In a recent op-ed for the Nation, Demos Senior Fellow Ian Haney López, author of Dog Whistle Politics, and I made the case that our pursuit of economic equality has been strategically undermined by racist dog whistles. For the past forty years, the right wing has had a winning strategy: sell the economic agenda of the 1% to working- and middle-class white voters through a hidden formula: Fear People of Color --> Hate Government --> Trust the Market and the 1% Tax cuts for the very rich, slashed social spending, corporations writing their own rules, unions on the ropes: All sold to the American people through a narrative of racial resentment. We can’t win against economic inequality without addressing the right’s best weapon against a unified 99%. Everything progressives want—debt-free college, universal health care, campaign finance rules, climate change solutions, workers’ rights—requires a belief in government and trust in each other. My pledge: Name and shame. I’ll call out coded racial terms that paint our fellow Americans as undeserving and that lower our aspirations for government: “illegal alien,” “makers and takers,” “people who want free stuff,” “welfare queen,” “entitlement mentality,” “the Food Stamp President”... and whatever they think of next. Racially integrate our movement. Today’s economic populist movement has to include all of us if it’s going to succeed. I’ll work to ensure that our rallies and meetings are racially & ethnically diverse, and knock on doors in neighborhoods that are different than mine. I’ll take solidarity actions with the Muslims, Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans who are currently experiencing waves of hate and derision. By doing so, I commit to creating a multiracial progressive movement that will fight simultaneously for racial and economic justice. For more information, read the Nation article I wrote with my colleague Ian Haney López, UC Berkeley Law Professor, Demos Senior Fellow and director of the Racial Politics Project at the Haas Institute. Ian literally wrote the book on Dog Whistle Politics (http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Whistle-Politics-Appeals-Reinvented/dp/019022925X). Find the Nation article here: http://www.thenation.com/article/how-populists-like-bernie-sanders-should-talk-about-racism/

"Go Donald! Bring it on, Donald, go ahead, keep going." — Les Moonves, Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation This isn't the cheerleading of a Donald Trump campaign operative. These are the words of one of the highest paid CEOs in the world, Les Moonves of the CBS Corporation. It's no secret that big media corporations have been making big money off the spectacle of this presidential election, but Les Moonves has gone far beyond that. In comments at a Morgan Stanley conference Les Moonves acknowledged that his cheerleading for Trump’s campaign "may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." Moonves, who is one of the highest paid CEOs in the world, didn't even say this with any sense of remorse, at one point saying , "the money's rolling in, this is fun." This just days after Donald Trump failed to immediately distance himself from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. It's the latest in a long line of Trump actions and statements that encourage violence against our communities, and have directly resulted in attacks and harassment against Latinos, immigrants, and people of color in at least 30 documented instances. CBS Corporation makes a lot of money off of publicly licensed television and radio waves. It should be not run by a CEO that delights in profiting off of what he himself acknowledges is bad for America. Sign and share this petition to tell the CBS board of directors that it's time for him to go.

Stop extremist political terrorism. I believe Dr. King would tell all of us: "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. There comes a time when silence is betrayal." We must protest or we are part of the problem. Silence is not an option. Like in the time of MLK with hatred against Blacks, many Trump rallies have led to students, youth, and people of color being violently attacked with encouragement by Donald Trump. St. Louis should not be a host to such brainwashing extremist political terrorism that is no different than that used by the extremist leaders who brainwash people to join ISIS. We must stop Donald Trump from adding fuel to the fire. Please cancel this event as it is going against the foundations of the United States of America and our fight against extremism in the world.

Trade unionists in Honduras have faced death threats and other forms of intimidation. Concern about the safety of trade unionists in Honduras is even more urgent following the assassination of Berta Cáceres, co-founder of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (Copinh), barely a week after she was threatened again. Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Hank Johnson are circulating a letter to Secretary of State Kerry, urging Kerry to press the Honduran government for urgent protection for Nelson Geovanni Nuñez Chavez, Technical Advisor for the Federation of Unions of Agro-Industrial Workers (FESTAGRO) and his colleague Tomás Membreño; urging Kerry to publicly and privately press the Honduran government to denounce attacks and threats against trade unionists; and urging Kerry to press the government of Honduras to promptly create a nationwide system of protection for labor, campesino, Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous activists, LGBTI and other human rights defenders. Ask your Representative to sign the Kaptur-Johnson letter for protection of trade unionists in Honduras by signing our petition.

