win. Politico had a piece this weekend discussing the Rubio campaign as the GOP “template” for 2012. Rubio won a majority of the Latino vote by doing extensive Latino voter outreach and by not selling out to cheap anti-immigrant demagoguery–and also by not advertising too widely his immigration-restrictioninst agenda.
It’s not so much that Latino voters love Democrats, they just can’t stand being demonized by the Republican Party. Prior to October, when Meg Whitman’s nannygate scandal exploded her campaign, Whitman was actually polling decently among Latinos. She had paid for millions of dollars worth of Spanish-language ads on the radio and television that showed her hanging out with kids of color in their classrooms and having chats with Latina moms in their kitchens. After the billionaire’s former housekeeper Nicky Diaz came forward and accused Whitman of firing her when she realized that Diaz’s undocumented status was a political liability for her campaign, Whitman’s numbers plummeted among Latinos.
And it won’t be enough for Democrats to assume that Republicans’ anti-immigrant scapegoating will make their comparatively tame positions toward the Latino community glow any brighter. Democrats will also have to work to earn the Latino vote come 2012.
“Democratic candidates cannot take the Latino vote for granted,” the National Association of Latino Elected Officials’ Rosaline Gold told me last week. “They are going to have to reach out, to engage and continue to address the issues that are important for Latinos.”
Screw the Midterms! We Need a People’s Revolution
01 year ago
Is there any good news in the recent midterm election? Absolutely. The good news that transcends the infantilizing Democrat-good/Republican-bad logic that’s prevailing even among the most politically thoughtful among us is this: All but those desperate to believe that we don’t live in an increasingly deadly plutocracy now understand that elections and the electoral system are, by themselves, vapid vehicles, zombies of hope and change.
Without an extra-electoral power to counterbalance the corporate savaging of the electoral process, elections will continue their function of serving not flesh and bone humans, but the anonymous, abstract entities that corrupt themselves for money. This is especially true in the new political climate previewed by the midterms, one ushered in by the Supreme Court’s catastrophic Citizens United decision, which sapped even more power from human citizens in order to give it to the corporate citizens, whose wealth and ideology already dominate much of our political, economic and cultural life.
We’ve witnessed the politics of fear (war, economics, bullying, race and immigration, to name a few) being manipulated since 2008 by both parties–and the dangerous antics of President Obama and the Democrats (record-setting deportations! two wars! let them eat foreclosure notices!) proved unequivocally that Obama’s election was and is primarily about giving new color and rouge to the corpse of corporate controlled “democracy.” Unless something changes radically, this role as cover for and savior of the fantastically corrupt electoral and global system may make Obama extremely dangerous in strange and unprecedented ways. Just ask your air and your climate, your sense of hope and change, your future and that of your kids.
Still, the good news is that the fog is clearing before the sunlight of “failure.” This will allow many of us to again see what should always be our primary source of hope: We ourselves, and our astonishing collective ability to imagine and accomplish incredible things above and beyond the electoral process. That’s powerful stuff we lost sight of in our anybody-but-Bushism and the gospel feeling of having our first black president. Many of us still share this latter joy with the African American community, whose millennial struggle against domination and for freedom made Obama’s election possible. Unfortunately, however, developments between the 2008 primaries and the recent midterms make sadly, even tragically obvious that the musical cadences, magical power and profound aspirations of that millennial struggle–and of others–are being harnessed, re-shaped and reified by Democrats and Republicans in service to the truly empowered citizens–corporate citizens.
The midterm elections provide an unprecedented opportunity for us to look at ourselves, at the endangered planet we inhabit and how to bring it back into equilibrium. We need to go to the root of things, think radically (radix=going to the root). Viewed with a more radical lens than that of the infantilization that passes for political analysis, the midterms reflect the urgent need to think and act outside of the multimillion dollar marketing machinery of corporate-dominated elections.
Consider, for example, the concepts of “revolution” and “revolutionary.” These terms come to us from physics and astronomy, which use the word “revolution” to describe the process by which a celestial body follows its elliptical path back to its point of origin. Reflecting the constant fluidity of language and ideas and following the lead of science, political actors of the 18th century began deploying the terms to refer to the desire and process of overturning political systems. Rather than search for shards of hope and change (i.e.; “the Latino vote saving Sen. Harry Reid and other Democrats”) in the detritus of the Democrats’ midterm defeat, we might want to think about what revolution means today.
