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Our Message to Legislators: A Call for Justice, Solidarity, and Action
There is no work more urgent than defending Black lives. We call for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, Ahmaud Arbery, Dreasjon Reed, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Rayshard Brooks, Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau, and so many others. As an organization that works to transform systems through liberatory public policy, we know anti-Black racism is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions and a lifetime commitment from each of us. We envision an equitable, resilient, healthy, and prosperous future for every person, and ending anti-Black racism and white supremacy is central to the world we are working to build. See here for our full message to our legislative network, as well as three separate messages: one to Black legislators, one to legislators of color who are not Black, and one to white legislators.
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A Historic Victory for LGBTQ+ Rights
This week’s Supreme Court ruling that gives the LGBTQ+ community workplace protections is long overdue. Before this ruling, only about half of states protected LGBTQ workers from being fired for being gay, bisexual or transgender. See state legislators react to the ruling here and a tweet chat SiX hosted with legislators here. While we celebrate this victory, we know more work is ahead. Progressive state legislators will continue to fight for LGBTQ rights beyond the workplace: in housing, health care, education, and more. Just last week, Riah Milton and Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells, two trans Black women, were killed in separate instances across the country. State legislators can and must do more to protect Black trans lives, those who face a disproportionate threat by living at the intersectionality of race, sexism, transphobia and more, and to advance the rights of all in the LGBTQ+ community.
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Voters Face Suppression Amidst Pandemic and Protests
Recent primaries have been deemed “unmitigated disasters” and “catastrophes” as voters, particularly voters of color, faced numerous hurdles to reach the polls this month. Between COVID curfews that forced voters to go home before casting their ballots, intimidation from law enforcement in communities of color amidst weeks of protests against police brutality, and voter suppression barely disguised as incompetency, these primaries were a clear warning of the challenges the country may face come November.
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Home is Here: DACA Victory
In another win for human rights this week, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to end legal protections for DACA recipients. Hundreds of thousands of Americans can continue to live and work in the United States because of this decision. DACA recipients who have played integral roles in building and contributing to their communities—paying taxes, working essential jobs like teachers and health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic and more—can rest easy this week knowing they are protected from being deported. The fight for immigrants' rights continues.
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The Urgency of Anti-Racist State Policy
Black workers face two pre-existing conditions that exacerbate the risk of contracting the coronavirus: economic inequality and racism, as outlined in this report from the Economic Policy Institute. Racial disparities that permeate everything from health care, employment and housing leave Black Americans more vulnerable to the virus and economic recession. The need for explicitly anti-racist state policies in public safety, budgeting, economic development, health care, housing, education, and more has never been clearer or more urgent. Federal and local eviction moratoriums are set to expire in the coming weeks and without further policy interventions, millions of Black and Latino families will be at risk of evictions and homelessness.
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Why We Protest
Massive numbers of people have taken to the street to protest police brutality and over 400 years of anti-Black racism in this country. In response to these protests, state legislatures and municipalities are starting to make needed changes. New York suspended the law that kept police records private. Colorado passed a sweeping package of police reform bills. And Minnesota, the home state of George Floyd, has taken up police accountability measures in the House. Other states and municipalities have banned the use of chokeholds, suspended contracts between police departments and schools, or banned “warrior-style” training. At the same time, support for a radically different vision of safe communities, as seen in calls to abolish and defund the police, continues to grow. Protests are planned across the country in honor of Juneteenth, which New York and Virginia recently deemed a state holiday.
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The Intersection of Reproductive Justice and the Movement for Black Lives
We all have the right to decide if, when, and how to have children and the right to raise those children in sustainable and safe communities. That's why freedom from police violence and freedom from racial violence are core components of supporting reproductive freedom. Watch the Defending Black Bodies: A Reproductive Justice Townhall to learn how reproductive justice and the Movement for Black Lives connects, and read the statement from Black reproductive justice advocates about the policy and cultural shifts that need to happen.
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From the Desks of Elected Officials
Calling for action and writing from personal experience, St. Louis Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green, Ohio State Representative and Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, and South Carolina State Senator Mia McLeod are bridging the divide between the reproductive justice movement and the fight for Black lives. Read why white protestors fighting for abortion rights need to show up for Black lives, why racism is a public health crisis, and how all lives can’t matter until Black lives matter.
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