Two years ago, in a split 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key component of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing states with a history of voter discrimination to introduce voting laws, effectively disenfranchising millions of minority and low-income voters. The preclearance requirement would impact states that have implemented procedures requiring photo ID, birth certificates and other documentation; states which redistrict by “packing” communities of color and language minorities into a single district; and require states to provide fair and equitable distribution of voting equipment, poll workers and voting hour opportunities. The bill would also expand polling locations on Indian lands. Stand with Color of Change and People Demanding Action and tell your members of Congress: Support the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, which protects millions of minority and low-income voters from laws meant to suppress the vote and disenfranchise voters.

Since 2015, we've organized to have four statues removed in New Orleans. And in May of this year, Mayor Mitch Landrieu delivered a powerful speech that supported the notion that there space for reverence of the Confederacy in New Orleans. We must continue organizing until all property dedicated to people who fought to keep slavery is renamed and repurposed. Two weeks ago, white supremacists swarmed the streets in Charlottesville armed with lit torches and blunt objects to terrorize Black people. This modern-day lynching mob crowded around a Confederate statue, and in honor of the false idol, killed a peaceful protester and critically wounded dozens more. There is no doubt that white supremacists use these statues to validate their racism and violence. Now more than ever, we have to remove all Confederate symbols and emblems to white supremacy. Our local government has a responsibility to protect its Black communities from the kind of terrorism and bloodshed that rocked Charlottesville. The New Orleans family is defined by the diverse, inclusive nature of its culture in spaces both public and private. Public spaces are for everyone and should not be used to promote the abhorrent views of the white ruling class to uphold symbols of Black oppression. Not only that but our tax dollars should no longer be used to maintain these structures. We walk to the river, to work, to school, to visit a friend, and look up into the faces of men who traded human beings as property and fought to protect the ability to do so. There is no basis to support the continued littering of our public squares and buildings with monuments, street names and public schools named after white supremacists. These memorials only serve as constant reminders of the past and present domination of black people by the rich white ruling class. They are insulting to anyone with a sense of history and who supports progress and democracy. These symbols also represent present day reality where most decisions and government policy are determined by those who accept white supremacist notions that Black people and all non-white people are less and deserve less than white people. Some people believe that the struggle to remove white supremacist symbols is a deflection from the more meaningful struggle to end present day discrimination. They couldn’t be further from the truth. These monuments and signs are so much more than symbols of bygone days. They are active parts of an abusive system in which intentionally unequal distribution of power and resources goes unchecked. The white supremacist ideas represented by these symbols permeate USA society and result in actual discrimination and murder. That is why policemen with white supremacist conceptions of young Black people can murder them so easily. This is why the so-called criminal justice system can practice mass incarceration of Black people with the approval of most white people. This is why we have over 50% unemployment for Black men in New Orleans and there is no editorial outcry by the white ruling class press. If our New Orleans family is to have a chance at real racial reconciliation, we must remove all obvious symbols of white supremacy to show our collective will to address entrenched systemic oppression, which is wreaking havoc in the minds, homes, and neighborhoods of our families citywide. Now is our opportunity to be proactive. All over the USA, especially in the South, progressive Black people and their allies are leading struggles to rid the South of the symbols of treason, domestic terrorism and racist oppression. State governments in South Carolina and Alabama have removed the Rebel Flag. The Memphis city council has voted to remove the statue and the body of confederate General and founder of the KKK, Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Georgia NAACP has called for the removal of the Stone Mountain memorial to the confederacy.