Revolutions return bodies to their original place, which describes precisely the equilibrium this ailing and angry planet urgently needs. So the unprecedented fact of global decline means that the revolution is all about the unprecedented mission of bringing the planet–and ourselves–back into balance. The feelings of emptiness engendered by midterm elections made our need for new revolutions and real revolutionaries as clear as the celestial lights–and this is nothing if not cosmically good news.
Dems Suffer Without Young Voters of Color Who Stole the ’08 Show
01 year ago
Today, as Democrats are solemnly tallying up their losses, there’s one inescapable fact about what the midterm electorate looked like: it was overwhelmingly whiter and older than 2008. The questions for President Obama now are what happened to the energetic base of young voters of color who thrusted him to power in 2008? And what will it take to bring them back into his party’s fold before 2012?
According to exit polls’ early tabulation, people under the age of 29 accounted for only 11 percent of voters on Tuesday, a decrease from the 18 percent mark of 2008. More than 20 percent of voters who showed up at the polls this time were over the age of 65, a marked increase from the 15 percent who showed up on Election Day in 2008. These numbers may shift as more data becomes available, but the larger picture is clear: The youth wave of 2008 receded.
Granted, it’s dangerous to compare presidential elections to midterms. Voter turnout is always much lower. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) released a report this morning arguing that exit poll numbers aren’t really that bad, when taken into context. The group estimates that the youth voter turnout in 2010 was only three percentage points lower than in 2006.
But to many observers, the numbers still suggest Democrats are widely underestimating the importance of one of its key constituencies.
“My sense is that young people did turn out where there was infrastructure,” says Rob “Biko” Baker, executive director of the League of Young Voters. Baker noted that the 2012 presidential election begins in March of 2011, and that the youth organizations that helped drive massive numbers of voters in 2008 need to once again be taken seriously.
“We need a bold leadership that inspires young people from both sides of the aisle to fight for our interests,” Baker continued. “Without that, we’re gonna lose a whole generation of young people we just activated in 2008.”
As I reported last week from Milwaukee, young voters of color were the unsung heroes of the Democratic cause two years ago. An historic 66 percent of voters under the age of 29 supported Obama in 2008. Young African Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 voted in higher numbers than any other ethnic group, and two million more headed to the polls in 2008 than 2004. Two million more young Latino voters headed to the polls in 2008, too, along with over half a million more young Asian voters.
That demographic shift was unprecedented and offered encouraging political potential to progressives broadly and Democrats in particular. In a recent New York Times letter to the editor, political scientist and University of Chicago professor Cathy Cohen urged the party to pay special attention to the black youth vote.
“If the party is able to mobilize these young people, it can build a cadre of committed political activists that can carry its message forward for years to come,” Cohen wrote. “Just as the Reagan Revolution embraced people in their 20s who today run the Republican Party, President Obama has the chance to embrace a different group of young people so that they can help shape a transformative political agenda supported by the Democratic Party of the future.”
But so far, it seems that party leadership has completely missed that message. And now, Democrats are paying for it.
Some youth voting organizers have called the president out for his seemingly top-down approach. A recent New York Times story, for instance, featured young voters sounding off against Democrats for focusing the heated healthcare debate so intently on older adults, and for limiting Obama’s late campaign outreach to massive campus rallies. That type of approach stifles innovation and creativity, two elements that made 2008 so appealing to a part of the electorate that had long felt alienated from civic life.
“[Obama] made young people feel important, then he got into office and there was no one talking to us,” Jessica Kirsner, a 21-year-old college student from Florida, told the Times.
The president’s outreach to African American voters overall also seems to have been lackluster. Though the Democratic National Committee spent an unprecedented $3 million dollars on advertising aimed at African Americans during this year’s midterm elections, at least some of the organizers I met in Milwaukee expressed frustration with being talked at, instead if engaged with.
“The future is yours to shape,” President Obama said in an eleventh hour appeal to black radio listeners in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “But if you don’t get involved, then somebody else is going to shape it for you.”
Right now, that appears to be exactly what’s happening.
