Ninian Edwards was a founding political leader and governor of Illinois in the 1800s. He was also a slave owner who actively encouraged the continuation of slavery in Illinois when the North West Ordinance of Illinois outlawed it. Edwards also participated and encouraged the removal and genocide of Native Americans in Illinois. In 2007, a statue of Edwards was erected and a plaza was named after him, right in downtown Edwardsville. Our downtown public spaces should celebrate our community's values and identity. The statue and plaza perpetuate negative messages about who is and is not welcome in our city, about who we revere and who we value. On November 17, 2020, the city took a first step by renaming the plaza. Edwardsville should demonstrate its commitment to equality and its opposition to racism by taking the next straightforward action - removing the statue. We believe this is the right action because of our history. We must learn about Edwards - who he was and what we did - but we should be doing so in a way that is appropriate for learning history, rather than revering him in the heart of our city. The statue can be rehomed to an educational/historical setting. Please join us as we work to achieve the following: 1) The removal of the statue of Ninian Edwards from the downtown Ninian Edwards Plaza. 2) The relocation of the statue to a museum or less public city space, to be displayed alongside information that describes the harmful historical actions of Ninian Edwards against Black Americans and Native Americans.

The current state flag bill prevents the Confederate battle flag from being used in the new state flag. On the eve that the bill was voted on, Senator Melanie Sojourner asked if the bill prevented all Confederate imagery and emblems from being used on the new state flag. Senator Briggs Hopson then stated that it did not. Senator Sojourner then mentioned that Georgia’s state flag is based on another flag from the Confederacy (the “Stars and Bars”). Details on the Flag Bill Process: The nine-member commission must adopt a new flag by September 14th. It will then be voted on by people in November of 2020. In the 2021 session, the lawmakers still must ratify a final flag design that voters vote on in the November election. If voters reject the design, the nine-member commission gets back to work, and voters would weigh in on another design in November 2021. On the nine-member commission, there will be at least one member from the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Economic Council.Contact your state representative, state senator, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, or the Mississippi Economic Council to express your views on what imagery the new flag should and shouldn’t include. Sources: Bill: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/history/HB/HB1796.xml Article: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/28/live-mississippi-lawmakers-take-up-state-flag-bill/3275024001/

The DAS extends police power to surveil nearly all New Yorkers 24/7. The system uses cameras, license plate readers, MTA trip data, and radiological sensors to create a real-time surveillance map of New York City. It also taps into private data feeds ranging from Wall Street banks’ security systems to private data brokers. Once the data is funneled into the DAS, it can be stored indefinitely. Even worse, NYC gets a sweet kickback commission from Microsoft any time another city or town buys the DAS technology. The DAS heightens the NYPD’s racist policing practice against BIPOC and immigrants. Not only can the DAS technology allow unconstitutional warrantless location tracking, it can also provide information for ICE to help deport people, too. We shouldn’t have to wait years for the Supreme Court to strike down the DAS. Microsoft should ditch it today. We’re calling on Microsoft to immediately end its partnership with the NYPD on the Domain Awareness System.

This is important because now is the time for change and monuments made to preserve nothing but white supremacy and its violent dominance over non-white culture from suppression to genocide need to be removed. The exploitation of Native American culture also needs to come to an end.

San Francisco's Prayer Book Cross is a symbol that continues to glorify white supremacy. It whitewashes the narrative of colonizers, slave traders, rapists, and looters. It must be removed immediately. The maintenance of this religious symbol in a public park is a governmental endorsement of religion, which is illegal.

