Advocacy Alerts

Healthcare Reform

Breast Cancer Awareness

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and use the "Click Here to Give - it's FREE!" button. You can even request a daily reminder e-mail.

This doesn't cost you a thing. The site’s corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammograms in exchange for advertising.
Please tell ten friends to tell ten today!

D.C. House Voting Rights Act

You've probably heard that the U.S. Senate has voted to give the citizens of the District of Columbia a vote in the House of Representatives. Next for the D.C. House Voting Rights Act is a vote in the House. There are, however, some battles ahead when the bill is reconciled in a conference committee. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's nonvoting delegate, has asked that supporters across the country call their representatives to show support for this bill.

S. 160: District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009
HR 157: District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009
Statement from Congresswoman Norton
Contact your House Representative
Contact your Senator

DTV Transition

On Feb. 17, 2009, the way television broadcasting is transmitted over the air will change. On that date, TV stations will stop broadcasting analog signals, which are the current predominant method of transmitting TV signals throughout the U.S. The new method of TV broadcasting will be digital television (DTV).

Some 21 million households rely solely on free, over-the-air TV. And, if not prepared, they may lose access to critical emergency, news, weather, and community information.
Learn more about what can be done to prepare and even help others in the community prepare for this change at the sites below. Spread the word.

Get Ready for the DTV Transition
Transition to Digital TV
FCC – The Digital TV Transition
National Telecommunications and Information Administration

NO on Campaign Paraphernalia

When you go to the polls to cast your vote in this historic 2008 general election, make sure that you're NOT wearing campaign paraphernalia! It's being reported that, in some states, voters may run into problems if they're wearing T-shirts, hats, pins, or other items in support of their candidate. Unless you're looking for drama, it's better to be safe.
"What not to wear to the polls on Election Day"
"Leave political t-shirts at home Nov. 4, voting rights experts advise"

The following article is also informative: "Your legal right to vote, don't let it be stolen from you."

Make Sure Your Voting Voice Is Heard

The deadline for registering to vote has passed for people in most states. The issue now is to turn those registrations into actual votes. According to the Associated Press, about a third of the electorate nationwide is expected to vote early this year, thanks to expanded early voting provisions and fewer restrictions on absentee voting.
Get information on whether you can vote early in your state, how to vote by absentee ballot, or how to vote if you live overseas at the resources links below.
The National Conference of State Legislatures – Absentee and Early Voting
Overseas Vote Foundation
GoVoteAbsentee
Long Distance Voter

Rock The Vote

Voting – More Important than Ever

Voter registration deadlines are looming—some as early as October 4. PLEASE make sure you're registered. The sites below will help you. In particular, "Can I Vote?" allows you to check the registration deadline in your state, as well as verify if you're already registered and where.
In this historical presidential election, it's more important than ever that you vote and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Check out these links that can help get people registered.

Can I Vote?– A nonpartisan site created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote.
Black Youth Vote – A national grassroots coalition of organizations and individuals committed to increasing political and civic involvement among Black men and women aged 18-35.
Declare Yourself – A campaign to energize and empower a new movement of young voters.
New Voters Project – A non-partisan effort to register young people to vote and get them to the polls on Election Day.

Relay For Life

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported and that one day cancer will be eliminated.
Relay For Life is a life changing event that brings together more than 3.5 million people to...
Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer.
Remember loved ones lost to the disease.
Fight Back against a disease that takes too much.
Events are being held all across the country.
Click her to learn ways you can get involved and fight back

Anti-Affirmative Action Initiatives

Ward Connerly and the American Civil Rights Institute are at it again. They're trying to get anti-affirmative action initiatives on the November ballot in no less than five states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. According to some, these initiatives may also be an effective means of combating the surging rolls of potential Democratic voters.
Learn more about these initiatives by clicking on the following links.
"Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative Faces Charges of Fraud"
"Affirmative Action Under Attack"
"Groups Consider Challenging Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative"
"Affirmative Action Foes Push Ballot Initiatives"
ACLU
American Association for Affirmative Action
American Civil Rights Institute

