From: Asian American Justice Center [mailto:lcampbell@advancingequality.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:03 AM
To: Schrader, Crystal [ICRC]
Subject: ERPA Action Alert for week of action
It is time to tell your member of congress that discrimination in any form is wrong. As part of the "Face the Truth" week of action, community members are raising their voices to say that not only are racial, religious and ethnic profiling inappropriate, but profiling is also bad policy and bad policing.
On Sept. 30th Rights Working Group is bringing your voices to Washington, D.C. with the release of "FACES OF RACIAL PROFILING: A Report from Communities Across America." On the one-year anniversary of the campaign, we are going back to Congress to echo the testimony from the field hearings on the degrading and humiliating effects of racial profiling. Together we can pass this legislation.
Let your congressional representative know that you want them to act now, and to cosponsor the End Racial Profiling Act of 2010.
Problem
Racial profiling affects people wherever they go-their homes and cars, the sidewalk, the airport, work, church and at the border.
Racial profiling is ineffective. Multiple studies have shown that when police focus on race they pay less attention to criminal behavior, reducing the "hit rate" in detecting contraband or uncovering crimes. Racial profiling alienates victims from their communities and causes them to lose trust and confidence in the people and institutions sworn to protect us. They are less likely to cooperate with criminal investigations or seek police protection when needed. This makes all of us less safe.
Solution
The End Racial Profiling Act was first introduced 2001 with strong bipartisan support. Unfortunately Sept. 11 slowed the bill's momentum. In the nine years since, the practice of racial profiling expanded and continues to alienate and plague our communities. The End Racial Profiling Act of 2010 was re-introduced with stronger protections July 16 by Reps. John Conyers and Jerrold Nadler as HR 5748.
E-mail your congressional members to cosponsor the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA). If passed, ERPA would:
--prohibit the use of profiling based on race, religion, ethnicity or national origin by any federal, state, local or Indian tribal law enforcement agency
give individuals recourse if they have been unfairly targeted by such practices
institute programs to eliminate racial profiling that would require training for law enforcement agents, data collection, and procedures for responding to complaints
--permit the U.S. attorney general to withhold grants from law enforcement agencies not complying with the law and allow him to provide grants to agencies that are attempting to develop and implement best practices to eliminate racial profiling
--mandate that the attorney general submit periodic reports to Congress on any discriminatory policing practices to ensure that the intent of the bill is being met
Existing state laws and federal law enforcement guidance provide inconsistent and insufficient solutions to resolve this pervasive, national problem. In many cases, poor state, local and federal policies and guidance encourage or even condone biased policing. The recent passage of SB 1070 in Arizona makes the need for a comprehensive, national commitment to eliminating racial profiling all the more pressing.
E-mail your congress representative today to co-sponsor ERPA (HR 5748).
For more information about the campaign to Face the Truth to Stop Racial Profiling visit www.rightsworkinggroup.org or e-mail pbenjamin@rightsworkinggroup.org.
Showing posts with label African Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African Americans. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Diversity Essay: Social Thoughts of American Civil Rights Organizer John R. (Salter) Hunter Gray
Editors' Comments
by Neal McLeod & Rob Nestor
Saskatchewan Indian Federated College
The Journal of Indigenous Thought continues in this issue to document the intellectual, philosophical, religious and narrative traditions of Indigenous people throughout the world. The current issue draws upon the insights of the work of several people, including Dr. Roy Wortman (Kenyon College), Christine Watson (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), Solomon Ratt (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), and Neal McLeod (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College). All of the pieces contained within this journal point to the dynamic nature of Indigenous intellectual/ narrative traditions, with a play between traditions and contemporary realities being demonstrated.
Dr. Wortman's pieces, "Telling Their Own Stories, Building Their Own Strength: Dr. Dave Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History" and " 'I Consider Myself a Real Red' : The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John (Salter) Hunter Gray" explore the work and lives of two prominent Native Americans. Wortman in the two pieces engages in a thoughtful dialogue with both Warren and Gray with neither being an "informant" or an "object of research." Rather, the words and thoughts of both are conveyed through the interviews which have been skillfully edited by Wortman. Furthermore, the interviews are placed within a larger interpretative framework with references to other contexts and situations which amplify the words and contributions of both Warren and Gray.
In the essay, " ' I Consider Myself a Real Red'," important points of contrast are drawn between the experience of Black Americans and the civil rights movement and the attempt of Native Americans to hold on to their identity in the wake of the pressures of assimilation: "Where Black Americans sought to become part of the broader United States society, American Indians sought to remain as much as possible apart from that sphere because of their historical and legal traditions based on treaties" (p. 7). The achievements of Gray demonstrate the challenges of trying to balance the need to maintain identity within the rubric of collective minority as well as the need to participate within the larger society. Perhaps, it is through ambiguity that emerges in this attempt to navigate various cultural and political frameworks, that Gray denounces essentialism. Instead, Gray holds that cultures are essentially an organic, fluid activity, but at the same need a real material/ physical grounding such as that found in Treaty rights (e.g. access to land base) and of the economic contexts that people find themselves in.
