You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Support Bipartisan #JusticeReformNOW.

1 out of every 100 Americans is behind bars. The U.S. spends $80 billion a year on incarceration. 70 million Americans have a criminal record. In too many neighborhoods, young people of color are more likely to go to prison than college.

Over the course of this year, those stats — straight out of Cut50’s campaign supporting bipartisan criminal justice reform — have lead to an unlikely alliance of traditional ideological adversaries like The ACLU and Koch Industries. With the left and the right backing a reduction in the inmate population, legislation has actually been introduced in the House and Senate.

As reported in NPR, Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, is behind the bill because: "The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act is the most substantial criminal justice reform legislation introduced since the inception of the 'tough on crime' movement and is the best indication we have that those days are over.”

Families Against Mandatory Minimums is also supporting the legislation. President Julie Stewart acknowledges that it isn’t perfect, but says "it is a substantial improvement over the status quo and will fix some of the worst injustices.”

The House bill — the SAFE Justice Act — and the Senate bill — the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act — propose system-wide reforms to reduce over-criminalization, enhance rehabilitation, support individuals’ rebuilding after prison terms, reform federal prison sentencing, and reduce automatic and harsh punishments like “three strikes” laws.

Visit JusticeReformNow.org to sign the Cut50 petition, which is approaching 200,000 signatures — it turns out criminal justice reform is also popular with celebrity activists and the general public! You can also join in demanding that Congress take action to roll back the incarceration industry in America by following the #JusticeReformNOW & #Cut50 hashtags.

We already know this Congress is loathe to do anything besides push deadlines on the budget and investigate Planned Parenthood without a public outcry. Let’s make sure they can hear us loud and clear.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN: "Demand that Congress take action to roll back the incarceration industry in America” via #cut50

Sources/further reading:

"FAMM: House Sentencing Reform Compromise Another Step in Right Direction” via Families Against Mandatory Minimums

“Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act” — the full legislation

"Here's One Thing Washington Agreed On This Week: Sentencing Reform” via NPR

"Senators Announce Bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act” — announcement from the Judiciary Committee

"Senate Introduces ‘Gamechanger’ Criminal Justice Reform Bill” via Time

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #959 "The need to do better (Mass Incarceration)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Support the decriminalization of sex work.

Feminism has an unfortunate and harmful rift when it comes to sex work. While activists and talking heads will all come out to defend bodily autonomy when it relates to pregnancy and abortion, a frustrating few show up to acknowledge the agency of sex workers. Despite sex workers risking stigma, future employment and even harm to speak out and tell their stories and debunk myths, many still see them as victims to be rescued or as complicit in the subjugation of women.

Amnesty International's decision to listen to the 237 organizations in 71 countries that make up the Global Network of Sex Work Projects rather than the “rescue” industry and support decriminalization has sparked a new round of public discussion on the issue. This means right now is an important moment for allies to learn and get involved.

If you’re new or have reservations, there’s no one better than Melissa Gira Grant on the topic. She has the personal and activist history as well as an accessible style for explaining the intersection of issues that make decriminalization — and ultimately legalization — important and sensible.

From her piece at The Nation on Amnesty’s policy shift:

"Using the criminal law to control sex work means police are pitted against sex workers, and sex workers can pay the price with their lives. Sex workers who are also migrants, transgender, and/or people of color or ethnic minorities are intensely subject to this kind of criminalization and exclusion...Criminal laws only add to the challenges—poverty, marginalization, access to health care—that many sex workers already face.”

Basically — as we see with almost every other thing that’s been criminalized in this country, making sex work illegal only intensifies existing hardships and marginalization while propping up private prison profits. The only way to fix it is to change prohibition laws and that starts with changing public perception — which means we need to be better allies.

The Sex Workers Outreach Project is a great starting point for becoming an ally in your personal and professional spaces. At SWOPusa.org they have basic language tips for medical professionals, advice for academics and teachers, ways to get involved in your community, support for the partners and friends of sex workers, and links to other organizations’ resources.

Their community support line — 877-776-2044 — is national and open to current and former sex workers, allies and grassroots organizers for general advice, crisis counseling, referrals, and legal information. Their resources page also has safety and screening tips for sex workers — increasingly important as sex worker-controlled avenues like MyRedbook & Rentboy are shut down.

