ColorOfChange.org changing the color of democracy

UPDATE: If you're in Austin Sunday, 03/11, please join ColorOfChange and Colorlines for a meet and greet at 6:30pm. Location: #321 Gables Park Plaza, 115 Sandra A. Muraida Way (near N. Lamar Blvd. & W. Cesar Chavez St.) Hope to see you there!

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual conference showcasing cutting-edge music, film and technology, kicks off this week. On Monday, ColorOfChange ED Rashad Robinson will be there as part of a panel titled, "Can Bloggers Put Hope Back into the 2012 Election?" Watch it live at YoungVoterLive.com.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson appeared on "The Young Turks" last night to talk about the culture war rhetoric that's been a centerpiece of the Republican primary. The conversation was prompted by a recent Salon.com article that warns that a long primary "threatens to change the very parameters of our political discourse," shifting the dialogue further right as social issues take center stage and the economy and unemployment go ignored.

But as the candidates head into today's Michigan and Arizona primaries, Rashad points out that voters have more opportunities to see just "how far outside the mainstream some of [the candidates'] proposals are..."

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.

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...