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!

During this time of incredible upset, the Trump Administration has decided to finalize a rule rolling back protections for Transgender and Trans* people. President Trump has taken our outcries for equality and spat on them, dragging the LGBTQ community into the series of horrific events unfolding this 2020. The night of the four year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, a shooting in Orlando Florida that ended with hundreds of members of the queer community dead, was the night the Trump Administration chose to tell the queer community that they are not worth health care. That if a doctor or hospital refuses to treat them based on their sexual or gender identity, that the law doesn't care about them. It feels as if he does not care about the marginalized, making it very clear to America that if we saw Black Lives Matter, he will say QUEER LIVES DON'T. The Trump Administration has been working tirelessly to narrow the definition of gender in order to LEGALLY deny health care to Transgender people and eventually the entire queer community. Queer people, especially QUEER PEOPLE OF COLOR are so much less likely to seek medical care when they need it, precisely because of the ignorance and disrespect with which the health care system sees them. We are already fighting the global pandemic of Covid-19, along with the national pandemic of POLICE BRUTALITY. The Trump Administration is shoving down our throats the reality that they would rather we all just die. We must not allow this message to be heard without a FIGHT. We must STAND UP TO INJUSTICE and not allow Trump's distracting disregard for queer life to end our fury and demand for change. This is only a stepping stone towards changing the way AMERICA SEES EQUALITY. If we don't stop this law, next it will be legal to not give health care to any queer person, or to a person based on their race, or religion. If a person has no protections based on their gender identity, what is to stop hospitals from turning away cis men or women based on their preference of gender identity. This erasure of gender related protections is DANGEROUS. This has the potential to affect every single person in America, regardless of your political standpoint. ALL PEOPLE DESERVE HEALTH CARE no matter how they identify. ALL HUMANS ARE CREATED EQUAL UNDER GOD, says the constitution. It is our job to uphold this precedent.

Brigham Young was many things, but he also taught racist ideas that the Church currently disclaims. In 1852, Brigham Young said to the Utah Legislature, "In as much as we believe in the Bible ... we must believe in slavery. This colored race have been subjected to severe curses ... which they have brought upon themselves. And until the curse is removed by Him who placed it upon them, they must suffer under its consequences." Further examples of the racist ideas the Church now disclaims are included in the Church-issued essay "Race and the Priesthood" https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng. BYU continues to symbolize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its athletic programs and national and international relationships and academic programs. We feel that the time has come to choose a symbol that does not constantly remind Black Church members of painful parts of our history. In doing this, we are not seeking to "whitewash" Brigham Young from our history; rather, we feel that our emphasis as a church should be on unifying voices, especially those that the Church and its members have historically undervalued. We submit this petition humbly to those who have the responsibility to make such decisions, and recognize that the "voice of the people" will only be one factor in the process of considering this change. We ask all Church members and friends to consider signing this petition as a show of good faith that we are "looking to the future," a future beyond racism and discrimination and which embraces our brothers and sisters of all races throughout the world. #BlackLivesMatter #LetsTalkAboutUtah Photo by Francisco Kjolseth at the Salt Lake Tribune Thank you to Tasi Young's Special to the Tribune for the impetus to create this petition. https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/12/tasi-young-time-change/?fbclid=IwAR28xHnnFcvrBr7DzknH5gB0FkOLGvVN2Rh88AL6Gsjdt3wz8_KTMq_lMJo

The removal of the monument is a symbol that does not reflect the true history and it represents values that have no place in the community today. It sends the wrong message to visitors and residents. Our taxes are paying to protect something that racially divides our community. African Americans who were enslaved by the millions in the South and later subjected to brutal oppression under the white supremacist regime of Jim Crow. Our democracy is based on equality under the law, and public entities should not prominently display symbols that undermine that concept and alienate an entire segment of the population.

Sikh Americans make up almost half a million residents in America. But they also have the highest rate of hate crimes against them. According to the Sikh Coalition (which has become involved in this case), hate crimes against the Sikh community has risen to over 200 percent and racism is killing our community members as well. Most states do not have adequate hate crime prevention laws strong enough to tamp down white supremacists when they act violently towards our community. When a white supremacist walked into a Sikh Gurdwaras in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, he took away valued community members because he was fueled by hate. We need to make sure that officials in the justice system stand against violence towards the Sikh community and punish those who seek to harm communities that do not look like them. We have lost so many of our friends and neighbors because the American legal system has not had strong protections against hate crimes and does not bring those who commit them to justice. According to reports about this case: " The Jefferson County district attorney’s office in Colorado is not convinced that the attack on an elderly Sikh man in Lakewood was a hate crime, even if the man who rammed his vehicle into him told him to “go back to your country”. What will it take for the Jefferson County DA to bring charges if it's not racist and violent enough that Eric Breeman thought it was okay to run over Lakwant Singh? I hope we don't have to find out and that we push for stronger laws to protect our communities. Urge Colorado State Attorney General Paul Weiser to investigate this case and to serve justice to Lakhwant Singh and his family.

