Civil & Human Rights

100th anniversary of Washington’s Women’s Suffrage Parade on Sunday

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The 100th anniversary of Washington’s Women’s Suffrage Parade is on Sunday, in Washington, D.C. 100 years after suffrage march, activists walk in tradition of Inez Milholland:

At the 100th anniversary of Washington’s Women’s Suffrage Parade on Sunday, participants will march in the bold tradition of suffragette Inez Milholland — even if they, and most of America, have never heard of her. Of all the images and people invoked during this centennial celebration, perhaps the least remembered is the one woman said to have died for the cause.

Milholland, 27, sitting astride a white horse, in white, flowing, Joan of Arc robes is the most iconic image of that 1913 march. When she died three years later, she was hailed as a martyr of the women’s suffrage movement. That she is barely remembered today is part of the challenge and frustration for those who advocate for greater attention to women’s history and for those trying to build a national women’s history museum on the Mall.

Milholland
Library of Congress – A memorable image from the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade was that of Inez Milholland astride a white horse amid the 5,000 marchers.

The march, sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta sorority and including the National Women’s History Museum, the Sewall-Belmont House Museum and the National Organization for Women, retraces the original 5,000-person march down Pennsylvania Avenue. It will feature women in period costumes and focus broadly on women’s equality.

Obama administration to file amicus brief to overturn California’s Prop. 8

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Obama administration will file a brief in Hollingsworth v. Perry to overturn California's Prop. 8 before the deadline later today. Pete Williams at NBC News reports, Obama administration to express support for gay marriage before Supreme Court: Administration officials say the Justice Department will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to allow … Read more

Dealing with the Devil: Should Maricopa County Latinos ‘Play Nice’ with Arpaio? (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Earlier in February, Maricopa County Latino leaders, organized by Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski, met with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and offered prayers and support– not protest signs or recall petitions.

Should Latinos play nice with Arpaio in hopes of winning him over, or should they work to recall the “toughest sheriff in the US”, stop deportations of hard-working, law-abiding people, and push for immigration reform?

If there is any doubt in your mind that we all should fight back against the racism that Arpaio embodies, check out this video by Dennis Gilman after the jump.

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Violence Against Women Act finally reauthorized

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The media's favorite story line is that Washington, D.C. is dysfunctional and broken and can't get anything done. But the media villagers rarely ever tell you why that is. The reason is the GOP leadership who employ the extra-constitutional "Hastert Rule" (a majority of the majority) in the House, and the extra-constitutional "Cloture Rule" (filibuster) in the Senate. When the GOP leadership waives their abuse of these procedural rules and members are permitted to vote their conscience the way that the Founders intended, work actually does get done in Congress.

Case in point: the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, for the third time this year waived the "Hastert Rule" at the request of 18 House Republican members to allow an up or down vote on renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The VAWA had already passed the Senate on a strongly bipartisan 78 to 22 vote earlier this month.

Today, the VAWA was finally reauthorized. Violence Against Women Act passed by House, sent to Obama for signature – The Washington Post:

The Republican-held U.S. House signed off on a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that includes expanded protections for same-sex couples Thursday, ending a protracted political fight over the measure and sending the bill to President Obama to sign into law.

NY Times editorial on the Voting Rights Act gets it exactly right

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The New York Times editorial opinion today on the Voting Rights Act gets it exactly right. Congress’s Power to Protect the Vote:

The voter ID laws and other tactics that sprang up in several states last year to prevent minorities from casting their ballots offer incontestable proof of the need for strict voting rights laws.

Yet at the argument on Wednesday in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices left the ominous impression that they were willing to deny this reality and repudiate Congress’s power to enforce the right to vote by striking down a central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires nine states (seven of them in the South) and parts of seven others with records of extreme discrimination against minority voters to get approval from the Justice Department or a special court in Washington before they can make any changes in how they hold elections. Without this provision, there would be no way to prevent new and devious efforts by local officials to block blacks and Hispanics from voting or to reduce their electoral power. In 2006, Congress overwhelmingly reauthorized the statute. It found that these places should remain “covered” by this “preclearance” requirement because voting discrimination remained both tangible and more concentrated and persistent in them than in other parts of the country. House members from those places strongly supported the renewal: of 110 members from covered jurisdictions, 90 voted for reauthorization.