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Tag: discrimination

  • A Texas family fought for weeks to regain custody of their newborn. Experts say the case shows how Black parents are criminalized. | CNN

    A Texas family fought for weeks to regain custody of their newborn. Experts say the case shows how Black parents are criminalized. | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Black Texas couple has been reunited with their newborn daughter after authorities removed the baby and placed her in foster care last month citing a doctor’s concerns about how they were treating a jaundice diagnosis.

    Rodney and Temecia Jackson of DeSoto, Texas, regained custody of their daughter, Mila, on April 20 following a nearly month-long battle with the state’s Child Protective Services, according to The Afiya Center, a reproductive justice advocacy group.

    A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family Protective Services, which includes CPS, confirmed to CNN that the office had recommended a dismissal of the case to an assistant district attorney. Mila’s release was granted on Thursday, according to a court filing.

    The Jacksons had been pleading for Mila’s return in videos posted to social media, and news conferences as reproductive justice activists protested and rallied behind the family.

    The removal, the Jacksons say, was sparked by their decision to let their midwife treat Mila’s jaundice instead of taking her to the hospital for care as their doctor had recommended. Temecia Jackson said during a news conference earlier this month that she gave birth to Mila at home on March 21 with the help of a midwife and wanted that same trusted midwife to provide medical care for her baby. But Mila’s pediatrician disagreed with this decision and ultimately contacted CPS, Temecia Jackson said.

    “We’ve been treated like criminals,” Rodney Jackson said during the news conference. “This is a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

    Reproductive justice advocates say Mila’s removal is just the latest example of the criminalization of Black parents, who lose their children to the child welfare system at disproportionate rates. In the US in 2018, Black children made up 23% of youth in foster care, but only 14% of the nation’s child population, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Additionally, one study found that between 2003-2014, 53% of Black children were the subjects of child welfare investigations by the time they reached age 18.

    Marsha Jones, executive director of The Afiya Center – a Dallas, Texas, based non-profit that advocates for Black women and girls – said there is a systemic problem with the child welfare system that unfairly targets Black parents. In many cases, Black families have their first experiences with the criminal justice system in family court, Jones said.

    “It’s almost unspoken and unseen because there is just this thought that Black women are not good parents and that we are criminalized because of poverty,” Jones told CNN. “This is not new.”

    Jones said the center stepped in last month to support the Jackson family and put pressure on public officials to return Mila home. She believes this played a role in reuniting the family last week.

    “There’s no reason this baby should have been removed from her home,” Jones told CNN. “This family was not being heard. The Black midwife wasn’t being heard.”

    Rodney and Temecia Jackson could not be reached for comment.

    In a letter to CPS obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA, the family’s pediatrician, Dr. Anand Bhatt, who is with the Baylor Scott & White healthcare system, wrote that while the Jacksons “are very loving and they care dearly” about Mila, “their distrust for medical care and guidance has led them to make a decision for the baby to refuse a simple treatment that can prevent brain damage.”

    “I authorized the support of CPS to help get this baby the care that was medically necessary and needed,” the letter continued.

    CBS News, which obtained a copy of the affidavit filed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, reported that Bhatt reached out to a DFPS investigator on March 25 and indicated that Mila’s bililrubin test showed levels of 21.7 milligrams.

    A bilirubin test can screen for jaundice and other conditions. That level was “cause for a lot of concern,” Bhatt told the investigator, according to CBS News, and could lead to brain damage, he said, “because the bilirubin can cross the blood brain barrier.”

    Bhatt said he reserved a bed for Mila at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and asked the Jacksons to take her there or he would call police for a welfare check, according to court documents obtained by CBS News. WFAA reported that Bhatt wanted Mila to receive phototherapy – a common treatment for jaundice.

    But court documents, according to CBS News, say Rodney Jackson told Bhatt he and Temecia Jackson planned to treat their baby “naturally” and didn’t believe in “modern medicine.”

    The midwife, Cheryl Edinbyrd, told CBS News the family had ordered a blanket and goggles to provide light therapy to treat Mila’s jaundice.

    When the Jacksons didn’t show up at the hospital, a CPS investigator and police went to the Jackson’s home at 4 a.m. on March 25 but Rodney Jackson declined to speak with them, according to court documents obtained by CBS News. An hour later, authorities returned with an ambulance and fire truck and Rodney Jackson still denied them entry.

    Authorities returned to the home on March 30 with a warrant and arrested Rodney Jackson on charges of preventing the execution of a civil process, according to CBS News. Police entered the home and took Mila from Temecia Jackson. According to CBS News, the Jacksons’ other two children were not removed.

    Temecia Jackson said in a press conference that when she asked to see the affidavit, she noticed it had the name of a different mother on it.

    “Instantly I felt like they had stolen my baby as I had had a home birth and they were trying to say that my baby belonged to this other woman,” Temecia Jackson.

    Marissa Gonzales, a spokesperson from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said in an email to CNN that her department was given an incorrect name for the initial affidavit. The mistake, she said, was corrected in the case filings.

    Gonzales declined an interview with CNN to discuss the case further, citing “state confidentiality restrictions.”

    “It is always the goal of DFPS to safely reunite children with their parents,” Gonzales also said. “The decision about when that happens rests with the judge who ordered the removal.”

    CNN’s request to interview Bhatt was also denied by Baylor Scott & White.

    “In respect of patient privacy, it is inappropriate to provide comment on this matter,” the health system said in an emailed statement. “We do abide by reporting requirements set forth in the Texas Family Code and any other applicable laws.”

    Advocates say the racial bias of professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers has created inequity in the child welfare system.

    Dorothy Roberts, a law professor and sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said decisions to report neglect and abuse are largely shaped by racist stereotypes of Black families.

    The child welfare system, she said, needs to consider the trauma inflicted on children when they are separated from their families.

    “We have to ask whether there is a better way of addressing children’s medical needs instead of the system we have now where doctors are reporting suspicions, which we know is highly biased, and investigating families, which we know is very traumatic,” said Roberts, author of “Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World.” “Hospitals should not be places of fear for parents.”

    Roberts said there is also a longstanding cultural conflict between the healthcare system and midwives who are often devalued. Black midwives provided care for mothers for hundreds of years, delivering the babies of enslaved women and even slave owners’ wives. But as medicine became more professionalized in the late 1800s, male doctors wanted to take control of childbirth, with some suggesting midwives were unfit, according to a report by Vox.

    Monica Simpson, executive director of Sistersong, a reproductive justice organization advocating for women of color, said many Black women are choosing midwives because they have lost trust in doctors and hospitals.

    Much of that is driven by the harrowing statistics: Black women are 2.6 times likelier to die of pregnancy-related complications than White women, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

    Black infants also die at more than twice the rate of White infants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Simpson said the child welfare system is broken. She said racism has played a part in the continued criminalization and separation of Black families.

    “There’s been this narrative that Black women can’t parent their children properly,” Simpson said. “We have been battling these narratives for decades. The way that Black women are criminalized around their motherhood, it’s horrible.”

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  • A Black teen’s murder sparked a crisis over racism in British policing. Thirty years on, little has changed | CNN

    A Black teen’s murder sparked a crisis over racism in British policing. Thirty years on, little has changed | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Neville Lawrence sometimes imagines walking through London and looking at buildings his son Stephen might have worked on, had he lived long enough to fulfill his dream of becoming an architect. The closest he ever got to that was building a miniature.

    “He did his work experience with an architect and he built a model of a building down in Deptford. So, every time I pass Deptford and see the building, it reminds me of him,” Lawrence told CNN, referring to a neighborhood in southeast London. It’s been 30 years, but he still gets emotional speaking about Stephen.

    Stephen Lawrence was murdered when he was just 18 years old in a racially motivated attack on April 22, 1993. His killing and the subsequent failure of the London Metropolitan Police Service to properly investigate the crime sparked a national outcry. It culminated in a landmark official inquiry that concluded the force was institutionally racist.

    But despite decades of promises, reviews and reforms, a new government report published last month, just four weeks before the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s murder, reached the same conclusion. The Met is still institutionally racist.

    Raju Bhatt, a civil liberties lawyer who has dedicated his career to representing people making claims of wrongful conduct against the police, said nothing in the new report – the Baroness Casey Review – came as a surprise.

    “What our clients see is a machinery which just doesn’t want to hear what they have to say and as a result, what happens is a failure to address the cultural problems, that culture of impunity, which arises when police officers know that they won’t be brought to account – when [they] know that whatever they do, their managers will be there to back them up, or, at the very least, their managers will look away,” he said.

    The Met Police chief Mark Rowley has acknowledged “systemic” problems in the force but has so far declined to use the word “institutional.”

    Protesters demonstrate outside the Lawrence inquiry in south London in June 1998.

    For Bhatt, the Casey report was just the latest development in a familiar cycle of events that began when he graduated from university in 1981.

    That summer, racial tensions in Britain boiled over and sparked violent clashes between mostly Black protesters and the police, in south London’s Brixton neighborhood and elsewhere. Bhatt worked as a community volunteer, helping people who were arrested during the protests.

    An official government inquiry into the riots and the police response concluded there was an “urgent need for changes in training and law enforcement and the recruitment of more ethnic minorities into the police force.” It also found that there was “evidence of harassment of minorities by some policemen.”

    Stephen Lawrence was murdered 12 years after the Brixton riots. Within days of his killing at a bus stop in southeast London, five White teens were identified as being involved. They were arrested, but none was successfully prosecuted at the time.

    It took years of campaigning by the Lawrence family — and public support from the likes of Nelson Mandela and the national press — to get the investigation moving. A 1997 inquest into Lawrence’s death found that he was unlawfully killed in a “completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths.”

    A wave of protests forced the then-government to commission an inquiry into the murder and the Met’s handling of it, which concluded in 1999 that “professional incompetence, institutional racism and failure of leadership by senior officers” was to be blamed for the botched investigation.

    The review, known as the Macpherson report, made 70 recommendations on how to improve the police force and increase the public’s trust in the force. They included recruiting more Black and other minority ethnic officers to make sure the force reflects the communities it serves, taking steps to tackle disparities in the use of police powers against people from minority groups and developing specific guidelines on how to investigate and tackle racist crimes.

    The Macpherson report was damning, but like the Brixton riots review, it failed to result in lasting and substantive reform of the Met Police.

    As a Black man who grew up in 70s and 80s Britain, Leslie Thomas says he knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of police racism. He recounts how he has been racially profiled and stopped and searched by officers several times in the past, including once when he was driving with his wife and baby in the back of his car and once when he was just 14 years old.

    “I was 14, in school uniform, coming home from school and a police van pulls up alongside me. Four officers jump out [and say] ‘you look suspicious’,” he said.

    Like Bhatt, Thomas is a lawyer who has spent decades representing people in claims against the police and other public authorities. And, just like Bhatt, he has little faith that the latest report will lead to much change.