If this bill passes, it will set a precedent that any state can protect those who wish to discriminate, so long as it is for religious reasons. Because it is impossible to prove whether a person's religious beliefs are "sincerely held", SB 180 would allow someone to refuse service to any person without repercussions.

The government's takeover of Zaman newspaper is the latest deeply troubling episode in the Turkish authorities’ ongoing onslaught on dissenting media, Amnesty International says. The week before, TV channel IMCTV was taken off air, silencing the only national news channel reporting a critical view of the situation in south-eastern Turkey, where round-the-clock curfews were imposed as armed clashes devastated entire towns. [1] Kurdish residents recently returned to the town of Cizre in south-eastern Turkey to find many of their homes obliterated by the government's military campaign to crush Kurdish rebels. [2] Some residents called the destruction a "second Kobani," referring to the Kurdish town in Syria that endured a brutal siege at the hands of ISIS. [3] Turkey's most prominent journalist compared it to Dresden in 1945. [4] The U.S. government characterizes Turkey as a close NATO ally, [5] so the U.S. government should use its influence to press the Turkish government to respect human rights. Urge your representatives in Congress to speak up about Turkish government abuses of human rights by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/03/turkey-fears-of-zaman-newspaper-takeover/ 2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/12181740/Cizre-Kurds-PKK-Turkey-military-rubble-offensive.html 3. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-rolls-back-curfew-kurdish-town-37327505 4. http://www.radikal.com.tr/yazarlar/cengiz-candar/dresden-1945ten-cizre-2016-adindaki-mezarliga-1521904/ 5. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/03/253948.htm#TURKEY

Because, why not at this point. - Bewildered Black America

UIC is home to working students, immigrant, and students of color to have access to higher education and graduate. The platform Donald Trump would announce at the UIC Pavilion is a direct attack on much of the UIC student body - from mass deportation to a ban on muslims to a refusal to denounce the KKK, not to mention regular insults to women. If UIC is a "minority serving institution" that comes with specific responsibility. And that doesn't include serving white supremacists or hosting events that put the student body at risk of altercations with attendees who have a history of violent attacks on people of color at his rallies. Trump is a danger and so are his events. UIC should not be host to them.

We are asking our local officials to have the jogging trail renamed immediately. The Park is named after Reuben Ingold, of the Los Angeles Investment Company. Ingold was a wealthy landowner that was responsible for the development of View Park. Ingold inserted racial restrictive covenants into the deeds to the land he sold View Park developers as a means to keep blacks from owning property in the View Park/Windsor Hills Area.

I've watched the secret service beat up a photographer and oust many peaceful people from rallies. If peaceful people need to be removed, it should be the candidate's people who do it, not an arm of the government for which the citizens pay.

Because it's time for our elected officials to listen to their constituents, instead of big money donors. We will remember who fought with us, and who ignored us, during the next election cycle.

The Washington Voting Rights Act is about ensuring that every vote that is cast in this state counts. And we know a vote truly counts when the community is reflected in those who hold office. This bill gives our local governments the flexibility, choice, and due process to ensure this fundamental measure of democracy is maintained. We have an opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the ability of people to elect a candidate that represents them by passing the Washington Voting Rights Act this year. The WVRA will allow us to implement a process where unfair election systems can be challenged and fixed without having to resort to a federal court case. We’ll efficiently and quickly replace inequitable systems with ones that are fair, we’ll elect more people who truly represent the community, and we’ll help our communities thrive. Democrats and Republicans may have differing views on many things, including civil rights law like this, but we all believe in the inherent right and power of the vote. After years of working on this critical bill, making significant compromises to ensure we can get votes from both sides of the aisle, the time has come to join together in doing what is right and passing the Washington Voting Rights Act immediately. A more equitable Washington is possible, but we must stand together and demand that our legislators take action. Pass the Washington Voting Rights Act of 2016.