The Biden-Harris administration should be commended for its early focus on climate change, tribal sovereignty, and racial justice and equity, including its decision to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and nominate Rep. Deb Haaland to become Interior Secretary. We, the undersigned, respectfully urge President Biden and Vice President harris to reverse another harmful Trump Administration decision and immediately shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) during its court-ordered environmental review. When Trump took office four years ago, he stopped the environmental review of the pipeline and fast-tracked it, disregarding serious environmental risks and trampling over Native American treaty rights & tribal consultation. In March 2020, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and several other tribes that DAPL is operating without the proper permits and necessary environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. In July, the Court ordered the pipeline shut down pending the environmental review. On January 27th this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals confirmed that the pipeline is operating illegally and gave the Biden-Harris Administration the authority to shut it down, and is asking the Biden-Harris Administration whether they intend to shut it down or allow it to operate illegally without a permit. We urge President Biden and Vice President harris to remedy this historic injustice and direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately shut down the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline while the Environmental Impact Statement process is conducted, consistent with the D.C. District Court’s decision and order. Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps must ensure a robust environmental review with significant tribal consultation, tribal consent, and a thorough risk analysis. With real leadership, we have a momentous opportunity to protect our water and respect our environmental laws and the rights of Indigenous people. This is our moment. Mni Wiconi. Water is life.

- Immigrants are vital to the State of Utah. Approximately 106,279 undocumented immigrants live in Utah, comprising around 40% of Utah’s immigrant population. / Los inmigrantes son vitales para Utah. Aproximadamente 106,279 inmigrantes indocumentados viven en Utah, lo que equivale al 40% de la población migrante de Utah. - 140,517 people in Utah, including 71,207 US citizens, lived with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014./ 140,517 personas en Utah, incluyendo 71,207 ciudadanos americanos vivieron con por lo menos una persona indocumentada del 2010 al 2014. - $81.4 million from Utah undocumented immigrants’ income went to state and local taxes and $129.5 million went to federal taxes in 2018. / Inmigrantes indocumentados contribuyeron $81.4 millones en impuestos estatales y locales y $129.5 millones en impuestos contribuyeron al gobierno federal en el 2018. Please sign our petition to tell your Utah representative and Senators that separating families is not what Utah stands for and that we want a pathway to citizenship for ALL undocumented Utahns. / Por favor firma nuestra petición para decirle a todos nuestros representantes y Senadores que Utah no está de acuerdo con la separación de familias y que queremos un camino a la ciudadanía para TODA nuestra comunidad indocumentada. Comunidades Unidas is a 501c3 non-profit and nonpartisan organization focused on empowering Utah's Latinx to recognize and achieve their own potential and be a positive force for change in the larger community. To learn more about Comunidades Unidas please visit our website www.cuutah.org and follow our Instagram @comunidadesunidas and Facebook linked below./ Comunidades Unidas es una organización 501c3 sin fines de lucro y no partidista enfocada en empoderar a la comunidad Latinx de Utah para que reconozca y desarrolle su potencial y sea una fuerza positiva para el cambio en su comunidad. Para aprender más sobre Comunidades Unidas por favor visita nuestra pagina www.cuutah.org y síguenos en nuestro Instagram @comunidadesunidas y en el link de Facebook abajo. Sources / Fuentes de información: http://research.newamericaneconomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nae-ut-report.pdf & https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-utah

CPC's systematic use of scare tactics and misinformation will continue to jeopardize womens' safety if nothing is done. Sign this petition to preventing CPC's from receiving taxpayer funding. The state of Kansas currently uses YOUR tax dollars to fund CPC's that use lies and medical misinformation to keep women from obtaining safe abortion care. WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW: - Sign this petition - Contact your representatives directly and urge them to make a stand about this issue - If you are aware that a clinic is fake, write an appeal to google to remove it from the search for "abortion clinics" and spread the word about it through social media or local signage - Share this petition on social media

Ronald Weiser has referred to majority elected Women Officials (Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General, Dana Nessel) as "Witches" and has called for their assassination and for them to be "burned at the stake". There is no place for this language or behavior by a person in his position of trust.