TAKE ACTION:

Learn how to become an ally with SWOP’s Ally Resources Page

Follow & amplify: #SexWorkIsWork

Additional Activism/Resources:

Resources for sex workers: Safety tips and Screening 101 via via SWOP-Chicago

Sources/further reading:

"Amnesty International’s Long-Due Support for Sex Workers Rights” by Melissa Gira Grant at The Nation

”Playing the Whore: the Work of Sex Work” by Melissa Gira Grant

Q&A on the Policy to Protect Human Rights of Sex Workers — Amnesty International

"LGBT Rights Organizations Join Amnesty International in Call to Decriminalize Sex Work” — Lambda Legal

"How LGBT People Would Benefit From The Decriminalization Of Sex Work” at ThinkProgress

"3 Sex Workers' Rights Organizations That Fight Every Day To End The Stigma” via Bustle

"A Sex Worker Shows Why Her Job Shouldn't Be Illegal” via Refinery29

"How the Feds Took Down Rentboy.com” at Vice.com by Melissa Gira Grant

"Woman kills attacker with his gun, unknowingly takes out a serial killer” via The Daily Dot

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #951 "It is neither all good nor all bad (Sex Workers Rights)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: End Cash Bail in New York.

Stealing a backpack shouldn’t be a death sentence. Kalief Browder’s death is an indictment on nearly every aspect of our jails and prison system.

We should — all of us — be taking this tragedy seriously, as Glenn Martin, president of Just Leadership USA explained to Aaron Morrison of International Business Times: “Ultimately, we are all collectively responsible for the death of Kalief, since our insidious criminal justice system exists in our name.”

The length of time Browder spent at Riker’s simply because he couldn’t post bail has surprised people. But if we’re supposedly all “innocent until proven guilty,” maybe the question shouldn’t be “Why was a 16-year-old expected to have $3,000 on hand for bail?” Instead, we should be asking, “Why do people pay for the privilege of waiting for their day in court at all?”

As the editorial staff for amNY explained in an op ed demanding bail reform, the NYC Independent Budget Office report found in 2011 that pretrial detainees make up 75% of the average daily jail population and nearly half were there because they couldn't post bail. Nationally, the numbers are six out of ten prisoners who are incarcerated in lieu of bail.

Cash bail is nothing more than punishment for the poor that benefits only the CEOs of private prison companies and their lobbyists.

Visit the Pretrial Justice Institute’s website — Pretrial.org — and click the banner for their petition with MoveOn titled "Gov Cuomo: End Cash Bail in New York.” Sign and share to encourage similar actions in other states and cities. Pretrial.org also has a great “Take Action” tab with local and national coalitions, an events calendar, and a page to submit your story.

Martin F. Horn — former commissioner of NYC's Department of Correction — closes his plea to prevent even one more Kalief Browder at The Marshall Project this way:

"It requires political courage for the city to address these issues and bring sanity to the jails. It will take money and leadership. There is no alternative, because our jails are a reflection of our collective conscience, and if they remain as they are, the fault is ours.”

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN: "Gov Cuomo: End Cash Bail in New York” via the Pretrial Justice Institute

Additional Activism/Resources:

Follow and support the work of The Bronx Freedom Fund

Follow and support the work of The Brooklyn Bail Fund

Sources/further reading:

"Fixing the Jail Where Kalief Browder was Held: Former corrections chief Martin Horn has some ideas for Rikers Island.” at The Marshall Project

"Newsday: NYC may set up taxpayer-paid bail fund for low-level offenses”

"After Kalief Browder's Death, Prison Reform Advocates Say NYC Rikers Island Abuses Must Not Produce More ‘Martyrs’” by Aaron Morrison at The International Business Times

"Bail reform can help fix NYC criminal justice” by the Editorial Staff at AM New York

"How to Lock Up Fewer People” by Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project

"City Needs ‘Some Type of Bail Reform,’ de Blasio Says After Kalief Browder Suicide” by Jill Jorgensen at NY Observer

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #930 "Our prisons: cruel and counterproductive (Injustice System)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: "Free Victims of the Drug War" with the Drug Policy Alliance.

President Obama stepped up his pardons earlier this year by commuting the sentences of 22 federal prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug offenses being served “under an outdated sentencing regime,” according to the administration. As Trymaine Lee reported for MSNBC.com, the president described the power of commutation as embodying “the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance.”

