News
Morning Browse: Katrina Cop Confession, Summer Jobs, Palin’s Pleased
Apr 8th
Former New Orleans cop Michael Hunter plead guilty yesterday to shooting at unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge following Katrina, offering grisly details of the event that contradict official police reports. Hunter is the first cop actually involved in the shooting to plead guilty.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell conceded yesterday that leaving slavery out of his “Confederate History Month” proclamation was a “major omission” and issued a revisal. The Confederate celebration continues, however.
The White House has joined the Congressional Black Caucus in shouting down the Senate for failing to pass the House’s summer jobs bill, which would create 300,000 jobs.
Sarah Palin tells Sean Hannity that she thinks RNC Chair Micheal Steele’s “doing a great job,” actually.
Morning Browse: Confederate Pride Month, Closed Web, Haiti Schools
Apr 7th
There went the Internet. The U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. ruled yesterday that the FCC lacked the authority to fine Comcast for selectively blocking traffic on its broadband network in 2007. Netroots activists have argued that such regulation is crucial to maintain the web as an equal-access publishing space for advocates, artists and community-based sites – like RaceWire.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, has declared April “Confederate History Month.” It’s a celebration begun under former Gov. George “Macaca” Allen, but which the past two Democratic governors had ended. The South rides again.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn tells The Hill that he “absolutely” plans to expand his blockade on extending unemployment insurance benefits. He says he’ll block any spending bill that’s not offset with funding cuts elsewhere.
While Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback plans to introduce legislation to exempt auto dealers from any new consumer financial protection bureau’s oversight. Critics have noted auto dealers originate a huge share of consumer loans, and for Black borrowers in particular.
A beleaguered Vatican has appointed Mexican-American Archbishop Joseph Gomez to lead the archdiocese of Los Angles, the nation’s largest. The NYT says the appointment is “an acknowledgment that the church’s future in America depends on the growing numbers of Hispanic faithful.”
Haiti’s schools officially reopened this week, though the vast majority did so in name alone.
The Morning Browse: Protecting Workers, Unemployment Benefit Barbs, Deporting Veterans
Apr 6th
As hundreds of thousands of Americans lost unemployment benefits yesterday Senate Republicans and Democrats traded barbs about who is to blame for cutoffs. Senators have said they’ll extend benefits when they come back from break but the blame game threatens to stall the process.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis launched an effort this week to encourage low-wage and immigrant workers to report wage and hour violations.
Republicans have been pretty worried that the 2010 census will mean a loss of electorial power in the face of changing demographics. Now, the GOP appears concerned about fair representation as red states are showing low rates of return. Karl Rove appeared in a public service announcement this week to encourage people to mail the census back by the end of the month.
Democracy Now reports the US continues to deport immigrant veterans despite military promises to stop the practice.
Apartment rents rose in the year’s first quarter. While the Wall Street Journal reported it was a sign that the worst of the recession had passed but for renters already struggling with high rent and high unemployment, the news is not a positive one.
The website WikiLeaks has released a video proving that the US Army killed a group of 12 Reuters journalists and other civilians in Iraq in 2007. The video includes the voices of the shooters casually discussing the killings as they shoot the men.
The Morning Browse: Haitians Survivors Locked Up in US jails, GOP Woos Tea Party Members, It’s Census Day
originally posted by Seth Freed Wessler for RaceWire [click here]
Apr 1st
The New York Times reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has jailed at lease 30 Haitian earthquake survivors brought to the US by the US Marines. The men and women “were pulled from the rubble,” boarded on US planes and then locked up in immigration detention when they arrived.
The White House held a meeting yesterday to discuss ways to modernize workplaces to make them more flexible for parents dealing with the increasingly impossible balance between raising children and working to support them.
The US is delaying the visa applications of people with Muslim-sounding last names. As the State Department runs checks on applicants, those with Muslim names are finding their applications held up in administrative tangles.
The GOP is explicitly targeting Tea Party members to pull them into the Republican Party fold in the run up to the November elections. The move shows signs of anxiety among party leadership about a fracturing party. It also threatens to further embolden the Tea Party movement.
In the midst of multiple concerted constitutional attacks on the new health insurance bill, Think Progress reports that college debate organizers can’t locate a single law professor who will make the argument for the bill’s unconstitutionality. So much for that last ditch Republican scramble to kill health care reform.
