Bineshi Albert and Casey Camp Horinek at the Frontline Oil and Gas Summit, a conference held to unite against destructive oil and gas operations across the country.
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Right now in this country we are seeing major attacks on the reproductive freedom of women, non-binary, and trans people. The news of missing and murdered Indigenous women continue to not be given headlines or any public spotlight. Recent new studies and polls are confirming the effects of systemic racism on Black girls’ growth, and Black men’s access to higher education.
Yet with this news, Black and Indigenous, communities of color continue to unite and resist across the country, taking safety, well-being and thriving of their communities into their own hands.
These stories, rounded up by the Daily Kos Liberation League (DKLL), feature both the critical issues and stories of resistance. We focus on published content and campaigns that center racial justice, gender equality, and LGBTQ rights. Here are our highlights of top stories.
• Rep. Debra Haaland pens op-ed on missing Indigenous women —Meteor Blades
Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo and one of the two first Native women to serve in Congress, writes that she is fighting for these women by supporting passage of Savanna’s Act and to make sure protections for Native people are included in the Violence Against Women Act:
In Indian country, families sometimes wait days for the authorities to respond, and frequently lead the only search parties. What’s worse, sometimes the record of that missing Indigenous person isn’t documented, leaving questions unanswered for decades, leading to gaps in information, missing person cases unsolved and perpetrators roaming the streets
• How racism and bias deny Black girls their childhoods —Black Kos
According to participants in the Georgetown study, “when Black girls express strong or contrary views, adults view them as challenging authority or, more fundamentally, simply assume a girl’s character is just plain ‘bad.’”
This bias also likely plays a role in the increasing use of discipline against Black girls in the classroom, by law enforcement, and in interactions with authority figures, even though they are no more likely to misbehave than white girls.
• Oregon Senate passes bill punishing racist 911 callers —Black Kos
Oregon state senators have passed a bill that would allow the victims of frivolous, discriminatory 911 calls to sue the callers.
On Monday, the Oregon state Senate passed House bill 3216, a measure introduced by the state’s three black Democratic legislators, including Bynum. The bill allows victims of these calls to sue a 911 caller for as much as $250 if the victim can prove that the 911 call was racially motivated and that the caller intended to discriminate or harm the reputation of the victim.
• The Black mothers who fought to radically reimagine welfare —Black Kos
President Clinton ran on a campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it," but that bill sat on the back-burner until Congressional Republicans swept the 1994 midterms and decided to hold him to it. Clinton would sign welfare reform into law the summer after that New Republic cover story ran. The bill was enormously controversial; one of Clinton's top economic advisers resigned in protest, saying the plan would cut millions of poor people off from much-needed help.
At the Rose Garden ceremony for that bill's signing, Clinton was flanked by Lillie Harden, a black single mother and former welfare recipient from Arkansas. She said that Bill Clinton's previous efforts to reduce the welfare rolls as governor of that state had set her on the path to work and self-sufficiency.
• Poll shows Black voters want 2020 candidates with big policy plans, not just big names —Black Kos
A poll released this week by BlackPAC, an organization that does election polling and has led Black voter engagement efforts in recent elections in Virginia and Alabama, finds that more than halfway into the Trump presidency, Black voters are looking to push the country “back on track.” For registered Black voters, this means supporting candidates that will address racism and discrimination, as well as produce tangible improvements in areas like health care, the economy, and police accountability.
• NYC to honor prominent trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera with monuments —Black Kos
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera will soon be honored with monuments in New York City. New York City’s First Lady Chirlane McCray announced the builds—billed as the first public art monuments in the world to honor trans women—at a press conference yesterday (May 30).
Standing at a podium that read “Trans Dignity, Trans History,” the McCray said that from their leading role at the Stonewall uprising—which marks its 50th anniversary this June 28—to their revolutionary work supporting transgender and gender nonconforming youth, Johnson and Rivera charted a path for all the activists who came after them.
• The National Trust for Historic Preservation says Black historic sites are in danger of being lost forever —Black Kos
Black architectural and cultural heritage sites are in grave danger of disappearing or being beyond repair, unless members of the public mobilize to save them, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced.
• How the War on Drugs locked Black men out of higher education —Black Kos
The War on Drugs locked up thousands of Black men, and a new study finds that it may have also locked many out of the college classroom—and all the benefits that come with a college degree.
There was a time when Black men’s college enrollment was gaining ground, as compared to white men’s. From 1980 to 1985, college enrollment among Black men ages 18 to 24 grew slightly faster than it did for their white peers.
• Pipeline protesters could face 20 years in prison if Texas legislation passes —Meteor Blades
The House Bill 3557 would increase penalties for intentional acts that “impede, inhibit or interfere” with the operations of “critical infrastructure.” Accused violators would be subject upon conviction to 20 years in prison, $10,000 fines for individuals, and up to $1 million for organizations.
Protesters have challenged the building of pipelines in Texas, including a piece of the Keystone XL pipeline that has elicited protests in several states. In Denton protesters also took action in 2015 to delay operations at a fracking site after nearly 60% of voters supported a statewide fracking ban that the Texas legislature overturned. The new proposal “is criminalizing conscientious, caring people who are the canaries for their communities,” said Lori Glover, co-founder of the Big Bend Defense Coalition, an activist group that mobilized against the Trans-Pecos Pipeline.
• Last two women imprisoned over Philadelphia police siege have been released after 40 years —Meteor Blades
”The release of Janine, 63, and Janet, 68, marks a key moment in the history of the Move 9, the group of African American Black power and environmental campaigners who were imprisoned after a police siege of their home in August 1978. The pair were the last of four women in the group either to be paroled or to die behind bars.”
• Coast to coast in more than 500 cities, thousands of people protested forced-birther laws —Meteor Blades
So far in 2019, more than 30 new abortion laws have been introduced, passed, or signed. Among them are the most drastic restrictions since Roe v. Wade legalized abortions across the nation 46 years ago. The worst, in Alabama, would bar any abortion and punish providers with up to 99 years in prison. The backers of such laws know these won’t pass constitutional muster as long as Roe remains the law of the land. But their point is to put forth challenges to that ruling in hopes the current Supreme Court will overturn the 1973 decision.
Laura Simmons, Georgia state director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said one of the organization’s focuses is changing the situation by electing more progressive legislators. “We know that if we would have had more women, pro-choice women in office, this wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “We’re going to stand up and fight back.”
• On the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, it's imperative we call out racism when advocating for fair school funding —Meteor Blades
Although school integration reached its peak in the 1970s, it began to decline in the early-1990s, when districts were released from court oversight. Today, school segregation levels have returned to those of the 1960s.
Civil rights lawyers continue to advance racial equality in education, but now through other means: school funding.
Instead of claiming that “separate is inherently unequal,” school funding lawyers are now fighting for “separate but truly equal.”
Daily Kos Liberation League (DKLL) regularly features staff and community stories that center racial justice, gender equality, and LGBTQ rights. You can follow our blog here.
Writing about racial justice, gender equality and LGBTQ rights? Tag #DKLL to help us find and elevate your work.
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