I’ve owned my own construction company in North Carolina for the past 9 years. My family has been in the construction industry since the early 70s and I have always viewed my work as a way to build generational wealth and create economic mobility for Black people. However, I’ve suffered at the hands of huge contracting corporations like Archer Western who have a history of financially exploiting small Black-owned businesses. This has made it extremely difficult to support my livelihood and my family. I’ve lost a majority of my income from dealing with contracting giants like Archer Western and it is time for them to be held accountable! Archer Western refusing to pay its debt to Black subcontractors shows how systematic racism continues to impact our people. As a result of Archer Western’s debt to my small contracting business, I’ve been unable to pay important medical bills and have even delayed important medical operations. I’m also unable to reinvest in my community by providing employment opportunities to people of color. Enough is enough and big corporations like Archer Western should be held accountable in how they treat small, local minority contractors like me. Archer Western has a history of late payment and non-payment to over 20 of its Black and minority-led subcontractors that we know of. There are likely many more that have been put out of business. I’ve been fighting to stop this financial exploitation and my pleas are constantly ignored. Join me in telling Daniel Walsh that it’s time to do right by its Black subcontractors. We demand that Archer Western release all records of its late and non-payment of Black subcontractors, pay all of their outstanding contracts, and conduct an audit of their racial equity practices. This is the first step in ensuring that small contracting businesses like mine never go under due to corporations' prejudicial, unlawful, and dishonest business practices. Daniel Walsh is the president and co-chairman of Archer Western and has the power to begin rectifying the wrongs Archer Western has committed against small minority businesses. Sign this petition and tell Walsh to begin paying Black subcontractors what they are owed!

The child welfare system traumatizes children and rips families apart. Far from helping, law enforcement only makes things worse. Their partnership must end now. Los Angeles County is home to the largest locally-run foster care system in the country, run by the Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS). The system disproportionately targets Black, Brown, and Indigenous children for surveillance and removal, actions that, even when well-intentioned, terrorize and traumatize families of color. While Black children are 10% of LA County’s population, they represent 40% of the young people in the child welfare system. DCFS works in direct partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Approximately 25% of DCFS referrals come from law enforcement. DCFS and law enforcement agencies work together to enter homes and remove children. Police presence during DCFS investigations further traumatizes children and escalates the situation. Removing law enforcement from the child welfare system is the first step to curb the racist practices that break up families of color. We must demand an end to systems that separate families instead of supporting them. The REIMAGINE CHILD SAFETY campaign is supported by: Black Lives Matter LA; ACLU of Southern California; Alliance for Children’s Rights; Black Los Angeles Young Democrats; Dignity & Power Now; JusticeLA; La Defensa; Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers; Movement for Family Power; National Coalition for Child Protection Reform; Public Counsel; The RightWay Foundation; Trans Lifeline; and White People 4 Black Lives.

Elected officials need to hear from us directly about how important it is to respect the democratic process. The votes have been counted fairly and according to the law. The decision of the people needs to be respected.

in the past, BLACKS could NOT own Property. Then, when the laws appeared to change, the BANKS RED-LINED Ownership. Now - the City Governments are Creating FALSE CASES to take BLACK PROPERTY OWNERS and ILLEGALLY TAKING their Properties. In the case of Ms. Kihagi, the smear campaign that represented her as Black Slumlord is so far from the truth. Yet - knowing most people would NOT get past that PR Machine - the City derailed the Truth. The San Francisco City Attorney made more than 20 misrepresentations to the Court with full knowledge of the actual facts. This is total abuse of power - and should be stopped! In fact, the TRUE MOTIVE for such conduct was to RACIAL DERAIL a successful, black landlord. More than $25million is at stake. It is clear that the 2 major cases in San Francisco have been against successful, BLACK Landlords - is this a Coincidence? They spent over 70% of their resources fighting one lone, black landlord and lied to the public that she was a slumlord. Yet the BUILDINGS are in better condition than 90% of S.F. Condo. EYES DON'T LIE. STOP DIRTY CITY ATTORNEYS - see more articles at annekihagisf.com