Former tennis star James Blake was tackled and violently slammed to the ground by Officer Frascatore of the New York City Police Department. Not only was he innocent, the crime the Officer thought he was responsible for — identity theft — in no way required violent policing. It’s a question that has to be asked: would the officer have tackled and slammed James Blake on the ground if he was a white Wall Street banker accused of a financial crime? But it turns out that this isn’t the first time that Officer Frascatore has done something like this. According to an investigation by WNYC, over a seven-month period of 2013, Officer Frascatore was the subject of five civilian complaints. He has also been named in two federal lawsuits — including for falsely arresting, beating, and pepper spraying a Queens man. He even once yanked open a car door during a traffic stop, punched the driver in the mouth, and then sued the driver for biting his fist! NYPD Commissioner William Bratton needs to fire Officer Frascatore immediately. James Blake hit the nail on the head when he said: “I don't think this person should ever have a badge or a gun again.” When officers like Frascatore are allowed to continue in their jobs despite a history of excessive force, it is sadly often just a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed. What if James Blake had attempted to fight back against what he could easily have seen as an unprovoked attack, from a plainclothes officer with no visible badge or gun? James Blake was lucky -- after 15 minutes, he was released from handcuffs with cuts and bruises. And as a high-profile sports figure, he can tell his story to the world. But If this can happen to James Blake, what is happening every day to Black and brown New Yorkers who aren't as famous, and who end up injured, in jail, or even dead as a result of overpolicing? This has to stop -- Commissioner William Bratton needs to step it up and do whatever it takes to fix this over-policing epidemic. Demand that he take action, starting with firing Officer Frascatore and then conducting a review of all other officers with a documented history of excessive force.

My name is Mary Watkines and I'm a leader and founding member of OUR Walmart in Washington state. Over the last month over 30 new associates have joined from stores in Federal Way, Renton, and Auburn. I have spent this time advocating for increased minimum wage in WA state, drawing strength from my faith in God and the power of workers to make change. I work hard every day in my store and did my best to model dignity in the workplace. I returned to work on April 15th, after being disciplined for wearing an OUR Walmart pin, alongside local community members in prayer. I also presented a resolution related to executive pay at the Walmart Shareholder meeting in Bentonville in June, bringing attention to the income inequality that we as Walmart workers experience firsthand. However, two weeks ago, I was fired. As an organizer and mentor to many associates in my store and beyond, it is clear I am an ongoing target of management. This time, I was pulled in from my break by my store manager and asset protection and given termination papers including a money order paying me up to the minute I stepped off the floor. My store manager said that the directive to fire me had come from above. I believe that Walmart, the largest employer of African-Americans in the country, has the opportunity to make a difference in our lives, but instead is choosing to retaliate against people like me who speak out. This is not the first time Walmart has tried to fire me unjustly, but I need your help to get re-hired, again. I have already spoken with my store manager, district manager and a member of HR from Walmart's Regional office but now I need your help.