For what are most certainly widely varying reasons, bipartisan conversations have begun seeking to tackle the injustices of decades-old mandatory minimum and three-strikes laws which have lead to the overcrowding of our nation’s prisons and the fulfilling of the greedy dreams of private prison company CEOs. In his statement on the commutations, the president acknowledged both the social good and the financial imperative of fixing the broken system.

“Well, here’s the good news,” the president said. "There is an increasing realization on the left, but also on the right politically, that what we’re doing is counterproductive. We’re all responsible for at least a solution to this.”

As the predictably slow wheels of potential Congressional action turn, there is good news: this is another situation where the White House holds significant unilateral power. The Drug Policy Alliance is campaigning to pressure the president on additional commutations — which should be an easy sell as he has already established a clemency initiative to encourage individuals sentenced under the draconian drug laws to petition for commutation.

You can join with the Drug Policy Alliance by visiting DrugPolicy.org/action and contacting the White House through their "Free Victims of the Drug War” page. You can also follow their hashtag #NoMoreDrugWar and use it to publicly share that you’re participating in the campaign to free those wrongly and cruelly incarcerated.

As the Drug Policy Alliance letter-writing page explains, the White House is starting to listen on this issue; now is the time to build momentum by asking the president to continue a process he began and not leave the work unfinished for an incoming administration. The time is now.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN to tell the president to Free Victims of the Drug War via the Drug Policy Alliance

Additional Activism/Resources:

FOLLOW the hashtag: #NoMoreDrugWar

For those who want to get more involved, it’s early registration for the International Drug Policy Reform Conference (11/18-11/21/2015)

Sources/further reading:

"President Obama commutes prison sentences of 22 drug offenders” by Trymaine Lee at MSNBC.com

"Prolific Pardoner? Obama Grants Clemency to 22 Prisoners Last Week, but Has Denied Thousands” by Annie Waldman for ProPublica via Truthout

"Will the U.S. Senate Finally Reform Harsh Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drugs?”> via Drug Policy Alliance

"The Nation's Shame: The Injustice of Mandatory Minimums" by Andrea Jones at RollingStone

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #929 "Looking to avert further tragedy (War on Drugs™)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Halt All Executions.

Despite almost tantrum-like resistance from its “pro-life” governor Pete Ricketts, Nebraska is about to become the 19th state to abolish the death penalty. With public opinion shifting on capital punishment, other red states are considering similar legislation.

Montana came within one vote of outlawing the death penalty in February and a republican state representative in Kansas has introduced legislation following the Republican Liberty Caucus coming out in opposition to capital punishment.

Legislators aren’t the only ones softening on state executions. A Boston Globe poll found that only 15% of people in Massachusetts agree with the sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted of the Boston marathon bombing. Almost 66% of Bostonians and 63% statewide favor a life sentence instead.

Massachusetts may not have executed anyone since 1947 when the death penalty was used to execute gangsters convicted of murder, but death penalty proponents would have you believe that a heinous crime in anyone’s backyard can turn them in favor of execution. With a sizable majority disapproving of the sentence despite the effect of the crime on residents state-wide, this last remaining almost-logical talking point is slipping away.

Still, after Nebraska, we’re left with 32 states plus the federal government and the military having the death penalty. In an effort to push for increasing momentum on a federal ban, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has a new project co-chaired by Sister Helen Prejean of “Dead Man Walking” fame: 90 Million Strong.

The goal is to end capital punishment by highlighting the 90 million who oppose the death penalty in this country. At 90MillionStrong.org you can add your name to their “Halt All Executions” petition, track scheduled executions and contact the legislators who have the power to stop them, register to vote — an important part of any long-term campaign, and get educated with articles and facts to post on your networks with the #HaltAllExecutions hashtag.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN: ”Join the 90 Million Strong: Call for Halt to All Executions” from 90 Million Strong, a project of The National Coalition To End the Death Penalty

Find more resources on pending executions and educational content: 90MillionStrong.org

Additional Activism/Resources:

JUNE 6: DC Standing for Peace and Justice w/Mothers in Charge

Sources/further reading:

States with and without the Death Penalty via DeathPenaltyInfo.org

“Lethal Entanglements” via The New Republic

“Death penalty foes see Nebraska vote as momentum-builder”

"Boston Bomber’s Execution To Be Delayed 18 Years?” via The Inquisitor

"Few favor death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, poll finds: Less than 20% of Mass. residents support execution” via The Boston Globe

"Boston Marathon bomber unlikely to be executed – even if jury votes for death” via The Guardian

"European boycott of death penalty drugs lowers rate of US executions” via The Guardian

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #925 "A bad idea for all the reasons (Death Penalty)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Transgender People & the Police: Rights & Resources.