Mills College has struggled financially for years and with the Revised Financial Stabilization Plan of 2017 (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/17/mills-college-declares-financial-emergency-and-plans-layoffs-and-curricular-reform) having been in effect, the Mills community deserves to know exactly how the school has benefitted (or not) in result. We are not looking for a media team crafted response, we want to see the numbers. Mills College is a business and it cannot exist without its students, many of whom question their trust in the administration after a short time at the school. In order to build and maintain trust, the school must be prepared to share where tuition and fees are going and why we are seeing the school deteriorate (even pre-COVID condition). Lab equipment is broken, Arts Departments are being cut and defunded, the History department is down to one full professor, we lost our Philosophy department and plenty of majors, and accessibility on campus is nonexistent for many disabilities, the list goes on. Much of our student population lacks support in one way or another with the support of Black, Undocumented, Disabled, Indigenous, Low-Income, First-Gen, and beyond being minimal and performative. Many donors and prospective students are being lied to. Students and recent alums are prepared to share their stories about Mills publicly. We care about the future of our school and we need to be informed as to where our money is going and who it is serving. If the institution won't welcome and value the input and thoughts of students and alums, then what is the value of a Mills education? The school has strong Economics professors- so why is the administration hiring outside contractors instead of listening to invested and qualified community members? Mills needs to be honest about its struggles if they are truly so bad that the college cannot afford to fix the many issues students see daily. Release the reports, records, whatever proves how much the school brings in and where it all goes. We're tired of wondering and while the Board of Trustees holds the Officers accountable, the students must hold the institution accountable. We see this as an opportunity of growth, transparency, and community building. We ask signers to share this with those in your Mills networks. Please don't keep us in the dark, Mills.

On June 3, 2020, the Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board (MNCO) was notified of a shooting that occurred within the MNPD district of and lack of cooperation’s within several of request. Under his leadership as Chief of Police we have seen senseless killing of innocent’s civilian in our great city namely - Jocques Clemmons and Daniel Hambrick and other black citizen in our community. Chief Anderson’s was responsible during his times as chief of MNPD the racial profiling of innocent citizen in Traffic stops and heavy fines by MNPD towards Black community’s in Gideon’s Army report “Driving While Black. He has allowed the MNPD use of excessive force and hindered progress in our city and his services are no longer needed. In many MOU terms written by the community Oversight chief Anderson’s deliberately slow down request from the MNCO and misinformed the committee in many of their request.  We therefore urge the public to stand in solidarity, shoulder to shoulder with our fellow African American and Black Lives Matter Nashville and other communities rallies and request the resignation of Chief Steve Anderson.  In these connections, we as communities can longer these senseless killing as norms by MNPD. We recognize that our society is at a pivotal juncture where we must step up to build a better system and Justice for black community and other minority whom have been oppressed, abused, and ignored for far too long. Enough is enough we need a bold change and that starts with the departure of Chief Steve Anderson.  Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter which is of urgency.

Stop the spread of Covid-19 Gives health professional more data to go by to make sure it's safe for children to return. Mental health of our children. Gives the schools time to prepare for smaller class sizes

Woodrow Wilson was a known racist and xenophobe. He should not be praised as a great leader of the United States, he was the first to show a racist KKK movie in the White House. He also resegregated of multiple agencies within the Federal government. Wilson was also a confederate sympathizer and defender of the KKK.

We are in the middle of a pandemic. It's not just the people signing consent forms acknowledging the risk of COVID-19 via the Trump website who will be impacted by a massive convention. Those traveling to the convention will be interacting with locals who work at hotels, bars, restaurants, gas stations, and stores. Those attending the convention and working at the convention could potentially bring COVID-19 back to their communities. The COVID-19 confirmed cases in Florida have jumped drastically since the beginning of May. We in Jacksonville shouldn't have our health and safety threatened for politics. It is the job of the Florida governor and the Jacksonville mayor to protect the citizens, both those who did and who did not vote for them.

He was wrongfully shot and killed by a Chester County police officer and hasn't received the justice he deserves. No arrest has been made. Please reach out to his mother and sign this petition and continue to protest and pray, thank you 💙!