    “Here’s the thing. You can’t hit a target unless you acknowledge the target itself. The Metropolitan Police have said, ‘oh, we want to be a more inclusive organization,’ but steadfastly, they refuse to acknowledge through their leadership that they’ve got a problem with institutional racism,” Thomas said.

    “If it were just a few bad apples, then you wouldn’t expect, as we have seen, repetition after repetition, generation after generation,” he added.

    The Met has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment. But speaking to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee last month, Rowley refused to label the Met Police “institutionally” racist, saying the word “institutional” is ambiguous and politicized.

    In a statement released when the Casey report was published, Rowley said it “must be a catalyst for police reform” and “needs to lead to meaningful change.” He added: “I want us to be anti-racist, anti-misogynist and anti-homophobic. In fact, I want us to be anti-discrimination of all kinds.”

    Thomas specializes in representing families of people who have died in police custody – an issue that disproportionately affects people of color.

    Black people in the UK are seven times more likely to die from police restraint than White people, according to statistics compiled by Inquest, a charity that focuses on deaths in police and prison custody, immigration detention, mental health settings and other state settings.

    stephen lawrence file polglase

    The legacy of Stephen Lawrence’s murder, 30 years later

    At a protest in London, Marcia Rigg embraces Carole Duggan, whose nephew Mark Duggan was shot dead by the police in 2011.

    Thomas represented the family of Sean Rigg, who died in 2008 after being pinned down in a police arrest while experiencing a mental health crisis. While an initial investigation by then-police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission cleared the police of any wrongdoing, the Rigg family kept fighting.

    In 2012, an inquest jury found that Rigg died of cardiac arrest after being restrained in a prone position for approximately eight minutes and said the level and length of restraint used by the police was “unsuitable” and “unnecessary” and that this “more than minimally” contributed to his death.

    In light of the findings, the police watchdog re-examined the case. But a police misconduct panel cleared five officers of gross misconduct in connection to Rigg’s death in 2019. One of those officers had earlier been acquitted of perjury relating to his account of events on the night Rigg died.

    Marcia Rigg, Sean’s sister, is still fighting. She and her family have spent years watching CCTV footage of Sean’s last moments, trying to piece together what really happened. The process has been deeply upsetting and it hasn’t, so far, led to the justice she wants for her brother.

    “It was four years before we had an inquest. And basically myself and my family, particularly me and my brother Wade, we had to become investigators ourselves … to see your loved one being treated in that way by officers that should be helping us. It’s traumatizing, it makes you angry,” she told CNN.

    Rigg said she still dreads the police. “I hate the sound of (the sirens), I hate the sight of the uniform, what it represents.”

    The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 brought back all of the trauma for Rigg. Like Sean, Floyd was held face down by police in a prone position. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes and was ultimately found guilty of murdering him.

    But it also made her even more determined to fight. “When George Floyd died, and everybody witnessed that murder, (British politicians) were on the side of the people, (saying) that this can’t happen. I said, well, they need to look in their own backyard,” she said.

    A protester holds a picture of Sean Rigg during a 2021 demonstration in London.

    Deborah Coles, Inquest’s executive director, said the struggles of the Lawrences and the Riggs to get justice for their loved ones mirror the experiences of nearly everyone she’s worked with.

    She said the “cultures of denial and defensiveness and delay” within official government agencies, as well as victim blaming and the tendency to demonize the victim’s family and community, add to families’ suffering in such cases, as does “this ongoing institutional denial about the fact that institutional racism is a live and enduring issue.”

    Successive governments and police chiefs have dismissed the severity of the issue, she told CNN. “We’ve always said that one of the problems is that when it comes to looking at deaths (in custody), they see them as isolated incidents, rather than being evidence of a systemic, enduring issue. This is a systemic issue across police forces.”

    The UK’s largest police force commissioned the latest independent inquiry in 2021, after a serving Metropolitan Police officer was convicted of the kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London woman. The eventual Casey report was damning, finding the Met not just institutionally racist, but also institutionally misogynistic, sexist and homophobic.

    According to a separate parliamentary report published last year, Black people are more than nine-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, even though the vast majority of “stop and search” actions don’t result in any further action.

    The Met is still overwhelmingly White, with only 17% of officers identifying themselves as non-White in 2022, despite the city they police being far more diverse.

    While that is more than the 3% figure recorded in the early 2000s, it is still well below its own targets and not at all reflective of the communities the police serve.

    “We see time and again critical reviews, inquiries, inquest findings, coroner’s recommendations, a whole wealth of potentially lifesaving recommendations, but also very critical recommendations about structural changes needed. And yet there is no enforcement of those recommendations,” Coles said.

    Inquest and other organizations are calling for a new oversight mechanism that would follow up and report on whether correct actions have been taken in response to the numerous inquiries, she added.

    Neville Lawrence, speaking to CNN, says the family has had to fight for justice itself.

    As the Lawrence family and their supporters mark the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s killing, they are still fighting for his killers to face justice.

    It wasn’t until 2012, 19 years after the murder, that two of the five attackers – Gary Dobson and David Norris – were finally convicted and sent to prison. It took a change in law that allowed for a retrial in cases where new evidence is found.

    To date, the other three people allegedly involved in the killing have not been brought to justice.

    Neville Lawrence remains determined to keep fighting – although he said that the publication of the Casey report has made it clear to him, once again, that the family is on its own in this.

    “If you want justice, you have to try and fight for it yourself, you don’t have anybody who is going to be doing it the way they should be doing it,” he said.

    After years of being consumed by grief and anger, Lawrence decided to move back to Jamaica, where his son is buried. “I accept the situation where I had to leave this place so I can have some peace,” he told CNN.

    “I couldn’t even bury my son here because of the vandalism that would have taken place. The amount of times that they vandalized the (memorial) plaque where he fell, that they had to put a camera on it to stop people going there and desecrating it … so just imagine Stephen, if he was here, what they would have done,” he said.

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  • Montana transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr silenced by state House’s Republican speaker

    Montana transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr silenced by state House’s Republican speaker

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    Helena, Mont. — Montana’s House speaker on Thursday refused to allow a transgender lawmaker to speak about bills on the House floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they supported a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, the lawmaker said.

    Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who was deliberately misgendered by a conservative group of lawmakers demanding her censure after Tuesday’s comments, said she would not apologize, creating a standoff between the first-term state lawmaker and Republican legislative leaders.

    Speaker Matt Regier refused to acknowledge Zephyr on Thursday when she wanted to comment on a bill seeking to put a binary definition of male and female into state code.

    “It is up to me to maintain decorum here on the House floor, to protect the dignity and integrity,” Regier said Thursday. “And any representative that I don’t feel can do that will not be recognized.”

    Regier said the decision came after “multiple discussions” with other lawmakers and that previously there had been similar problems.

    Democrats objected to Regier’s decision, but the House Rules committee and the House upheld his decision on party-line votes.

    “Hate-filled testimony has no place on the House floor,” Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle, a member of the Montana Freedom Caucus that demanded the censure, said in a statement.


    Supreme Court declines to enforce West Virginia ban on transgender athletes

    01:28

    Zephyr said she stands by what she said about the consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth.

    “When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community,” Zephyr said. “And I choose my words with clarity and precision and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.”

    zooey-zephyr.jpg
    A screengrab from the Montana Public Affairs Network’s live broadcast of an April 18, 2023 debate on the state House floor shows Rep. Zooey Zephyr addressing fellow lawmakers about a bill that would ban youth gender affirming medical care.

    MPAN


    Regier also declined to recognize Zephyr Thursday when she rang in to speak about another bill, which was unrelated to LGBTQ+ issues and seeks to reimburse hotels that provide shelter to victims of human trafficking.

    “The speaker is refusing to allow me to participate in debate until I retract or apologize for my statements made during floor debate,” Zephyr said.

    The issue came to a head Tuesday when Zephyr, the first transgender woman to hold a position in the Montana legislature, referenced the floor session’s opening prayer when she told lawmakers if they supported the bill, “I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”

    She had made a similar comment when the bill was debated in the House the first time.

    House Majority Leader Sue Vinton rebuked Zephyr on Tuesday, calling her comments inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.

    Later, the Montana Freedom Caucus issued its censure demand in a letter that called for a “commitment to civil discourse” in the same sentence in which it deliberately misgendered Zephyr. The caucus also misgendered Zephyr in a Tweet while posting the letter online.

    “It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would stoop so low as to misgender me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender individuals,” Zephyr said in a statement Wednesday.

    Zephyr also spoke emotionally and directly to transgender Montanans in February in opposing a bill to ban minors from attending drag shows.

    “I have one request for you: Please stay alive,” Zephyr said then, assuring them she and others would keep fighting and challenge the bills in court.

    The legislature has also passed a bill stating a student misgendering or deadnaming a fellow student is not illegal discrimination, unless it rises to the level of bullying.

    At the end of Thursday’s House session, Democratic Rep. Marilyn Marler asked that the House majority allow Zephyr to speak on the floor going forward.

    “This body is denying the representative … the chance to do her job,” Marler said.

    Majority Leader Vinton, before moving for adjournment, said: “I will let the body know that the representative … has every opportunity to rectify the situation.”

    The House meets again Friday afternoon.

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  • Supreme Court seems sympathetic to postal worker who didn’t work Sundays in dispute over religious accommodations | CNN Politics

    Supreme Court seems sympathetic to postal worker who didn’t work Sundays in dispute over religious accommodations | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Supreme Court seemed to side with a former mail carrier, an evangelical Christian, who says the US Postal Service failed to accommodate his request to not work on Sundays.

    A lower court had ruled against the worker, Gerald Groff, holding that his request would cause an “undue burden” on the USPS and lead to low morale at the workplace when other employees had to pick up his shifts.

    But during oral arguments on Tuesday, there appeared to be consensus, after almost two hours of oral arguments, that the appeals court had been too quick to rule against Groff.

    There seemed to be, as Justice Elena Kagan put it, some level of “kumbaya-ing” between the justices on the bench at times.

    But as justices sought to land on a test that lower courts could use to clarify how far employers must go to accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs, differences arose when a lawyer for Groff suggested that the court overturn decades-old precedent. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito seemed open to the prospect.

    Critically, however, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh were sympathetic to arguments made by the Postal Service that granting Groff’s request might cause morale to plummet among the other employees. Kavanaugh noted that “morale” among employers is critical to the success of any business. And several justices nodded to the financial difficulties the USPS has faced over the years.

    Groff, who lives in Pennsylvania, served in 2012 as a rural carrier associate at the United States Postal Service, a position that provides coverage for absent career employees who have earned the ability to take off weekends. Rural carrier associates are told they need flexibility.

    In 2013, Groff’s life changed when the USPS contracted with Amazon to deliver packages on Sundays. Groff’s Christian religious beliefs bar him from working on Sundays.

