Peter Dreier: The new film ignores the broad-based movement that helped make Jackie Robinson’s arrival in baseball possible, as well as the first black major-leaguer’s own activism.
Voter Suppression: The Unraveling of American Democracy
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Ruth Rosen: The election looms closer and people who cannot meet the new requirements get fed up, feel helpless, and are less likely to go to the polling place on Election Day.
Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa: Justice vs. Charity
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Peter Dreier: Rosa Parks deserves to be in the same human rights pantheon as Bishop Romero and Eleanor Roosevelt. But not Mother Teresa.
Mitt’s Robert Bork Problem
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David Love: It is hard to imagine how Romney will clear a path to victory in November by associating with an ideologically extreme radical such as Robert Bork.
What Will the Democratic Left Do in 2012?
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Lawrence Wittner: Contrasting the administration’s all-out effort to save Wall Street with its indifference to Main Street, many progressives wonder if they have gained anything worthwhile with Obama’s election.
We Draw the Lines: Not So Much
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Unai Montes-Irueste: Unless these drafts are redrawn, California Latinos will be robbed of the Congressional and Legislative representation we deserve—despite the fact that these draft maps were drawn using the very same Census data that attributes 90% of California’s population growth between 2000 and 2010 to Latino youth and migrants.
Alabama Governor Signs Costly Immigration Bill
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Seth Hoy: Arizona has shown us that using a “get tough” immigration law to drive undocumented immigrants out of the state is not only costly, discriminatory and unconstitutional; it’s also ineffectual in actually addressing larger immigration problems.
States with Arizona-style Immigration Laws Face Costly Legal Battles
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Seth Hoy: Despite repeated warnings from business groups, tourism and industry boards and advocates about the hefty price tag attached to Arizona-style legislation, state lawmakers continued to push “get tough” copycat proposals.
States Might Jump Off Arizona’s Immigration Bandwagon
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Seth Hoy: State legislators are citing fear of costly lawsuits and a charged political environment in which restrictive immigration legislation might not pass as factors in their decision.
ACLU Challenges Arizona Immigration Law
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Andrea Christina Nill: The suit, which represents labor, domestic violence, day labor, human services and social justice organizations, along with ten individuals who would allegedly be subject to harassment or arrest, claims that not only is SB-1070 “un-American,” it’s also unconstitutional.
Bumpy Legal Road Ahead for Marriage Equality
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Paul Hogarth: For years, civil rights groups had carefully kept the federal courts out of gay marriage fights – and the prominent lawyers in Perry filed the suit without consulting them. But with most of marriage’s legal benefits coming under federal law, it was only a matter of time before the federal courts weighed in on this issue.
Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) Fight Against Gay Marriage A No Win Situation
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The SCLC’s leadership and Rev. Lee would do well to remember it and not become pawns in a game played by people who at the end of the day have never had the best interest of Blacks at heart.
The NAACP’s 100th Anniversary: What’s the Future Hold for the Granddaddy of Civil Rights Groups?
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This week, the most venerable of civil rights organizations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, more commonly known as the NAACP, turns 100 years old. Founded on Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday (February 12th, 1809), the organization had a controversial start. The organization was born out of what started as an effort by [...]
Federal Precedent Provides Logic to Nix Prop 8
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Brian E. Gray, writing for the Los Angeles Times, sees something cool: The long history of the battle for equality for all in this country includes many court fights — some that pro-justice forces have won. A particular early-1990s fight in Colorado, Gray says, may offer another avenue for challenging California’s unjust same-sex marriage ban. [...]
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The Revolution Will (Barely) Be Publicized
Sylvia Moore: The pro-corporate, anti-tax Tea Party movement has gotten wall-to-wall press coverage, even though only about 30 percent of the population actually supports it. Saturday’s event did get some national coverage from the major television networks, but that paled in comparison to the kind of attention the Tea Partiers are getting on a routine basis. Locally, all I could find was this 37-second clip from ABC7 News. Kudos to ABC for showing up.