It is upsetting to see an athlete being targeted on being anti-American for standing up for people of color in the mainstream media, while Donald Trump is not being questioned on all the awful, racist, anti-Semitic remarks that is seen on the news daily.

On September 6th and 7th, the anti-Muslim group ACT for America will host its annual conference, bringing right-wing activists from around the country to our nation’s capital to advance an agenda that targets Muslims and harms us all. ACT—a group that calls itself the “NRA of national security”—has once again invited elected leaders in Washington, D.C., and from around the country to speak at the conference and hear from its members. Last year, at least 15 members of Congress spoke at the national security briefing. But this year, unlike in the past, ACT is keeping the names of participating lawmakers secret to avoid scrutiny. What do they have to hide? While claiming to uphold civil liberties, including religious freedom, ACT for America’s leader has said that a “practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.” ACT is lobbying lawmakers to lead with fear. The group is calling for unwarranted surveillance, inhumane policies on immigration and refugee resettlement, biased law enforcement trainings, and unconstitutional opposition to mosque construction. We must not embrace this blatant anti-Muslim bias nor the policies that spring from it. If elected leaders do not denounce ACT’s dangerous rhetoric, they are not only implicitly endorsing anti-Muslim bigotry, but also a vision for this country that denies fairness and equality to us all. We cannot afford silence. Tell members of Congress and all elected leaders to reject ACT for America’s invitation to anti-Muslim hate.

I feel that allowing various groups to give a 3 minute inspirational message at the city council meetings would help my lovely city be more tolerant. Certainly allowing only the Baptists to give invocations is a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Last week, Donald Trump put out a call on his website for "election observers" to keep Hillary Clinton from "rigging" the election. This focus on trumped up spectres of election fraud as a tool for intimidating voters is nothing new for the Republican Party. During the 1970s and 1980s, after people of color in low-income neighborhood were harassed and intimidated at the polls, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was barred from a practice called “voter caging”—challenging voters’ eligibility to cast ballots at their voting site. And now, Trump's “election observers” could be the next wave of voter intimidation based on bogus charges of voter fraud. The Brennan Center’s ongoing examination of voter fraud claims have found that “voter fraud is very rare” and “voter impersonation is nearly non-existent.” What is not rare, however, is our country’s legal history of blocking people from voting. The Fifteenth Amendment and the Nineteenth Amendment—which gave people of color and women the rights to vote, respectively—were ratified after years of campaigning, organizing, and sacrifice. Jim Crow laws kept Black Americans from voting until the civil rights movement fought for and secured the passage of the Voting Rights Action, signed into law in 1965. We cannot allow Trump supporters to harass voters—our country has come too far to be pulled backward.

How can we build community trust and confidence when we have public safety officers with this mindset?

Facebook just took away one of the most important tools we have to help hold police accountable – social media. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, at the request of police, deactivated the social media accounts of Korryn Gaines, a 23-year old Black woman shot to death by Baltimore County police last Monday. She was broadcasting the standoff on Facebook that led to police shooting her 5-year-old son and killing her. Social media and shareable videos have been crucial not just for raising awareness about the injustices Black folks like Korryn and her son face every day from police, but in allowing us to control our own stories and narratives. Without access to social media, the police control the narrative. And when police control that narrative we’re always portrayed as people who deserved to die. This is a dangerous precedent. To keep our message from getting out, police are going to keep taking our social media out. Demand Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stop censoring users at the request of the police.

The American voter should be able to hear from all viable candidates. DNC and GOP committees need to change their rules to allow this to happen.

BLACK LIVES MATTER in Cuyahoga County is starting this petition because our nation will never become safe and just as long as police officers are allowed to operate ABOVE THE LAW. Police officers need to FOLLOW THE LAW in order to create a safer environment for everyone. Officer Michael Brelo's behavior -- standing on the hood of a car as he and dozens of other police officers fired 137 shots into the bodies of two innocent, unarmed African-Americans -- raises two suspicions: 1) Officer Brelo was likely hyped up on drugs during these tragic murders. 2) Officer Brelo knew that the political power of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association gave the officers involved the green light to murder two innocent, unarmed minorities in broad daylight -- even if the killings had been captured on videotape.

USAToday reported: Michelle Obama delivered a powerful speech during the Democratic National Convention on Monday, as the first lady shed light on the historical significance of her family's eight years at the White House as its first African-American family. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," Mrs. Obama said in her keynote address. "I watch my daughters — two beautiful, intelligent, black young women — playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." As it turned out, one person was not entirely amused and went so far as to "fact check" the first lady's comments. FOX News personality and political lightning rod Bill O'Reilly defended the working conditions slaves faced while building the White House by offering the following explanation during The O'Reilly Factor on Tuesday: "Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well. Got it all? There will be a quiz." How dare O'Reilly defend the practice of slavery!? He must be fired and/or resign for saying something so ignorant.

After receiving calls from individuals who said that they would be “uncomfortable” voting at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR), and others who expressed plans to impede voting by calling in bomb threats to the center on Election Day, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher stripped the ICBR of its status as a poll site. Rather than report the threats or stand strong against bigotry, Susan Bucher instead caved to these anti-Muslim groups and individuals and denied the ICBR community the ability to participate in the most basic function of democracy--the casting of ballots. There are about 80 churches and five synagogues assigned as polling stations in Palm Beach County, but the ICBR is the sole house of worship whose status as a poll site has been revoked. Bigotry should not be codified in policy, and no one should be denied the right to participate in our democracy at any level because of their religion. Susan Bucher must immediately reverse her decision and restore the ICBR's status as a poll site.

The May 5, 2016 email exchange between Amy Darcey and Brad Marshall indicated desire to exploit and encourage discrimination and hatred of atheists. Our Constitution is inclusive of people of all beliefs and the DNC platform should explicitly state that atheists and people holding religious beliefs are entitled to equal respect.

Charles Kinsey, a mental health worker, was shot in the leg while helping an autistic patient who had wandered away from the medical facility where Kinsey works. At the time he was shot, Kinsey was lying on his back, hands in the air, trying to explain to the responding police officer that he and his patient were both unarmed. When Charles asked the officer why he shot him, the officer responded, "I don't know." The department just suspended Commander Emile Hollant—the officer who radioed in the misinformation that the patient was loading a gun and later lied about it—without pay. Suspending these officers is not enough—neither of these officers should be able to put on a uniform again. However, Florida police union contracts and lobbying have made it almost impossible for police officers to be held accountable. Police violence against Black men and women in our country is an epidemic—the number of Black men and women killed by police each year is staggering. At least 138 Black people have been killed by police already this year. Having police who are unable to make quick judgment calls that de-escalate police encounters is no longer acceptable. Our social media feeds and media headlines are filled with horrific stories of police responding with aggression, violence, and domination, instead of engaging in conversation or using de-escalation strategies when interacting with Black men and women. Police officers who jump to violence must be held accountable and removed from the police force. Failing to do so continues the dangerous tradition of allowing police to act without consequence for the pain and suffering they inflict on Black men and women.