The lives of Black women are consistently devalued, criminalized, and abused by police in the United States. In the case of Yuvette Henderson, this abuse extended to murder. She is not alone; Tarika Wilson, Yvette Smith, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones—just to name a few—have all been killed by police. In the early afternoon of Tuesday, February 3, 2015, Yuvette Henderson, a 38-year-old mother of four children and one grandchild, was shot and killed by the Emeryville Police Department on the Oakland-Emeryville border of California. Officers shot Yuvette Henderson after responding to a report from Home Depot regarding an alleged theft where the suspect appeared to be armed and had suffered a head injury, requesting an ambulance.(1) Eyewitness accounts of the shooting contradict the statements released by Emeryville police. Witnesses say they saw Yuvette with both hands in the air, waving down a bus when she was shot and did not report seeing her with a gun. Police state that they asked Yuvette Henderson to drop her weapon and, when she refused, shot and killed her. Police have never stated that Yuvette Henderson pointed a gun at them. Yuvette Henderson fired no shots.(2) Michelle Shepherd and Warren Williams shot Yuvette with three weapons, including an AR-15 rifle—a military-grade weapon.(3) As the human rights violations in Ferguson exposed to the country last summer, police departments across the nation are abusing their access to military equipment and targeting communities of color. This misuse of power is as present here in the S.F. Bay Area as it is elsewhere, made painfully clear with the killing of Yuvette. Repeated abuse of state power and increased state terror pose a serious threat to the human and civil rights of all people, including the residents of Emeryville and its surrounding area. The city of Emeryville spans a mere two-square miles and has a population of 10,000 inhabitants. The presence of military weapons in a city this small only serves to deepen the divide between surrounding communities and law enforcement. Why does a police department require the use of military assault weapons when serving its community? We believe that the police should not be at war with the people they are meant to protect. Enough is enough! State terrorism must end. Emeryville Mayor Ruth Atkin and the city council must ban the use of all military-grade assault weapons from the Emeryville PD and ensure that all such weapons removed from the Emeryville PD. 1. "Black Lives Matter activists shut down Emeryville Home Depot for 5 hours, demand answers in police murder of Yuvette Henderson," San Francisco Bay View 2-23-2015 http://sfbayview.com/2015/02/black-lives-matter-activists-shut-down-emeryville-home-depot-for-5-hours-demand-answers-in-police-murder-of-yuvette-henderson/ 2. "Anti Police-Terror Project Holds Rally and Vigil for Yuvette Henderson," Anti-Police Terror Project 2-20-2015 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/02/20/18768819.php 3. "#BlackLivesMatter Activists Shut Down Emeryville Home Depot; Demand Surveillance Tapes Of Fatal Police Shooting," CBS 02-21-2015 http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/02/21/blacklivesmatter-activists-shut-down-emeryville-home-depot-demand-surveillance-tap

The lives of Black women are consistently devalued, criminalized, and abused by police in the United States. In the case of Yuvette Henderson, this abuse extended to murder. She is not alone; Tarika Wilson, Yvette Smith, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones—just to name a few—have all been killed by police. In the early afternoon of Tuesday, February 3, 2015, Yuvette Henderson, a 38-year-old mother of four children and one grandchild, was shot and killed by the Emeryville Police Department on the Oakland-Emeryville border of California. Officers shot Yuvette Henderson after responding to a report from Home Depot regarding an alleged theft where the suspect appeared to be armed and had suffered a head injury, requesting an ambulance.(1) Eyewitness accounts of the shooting contradict the statements released by Emeryville police. Witnesses say they saw Yuvette with both hands in the air, waving down a bus when she was shot and did not report seeing her with a gun. Police state that they asked Yuvette Henderson to drop her weapon and, when she refused, shot and killed her. Police have never stated that Yuvette Henderson pointed a gun at them. Yuvette Henderson fired no shots.(2) One of the officers was wearing a body cam at the time, which was turned off during the shooting. He remembered to turn it on AFTER they killed her.(3) Yuvette sustained a head injury while inside Home Depot, yet the events leading up to this incident have been obscured because Home Depot, Oakland PD, and Emeryville PD have refused to release any related video footage. Furthermore, Yuvette was shot within feet of Extra Space Storage’s surveillance cameras, the tapes from which are also being withheld from the public with the police claiming that the surveillance video system in this brand new storage center was “broken” on the day was killed. Why did Yuvette leave Home Depot with a head injury and what happened during the moments before she was shot by a military assault rifle? We believe that in order for there to be a just investigation, the videos of her shooting and anything leading up to it must be publicly released. On February 21, Anti-Police Terror Project, Asians4BlackLives, and Xicana Moratorium Project activists shut down Emeryville Home Depot by locking down several entrances to the building. They remained there for five hours—the length that Yuvette was left lying on the street—demanding answers about her murder. Justice for Yuvette! Join us in putting pressure on Emeryville Chief of Police James, Home Depot, and Extra Space Storage to immediately release ALL the video footage related to the shooting of Yuvette Henderson. 1. Black Lives Matter activists shut down Emeryville Home Depot for 5 hours, demand answers in police murder of Yuvette Henderson. San Francisco Bay View 2-23-2015 http://sfbayview.com/2015/02/black-lives-matter-activists-shut-down-emeryville-home-depot-for-5-hours-demand-answers-in-police-murder-of-yuvette-henderson/ 2. "Anti Police-Terror Project Holds Rally and Vigil for Yuvette Henderson" Anti-Police Terror Project 2-20-2015 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/02/20/18768819.php

