87 Search results for "state legislature"

The Kentucky state legislature hasn’t included a black woman in its ranks for nearly two decades. While this statistic may be somewhat alarming, you can take solace in the fact that that streak has officially been broken. Attica Scott, a local community leader, won the Kentucky Democratic Primary on May 17 and will head straight […]

Signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday, a new Californian reform bill, called the California Money Bail Reform Act, will abolish the cash bail system for all defendants awaiting a trial. Instead of cash bail, courts in different jurisdictions will create algorithms to decide who stays in custody and who leaves while they await trial.

Last week, federal courts declared North Carolina, Kansas, and Wisconsin state voting laws to be  unconstitutional and guilty of contributing to the disenfranchisement of low income and black voters. The North Carolina law, particularly, was found to to violate racial discrimination in voting, as Republican state legislators enacted the laws specifically after receiving data on […]

The political framework in the state of Maryland is building up to make the next election very interesting. Just a couple of weeks ago, DeRay McKesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, announced that he’s running for mayor of Baltimore. Now, Maryland has given recently released felons the right to vote in the upcoming election.

North Carolina’s Supreme Court heard arguments about whether it should reinstate death sentences for four inmates whose punishments were reduced. The appeal seeks to challenge the ruling of a law that allowed certain criminal defendants to challenge their sentences on the grounds of racial bias in their prosecutions. 

  Yesterday, as everyone commemorated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by critically examining and dissecting his last public speech, I reflected on the current state of affairs in this country and whether American racial and economic healing had been realized. Sadly the virulent rhetoric and scathing attacks aimed at Black, Brown, and […]

Earlier this month, the Tennessee Tea Party presented a proposal to state legislatures that would literally rewrite history, airbrushing or removing all together topics such as slavery and genocide from school text books! The experiences of minority groups througout American history are already way too hard to come by in classrooms across the country; now they want to get rid of them altogether?!

by Aaron Jamal  E pluribus unum — Latin for “Out of many, one.” Included in the Great Seal of the United States in 1776. The political system of the United States is in a state of perpetual crisis. The state of Tennessee has proposed a new bill that will drastically limit the voting power of […]

by Jamila Dawn Mitchell A fighter for equity and progress in Houston, Texas has taken their activism to City Hall. This time, as a candidate. Community organizer, Ashton P. Woods, has officially filed his candidacy for Houston’s At-Large City Council seat, representing some of the City’s politically active residents who continue to be at the […]

According to NPR, the For the People Act, which was introduced on Friday by House Democrats, is a 571-page compilation of existing problems and solutions across issues of voting, political money, redistricting, and ethics. “We heard loud and clear from the American people, they feel left out and locked out from their own democracy,” John […]

Somali American politician Ilhan Omar gained national attention in 2016 when she became the first Somali American elected to Minnesota’s state legislature. In November, Omar may mark another historic win by becoming the first Somali American and one of the first Muslim women to be elected into U.S. Congress.

Despite Civil Rights groups denouncing a proposed “Blue Lives Matter” bill, the Protect and Serve Act of 2018 has come one step closer to becoming a law. Late last week, the House of Representatives passed this bill with a total of 382 votes against a sparse 35 nays. Over the last two years, multiple bills […]