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nancydhooper · 3 years

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Meet Kimberly and Yashira, Two High School Students Leading the Fight for Broadband Access

Kimberly Vazquez and Yashira “Yoshi” Valenzuela are two Baltimore high school students who live in households that experience frequent power cuts, particularly when too many electronics are plugged in at once. When their classes went virtual last year, it didn’t take long to realize they had a serious problem. Participating in class required connectivity to high-speed, broadband internet, and the low-cost plans their families could afford did not cut it. Together, they lead the student-led advocacy group Students Organizing a Multicultural and Open Society (SOMOS), and have organized student boycotts and letter writing campaigns, testified in front of the Baltimore City Council and State Assembly, and ultimately pressured Comcast to agree to raise the minimum speeds on its low-cost plan.

While it was COVID-19 that spurred Kimberly and Yoshi to act, the digital divide has existed for decades and has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities, who are less likely to have access to broadband internet at home. Not having broadband access means you don’t have access to equitable opportunities, whether in education, work, health care, or just connecting with a rapidly digitizing world. Broadband access is a basic utility, and it should be treated that way.

Kimberly and Yashira are now about to graduate. In this week’s episode of At Liberty, we talk with them about what it’s like to live without high-speed broadband internet as a student and how they continue to fight the digital divide.

What spurred you into action for broadband access?

KIMBERLY: I was seeing a problem [with speeds under Comcast’s low-cost plan] when at the end of the school year of 2019-2020 where I was having issues with going into Google Docs, I kept on being disconnected. And then during the summer my little sister … was going to summer school and I was going into meetings and I was struggling to go into the meetings and it was only us two … And so I already realized that this was going to be a problem for the next school year.

Comcast’s low-cost plan wasn’t providing the upload and download speeds required to meet the Federal Communication Commission’s definition of broadband, which is already outdated.

KIMBERLY: It was difficult hearing Comcast representatives falsely promoting this package when at best it only provided Internet for one or two devices, and [to hear them] them claiming that high speed. But it doesn’t it didn’t seem high speed to me if I couldn’t get online at the same time as my younger sister. [They told me] it was probably because I had 20 devices plugged into one outlet, which in my neighborhood, if I did that, I would have no electricity. So I don’t think that’s the problem. And in fact, it was a lot of blaming it on me and on customers, [more] than really looking at their service and really saying, you know, maybe it isn’t good.

How did you expand the campaign for broadband access across Baltimore?

YOSHI: We decided that there is more that needs to be done in the city. There are millions of students, not only in Baltimore but across the world, who currently do not have access to devices and good quality internet. We planned and attended other online press conferences with so many other nonprofits across the country. And we garnered a lot of grassroots support from the people in Baltimore City and across the country.

KIMBERLY: This issue was getting coverage in BuzzFeed, in the New York Times. And so when we’re putting so much pressure on them, there’s only so much they can do to defend themselves. And so, I can personally say as an Internet Essentials (Comcast) customer, even with the doubling of speeds, I’m still having problems. And I believe it’s because they only increase their upload speeds two megabits per second. That’s what you need to go into video conferencing. Obviously right now with everything online and with video conferencing being such a daily task, there needs to be more upload speeds …. I actually even purchased a portable charger because now I have to be on my phone for classes … I use my own data a lot of the time in order for my sisters to use the internet for their classes.

What would you tell other students struggling with lack of broadband access?

YOSHI: My advice to other students who are currently struggling is to reach out for help, like communicate with your teachers, administrators at school, let them know what your situation is, let them know that you’re struggling and come up with a plan where you can complete the assignments at a reasonable time that also works with your teacher. On top of that, don’t stress yourself out too much.

For students who want to make a difference, how can they get involved?

KIMBERLY: I was very shy. But I feel like what got me to being unapologetically myself was having a platform, having other people that I could relate to. SOMOS was a platform for me to connect to other students who were facing [similar issues]… a lot of our members are immigrants or children of immigrants or Latinx. Having the voice of groups that are minorities is great to put at the forefront because those are usually who get the worst of the worst if I’m being fair, as well as Black voices. So for me, I’ve seen that a lot of students hesitate in putting out their story, and so I just want to say that your voice does matter.

What would you say to President Biden and the FCC?

KIMBERLY: I really would like to see municipal broadband internet throughout the nation and first going into communities that are disproportionately cut off from internet. Funding is a good way to go, but as Yoshi said, talking to the community who knows what is going on and what they’re facing — they know what’s the best solution that will effectively help them.

You are both about to graduate. What’s next?

YOSHI: I’ll be going to University of Baltimore, I’m on a full ride [scholarship] thankfully. I will be studying public policy.

KIMBERLY: I’m actually going to go to Goucher College and I am potentially majoring in political science. Funny story: I wanted to be a forensic scientist, which I could still do and do advocacy work. But this just has amazed me and sparked something in me, such that I steered into political science. But I’ll still be in Baltimore.

