Letter of Concer-Section 5 VRA

Senator Dick Durbin,

 

Section 5 of The Voter’s Rights Act should not be lifted, for it has served a supreme purpose and needs to be maintained.  It is not a question of whether or not the 16 states with a history of racial discrimination, especially concerning voting, are beyond those years of discrimination.  It is a question of do we truly, as a nation and as rational people, believe that racism is fully behind us?  I do not believe so. 

                It may be sad to think that as a nation we still need to have our hand held on issues such as discrimination, especially based on race, but we do.  With the many incidents of prejudice against Hispanic aliens and even citizens it is not farfetched to believe that some states may discriminate in voting registration and voting acts.  Also, in the past few years children are still dying due to racial profiling; if children are still being racially profiled then people attempting to vote can surely be racially profiled especially in an effort to influence a state’s outcome.

                There have already been significant steps in eliminating the minority vote.  For example, Florida and the disenfranchisement of ex-felons; ex-felons could possibly be headed into a trap of voter’s fraud.  Tampa Florida for instance is a place where people desperately need a voice in government. Twenty-six percent of the population is black, and nearly one in five city residents lives below the poverty line. A July report from the Sentencing Project shows that Florida has the distinction of being the felony disenfranchisement capital of the nation, with more than a million of its citizens struck from the rolls. Nearly a quarter of all African-Americans of voting age in Florida are affected by the felon laws, as are one in thirteen black adults nationally. Nearly 8 percent of African-American adults are disenfranchised, as opposed to less than 2 percent of the non-African-American population.  Do we as a nation really think that discrimination is behind us, or is it under our feet and over our heads?

LUCERE

Section 5-Voter's Rights Act Should Not Be Removed

Due to time constraint we will not be able to show the film "Crash". I am sorry for the misguidance. Instead we have chosen to contact our Illinois democratic senator, Dick Durbin. 

Three days after the election this year the Supreme Court agreed to hear a conservative challenge for the constitutionality of Section 5 of the 1964 Voter's Rights Act. This is absurd!
There is no way that a nation that disguise and institutionalize racism and discrimination should stop reviewing states that are historically discriminatory.  Here is the letter, and I hope he responds. 

Prevention! **Viewing of "Crash" coming soon!

As racism is as difficult to eliminate as fear in the human race, prevention is ever necessary. Continued education of youths is forever primary, though since WWII, these declarations and conventions have been created to combat racism...

* Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide - 1948 Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
* Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - 1963
* International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - 1965
* 21 March designated International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - 1966
* International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid - 1973 Apartheid.
* First Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination 1973-1982
* First World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, Geneva 1978
* Second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, also in Geneva 1983
* Second Decade for Action to Combat Racial Discrimination l983-l992
* Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination 1994-2003
* World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 2001


Artists Against Racism was founded not just because it was a 'cool way' to reach out to youth; it exists because the problem is not diminishing in our society, but becoming more hideous in different forms. To remain silent is to remain part of the problem, not part of the solution. We aim to be part of the solution, worldwide. We are all one people. Let's start to care.

Farewell, and so long..but we must move on.

Sorry to announce one of our partners will no longer be with us..a moment of silence..
Back to business!

In an effort to raise awareness of racial tension still prevalent in the United States, we will be having a viewing of the award winning film "Crash"!

The movie scheduling will be released within the next day.  Stay tuned!



Lucere

AAR PSA--LOVE

http://youtu.be/TvUoasu1eug


Work to be one with truth, one with the universe, work to be loved and to love.  We are all ONE PEOPLE.

How can you help? I'll give you two pretty good ways:
            -Find some violet fabric and tie it into a ribbon, symbolizing AAR.
            -Open your mind and heart to the diversity of others, show them that you are willing to learn.




Lucere

Finally Narrowing it Down

In our most current meeting on October 24, 2012, we took the time to actually narrow down which organizations we wanted to keep and which we wanted to trash. In this process we came to realize that more people are interested in mass media than anything else. What better way to keep people in the loop about the fight for Anti-Racism than to connect the people with an organization that addresses the matter with music, art, video, and radio?

In our final cut of the organizations listed below we decided to not follow the following groups:

• Amnesty International
• NAACP
• United to End Racism (UER)
• Crossroads Antiracism Organization & Training (CAOT)

Our reasoning behind cutting each are as follows:

1. We didn't want the NAACP because it is a more well known organization that is almost too easy to follow, we as members of this group wanted something more difficult and not as obvious as choosing the NAACP.
2. Although Amnesty International is a sturdy organization, there is little that we could do to stay active in the organization simply because it is more of a letter written/petition signing organization that works through each petition signed.
3. The UER was a good organization but it lacked updated information for us to work with and we wanted to make sure that all that we do from now on was up to date and in the present time.
4. CAOT is a positive organization, yet it focuses more on the corporational and internal business aspect of racism and trying to remove racial profiling from the system. Although they have a good cause and drive, it was not what we were look for in the long run of becoming active in our community.

Based on these reasons we will be focusing our time on AAR, also known as, Artists Against Racism because we believe that you can truly reach the masses in your community through music, art, and other types of media. That is the real aspect that draws us all in. Imagine a night filled with student musicians, works of art, and poetry to show how much we long for equality and unity here on our campus. A night to not only praise our most talented here at Monmouth College but to bring to center stage, the lack of unity and equality here on campus.

Public Service Video--Reckless Tortuga

"We should all know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all these threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color."- Maya Angelou

 

http://youtu.be/PxW-XLOm4QU

 

 

Racism is definitely within the structure of the United States of America, but in the efforts of many including ourselves, the cancer of racist thoughts can be removed and the body healed.  Sometimes this removal is done by comedy, sometimes by film, and often both.  Enjoy this video, we sure did.

 

 

 

Lucere