This is important because this will help show that Safeway loves their customers and they do not support racism.

According to NBC Washington: "Metro is considering providing separate trains for opposing groups when demonstrators come to Washington, D.C., for a 'Unite the Right' rally Aug. 12, the chairman of the transit agency's board said." I can't believe we need to state this, but DC residents REFUSE to accommodate the violent and repugnant white nationalists who want to bring their hate from Charlottesville (and around the country) to DC. White supremacists are not welcome here. Most importantly: We stand in solidarity with WMATA workers -- especially people of color -- in opposing this concept. The ATU Local 689's president said: "Local 689 is proud to provide transit to everyone for the many events we have in D.C... We draw the line at giving special accommodation to hate groups and hate speech, especially considering that the courts granted Metro the ability to deny ads on buses and trains that are ‘issue-oriented,’ we find it hypocritical for Mr. Wiedefeld to make these unprecedented special accommodations for a hate group."

Apple says, “The best way the world works is everybody in. Nobody out.” And Amazon says, “It’s not only that diversity and inclusion are good for our business. It’s more fundamental than that — it’s simply right.” But if they’re willing to move their headquarters to a state that makes a habit of discriminating against eligible Black voters, it’s clearly just a talking point. THE NCGA'S VOTER ID OBSESSION IS RACIST. Prior to 2013, North Carolina had been an example of expanding the freedom to vote. Black folks were gaining political power and increased in participation in successive election after elections. But then in 2013 as part of the "monster voter suppression law" passed by the NCGA, voter ID was required, which Black voters were least likely to have – and that's what they're trying to make part of the constitution now. That 2013 law also eliminated the first seven days of early voting - the exact period that it was used most by Black voters. It cut Sunday voting, a "souls to the polls" tradition used by Black churches to get folks to vote. It eliminated out-of-precinct voting, a rule that allowed working Black voters who couldn't get to their home precinct to at least vote in the same county. In 2014, the NC GOP even moved polling locations further away from Black neighborhoods! Making it harder for Black people to vote wasn't an accident, it was intentional. IT'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL. When a U.S. federal court struck down the voter ID law in 2016, it said: "If discriminatorily motivated, such laws are just as abhorrent, and just as unconstitutional, as laws that expressly discriminate on the basis of race...the General Assembly unconstitutionally enacted the photo ID requirement with racially discriminatory intent.” IT'S BAD BUSINESS. Apple and Amazon both articulate a belief that having a diverse set of perspectives on the team ultimately benefits their company’s ability to do business. If they are hoping to attract Black workers at their new HQs, they should pick a state that thinks their Black workforce deserves the right to vote. Millennials and Gen Z workers care about what their employers stand for and want to live in states that reflect the diversity and inclusion they value. THE BOTTOM LINE I want North Carolina to be a home for both of these wonderful companies, and in addition to taking this step, there are many ways both Amazon and Apple can show true commitment to our communities.* One way Amazon and Apple can demonstrate a real commitment to espoused values of diversity is by making it clear that they won’t move their headquarters to a state that is rapidly sliding backward on racial oppression and voting rights. In 2018, we need to demand that major companies stay on the right side of the law - and the right side of history. ABOUT WILLIAM MATTHEWS William Matthews was raised in Raleigh, NC. William is known around the world as a singer - songwriter and popular recording artist. William's passion is artistry and advocacy. He seamlessly blends music, cinematography and political messaging around themes like racism and climate change which have been highlighted by CNN & Yahoo. In his music, documentaries and podcast work on The Liturgists, William has interviewed prominent religious and thought leaders, songwriters, scientists and global political figures. You can check out his body of work at WilliamMatthewsMusic.com or follow him on Twitter at @WilliamMatt22. SOURCES https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/161468.P.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/voter-id-laws-supreme-court-north-carolina.html https://www.apple.com/diversity/ https://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-email-reaffirms-amazons-commitment-tolerance-diversity-trump-win/ https://www.fastcompany.com/3046358/millennials-have-a-different-definition-of-diversity-and-inclusion *https://medium.com/@acrecampaigns/amazons-racial-inequality-prime-fe6ba15fe2d5

Fascism and Nazism has to be stopped. Breitbart is the original "fake news" that promotes hate, lies, and divisiveness