YOSHI: Yeah, we’re going to talk every day, we’re still going to keep working and hopefully we’ll still keep working with SOMOS and this campaign and continue doing all this work, hopefully not forever, but for as long as we need to.

Nationwide, there have been significant gains in the fight to extend broadband access, indicating that the government is finally starting to treat it like the basic utility it is in today’s world. Congress created the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which will provide families with a $50 subsidy to afford broadband access during the pandemic, and the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which will help students connect. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan also prioritizes broadband access. Unfortunately, given the scope of this problem, the government needs to do more. The FCC must extend broadband access by improving the Lifeline program and ensuring the equitable and efficient rollout of the EBB in order to reach unserved and underserved communities, including those on Tribal lands. For their part, Congress and President Biden must bolster the EBB, pass the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, and work toward a permanent solution for broadband affordability. As Kimberly and Yoshi’s activism show us, for true equality, there must be broadband access for all.

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orbemnews · 3 years

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This record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation would affect minors the most According to data from the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy groups, at least 117 bills have been introduced in the current legislative session that target the transgender community. It’s the highest number the organization has recorded since it began tracking anti-LGBTQ legislation more than 15 years ago. Here’s where these bills have been introduced, and the restrictions they seek to impose:  Thirty-one states have introduced bills that ban transgender athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identities. Three states — Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee — have already signed these bills into law this year. A similar 2020 law in Idaho was swiftly struck down in federal court. In many states, lawmakers introducing these bills are supported by conservative legal groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, which reportedly helped craft the Idaho law that was later struck down in court, according to the Idaho Press. The group released a statement praising Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Arkansas bill, named the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” would prevent transgender girls and women from participating in school, intramural or club sports with their same-gender peers. “I think that these exclusionary responses are a solution in search of a problem,” said Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, interim director of GLSEN, an LGBTQ youth advocacy organization. “There is no categorical dominance by trans athletes, but we do understand the categorical benefits for young people who play sports,” she told CNN. Lawmakers have said these bills are intended to be proactive, and to remove what they claim is an unfair advantage that transgender girls may have over their teammates. But such examples are extremely rare. In March, The Associated Press called two dozen state legislators who sponsored these bans, and found that few could name any cases where the participation of transgender athletes in youth sports had become a source of contention within the teams.  A version of the ban made its way to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s desk in March, but Noem seemed to surprise both the LGBTQ community and conservative groups by vetoing the bill, calling it “overly broad.” She sent it back to the legislature with changes that, among other things, intended to spare the state from potential economic blowback, but the bill later died in the legislative chambers. However, days after her veto and amid intense criticism from conservative groups, Noem signed two executive orders on March 29 that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports at public high schools and colleges. But that move also prompted criticism from conservatives, who claim the executive orders are unenforceable. Advocates hope that potential economic and political consequences could deter governors from enacting this year’s wave of legislation. In 2016, North Carolina passed its so-called “bathroom bill,” which meant that people at government-run facilities must use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the sexes on their birth certificates. In practice, the law meant that many transgender and nonbinary people were unable to use restrooms in government buildings and felt unsafe to do so elsewhere in public. The bill’s passage led to public outcry followed by business boycotts, and was repealed the next year. Bans on gender-affirming health care for minors Twenty states have introduced bills that prohibit or impede the administration of gender-affirming therapy to minors. One bill recently introduced in Alabama would make it a felony for medical providers to provide transition-related care to transgender minors. HB 1570, named the “The Arkansas Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act (SAFE),” was originally vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson after passing both chambers of the legislature, but the veto was overridden days later. It’s the first bill in the US to become law that would prohibit health care professionals from administering gender-affirming care. The day the veto was overridden, the ACLU announced that the organization would sue to prevent the bill from being enacted. Currently, the bill is set to go into effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, though it has not yet set a date for when it will do so. Although these laws are framed as protecting children — the legislation in Alabama, for example, is called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act — trans advocates and researchers believe they will do just the opposite. Pediatric groups have also protested these bills, saying that the treatment they provide to gender nonconforming or transgender youth can often be lifesaving.  Kerith Conron, research director at the UCLA Law Williams Institute, expressed concern about the implications for the mental health of trans adolescents in these states. “Trans youth are dependent on parents, schools, institutions and pediatricians to support them, in living authentically and to access gender-affirming care — and now on policy makers to facilitate or deny access to care,” she told CNN. “It places trans youth in a precarious place.”  Based on the Williams Institute’s estimates of where trans adolescents live in the United States, Conron said approximately 1 in 4 could be affected by the current active bills if they were to become law. “These laws are not grounded in science or majority medical opinion and have strong implications for the survival of trans youth in these states …  and for long-term quality of life for those who make it through adolescence,” she added.  There is a growing body of research that supports access to gender-affirming care in adolescence. A 2020 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that access to pubertal suppression treatment was associated with lower odds of long-term and consistent suicidal thoughts among transgender adults, a finding similar to studies done by the Williams Institute, Cornell University and other institutions. Curriculum bans, ID restrictions and other legislation Several states have introduced other anti-trans bills that target education, ID restrictions and more. One Iowa bill requires that parents give written consent for teachers to discuss gender identity while their children are present in the classroom, and another stipulates that any curriculum that includes gender identity must include “the potential harm and adverse outcomes of social and medical gender interventions.” A bill in Arkansas says that educators must refer to students only by their “biological sex,” a disputed term that refers to the sex as listed on students’ original birth certificates. Medical experts say one’s biological sex should not be used to challenge people’s own assertions about their gender identities. Aiden Cloud, an 18-year-old transgender student in Tennessee, says that restricting exposure to LGBTQ education may further harm the trans community.  “The students who need to be taught about LGBTQ issues the most are also the students whose parents are going to opt them out of this,” they told CNN. “The students who really need to be learning these things and unlearning certain biases wouldn’t be able to.”  Tennessee’s legislature is currently debating HB 529, which would allow parents to opt their children out of curriculums that discuss LGBTQ issues, and HB 800, which would prohibit educators from discussing LGBTQ issues in the classroom. Arizona, Montana and South Dakota have introduced bills that restrict ID cards and other forms of documentation from reflecting a person’s gender identity. Iowa has introduced a bill that removes gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa civil rights act.  What’s next for these bills? While many of these bills have already died in the committee stage, the trans community — and trans youth in particular — may still feel the mental toll of seeing the bills make progress in their states. “It’s super demoralizing to see these things going through the state and getting passed,” said Cloud, who is also a member of GLSEN’s SHINE team of youth organizers in Tennessee.  “I’ve read some of [these bills] and it’s so depressing that people still think of me this way in 2021. It’s really demoralizing that people still believe these things and think it’s OK to just go after the LGBTQ community without knowing anything about us.” These bills are also in opposition to the Biden administration’s position on transgender rights. On March 31, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever federal proclamation of its kind for this year’s International Transgender Day of Visibility. On the same day, the Pentagon issued new policies to allow transgender Americans to serve openly in the military, reversing the Trump administration’s ban. Biden campaigned on prioritizing issues facing LGBTQ youth and has issued several executive actions intended to advance LGBTQ rights. Advocates say that a strong response at the federal level is needed to counteract these bills, which create a patchwork of legislation across states for the trans community to navigate. The Equality Act, which was introduced to Congress in February, would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes. The bill passed in the House, but its fate in the Senate remains unclear.  In the meantime, Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said she hoped that lawmakers realize the potential damage that passing these bills could create.  “In a year where we’ve been isolated from each other, where children in particular have had a difficult time, isolating them further in this moment is an unconscionable choice,” she said in a news conference on March 24.  Source link Orbem News #affect #Anti-transgenderlegislationin2021:Arecord-breakingyear-CNNPolitics #antitransgender #legislation #minors #Politics #recordbreaking #Year

