Emmett Till was murdered 68 years ago. At only 14 years old, he was kidnapped, brutally tortured, lynched and killed during a racially-motivated hate crime that ultimately helped launch the modern day civil rights movement. The past is not past​. The specter of this devastating crime remains ever-present through modern day racially motivated murders. The burdens borne by families such as Emmett's (Thelma Wright Edwards and Deborah Watts), George Floyd’s (Philonise and LaTonya Floyd) Ahmaud Arbery’s (Wanda Cooper Jones and Marcus Arbery Sr.), Trayvon Martin’s (Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin), Jordan Davis’ (Lucy McBath and Ron Davis), Eric Garner’s (Gwen Carr), Breonna Taylor’s (Tamika Palmer) and many others force them to speak up loudly, demand justice and take action when others won’t. Family members of Emmett Till urgently need your help​. ​Emmett’s case remains open and active​, appearing on the Department of Justice Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes cold case list. The case was reactivated in 2017 when the ​only known accomplice, Carolyn Bryant Donham - who is still alive and now well into her 80s ​- appeared to admit to an author of a book about Emmett Till and his case, that she lied to her husband, and during Emmett’s murder trial, by falsely claiming that Emmett made sexual advances and physically touched her. Carolyn Bryant Donham’s false claim and involvement are the actions that began the tragic chain of events leading to Emmett’s murder. Thank you for your support to help bring truth, justice, accountability and closure to the Emmett Till murder case. Amplify your impact on behalf the Emmett Till case: ● Tweet the President Biden @POTUS and Vice President Kamala Harris @VP demand #JusticeForEmmettTill ● Tweet DOJ and US Attorney General Merrick Garland @TheJusticeDept and demand #JusticeForEmmettTill ● Tweet and call Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch @lynnfitchag; 601.359.3680 demand #JusticeForEmmettTill ● Email and call District Attorney for the Fourth Circuit Court District of Mississippi, W. Dewayne Richardson [email protected]; 662.378.2105 demand #JusticeForEmmettTill Check out our website: https://emmetttilllegacyfoundation.com/ and follow us on Instagram @emmetttilllegacyfoundation Twitter @emmetttill Facebook Emmett Till Legacy Foundation to get updates on our work and journey towards #JusticeForEmmettTill!

Federal officers in camouflage and tactical gear filled Portland streets with tear gas, shot at protesters, and used unmarked vehicles to arrest and detain protesters. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon calls it “flat-out unconstitutional” that protesters in Portland are being “shot in the head, swept away in unmarked cars, and repeatedly tear-gassed by uninvited and unwelcome federal agents.” Federal authorities have no right to police an American city against the wishes of local leaders. Sources: 1. “Feds Vowed to Quell Unrest in Portland. Local Leaders Are Telling Them to Leave.” The New York Times, July 17, 2020 https://act.moveon.org/go/141155?t=10&akid=268993%2E23524057%2EFCty61 2. "It was like being preyed upon’: Portland protesters say federal officers in unmarked vans are detaining them,” The Washington Post, July 17, 2020 https://act.moveon.org/go/141156?t=12&akid=268993%2E23524057%2EFCty61 3. “Tear gas, unmarked cars are used in protest arrests in Portland,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2020 https://act.moveon.org/go/141157?t=14&akid=268993%2E23524057%2EFCty61

John Lewis is the real American hero and patriot. Rename the bridge!

Today’s election results for New York's 16th district are a major victory for progressives across the country who demanded fundamental change in Congress. On the most consequential foreign policy issues—illegal wars, regime change, brutal sanctions, and bombs sales to dictatorships—the Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair has been on the wrong side. We are asking Congressman Joaquin Castro, currently HFAC Vice-Chair, to run for committee chair on a bold, progressive agenda to overhaul the status quo and make sure that the priorities of grassroots Democrats—peace, diplomacy, and human rights—are finally the priorities of the committee.