    The post office contemplated some accommodations to Groff such as offering to adjust his schedule so he could come to work after religious services, or telling him he should see if other workers could pick up his shifts. At some point, the postmaster himself did the deliveries because it was difficult to find employees willing to work on Sunday. Finally, the USPS suggested Groff choose a different day to observe the Sabbath.

    The atmosphere with his co-workers was tense and Groff said he faced progressive discipline. In response, he filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is charged with enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of religion.

    Groff ultimately left in 2019. In a resignation letter, he said he had been unable to find an “accommodating employment atmosphere with the USPS that would honor his religious beliefs.”

    Groff sued arguing that the USPS violated Title VII – a federal law that makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee based on his religion. To make a claim under the law, an employee must show that he holds a sincere religious belief that conflicts with a job requirement, he must inform his employer and has to have been disciplined for failing to comply.

    Under the law, the burden then shifts to the employer. The employer must show that they made a good faith effort to “reasonably accommodate” the employee’s belief or demonstrate that such an accommodation would cause an “undue hardship” upon the employer.

    District Judge Jeffrey Schmehl, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled against Groff, holding that that his request to not work on Sundays would cause an “undue hardship” for the USPS.

    The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling in a 2-1 opinion.

    “Exempting Groff from working on Sundays caused more than a de minimis cost on USPS because it actually imposed on his coworkers, disrupted the workplace and workflow, and diminished employee morale,” the 3rd Circuit wrote in its opinion last year.

    “The accommodation Groff sought (exemption from Sunday work)” the court added, “would cause an undue hardship on USPS.”

    A dissenting judge, Thomas Hardiman, offered a road map for justices seeking to rule in favor of Groff. The main thrust of his dissent was that the law requires the USPS to show how the proposed accommodation would harm “business” – not Groff’s coworkers.

    “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stayed Gerald Groff from the completion of his appointed rounds,” wrote Hardiman, a George W. Bush nominee who was on a shortlist for the Supreme Court nomination that went to Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017. “But his sincerely held religious belief precluded him from working on Sundays.”

    Groff’s lawyer, Aaron Streett, told the high court that the USPS could have done more and was wrong to claim that “respecting Groff’s belief was too onerous.” He urged the justices to cut back or invalidate precedent and allow an accommodation that would allow the worker to “serve both his employer and his God.”

    “Sunday’s a day where we get together and almost taste heaven,” Groff told The New York Times recently. “We come together as believers. We celebrate who we are, together. We worship God. And so to be asked to deliver Amazon parcels and give all that up, it’s just really kind of sad.”

    The Biden administration has urged the high court to simply clarify the law to make clear that an employer is not required to accommodate an employee’s Sabbath observance by “operating shorthanded or regularly paying overtime to secure replacement workers.”

    Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar acknowledged, however, that employer could still be required to bear other costs such as administrative expenses associated with rearranging schedules.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • Oklahoma governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks | CNN

    Oklahoma governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.

    The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March 6.

    The paper said the audio of the meeting was legally obtained, but the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it was illegally recorded and is investigating. The sheriff’s office also said it believes the recording had been altered.

    “I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement Sunday. “There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office. I will not stand idly by while this takes place,” the statement said.

    The governor called for the immediate resignations of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings, sheriff’s investigator Alicia Manning and jail administrator Larry Hendrix. He also said he would ask the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to look into the case.

    McCurtain County is in southeastern Oklahoma, about 200 miles from Oklahoma City.

    The recording was made hours after Gazette-News reporter Chris Willingham filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, Manning and the Board of County Commissioners, alleging they had defamed him and violated his civil rights, the newspaper reported.

    In the recording, Manning spoke of needing to go near the newspaper’s office and expressed concern about what would happen if she ran into Willingham, the Oklahoman reported, citing additional reporting from the Gazette-News.

    According to the Oklahoman report, Jennings said, “Oh, you’re talking about you can’t control yourself?” and Manning replied: “Yeah, I ain’t worried about what he’s gonna do to me. I’m worried about what I might do to him. My papaw would have whipped his a**, would have wiped him and used him for toilet paper … if my daddy hadn’t been run over by a vehicle, he would have been down there.”

    Jennings replied that his father was once upset by something the newspaper published and “started to go down there and just kill him,” according to the Gazette-News.

    “I know where two big, deep holes are here if you ever need them,” Jennings allegedly said. Clardy, the sheriff, allegedly said he had the equipment.

    “I’ve got an excavator,” Clardy is accused of saying during the discussion. “Well, these are already pre-dug,” Jennings allegedly said.

    In other parts of the recording, officials expressed disappointment that Black people could no longer be lynched, according to the paper.

    CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of the recording or confirm who said what. CNN has reached out to all four county officials for comment.

    The Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association voted Tuesday to suspend the membership of Clardy, Manning and Hendrix, the group’s executive director told CNN.

    Willingham and his father, Bruce Willingham, the paper’s publisher, have been advised to temporarily leave town, CNN affiliate KJRH reported.

    “For nearly a year, they have suffered intimidation, ridicule and harassment based solely on their efforts to report the news for McCurtain County,” Kilpatrick Townsend, the law firm representing the Willingham family, told CNN in a statement.

    The McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday that there is an “ongoing investigation into multiple significant violations” of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act, which makes it “illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties.” It also said the recording has yet to be “duly authenticated or validated.”

    “Our preliminary information indicates that the media released audio recording has, in fact, been altered. The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated,” the statement said.

    The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office has received an audio recording and is investigating, Communications Director Phil Bacharach said.

    The FBI wouldn’t confirm or deny whether it was involved in the investigation, with spokesperson Kayla McCleery saying it is agency policy not to comment.

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  • Some Black families say they are ‘whitewashing’ their homes to get higher appraisals | CNN

    Some Black families say they are ‘whitewashing’ their homes to get higher appraisals | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Erica and Aaron Parker first had their Loveland, Ohio, home appraised in 2020. It was a competitive selling market, they had made several renovations to the home, and houses in the neighborhood were generally selling above the asking price.

    The couple expected the house to be valued at the list price of $525,000, but when the initial appraisal came back $60,000 short, the Parkers knew something wasn’t right.

    So they tried a different approach and also hired a different appraiser. The Parkers removed all items from the home that might signal they were Black, including artwork and family photos, and replaced them with photos and memorabilia borrowed from a White neighbor.

    The White neighbor sat in for the couple when the new appraiser came, and the result was a home appraisal of nearly $92,000 more than the first.

    “It was a weird feeling but we felt vindicated,” Erica Parker told CNN. “We were like, ‘Oh my God, we really were discriminated against.’”

    Parker’s account backs recent data showing that homes owned by Black people are significantly undervalued compared to White-owned homes. According to the Brookings Institute, homes in Black neighborhoods are valued at 23% less than those in non-Black neighborhoods despite having similar quality and amenities.

    Advocates for Black homeowners say this bias contributes to the racial wealth gap because it limits the financial returns of real estate for Black families.

    Some say it’s a systemic issue that industry leaders blame on a lack of diversity and a methodology that gives appraisers too much discretion in deciding the value of a home.

    According to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 92% of property appraisers and assessors in 2022 were White and 4% were Black.

    Lydia Pope, president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, says her organization is working to recruit more Black people into the appraisal industry. The association hosts annual summits at HBCUs to encourage students to join the field, and Pope offers workshops and training for people already working in the real estate industry who want to learn how to do appraisals.

    “Our concern is that there aren’t enough Black appraisers in the business,” Pope says. “We just want to make a stand that we have to change the culture of appraising.”

    Pope calls it “disturbing” and “discouraging” that Black homeowners are having to “whitewash” their homes or conceal their race to get a higher appraisal.

    She says appraisers typically assess factors such as the condition of the property, upgrades and the value of recently sold comparable properties nearby.

    Jillian White, a Black appraiser who heads a consultancy that advises homeowners on disputing low appraisals, says, however, that appraisers are able to use their own discretion and opinion to make adjustments to the value of a home, and that leaves room for bias.

    “I think it’s systemic, implicit, explicit and structural,” White says of appraisal bias. “You have all these inflection points where making different decisions can lead to a very different result. The methodology is not so hard and fast that every appraiser is going to come up with the same value.”

    White says the industry needs to implement more guidance and protections so that appraisers have less autonomy in the process.

    Joshua Walitt, president of the National Association of Appraisers – which condemned discrimination among professional appraisers last year – says the methodology is not the problem. Instead, Walitt blames “bad apples” working in the profession for instances of bias.

    And even if there is bias, Walitt says it should have no influence on appraisal results given that these are based on market data.

    “If we follow methods and techniques which is what we focus on in education, then what it does is it pushes aside any bias that a person could have,” Walitt says. “If there is bad behavior then we need to let the investigations go through and take care of that.”

    Still, Walitt acknowledges that there is a need for more diversity in the industry. He says he is committed to expanding recruitment and supports programs such as Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) that make it easier for people to gain experience and join the industry.

    The issue of bias in home appraisals has gained the attention of President Joe Biden’s administration, which launched the Action Plan to Advance Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) last year to promote equity in the home appraisal process. In late March, the administration announced progress in this effort including publishing guidance so Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers know how to request a “Reconsideration of Value” if they suspect bias in their appraisal.

    White says she wants Black homeowners to know their options when appraisals come in low. She advises her clients to appeal the first appraisal and if that doesn’t work request a second appraisal. If nothing changes, White says homeowners can file complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the state appraiser board, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    Claims of bias have also to led to successful legal challenges from some homeowners. In March, San Francisco area Black couple Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin settled a discrimination lawsuit against a real estate appraisal company after their home was undervalued by nearly $500,000. As part of the settlement, the couple is set to receive an undisclosed amount of money and the firm is required to attend housing discrimination prevention training.

    “Having to erase our identity to get a better appraisal was a wrenching experience,” Tate-Austin said in a statement released by her lawyers to the San Francisco Chronicle. “We hope by bringing attention to our case and this lawsuit settlement, we can help change the way the appraisal industry operates.”

    Erica Parker says they ultimately sold the house in Loveland for $507,500 and bought a new home in Westchester, Ohio. However, she filed a discrimination complaint with both HUD and the Ohio Department of Commerce. Neither has yet been settled, she said.

    She says her experience only affirms that racism still exists in real estate.

    “We want the bank and appraisal company to be held responsible for what they did and to prevent this from happening to other people of color,” Parker said.

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  • Racial disparities are working against disaster recovery for people of color. Climate change could make it worse | CNN

    Racial disparities are working against disaster recovery for people of color. Climate change could make it worse | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    People of color in the US face heightened risks of harm from climate-induced disasters. Now, non-profits are pushing to remedy that disparity with more equitable approaches to disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

    “Until we really address the root issues of climate injustice, we’re going to continue to see a disproportionate impact as it relates to disasters in Black and historically excluded communities,” said Abre’ Conner, Director of Environmental and Climate Justice for the NAACP.

