2018-09-20: News Headlines

Regan Farley (2018-09-20). Recap: NAACP National Call to Action Tele-Townhall. naacp.org | Thousands of concerned Americans participated in the NAACP National Call to Action on September 19. Participants heard from NAACP leaders on how they can help push back […]

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement (2018-09-20). Evangelist Franklin Graham Says It's 'Not Relevant' that Brett Kavanaugh Allegedly Assaulted Someone 'As a Teenager'. alternet.org "I don't know what the issue is. " | Christian Evangelical Leader Franklin Graham says the allegations of sexual assault and attempted rape against Judge Brett Kavanaugh by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford are simply "not relevant" (video below. )The 66-year old ordained minister and politica. . .

aclu (2018-09-20). 2 Native American Teens Were Reported to Police for Joining a Campus Tour. Now We're Stepping In. aclu.org We're demanding that Colorado State University change policing practices after the racial profiling of two young Native-American teenagers. | Last spring, Kanewakeron Thomas Gray and Skanahwati Lloyd Gray, two Native American brothers, drove from their home in New Mexico to Colorado State University, excited to tour the college where they hoped to enroll. Their excitement and hopes soon turned to something else. A white parent on the tour called the CSU police department to repor…

IMEMC News (2018-09-20). Israel Prevents PPS Lawyer From Visiting Hunger Striking Detainee Khader Adnan. imemc.org The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported, Thursday, that the administration of the al-Jalama Israeli detention facility, declined a request by one of its lawyers to visit with hunger striking detainee, Khader Adnan. In a statement, PPS lawyer Saleh Ayyoub, said that Adnan is ongoing with his strike for the […]…

INA (2018-09-20). Khader Adnan on 18th Day of Hunger Strike. imemc.org Palestinian prisoner, Khader Adnan, aged 40, is on his 18th day of open-ended hunger strike, in rejection of his arbitrary detention. | Prisoners rights group Muhjat al-Quds Foundation said, in a statement, that Adnan began his open-ended hunger strike on Sunday, September 2nd, demanding his immediate release. | Adnan, from Arraba […]…

Democracy Now! (2018-09-20). American Prison: Shane Bauer Traces History of U.S. For-Profit Prisons from Slavery to Today. democracynow.org "American Prison." That's the name of the new book by award-winning journalist Shane Bauer, who dives deep into the profit-earning motives of U.S. prisons, from convict labor in colonial-era settlements all the way to present-day mass incarceration, including Bauer's own stint as an undercover prison guard at the privately owned Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana. We speak with Shane Bauer in New York City.

RT (2018-09-20). 'Want more shootings? Listen to the ACLU, Black Lives Matter & Antifa' — Jeff Sessions tells cops. rt.com Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Chicago officers that the anti-police rhetoric of the ACLU, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa is partly responsible for the city's spiralling murder rate. |

Shared by Merula Furtado (2018-09-20). Private Prison Officials Allowed to Force-Feed Immigrant Hunger Strikers. truthout.org Officials at a privately run immigration jail in Tacoma, Washington, have apparently obtained permission from a federal court to force-feed prisoners staging sustained hunger strikes, according to documents filed in federal court. | Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit last week asking a federal district court in Tacoma to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from threatening hunger strikers at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) with force-feeding, solitary confinement and segregation. A federal judge canceled a hearing on the case this week and referred the lawsuit to a lower court. | Despite the legal setback, civil rights lawyers obtained a legal document filed by ICE stating that the federal district court in Tacoma and others have granted six orders allowing "involuntary" medical monitoring, hydration and feeding of hunger strikers at NWDC, according to NWDC Resistance, an…

Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet (2018-09-19). Vote! Our Lives Depend on It: NAACP Names Sheila E. Isong National Political Director for Civic Engagement. naacp.org Adds State Directors and National Advisors for Voter Registration Turnout BALTIMORE (September 19, 2018)—The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), America's foremost civil rights organization, hosted a strategic convening for its Civic Engagement #TurnOut18 leadership team during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference. VOTE! OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT! The NAACP brought together staff, state directors and advisors to execute a #TurnOut18 campaign aimed at […]

aclu (2018-09-19). New Bill Would Ensure No Woman Is Forced to Give Birth in Chains. aclu.org The practice of shackling pregnant women who are incarcerated is as shocking as it is widespread. | When a woman becomes pregnant, the nature of her health care by necessity becomes tailored to her being pregnant. This is no less true when a pregnant woman is incarcerated. But corrections officials across the nation would often rather ignore the fact and needs of incarcerated pregnant women than address their health care needs or even their basic rights. For example, pregnant prisoners are often shackled during childbirth in this country as well as put in solitary confinement, practices that are as shocking as th…

aclu (2018-09-19). I Came to the U.S. Fleeing Horrific Abuse in My Home Country. Jeff Sessions Wants to Send People Like Me Back. aclu.org People like me come from countries where the justice system does not protect women and girls. To deny us refuge says our lives mean nothing. | I don't have a lot of memories of my childhood that don't involve violence. My father beat my mother up all the time in our hometown a few hours outside of Mexico City. He hit her with his hands and with any object he could find. Several times he used a knife to cut her. I think my father's sexual abuse of me started when I was 4 or 5. | I lived in terror of this man who claimed my body as his and thought of me as disposable. He could hit me or touch my most private parts…