Implicit, explicit, and diagnostic bias in the Military and Veterans Healthcare Systems ensures limited treatment options and compensatory benefits for Wounded/Ill/Injured Black and Brown Uniformed Service Members relative to non-White Service Members, women relative to men, and Reserve Component (Reserve/ National Guard) Members relative to Active Duty (AD) Members . MILITARY DATA REVEALS DANGEROUS REALITY FOR BLACK SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS by Zachary Cohen and Janie Boschma, CNN UPDATED 11:52 AM ET, SUN JUNE 14, 2020. A CNN review of data provided by the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs reveals the stark reality that black service members are less likely to become officers and, as a result, are MORE LIKELY TO BE SERIOUSLY INJURED SERVING THEIR COUNTRY THAN THEIR WHITE COLLEAGUES. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT REVEALS MILITARY OCCUPATIONS WITH HIGHEST SUICIDE rates by Seth Robson | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 28, 2020, The suicide rate for reservists was 22.9 deaths per 100,000 while the rate for the National Guard was 30.6 per 100,000, the report states. That compares with a suicide rates for American adults ages 17-59 of 18.2 per 100,000 in 2017, according to the report. PHYSICIAN BIAS AND RACIAL DISPARITIES IN VETERAN HEALTH: Shari Eli, Trevon Logan, Boriana Miloucheva 20 August 2019 The mortality gap between blacks and whites in the US has been well documented, but there is still considerable debate over why the gap has remained so large and why it has persisted over the last century. This column explores these questions using unique data on black and white Civil War veterans to measure one of the earliest known incidences of PHYSICIAN BIAS AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS. It shows that PHYSICIAN BIAS had large effects on INCOME AND LONGEVITY of blacks relative to whites and considers the ways in which doctor attitudes STILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE RACIAL MORTALITY GAP TODAY. The war in Congress over rape in the military, explained By Emily [email protected]@vox.com Jun 8, 2016, 11:10am. Sexual assault is a huge problem in the US military. And for many victims, the process of reporting their crime and seeking justice can be as traumatic as their assault. The US Senate is expected to vote this week on the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA). Advocates, who have been pushing for the MJIA since 2013, say the reform would make the process of prosecuting sex crimes a lot easier and smoother for victims and help victims feel more empowered to come forward and report the crimes against them. On or about October 28, I spoke with yet another Black Woman Veteran that was not only the victim of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) while serving her country, but the victim of systemic retaliation after reporting her rape. She was involuntarily separated from the military and forced to repay all enlistment bonuses. Homeless female veterans: Out of sight, out of mind Angela M. Rogers, November 18, 2019 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Female veterans are the fastest growing demographic among the homeless population in the United States and face a double hurdle of distance and invisibility in getting the health services they need from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to research conducted by Penn State graduate student and U.S. Air Force veteran Elizabeth Elsea. Physician implicit, explicit, and diagnostic bias in the Military and Veterans Healthcare Systems ensures limited treatment options and compensatory benefits for Black and Brown Wounded/Ill/Injured Uniformed Service Members relative to non-White Service Members, women relative to men,; and Reserve and National Guard Members relative to Active Duty (AD) Members . Black Veterans' Lives Matter! Women Veterans' Lives Matter SUPPORT ALL of THE TROOPS!