    A report by the EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs looked at four vulnerable social groups: people living on low-income, racial minorities, those with no high school diploma, and seniors over age 65. Of those four groups, the study found minorities are most likely to live in areas projected to be impacted by climate change.

    Moreover, Black people are 40% more likely than non-African-Americans to live in areas with the highest projected increases in mortality rates due to changes in extreme temperatures.

    It’s a dire warning for the future, based on an inequitable past.

    Many marginalized people, Black in particular, have faced socioeconomic factors that relegate them to living in environmentally hazardous areas or substandard housing structures. So, when a natural disaster hits, they are ill-equipped to withstand the impact.

    That was the situation this past March 24 when a severe tornado leveled much of the Black-majority rural town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, killing 26 people. Racial disparities existed in Rolling Fork for decades. Many residents there were poor, had low access to information or internet service, were priced out of insurance coverage, and lived in mobile homes that weren’t retrofitted to withstand severe weather conditions. With the nearest tornado shelter over 15 miles away, it set the perfect storm to leave people displaced and scrambling for aid and assistance, which was very slow to arrive.

    “The tendency is to ignore and exclude, and that’s a violation of human rights,” said Chauncia Willis, CEO and founder of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM).

    Willis’ group deploys equity response teams before and after disasters to help community organizations integrate equity into all facets of disaster policy and practices. She started I-DIEM after spending over 14 years in disaster management.

    “I’ve witnessed the disparities, and it hits a little different when the people look like you,” Willis said in an interview with CNN.

    Tracy Harden (Right) hugs Barbara Nell McReynolds-Pinkins near the walk-in cooler where they and seven others took shelter as a tornado destroyed Harden's restaurant in Rolling Fork, Mississippi.

    Almost three weeks after the tornado, Rolling Fork’s mayor said about 500 people – roughly a third of the town’s population— remained displaced, leaving victims with questions and concerns. To provide some answers, FEMA, MEMA (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency), the Small Business Administration, and the American Red Cross are holding a series of town halls, the first of which took place Tuesday at South Delta Elementary School.

    Housing is a major concern at the present. “It wasn’t just Rolling Fork; it was all of those other communities surrounding that were also impacted by the tornado,” said Willis. “That’s going to be the difference between life and death in the future.”

    The future is concerning; marginalized communities historically endured long-term effects from disasters.

    Remnants of destruction are still visible In New Orleans’ primarily Black 9th ward 18 years after Hurricane Katrina.

    Although natural disasters don’t discriminate, the response can, especially when the lingering effects of structural racism hamper relief.

    In Katrina’s aftermath, Louisiana instituted a “Road Home” program, disbursing emergency funds based on appraised home values rather than actual rebuilding costs. But after decades of discriminatory economic practices including redlining, homes in historically White communities typically appraised far higher than comparable houses in Black neighborhoods.

    Also, New Orleans’ White neighborhoods tend to sit on higher ground with less risk of flooding and easier access to jobs and resources. The circumstances after Katrina ended up forcing many Black families out of the city.

    “Poverty should not hinder survival from disasters. Being a person that is not White shouldn’t limit your survival,” said Willis.

    But there is growing awareness of the unfairness and concerted efforts to fix it. Sally Ray from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy says racial and socioeconomic disparities are key factors guiding where her organization deploys funding.

    “I think we need to quit being uncomfortable talking about the intersection of climate change, racism, and disasters,” Ray told CNN. “The reality is we have long systemic racist problems across our country, and because of these things, when a disaster comes, it’s much more devastating.”

    President Joe Biden speaks in a storm-stricken area of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on March 31.

    A growing body of research spotlights the historical inequity in federal disaster response.

    One 2018 study by sociologists from Rice University and the University of Pittsburgh looked at counties that each suffered the same amount ($10 billion) in hazard damage. In those events, Black survivors’ wealth decreased by an average $27,000 while White survivors’ average wealth increased $126,000.

    In 2020, FEMA’s advisory council acknowledged the inequities and called for the agency to address the issue.

    On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985 to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government. Since then, FEMA has undertaken initiatives to expand access and reduce barriers to their response, recovery, and resilience programs.

    In an email to CNN, FEMA spokesman Jeremy Edwards said, “Recognizing this and the realities of historically underserved communities, FEMA—under the leadership of Administrator Criswell—has undertaken a number of initiatives to reduce barriers, so all people, including those from vulnerable and underserved communities, are better able to access our assistance.”

    The agency has simplified the eligibility process, expanded the ways survivors can verify home occupancy, and prioritized casework for vulnerable populations.

    FEMA says these changes have enabled 124,000 survivors to access over $709 million in assistance they would have previously been ineligible to receive.

    But non-profit leaders want FEMA to do more.

    “I think that in earnest they are trying to correct, but we can still do better in pushing to ensure these recoveries are equitable,” said Arthur DelaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon. This veteran-led humanitarian organization assists global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises.

    Shirley Stamps stands in the rubble of her home in the aftermath of the Rolling Fork tornado.

    Grassroots activists insist equitable disaster planning and response must start with local voices.

    “The future of disaster management is actually going to be at the local level with the locals as the lead rather than the federal government or state government,” explained I-DEIM’s Willis.

    Inherent distrust of authorities after years of racist and discriminatory practices is one reason why. Another reason is simple pragmatism.

    “Who knows the community better?” asked Willis, whose group helps set up Community Resilience Hubs and local-led facilities to support neighbors, coordinate communication and provide emergency management training.

    Willis emphasizes that these types of initiatives, and more, need to be done before disasters strike. “When people are not prioritized before a disaster, those same people will bear the brunt.”

    71-year-old Emma Lee Williams sits in her front yard after the EF-4 Rolling Fork tornado destroyed her house.

    For a long time, non-profit organizations have been counted on to plug gaps that the government had yet to fill in disenfranchised communities. And increasingly, non-profits are doing things differently to address racial disparities in disaster management.

    For Team Rubicon, that means using tools like the CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index. The index, launched by the Center for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, uses 16 variables to help emergency planners and officials identify vulnerable communities before, during, or after disasters. Those variables include social factors like poverty, lack of transportation, and crowded housing. The databases and maps generated by the tool help estimate supplies required, emergency personnel needs, evacuation procedures, and even whether an area needs emergency shelters.

    “As we see a disaster strike an area, that is where we try to deploy because we know that’s where the greatest need is,” explained DelaCruz.

    The Center for Disaster Philanthropy focuses on identifying a diverse pool of applicants in their grantmaking, pushing more funds to organizations supporting struggling communities of color, and listening to the needs of the affected people on an individualized basis.

    “We work really at the local grassroots level to get to know the community,” said the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Sally Ray, who spoke to CNN from Oklahoma City, which was hard-hit by tornadoes last year. She and her team are on the ground, accessing lingering issues and working on proactive ways to support the town throughout this year’s tornado season.

    “Our goal has always been to leave a community in a better place and be there for the long-term commitment to that, Ray added.

    Meanwhile, many non-profits, especially at the local level, are overstretched as major disasters become more frequent and destructive.

    “There are communities that have suffered disaster after disaster after disaster, and the toll on the people and the community increases each time that happens,” said DelaCruz.

    “We need to start integrating community-based organizations into the global emergency management structure,” said Willis.

    Most of the walls are gone but the furniture remains where a home once stood before the tornado ripped through Rolling Fork, Mississippi.

    Disasters destabilize communities as well as economies. That is why much of the conversation among emergency management leaders lately has focused on building an inclusive approach to disaster resilience.

    “In Rolling Rock, there’s been a disaster. Now is the time to rebuild with the proper strategy, with forethought, a focus on resilience, and a focus on life-saving equity,” Willis from I-DIEM explained. She said these resilience efforts must include disaster preparedness and infrastructure improvement and awareness of socioeconomic issues impacting marginalized communities.

    FEMA says they are committed to helping Mississippi recover.

    To date the agency says they have visited 1,400 homes in Sharkey County alone, interacting with over 2,400 survivors and registering hundreds for assistance. They’ve also provided more than $5.4 million to Mississippi households since the deadly tornadoes struck earlier this year.

    The agency also implemented some grassroots efforts like non-financial direct technical assistance to help build community-wide resilience in 20 communities, tribes, and territories.

    Nonprofits continue to play a crucial role. But the problem looms large, and when it comes to disaster response for historically marginalized communities, there’s more than enough workload to go around.

    “There is no value in not directly preparing communities of color,” Willis said. “The government already underserves them. Do they also need to be underserved by humanity?”

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  • Silicon Valley Bank collapse renews calls to address disparities impacting entrepreneurs of color | CNN Business

    Silicon Valley Bank collapse renews calls to address disparities impacting entrepreneurs of color | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    When customers at Silicon Valley Bank rushed to withdraw billions of dollars last month, venture capitalist Arlan Hamilton stepped in to help some of the founders of color who panicked about losing access to payroll funds.

    As a Black woman with nearly 10 years of business experience, Hamilton knew the options for those startup founders were limited.

    SVB had a reputation for servicing people from underrepresented communities like hers. Its failure has reignited concerns from industry experts about lending discrimination in the banking industry and the resulting disparities in capital for people of color.

    Hamilton, the 43-year-old founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital, said that when it comes to entrepreneurs of color, “we’re already in the smaller house. We already have the rickety door and the thinner walls. And so, when a tornado comes by, we’re going to get hit harder.”

    Established in 1983, the midsize California tech lender was America’s 16th largest bank at the end of 2022 before it collapsed on March 10. SVB provided banking services to nearly half of all venture-backed technology and life-sciences companies in the United States.

    Hamilton, industry experts and other investors told CNN the bank was committed to fostering a community of minority entrepreneurs and provided them with both social and financial capital.

    SVB regularly sponsored conferences and networking events for minority entrepreneurs, said Hamilton, and it was well known for funding the annual State of Black Venture Report spearheaded by BLK VC, a nonprofit organization that connects and empowers Black investors.

    “When other banks were saying no, SVB would say yes,” said Joynicole Martinez, a 25-year entrepreneur and chief advancement and innovation officer for Rising Tide Capital, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 to connect entrepreneurs with investors and mentors.

    Martinez is also an official member of the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only organization for business and career coaches. She said SVB was an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs of color and offered their clients discounted tech tools and research funding.

    Minority business owners have long faced challenges accessing capital due to discriminatory lending practices, experts say. Data from the Small Business Credit Survey, a collaboration of all 12 Federal Reserve banks, shows disparities on denial rates for bank and nonbank loans.

    In 2021, about 16% of Black-led companies acquired the total amount of business financing they sought from banks, compared to 35% of White-owned companies, the survey shows.

    “We know there’s historic, systemic, and just blatant racism that’s inherent in lending and banking. We have to start there and not tip-toe around it,” Martinez told CNN.

    Asya Bradley is an immigrant founder of multiple tech companies like Kinley, a financial services business aiming to help Black Americans build generational wealth. Following SVB’s collapse, Bradley said she joined a WhatsApp group of more than 1,000 immigrant business founders. Members of the group quickly mobilized to support one another, she said.

