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Join racial justice organizations and labor unions on July 20th for the Strike for Black Lives—to demand racial, economic, health care, and environmental justice.
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Back to School or Back to Home Schooling?
The Department of Education and the White House are pressuring schools to open in the fall (despite providing little to no guidance for doing so safely) and threatening to withhold funding for states or districts who do not comply. Schools have become an integral part of the administration’s economic recovery plan as a means to alleviate the childcare crisis so parents can get back to work. Getting children back into the classrooms is essential to their development, but can’t happen at the cost of their safety and the safety of their teachers and support staff. While the pressure to reopen schools in the fall grows, so does the number of coronavirus cases, leaving school districts and states scrambling to keep up with a quickly changing situation. States will have to consider how to keep students, teachers, faculty, and support staff safe—through budget considerations, remote learning options, financial aid, school meals, testing and tracing, and more.
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November Could See a Patchwork of Election Protections
Many states adapted their elections to make voting safer in recent primaries but few have solidified those accommodations for the November general election when a second wave of COVID-19 is likely to hit. With lessons learned from primaries held amid the pandemic, state and local officials must act quickly to prevent a patchwork of election chaos come the fall. In a positive move, the Massachusetts legislature expanded their vote-by-mail program for November while Maryland’s governor is, unfortunately, scaling back theirs.
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Some States Step Up to Protect Farmworkers
Farm and food workers are a critical component to ensuring a safe and working food supply, yet they face incredibly tough working conditions. States like Washington and California have passed laws to protect farmworkers from extreme heat conditions, but others have yet to address this dangerous problem that will be exacerbated by climate change. Meanwhile, only eight states require employers to provide their farmworkers with PPE and put in place measures to protect them from COVID-19.
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Millions Lost Their Job—And Employer-Sponsored Health Care
As coronavirus cases surge across the U.S., many Americans risk getting the virus without health care. The economic downturn has caused businesses to lay off their workers, leaving millions without employer-based health insurance. Nearly 5.4 million people, disproportionately Black, are now out of work and have lost access to affordable health care. The newly unemployed will have to find alternative options, which are likely more expensive and provide less generous benefits. What’s worse, those getting additional unemployment benefits may have a harder time securing premium subsidies on the health insurance exchange. The extra $600 unemployment check is considered income by the exchange, which lowers the subsidies for people who need it the most.
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Historic Win for Tribal Nations
For the last two centuries, tribal nations have had to fight to maintain the basic rights granted to them by treaties with the U.S. federal government. And the fight against racist actions, interpretations of laws, and land grabs is far from over. But this month there was a glimmer of hope from the Supreme Court in the McGrit v. Oklahoma case, which ruled that about half the state is within a Native American reservation. While the ruling doesn’t give and take land from one entity to another, it gives the Muscogee Creek Nation jurisdiction in cases that happen on its land, and prevents the state from enforcing certain laws against members of the tribal nation. Most importantly, it honors treaties between tribal nations and the federal government and may set an important precedent for similar court cases about tribal nations in the future.
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Finding New Meaning in the Movement
The Supreme Court ruled against a restrictive abortion law in Louisiana this month, but the fight for reproductive justice is far from over. Activists new to the fight are looking for ways to connect to the movement during an administration whose actions require constant vigilance on a wide range of social justice issues. What is clear: the reproductive rights movement must be more intentional about including racial and socioeconomic disparities in the work, and state legislators can lead the way by passing policies to address those disparities.
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Access During and After the Pandemic
Amidst the backdrop of the pandemic, states have played a major role in protecting access to reproductive health. Despite closed or shortened legislative sessions, 550 bills in 44 states and D.C. found ways to expand access, particularly recognizing the disparate effects the coronavirus has on communities who face disproportionate barriers to reproductive health. Policy innovations like expanded telemedicine would, if made permanent, allow for better long-term access to reproductive health.
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