Imagine you have worked tirelessly for the creation of a Mississippi Civil Rights Museum for decades and it's finally opening. Imagine you are being honored for your decades of civil rights work, an honor that is long overdue. Imagine that the governor has the audacity to suggest you sit onstage with a President who believes Nazi protesters are "very fine people." Imagine being forced to sit through his bungled speech full of lies and racist language. Close your eyes and picture Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer or Dr. Martin Luther King sitting on stage with Donald Trump. Can you imagine their innermost thoughts? Their level of gut twisting anguish? We can not allow this to happen. Inviting the President to the opening of Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is an insult and affront to those being honored. These heroes fought against hate and for justice and equity in our state. Their families and friends gave their lives in dedication to their belief in equality. Within the walls of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the heroes of a generation are being honored. Heroes who gave their all to further racial progress in Mississippi and our country at large. Fannie Lou Hamer, Hollis Watkins, Jimmie Travis, and many more were beaten and jailed. Many more, men like Vernon Dahmer, Medgar Evers, and Wharlest Jackson lost their lives. Hundreds of everyday people were a part of the historic work that lives on today. They deserve to be honored. The next generation must have a place to preserve this history. To invite a man like Donald Trump to speak, when these icons and forgotten everyday heroes are being honored can only be seen as a classic white supremacy power move akin to raising confederate statues in the city square after reconstruction. Allowing this President to overshadow those who fight for equity and justice screams "Yes, you can have this museum but men like us will always control things." Time and time again, Donald Trump has failed to respect and honor people of color, exhibiting a special disrespect for black people. His political career was built on disrespecting and insulting our first African American President, Barack Obama. From his tone deaf visit to the National African American History Museum to engaging in racist rhetoric while honoring Native American veterans he has repeatedly proven he can not be trusted in people of color centered spaces. Donald Trump demands the attention be on him, distracting from the sacred spaces he has the privilege of occupying. He is supported by many racist groups including the KKK, neo-nazis and white nationalists. All of which show up to support him when he makes appearances. They have no place here. Why would Mississippians want to encourage this bigotry by inviting this man to such a momentous occasion? President Trump's record on human rights, racial justice and equity should, most definitely, exclude him from being included in this opening. Donald Trump should not be who Mississippi wants to be. His ideas are vestiges of the past. He isn't representative of where those of us united for a better Mississippi want to go. Governor Phil Bryant needs to make this right and rescind the invitation he made to President Trump immediately.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/06/the-fbi-has-identified-a-new-domestic-terrorist-threat-and-its-black-identity-extremists/ In August of 2017, the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Division report entitled, “Black Identity Extremists Likely Motivated to Target Law Enforcement.”, obtained and released released by "Foreign Policy", stated: “The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence.” Incidents of “alleged police abuse” have “continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement”. This issue proliferates as racial tensions have increased and become more mainstream during the Trump Administration. This would be an optimal time for the President to utilize his platform and leadership to condone racism while utilizing the FBI to dismantle actual domestic terrorists and their racist and detrimental practices. Instead, efforts are spent deflecting the legitimate criticism of policing and labeling citizens exercising their 1st amendment right to protest as domestic terrorists- an organized faction that now pose threat to police officers. The Black Lives Matter movement is not a domestic terrorist movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a communist. But if we do not hold our government and its agencies accountable, history will repeat itself. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a history of implementing Draconian and often illegal and/or immoral practices within the black community. Similar to the use of COINTELPRO in the 1960's, the actions of black activists are criminalized and, consequently, the narrative focuses on isolated violent responses instead of the organized peaceful tact of official movements. With intrusive surveillance legislation such as CISPA and The Patriot Act, it is imperative for the black community to protect itself from political persecution by galvanizing lawmakers and applying political pressure on government agencies and officials.

Neville Pinto and Mayor John Cranley, We will not tolerate racism, hatred and violence on our campus! I can’t understand for the life of me why you would allow a person such as Richard Spencer to speak at the University of Cincinnati knowing his background and the destruction and death he caused with his rallies. You all keep bringing up this whole freedom of speech B.S., but not allowing him to book a facility is not denying him freedom of speech. He shouldn’t be allowed to book a facility at the University and use it to incite violence and hate! You have majority of the students and faculty saying they do not want him there, but yet you are still allowing this. What about the voices of those who make the University of Cincinnati what it is today? If it weren’t for those students you would not have the position you call “president”. I am a concerned parent and when I attended UC’s orientation I was assured that safety was top priority when it came to students and staff. But clearly this was a lie or a tactic in order to get your student population up or flat out just about money! I am absolutely sure that freedom of speech does not include the right to incite actions that would harm others, and if your lawyers didn’t know that, then you need to get new lawyers! I would like for the University of Cincinnati to change it’s decision and not allow Richard Spencer to book a facility to speak at the University. If you allow this man to speak, then you are aiding in the harassment of your students and staff along with placing everyone there in a hostile environment. You will be destroying the integrity of the school should you allow this event to take place! Keep in mind that Richard Spencer is taking full advantage of your lack of strength and unity you have with the school and all of its occupants! This is not about the freedom of speech that everyone has, but about inciting violence and hate by threats of fake lawsuits that you are buying into! Again no one is denying freedom of speech but you do not have to facilitate any speech! We all know Richard Spencers background, why would we want to host someone who want to cause a criminal disturbance? You have to know that violence is inevitable if you’re in preparation of extra safety and security measures! Do not facilitate Richard Spencer, stand by your University and choose love! Thank you Parents, Family, Friends, and Supporters

