The New York State Senate and Assembly just passed historic legislation that would guarantee 25,000 Black and immigrant airport workers access to quality healthcare with a modest wage supplement paid by their employers. Now it's up to Governor Cuomo to sign the bill into law. Essential airport workers of color across New York State have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic without access to quality, affordable healthcare. Structural health inequities have already allowed the COVID-19 pandemic to ravage Black and immigrant communities, including those where airport workers live. How could we ask essential workers to put their health on the line without the basic guarantee of quality healthcare? Airlines have all rushed to express “support” for Black Lives Matter. But behind the scenes, the airline industry has opposed this bill to provide health care for Black and immigrant airport workers—all while taking $30 billion in taxpayer dollars. We need our elected leaders to stand with Black workers over the airline industry. Help us send an urgent message to Governor Cuomo! Sign the Healthy Terminals Act today!

McCulloch failed to give the grand jury proper direction and overwhelmed them with redundant and misleading information. As a result the grand jurors did not reach a majority decision that probable cause existed to charge Darren Wilson. Probable cause is a reasonable suspicion supported by circumstances that the facts are probably true. Grand juries typically indict over 90% of the cases brought before them. The grand jury does not determine guilt or innocence just probable cause to move forward with criminal charges. A lawsuit was filed against McCulloch by one of the grand jurors detailing the differences in how this case was handled compared to other cases before the grand jury and exposing their experience on the grand jury in this case. McCulloch admitted to allowing witnesses he knew were NOT telling the truth to testify before the grand jury. McCulloch thought he could avoid accountability, he was wrong. On Tuesday, August 8, 2018 the voters of St. Louis County made their power known by electing reform advocate Wesley Bell. Wesley Bell cannot ignore the voters of St. Louis County who have sent a mandate - secure justice for Michael Brown now.

Help change an offensive name and help educate people with the name of the village that use to be there. Toibingna also spelled Toybipet was the prehistoric Kizh (keech) Village that once occupied the entire area of what was historically known as Rancho San Jose . Today the cities of Pomona ,La Verne and parts of Claremont now lie within the Old Rancho . By sharing this you can help heal and unite. Why Kizh- Toibingna ? Kizh( keech) are the indigenous people who historical were later given the name Gabrieleño and that occupied and still occupy the Los Angeles Basin . By putting Kizh in front, it helps spread the awareness of how they are still alive and thriving. Toibingna helps restore our ancestors honor, by acknowledging our past we can allow old wounds to heal. Toibingna Blvd

In the midst of great societal change, we as a community, are beginning to recognize the faults surrounding complacency alongside social and racial injustices. As we begin to open our eyes to the dark origins of white supremacy and minority oppression in America, it is important that we identify the catalysts behind this great suffering. Christopher Columbus represents genocide, slavery, and the destruction of the minority populace. We no longer honor these principles and as a community, wish to remove this symbol of injustice!

The renaming of Campbell Hall (which now houses the Academic Advancement Program which has, over the years, served thousands of students of color) would offer at least a small gesture of respect towards Carter and Huggins, two promising young Black activists cut down in their prime. They died while working toward a future for Black students on campus. Since their deaths and the university's continued deafening silence on the issue, UCLA has not widened the "circle of we" to include Black students. Today only 3.0% of UCLA students are Black. Of those, 65% of Black male students are athletes. Had Bunchy Carter and John Huggins lived and had the upheavals of the 60s and 70s yielded the kind of radical correction which they were fighting for, the University would be a very different place today. It is time to finally acknowledge these students and Say Their Names!

The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice is a call for us to transform our personal, institutional, and global thinking. We believe that culture moves before policy. We believe that culture endures beyond politics. We wrote this Call because our work in culture and arts is inextricably linked to larger social movements for change. We invite you to adopt and adapt this Call to your specific contexts to hold leaders, policy-makers, and institutions — and ourselves — responsible, accountable, and transparent in achieving equity and justice. In these unprecedented times, as justice movements converge, many of us have asked ourselves what the stakes are for the culture we want to advance. We concluded that we needed to change the conditions under which we artists and culture bearers labor and live. The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice points us toward new understandings of how we together can build a culture that is inclusive, sustainable, and leads us toward justice and freedom for all. We urge timetables that are immediate and demonstrate change that is not aspirational, but concrete, measurable and visible within 1-3 budget cycles. We offer this Call in the spirit of advancing accountability and collective responsibility, and urge you to activate these ideas within your work and our shared future. // El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial es una convocatoria para que transformemos nuestro modo de pensar personal, institucional y global. Creemos que la cultura cambia antes que la política. Creemos que la cultura perdura más allá de la política. Escribimos este llamado porque nuestro trabajo dentro de la cultura y las artes está inextricablemente entrelazado con los movimientos sociales para el cambio. Les invitamos a adoptar y adaptar este Llamado para sus contextos particulares para responsabilizar a líderes, creadores de políticas e instituciones, al igual que nosotres mismes, por lograr la equidad y la justicia de forma responsable y transparente. En estos tiempos sin precedentes, conforme convergen los movimientos por la justicia, muches de nosotres nos hemos preguntado qué está en juego para la cultura que queremos avanzar. Hemos concluido que tenemos que cambiar las condiciones bajo las cuales nosotres les artistas y portadores de cultura trabajamos y vivimos. El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial nos dirige hacia nuevos entendimientos sobre cómo, juntos, podemos crear una cultura que es inclusiva, sustentable y que nos lleva hacía la justicia y la liberación para todes. Exigimos cronogramas que son inmediatos y que demuestran un cambio que no es aspiracional y que, más bien, es concreto, medible y visible dentro de 1 a 3 ciclos presupuestarios. Ofrecemos este Llamado en aras de avanzar la transparencia y la responsabilidad colectiva y urgimos que activen estas ideas dentro de su trabajo y dentro de nuestro futuro compartido.

On July 20th, 2020, Bills A4369 & A4370 were reviewed by the NJ Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee at a "PUBLIC" hearing, not allowing individuals to provide testimony and not allowing people who had vested interest in these bills attend the hearing. The people of the Public, wanting to attend or testify at the hearing, had to enter their appearance 3 days prior to the hearing. The committee posted notice the morning of the hearing 7/20/20. The Assembly Law & Public Safety committee failed to properly notify the public in fair and timely way, as the Committees permit for all public hearings on Bills. As such, the Committee reported their biased decision, to pass the Bills A4369 & A4370, with amendments, agreed on before the hearing, referring them for second reading by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The amendments made and approved by the committee at the 7/20/20's hearing, abandon the need to review the unfair sentences given to offenders convicted of the egregious "Leader of a Drug Trafficking Network, 1st Degree" charge. A charge the NJ Police and Prosecutors abuse, at their discretion, to charge defendants in cases of their choosing, to steal favorably desired convictions for themselves. The State uses the statute interchangeably with the Conspiracy to Distribute, Manufacture, Possess CDS statutes, as both statute elements to prove are reasonably the same. PLEASE REFER TO LINK BELOW TO READ ABOUT CASES , THAT BOTH STATUTES ARE USED (You will find NJ Police Operations that show Defendants' roles of a Leader involving their criminal enterprise, possessing all leader characteristics, charged with 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree Distribution or Conspiracy of Distribution of Narcotics only) HIGHLIGHTING NEW JERSEY'S UTILIZATION OF THE PICK & CHOOSE TACTICS FOR LEADER OF DRUG TRAFFICKING NETWORK CHARGING OF DEFENDANTS. https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/pdfs/2017_DCJ_Annual_Report.pdf Under the statute, a drug-trafficking network need not have any specific configuration or chain of command. Rather, it is to be considered as an organization of persons who are collectively engaged in drug activities. A person is guilty for the conspiracy of drug activities with another person/persons if, purpose of promoting or facilitating its commission, agrees with, such other person/persons, that they, or one or more of them, will engage in conduct, constituting the crime or attempt to solicit to commit the crime; or Agrees to aid other person or persons in the planning or commission of the crime or of an attempt or solicitation, to commit the crime. A conspiracy to commit the crime of Distribution of Narcotics is a crime in itself separate and distinct. THESE STATUTES ARE SO IDENTICAL IN NATURE THAT THE PROSECUTION USES THEM INTERCHANGEABLY FOR THE SAME CRIME ACTS COMMITTED, COMMITTED BY DIFFERENT OFFENDERS. HOW IS THIS A FAIR SENTENCING MODEL? The Leader of a Drug Trafficking Network statute is still the only statute that prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence for a nonviolent drug charge, concerted by NJ's destructive and racially disparaged, Attorney General's Statewide Narcotics Action Plan of 1993. New Jersey in 2020, still remains at the national forefront in drug enforcement, having the highest incarceration rate of black people in the nation, while having the largest prison population in the world. To enforce NJ law with this same approach, violates the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of African Americans and slighted the due process owed to all citizens, by the NJ Justice System. IN 2007, NJ STATE POLICE DETECTIVE FREDRICK HUNTER AND DAG RUSSELL CURLEY CHARGED MY SONS' FATHER, Gary Maddox, WITH LEADER OF A DRUG TRAFFICKING NETWORK. THEY OFFERED HIM A PLEA OF 36 YEARS w 18 YEARS PAROLE ELIGIBILITY. A very long time for someone who was selling drugs for himself. Not in a team organized and financed by him, according to the Detective and DAG's imagination. Gary plead not guilty taking his chances of going to Trial. Consequentially, Det. Hunter and DAG Curley created the narrative of him as the organizer of his brothers' and nephew's drug dealing that benefited themselves solely, not Gary. They did violate the statute of the Conspiracy and the Distribution of Narcotics individually. They talked to one another and hung out often as young guys do, with locker room talk. The State used their close bond to portray a conspiracy of a drug enterprise and Gary the leader of it. He wasn't even in the possession of any drugs, money, etc. when he was arrested. Realistically he was a crap talking, small time dealer, who thought he was lucky when States's CI aggressively requested large quantities of narcotics. He is now serving LIFE w 30 year parole qualifier, being convicted of "Leader of Drug Trafficking Network". Never No Guns, No Weapons, No Violence. He's served almost 14 years now and has seen rapists, murderers, pedophiles and violent individuals come in after him and leave decades before he can leave due to the disproportionate sentencing supported by the State of New Jersey. The NJ State Legislature is trying to get away with this unfair sentencing, by leaving the "Leader of a Drug Trafficking Network" charge out of Bills A4369 & A4370. Prosecutors violate the Due Process Clause and their ethical responsibilities when they present an inconsistent factual theory for different cases with the exact same act being committed. Purporting to be, nothing more than the Legislature's intent in creating certain crimes and prescribing the penalties therefor, an identification of the targets at which unfair sentencing is aimed. The integrity of the judicial system commands that citizens can rest assure that prosecutors are seeking truth and justice; and that when they find truth and justice they cannot seek a different truth and a different justice from the first.

The word “Indian” is inextricably tied to these stereotypes in the minds of many people even today. It is an outdated term that must be tucked away in favor of a more proper term. The Tongva people inhabited the Pomona Valley before the Spaniards arrived, and thus, would be paying homage to the people group that once inhabited the land where the road now occupies. We live on a land which was taken by force and where the people were killed to make room for the cities we live in today. We believe it's time we give indigenous people the respect they've deserved for centuries. It's time to change Claremont

We are members of the Northeastern University (“NU”) and Fenway, Roxbury and Boston communities who are outraged at the continuing systemic violence against Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. We stand against the manner in which systemic racism, racial violence, and white supremacy is institutionalized at Northeastern University including through NU’s investment in and operation of a private police force. The fight against institutionalized racism requires that we divest from organizations and systems that harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. We must rebuild our institutions to engage in life-giving practices. In this vein, we support the #BlackatNU platform’s call to build sustainable alternatives to policing, to fund efforts to end systematic oppression of Black people, to terminate interagency agreements with public law enforcement agencies, and to demilitarize and disarm Northeastern University Police Department. Further, we endorse #BlackVoicesMatterNEU’s demands regarding financial support to retain students of the African diaspora, increasing access to health insurance and hiring Black health practitioners and therapists, observation of Black historical celebrations, diversity and cultural competency training, and recurring town hall meetings on anti-Black racism. Undoing racism inherent in the function of our institutions requires that we understand and confront the harms that our systems create. Accordingly, we seek transparency from the Northeastern University Police Department.

As the United States faces a reckoning over its enduring racial caste system, a critical new front for civil rights was opened against the original system of caste that has its origins in South Asia. In June, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing launched a lawsuit against the tech company Cisco for caste-based discrimination toward an Indian American engineer, John Doe, who claims he was harassed by two co-workers and faced retaliation after complaining to the company. This is not the first instance of caste discrimination in the U.S. and unfortunately won’t be the last. Equality Labs continues to receive first-hand responses from employees in tech, suggesting that the culture of discrimination against Dalits is prevalent and goes beyond the office to the caste networks in the institutions and communities where companies recruit. “One engineer reported to Equality Labs that her department supervisor discovered she was part of the Valmiki Dalit caste whose members, called “manual scavengers,” were often forced to clean up excrement. Her supervisor shared this with her team and they started ridiculing her, going so far as to asking her to clean up after team meetings. She left that workplace after she was sexually harassed by one of her supervisors, which she also believes was targeted towards her in connection to the pervasiveness of the culture of caste-based sexual violence against Dalit women in India.” (Washington Post, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, July 2020) “‘Higher’ caste Indians use the knowledge of a person’s caste to place him or her on the social hierarchy despite professional qualifications. I usually ignored these conversations,” another Dalit worker added. “If they knew I was Dalit, it could ruin my career.” (NYTimes, Yashica Dutt, July 2020) Why is this important? Like race and gender protections, caste protections would provide accountability for instances of caste discrimination, which are not limited to Silicon Valley. Our 2018 Caste in the US report shows that a staggering 67 percent of Dalits in the Indian diaspora admitted to facing caste-based harassment at the workplace.

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.

Black people have been living in the shadow of these confederates for far too long. It’s time to get over the Lost Cause and respect our Black Brothers and Sisters.