UPDATE 8/22/15: Today activists from our team raised a large banner obscuring the mountain with the message “Heritage of Hate: Coke stop sponsoring racism” during a confederate rally in support of Stone Mountain and the confederate flag. https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.colorofchange.org/images/CokeBanner400pxtall.JPG On the evening of November 25, 1915, a group of 16 men clad in robes and hoods ascended to the top of Stone Mountain, the largest mass of exposed granite in the world, 15 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia. Once on top, the men ignited a flaming cross, signaling the second coming of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been dormant for 40 years. The events of that night set decades of white supremacist violence and terror by the KKK in motion, with Stone Mountain at the center. One hundred years later, and the mountain has been transformed into Stone Mountain Park, Georgia’s number one tourist attraction. The park-- which draws an estimated 4 million visitors per year, and includes Coca-Cola as one of it’s biggest corporate sponsors-- features several confederate memorials, including a reconstructed Antebellum Plantation, a “Confederate Hall,” and a Civil War museum. The most famous and prominent attraction however is the face of the mountain itself, which is carved with the image of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis riding on horseback. Work on the carving began in 1916, but was delayed for decades until the 1950s when the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum. Segregationists in Georgia hoped the monument would serve as a reminder of White Supremacy, and in 1958 the state of Georgia purchased the mountain for $2million, paving the way for the sculpture’s completion. It remains there today as a reminder of our state’s brutal history. The recent spotlight on Confederate symbols across the south, combined with the growing backlash against the Movement for Black Lives, has made it clear that there is no place for symbols of hate and division on state property. By investing millions of dollars into the park through sponsorships, Coca-Cola is condoning the racism and hatred that these symbols represent to so many people. Please join us in calling on Coca-Cola to stop funding racism in their home state by dropping their sponsorship of Stone Mountain Park.

The Black Lives Matter movement is working to dismantle structural and institutional racism and white supremacy. Unfortunately the police and the current criminal justice system serve and uphold these institutions. It is our duty and our right to demand accountability from our criminal justice system, and from the police that are supposed to protect and serve us, but instead terrorize, harm and kill us. We will not remain silent while police remain violent and we must protest in order to affect change.

Online hate speech leads to violence in the real world. Less than two months ago, nine people were killed as they worshipped at a historically black church Charleston, South Carolina. The young man who murdered them did so as a result of his indoctrination by various websites espousing racial hatred. The website Stormfront has already been linked to upwards of 100 murders. Despite recently banning CoonTown, its largest "subreddit," or forum, dedicated to anti-Black racism, Reddit still hosts tens of thousands of white nationalists and other racist activists in the many racist subreddits that remain, and CoonTown users have already announced plans to re-form. These users recently began outpacing Stormfront users in measures of engagement like subscriber growth and page views, which spells danger; in its report on murderers linked to Stormfront, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that more time spent on hate sites was a common characteristic of those who went on to kill. Reddit validates hate speech by giving it space on one of the largest, best-known websites on the web. White supremacist groups have also recognized the site as a fertile breeding ground for their ideologies, and have provided a template for using Reddit to recruit new blood to their cause. The "containment" strategy that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced earlier this month is not keeping hate contained; racist content shows up all over the site, and subscribers to hate subreddits continue to harass other users, particularly users on Black-interest subreddits. Reddit has repeatedly shown that it will not act to protect women or people of color without public and financial pressure to do so. Child porn and other forms of non-consensual pornography, such as revenge porn, were only recently banned, and only after a barrage of negative media attention and celebrity involvement. Despite publicly announcing a crack down on subreddits that harass others and promote violence, Reddit continues to look the other way as subscribers to its racist subreddits harass users of color, celebrate violence against black and Jewish people, and call for racial holy war. With the momentum building and in response to pressure from activists and supporters like yourself, Reddit announced August 5th that it would ban some of its racist subreddits, including "CoonTown." However, in doing so, Reddit didn't articulate a clear hate speech policy, and made no moves to stop the violent anti-black racism that dominates the site. They banned CoonTown because it became an "annoyance" to them. Reddit's announcement was so egregious that Gizmodo published a piece titled "Reddit Bans /r/Coontown For All the Wrong Reasons." Reddit needs to see that they cannot hide their hate problem; if they do not address it head on, their advertisers will face a consumer backlash that will force them to #DumpReddit.