aclu (2018-09-19). Trump Is Unshackling America's Drones Thanks to Obama's Weakness. aclu.org Obama didn't do enough to curtail America's drones. Now expansion under Trump could have devastating consequences. | The piece was originally published by The Guardian. | For more than a decade, the worst-kept secret in the world has been the fact that the Central Intelligence Agency owns and operates lethal drones outside of recognized battlefields abroad. Newspapers blare it from their Juliana Bolden (2018-09-18). Blavity Op-Ed: Millennials Can Be The Power Bloc In November Elections — If We Choose To Be. naacp.org NAACP Youth and College Division leader Tiffany Dena Loftin penned a piece for Blavity the importance of millennial voters in the upcoming midterm elections: "School is back in session for the NAACP's Youth and College Division, members are entering the school year after a tough and emotional summer. While young folks should have been enjoying summer jobs […]

aclu (2018-09-18). How Facebook Is Giving Sex Discrimination in Employment Ads a New Life. aclu.org We're taking on Facebook and 10 companies for using the social platform to direct job ads toward men, excluding others. | In 1967, the newly formed National Organization for Women staged a weeklong protest of The New York Times and other newspapers. Their demonstration targeted the long-standing practice of printing classified listings in two separate columns: "Help wanted: Male" and "Help wanted: Female," which of course resulted in the exclusion of women from high-paying jobs and indust…

aclu (2018-09-18). Some Schools Need a Lesson on Students' Free Speech Rights. aclu.org An alarming number of schools improperly discipline students for their speech — especially students of color. | School is back in session, and that means school administrators may be back to surveilling students on social media and unjustly disciplining them for what they say on it. | We've seen both of these troubling trends before. And in today's era of inspiring student aclu (2018-09-18). In Guatemala, a Tireless Search for Parents Separated From Their Children. aclu.org Working with the ACLU, human rights defenders look for missing parents in villages and remote regions of the country. | When Lesly Tayes, a Guatemala City-based tax lawyer, first saw images of children locked in cages inside immigration detention facilities near the southern U.S. border, she was stunned. "It made me very upset and sad," she said. "Later I learned that Guatemala had the highest number of separated families and I felt even worse. I wanted to help." Within weeks, she'd have her chance. | Earlier this summer, the ACLU sued the Trump administration over its policy of separating parents from their chi…

Democracy Now! (2018-09-18). Immigrants Seeking Shelter After Hurricane Florence Fear Deportation as FEMA Shifts Funds to ICE. democracynow.org While the worst of Hurricane Florence is over, officials say the most dangerous flooding is yet to come for residents of the Carolinas and Virginia, as thousands have been ordered to evacuate their homes and hundreds more have sought rescue from rising floodwaters. But undocumented immigrants have expressed concern they will encounter immigration enforcement if they seek help. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has reallocated nearly $10 million from FEMA's budget to ICE to pay for detention space and deportations. We speak with Laura Garduño García, a DACA recipient and Greensboro-based organizer with Siembra N…

RT (2018-09-18). ACLU suing Facebook after 'women excluded' from seeing certain job ads on platform. rt.com The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, accusing the social media giant of gender discrimination in job advertisements on its platform. |

Juliana Bolden (2018-09-17). NAACP President to Commemorate African Maafa. naacp.org Event to honor ancestors and mark African holocaust in Brooklyn, NY Baltimore, MD — On Tuesday, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson will speak at the 24th Commemoration of The Maafa at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York at 7pm EST. President Johnson will address the relevance of the African Maafa and the current […]

Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet (2018-09-17). NAACP to Host National Call to Action Tele-Townhall Conference Call on Wednesday. naacp.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2018 CONTACTS: NAACP@sunshinesachs.com and Malik Russell: mrussell@naacpnet.org | Thousands to discuss social and political climate for Blacks in America | WASHINGTON (September 17, 2018) — With less than 50 days to the critical midterm elections, the NAACP will be holding a national call to action Tele-Townhall conference call on Wednesday, […]

aclu (2018-09-17). A Full Investigation Is Needed Into the Sexual Assault Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh. aclu.org Both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, should testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. | Over the weekend, details of serious charges of sexual assault alleged to have been committed by Judge Brett Kavanaugh became public, as did the name of the woman raising these allegations. In a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and aclu (2018-09-17). Congress Is Poised to Give Trump Administration Powerful New Spying Powers. aclu.org Congress is once again using "national security" as magic words to increase the government's surveillance powers in dangerous and unaccountable ways. | The Trump administration wants more spying power — and Congress appears poised to give it to them. | Touting national security to justify spying powers that jeopardize our constitutional rights is a strategy that we have seen before. It happened with the Patriot Act after 9/11, and members of Congress and government officials are now employing similar arguments again. This time it involves a drone bill that some in Congress are Juliana Bolden (2018-09-16). Statement: Kavanaugh Allegations Impact Character and Fitness to Serve on Supreme Court. naacp.org Washington, D.C. — NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson issued the following statement on the recent allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh: "For far too long we've seen the majority leadership in Congress pander to the dangerous decisions of the Trump Administration, and the recent allegations against Brett Kavanaugh have only confirmed that enough […]

Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet (2018-09-15). NAACP Provides Disaster Management Resources in the Wake of Hurricane Florence. naacp.org NAACP, the nation's foremost civil rights organization, released the following statement regarding Hurricane Florence: "On Friday, Hurricane Florence, deemed by meteorologists to be a beast of a storm, made landfall in North Carolina, and it has already proved to be fatal," said Jacqui Patterson, Senior Director, NAACP Environmental Climate and Justice Program. "Although […]

Juliana Bolden (2018-09-14). NAACP's Marvin Owens to Talk Economics, Environmental Justice at CBC. naacp.org NAACP Senior Director of Economic Programs Marvin Owens to Discuss Intersection of Economics and Environmental Justice during Congressional Black Caucus Braintrust Washington, D.C. — NAACP Senior Director of Economic Programs Marvin Owens will discuss the intersection of economics and environmental justice during the 48th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference. The Environmental Justice Braintrust will focus on […]

splcenter (2018-09-14). SPLC joins Alabama civil rights groups in urging Sens. Jones and Shelby to vote against Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. splcenter.org The SPLC is among 10 Alabama civil rights organizations that strongly urged U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Doug Jones today to vote against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

aclu (2018-09-14). Trump's Border Wall Obsession Is a Threat to the Southwest Border Region. aclu.org To save lives, preserve habitats, and ensure thriving border communities, Congress should stop funding President Trump's border wall. | Given all the false rhetoric and rage that drive President Trump's fixation on building his border wall, it's critically important to step back from that noise and think about people and places that would be jeopardized if his wall obsession continues to be funded by Congress. | Take, for instance, Juliana Bolden (2018-09-13). Action Alert: Urge Senate Judiciary Committee Members to Vote "No" on Kavanaugh on Sept. 20th. naacp.org Senate Judiciary Committee Moves Committee Vote on Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh to Sept. 20, 2018 Urge Members of the Senate Judiciary to Vote "No" on Kavanaugh The Issue: On July 10, 2018, President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. After four days of hearings which began on Sept. 4, we […]

Democracy Now! (2018-09-12). Headlines for September 12, 2018. democracynow.org "Storm of a Lifetime": Hurricane Florence Barrels Down on Carolinas' Coast, Ahead of Florence, SC Officials Say They Will Not Evacuate Ridgeland Prison, Florence Threatens Catastrophic Waste Spills from Pig Farms, Coal Ash Ponds, 6 Years Before Florence, North Carolina Passed Law Banning Studies of Sea Level Rise, Ahead of Florence, Trump Tries to Celebrate Admin Response to Hurricane Maria, Merkley: Trump Admin Diverted $10M from FEMA to ICE to Build Detention Centers, HHS to Triple Size of Texas Tent Camp for Migrant Children, Stephen Miller's Former Rabbi Slams Him at Rosh Hashanah Services over Family Separat…

Democracy Now! (2018-09-07). As 400+ Children Remain Separated from Parents, Trump Admin Wants to Detain Kids Indefinitely. democracynow.org The Trump administration is attempting to remove court-imposed time limits on the detention of immigrant children. The administration's proposal would allow immigrant families to be held in detention indefinitely, ending the long-standing 1997 Flores agreement which says that children cannot be jailed for more than 20 days. More than 400 children remain separated from their parents more than a month after a court-imposed deadline requiring the Trump administration to reunite all of the separated families. The American Civil Liberties Union says it appears ICE officials had access to the phone numbers of hundreds…

Democracy Now! (2018-09-07). Headlines for September 7, 2018. democracynow.org Sen. Cory Booker Releases Kavanaugh Documents in Act of "Civil Disobedience", New Documents Contradict Kavanaugh's Sworn Testimony, Kavanaugh Conflates Birth Control with Abortion, Trump Admin Seeks to Allow Indefinite Detention of Immigrant Families, ICE, DOJ Subpoena Millions of North Carolina Voting Records, Top Trump Admin Officials Deny They Penned Scathing Anonymous Op-Ed, Baghdad Massacre Trial for Blackwater Mercenary Ends in Hung Jury, Gunman Kills Three at Cincinnati Bank, Then Shot Dead by Police, Cincinnati Officer Who Tased 11-Year-Old Girl Will Face Discipline, Jury Gives $1 Fine to Man Who Punched…

Sarah Jaffe (2018-08-29). The Movement Against Prison Abuse—From the Inside. progressive.org Janos Marton of the ACLU's Smart Justice program talks about a growing public awareness of the rampant inequality perpetuated by prisons, jails, arrests, and prosecutions, and what people on the outside can do.