All over the United States we are witnessing the negative impact of Confederate monuments aimed at controlling the narrative of history and attempting to perpetuate notions of white supremacy. These monuments were originally installed to revise the history of the Confederacy as an honorable cause fostering false ideologies by a small group of wealthy donors. Although we do acknowledge they represent a piece of history, they are by no means an honest nor accurate depiction of everyones history. By removing the statues, we are making the public space a space for all people in the community to take pride. We are also making a statement that Black people are welcome and racism will not be perpetuated, nor tolerated in Savannah. Please sign this petition to remove and relocate the monument!

Atlanta must ensure the safety of its communities of color who are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to more residents who are considered “high risk” (specifically pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, asthma, and other respiratory challenges). With cases surging in Fulton County, including within the mayor’s own family, this lawsuit and emergency order are both rooted in partisanship and a lack of scientific reasoning. Atlanta is home to a vibrant college and working community—the governor’s weak stance will be the root cause of continuous death in Atlanta. This decision is not only ignoring the safety of the people of color who reside in Atlanta, but shows bias as he has not also sued other mayors mandating masks. Kemp must halt his biased actions against Keisha Lance Bottoms and do his job by supporting the mayor by ending his divisive and ineffective partisan policies NOW!

The NRSC has taken hundreds of thousands from Occidental/Anadarko Petroleum, the company responsible for the 2017 Firestone home explosion. The claim that Gov. John Hickenlooper did not levy a fine against Anadarko is false. An 18M fine was levied against Anadarko after a nearly three-year investigation into the tragedy initiated by Hickenlooper's administration. The NRSC is using donations from Occidental/Anadarko to finance an ad making false claims about the response to the Firestone home explosion over the objections of the survivor of the tragedy. This almost incomprehensible act of hypocrisy and malice toward the victims of negligence by the oil and gas industry cannot be allowed to stand. The NRSC must take this ad down and apologize to Erin Martinez.

While high tech companies and corporations are profiting upwards of millions to billions of dollars during the pandemic, CTCs are preparing for the upcoming academic year with furloughs, laying off faculty, and discontinuing tenure tracks. Our CTCs and their faculty, staff, and students deserve better, especially our students of color. While long term investments centering racial equity support our CTCs and students, austerity will only hurt them. Our CTCs have always been pillars of higher education in Washington state, but they are now even more important as our state faces the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. Currently, 1 in 7 Washington workers are unemployed. As more and more workers are being pushed into unemployment, we need both a strong workforce and support for our most vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. CTCs can be the key to recovery for both Washington’s economy and its communities. Investing in CTCs keeps CTC faculty and staff employed while providing the resources needed to train and retrain Washington’s students and workforce. We urge state Senators and Representatives to consider CTC budgets from an equity lens, especially as CTCs provide more accessible resources to Washington’s communities of color. 45% of Washington CTC students are also students of color, and COVID-19 has already had a disproportionate effect on people of color. Systemically racist forces such as redlining, racial housing segregation, and limited resources on reservations contribute to higher rates of infection in these communities. Budget cuts due to COVID-19 would only affect these communities even more negatively. Washington’s CTCs serve 60% of our students while only receiving 40% of the state funding for higher education. Our CTCs already receive less of a share of the state funding compared to private institutions. CTCs are not only an affordable source of education for communities of color as well as low income students, but they also provide the support they need through programs such as TRIO, diversity and multicultural programs, and academic and career counseling. We also know that when budgets are cut at CTCs, diversity programs are cut first. It’s already difficult to attend school, especially as a student of color, and these programs are vital resources for students to find a supportive community while in school. Budget cuts will lead to both the defunding of these resources vital to student success and an increase in tuition, making CTCs even more inaccessible at an especially critical time. Our students need investment now more than ever.

