We, Israeli and American citizens who care deeply about peace between Israelis and Palestinians, stand together in urging the government of Israel to abandon its plan of unilateral West Bank annexation, and to instead pursue negotiations with the Palestinian leadership to reach a conflict-ending peace accord. Annexation is antithetical to our shared values and our commitment to peace. The damage that annexation would inflict is not just a matter of values and vision. Annexation would severely hinder any prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, would jeopardize Israel’s relations with moderate Arab states, particularly with Jordan, further erode Israel’s international standing, and threaten the stability of the US-Israel relationship. Yes, Donald Trump supports annexation. And, yes, some Israeli politicians view his sharp diversion from policies followed by successive past US administrations – both Democratic and Republican – as an opportunity to take actions that would not previously have been possible. But this is an aberration. Trump will leave the White House, if not in months then in several years, and with him will vanish his short-sighted policies that compromise a peaceful future for Israel and Palestine. But the consequences of annexation will be long lasting, if not irreversible. Netanyahu recently stated that Palestinian residents of these unilaterally annexed areas will be considered “subjects” living in “enclaves” and not eligible for Israeli citizenship. What Netanyahu is describing has historical precedent and a name: apartheid. His plan means that two national-ethnic populations will live in the same area, under the sovereignty of an internationally recognized elected government, the government of Israel. One of these groups, Israeli settlers, will enjoy full civil rights, including the right to elect their government. The other population, Palestinian “subjects,” will be deprived of almost any civil right, disenfranchised, governed by a set of military occupation laws. This has been the de facto situation in the West Bank since Israel captured it in 1967. But it was, in theory and in law, a temporary arrangement. Now, Netanyahu and Trump are working ahead of the November presidential elections to turn this travesty into a permanent reality. In perpetuity. Without hope of ending the conflict. Without a horizon of peace and lasting security for Israel. And without a horizon of independence and statehood for Palestinians. Israelis, Americans, and concerned citizens worldwide should not sit idly by as two irresponsible leaders, wielding tremendous power but showing little regard for the future of Israel and its Palestinian neighbors, take measures the Israeli public itself is deeply divided on that would wreck Israeli democracy and condemn Palestinians to perpetual subjugation. A joint US-Israeli committee, armed with maps and aerial photos, is already working to chart the contours of the occupied land that Israel would call its own. But annexation is not a done deal. It can be avoided and, if not, must be reversed. We urge Prime Minister Netanyahu not to take a step that Israelis, their friends in America, and people around the world will regret for years to come. We urge President Trump to maintain the decades of bipartisan US policy that supports a two-state solution and a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hadar Susskind President and CEO Americans for Peace Now and Shaqued Morag Executive Director Shalom Achshav

To remove the symbols of the Confederacy which traumatizes people of color. The monuments of an evil leader who fought to continue to enslave African Americans and treat them less than human. This action will give empowerment of true equality to black folks. BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!

Facial recognition technology can't tell the difference between people of color, and that’s a huge problem. In the hands of law enforcement agencies, which are eager to get their hands on and use this technology, facial recognition has an alarming tendency to misidentify people with darker skin. In essence, facial recognition technology codifies racial profiling into advanced AI systems. Last week IBM made the correct and moral decision to abandon their facial recognition technology, but they weren't the only tech players in the game. Amazon announced a pitiful one-year moratorium on selling facial recognition, while Clearview AI, one the more aggressive pushers of facial recognition, continues their ties with alt right-wing extremists.

Stop using black faces in hoodies on ads for your services as it implies that drug addition is a BLACK problem. It is especially important in mostly white neighborhoods to NOT use these kinds of ads because it reinforces racist view unintentionally. At a minimum use both white and black faces in same ads so that it does not automatically cause people to think that the drug problem is a black problem. It reinforces stereotypes that we need to reverse in today's human societies.

