ColorOfChange.org changing the color of democracy

Yesterday, ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson was interviewed by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. Cenk posed the question, "Should progressives give up on bipartisanship?" The question was prompted by two recent pieces on the topic, one in The New Yorker and another that ran yesterday in Politico.

Rashad drove home the point that Americans (and Black folks in particular) can't wait for political harmony to come to Washington. As he put it on the show, "We need to demand big and bold solutions to these problems" right now. 

Watch the clip here, and please let us know what you think in the comments section.

Resolved to get more politically active in 2012? The Candidate Project is for you.

If you’ve ever considered running for state or local office, 2012 is the year to get in the game.

ColorOfChange is joining forces with New Organizing Institute and Progressive Majority to bring you the Candidate Project, a new way to connect you with all the tools and resources you need to run for office.

Read the rest at Loop21: http://loop21.com/politics/color-of-change-candidate-project

Late last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a working group comprised of state and federal officials who will investigate Wall Street banks' role in the housing crisis. The development comes in response to the ongoing work of ColorOfChange and our partners.

Here's an excerpt from the DOJ's announcement:

February 13 kicks off Social Media Week, and ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson will join the conversation in DC to discuss how to leverage technology to ensure our communities' access to the polls.

On Valentine's Day, Rashad will highlight our work targeting ALEC's corporate enablers as part of a panel titled, "Protecting the Right to Vote and Empowering Voters Through Collaboration." The panel will also feature representatives from The Advancement Project, Center for American Progress, Cost of Freedom Project and NCLR. Topics to be discussed include voter ID requirements, their impact on the electorate and the importance of messaging.

If you'll be in DC next month, please join us! And help spread the word.

UPDATE: (03/29/12) Mr. Knighten is eligible to have his charges dropped in exchange for 20 hours of community service.

Last month, police and federal agents raided activist Albert Knighten's home and arrested him. His crime? Operating a pirate radio station out of his spare bedroom. Now the retired Navy air traffic controller faces a felony charge for operating the station without a license — a charge that could land him behind bars for five years. It's the latest incident to highlight the need for community control of media, specifically the important role that low-power radio stations can play in communities of color.

It's an issue that's been on ColorOfChange's radar for a while. We were part of the coalition that helped pass the Local Community Radio Act last year, a major piece of legislation that will ensure that people like Knighten are no longer sanctioned for bringing relevant news and information to their neighbors. Unfortunately for him, the bill is just now being implemented. His station was ahead of its time.

Last night, CoC live-tweeted the State of the Union. Using the hashtag #BSOTU (Black SOTU), we helped create a conversation about President Obama's agenda and Black America.

We also tracked the #BarackTalk conversation hosted by our friends over at the League of Young Voters. Check out the conversations' highlights here and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

UPDATE: (01/25/12) CoC Applauds Obama's Decision to Investigate Wall St Banks, Continues to Push for Accountability

Today President Obama received a letter from ColorOfChange and our partners urging the administration to hold Wall Street accountable. The letter states that an investigation is essential to hold the big banks accountable or their role in the housing crisis and to prevent future reckless behavior from the banking and mortgage industries.

We’ll be listening for any remarks regarding this and other ColorOfChange campaigns tonight as President Obama gives the State of the Union address. Follow us on twitter @ColorofChange and please share your reactions using #BSOTU as we work to address critical issues that impact all of us.

Just over a year ago, many of our members read Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and participated in a conference call with the author. In the book Alexander writes about how racism in the criminal justice system works to create a modern caste system in the United States. Check out the Democracy Now! interview with Michelle Alexander and Randall Robinson (founder of TransAfrica) that broadcast earlier this month. 

ColorOfChange just launched a new site to help force real accountability for the big banks responsible for the economic crisis. Today, President Obama received more than 360,000 signatures from people all over the country who want his administration to stand with homeowners and investigate the banks responsible for the mortgage crisis. The stakes couldn't be higher for Black America, which has watched its wealth plummet to the lowest its been in 25 years. Our communities have suffered disproportionately from predatory lending practices. If you signed our petition, that's great! Now it's time to engage in some direct action.