400 plus years of racial oppression. Black codes. Jim Crow laws. Texas’ convict leasing system. Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. Trayvon Martin. Philando Castile. Eric Garner. Pamela Turner. Michael Brown. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. No justice. No peace. All our words and images being cried-out in the streets worldwide among protestors, asking for an end to institutional systemic racism. Undeniably, racial disparates have existed for too long in the streets of Texas in the form of police brutality and misconduct. This has also led to, and amplified, disproportionate sentencing of black and brown minorities in the criminal justice system, and has caused Texas to lead the national race in mass incarceration. Adding insult to injury, many inmates have been inappropriately labelled “violent offenders,” when actually many were too young, and thus could potentially outgrow delinquent behavior. Tough-on-crime prosecutors, who often used illegal and deceitful tactics to obtain convictions, never gave them a viable chance. Instead the court’s mentality was overbearingly: “Lock them up, and throw away the key.” Right now, the barbarically outdated attitude is evident. Amid a pandemic, Texas officials have refused to grant “compassionate release” to any of its offenders in a coldhearted effort to unrelentingly warehouse offenders. Meanwhile, mothers and families are crying-out (to unsympathetic official ears) for the lives and welfare of their loved ones -who were sentenced to time, not a COVID-19 related death sentence. In these unprecedented times, the words “I CAN’T BREATHE” ring loud and true for the stifling oppression inmates and their families have yet to find relief from. Rightfully, they want-what we all should want – the removal of the institutional systemic “knee” from their loved ones’ necks. Afterall, the law should apply equally. Needless to say, there are plenty of good “people” in TDCJ that should have been permitted to return to society many years ago. It’s, therefore, high time to level the playing field, and open the political playbook to repeal and replace laws that have adversely and largely impacted black and brown minority communities. Inarguably, our elected, legislative officials can no longer be allowed to hold seats of passiveness or indifference amid these tumultuous times. Prison reform actions, which finely terminates mass incarceration, must began NOW!

Right now, many of the wrongdoings that frequently occur inside the TDCJ and the BPP are shrouded in a veil of secrecy. This lack of transparency enables and perpetuates a broken system – which allows incarcerated individuals and their families alike to suffer. Regrettably, behind this veil of secrecy, inmates are subjected to deadly heat, non-working fans, guards denying access to cool areas when inmates are in medical distress, broken or contaminated water systems, bogus or frivolous disciplinary cases, assaults, harassment and retaliation at the hands of guards, and various other forms of cruel and unusual punishment. In similar respects, families who seek solutions, as well as the humane treatment and safety of their loved ones, suffer through the families’ inability to go beyond the red tape to get answers. Likewise, their frustrations are not alleviated by confrontations with TDCJ officials unwilling to correct a bad situation or wrongdoing instigated by one of its own. Undeniably, this clearly spells out a dire need for an independent, external oversight agency. Without such an independent agency, we are basically asking TDCJ to police itself, and to do what it historically has never done, that is, be totally truthful about its internal misbehavior. Further, it continues to place inmates, families and society at the mercy of the two prominent and failing internal TDCJ processes – which are the Ombudsman’s office and the TDCJ grievance system. Moreover, while both systems are too deeply rooted and connected within TDCJ to truly be effective and unbiased, the Ombudsman does not and will not investigate whether procedures are followed or ignored. Then, amplifying this injury, neither the grievance system or the Ombudsman are vehicles for inmates or their families to address any parole related misapplications of law, discrepancies, or misdeeds. And, since the BPP and inmates’ parole files are also cloaked in layers of secrecy, it’s commonplace for inmates to receive parole denials (set-offs) stipulated in vague, bureaucratic boilerplate language – which leaves the actual reason an unknown mystery. Thus, there has clearly never been a more urgent time than now for legislators to force both the TDCJ and the BPP into transparency and accountability by creating an independent oversight.

We as Citizen should not have to stand by helplessly and watch another Citizen Beaten or Murdered right in front of US, just because the Murderer is wearing a police uniform.

For several weeks, the people of Chicago have stood resolute in the fight against systemic racism in policing. The implementation of this pilot program will contribute to racial injustice in law enforcement, by inspiring average citizens to operate as honorary ICE agents in our city's streets, utilizing racial profiling to target victims. Chicago demands an end to racialized policing, not an expansion incorporating private citizens. This petition is a demand for Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to stand by Chicago's immigrant communities, and prevent ICE from implementing the Citizens Academy pilot program in Chicago. Sources: ICE Press Release: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-offers-first-citizens-academy-public-learn-more-about-agencys-mission-chicago#wcm-survey-target-id Yahoo News Report: https://news.yahoo.com/ice-to-launch-citizens-academy-to-teach-civilians-about-targeted-arrests-172430342.html