Debtors’ Prisons Redux: How Legal Loopholes Let Courts Across the Country Criminalize Poverty (pdf) By Allyson Fredericksen and Linnea Lassiter December 2015
Category Archives: Racial Justice
Racism on Campus is Nothing New. A Sustained Anti-Racist Campus Movement Would Be.
As a first-year student at Brown University I was detained for trespassing by campus security. In my own dorm. In sock feet. You see, I left my dorm room to go to the bathroom and didn’t bring my college ID along. I guess I should have known better. As a black student it was alwaysContinue reading “Racism on Campus is Nothing New. A Sustained Anti-Racist Campus Movement Would Be.”
Racial Segregation: Righting the Wrong and Making Restitution
At a time in history when crime continues to decline, same-sex marriage is legal, and innovation is powering advances in technology and bioengineering – one issue fails to progress: racial justice. The unemployment rate for African-Americans continues to be more than twice that of whites. Public schools are more segregated now than they were inContinue reading “Racial Segregation: Righting the Wrong and Making Restitution”
Prison Reform, a Step Toward Racial Equality and Respect
Last month, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison as he begins pushing congress to reform the nation’s criminal justice system. Obama is urging meaningful sentencing reform, steps to reduce repeat offenders, and reform for the juvenile justice system to improve public safety, reduce runaway incarceration costs and makeContinue reading “Prison Reform, a Step Toward Racial Equality and Respect”
In Weighing Racial Discrimination, Consider Outcome, Not Just Intent
In the last two weeks, the Supreme Court handed down some monumental decisions: health care subsidies were upheld, ensuring millions will continue to see the benefits of the Affordable Care Act; and marriage equality became the law of the land, allowing LGBTQI people to marry. But, there was another major decision tucked in there, too:Continue reading “In Weighing Racial Discrimination, Consider Outcome, Not Just Intent”
Oregon bans racial profiling
The Alliance and our affiliates Center for Intercultural Organizing and Oregon Action have been organizing to put an end to racial profiling in Oregon for a decade. The first week of July, 2015, those years of organizing paid off when the Oregon Senate passed HB 2002 – a comprehensive anti-profiling bill – and sent itContinue reading “Oregon bans racial profiling”
Testimony: A Living Wage Is about Family Prosperity
Yesterday I got the chance to testify to the Washington state House Labor and Workforce Development Committee. Our living wage research findings set a standard, that mere survival is not an adequate measure of a healthy society, and not an expectation we should be striving to set. It’s about a living wage that positions familiesContinue reading “Testimony: A Living Wage Is about Family Prosperity”
Equity in the Balance
Equity in the Balance – How a living wage would help women and people of color make ends meet November 2014 By Ben Henry and Allyson Fredericksen Click here for the full report: Equity in the Balance Click here for individual state reports: State Reports and New York City
Ferguson October Draws a Rainbow of Solidarity
In the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, the case of Dred Scott was first heard in 1847. Dred Scott and his family sued for freedom from their slave owner on the grounds that they had been removed from a “slave state” and brought to U.S. territories in which slavery was illegal. The caseContinue reading “Ferguson October Draws a Rainbow of Solidarity”
Arrested for Standing on a Sidewalk
It’s a familiar scene. One parent takes their children into a restaurant to use the restroom while the other parent waits outside. It’s been done by many of us — as parents, aunties, uncles, siblings. When kids have to go, they have to go. But on July 19 this year, this simple and innocent scenarioContinue reading “Arrested for Standing on a Sidewalk”