As long-standing members of the Triangle and Richmond climbing communities, we have been dismayed by the lack of action taken both recently and historically to elevate Black voices and experiences, as well as other marginalized groups. There have been small actions taken by Triangle Rock Club; however, these steps have been nowhere near strong nor vocal enough to truly create an inclusive and diverse climbing community. We are demanding immediate steps to be taken by both organizations to radically alter service provisions so that they can better serve our community. We are requesting Triangle Rock Club to do the work to reflect on the privilege of rock climbing and how rock climbing has historically been an elitist sport centering white men climbing on Indigenous land. Events prior to developing this petition: Concerned climbers protested in front of Triangle Rock Club - RVA on June 21, 2020. We received no engagement from staff at the protest. We posted about our action on Instagram, and tagged both @trianglerockclub and @trianglerockclub_rva. The next day, we noticed that the tags on our posts have been removed. We received no comment, direct message, or any kind of response to our action. We are reaching out to TRC publicly and directly to explain our list of demands. On the morning of June 23, 2020, Triangle Rock Club uploaded a post on their Instagram accounts in response to the concerns of the climbing community. They stated, “Black Lives Matter” and committed to taking steps to align themselves with the BLM movement. The climbing community commented on the posts concerned with Andrew Kratz’s donations to Donald Trump under TRC. Teresa Baker, founder of the Outdoor CEO Pledge, commented and said that she just found out about the donations and that she would look into it. A few hours later, the post was deleted/archived, and a new post was posted that had the same wording but without the Outdoor CEO Pledge. All of the comments were consequently deleted /archived as well. We are seeking long lasting and sustainable changes from Triangle Rock Club to help elevate BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, and Disabled Climbers at all times.

Reddit has been called the home to "the most violently racist" content on the internet by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The popular social network has long been a haven for sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic content--and the company has done little to address it. In fact, Reddit's former CEO recently called out the company saying it "nurtures and monetizes white supremacy" and hate. Reddit has been linked to the alt-right, the manosphere, white nationalists, and other hate groups that promote violence and harass other users, particularly women, people of color and LGBTQ people. Reddit is home to appallingly racist forums dedicated to promoting violence and unspeakable slurs against Black people. Meanwhile, forums created as safe spaces for Black women and LGBTQ people have called on Reddit to protect them from being inundated with harassment and attacks, and the company hasn't done much to help. Reddit forums have also served as an organizing platform for extreme men's rights groups that promote violence against women, including the belief that women want to be raped. The reputations of U.S. Reddit users are so bad that Reddit Ireland resorted to shutting down its site entirely every night to stop racist posts coming from the U.S. Reddit has also been linked to deadly shootings and attacks. Reddit was used to organize the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va that killed activist Heather Heyer, and at least three recent mass killers in North America were inspired by Reddit chatrooms fostering misogyny and racism. In 2015, Reddit refused to ban "open racism and slurs," claiming it needed to allow people with so-called "different beliefs" to express themselves. But Reddit can't hide from this moment of national reckoning on systemic racism. Sign the petition supporting the demands made by more than 800 Reddit moderators representing Black, feminist, and LGBTQ Reddit forums and millions of Reddit users.

This is important because racism and discrimination should be eliminated and the only way to do that is to allow Americans to be equally represented by someone who can relate to their struggles and advocate change for the better. This is important because it will allow the opportunity for non whites to be in highest position in the government. It will break the repetitive cycle of a white male always being elected for President. It is importance because it will solidify change and give equality to black and brown Americans.

Dear Representative Raskin, As residents of Maryland’s 8th district, we call upon you to use your position on the House Judiciary Committee to take real and concrete steps to address the systemic violence and racism that plagues every level of our criminal justice system. While the legislation you’ve supported thus far is an excellent start, the reforms we’ve tried in the past have not ended the brutality. At the moment, there’s no reason for us to believe the reforms in the bills you’ve supported will end the racist brutality now. We have moved past the time for moderate, reactionary reforms. The momentum to fundamentally change the system is here, and we call upon you to support legislation that puts the following demands into action. End the transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments, and eliminate funding for programs that supply these weapons to police departments. Require disciplinary action for officers who prevent body/car/street cameras (any and all recording equipment) from filming, even unintentionally. Require footage from all police interactions to be automatically uploaded to publicly accessible platforms to which police departments do not have editorial access. Oppose additional federal funding for implicit bias training, de-escalation training, or “neighborhood watches” that cities may create to replace police departments. End qualified immunity and allow for suits to be brought retroactively against officers (including federal officials) who have violated civil rights in the past. The Bivens Act must allow for retroactive suits to be brought. End suspensions with pay for officers who commit acts of brutality. Create police involvement and brutality databases, aggregated by race, gender, sexuality, etc on a publicly accessible and easy to use online platform (where police involvement means all police encounters with the public, including non-arrests; all stop and frisks, all speeding tickets, etc). Require disciplinary action for police who do not report their interactions with civilians, even unintentionally. Institute stronger federal protections for police whistleblowers, including but not limited to personal security (if so desired) and pension/benefits protection. Demand that the proposed Law Enforcement Identification Act must be coupled with disciplinary action for any officers who break it, whether “unknowingly” or intentionally. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for us; it cannot be an excuse for them. Fully legalize marijuana, remove it from level 1 status, and allow NIH grants to go to marijuana research. Release all nonviolent drug offenders in federal prisons (including non-marijuana charges), particularly those convicted under mandatory minimums. Federally decriminalize sex work, repeal SESTA-FOSTA. Demilitarize and defund ICE. We know this list of demands presents a challenge, but these changes are necessary to end the violence perpetrated against black, brown and poor people in this country. Note: “Disciplinary action” may include, but is not be limited to: suspensions without pay, firings, loss of weapons/firearms, losing the right to own firearms, pay cuts, demotions, press releases that include the officer’s name, photo, and specifics about the actions of that officer to local (and potentially national) news outlets