Right now, the challenges our communities face are many. Imprisonment is a big one. Corporations and their politician friends have made it their life’s work to enact policies that keep our families and communities in jails. Every time someone in our neighborhoods is locked up, someone at a corporation makes money. These corporations, like Florida-based GEO and CCA, operate in the dark, away from public view and work hard to keep it that way. Their lavish vacations and retirement funds depend on it. On top of that, most people aren’t aware of how the prison industry operates and thus feel powerless to change it. We want to change that. Dream Defenders is a small, young organization with limited resources in the face of a goliath, seasoned system of paper pushers with unlimited resources. The prison system is tearing up our families, communities, and future generations. According to Miami New Times writer Jerry Ianelli: "Investigative reporters Carol Marbin Miller and Audra D.S. Burch obtained stomach-churning video of Florida juvenile offenders fighting one another after being groomed as attack mobs by state guards. Scores of surveillance videos show groups of teenage boys sucker-punching, stomping, and beating up other kids, breaking noses, eye sockets, and a host of other bones in the process. The Herald uncovered tales of rape, molestation, children beaten to death, and a justice system that let almost every guard involved walk free without consequence. The list of nightmarish allegations in the series is too long to fully recount. The Herald noted cases where staffers set up fights and bet on them; instances where the DJJ hired guards who had formerly been caught having sex with inmates; other cases where guards showed a teen pornography and watched him ‘fondle himself’; raped a transgender inmate; had sex with a child detainee in a closet; and abused one female detainee by using her head as a ‘toilet plunger.’ One Broward County youth counselor was allegedly so brazen about having sex with teen inmates she became known as the ‘cradle robber.’ The 12 juvenile deaths the Herald noted seem due to state negligence." In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice condemning the state of juvenile detention in the country. A report of the National Institute of Justice, research arm of the Justice Department, added: “This ill-conceived and outmoded approach is a failure, with high costs and recidivism rates and institutional conditions that are often appalling… Every youth prison in the country should be closed, and replaced with a network of community-based programs and small facilities near the youths’ communities.” We agree. The Dream Defenders goal is to end the prison system's hold on our states’ policies, profits, priorities and people. We work in classrooms, communities and prisons to educate and organize to end this incredible threat to our lives. We can’t continue to watch this happening to the people in our communities, we have to act. If we can do this; if we can begin to break this massive machine by freeing our children from it's hold, then we can begin to collapse it in our lifetime. If we do not, we risk losing many more generations.

The work for the people is not getting done and its time for that to stop

Because it is wrong to perpetuate negative stereotypes of African Americans.

On Sunday, Mike Pence spent an estimated $200,000 American tax dollars to stage a fake protest against athletes who chose to #TakeTheKnee. He flew from Indianapolis to Las Vegas, where the city and state spent thousands providing him security--only to use the game as an opportunity to instigate hatred against Black football players exercising their first amendment rights. The cynicism of this publicity stunt is punctuated by Pence telling his media detail not to move because they wouldn't be staying at the game, his scheduled flight to California being set before he "protested" players kneeling, and Trump's tweet where he boasted of setting the entire thing up beforehand directing Mike Pence to walk out of the game. Feigning respect for the military and veterans as his cause, Pence spent thousands of our dollars on a cheap political stunt instead of directing that money towards services that would actually benefit the people who served and need help. This gross misuse of tax money to target Black players and Black protest falls into a long and deliberate pattern where the very money Black people pay in taxes is then used directly against them. Every dollar spent by Pence on this poorly thought out publicity stunt is one less dollar spent on improving schools, roads, and providing jobs. Every dollar spent on attacking Black protest is a dollar that could have been used to change our criminal justice system or voting system. If Mike Pence wants to demonstrate his love for veterans he would have written a check for the amount he's wasted grandstanding towards helping Black veterans as they return to the states. We will no longer allow public money, our money, Black money to be used to oppress Black people. Pence's trip to Indianapolis was a gross misuse of funds made worse so because the money was used for the express purpose of attacking the First Amendment rights of Black people. The House Oversight Committee should make Mike Pence return every cent to the people, or donate an equal amount towards helping Black veterans.

On Saturday, August 12th, white nationalists marched through Charlottesville, communities and the University of Virginia campus, rallying around a statue of the Confederacy and carrying torches evoking a history of violent racial terrorism. The next day in Charlottesville they killed in the name of their white supremacist symbols. Protesters were rammed by a car killing someone in a terrorist attack. These symbols were not chosen randomly. Confederate monuments have been erected and remain as a direct rebuke to the recognition of the full humanity of Black people. Confederate monuments were built and given places of honor in public space as gains in this recognition have been made and it is the commitment to the reversal of this recognition of humanity that draws white nationalists to these symbols. These symbols of white supremacy have always been memorials to the cause of slavery and the denial of humanity to Black people. Now they are being weaponized to rally white supremacists. We have the power to diffuse these modern-day lynch mobs by removing these statues altogether, instead of giving white supremacists a rally point. Confederate statues and named institutions are more than mere symbols of a heritage but instead, they are an assertion of the continued imposition of white supremacy and its current political power. Terrorists in Charlottesville understood this and were willing to kill in the name of this, we must be determined to persist in the face of this white supremacist terror. Removing all Confederate statues would be one step among many in sending the message that we are no longer honoring white supremacy at a societal level. We've already many communities take the step to address these monuments in cities like Tampa and New Orleans. Join with me today and pledge to work to remove all Confederate statues or names from our community.