    Immigrant founders often don’t have Social Security numbers nor permanent addresses in the United States, Bradley said, and it was crucial to brainstorm different ways to find funding in a system that doesn’t recognize them.

    “The community was really special because a lot of these folks then were sharing different things that they had done to achieve success in terms of getting accounts in different places. They also were able to share different regional banks that have stood up and been like, ‘Hey, if you have accounts at SVB, we can help you guys,’” Bradley said.

    Many women, people of color and immigrants opt for community or regional banks like SVB, Bradley says, because they are often rejected from the “top four banks” — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citibank.

    In her case, Bradley said her gender might have been an issue when she could only open a business account at one of the “top four banks” when her brother co-signed for her.

    “The top four don’t want our business. The top four are rejecting us consistently. The top four do not give us the service that we deserve. And that’s why we’ve gone to community banks and regional banks such as SVB,” Bradley said.

    None of the top four banks provided a comment to CNN. The Financial Services Forum, an organization representing the eight largest financial institutions in the United States has said the banks have committed millions of dollars since 2020 to address economic and racial inequality.

    Last week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that his bank has 30% of its branches in lower-income neighborhoods as part of a $30 billion commitment to Black and Brown communities across the country.

    Wells Fargo specifically pointed to its 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion report, which discusses the bank’s recent initiatives to reach underserved communities.

    The bank partnered last year with the Black Economic Alliance to initiate the Black Entrepreneur Fund — a $50 million seed, startup, and early-stage capital fund for businesses founded or led by Black and African American entrepreneurs. And since May 2021, Wells Fargo has invested in 13 Minority Depository Institutions, fulfilling its $50 million pledge to support Black-owned banks.

    Black-owned banks work to close the lending gap and foster economic empowerment in these traditionally excluded communities, but their numbers have been dwindling over the years, and they have far fewer assets at their disposal than the top banks.

    OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the United States, manages a little over $650 million in assets. By comparison, JPMorgan Chase manages $3.7 trillion in assets.

    Because of these disparities, entrepreneurs also seek funding from venture capitalists. In the early 2010s, Hamilton intended to start her own tech company — but as she searched for investors, she saw that White men control nearly all venture capital dollars. That experience led her to establish Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in new companies led by underrepresented founders.

    “I said, ‘Well, instead of trying to raise money for one company, let me try to raise for a venture fund that will invest in underrepresented — and now we call them underestimated — founders who are women, people of color, and LGBTQ specifically,’ because I am all three,” Hamilton told CNN.

    Since then, Backstage Capital has amassed a portfolio of nearly 150 different companies and has made over 120 diversity investments, according to data from Crunchbase.

    But Bradley, who is also an ‘angel investor’ of minority-owned businesses, said she remains “really hopeful” that community banks, regional banks and fintechs “will all stand up and say, ‘Hey, we are not going to let the good work of SVB go to waste.’”

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  • Opinion: Expulsion of the ‘Tennessee Three’ is a chilling echo of Jim Crow | CNN

    Opinion: Expulsion of the ‘Tennessee Three’ is a chilling echo of Jim Crow | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Jemar Tisby, a professor of history at Simmons College of Kentucky, is the author of the books “The Color of Compromise” and “How to Fight Racism.” He writes frequently at JemarTisby.Substack.com. The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    I teach African American history at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically Black college (HBCU) in Louisville. This week, we’ve been studying the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the Jim Crow period of US history.

    In the late 19th century, White, Southern Democrats (then the party of White supremacy and segregation) dubbed themselves the “Redeemers,” a group whose goal was to “save” the South from Northern carpetbaggers and newly freed Black people.

    The so-called Redeemers took over state legislatures with the primary goals of disenfranchising Black voters, barring Black people from holding political office, and establishing a politics that would render the White power structure impervious to disruption.

    When Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted this week to expel two Black members — Justin Jones and Justin Pearson — they revealed their resemblance to the anti-democratic, authoritarian Redeemers of more than a century ago.

    In 1868, White legislators in Georgia voted to expel the 33 Black men elected to state government.

    Henry McNeal Turner, a well-known leader in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination, was one of the men expelled from his position by the Georgia politicians.

    In remarks during the proceedings, he stated, “[White legislators] question my right to a seat in this body, to represent the people whose legal votes elected me. This objection, sir, is an unheard of monopoly of power. No analogy can be found for it, except it be the case of a man who should go into my house, take possession of my wife and children and then tell me to walk out.”

    Even though the Black lawmakers were soon reinstated, the actions of the White lawmakers in Georgia were just a foretaste of the political machinations to come.

    In 1890, the state of Mississippi called for a new convention to rewrite the state’s constitution. It had already adopted a new and relatively progressive constitution after the Civil War, but with the onset of Redemption, White lawmakers took control of the state government and began dismantling the rights Black people had only recently gained.

    In the newer version of the constitution that was later ratified, White Mississippi lawmakers installed measures to prevent Black people from voting. But because of the Reconstruction amendments to the US Constitution that guaranteed equal protection under the law and the right of Black men to vote, White Redeemers had to find new ways to repress Black people without making laws explicitly about race.

    So they used policies such as the poll tax, which most Black people could not afford to pay. They instituted the “understanding clause” — a selectively applied measure where potential voters had to interpret a passage from the state constitution to the satisfaction of a White registrar.

    The “grandfather clause” stipulated that a person’s grandfather had to be eligible to vote in order for their descendants to exercise the franchise. Of course, this excluded most Black people whose grandparents had been enslaved and thus, ineligible to vote.

    By the early 1900s, nearly all the former Confederate states had followed Mississippi’s example.

    In class, my students listened with stunned incredulity as they learned about the cruel and ruthless politics of the Redeemers. Unfortunately, the historical parallels to present-day events are too obvious to ignore.

    The actions of Republicans in the Tennessee legislature resemble the attempts of White Southern Redeemers to take back the South at the end of the 19th century.

    These new Redeemers are using their power as a tool of intimidation. What other conclusion can be drawn from the inappropriate and disproportionate response to a decorum infraction?

    Expulsion is the most severe consequence the legislature can enact against another member of that body. Since the Civil War, only three other members of the Tennessee state legislature have been expelled — and for much more serious offenses.

    The new Redeemers are not confined to one state, either.

    Attempts to strip local officials in the city of Jackson — where more than 80% of the population is Black — of their authority to monitor the city’s water system, police force and courts are underway in Mississippi.

    In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Stop WOKE Act” into law, which was intended to prevent teachings or mandatory workplace activities that suggest a person is privileged or oppressed based necessarily on their race, color, sex or national origin. “In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces. There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida,” DeSantis said.

    And, of course, the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump was the most egregious example of how far right-wing factions are willing to go to subvert the political process.

    The era of Redemption cemented decades of Jim Crow segregation. More than 4,000 “racial terror” lynchings occurred throughout that period, the Equal Justice Initiative has documented.

    Substantial change only came with the onset of the Civil Rights movement. Years of nonviolent direct action protest, constant lobbying in state and political governments and the martyrdom of many activists including Martin Luther King, Jr., finally interrupted traditions of segregation and White supremacy.

    It could be that a similar movement is necessary to disempower the Redeemers of today.

    When all the standard means of change — namely the democratic process itself — have been co-opted and subverted by authoritarians, then the people are only left with protest.

    If the goal of the Tennessee GOP was to intimidate people into acquiescence with their expulsion of Pearson and Jones, their tactic backfired in a spectacular way.

    Far from instilling fear, their expulsions and their stirring words in response have raised them to national prominence.

    Instead of dissuading Tennesseans from their calls for gun control, Republican legislators seem to have energized the people and motivated them to resist even more vigorously.

    With the rise of social media and other digital forms of information sharing, movements can be mobilized in moments.

    Although there were constant attempts throughout the years, it took decades for people to mount the resistance necessary to topple Jim Crow. In today’s environment, action might occur more swiftly.

    Those words, redemption and redeemer, are significant.

    This is Holy Week in the Christian religion. Events such as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday culminate in the observance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. These liturgies commemorate the redemption — Jesus paying the price for humanity’s sin.

    In many Christian traditions, redemption is a sacred theological principle that undergirds the hope of salvation. It is likely that many of the Tennessee Republican lawmakers will attend church this Sunday to celebrate the redemption that Easter heralds.

    Easter provides the perfect opportunity for these lawmakers to ponder the true meaning of redemption and which redeemer they are following.

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  • Tennessee House GOP expels 2 Democrats in retaliation over gun control protest, on ‘sad day for democracy’ | CNN

    Tennessee House GOP expels 2 Democrats in retaliation over gun control protest, on ‘sad day for democracy’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives were expelled while a third member was spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated.

    Protesters packed the state Capitol on Thursday to denounce the expulsions of Reps. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson and to advocate for gun reform measures a little over a week after a mass shooting devastated a Nashville school.

    Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon on “CNN This Morning,” Jones decried the actions of House Republicans.

    “What happened yesterday was a very sad day for democracy,” Jones said. “The nation was able to see we don’t have democracy in Tennessee.”

    Jones confirmed if he is reappointed to the seat by the 40-member Nashville Metro Council, he would serve. “I have no regrets. I will continue to stand up for my constituents.”

    Nashville City Council Member Russ Bradford told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota he would be voting to send Jones back to the State House.

    “That is who the people of House District 52 elected this last November and so it’s very important that, unlike my state legislature, I will listen to the voice of my constituents and I will do what needs to be done to support democracy in this state,” Bradford said.

    Following their expulsion – which House Republicans said was in response to the representatives’ leadership of gun control demonstrations on the chamber floor last week – Jones and Pearson called for protesters to return to the Capitol when the House is back in session on Monday.

    Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is White and wasn’t ousted, slammed the votes removing Jones and Pearson, who are Black, as racist. Asked by CNN why she believes she wasn’t expelled, Johnson said the reason is “pretty clear.”

    “I am a 60-year-old White woman, and they are two young Black men,” Johnson said. She added that Pearson and Jones were questioned in a “demeaning way” by lawmakers before their expulsion.

    President Joe Biden on Thursday called the expulsions “shocking, undemocratic and without precedent,” and criticized Republicans for not taking greater action on gun reform.

    Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville Friday to advocate for stricter gun control measures and highlight the importance of protecting Americans from gun violence. She also privately met with Jones, Pearson and Johnson.

    “We understand when we took an oath to represent the people who elected us that we speak on behalf of them. It wasn’t about the three of these leaders,” Harris said in remarks after the meeting. “It was about who they were representing. it’s about whose voices they were channeling. Understand that — and is that not what a democracy allows?”

    After a shooter killed three 9-year-old students and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville last week, Jones, Pearson and Johnson staged a demonstration on the House floor calling for gun reform and leading chants with a bullhorn.

