Support the Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda

Please support the Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda Please endorse the Agenda and if you are a member of an organization, ask your leadership to endorse the Agenda as well. The Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda consists of five bills supporting human rights, honoring culture and history, preserving heritage, and expanding education for Native Americans. An Act Establishing An Indigenous Peoples Day Fact Sheet House Bill: HD.2422 Senate Bill: HD.664 An Act to Protect Native American Heritage Fact Sheet House Bill: HD.1662 Senate Bill: SD.1887 An Act prohibiting the use of Native American mascots by public schools in the Commonwealth Fact Sheet...

My Country ‘Tis of Thee

by W.E.B. DuBois Of course you have faced the dilemma: it is announced, they all smirk and rise. If they are ultra, they remove their hats and look ecstatic; then they look at you. What shall you do? Noblesse oblige; you cannot be boorish, or ungracious; and too, after all it is your country and you do love its ideals if not all of its realities. Now, then, I have thought of a way out: Arise, gracefully remove your hat, and tilt your head. Then sing as follows, powerfully and with deep unction. They’ll hardly note the little changes and...

NAACP sues Trump, Giuliani, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for violating the 1871 KKK Act

Today, NAACP filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson against Donald J. Trump, Rudy Giuliani, the Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers for their role in inciting a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, aimed at preventing Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. Read more about the lawsuit here. The violent attack on the Capitol almost cost us our democracy, and there must be consequences. Trump needs to be held accountable for deliberately inciting and colluding with white supremacists to stage a coup. Watch the video here. In the months leading up to the...

Vaccine Equity Now!

For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts and across the nation has been characterized by dramatic racial inequities across cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Now, with vaccines finally available, White residents are receiving the vast majority of the state’s vaccine doses. As of last week, White residents had received 12 times more doses than Black residents and 16 times more doses than Latinx residents. On February 17th a coalition of Civil Rights, Immigrant Justice, and Public Health Leaders launched the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition, #VaccineEquityNow, on February 17 at a 1:30 online press conference at which they issued five...

Racism: Dismantling the System

The LSU Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, in partnership with Southern University's Nelson Mandela College of Government & Social Sciences, Louisiana Budget Project, NAACP Louisiana State Conference and LSU Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is pleased to present Racism: Dismantling the System, an ongoing series of conversations about structural racism and solution-oriented action toward equal opportunity and justice in our communities. The series will amplify the voices of community advocates, academics, journalists and more working for social justice in our nation and beyond. For more information, to see videos of previous discussions, and to register for upcoming...

Massachusetts anti-mascot legislation re-filed

[caption id="attachment_1586" align="aligncenter" width="800"] "Protest against Washington football team name”, by Fibonacci Blue, licensed under CC by 2.0[/caption] Professional sports teams are rapidly getting rid of their Native American mascots. And here in Massachusetts the Barnstable, Acton-Boxborough, Braintree, Quincy, and Walpole schools have all addressed them in recent months. But some Massachusetts towns are clinging to their racist mascots as desperately as others do their Confederate monuments. Dartmouth is one of about two dozen towns in Massachusetts that still won't give theirs up. While these towns and school boards root around their cupboards for the moral courage they seem to...

Happy Birthday, NAACP!

If you've ever seen the seal of the NAACP, you've probably noticed a date prominently displayed right in the middle — 1909. What you may not know is that the NAACP was founded on this date, February 12th, in that year. Which makes today the NAACP's 112th birthday! Now in its second century, the NAACP has become the nation's largest and most widely recognized civil rights organization with more than a half-million members and supporters throughout the United States. The NAACP is the premier advocate for civil rights in the nation's communities, leading grassroots campaigns for equal opportunity and conducting...

New Bedford Branch joins calls to end Bristol County jail’s cooperation with ICE

In coalition with 17 organizations including the NAACP New Bedford Branch, Bristol County for Correctional Justice sent a letter to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, urging the leaders to end the County’s cooperation with ICE: Dear Senator Warren and Senator Markey: In view of the ever-increasing and documented reports of mistreatment of ICE detainees in the custody of the Bristol County Immigration Facility, we, the undersigned organizations, community groups, and individuals of Southeast Massachusetts and beyond, implore you to take immediate action to contact the Department of Homeland Security and request that I.C.E. sever all ties with Sheriff Thomas...

CDC Toolkits

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) created a communication toolkit to help public health professionals, health departments, community organizations, and healthcare systems and providers reach people who may need COVID-19 prevention messaging in their own languages. Visit the CDC Toolkit page here The toolkit provides: Current messaging from a trusted source. Information in plain language available for downloading and sharing. Translated materials to help communities disseminate messages to a wider audience.