MoJo Tracks the Coming Anti-Immigrant Governors
01 year ago
While Democrats brace themselves for major losses in the House, and possibly the Senate, Suzy Khimm at Mother Jones forecasts a frightening scenario for progressives: What if a slew of anti-immigrant gubernatorial hopefuls take office? It’s looking more and more like a possibility:
But while Tancredo is one of the biggest flamethrowers on the issue, he isn’t the only immigration hardliner with a shot at the governor’s office this year. Across the country, in states with burgeoning immigrant populations, more than a half-dozen Republican gubernatorial candidates who’ve vowed to impose stricter controls on immigration are now poised to take office. With congressional gridlock expected to overtake Washington after the midterms, state governments will be under even greater pressure to take action on immigration, putting a new slate of anti-immigration GOP governors on the front lines of a crackdown.
Jan Brewer’s re-election campaign in Arizona has garnered plenty of attention, along with hardliner Tom Tancredo’s quest for the governor’s mansion in Colorado. But they’re not the only ones. There’s Georgia, where Khimm writes that both Democrat and Republican candidates have vowed to replicate Arizona’s SB 1070. And then there’s New Mexico and Nevada, where two Latino Republicans have built a strong anti-immigrant platform. Susana Martinez has vowed to to repeal state laws allowing undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses, and her attitude has even earned an endorsement from former Alaska governor and tea party poster child Sarah Palin. Finally in Nevada* Brian Sandoval, who was born to Mexican immigrants, is pushing for an SB 1070 copycat law in his state. Amazingly, he claimed he wasn’t worried about racial profiling under the copycat legislation because his kids “don’t look Hispanic, ” Khimm writes.
ColorLines has pointed out SB 1070 copycat laws before. But it looks like we’ll be seeing even more state-level anti-immigrant initiatives in the coming years.
*A previous version of this post incorrectly identified Brian Sandoval as a candidate for governor in Colorado.
Can’t Vote? Here Are Five Ways You CAN Participate
01 year ago
It’s Election Day. Go vote, if you can. But while the focus for many is on casting ballots, many other people–particularly in communities of color–won’t be able to do so. Why? Sadly, too many reasons.
Perhaps the most common barrier to voting is that African-American men in particular face felony convictions at much higher rates than the general population; in all but two states–Maryland and Vermont–felony convictions disqualify people from voting, until they get their convictions removed from their records. As a result, more than five million people are unable to vote, according to the Sentencing Project, including 13 percent of black men. No surprise, given the racial disparity in incarceration. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reported in 2008 that “there were nearly 2.2 million persons in America’s prisons and jails as of 2005–60 percent of whom were black or Latino,” even though they comprise only 25 percent of the total population collectively.
Another thing keeping people of color out of the ballot box is immigration status. Tens of millions of immigrants, both documented and not, have made lives in the U.S. but are unable to vote. Youth, as well, are a huge population of Americans who are unable to vote and are often completely ignored as people who can contribute to the political processes of the communities in which they live.
Luckily, the ballot box doesn’t define the limits of political engagement. So we culled some advocates’ ideas on civic engagement for people who cannot (or will not) vote. In fact, even if you do vote, it’s a handy list of things you can do after your ballot’s cast.
Help Get Out the Vote
One of the most straightforward, widespread, and immediate political actions to be involved in is Get Out The Vote (GOTV) work. You might even be able to help today still! It definitely should make the next election’s to-do list. This is diverse activism, encompassing everything from working the phones to encourage registered voters to go to the polls to offering transportation for elderly and disabled voters. You can also phone bank in advance of elections to educate voters about how to register, where they can vote, and all other relevant information.
(Photo: Creative Commons/OFA California)
Be a Watchdog–Go to Hearings!