    Jones said he and the other lawmakers had been blocked from speaking about gun violence on the House floor that week, saying that their microphones were cut off whenever they raised the topic, according to CNN affiliate WSMV.

    Following the three representatives’ demonstrations last Thursday, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton called their actions “unacceptable” and argued that they broke “several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor.”

    On Monday, three resolutions were filed seeking the expulsions of Jones, Pearson and Johnson. The three members had already been removed from their committee assignments following the protest.

    The resolutions, filed by Republican Reps. Bud Hulsey, Gino Bulso and Andrew Farmer, said the lawmakers “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor” to the House.

    Tennessee Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison told CNN that the caucus believed the issue did not need to be considered by an ethics committee and accused Jones and Pearson of having a “history” of disrupting floor proceedings.

    “It’s not possible for us to move forward with the way they were behaving in committee and on the House floor,” Faison said.

    The chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, Hendrell Remus, called the move a “direct political attack” on the party.

    “Their expulsion sets a dangerous new precedent for political retribution,” a statement from the party said. “The day that a majority can simply expel a member of the opposing party without legitimate cause threatens the fabric of democracy in our state and creates a reckless roadmap for GOP controlled state legislatures across the nation.”

    Historically, the Tennessee House had only expelled two other representatives since the Reconstruction, and the move requires a two-thirds majority vote of total members.

    The expulsions have been criticized by Democratic politicians and civil liberties groups who say voters in Jones’ and Pearson’s districts have been disenfranchised. Others, including Jones, have said the move distracts from the real problem of gun violence.

    “Rather than address the issue of banning assault weapons, my former colleagues – a Republican supermajority – are assaulting democracy,” Jones told CNN. “And that should scare all of us across the nation.”

    Rep. Sam McKenzie, chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, said the expulsion of Jones and Pearson overshadowed the issue they were protesting.

    “This was not about that kangaroo court that happened yesterday. This was about those three young children and those three guardians, those three adults, whose lives were taken away senselessly,” McKenzie said.

    “The world saw what happened yesterday,” McKenzie added, condemning the actions of House GOP leaders. “They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

    The NAACP also condemned the expulsions, calling them “horrific” but “not surprising.”

    “It is inexcusable that, while (Jones and Pearson) upheld their oath to serve Tennesseans who are grieving the loss of last week’s mass murder, their colleagues decided to use racial tropes to divert attention from their failure to protect the people they are supposed to serve,” NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

    “We will continue to stand with these champions of democracy, and are prepared to take whatever legal action is necessary to ensure that this heinous attempt to silence the voice of the people is addressed in a court of law,” Johnson added.

    On “CNN This Morning,” Jones said, “I think what happened was a travesty of democracy because they expelled the two youngest Black lawmakers – which is no coincidence – from the Tennessee state legislature because we are outspoken, because we fight for our district.”

    Jones described the session as a “toxic, racist work environment,” and said he spoke out because the House speaker ruled him out of order when he brought up the issue of gun violence. “If I didn’t know this happened to me, I would think that this was 1963 instead of 2023,” he added.

    Justin Jones carries his name tag after he is expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives on April 6, 2023.

    Prior to the vote, Pearson publicly shared a letter he sent to House members in which he said he took accountability for “not following decorum” on the House floor but defended his actions.

    Following their removal, pictures and profiles of Pearson and Jones have been pulled from the Tennessee General Assembly’s website and their districts have been listed as vacant.

    More about the three representatives:

    Rep. Justin Pearson:

  • District: 86
  • Age: 28
  • In office: 2023-
  • Issues: Environmental, racial and economic justice
  • Of note: Successfully blocked oil pipeline from being built in south Memphis
  • Recent awards: The Root’s 100 Most Influential Black Americans (2022)Rep. Gloria Johnson:
  • District: 90
  • Age: 60
  • In office: 2013-2015, 2019-
  • Issues: Education, jobs, health care
  • Of note: Successfully organized in favor of Insure Tennessee, the state’s version of Medicaid expansion
  • Recent awards: National Foundation of Women Legislators Women of Excellence (2022)Rep. Justin Jones:
  • District: 52
  • Age: 27
  • In office: 2023-
  • Issues: Health care, environmental justice
  • Of note: Wrote “The People’s Plaza: 62 Days of Nonviolent Resistance” after helping to organize a 2022 sit-in
  • Recent awards: Ubuntu Award for outstanding service, Vanderbilt Organization of Black Graduate and Professional Students (2019)

According to the Tennessee Constitution, since there is more than twelve months until the next general election in November 2024, a special election will be held to fill the seats.

Tennessee law allows for the appointment of interim House members to fill the seats of expelled lawmakers until an election is held by local legislative bodies.

In Jones’ case, the local legislative body is the Metropolitan Council of Davidson County in Nashville. The council has scheduled a special meeting Monday afternoon to address the vacancy of the District 52 seat and possibly vote on an interim successor.

For Pearson’s District 86 seat, the local legislative body is the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis.

It is unclear if or when a special meeting might be called there.

According to Johnson, Jones and Pearson could be reappointed to their seats.

“I think we might have these two young men back very soon,” Johnson said Thursday. “It is my promise to fight like hell to get both of them back.”

Pearson said he hopes to “get reappointed to serve in the state legislature by the Shelby County Commissioners, and a lot of them, I know, are upset about the anti-democratic behavior of this White supremacist-led state legislature.”

Speaking to a crowd following their expulsion, Pearson and Jones insisted they would persist in advocating for gun control measures and encouraged protesters to continue showing up to the Capitol.

The House has only expelled two state representatives in the last 157 years. The first expulsion, in 1980, was of a representative found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office, and the most recent came in 2016 when another member was expelled over allegations of sexual harassment.

Democratic Rep. Joe Towns called the move a “nuclear option.”

“You never use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat,” Towns said. “We should not go to the extreme of expelling our members for fighting for what many of the citizens want to happen, whether you agree with it or not.”

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, Kathy Sinback, called the move in a statement a “targeted expulsion of two Black legislators without due process.”

She continued, “It raises questions about the disparate treatment of Black representatives, while continuing the shameful legacy of disenfranchising and silencing the voices of marginalized communities and the Black lawmakers they elect.”

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  • Ex-Fox producer said she gave misleading testimony in Dominion case ‘to keep my job’ | CNN Business

    Ex-Fox producer said she gave misleading testimony in Dominion case ‘to keep my job’ | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Abby Grossberg, the former Fox News producer who accused the right-wing network of pressuring her into giving misleading testimony in the Dominion defamation case, told NBC News Thursday in her first TV interview that she was “bullied, intimidated and coerced” into protecting the right-wing network to keep her job.

    “It felt awful. I mean it felt terrible because I knew that I was bullied, intimidated, and coerced into saying that just to keep my job and stay at the company,” Grossberg told NBC.

    Asked why she did that, Grossberg said “Because I made the decision to keep my job so that I can keep paying my bills. It seemed like the safer decision for me at the time.”

    Her latest comments echo what she said last week in an interview with CNN’s Oliver Darcy, where she said she filed the lawsuit to protect her career and “expose the lies and deceit” that she says is rampant at the right-wing network.

    Fox News contests all of her allegations, and said in a prior statement that, “the assertion that Ms. Grossberg was coached or intimidated into being dishonest during her Dominion deposition is patently false.”

    Fox News also denies wrongdoing in the underlying Dominion case, and says it didn’t defame anyone.

    Last week, Grossberg filed explosive lawsuits in New York and Delaware accusing Fox News lawyers of pressuring her into providing misleading testimony in the Dominion case – testimony that would protect the network and its top talent. Since filing the lawsuit, she submitted new sworn testimony in the Dominion defamation case that undermines some of Fox’s defenses.

    She also claimed in her lawsuit that she had been subjected to a toxic and sexist work environment while at Fox News. The network has vehemently pushed back against these allegations.

    After filing the lawsuit, Grossberg was fired from Fox News. The right-wing network said in a statement that she violated corporate rules improperly exposed legally privileged information in her lawsuit.

    During Thursday’s interview, Grossberg said that she experienced harassment so severe that she thought about killing herself.

    “I reached a breaking point where the harassment was so bad that I called a crisis line,” Grossberg told NBC News. “I thought I could just walk in front of a car and I wouldn’t have to go to work tomorrow.”

    Describing the allegedly toxic workplace at the right-wing network, Grossberg said: “Women were objectified. It was a game. It was a sport. Female politicians who came on the show were mocked. There were debates about who they’d rather sleep with. C-word all the time.”

    A Fox News spokesperson didn’t offer any comment when asked about Grossberg’s mention of suicide. But the spokesperson denied Grossberg’s claims of workplace misogyny, saying her lawsuit was “riddled with false allegations against the network and our employees.” The spokesperson also noted that women are currently serving as the CEO of Fox News Media and the presidents of two of its networks.

    Fox News is no stranger to claims of workplace sexism. Fox News founder Roger Ailes, former primetime star host Bill O’Reilly and other men were forced out amid sexual harassment allegations, and the network has paid tens of millions to settle related lawsuits.

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  • Reparations for Black Californians could top $800 billion

    Reparations for Black Californians could top $800 billion

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    SAN FRANCISCO — It could cost California more than $800 billion to compensate Black residents for generations of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination, economists have told a state panel considering reparations.

    The preliminary estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span. Nor does the figure count compensating people for property unjustly taken by the government or devaluing Black businesses, two other harms the task force says the state perpetuated.

    Black residents may not receive cash payments anytime soon, if ever, because the state may never adopt the economists’ calculations. The reparations task force is scheduled to discuss the numbers Wednesday and can vote to adopt the suggestions or come up with its own figures. The proposed number comes from a consulting team of five economists and policy experts.

    “We’ve got to go in with an open mind and come up with some creative ways to deal with this,” said Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, one of two lawmakers on the task force responsible for mustering support from state legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom before any reparations could become reality.

    In an interview prior to the meeting, Jones-Sawyer said he needed to consult budget analysts, other legislators and the governor’s office before deciding whether the scale of payments is feasible.

    The estimates for policing and disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination are not new. The figures came up in a September presentation as the consulting team sought guidance on whether to use a national or California-specific model to calculate damages.

    But the task force must now settle on a cash amount as it nears a July 1 deadline to recommend to lawmakers how California can atone for its role in perpetuating racist systems that continue to undermine Black people.

    For those who support reparations, the staggering $800 billion amount economists suggest underscores the long-lasting harm Black Americans have endured, even in a state that never officially endorsed slavery. Critics pin their opposition partly on the fact that California was never a slave state and say current taxpayers should not be responsible for damage linked to events that germinated hundreds of years ago.

    Task force recommendations are just the start because ultimate authority rests with the state Assembly, Senate and the governor.

    “That’s going to be the real hurdle,” said Sen. Steven Bradford, who sits on the panel. “How do you compensate for hundreds of years of harm, even 150 years post-slavery?”

