WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY? The beautiful (and daunting) thing about the internet, is that, especially as Black women and survivors, we are able to tell write and control our own narratives, develop content that is for us and by us, network, organize, speak out against white supremacist heteronormative patriarchy and build community. Under current Title II protections of net neutrality, companies cannot block access to content. Without this protection all of us are subject to a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech and a continuation of the systematic silencing and invisibilization of our voices, our voices that are challenging the status quo and most of the time interferes with any capitalistic bottom line. In 2015, the FCC passed net neutrality regulations classifying Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T as common carriers. Common carriers are similar to utility companies or water companies; the internet is a public good. Carriers were prohibited from speeding up, slowing down or blocking content, applications or websites of consumers. Ajit Pai, a former FCC Commissioner, was appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in January 2017 and Net Neutrality was repealed on June 11, 2018. How The Loss of Net Neutrality Impacts Black Women and Those at the Margins? 1. ISPs are no longer classified as common carriers. Without this classification, they are free to block content that competes or interferes with the company's bottom line. For example, from 2011 - 2013 AT&T, Sprint and Verizon blocked the usage of Google Wallet because the cohort was developing their own payment app and wanted to stifle competition. 2. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the only Black voice on the five-member FCC, said, “Net neutrality is the First Amendment for the internet.” A few large companies will now be able to control the market, effectively barring smaller companies (especially those led by Black folks) and innovative disruptive technologies from the internet. 4. Fast and slow lanes can be created. Want to Netflix and chill using Verizon without interruption? There's an extra fee for that. Want to Skype your family in Haiti? Can't do it from the Comcast slow lane, you have to upgrade. Need to do research for a school paper? You can only use certain sites because the fast unlimited lane is too expensive. We know that any gains that the State and current Administration stand to accomplish from the dissolution of Net Neutrality is going to come at the expense of Black, Indigenous, and Brown folks, especially women - and this is exactly why it is imperative that we fight back.

This is important because this will help show that Safeway loves their customers and they do not support racism.

California Bail Reform has been hijacked and we must stop a dangerous bill. Last year, thousands of people stood up to demand real bail reform in California by supporting Senate Bill 10, a bill that Senator Bob Hertzberg championed. But this week, Senator Hertzberg is rushing a completely gutted version of SB 10 to a vote on the CA assembly floor, and it's bad. After nearly 2 years of advocacy and grassroots groups fighting for real bail reform, Senator Hertzberg has yielded to pressure from California’s Judicial Council introducing new language that will lead to more people locked up and entrenched racial bias in CA’s pretrial system. Yes, that Judicial Council. The very same council that had that horrific Black-face, incarceration-themed office party last year. This new bill places all the power in their hands. In a bait and switch, the CA Judicial Council and Probation Department urged Senator Hertzberg to gut the bill and introduce a new scheme. SB 10 now replaces money bail with a system that makes it easier to incarcerate legally innocent people. This is not at all the bail reform our communities deserve and have long fought for. We want to end the predatory money bail industry, but not like this. This new SB 10 will completely derail any progress in the fight to truly end pretrial injustice in the state of California and will have national ramifications. We don’t need legislation that uses a different mechanism to keep communities of color incarcerated -- we need real reform. Our fight must grow louder and stronger.

A broad-based coalition of well- respected Detroit organizations hereby express concern for the future direction of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History following the abrupt departure of beloved CEO Juanita Moore. We, the community groups and individuals who cherish the Museum for its dedication to serving our cultural and educational interests and aspirations, demand for representation on the governing board and in the search for the CEO successor. CAMPAIGN ORGANIZERS: Detroit Organizations Supporting Black Legacy and Community Involvement of Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Alkebu-lan Village Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Detroit Chapter Blackness Unlimited Broadside Lotus Press City of Detroit Council of Elders Conant Gardens Property Owners Association Detroit Black Community Food Security Network Detroit Independent Freedom Schools Movement Detroit MLK Day Committee Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Council In the Tradition Jazz Band Inner City Sub Center James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership Keep the Vote NO Takeover Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Million Man Alumni Association National Conference of Black Lawyers, Michigan Chapter NCobra Reparations Operation Get Down Pan-African Newswire Petty Propolis Pitch Black Poetry Timbuktu Academy We the People of Detroit West Side Unity Church

According to NBC Washington: "Metro is considering providing separate trains for opposing groups when demonstrators come to Washington, D.C., for a 'Unite the Right' rally Aug. 12, the chairman of the transit agency's board said." I can't believe we need to state this, but DC residents REFUSE to accommodate the violent and repugnant white nationalists who want to bring their hate from Charlottesville (and around the country) to DC. White supremacists are not welcome here. Most importantly: We stand in solidarity with WMATA workers -- especially people of color -- in opposing this concept. The ATU Local 689's president said: "Local 689 is proud to provide transit to everyone for the many events we have in D.C... We draw the line at giving special accommodation to hate groups and hate speech, especially considering that the courts granted Metro the ability to deny ads on buses and trains that are ‘issue-oriented,’ we find it hypocritical for Mr. Wiedefeld to make these unprecedented special accommodations for a hate group."