“Drive-Through” Mastectomies

Several attempts have been made to get Congress to pass a bill that allows a woman and her doctor to decide if she is best off going home or staying in the hospital for at least 48 hours after having a mastectomy. So far, several bills have been introduced but have not been passed.
Learn more about what's being called the practice of “drive-through” mastectomies and the bills that have been introduced. Urge your congressional representative to take action.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure: Access to Quality Care
S. 459: Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 - Last Action: Oct 4, 2007: Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.
H.R. 758: Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 - Last Action: May 18, 2007: House Education and Labor: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
H.R. 119: Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 - Last Action: May 9, 2007: House Education and Labor: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Breast Cancer Petition

Ensure Your Voice Is Heard

The 2008 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most wide open races in recent history. Make sure you're a part of the process. REGISTER TO VOTE. Following are just a few resources that can help in that effort.
Can I Vote?  Find out if you are registered to vote and where to cast your ballot on Election Day.
NAACP Register to Vote  Download the National Voter's Registration form and get information about elections in your state.
Vote411  Voter information, including where to vote, candidate information and registration information, presented by the League of Women Voters.

HIV/AIDS in Black America

The problem of AIDS in Black America is worsening.

• 67% of newly infected women are Black
• 43% of newly infected men are Black
• 70% of newly infected teens are Black
• 55% new AIDS cases in Black America are in the South
• As of 2004, 38% of all Americans who have died of AIDS were Black

The statistics on reported cases are sobering, and we need to be unsettled by the numbers.

In conjunction with the release of a national report by the Black AIDS Institute—We're the Ones We've been waiting for: The State of AIDS in Black America and what we are doing about it!—members of the Congressional Black Caucus released an open letter calling for a mass Black mobilization to end the AIDS epidemic in Black America and the development of a national AIDS plan in the U.S.

Use the resource links below to learn more about this devastating disease. Find out where to get tested.

Our history shows that when we come together and make any issue our priority, we can work it out. We have to start protecting our babies and ourselves. This has to be important to everyone. We’ve got to stop TALKING and take ACTION.

Black AIDS Institute
The Balm In Gilead
National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
AIDS.gov

Southwick Confirmation

Outrage has been expressed over the Senate Judiciary Committee vote, in the last week before recess, confirming the long-stalled nomination of Leslie Southwick to a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Southwick’s critics have raised issue with some of his decisions as a Mississippi appeals judge.
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) helped persuade enough moderate Democrats to join her in voting to defeat a filibuster of the nomination and send it to the floor for a vote.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights president, Wade Henderson, said the confirmation “is a slap in the face to African Americans and people of good will.”
>Learn more about the vote:
“Controversial Judge Confirmed by Senate”
“Bush wins Senate confirmation of judicial nominee”
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

If so inclined, call the Senate’s main switchboard—(202) 224-3121—and let Sen. Feinstein and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) know that the Black community “saw what you did and isn’t going to forget it.”

Reauthorization of the State Child Health Insurance Program

Over 180,000 e-mails and more than 1,000 calls have been made to members of Congress urging them to provide health coverage for all of America's children. The State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expires on September 30. However, President Bush has vowed to veto a reauthorization of the SCHIP bill negotiated by the House and Senate.
Learn more about the bill and let your representatives know how you feel.
Portal for SCHIP information
President Bush's Stance on SCHIP Reauthorization
President Bush Vows To Veto SCHIP Expansion Legislation, Says Bill Puts Children's Health Coverage 'at Risk'
Children’s Defense Fund - “Your Elected Officials Need to Hear From You TODAY!”