Bruce Jenner’s national TV interview will undoubtably give a visibility boost to the transgender community and force a less aware demographic in our country to at least learn some new terms and possibly foster a base level of respect and courtesy.

The third in our activism series focusing on law enforcement recognizes that trans people as a group are not privileged with the resources Jenner is afforded, leaving them more likely to be brutalized by both private citizens and the police — especially if they are people of color. According to the Transgender Law Center, 47% of black transgender and gender-nonconforming people have experienced incarceration.

In Baltimore, a transgender woman named Deairra Michelle Venable was arrested, and spent four days in a man’s prison after being forced to wear a sheer thermal shirt without her bra — a purposeful humiliation that left her especially vulnerable to assault.

Her story is terrifyingly common. Transgender woman Ashley Diamond, who has — like Venable — lived openly as a woman since her teens has been incarcerated in a Georgia men’s prison since 2012. Diamond has been denied her hormone therapy, causing physical distress from the withdrawal and — in addition to humiliations from the guards — has been raped seven times by other inmates.

The Transgender Law Center, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and National Center For Transgender Equality have a comprehensive set of resources detailing the rights of trans people when interacting with law enforcement. Posting the links on your social media feeds and and taking the information with you to direct actions can help you help protect those most vulnerable at protests and marches.

The Sylvia Rivera “Tips for trans people dealing with cops and jails" graphic folds into a pocket sized, bilingual pamphlet broken into “On the street and in public” and “If you have been arrested.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality’s “Participating in Direct Actions: A Guide for Transgender People” breaks down additional risk factors such as immigration status, past arrests, medical needs, and housing status. It also outlines tactics like surrounding the most vulnerable with those who have more privileged demographics and challenging the separation and searches of trans people.

Legal resources and alternatives to street action are important information for organizers and activists to have. Please use the links in the segment notes to post the available information on your networks, on event pages, and carry it with you when you attend demonstrations.

TAKE ACTION:

"TLC Solidarity with Baltimore” — resources for interacting with law enforcement via The Transgender Law Center

"Participating in Direct Actions: A Guide for Transgender People” via National Center For Transgender Equality

“Tips for trans people dealing with cops and jails” via The Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Sources/further reading:

"Transgender woman arrested in Baltimore forced to stay in male holding cell” via Mashable

"Transgender woman arrested in Baltimore out after four days of ‘hell’” via Mashable

"Transgender Woman Cites Attacks and Abuse in Men’s Prison” via The New York Times

"Federal Judge: California Must Provide Trans Inmate with Access to Gender-Affirming Surgery” at The Advocate

"Win: Georgia to Allow Hormone Therapy for Trans Inmates” via The National Center for Transgender Equality

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #921 "We all have a trans friend now (Bruce Jenner)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

Follow-up action:

SIGN and share the Color of Change petition: "President Obama: End discriminatory, violent policing and its unjust consequences”

Hear the original activism segment:

Demand an Executive Order on Racist, Violent Policing via @ColorOfChange, episode #915 "A fight for survival (#BlackLivesMatter)”

Sources/further reading:

"Black Protesters Aren’t Thugs—They’re Patriots” by Imani Gandy at RH Reality Check

"As Part of a Reparations Deal, Chicago Teens Will Learn About Police Brutality in School” via Vice

"Chicago City Council Passes Landmark Police Torture Reparations Ordinance” via Amnesty International

"Baltimore Uprising: How Did We Get Here?” by Zerlina Maxwell at Essence.com

"Baltimore uprising: Solidarity protests spread across US LIVE UPDATES” via RT America

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #920 "Continued injustice, continued response (#BaltimoreUprising)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: We Charge Genocide.