Stop Vigilante Justice against Black Children District Attorney Faith Johnson is caving to the outrage of a lynch mob. Six black kids are the target of this hatred. We demand that this vigilantism end immediately The District Attorney’s Office recently announced that it will seek to try the teens accused of car theft and robbery as adults, after the victims demanded “aggressive” retribution and organized more than two thousand people in Dallas around one goal: trying and locking up children as adults. Vengeance doesn't work as criminal justice policy. And it is not going to make our community safer. We know that kids tried as adults are more likely to commit new crimes, commit them more frequently, and commit more violent offenses than kids treated like the kids they are. Children are fundamentally different from adults. Research shows that kids who commit even serious crimes can and frequently do grow out of intransigent behavior as their brains mature. It is not a matter of leniency - youth need a system designed to rehabilitate youth. DA Johnson’s decision is not about justice or community safety. Rather, it is about obeying the demands of those who have the power and social capital to demand we throw away the lives of children. If these children were rich or white, would the outrage be as swift and the demands so damning? It is District Attorney Faith Johnson’s job to recognize and follow the course of action that protects everyone and best serves the interest of our community, not to respond to the demands of her rich constituents at the expense of black children. Racist mob action has no place in our justice system. D.A. Johnson must do her job and take a principled, common-sense approach to community safety, one that treats children like children. We demand that D.A. Johnson withdraw her motion to transfer these children to adult court. *Joe Estelle is a member of the Texas Organizing Project, and sits on their Right 2 Justice committee.

This fall the state of Louisiana has an opportunity to guarantee a fairer criminal justice system for the people of Louisiana. The Louisiana State Legislature has approved a ballot initiative to end split jury verdicts, requiring a unanimous jury decision to secure a felony conviction. Split jury verdicts in Louisiana is a policy that traces its legacy back to Jim Crow, now we can act to abolish this law. After years of organizing from community advocates the Louisiana Senate has placed a referendum on the ballot that would require a unanimous jury verdict for a conviction, now it is our responsibility to end this Jim Crow policy. Louisiana is one of only two states that do not require a unanimous jury for a felony conviction. Prosecutors in Louisiana have been taking advantage of this law born out of racism and unsurprisingly the result is a state that sees Black people incarcerated at terrible rates. This fall the people of Louisiana will be able to dismiss this policy born of Jim Crow. This Fall presents a historic opportunity for the Black people here in the state now. 48 other states and the federal government require unanimous verdicts and we should, too. This fall we can make sure Louisiana moves past the policies of Jim Crow. We can vote this Jim Crow policy out this fall, sign now to take the pledge and make sure to tell your family and friends to do so as well. Get registered and help us make Louisiana a more just place for everyone.

I, the undersigned, am aware that Therèse Patricia Okoumou was found guilty at her trial on December 17th of three federal misdemeanors: trespassing, disorderly conduct and interference with government agency functions. Despite the real prospect of spending 18 months in prison, “We stand on the right side of history. I am not discouraged,” Patricia said after being sentenced. Our Lady Liberty remains steadfast in her mission to continue campaigning against the immoral and inhumane family separation policies of the Trump administration. Since Patricia's trial, new information has revealed that the extent of the Trump Administration's outrageous “zero tolerance” policy, which it has consistently LIED to the court and the American people about, is even worse than previously known. The federal government has ripped apart tender-aged children from nursing mothers. It has flown thousands of young children across the country away from their families and placed them in cages. Some of The Children are being forcibly drugged and others sexually molested in internment camps. There have been deaths of asylum seekers, as young as 7 years old, under the care and custody of border patrol agents and Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). As part of our basic right to protest, outlined in the constitution, Patricia climbed the Statue of Liberty to increase awareness of this injustice, and I stand in solidarity with her! When we fell low as a country, Patricia went as high as she could to raise consciousness about these atrocities.

Hi, I am Zaviona woodruff and I live in Kalamazoo Michigan. My family has overcome so much such as homelessness and the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship will make a college education for me a reality. I learned that I will not be reviving the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship because my family experienced and overcame homelessness only to learn that we were mislead about still living in the Kalamazoo district. Even though I still went to Kalamazoo Public Schools and should have been eligible, Kalamazoo Promise Executive Director Bob Jorth denied my scholarship on a technicality even though they look at each student on a case by case basis. Without the Kalamazoo Promise which gives students like me who went to Kalamazoo public schools to have their tuition completely, or partially, paid off, I can't afford my college dream on my own. My dad is a single father to my two younger sisters and me. He never graduated high school; in fact he went to Loy Norrix and dropped out but went back for his GED. He did not go to college but has always stresses the importance of it. He has jumped from job to job trying to make a safe, stable home for us though sometimes we have hardly enough to get by. While we have always had a roof above our heads,sometimes my dad just didn't have enough for much else. College, always his dream for us, is going to be something I will have to find a way to pay for myself. In the middle of my 10th grade year, my family and I lived in a homeless shelter after we were evicted from our home. At the homeless shelter we were, thankfully, still in the KPS District and had a bus to and from school. We spent about 2-4 months at the homeless shelter. We even spent Christmas there. Stay at the shelter was an experience that has taught me that people can not take for granted the possessions that they have. I had to share a room with my father and two little sisters. Imagine-if you have siblings- sharing a room with them and your parents. There we two bathrooms one upstairs one downstairs. These bathrooms were shared with everyone in the shelter. After a certain time you had to in your room, lights off really. No more roaming around or getting cold water from the refrigerator. After staying in the shelter for those months, my dad found an apartment complex called Big Bend. He applied for a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment for the four of us. The leasing agent employee there assured my dad that the apartment complex was indeed in the KPS district. They lied. Big Bend is not in the Kalamazoo Public Schools District; these apartments are in the Comstock District. Imagine our disbelief and disappointment when we were denied a bus to and from school and were told at registration for enrollment in KPS that we lived in the Comstock District. That was my Junior year and I knew that at that point I would be losing the one thing that was going to help me get through college: the Kalamazoo Promise. Even though my family was lied to, that i continued to go to KPS, that I continued to bust my ass in school I don't get any money to help with college. I was planning on attending Oakland University this coming fall but I don't know anymore. Taking out loans could hurt me more than help me. I just wanted to share this with someone. Anyone who could help. I have so many teachers backing me up, some many people who would give recommendations. I don't know what to do.

We're the parents of Crystle Galloway. Help us get justice for our daughter, Crystle. The paramedics have their disciplinary hearing this upcoming Tuesday, July 31st. Let Fire Rescue and Hillsborough County know that they should be fired. We also hope they take steps to make sure this doesn't ever happen again to anyone. Our daughter's life is worth more than them being suspended -- Crystle might have been with us and with her two daughters and her baby son now if they had treated her like any other person. She died leaving behind a newborn after paramedics failed to give her standard care and take her in an ambulance. She was suffering complications after just giving birth. But after calling 911, she didn't get the medical help she should have had. The paramedics failed to check her vital signs. Later, they even falsified what happened by logging the call using a code meaning "Non-transport/no patient found". They should be fired, not just suspended. Our daughter had just given birth and was having complications just days after. My 7 year old granddaughter found her unconscious, slumped over. When we called 911, the paramedics didn't want to take her because they "thought we couldn't afford it". They didn't even ask if we had insurance (which we do). This is racism. When the paramedics came, they took one look at our skin color and decided they didn't want to touch her. We had to rush her ourselves but it was too late. They didn't think she looked "critical". What color do we have to be to get help? https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/Hillsborough-suspends-four-paramedics-in-treatment-of-stroke-victim-30-who-later-died_170253710

On Sunday night, Nia Wilson and her sister Letifah, were traveling home from a family event when they were viciously attacked by John Lee Cowell, a 27-year-old white male with a history of violence, at the BART MacArthur Station. "I looked back and he was wiping off his knife and stood at the stairs and just looked. From then on I was caring for my sister," said Letifah as she held her sister for the last time. Nia Wilson died at the scene. Nia had just graduated from Oakland High School. Her family said she was interested in pursuing a career in criminal justice or law. She was also a lover of makeup and dance. Letifah, described her younger sibling as "the most sweetest person on the earth" and reiterated that "she didn't do nothing to nobody" to provoke the attack. The narratives that news outlets craft about black victims of crime and the incident that claimed their lives matters. We've seen this countless times before, the power that news outlets wield in portraying victims based on images they select, influences societal perception and the actual case itself. Portraying black victims of crime as "thugs" or criminals has become standard media protocol and we are sick and tired of this shameful and despicable media tactic. We will no longer accept half-hearted apologies, we demand accountability with the firing of the editor responsible for choosing to depict Nia Wilson as a "criminal" & the creation of a new policy to ensure this never happens again. Pease sign if you agree.

In recent news, we have seen children separated from their families at the border and taken, sometimes shackled in tinted buses, to places across the country. In our own neighborhoods, Black people are whisked away in broad daylight in the back of police cars. Private prisons like GEO Group and CoreCivic have made billions separating people from their families for decades and we’re going to put a stop to it. This year, as politicians vie for elected office across the country, we remind them that we aren't asking for "change" or "hope," we are demanding ACTION; that our elected representatives put our families and safety before corporate profits. It’s time for all politicians to stop taking money from the for-profit imprisonment industry--responsible for separating families from the border, to Miami, New York, L.A, Baltimore, Detroit, and all over the country. On Sunday, July 1st, The Florida Democratic Party passed a resolution to refuse contributions from GEO Group, CoreCivic and their representative PACs and lobbyists after a months long campaign by Dream Defenders to have candidates sign a Freedom Pledge which declares candidates opposition to private prisons and immigrant detention facilities. We celebrate this win in Florida, and are now partnering with Color Of Change to make this a reality all over the country. No politician should gain political power by accepting money from companies that are responsible for separating our families.