    Financial redress is just one part of the package being considered. Other proposals include paying incarcerated inmates market value for their labor, establishing free wellness centers and planting more trees in Black communities, banning cash bail and adopting a K-12 Black studies curriculum.

    Gov. Newsom signed legislation in 2020 creating the reparations task force after national protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police. While federal initiatives have stalled, cities, counties and other institutions have stepped in.

    An advisory committee in San Francisco has recommended $5 million payouts, as well as guaranteed income of at least $97,000 and personal debt forgiveness for qualifying individuals. Supervisors expressed general support, but stopped short of endorsing specific proposals. They will take up the issue later this year.

    The statewide estimate includes $246 billion to compensate eligible Black Californians whose neighborhoods were subjected to aggressive policing and prosecution of Black people in the “war on drugs” from 1970 to 2020. That would translate to nearly $125,000 for every person who qualifies.

    The numbers are approximate, based on modeling and population estimates. The economists also included $569 billion to make up for the discriminatory practice of redlining in housing loans. Such compensation would amount to about $223,000 per eligible resident who lived in California from 1933 to 1977. The aggregate is considered a maximum and assumes all 2.5 million people who identify as Black in California would be eligible.

    Redlining officially began in the 1930s when the federal government started backing mortgages to support homebuying, but excluded majority Black neighborhoods by marking them red on internal maps. The racial gap in homeownership persists today, and Black-owned homes are frequently undervalued. Redlining officially ended in 1977, but the practice persisted.

    Monetary redress will be available to people who meet residency and other requirements. They must also be descendants of enslaved and freed Black people in the U.S. as of the 19th century, which leaves out Black immigrants.

    In their report, the consultants suggest the state task force “err on the side of generosity” and consider a down-payment with more money to come as more evidence becomes available.

    “It should be communicated to the public that the substantial initial down-payment is the beginning of a conversation about historical injustices, not the end of it,” they said.

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  • Ghana’s president softens country’s stance on draconian anti-LGBTQ bill as Kamala Harris visits | CNN

    Ghana’s president softens country’s stance on draconian anti-LGBTQ bill as Kamala Harris visits | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has said that “substantial elements” of a draconian anti-LGBTQ bill being considered by its parliament “have been modified” after an intervention by his government.

    Akufo-Addo made the disclosure Monday at a joint press conference with US Vice-President Kamala Harris, who’s on a tour of the West African country.

    He pointed out that the proposed legislation, framed in the guise of “family values” – which seeks to introduce some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws on the African continent – was not legislation introduced by his government but a private members’ bill. The bill was first introduced in parliament in August 2021.

    “The bill is going through the parliament. The attorney general has found it necessary to speak to the committee (the constitutional and legal committee of parliament) about it regarding the constitutionality … of several of its provisions. The parliament is dealing with it. At the end of the process, I will come in,” the Ghanaian leader said.

    After parliamentary deliberations, a final bill will be sent to the president for assent.

    “My understanding … is that substantial elements of the bill have already been modified as a result of the intervention of the attorney general,” Akufo-Addo said.

    In suggesting that the bill may end up being watered down in the amendment process, Akufo-Addo added that he was convinced the parliament will consider the sensitivity of the bill to human rights issues as well as the feelings of the Ghanaian population “and come out with a responsible response.”

    However, one of the parliamentarians who introduced the bill, Samuel Nartey George, insists that the proposed law remains “rigid and tough.”

    “The bill has not been substantially changed. The bill remains as tough and as rigid as it was,” George told local media in a televised interview.

    He added: “When the bill is laid before the House (of parliament), you will realize that the focus of the bill which has to do with voiding (gay) marriages, preventing them from adopting or fostering children, the clampdown on platforms and media houses that are going to do promotion and advocacy or push those materials still remain enforced.”

    George also implied that restrictions against “expressions, be it lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender are all still there. “So when he (Akufo-Addo) says the bill has been watered down, he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

    The proposed aw would see LGBTQ Ghanaians face jail time, or be forced into so-called “conversion therapy” – a widely discredited practice debunked by much of the international medical and psychiatric communities.

    Under the bill, advocates of the LGBTQ community would face up to a decade in prison; public displays of same-sex affection or cross-dressing could lead to a fine or jail time, and certain types of medical support would be made illegal.

    The new law would also make the distribution of material deemed pro-LGBTQ by news organizations or websites illegal. It calls on Ghanaians to report those they suspect of being from the LGBTQ community.

    Harris, the US vice-president, said at the press conference she felt very strongly about supporting the freedom and equality of the LGBTQ community.

    “This is an issue that we consider to be a human rights issue, and that will not change,” she said.

    Ghana’s information minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, also told CNN on Tuesday that the outcome of the parliamentary debate on the bill may differ from its original provisions.

    “The bill is now in an enactment process. What will come out in enactment when 275 members get on the floor and start dealing with it clause by clause and voting clause by clause, may end up being different from what was proposed. You propose a bill and parliament … can tweak it and make it harsher or less harsh … it is in the hands of parliament now,” Nkrumah said.

    The minister also insisted however that the Ghanaian government was not under pressure to relax existing legislation on homosexuality.

    “We are not pressured in any way to focus on things that are not essentially within our main priorities. Our priority number one is getting the Ghanaian economy on track and that’s what we’re focused on.”

    “This conversation is not part of our mainstream conversation here in Ghana,” he added.

    Old sodomy laws dating back to 1960 remain on the statute books in Ghana but they are rarely enforced.

    Activist Danny Bediako, who runs the NGO Rightify Ghana, told CNN that living in Ghana would become tougher for the LGBTQ community if the bill passes in parliament.

    “It’s going to make it difficult for the (LGBTQ) community to exist. They are just trying to erase the community through this bill, so it will definitely lead to an increase in attacks,” said Bediako, who added that his organization had documented 27 cases of violent attacks targeted toward the LGBTQ community in the country this year.

    “There have been different types of cases, but the most dominant one is the activities of violent groups and they are widespread. So if this bill is passed, these activities are going to continue and it’s only going to also get worse.”

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  • US State Department ends assignment restrictions that were perceived as discriminatory | CNN Politics

    US State Department ends assignment restrictions that were perceived as discriminatory | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The US State Department will no longer issue assignment restrictions as a condition of granting security clearance, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced to the department’s workforce on Wednesday in a memo obtained by CNN.

    The change comes after an intensive review of the practice, which was perceived as discriminatory by diplomats and Democratic lawmakers, particularly because the limits appeared to fall disproportionately on employees with Asian American and Pacific Islander backgrounds.

    The assignment restrictions were applied by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, sometimes to employees who otherwise hold top-secret clearances, to prevent them from serving in particular countries or even, while they’re in Washington, from working on issues related to those countries.

    In 2021, CNN reported that diplomats felt frustrated that they felt untrusted by their own government. Lawmakers also highlighted the issue that there was no independent appeals process to challenge decisions. Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation in 2021 to address the long-standing complaints.

    Politico was first to report the changes to the assignment restrictions.

    Blinken said the change came after he had lifted more than half of the restrictions during his first year as secretary of state, which opened “new possible assignments” for hundreds of US diplomats.

    “Today, I’m pleased to share that after a rigorous review, I have decided that, moving forward, the Department will end its practice of issuing new assignment restrictions as a condition placed on a security clearance,” he wrote to the workforce.

    There will be a review and appeal process rolled out for those who are subject to the assignment restrictions currently, he said. But some restrictions will remain in place, such as those that relate to a situation “in which a foreign country may consider an employee to be one of their own nationals” or when there are “assignments to posts rated critical for human intelligence threats,” Blinken explained.

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  • Philadelphia reaches $9.25 million settlement over police misconduct during the 2020 George Floyd protests | CNN

    Philadelphia reaches $9.25 million settlement over police misconduct during the 2020 George Floyd protests | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The City of Philadelphia has announced a $9.25 million settlement with hundreds of people who sued the city alleging “excessive and unreasonable force” by police during the civil unrest over the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

    The lawsuit filed on behalf of 343 plaintiffs alleged that the response by police left protesters with “physical injuries that, in some cases, required medical treatment and hospitalization, as well as emotional anguish” during a protest over police brutality on May 31, 2020 – just a few days after Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis.

    Philadelphia police officers used “tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets” against protesters “and in some cases arrested participants and bystanders” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the Legal Defense Fund, the Abolitionist Law Center, and Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP.

    The city also agreed to disengage from the 1033 program, “a federal program which arms state and local law enforcement with military weapons and equipment,” according to a statement by the Legal Defense Fund about the settlement.

    Under the agreement, the city will also give a grant of between $500,000 and $600,000 to Bread & Rose Community Fund to provide free mental health counseling and community-led programing for “all residents within a radius of 52nd Street corridor in West Philadelphia, not just plaintiffs in the lawsuit,” according to the city’s press release.

    The settlement did not include an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the defendants, and the court filings with the settlement terms indicate the city continues to deny any wrongdoing.

    How police respond to protests came under intense scrutiny during the massive protests that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s death as police in major cities tried to quell unrest with tear gas and rubber bullets.

    In the statement, the Legal Defense Fund said this is an “unprecedented settlement with the City of Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Police Department’s excessive, militaristic use of force” during the 2020 protests.

    Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said “the Philadelphia Police Department is a learning organization, and we remain dedicated to moving forward in meaningful and productive ways,” according to a news release from the city.

    “We will continue to work non-stop towards improving what we as police do to protect the first amendment rights of protestors, keep our communities and officers safe, and to ultimately prove that we are committed to a higher standard,” she continued.

    The settlement “features a recognition of the damage the PPD has done throughout West Philadelphia and it communicates the importance of centering the community in a path towards healing,” said Cara McClellan, director and practice associate professor of the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania.

    “Today’s settlement sets an important precedent for accountability in future cases,” she added.

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  • Producer claims Fox coerced testimony in Dominion libel case

    Producer claims Fox coerced testimony in Dominion libel case

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    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Fox News producer has filed a lawsuit claiming the network pressured her to give misleading testimony in a separate lawsuit that alleges Fox slandered a voting machine company by amplifying baseless allegations of fraud following the 2020 presidential election.

    The lawsuit by Abby Grossberg, who said she is on a forced administrative leave, alleges that the network also discriminated against her based on her gender and Jewish faith. It came as a hearing began Tuesday in Delaware Superior Court in the larger legal battle between Fox and Dominion Voting Systems, which seeks $1.6 billion from the network in its defamation claim.

    The Dominion lawsuit provides the legal backdrop for Grossberg’s claim and already has embarrassed the network by revealing its personalities’ private disdain for former President Donald Trump and illustrating how political pressures can inform its coverage. The case also holds the potential for redefining libel law in the U.S.

    Denver-based Dominion, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, contends that some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims by Trump allies that Dominion machines had changed votes in the 2020 election and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and defamatory statements about the company.