UPDATE: (01/18/12) Please join us in calling members of Congress to oppose any bill that suppresses our voices online.

Today the Internet is going black to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). We depend on an open Internet to strengthen the political voice of Black America. If Congress passes these online censorship measures, the full potential of that voice is threatened. The story of Black America should be told by those who live it. SOPA and PIPA threaten our ability to tell that story online. Today's protest is one of many actions needed to stop SOPA and PIPA.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

-- MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Beginning today and running all next week, people around the country will be using a great online tool to find others in their communities who want to come together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy and create real change in 2012. Check out the email we sent to our members to find out how you can attend, host, or share an event:

...Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movements he helped lead changed how we think about ourselves and each other. He was a leader with immense talents, but each one of us has the power to transform hearts and minds. Right where we are. Right now...

Late last year, the Opportunity Agenda released a report titled, "Opportunities for Black Men and Boys: Public Opinion, Media Depictions, and Media Consumption." 

The report speaks to why what's said in the media about Black folks really matters. An issue of special relevance this week, given our recent victory in removing Pat Buchanan and his white supremacist rhetoric from MSNBC.

In an investigation published late last year, ProPublica found that Black people with felony convictions fare significantly worse than their white counterparts in the presidential pardons process.

But things could be shifting in the right direction. In December, President Obama pardoned Eugenia Marie Jennings, an African-American mother and survivor of domestic violence who'd been sentenced to 22 years for selling crack to an undercover officer. And this past Sunday, the Washington Post urged President Obama to reform the pardons process, reminding him that whites were nearly four times more likely than people of color to receive pardons.

UPDATE: (01/12/12) Marc Lamont Hill weighs in.

In case you've ever wondered what Newt Gingrich would say at an NAACP conference, wonder no more. While campaigning yesterday in Plymouth, NH, Gingrich remarked," I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps." 

This just days after GOP hopeful Rick Santorum told a group of Iowans in Sioux Falls that he "doesn't want to make black people's lives better by giving them someone else's money." This much is clear: Race-baiting has taken center stage in the Republican primaries.

The Labor Department released its December jobs report today. Predictably, media coverage has been optimistic, focusing on the 200,000 jobs added by the private sector, the nation's lowest unemployment level in nearly three years, and the improving condition of small businesses. 

All good news right? But buried between the lines is a different story about Black America and the labor market.

UPDATE: You can watch the archived video of the event or listen to the audio recording here.

 On Monday, January 9th, ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson will participate in a webcast titled, "Civil Rights and the Airways: Building Community Radio in Communities of Color." Co-sponsored by allies including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Media Action Grassroots Network, this discussion is the place to learn about how to transform the media landscape in your community. Please join us! Tune in here Monday, January 9th at 4pm EST.

In just three days, more than 30,000 ColorOfChange members joined our campaign to protect Pell grants. The bill that finally passed Congress wasn't perfect: it reduced the number of semesters students can receive funding. But the maximum award was preserved, and current recipients will still be eligible for the grant. The ColorOfChange community helped prevent $900 million in cuts.

Today we launched a campaign calling on President Obama and Attorney General Holder to stand up to big banks and push for a full investigation of those responsible for the foreclosure crisis that devastated Black wealth. Check out the email we sent to our more than 800,000 members today and join the campaign here.

Republicans across the country have relentlessly pressed for voter ID laws that threaten to disenfranchise millions of voters-- most of them low-income citizens and people of color. Proponents of the discriminatory ID laws claim they're needed to end voter fraud and preserve the integrity of voting-- a phantom threat that has proved more myth than anything. So yesterday, when Iowans participated in the Republican caucus, we were left scratching our heads when they were allowed to vote without an ID and even granted same-day registration.

ColorOfChange co-founder James Rucker sent the message below to our members last week. Here it is in case you missed it. Happy New Year!

...My goal when I started ColorOfChange was to lead it for a year or so and then find new leadership. That year turned into five, until a year ago when I re-connected with Rashad Robinson. I knew Rashad from his voting rights work and his more recent work in media accountability. Rashad was smart, unafraid, and interested in helping everyday folks achieve the dignity and an empowered political voice that everyone deserves — exactly the kind of leadership ColorOfChange needs...