On September 25th, I, Ashanti Scott, along with my mother, Representative Attica Scott, Shameka Parrish-Wright, and other protestors and students were wrongfully arrested. We were arrested while seeking refuge in a nearby church after protesting the immense injustice served in Breonna Taylor’s case. Not only were we grossly overcharged, but we were inexcusably and wrongfully arrested. My mother, a fierce advocate who so believed in justice for Breonna Taylor that she wrote and introduced Breonna’s Law to curb unlawful entry and criminalization. As a result, she was targeted by the Louisville Police Department and so was I in a retributive attempt for justice. As a result, we have been facing a Class D felony among other misdemeanors - charges that have threatened my scholarship and financial aid. As a University of Louisville student, I am so appreciative of fellow students and the student government association standing by me, my family, and the other advocates. Because of their support, yesterday, we received news that the Class D felony charges were dropped -- but the misdemeanor charges were not. More still needs to be done and I need your support in ensuring I don’t lose my ability to continue my studies. Therefore, I not only demand all charges against my fellow students, elected representatives, and other protestors are dropped immediately; but that the University of Louisville understands the bogus nature of these charges and allows me to retain my higher education funding. As you stand with me in this fight to honor Breonna Taylor’s life and achieve racial equity in our community, please know that I appreciate not having to carry this burden of wrongful felony charges alone. Please let the University of Louisville know that it has the opportunity to stand on the right side of this moment by allowing me to continue my studies.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, April 6th, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted against issuing a public apology to the Bruce Family for the unjust taking of their land in 1924 due to them being Black and bringing together Black patrons in Manhattan Beach. During a March 16th city council meeting, Mayor Suzanne Hadley said in response to the apology, “We do not want to ignore the past but we do not want it embroidered in a scarlet ‘R’ upon our chest,” later saying “I hear all of you who want an apology... I’m not litigious, I have not contributed to decades of case law around a single word. My hands are clean. But that word is a club that we can be handing to people to beat us with.” The majority of public comments and letters sent in during the council meeting showed support for a public apology. Still, the city council voted in favor of not apologizing, passing 4-1. Despite all of the voices who showed up to support the apology, despite the importance of an apology for reparative measures and true acknowledgment of harm done, the city of Manhattan Beach and its council members decided to recommit to racism and anti-Blackness with their own votes. When something as simple as an apology cannot be given, we have to ask ourselves “why?” And “who does this benefit?” We know that communities protect one another by voting in favor of repairing relationships and histories, yet Manhattan Beach refuses to condemn racism, to apologize for its racist past, or to acknowledge the ways in which racism and white supremacy continue to show up in Manhattan Beach today. Black joy, Black pain, Black experiences deserve a place in this community who has now, for almost 100 years, made intentional efforts to silence and erase us. We will stay put until the work is done. Until there is restitution for years of civil and human rights violations against the Bruce family, and restoration and return of their land. Original message: Manhattan Beach owes the Bruce family much more than an apology. Once the owners of one of the few thriving beach resorts that Black Angelenos were allowed to patronize in the early 1900s, Willa and Charles Bruce were not only subjected to escalating racist attacks from the city’s local Klu Klux Klan, but were eventually forced off their land by Manhattan Beach’s own Board of Trustees. Although the Board of Trustees claimed at the time that they needed the land to build a park, we know the real reason the Bruces lost their land. From Tulsa to Forsyth County, Black people’s attempts to build economic security for themselves in this country have been haunted by white terrorist violence. The land that the Bruces were forced off is no different, and represents just a tiny fraction of the nearly 11 million acres of land that Black people once had, but lost, due to fraud, deception and outright violence during the Jim Crow era. Now, after a recent acknowledgment from the Manhattan Beach City Council of the injustice the Bruce family has faced at the hands of the city for generations, some residents are proposing that a boutique hotel be constructed on the land as a form of restitution. That’s not right. That’s why Justice for Bruce's Beach is partnering with Black Lives Matter to let Manhattan Beach City Council know that if they want to rectify the harms of the past, they must meet the full demands of Manhattan Beach’s Black residents for restoration, restitution and reparations today. The Bruces’ land and business should have been the foundation of their family’s ability to build wealth, and to take care of themselves and each other. Instead, it became a source of riches for others. Not only did the city of Manhattan Beach take the Bruces’ land in order to preserve the neighborhood’s whiteness, but they vastly underpaid them and other Black property owners like them for the value of the land and the businesses that were taken from them. Today, with Manhattan Beach’s inflated and unaffordable housing, Black people make up just about 0.8% of the city’s population. That’s why the proposals for the construction of a boutique hotel that will likely remain out of the reach of most of its Black residents as a form of restitution for the city’s history of violence is a slap in the face. The fact is, Manhattan Beach won't be able to make amends for its racist past without restoring the land back to the Bruces, paying the Bruces restitution and paying reparations to its Black residents for blatantly discriminating against our community and making it impossible for us to own land in the area. Now more than ever, institutions like the Manhattan Beach City Council need to make good on their commitment to Black communities, and we’re starting by demanding that they meet our residents’ full demands for restoration restitution and reparations today. As protests against police violence continue, more and more institutions are coming out with statements to denounce racism. Many of those institutions are the exact same ones who have orchestrated the erosion of Black wealth and property for decades, if not centuries. Sign now to let Manhattan Beach City Council that fighting for racial justice is so much more than an anti-racism statement. It requires dedication and action behind those words. Declaring support of Black people isn’t enough and task forces and modified street signs won’t pacify us. If the city council truly believes Black lives matter, it must meet the full demands of its Black and Indigenous constituents for restoration, restitution and reparations in Manhattan Beach immediately. Thank you, Kavon Ward Founder, Justice for Bruce's Beach Chief Duane ‘Yellow Feather’ Spokesman and Historian for The Bruce Family Patrisse Cullors Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter Ronald Clinton Co- Founder, MBUSD Community Panel for Equity (MB4E)