    Attorneys for Fox argue that the network was obligated to report on arguably one of the most newsworthy stories of the time — that a sitting president was claiming he had been cheated out of reelection. Records released previously in the case show the Fox personalities and executives doubted the claims, but gave repeated air time to those making them.

    Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis heard arguments Tuesday on requests by both sides to grant summary judgment in their favor. To prevail, Dominion must convince Davis that Fox employees acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth, and that no reasonable jury could find otherwise.

    Davis told lawyers for both sides he hasn’t made up his mind.

    “I need to be educated,” the judge said as the hearing began. “I haven’t pre-decided this.”

    If Davis allows the case to go forward, the trial is scheduled to start April 17.

    In her lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in New York City, Grossberg contends that Fox attorneys advised her against hiring a personal attorney for the case and implied that she should not be “too candid” in her depositions.

    “Ms. Grossberg convinced herself that discretion would be the better part of valor in this instance, and decided she would follow the directions of the attorneys who claimed they represented her best interests in connection with her deposition and kept her truth to herself,” Grossberg’s lawsuit contends.

    During her deposition, when asked by a Dominion attorney whether it was important to correct a falsehood that a guest said on one of her shows, Grossberg replied: “No.” In her lawsuit, she says she gave that answer because she thought that was what Fox wanted her to say.

    Her lawsuit said she was a producer for the Tucker Carlson show at the time of her leave and had previously worked with another prominent network personality, Maria Bartiromo.

    Fox countered with its own lawsuit, seeking to bar Grossberg from sharing confidential discussions with company lawyers.

    “Her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims,” the network said in a statement.

    Grossberg also alleges that she already was struggling to advance her career at the network in the face of sexism.

    Her lawsuit alleges that she received a poor performance review earlier this year after complaining about repeated sexual discrimination at Fox, especially on Carlson’s show, to which she had recently been transferred. She claims that the show’s offices were decorated with a poster of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a revealing bathing suit and that the show’s staffers engaged in crude sexist banter about female politicians.

    ___

    Riccardi reported from Denver.

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  • U.S. Announces Plans To Reclassify Everyone’s Race Based On Net Worth

    U.S. Announces Plans To Reclassify Everyone’s Race Based On Net Worth

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    WASHINGTON—Claiming the new system would make things simpler for everyone and avoid confusing mix-ups, Congress passed a joint resolution Tuesday that would reclassify every citizen’s race according to their net worth. “It is resolved by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that any American whose wealth exceeds $1 million shall be white,” read the bipartisan legislation, which went on to state that citizens who were dissatisfied with the race they were assigned under the new criteria would be “free to pull themselves up by their bootstraps” in order to reach a racial category of greater privilege. “Now, regardless of the color of their skin, those who are rich will receive all the rights a wealthy person is entitled to in this country. Meanwhile, those with a net worth in the six figures, though they cannot be white, will still qualify as Asian, with the social scale moving downward from there to Latino and Black. This should go a long way toward making our racial stereotypes as accurate as possible.” In an attempt to deal a final blow to the complications of intersectionality, Congress was reportedly taking up additional legislation to ensure everyone earning above the median income level was classified as a man, and everyone below it as a woman.

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  • Michigan adds LGBTQ protections to anti-discrimination law

    Michigan adds LGBTQ protections to anti-discrimination law

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    LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Thursday codifying LGBTQ protections into the state’s civil rights law, permanently outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state.

    The legislation follows a state Supreme Court ruling last year that the Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and education on the basis of sex, extended to sexual orientation as well.

    Whitmer’s signature Thursday ensures that the high court’s ruling cannot be reversed in the future and goes one step further in extending protections to include gender identity or expression. It comes at a time, Whitmer said, when there’s a “nationwide assault on our LGBTQ-plus community, especially our trans neighbors, family and friends.”

    “There are state legislatures across this country dedicating themselves to legalizing discrimination,” Whitmer said. “In Michigan, we will keep expanding freedoms and getting things done on the issues that actually make a difference in people’s lives.”

    Democrats took full control of the state government this year for the first time in 40 years and have worked quickly to undo decades of Republican measures. The Michigan Legislature advanced a repeal of the state’s “right-to-work” law earlier this week. On Thursday, the Senate passed an 11-bill gun safety package.

    Michigan was previously one of 29 states that did not have laws explicitly protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, according to the gay rights group the Human Rights Campaign, and Michigan Democrats made it a top priority this year after seeing the effort blocked by Republicans for years.

    The Michigan House and Senate passed the LGBTQ protections earlier this month with the large majority of Republicans voting in opposition, claiming that it could infringe on religious groups’ rights.

    The bill’s sponsor, Jeremy Moss, the state’s first openly gay state senator, said Thursday that amending the state’s civil rights act to include LGBTQ protections has been 40 years in the making. “This baton has been passed from generation to generation,” he said.

    The Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act also prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status and marital status.

    Former Republican Rep. Mel Larsen, who helped author the civil rights act alongside Democratic Rep. Daisy Elliott in 1976, attended the bill signing in Lansing and said the “original intent, and the intent still, is that every citizen of Michigan has the right to be protected under the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act.”

    The anti-discrimination legislation also comes at a time when advocates for LGBTQ rights say Republican-led states across the country are trying to erase the legal existence of people who are trans and to restrict the expression of those who are nonbinary, gender-fluid or who perform in drag.

    Earlier this month, Tennessee became the first state to severely limit drag show performances as other Republican-led states consider similar measures. An increasing number of states have also banned, or are considering banning, gender-affirming medical care for young people.

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  • EXPLAINER: Next steps for Black reparations in San Francisco

    EXPLAINER: Next steps for Black reparations in San Francisco

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    SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco supervisors have backed the idea of paying reparations to Black people, but whether members will agree to lump-sum payments of $5 million to every eligible person or to any of the more than 100 other recommendations made by an advisory committee won’t be known until later this year.

    The idea of Black reparations is not new, but the federal government’s promise of granting 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves was never realized. It wasn’t until George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody in 2020 that reparations movements began spreading in earnest across the country.

    The state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco are among jurisdictions trying to atone not just for chattel slavery, but for decades of racist policies and laws that systemically denied Black Americans access to property, education and the ability to build generational wealth.

    WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT FOR REPARATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO?

    Black migration to San Francisco soared in the 1940s because of shipyard work, but racially restrictive covenants and redlining limited where people could live. When Black residents were able to build a thriving neighborhood in the Fillmore, government redevelopment plans in the 1960s forced out residents, stripped them of their property and decimated Black-owned businesses, advocates say.

    Today, less than 6% of Black residents in San Francisco are Black yet they make up nearly 40% of the city’s homeless population.

    Supporters include the San Francisco NAACP, although it said the board should reject the $5 million payments and focus instead on reparations through education, jobs, housing, health care and a cultural center for Black people in San Francisco. The president of the San Francisco branch is the Rev. Amos C. Brown, who sits on both the statewide and San Francisco reparations panels.

    WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT AGAINST REPARATIONS?

    Critics say California and San Francisco never endorsed chattel slavery, and there is no one alive today who owned slaves or was enslaved. It is not fair for municipal taxpayers, some of whom are immigrants, to shoulder the cost of structural racism and discriminatory government policies, critics say.

    An estimate from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, which leans conservative, has said it would cost each non-Black family in San Francisco at least $600,000 in taxes to pay for the costliest of the recommendations: The $5 million per-person payout, guaranteed income of at least $97,000 a year for 250 years, personal debt elimination and converting public housing into condos to sell for $1.

    A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found 68% of U.S. respondents opposed reparations compared with 30% in favor. Nearly 80% of Black people surveyed supported reparations. More than 90% of Republicans or those leaning Republican opposed reparations while Democrats and those leaning Democratic were divided.

    HOW WILL SAN FRANCISCO PAY FOR THIS?

    It’s not clear. The advisory committee that made the recommendations says it is not its job to figure out how to finance San Francisco’s atonement and repair.

    That would be up to local politicians, two of whom expressed interest Tuesday in taking the issue to voters. San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he would back a ballot measure to enshrine reparations in the San Francisco charter as part of the budget. Shamann Walton, the supervisor leading the charge on reparations, supports that idea.

    WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER REPARATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS?

    Recommendations in education include establishing an Afrocentric K-12 school in San Francisco; hiring and retaining Black teachers; mandating a core Black history and culture curriculum; and offering cash to at-risk students for hitting educational benchmarks.

    Recommendations in health include free mental health, prenatal care and rehab treatment for impoverished Black San Franciscans, victims of violent crimes and formerly incarcerated people.

    The advisory committee also recommends prioritizing Black San Franciscans for job opportunities and training, as well as finding ways to incubate Black businesses.

    WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

    There is no deadline for supervisors to agree on a path forward. The board next plans to discuss reparations proposals in September, after the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee issues a final report in June.

    WHAT ABOUT REPARATIONS FROM THE STATE?

    In 2020, California became the first state to form a reparations task force. But nearly two years into its work, it still has yet to make key decisions on who would be eligible for payment and how much. The task force has a July 1 deadline to submit a final report of its reparations recommendations, which would then be drafted into legislation for lawmakers to consider.

    The task force has spent multiple meetings discussing time frames and payment calculations for five harms experienced by Black people, including government taking of property, housing discrimination and homelessness and mass incarceration. The task force is also debating state residency requirements.

    Previously, the state committee voted to limit financial reparations to people descended from enslaved or freed Black people in the U.S. as of the 19th century.

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  • Mississippi man sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for burning a cross to intimidate Black family | CNN

    Mississippi man sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for burning a cross to intimidate Black family | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for burning a cross in his front yard to intimidate a Black family, according to a news release from the US Justice Department.

    Axel Cox, 24, was sentenced to 42 months in connection to the cross burning, which happened in December 2020 and violated the Fair Housing Act, the release said, adding Cox “admitted that he lit the cross on fire because the victims were Black and that he intended to scare them into moving out of the neighborhood.”

    Justice Department leaders condemned Cox’s actions, with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division calling them “an abhorrent act that used a traditional symbol of hatred and violence to stoke fear and drive a Black family out of their home.”

    According to the Justice Department, Cox “wedged two pieces of wood together to form a cross, placed it in clear view of the victims’ residence,” following a dispute with the victims and “doused it in oil and set it alight. During this incident, Cox yelled threats and racial slurs toward the occupants of the house.”

    In September 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Cox for interfering with the victims’ housing rights and using fire to commit a federal felony. An attorney for Cox, who did not immediately response to a request for comment Sunday, filed a notice of intent to change his plea in November 2022, and court documents indicate Cox pleaded guilty to the first count.

    Cox’s prison term is set to be followed by three years of supervised release, per the Justice Department. He was also ordered to pay $7,810 in restitution.

    “While one might think cross-burnings and white supremacist threats and violence are things of the past, the unfortunate reality is that these incidents continue today,” Clarke said.

    “This sentence demonstrates the importance of holding people accountable for threatening the safety and security of Black people in their homes because of the color of their skin or where they are from.”

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