Equal Justice Society

A note from our president, Eva Paterson:

Obama!!!! 2008 was quite a year, to put it mildly. We feel like characters in a fairy tale who lived in a peaceful kingdom that was taken over by monsters and mad men. And now they are finally packing up to leave us in peace!

The election of an African American to the presidency of the United States has given many racial justice activists cause to rethink our work. Are we in post racial America? What do we do now? And how can we best work together?

We at EJS have been reflecting about this since we started entertaining the notion that Obama could win. After a series of conversations, we determined that five areas will require our attention in the coming year:

• Acknowledging and talking about the fact that we are not in post-racial America;
• Persuading activists to pursue multi-issue agendas and encourage ourselves to determine common strategies with shared and overlapping priorities;
• Talking about new ideas. The economic meltdown has proven Right-wing ideology about limited government and deregulation to be bankrupt. Progressives now have an opportunity to envision concepts such as government as a force for good and regulation as a protection against the incompetence and greed that is plaguing our economy;
• Determining how we can support and guide President Obama as he implements new forward-thinking policies and practices; and
• Recommending progressive attorneys and judges - and judges and attorneys of color - for appointment to the federal bench. If you have recommendations, please send them (with CV/bio and your reason for recommending) to us at judicialpotential@equaljusticesociety.net.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU AND REQUEST

On behalf of our board and staff, I would also like to express our deep and profound appreciation to our donors, allies, friends and supporters who have continued to give — both financially and otherwise — despite the tough economic times.

We would like to especially recognize the following individuals for their generous support:

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Magnet schools in Los Angeles won a significant court victory Friday when a state appellate panel rejected a lawsuit charging that they violated California’s Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action in the state, reported the Los Angeles Times in an article on Friday.

In strong, clear language, the three-judge panel said an organization affiliated with Proposition 209 author Ward Connerly was wrong to claim that the Los Angeles Unified School District could no longer use the race of students as a factor in magnet school admissions. Race-based admissions were mandated in a 1981 court order that remains in effect despite Proposition 209, the appeals court said.

Although Connerly’s organization could still appeal to the state Supreme Court, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who took part in the case on behalf of the district said she thought the challenge was effectively over.

Read the full article here

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Conceived by Sean Hetherington of West Hollywood, the day of protest is modeled after A Day Without Immigrants, which took place on May 1, 2006.

Individuals participating can call in sick and donate their time to a cause and buy nothing that day to show again how important the LGBT community is to this country. The organizers have FAQs here. And their Facebook event listing is here.

Read more about how EJS has been involved in the ongoing fight for equality.

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Onica N. Makwakwa of UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. (unityjournalists.org) and Darrell L. Williams of The Loop (theloop21.com) today announced that their organizations are partnering on a survey of how media covered racial issues in the presidential election, biling it as a “unique opportunity for journalists of color to show how diversity in the newsroom could make a difference in news coverage.” The survey results will be announced next month before the presidential inauguration.

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