Police violence is an epidemic in this country. The extrajudicial murder of yet another person of color at police hands makes headlines so often, I’m now routinely producing an episode on the most recent set of protests and demands for justice when a new wave breaks out.

With so much happening around police brutality, the next several activism segments are going to focus on specific communities targeted by law enforcement and tactics being highlighted for change. Writers and advocates from The Nation and TruthOut are among those calling for an end to policing altogether. In the words of Mychal Denzel Smith: “We need to abolish the pillars of white supremacy and I think the police is one of those.”

Until that day, there are practices to end and departments and individual officers to hold accountable. The group leading that work in Chicago is We Charge Genocide.

"To Organize. To Transform. To End Police Violence.” — a simple slogan that has taken them all the way to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva. They are a grassroots, inter-generational volunteer group who has created some amazing resources through community organizing, protest and their website WeChargeGenocide.org.

Chicago residents can contact their alderman about the pending reparations ordinance, stay up to date on hearings, and report their encounters with the CPD. Their hashtag #ChiCopWatch and handle @ChiCopWatch aggregate eye witness accounts, personal experiences, and reports from hearings and protests.

You can also sign their petition demanding CPD detective Dante Servin be permanently removed from the force following his March 21, 2012 shooting of Rekia Boyd. The courts refuse to hold him accountable for her murder, but the Police Board can step in to terminate his employment. Really, it’s the least they can do.

The We Charge Genocide website also has some amazing graphics, so an easy way to show your support and solidarity is to post those on your social media networks. Give them a follow on Twitter and a like on Facebook to make their campaigns more visible and help them build a broad coalition for change.

TAKE ACTION:

Support and follow: We Charge Genocide on Facebook and on Twitter via @ChiCopWatch and #ChiCopWatch

Report police misconduct: "Report Encounter"

Additional Activism/Resources:

SIGN: "Fire Chicago Police Detective Dante Servin", #Justice4Rekia via @ColorOfChange’s I Am Color of Change

Sources/further reading:

"In Order to End Police Brutality, We Need to End the Police” by Mychal Denzel Smith at The Nation

"Abolish the Police. Instead, Let’s Have Full Social, Economic, and Political Equality.” by Mychal Denzel Smith at The Nation

"The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site’” by Spencer Ackerman at The Guardian

"Police ‘Reforms' You Should Always Oppose” by Mariame Kaba of Project NIA via Truthout

"Yet Another Victim: Rekia Boyd Killed by Off-Duty Officer” by Mychal Denzel Smith at Ebody

"Black Women Aren’t Just Secondary Casualties of Aggressive Policing” by Dani McClain at The Nation

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #919 "We thought we were free (Police State)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Demand an Executive Order on Racist, Violent Policing.

According to KilledByPolice.net — a site that aggregates mainstream media accounts of people killed by law enforcement, at least 238 black Americans were killed by police in 2014. The FBI stats say police kill a black American every three days. Most certainly, extra judicial police killings are underreported as we rely on a combination of police department records and eye witness accounts to piece together incidence of racist policing.

Even with the coverage in Ferguson and protests across the country following the murders of too many since Mike Brown, indictments remain rare and apparently the federal government can do something about it — without needing congressional action.

Diego Iniguez-Lopez and Alan Jenkins put the current climate in historical context at Truthout, explaining why this call for President Obama to act is not without precedent:

“Fifty years ago, activists in Selma looked to the federal government when they were faced with violence at the hands of state and local law enforcement. Similarly, federal action is now critically needed on the issues of police killings of youth of color and equal justice for all. The Obama administration has an opportunity and obligation not only to shape its legacy, but also to use its federal authority to prevent civil rights abuses by police departments.”

Color of Change is among those calling for President Obama to issue an executive order which would: "crack down on violent and discriminatory policing by issuing an executive order to direct the DOJ to enforce our civil rights laws more aggressively.”

You can sign and share their petition at ColorOfChange.org asking the president to help end this national civil and human rights crisis.

Short of abolishing the police — which many are advocating for, but which the president couldn’t unilaterally accomplish, we are left to demand laws, justice, and force not be left to individual cops to enforce. And to hold violent police and their departments accountable.