The life-saving Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made a world of difference to LGBTQ Coloradans. The ACA has provided access to care and strengthened protections for millions of Americans, including transgender people and the broader LGBTQ community. Before the passage of the ACA, being transgender was considered a pre-existing condition, and LGBTQ folks could be charged more for the same service as non-LGBTQ adults. The ACA extended health insurance coverage to more than 600,000 Coloradans through the public health exchange and Medicaid expansion, eliminated pre-existing conditions and transgender-specific exclusions, established cost parity, clarified that spousal benefits must apply to same sex couples, and removed limits on annual and lifetime spending for people with chronic conditions. Colorado’s uninsured rate dropped significantly as a result of the ACA. A survey by One Colorado found that the uninsured rate for LGBTQ Coloradans was cut in half between 2011 and 2018. Insurers in the individual market could no longer drop, deny, or charge more for coverage because of a pre-existing condition. That’s particularly important for the nearly 2.4 million Coloradans living with a pre-existing health condition. An estimated 65% of LGBTQ adults have a pre-existing condition. Despite the successes of the ACA, it is still at risk— and we need our leaders, like Senator Cory Gardner, who has voted seven times in his career to repeal the ACA, to start defending it. Sign this petition and tell Senator Cory Gardner to protect the ACA for LGBTQ Coloradans.

American couples are not solely white. American families with only white children are not representative of reality....it’s about time to include the diversity we see in everyday American households reflected in these emojis. They are the only emojis where skin color cannot be chosen and this deserves to be changed.

Because as U.S. citizens we have a right to peaceful protests which can be seen in the wearing of our face masks. In a time of civil unrest, with thousands of people and hundreds of companies speaking out against the racial inequality imposed on African Americans, we as a people should be able to wear what ever kind of mask we so choose as long as it doesn’t go against someone’s religion, ethnic background, and doesn’t have obscene graphics or language.

It’s Important because a lot of us don’t know our history or what Juneteenth is about. I want this to educate my community because I didn’t really know what Juneteenth was about until I was an adult. I want my community to be celebrated because we built this country.

It's important to let the management of WFMU know that it is not ok to exploit it's volunteer DJs. We should be able to keep our show title and all content that we provided to the station, should we decide to leave. Please let me keep my name, Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

Our request to the City: As citizens of West Linn, we believe that our City should be a place where all people feel welcome to live, work, and visit. Michael Fesser and his community in North and Northeast Portland have expressed a genuine desire to have an open and honest dialogue with West Linn to build trust and relationships. The present circumstances provide a leadership opportunity to advance this goal, but the window of opportunity is closing. We believe it is important that this dialogue is spearheaded by the City leadership. Demonstrating a willingness to engage in conversation is the starting point for meaningful understanding and change. We strongly support engagement with Michael Fesser and his community, and we urge the City to take the following actions: 1) Invite Michael and community members to engage in an ongoing dialogue, with the first meeting by or before July 20th 2) Commit to active listening in order to build trust and understand the goals, aspirations, and barriers that impede connections between our communities. 3) Take the initiative in coordinating and hosting the conversations. We look forward to the City acting quickly on this opportunity to build bridges between our communities for a more inclusive and equitable future. We understand that there are other issues on the City leadership’s agenda, but we feel this dialogue should have a top priority on your list. The conversations we are advocating for are not dependent on the outcome of any ongoing investigations, the current City equity audit, the task force for proposing a police oversight body, or any other initiatives by the city. Rather, we have an opportunity to gain an understanding that will inform us and help with ongoing decision making. We invite you to join us in this effort to create an open and welcoming place for all to live, work, play, and engage with businesses.

Those of us with privilege must use our platforms to speak up and stand up for our black and brown siblings whose livelihoods are threatened by violent racism. This conversation desperately needs to happen everywhere -- including and especially in quiet, wealthy, predominantly white communities like Jamestown. We are fortunate to live in a kindhearted, close-knit island town, peaceful by design and by luck. But justice and peace depend on each other. Without true justice, there can be no true peace. And as long as black Americans continue to be systematically robbed of both, we must heed the moral obligation to disrupt our own uneasy peace and to speak out. This will require grappling with discomfort, fear, and shame. But the end result - justice - will be more than worth it. The commitments made here are deliberately broad, intended to herald the coming change we will pursue. Accordingly, Jamestown for Justice will follow up to support the development of a specific anti-racist agenda. By signing this statement, you call for Jamestown to come together as a unified front, not only against racism itself, but actively in pursuit of anti-racism. This is only the beginning. The road before us is long, and it will be challenging to navigate. But we are stronger as a unified community, and will be able to make more significant progress than any one of us could on our own. So let us be loud and clear as we say, as proud Jamestowners: Black Lives Matter.

FCPS claims that they have laid the groundwork as a county that prides themselves on fostering a safe education for students from all walk of life. However, they fail their students and faculty by not taking reports of racial discrimination seriously!