The Village of Ashwaubenon mailed Hannah Lundin an invoice for nearly $800.00 for suggesting on social media that people gather on July 14th to show support for the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement. Ashwaubenon compared the protest to the Cellcom Marathon and the Bellin Run and said someone had to pay for it. The protest was peaceful and no one was cited for anything. This action is a clear violation of the First Amendment and a deliberate effort to prevent any future BLM protests in the Village. The protest cost the city nothing, yet they singled out someone to pay. This was not an invoice – it was an illegal fine and a clear message to anyone else who may wish to take their political voices to Ashwaubenon. In the invoice letter, Ashwaubenon stated its commitment to First Amendment Rights and combatting racism. Let them know that charging citizens to express their views shows anything but a commitment to free speech and promoting racial equality. Who to contact: President Mary Kardoskee Village of Ashwaubenon 2410 South Ridge Road Green Bay, WI 54304 Phone: 920.492.2301 [email protected] Commander Nick Kozloski Department of Public Safety 2155 Holmgren Way Ashwaubenon, WI 54304 [email protected] Phone: 920.492.2995 Fax: 920.492.2986 Ashwaubenon residents! Also contact your village trustee here: https://ashwaubenon.com/government/departments/administration/boards-committees/village-board/

In Hawthorne, California the police department takes 52% of the city budget. This means that the officers who do not live in our city take their average salary of $111,000/year, buy property in a whiter and wealthier neighboring city, and subsequently add more funding to the schools that already have the most resources. It is our personal responsibility to refuse enabling Hawthorne Police Department's violence through most of our city's funding. We must demand our city officials to invest in Hawthorne residents by defunding the police. Example(s): It was June 7th 2019 that a viral video brought disgrace- once again- to Hawthorne Police Department. On Prairie and El Segundo, across from Memorial Park where families gather and children play- almost a dozen officers draw their weapons on a young Black 24 year old. The brave woman livestreaming the traumatizing arrest sobs as she begs them not to shoot- and the nation, and our community, felt her pain and fear. That he could be anyone’s father, son, brother or friend, but as a Black man in America, he was a target of the oppressive forces of policing. We will never know what would have happened if she was not there, but one thing is certain. This type of escalation for someone Hawthorne Police admitted, “loosely matched” the description of an individual, was definitively not an isolated occurrence- but a product of a city, and country, that enables and militarizes first responders and rarely holds them accountable for the terror they wreak on BIPOC living in the communities they police. We encourage residents of Hawthorne to dig into the 2007 beating, and HPD’s fascination with shooting dogs. It is our personal responsibility to refuse to enable any more sociopathic behavior from the heavily funded HPD and demand our city leaders to a clear and understanding decision to invest in Hawthorne residents.

James Edward Tucker Must Go!!! Since the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, institutions, organizations and companies are joining forces to recognize that black lives do matter. Some are coming to the forefront, admitting the lack of insight and reception to the pain and suffering of the Black community pertaining to racism. Others are taking action to combat discrimination so that equality is ensured. Known for its racist practices, actions, and attitude, Maryland School for the Deaf located in Frederick and Columbia, had a VLOG posted by its superintendent, James E. Tucker, claiming that black lives mattered. The Black Deaf and hard of hearing community, consisting of former and current students, their parents and alumni, found his words unbelievable. In addition to being the culprit of their trauma, Tucker is the reason racism was and still is heavily embedded into the school. Black and brown Deaf students were stripped of their freedom to learn and grow in an academic environment committed to safeguard the students from harm. Majority of their counterparts- the white Deaf kids- did not face hardships or dealt with unimaginable pain they did. Black and brown employees were forced to work in fear. Many racist incidents involving Black and brown Deaf students and employees have been reported and deliberately ignored by the white employees and the school’s Board of Trustees who were tasked to protect the students. This has been going on for more than twenty years, TWENTY-EIGHT to be exact. After TWENTY-EIGHT years of humiliation and pain, the Black Deaf/HoH community DEMANDS that this stops now. This must stop with accountability and acknowledgement. Tucker MUST be held accountable for his actions he REFUSES to acknowledge, and the Board CONTINUES to allow him to get away with. Recently, Tucker made a VLOG announcing his retirement, detailing what he would be doing without issuing an apology that has been owed to the community all these years. His retirement cannot happen because it will give him permission to get away with facing discipline for the pain and suffering he forced upon the Black and brown students and employees- current and former. In addition, he will leave the school comfortably with a pension, earning money for his contribution to racism. If James Edward Tucker was a black man, he would have been investigated and terminated immediately if there were MOUNTS of letters and reports against him. He had TWENTY-EIGHT years of opportunity to change. He refused, using his white privilege to terrorize the Black and brown students and employees. The academic journey of the black and brown students must be protected, as they are future leaders of change. TERMINATE HIM NOW!