The focus of electoral politics is often on congressional and Presidential races. But the fact is that local political leaders–from mayoral candidates to city board members–have considerable sway in shaping politics of blocks, neighborhoods or communities. And long after the voting ends, the mundane business of governing impacts people’s lives daily. There are city council meetings, school boards, health boards, zoning committees–all of which make decisions that can have dramatic impact on local communities. Nearly all of these meetings are open to the public and allow for open comments on proposals. No matter the community–whether rural, suburban or urban–attending and speaking up can have dramatic impact on your most immediate surroundings. For a list of days and times of these meetings, check out your local government website or call your city hall. (Photo: Creative Commons/Lady Ducayne)
Hold Your Own Hearings
Don’t feel like your concerns are being addressed in official forums? Then create a new forum for them to be answered through the development of or participation in community-led forums. These forums invite local and state elected officials to field questions developed by citizens who want to know, “What are you doing to make this change happen in my community?” These events typically include voter registration and encourage citizens to contact local elected officials directly. One organization that uses these forums actively is Voices of Formerly Incarcerated Persons (VOTE) New Orleans, an organization dedicated to nurturing the political vote of those having served felony convictions. As the group says in describing itself: “VOTE is partnering with numerous community organizations to bring New Orleans residents’ concerns directly to the candidates.” (Photo: Creative Commons/Korean Resource Center)
Organize Your Block or Building
Political action doesn’t need to be defined by immediate engagement with elected officials. One of the most impactful ways to get involved is by creating or joining a neighborhood association that brings together community members to develop consensus on problems that need to be fixed and the best strategies for doing so. These organizations can take on many forms and advocate for a variety of different causes. Tenant associations, meanwhile, are focused explicitly on housing issues, whether it’s a neglectful landlord or spiraling rent. Many have become meaningful political players in city politics, and public housing residents in particular have used tenant associations to create change. Here’s a handy resource page with advice on building a tenant association. (Photo: Creative Commons/Daniel Lobo)
Learn the Ropes
Youth are often neglected in the political process. But mobilizing youth, particularly within communities of color, can have dramatic political impacts. One of the biggest barriers that prevent youth from participating within politics is a lack of education. Civic engagement curriculum simply doesn’t make the list in too many public schools. As a result, a number of organizations have developed youth leadership institutes or programming that promote civic engagement, knowledge of the political process and opportunities for direct engagement within politics. Two examples of such programs are the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project (CLYLP) in California and FIERCE, an organization based in New York City specifically for LGBTQ youth of color. CLYP organizes a yearly, week-long high school leadership program that brings youth from across the state to Sacramento, allowing them meet elected officials and learn about the political process. FIERCE organizes the “Education for Liberation Project,” which is a two to three month paid internship program that teaches community and political organizing skills.
(Photo: FIERCE))
Go Vote! Here’s Help Finding (and Watching) Your Polling Site
01 year ago
Never mind all the horse race elections coverage. Today’s about something bigger, particularly for people of color. Yes, this has been one of the nastiest, most racist campaign seasons in recent history. And no, the purported change-makers we voted into office two years ago haven’t lived up to their promise. But people literally died to give me the right to walk a few blocks over to my central Brooklyn polling spot this morning. If for no other reason, I need to vote to honor that sacrifice. And you know what? So do all Americans.
We’ll help: Google has developed an app that will help you find your polling place. Here it is on the NAACP’s site (or just go to Google). Type in your address and it’ll show you where to go, complete with directions on getting there. It also generates a list of races and candidates for which you’ll be asked to vote, as well as links to your state’s elections website and voter-registration info.
Once you know where to go, check out the Election Protection project’s site as well (particularly if you’re in Wisconsin or Illinois, where tea partiers have already vowed to harass voters they suspect of being ineligible–read: brown people). The site has lots of information about how to protect yourself, including what you should do if your right to vote is challenged. Election Protection also has a national hotline for you to call if there are irregularities at your polling site; they’ll dispatch volunteer legal activists to check things out.
Breitbart, Man Famous Solely for Racebaiting Lies, Lands ABC Gig
01 year ago
Andrew Breitbart, whose hits include the bogus sting tapes that got ACORN defunded and the bogus sting tapes that got Shirley Sherrod fired, is back! For unknown reasons, ABC News has invited the BigGovernment.com founder to be a guest for tomorrow’s election night coverage.
Since news broke of Breitbart’s upcoming appearance, ABC has been fighting to distance themselves from their own guest, saying that he’s slated only to appear in their online content. Breitbart, true to form, has clouded the issue, publishing private emails that he says show that he was guaranteed a spot on their seven-hour live television broadcast. A vicious internal debate has ensued, but at the time of this writing, Breitbart’s still in.
ColorOfChange.org has a petition to tell ABC to keep Breitbart and his agenda off the air. One big question remains, along with the others: what viewers did ABC hope to snag by inviting Breitbart on in the first place? Maybe they wanted someone to talk about race, but moved too slow on that Juan Williams fellow?