The removal of the name J. Edgar Hoover from the Federal Bureau of Investigations building in Washington DC. Each and every FBI official employed past and present swore an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic”. It has been made clear throughout the years through declassified released FBI records and the Freedom of Information Act that under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover have displayed the exact opposite of defending the US Constitution and have proven that Director Hoover was a “Domestic Enemy of the Constitution”. In this time of raising the concerns of social justice for Black people, the US government and election officials would look "performative" if THIS specific person is not shifted from his prominence in government based on the legacy of racism he instituted in the FBI policies and procedures. A few examples: -Hoover's first "Black Messiah" was Marcus Garvey. During that time, Marcus Garvey built an organization of Black people across the African diaspora in many countries to band together by educating each other in building wealth and political engagement. Garvey's UNIA organization also put together a still-relevant Black Agenda called the Declaration of the Negro Peoples of the World during the 1920 convention held at Madison Garden in from of 25,000 Black people. Hoover took down Garvey's operation by placing infiltrators including those specifically to discredit his movement. -Possible involvement of the unlawful assassination of Malcom X in 1965 -The threats on the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through tapes sent to his wife and other tactics to suppress MLK's actions during the civil rights movement -Definite involvement of the assassination of Fred Hampton in 1969 -Refusal of active investigations in the murders of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman into hate crimes in Mississippi 1963 -Violating 1st amendment rights of people of color from WWI through the civil rights movements by unlawful surveillance tactics by the FBI -Harassment of Black celebrities such as Billie Holiday, Paul Roberson, and Langston Hughes -Doctored letters among Black organizations to start conflict including the result of a shoot out between the US Organization led by the founder of Kwanzaa Dr. Karenga and the California BPP which occurred strictly due to planted letters by the FBI found in 2007 -Intimidation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker to allow for segregation in voting to be discontinued. There are other examples. By removing J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the FBI HQ building, our nation can acknowledge the wrongs it has perpetuated due to his leadership. . Healing begins when we stop heralding racists who victimized and disenfranchised innocent freedom fighters resulting in disgrace and even death of Black leaders. This begins with the removal of J. Edgar Hoover's name to the building in an effort to dismantle an unfair legacy rooted in racism at the Bureau.

As we continue to grapple with a pandemic, we must not forget our ongoing gun violence epidemic — and we must treat it like the national security priority it is. With so many factors fueling it, we know it’s not going to be solved overnight. BUT Congress could act NOW to mitigate the extent of mass shooting injuries and deaths. One place to start is by finally passing a federal ban on all assault weapons. With your help, we can make sure Congress hears us loud and clear when we say weapons of war do not belong in our streets. Together, we can push Congress to do their job — that means representing AND and protecting us with legislation that will ban assault weapons from our streets.

Despite being elected to move away from Trump policies of the past, despite a clear reckoning on our priorities in the wake of COVID, and despite the fact that budgets are moral documents, President Biden is likely to propose a $740 BILLION budget that would keep Pentagon spending at Trump-era levels. Disappointed doesn’t begin to cut it. We’re furious. A growing chorus in Congress is too. But while Congress, not the White House, is ultimately in control of the purse strings, progressive champions can’t stop this budget on their own. That’s why we need to turn the pressure up even higher, and remind everyone in Congress and the White House: We want our priorities put back in order and that means cutting the Pentagon budget.

Right now, concrete is being dumped into sacred lands of the Okinawan people for the construction of a new U.S. military base. With over 800 military bases around the world already, the construction of another base is not only harming the Okinawan people but ramping up the threat of war. 2021 has to be the year we finally close the new base in Okinawa and begin a pathway towards peace in the Pacific — and we do that by closing down our foreign military bases and building up diplomacy. We’re in a unique, but narrow opportunity with President Biden in office to raise the alarms on this, and other, disastrous bases. That means we’ve got to jump into action and urge Defense Secretary Austin to stop the construction NOW — and we need your help in getting LOUD.