This is important because the City Council took a sacred site away from the historic aboriginal Tribe of El Dorado County and gave it to the Sutter County Tribe just as the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors did in 2004. The Upper Broadway site belongs to the Wopumnes Tribe with over 150 years of history in El Dorado County. This is their sacred site that they have been protecting for over 100 years. On April 16, 2020 the City of Placerville bull-dozed the site without CEQA review and without warning. The City claims they gave notice in their 2018 MND but the site was obscured from the construction activities so there was no need for the Tribe to reveal the site. On June 23, 2020, item 12.1 on the City Agenda, the Placerville City Council, in an unprecedented act of insensitivity and amidst much support of the historic tribe, decided to ignore the Wopumnes request to allow them access to their sacred site to monitor study and construction activities. Instead the City Council decided to give the Wopumnes sacred site to the Sacramento-Verona Band (who arrived in El Dorado County in 1980, owns Redhawk Casino and calls themselves (SSBMI)). The City did exactly what the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors did in 2004... they gave the Wopumnes' sacred site away to the Sacramento-Verona Band, an out of town group from Sutter County. The Citizens of El Dorado County say "Not in my town. Placerville City Council, give the Wopumnes back their sacred site so they monitor construction and study activities, and bring in UC Davis to do the dig, Collect, Study and Care for the Wopumnes Tribe's artifacts.

Stanley watson was wrongfully convicted for a murder he didn't commit. He was only 17 years old at the time and he deserves a second chance, also a responsible opportunity for release...There were truly a miscarriage of justice, witnesses were threatened and harassed to testify against Mr. Watson. All we want is for the courts. The governor Stitt and the state of Oklahoma to realize they have a innocent man in prison and to release him without prejudice. For he has already served 20 years of his life.. We need and demand justice..

In the Kentucky primary election that occurred yesterday, several hundred voters were locked out of the KY Expo Center right at 6 pm, barring them from their right to vote. The only reason they were allowed inside is because both US Senate Democratic Nominees, Amy McGrath and Charles Booker, filed injunctions with the Jefferson County Circuit Court to open the doors and allow those waiting in line outside to vote. Charles Booker filed a second injunction to keep the polls open until 9 pm, and was denied. Kentucky's current election law states that polls are to be closed at 6 pm with the precinct election sheriff identifying the last person in line to be the last voter. This early closing time prevents many working people from getting to their polling place in time, especially if they work far from their home precinct. Restricting voting hours to end at 6 pm is voter disenfranchisement, aimed specifically at working-class citizens and people of color, who are more likely to be working in the service industries where there is little flexibility to leave one's shift to go vote. In the case of this last primary election, there was only ONE polling place for all of Jefferson County/city of Louisville -- where there are nearly 1 million residents. At 6 pm the traffic to get into the KY Expo Center was nearly an hour long. Voters were parking and running up to the doors to make it in time, only to find they had been locked out. With the coronavirus crisis continuing indefinitely into the future, we can only assume that our state and county will choose to have a singular polling place for the November general election. We MUST URGE our KY state officials, Governor Andy Beshear, Secretary of State Michael Adams, KY Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, and KY House of Representatives David Osborne to EXTEND voting hours to at least 7 pm, if not until 9 pm. That last hour is critial in expanding access for voters who cannot leave work in time to get to their polling place.