The LA Times reports on the impact of bus cuts for those who still have jobs in the Great Recession. One “majority-black, working-class suburb” outside of Atlanta, “killed off its local bus system Wednesday over concerns about a $19-million countywide budget shortfall.” Residents are not stranded. Cities across the country including LA and New York are making similar bus line cuts or raising transit fares.
And lastly, today is census day. Fill it out. Get Counted.
Morning Browse: Truth in Spitting, Height’s Alive and Militia Raid
originally posted by Kai Wright for RaceWire [click here]
Mar 29th
Tea Partiers say reports of their racist attacks on congressmembers last week are apocryphal. Well, now there’s video of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver getting spit on, at Huffington Post.
WSJ explores the gap between Tea Party protest enthusiasm and Tea Party success at the polls.
No, civil rights icon Dorothy Height is not dead, Twitter reports to the contrary notwithstanding. The 98-year-old chair of the National Council of Negro Women is in “very serious, but stable condition” at Howard University Hospital.
Federal authorities raided a Christian militia group in the midwest over the weekend. An FBI spokesperson said charges will be unveiled in court today, but some press reports have suggested the group was targeting Muslims.
The criminal trial for the BART cop accused of shooting Oscar Grant on a subway platform has been moved up to June 1, New America Media reports.
Photo Credit: NOW
Love, Exciting and New: Van Jones Tells Glenn Beck to Come Aboard — We’re Expecting You
originally posted by Gina Acebo for RaceWire [click here]
Mar 1st
Van Jones shows that the work to bring racial equity to the green economy is not over, but in our hands… and in our collective hands, the work must be guided by love.
Take that Glenn.
(Listen to Glenn Beck’s response after the jump.)
Friday Twitter Break: Obama’s Healthcare Summit Smackdown
originally posted by Julianne Hing for RaceWire [click here]
Feb 26th
There’s plenty of fresh news burning up Twitter right now: New York Governor David Paterson’s announcement that he won’t seek re-election–though people hardly seem surprised, and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers’ announcement that she’s stepping down, a legitimate surprise. This morning Adam Serwer was singlehandedly holding it down over at the OPR hearings looking into how Jay Bybee and John Yoo got away. And folks are still celebrating South Korean figure skating star Kim Yu-na’s Olympic gold medal win last night.
Catch all that and more, plus a round-up of responses from the now ancient hot topic yesterday: President Obama’s healthcare summit. Yeah, remember that thing? We’ve got it all in this edition of your Friday Twitter Break! Remember to follow ColorLines over at @racialjustice, too.
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The Ballot Box and Beyond– Racism in the '08 Elections
Dec 18th
The Ballot Box and Beyond– Racism in the ‘08 Elections from AWARE-LA on Vimeo.
Community Panel hosted by AWARE-LA on Oct 25, 2008 to discuss racism in the ‘08 elections. The panel was part of a larger community event entitled “The Ballot Box and Beyond: Race, Elections and the Making of History,” which included workshops by various Los Angeles social justice organizations.the panelists discuss a wide variety of topics such as the intersections of class, race and gender in the ‘08 elections, the role of white privilege, and whether this election will and can really lead to historic change…The panel discussion features:• Manuel Criollo – Lead Organizer, Bus Riders Union and Labor / Community Strategy Center• Hamid Khan – Executive Director, South Asian Network• Ange-Marie Hancock – Associate Professor of Political Science, USC• Clare Fox – Organizer, AWARE-LA• Marqueece Harris-Dawson – Executive Director, Community Coalition• Moderator: Joshua Busch, AWARE-LAAWARE-LA is a group of white people working to address racism in the white community.
Sep 11th
Active Resistance, the organizing arm of AWARE-LA, invites you to participate in our campaign: “The Ballot Box and Beyond!”
Check out our campaign blog “DoubleTake” at http://doubletake08.org and read our open letter…
An Open Letter to White Progressives and Activists
We write this letter to all those white people concerned with social justice. Who are you? You are social workers and teachers, and artists and organizers. You work in multiracial organizations and non-profits, and you work for queer rights, with incarcerated youth, and with women in domestic violence shelters. You offer medical aid to migrants crossing the border, media arts programs to high school students, and legal counsel to housing rights organizations. You’re angry about climate change and environmental devastation – with poor and working class communities the hardest hit. Read more>>>