The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice is a call for us to transform our personal, institutional, and global thinking. We believe that culture moves before policy. We believe that culture endures beyond politics. We wrote this Call because our work in culture and arts is inextricably linked to larger social movements for change. We invite you to adopt and adapt this Call to your specific contexts to hold leaders, policy-makers, and institutions — and ourselves — responsible, accountable, and transparent in achieving equity and justice. In these unprecedented times, as justice movements converge, many of us have asked ourselves what the stakes are for the culture we want to advance. We concluded that we needed to change the conditions under which we artists and culture bearers labor and live. The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice points us toward new understandings of how we together can build a culture that is inclusive, sustainable, and leads us toward justice and freedom for all. We urge timetables that are immediate and demonstrate change that is not aspirational, but concrete, measurable and visible within 1-3 budget cycles. We offer this Call in the spirit of advancing accountability and collective responsibility, and urge you to activate these ideas within your work and our shared future. // El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial es una convocatoria para que transformemos nuestro modo de pensar personal, institucional y global. Creemos que la cultura cambia antes que la política. Creemos que la cultura perdura más allá de la política. Escribimos este llamado porque nuestro trabajo dentro de la cultura y las artes está inextricablemente entrelazado con los movimientos sociales para el cambio. Les invitamos a adoptar y adaptar este Llamado para sus contextos particulares para responsabilizar a líderes, creadores de políticas e instituciones, al igual que nosotres mismes, por lograr la equidad y la justicia de forma responsable y transparente. En estos tiempos sin precedentes, conforme convergen los movimientos por la justicia, muches de nosotres nos hemos preguntado qué está en juego para la cultura que queremos avanzar. Hemos concluido que tenemos que cambiar las condiciones bajo las cuales nosotres les artistas y portadores de cultura trabajamos y vivimos. El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial nos dirige hacia nuevos entendimientos sobre cómo, juntos, podemos crear una cultura que es inclusiva, sustentable y que nos lleva hacía la justicia y la liberación para todes. Exigimos cronogramas que son inmediatos y que demuestran un cambio que no es aspiracional y que, más bien, es concreto, medible y visible dentro de 1 a 3 ciclos presupuestarios. Ofrecemos este Llamado en aras de avanzar la transparencia y la responsabilidad colectiva y urgimos que activen estas ideas dentro de su trabajo y dentro de nuestro futuro compartido.

As the United States faces a reckoning over its enduring racial caste system, a critical new front for civil rights was opened against the original system of caste that has its origins in South Asia. In June, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing launched a lawsuit against the tech company Cisco for caste-based discrimination toward an Indian American engineer, John Doe, who claims he was harassed by two co-workers and faced retaliation after complaining to the company. This is not the first instance of caste discrimination in the U.S. and unfortunately won’t be the last. Equality Labs continues to receive first-hand responses from employees in tech, suggesting that the culture of discrimination against Dalits is prevalent and goes beyond the office to the caste networks in the institutions and communities where companies recruit. “One engineer reported to Equality Labs that her department supervisor discovered she was part of the Valmiki Dalit caste whose members, called “manual scavengers,” were often forced to clean up excrement. Her supervisor shared this with her team and they started ridiculing her, going so far as to asking her to clean up after team meetings. She left that workplace after she was sexually harassed by one of her supervisors, which she also believes was targeted towards her in connection to the pervasiveness of the culture of caste-based sexual violence against Dalit women in India.” (Washington Post, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, July 2020) “‘Higher’ caste Indians use the knowledge of a person’s caste to place him or her on the social hierarchy despite professional qualifications. I usually ignored these conversations,” another Dalit worker added. “If they knew I was Dalit, it could ruin my career.” (NYTimes, Yashica Dutt, July 2020) Why is this important? Like race and gender protections, caste protections would provide accountability for instances of caste discrimination, which are not limited to Silicon Valley. Our 2018 Caste in the US report shows that a staggering 67 percent of Dalits in the Indian diaspora admitted to facing caste-based harassment at the workplace.