Divided We Fail

AARP, Business Roundtable, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), have partnered on the Divided We Fail campaign. The partners are also monitoring the number of health and financial security questions being asked during the Presidential debates.
To learn more about this campaign, and the partners, click on the links below.
San Francisco Examiner, "Divided We Fail: Debates Fall Short in Addressing Health Care and Financial Security Issues"
Divided We Fail
Business Roundtable
SEIU

In case you thought the new millennium represented a new day in race relations, read about the cry for justice in the rural Louisiana town of Jena. Six Black youth—dubbed “The Jena 6”—at a predominantly white high school were arrested after a white student was injured during a fight. The altercation was a culmination of several events that began with the hanging of nooses from a tree.
To learn more and or find out what you can do, click on the links below.
Background information:
All-white jury likely to hear racial fight case in Louisiana
Racism and Resistance: The Struggle to Free The Jena Six
Injustice in Jena, Louisiana as Nooses Hang from the White Tree

To take action:
The Jena 6 online petition
The Jena 6 defense fund

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Project

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Project would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and the surrounding region. Residents would build and repair houses, schools, hospitals, parks, roads, and bridges. The civic work jobs would be in areas that include construction, plumbing, electrical, brick building, and air conditioning. If workers do not have these skills, paid apprenticeships would be provided.
The Project is similar to the WPA projects of the 1930s and early 1940s, which helped the U.S. recover from the Great Depression by employing more than 8 million Americans to build roads, parks, and other public works.
To learn more about this project, click on the links below.
The Gulf Coast Civic Works Project
Color of Change

D.C. Voting Rights

The DC Voting Rights Act (HR 1905 and S 1257) would upgrade the status of the District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate in the House to a Representative with full voting privileges. The nearly 600,000 residents pay federal income taxes and serve in the military but have never had full representation in Congress.
Click on the links below to learn more about the D.C. Voting Rights Act and how you can voice your opinion.
DC Vote
About the Senate bill
Common Cause
The Hill article

Nomination of Judge Southwick

Questioning some of his rulings, a number of civil and human rights groups are urging Democratic and GOP senators to oppose the nomination of retired Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. People For the American Way cites Southwick’s troubling record on the rights of African Americans, gays and lesbians, and workers. The court for which he’s been nominated hears cases from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Click on the links below to learn more about this nomination and how you can weigh in.
The White House nomination announcement
People For the American Way article
NAACP position on the nomination

The Genarlow Wilson Case

On June 13, 2007, Georgia Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson ordered the release of Genarlow Wilson, convicted of aggravated child molestation for a consensual sexual act with another teen. Judge Wilson (no relation) called the sentence a “miscarriage of justice” and also ordered that Wilson will not be placed on the Georgia sex offender registry.
However, within hours of that decision, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed for an appeal, meaning that the Georgia Supreme Court will now determine Wilson’s fate. Baker declined to agree to bond. A hearing has been scheduled for July.
Find out more about this case and what you can do at the links below.
Mr. Wilson's mother and attorney talk to Tavis
ABC News story: “Man Waits in Prison Despite Court's Release”
Genarlow Wilson's Legal Defense Fund

Immigration Reform

Debate continues over the bipartisan immigration proposal negotiated with the White House. Make sure your voice is heard. Learn as much as you can about both the House and Senate bills. Then, contact your congressional representatives—in the House and Senate.
Click on the following links to learn more and for contact information.
Senate bill information
House bill information
Background information on both bills
General information on writing to your representatives
Contact information for the U.S. Senate
Contact information for the U.S. House of Representatives

All Healthy Children Act

It's time for our communities to "concentrate on us." Congressman Bobbie Scott (D-VA) has sponsored a bill, HR 1688, which would guarantee the 9,000,000 uninsured children and pregnant women access to the health care they need.
Click on the following links to learn more about the All Healthy Children Act and what you can do to make America better.
Children's Defense Fund
Gov Track
Black America Web

Divest for Darfur

Divestment has been identified as a critical strategy to work for change in Darfur. Specifically, a campaign is being waged to force the companies Fidelity and Berkshire Hathaway to withdraw investments from Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Click on the following links to learn more about the Divest for Darfur strategy, the launch of the campaign, and what you can do to help.
Divest for Darfur
Fidelity Out of Sudan!
Sudan Divestment Task Force