Sandra Bland was days from starting a new job with her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, when DPS Trooper Brian Encinia pulled her over, alleging she had failed to signal a lane change. The incident was so minor that Encinia was ready to end it with a written warning. But instead of giving her the warning and letting her go, in a split second Encinia became enraged that an African American woman dared exercise her rights. He then tried to pull her out of her car and threatened to taser her. “I’m going to light you up,” he said. Encinia then threw Bland to the ground and planted his knee on her back. She was arrested, and after spending three days in jail, she died in her cell. Bland's story of being targeted by police and treated inhumanely, unfortunately, is a familiar one with Texans of color. We don't have to tolerate this. We can fight back to get the police force we deserve. A police force that keeps us safe, not one that endangers our lives. A police force that keeps our streets safe, not one that pulls us over without cause, based solely on the color of our skin. A police force that treats us all equally. By signing this petition, you're engaging in the fight for the police force we need, that we deserve.

Online hate speech leads to violence in the real world. Just last month, nine people were killed as they worshipped at a historically black church Charleston, South Carolina. The young man who murdered them did so as a result of his indoctrination by various websites espousing racial hatred. The website Stormfront has already been linked to more than 100 murders. Reddit's largest "subreddit," or forum, dedicated to anti-Black racism is one of its fastest growing, and is on track to surpass Stormfront in traffic this summer (if it hasn't already). It is only a matter of time before Reddit's white supremacists begin taking violent action as well. Reddit validates hate speech by giving it space on one of the largest, best-known websites on the web. White supremacist groups have also recognized the site as a fertile breeding ground for their ideologies, and have provided a template for using Reddit to recruit new blood to their cause. The "containment" strategy that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced earlier this month is not keeping hate contained; racist content shows up all over the site, and subscribers to hate subreddits on Reddit continue to harass other users, particularly users on Black-interest subreddits. Reddit has repeatedly shown that it will not act to protect women or people of color without public and financial pressure to do so. Child porn and other forms of non-consensual pornography, such as revenge porn, were only recently banned, and only after a barrage of negative media attention and celebrity involvement. Despite publicly announcing a crack down on subreddits that harass others and promote violence, Reddit continues to look the other way as subscribers to its racist subreddits harass users of color, celebrate violence against black and Jewish people, and call for racial holy war. Reddit needs to see that they cannot hide their hate problem; if they do not address it head on, their advertisers will face a consumer backlash that will force them to #DumpReddit.

We should not have to attend schools or walk streets named after traitors who fought to keep others in bondage or profiteers who grew their wealth and power on the backs of those they saw as less than human. They are not heroes! Naming institutions and streets after Confederate Generals and slave peddlers contributes to the myth of the noble Confederacy and the romanticizing of slavery as being "not that bad." This works to harm Black Americans by creating a false perception of just how far anti-Black racism reaches from past actions to present policies. It stands in the way of having honest dialogue about what system level changes need to happen to truly give America the courage to battle entrenched racism and truly become exceptional. It's bad enough that many black youth attend this school and are faced with the reminder of the dark times when they were considered property. This must end. It is time that we honor the lives and deaths of those who came before us in the fight for the humanity of Black people. #HonorThem