The police killing of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri is the latest horrific example of the crisis in racial justice that betrays our most fundamental principles of freedom, fairness and equality.
Julianne Hing writes for Color Lines: “Data on the experiences of youth typically acknowledge race and gender, but rarely capture where the forces overlap, said Priscilla Ocen, a professor of law at Loyola Law School, where the event was held. And yet, anecdotal evidence abounds. If the mainstream political discourse isn’t interested in documenting the experiences of Read more …
Clearly, it is past time to refocus the nation’s attention on our deep racial disparities in housing, economic well-being, education and health care. But it turns out that the MBK initiative is only for boys and young men of color. That’s a problem for anyone who cares about gender and racial justice.
Two and a half weeks ago, I was thrilled to open the annual conference of the National Organization for Women in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque felt like the perfect place to meet up with activists and map out action plans to move the feminist agenda forward. Just a year ago, the women of Albuquerque formed an emergency coalition, Respect ABQ Women, to fight against a dangerous municipal anti-abortion ballot measure.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) applauds President Obama’s refocusing the nation’s attention, through the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, on the deep racial disparities in education, economic well-being, housing and health care facing people of color. At the same time, we share the concerns expressed by over 200 African American men in their letter urging the president to expand this promising initiative to include girls and women of color — who live in the same households, suffer in the same under-resourced schools, and struggle to overcome a common history of limited opportunities caused by various forms of discrimination.