The media and many irresponsible politicians are completely failing to meet this moment in history by focusing on a symptom of a global economic and health crisis -- families and unaccompanied minors at the U.S./Mexico border -- rather than its root causes. Recently asked by President Biden to lead "the administration’s efforts to deter migration to the southwestern border by working to improve conditions in Central America," Vice President Kamala Harris can help turn things around by -- among other things -- prioritizing COVID-19 vaccine access for Central America and other countries immigrants are currently fleeing from in this time of a global health and economic crisis. No matter how many oversimplified anecdotes journalists collect, or public officials that say it, pretending that people risk their lives and leave everything they know just because a President in a different country is a "nice guy" has to be one of the most ridiculous stories our pandemic has produced yet. To suggest that either talking tough, more enforcement, or the further criminalization of immigrants is a solution to this crisis is not just irresponsible (we now have decades of data that prove the opposite) -- it is also dangerous. This is dangerous not just for immigrants and their countries of origin, who bear the brunt of this harmful thinking, but really for all of us in the U.S. and around the world when our best shot at a better future right now is directing every spare resource we have towards stamping out COVID-19. With VP Kamala Harris leading these latest efforts, she has a real opportunity to help send this message, to save lives, and to economically assist Central America and the world by prioritizing vaccine access for all. If enough of us sign-on and share this, we'll help give her the support she needs to do so. With dueling health, economic, and climate crises -- vaccine access isn't the only thing Central America and immigrants need right now -- but it could be the beginning of the spark needed to start moving towards a world where people migrate out of want, and not out of need. That's our only chance at ever stopping the negative effects associated with immigration. Until then, we need to take this moment in history as another reminder that we can't wall off our problems. Viruses know no borders. We either liberate ourselves together or not at all. Any journalist or public official that thinks otherwise is failing all of us.

Recently: - A Delaware State trooper arrested a third-grader over the theft of $1 - A 5-year-old with ADHD was charged with “battery on a police officer” in California - A Florida officer arrested a 6-year-old girl and zip-tied her hands The National Juvenile Justice Network recommends 14 as the minimum age for prosecution. But in most states -- 30 total -- there is no minimum age for at all prosecution. That means little kids who can’t read, write, or understand the concept of a crime can be prosecuted. And these ridiculous prosecutions disproportionately impact Black kids. In North Carolina, for example, nearly half of complaints are against Black children despite them being 22% of the population. This creates a school-to-prison pipeline that starts before kids even know what a “prison” is. We must end the school-to-prison pipeline and stop arresting and prosecuting little kids!

In this era when congressmembers and state legislators war with each other over the quality and fairness in the administration of elections, one statement on which all sides can agree is that all elections should be free, equal and open. In fact, 30 state constitutions, including North Carolina, California, and South Carolina mandate that all elections should be free, with 18 of these states also stating that elections should be “equal” or “open” and 15 of these states mandating that no "civil or military power shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage". Sadly, despite being the birthplace and resting place of civil rights advocates past and present, from Martin Luther King Jr. to John Lewis, and despite having the youngest state constitution as of 1983, Georgia's state constitution does not yet provide for such a basic expectation that our right to free suffrage shall be free and shall not be intimidated or suppressed by civil or military force. We need an amendment to the Georgia State Constitution mandating free, equal and open elections so that voters have a constitutional standard by which we can judge the integrity of elections administration, redistricting and other aspects of elections law in the State of Georgia. References: https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/free-equal-election-clauses-in-state-constitutions.aspx https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FreeEqualOnePager-9.4.19.pdf http://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/free-and-equal-elections-a-new-state-constitutionalism-for-partisan-gerrymandering/

My daughter Amaya could not easily sit down to take a biology quiz like her White classmates because proctoring software would not “recognize” her as a person. She took the test at noon with sunlight streaming through her window, and turned on all the lights in her room. It still didn’t work. She tried 10 times. She literally had to shine an LED flashlight in her face before the software would allow her to take the quiz. This type of bias piles additional stress and anxiety onto kids of color who are already dealing with the challenges of remote learning, and it tells them they don’t belong. During remote learning, thousands of schools have paid billions for proctoring software that will watch kids via their computers to ensure that they aren’t cheating. However, this type of facial recognition software is notorious for not working well on people with dark skin because the companies that develop the product mostly test it on white people. The consequences for children of color can be devastating -- higher stress, unfounded accusations of cheating, and a clear message from their school that they aren’t welcome. And it's not just students of color. Students with facial tics or differences, neurodivergent students, and students with anxiety have all been discriminated against by online proctoring software. As a special educator who has worked in elementary education for years, I know the harm this will do to kids. Please join me in urging Secretary Cardona to support equity in education and reject the use of invasive, racially biased online proctoring software in K-12 schools.