Roy Wortman and David Warren explore important issues of historiography within the context of Native American history in the paper "Telling Their Own Story, Building Their Own Strengths: Dr. David Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History." Given the rise of more writings about Native American history by Native American writers, the discussion of these issues is certainly timely. David Warren's contribution to the Native American history perhaps rests in seeing "oral traditions of a tribal group as a living source as a much as a document" (p. 6). Thus, instead of Native American culture and history existing only in the past as collections of relics waiting to be catalogued and preserved, Native American culture and history is rather a living process in a constant state of development. Like Gray, Warren is also suspicious of essentialistic cultural discourses, and urges historians to engage in multi-layered studies of collective historical experience.
"I Consider Myself a Real Red:" The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John R. (Salter) Hunter Gray by Roy T. Wortman, Department of History, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022 USA
Click here to read.
http://hunterbear.org/Red%20essay%20on%20Hunter%20Gray.htm
by Neal McLeod & Rob Nestor
Saskatchewan Indian Federated College
The Journal of Indigenous Thought continues in this issue to document the intellectual, philosophical, religious and narrative traditions of Indigenous people throughout the world. The current issue draws upon the insights of the work of several people, including Dr. Roy Wortman (Kenyon College), Christine Watson (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), Solomon Ratt (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), and Neal McLeod (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College). All of the pieces contained within this journal point to the dynamic nature of Indigenous intellectual/ narrative traditions, with a play between traditions and contemporary realities being demonstrated.
Dr. Wortman's pieces, "Telling Their Own Stories, Building Their Own Strength: Dr. Dave Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History" and " 'I Consider Myself a Real Red' : The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John (Salter) Hunter Gray" explore the work and lives of two prominent Native Americans. Wortman in the two pieces engages in a thoughtful dialogue with both Warren and Gray with neither being an "informant" or an "object of research." Rather, the words and thoughts of both are conveyed through the interviews which have been skillfully edited by Wortman. Furthermore, the interviews are placed within a larger interpretative framework with references to other contexts and situations which amplify the words and contributions of both Warren and Gray.
In the essay, " ' I Consider Myself a Real Red'," important points of contrast are drawn between the experience of Black Americans and the civil rights movement and the attempt of Native Americans to hold on to their identity in the wake of the pressures of assimilation: "Where Black Americans sought to become part of the broader United States society, American Indians sought to remain as much as possible apart from that sphere because of their historical and legal traditions based on treaties" (p. 7). The achievements of Gray demonstrate the challenges of trying to balance the need to maintain identity within the rubric of collective minority as well as the need to participate within the larger society. Perhaps, it is through ambiguity that emerges in this attempt to navigate various cultural and political frameworks, that Gray denounces essentialism. Instead, Gray holds that cultures are essentially an organic, fluid activity, but at the same need a real material/ physical grounding such as that found in Treaty rights (e.g. access to land base) and of the economic contexts that people find themselves in.
Roy Wortman and David Warren explore important issues of historiography within the context of Native American history in the paper "Telling Their Own Story, Building Their Own Strengths: Dr. David Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History." Given the rise of more writings about Native American history by Native American writers, the discussion of these issues is certainly timely. David Warren's contribution to the Native American history perhaps rests in seeing "oral traditions of a tribal group as a living source as a much as a document" (p. 6). Thus, instead of Native American culture and history existing only in the past as collections of relics waiting to be catalogued and preserved, Native American culture and history is rather a living process in a constant state of development. Like Gray, Warren is also suspicious of essentialistic cultural discourses, and urges historians to engage in multi-layered studies of collective historical experience.
"I Consider Myself a Real Red:" The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John R. (Salter) Hunter Gray by Roy T. Wortman, Department of History, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022 USA
Click here to read.
http://hunterbear.org/Red%20essay%20on%20Hunter%20Gray.htm
Monday, August 23, 2010
Minorities disproportionately discharged for 'don't ask, don't tell' violations, reports Washington Post
U.S. military officials threw out hundreds of service members in 2009 for violating its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, including a disproportionate number of women and minorities and dozens of service members in "mission critical" positions, according to a new analysis of military data.
According to a report just filed by Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post, the Pentagon honorably discharged 428 service members for violating the gay ban in 2009, according to statistics reviewed by the Palm Center, a nonpartisan University of California think tank studying the impact of gays in the military. O'Keefe reports this figure is down from 619 discharged for violating the policy in 2008:
"Women account for 14 percent of Army soldiers but made up 48 percent of the Army's "don't ask" discharges in 2009, the study said. Six percent of the Marine Corp is female, but women accounted for 23 percent of its discharges. Among officers, the Navy discharged only two for violating the policy in 2009, and both were Asian. The Army discharged five officers -- two were African American, one was Asian and two were white, the Palm Center said."
O'Keefe's story continues --
According to a report just filed by Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post, the Pentagon honorably discharged 428 service members for violating the gay ban in 2009, according to statistics reviewed by the Palm Center, a nonpartisan University of California think tank studying the impact of gays in the military. O'Keefe reports this figure is down from 619 discharged for violating the policy in 2008:
"Women account for 14 percent of Army soldiers but made up 48 percent of the Army's "don't ask" discharges in 2009, the study said. Six percent of the Marine Corp is female, but women accounted for 23 percent of its discharges. Among officers, the Navy discharged only two for violating the policy in 2009, and both were Asian. The Army discharged five officers -- two were African American, one was Asian and two were white, the Palm Center said."
O'Keefe's story continues --
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