Sign the petition, share the articles, demand action. We shouldn’t need video of an unarmed man being shot in the back for there to be a chance at justice.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN and share the Color of Change petition: "President Obama: End discriminatory, violent policing and its unjust consequences”

Additional Activism/Resources:

SIGN and share: "Demand the Post and Courier issue a public apology for shameful #WalterScott article”

SIGN and share: "Tell advertisers to ditch Bill O’Reilly”

Sources/further reading:

"President Obama Already Has a Way to Prevent Policing Abuses” by Alan Jenkins and Diego Iniguez-Lopez of The Opportunity Agenda”

"The Origins of Modern Policing” via The Indypendent

"Police ‘Reforms' You Should Always Oppose” by Prison Culture

"Black Americans killed by police in 2014 outnumbered those who died on 9/11” at RawStory

"Abolish the Police. Instead, Let’s Have Full Social, Economic, and Political Equality” by Mychal Denzel Smith at The Nation

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Keep Housing Fair.

Since the Supreme Court did the unthinkable two years ago and gutted the Voting Rights Act, social justice advocates can no longer assume decisions on longstanding affirmative laws and policies put to SCOTUS will go their way. Next up on the chopping block to have the enforcement provisions stripped is the Fair Housing Act.

The court heard arguments in January on Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, which challenges a key aspect of the Fair Housing Act known as the "disparate impact.” In a time where increasing attention is being drawn to the long-term impact of redlining and gentrification and cities like Chicago are tearing down housing projects while failing to build the promised “mixed income” buildings, it seems impossible that the Supreme Court would take away this vital tool for fighting discrimination.

Senator Elizabeth Warren explained in a Washington Post op ed that stripping out “disparate impact” would affect more than just those who are directly discriminated against.

"As with the voting rights decision, a decision limiting the scope of the housing laws would ignore the will of Congress and undermine basic principles of racial equality. But there is even more at stake in the fair housing case, because the wrong decision would reduce economic opportunities for working families and raise the risk of another financial crisis.”

As this is an issue of racial justice and economic justice, many organizations and elected officials have spoken out over the past few months. The National Fair Housing Alliance and other social justice groups created a hashtag — #KeepHousingFair — to spearhead an awareness campaign with events, speeches, shareable graphics and more. You can follow the latest via their Twitter and Facebook feeds. As always, proactively letting your representatives know that fair access to housing matters to you through ContactingTheCongress.org is a valuable action should the court make an unfortunate ruling.

Also, a reminder for Chicago listeners: your current mayor has been no champion of fair housing, mainly continuing the broken promises policies of the Daley dynasty. Rahm Emanuel is facing Jesus "Chuy” Garcia April 4th in a runoff election. You can find your polling place at ChicagoElections.Com.

Fair housing needs to be on the radar ahead of the 2016 primaries. ProPublica writer Nikole Hannah-Jones has a series of articles as well as a book — a $1.99 Kindle download — "Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Rights Law” that’s a must read for anyone who wants more of the history on unfair housing practices in the U.S. so that they’re prepared to be part of the effort to ensure it’s a an issue next year. The thought of such a long election season may be exhausting, but with republicans already announcing, it’s never too early to raise public consciousness on vital issues that should be part of debates, platforms and campaigns.

TAKE ACTION:

Follow #KeepHousingFair through The National Fair Housing Alliance on Facebook and Twitter

Additional Activism/Resources:

CHICAGO VOTERS: the mayoral runoff election is APRIL 7. Rahm has continued harmful Daley policies, so Find Your Polling Place

READ: "Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Rights Law” — a $1.99 Kindle Single by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Sources/further reading:

"Supreme Court’s Latest Race Case: Housing Discrimination” by Nikole Hannah-Jones at ProPublica

"Segregation Now: Investigating America's Racial Divide” by Nikole Hannah-Jones at ProPublica

"Housing Discrimination, Gentrification and Black Lives: We Call These Projects Home” by Monique "Mo” George at The Huffington Post

"After SCOTUS Gutted Voting Rights Act, Is Fair Housing Act Next?" by Jon Queally at Common Dreams

"African-American vote could be key to Chicago mayoral election” by Rick Pearson, Cynthia Dizikes and Juan Perez Jr. at The Chicago Tribune

"Elizabeth Warren: Supreme Court housing decision could put our financial well-being at risk” by Senator Elizabeth Warren at The Washington Post

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #908 "Unfair housing, unfair society (Racism)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich