Racial Justice
NOW Stands in Solidarity to Combat Racism and Discrimination
As one of our core issues, NOW is committed to ending racism and discrimination. Through our work, we are constantly identifying and combating the barriers to equality and justice imposed by structural racism, particularly those that inflict a double burden of race and sex discrimination on BIPOC women and girls, including trans women and girls.
As champions of equal opportunities in all areas, including employment, education and reproductive rights, we recognize that racial justice is a feminist issue and that to achieve equality, our activism must be anti-racist.
NOW activists have taken to the streets to demand that the police, the government, the media and our society finally recognize that BLACK LIVES MATTER. We know that for too long, Black women and girls (including transwomen) have been made to feel devalued, silenced, and held to different standards. Having a thriving and free civil society is fundamental for human rights, and NOW is committed to ensuring that historically excluded communities of color have the freedom to participate at every level.
NOW believes that the lives lost due to our unjust system matter, and we will not stop raising our voices until we see justice.
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NOW and Racial Justice
NOW condemns the racism that inflicts a double burden of race and sex discrimination on women of color. Seeing human rights as indivisible, we are committed to identifying and fighting against those barriers to equality and justice that are imposed by racism. A leader in the struggle for civil rights since its inception in 1966, NOW is committed to diversifying our movement, and we continue to fight for equal opportunities for women of color in all areas including employment, education, and reproductive rights. NOW’s Combatting Racism Committee is working to encourage growth at all levels within NOW of multiracial task forces to combat racism.
Watch the video below to understand why.
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Racial Justice Summits
If you’d like to watch past RJS events, please click here.
Blog
NOW’s Racial Justice Summit Embodies Activism
On Feb. 12, 2020, NOW hosted our Racial Justice Summit and Congressional Briefing, bringing together members of Congress, scholars, authors, and activists. The day-long event facilitated some of the most thought-provoking and intersectional conversatio Read more...Growing up Bilingual
By Roxanna Gutierrez, President’s Office Intern Today I was remembering some of my childhood memories from elementary school; specifically, I remembered how embarrassed I used to get when I would mispronounce a word in English. First, I would blush and Read more...Whitewashed Out: “Ghost in the Shell” and Hollywood’s Problem with Whitewashing Asian Characters
By Andrea Rose, Field Organizing Intern To my disappointment, but not to my surprise, another white actress is playing an Asian character in a major Hollywood film. In April of this year, we got our first glimpse of Scarlett Johansson in costume for th Read more...News
NOW Commemorates Black Feminist Trailblazers This Black History Month
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This Black History Month, NOW is excited to engage our grassroots in efforts that will move the country forward on racial justice issues. With a new administration in place, we know we must prioritize making progress towards ending p Read more … Read more...Socks, step-kids and Sotomayor: An inauguration that breaks barriers is only fitting for Kamala Harris
Being “first” means @KamalaHarris has an opportunity to give other women a seat at the table. More from @ChrisFNunes in @Independent on how our new VP is proving you don’t have to follow outdated norms of what a woman’s role is. Read more...NOW Calls for Donald Trump’s Impeachment and Conviction
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump must be impeached now, and for the sake of history. He must stand in judgment before the Congress he defiled, desecrated and made into a target for insurrectionists who answered his call to be “wild” and stop the certi Read more … Read more...NOW Demands Equitable Treatment from Our Justice System
Charge Violent Perpetrators as Domestic Terrorists & Institute a National Day of Apology for Peaceful Protestors Who Were Excessively Policed in the Past WASHINGTON, D.C. – Make no mistake. What we witnessed taking place in our Capitol yesterday Read more … Read more...Resources
A Million Thanks to Organizers and Marchers – Women Made History!
Printable PDF A Million Thanks to Organizers and Marchers – Women Made History! January 24, 2017 NOW activists are still thrilled and energized by the overwhelming turnout – not only for the Women’s March on Washington – but the impressive marches that Read more …
ISSUE ADVISORY: Voter Suppression on Steroids for 2016 Elections
Mary Lou Miller was 7 years old when the 19th Amendment was passed. She made a promise to herself to take full advantage of her right to vote, and vote she did, from 1934 onward. Yet just last year, Miller, now 101 years old, was denied the right to vote because she lacked a government issued ID, a requirement under Texas’s new voting laws.
Issue Advisory: Restoring Democracy – Court Ruling Approves Independent Commissions to Counter Gerrymandering
In 1989, NOW members at the National NOW Conference adopted a resolution calling for “direct and equal representation for women in elected office and at all levels of government.” It reminded readers at the time that only five percent of the members of Congress and 17 percent of members of state legislatures were women. The resolution resolved that the goal of equal representation for women can only be accomplished by “pursuing legal strategies which challenge reapportionment plans for gender and racial bias” and “requiring redistricting guidelines that make gender balance and increasing representation of women a priority.”
Issue Advisory – A Look Ahead: Important Upcoming Supreme Court Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider a number of high profile cases this term – cases that cover a broad swath of American life, from access to reproductive health care, to affirmative action, public sector unions, voting rights, and (again) contraceptive insurance coverage exceptions under of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).