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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This record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation would affect minors the most

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/this-record-breaking-year-for-anti-transgender-legislation-would-affect-minors-the-most/

This record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation would affect minors the most

According to data from the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy groups, at least 117 bills have been introduced in the current legislative session that target the transgender community. It’s the highest number the organization has recorded since it began tracking anti-LGBTQ legislation more than 15 years ago.

Here’s where these bills have been introduced, and the restrictions they seek to impose: 

Thirty-one states have introduced bills that ban transgender athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identities. Three states — Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee — have already signed these bills into law this year. A similar 2020 law in Idaho was swiftly struck down in federal court.

In many states, lawmakers introducing these bills are supported by conservative legal groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, which reportedly helped craft the Idaho law that was later struck down in court, according to the Idaho Press. The group released a statement praising Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Arkansas bill, named the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” would prevent transgender girls and women from participating in school, intramural or club sports with their same-gender peers.

“I think that these exclusionary responses are a solution in search of a problem,” said Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, interim director of GLSEN, an LGBTQ youth advocacy organization.

“There is no categorical dominance by trans athletes, but we do understand the categorical benefits for young people who play sports,” she told Appradab.

Lawmakers have said these bills are intended to be proactive, and to remove what they claim is an unfair advantage that transgender girls may have over their teammates. But such examples are extremely rare. In March, The Associated Press called two dozen state legislators who sponsored these bans, and found that few could name any cases where the participation of transgender athletes in youth sports had become a source of contention within the teams. 

A version of the ban made its way to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s desk in March, but Noem seemed to surprise both the LGBTQ community and conservative groups by vetoing the bill, calling it “overly broad.” She sent it back to the legislature with changes that, among other things, intended to spare the state from potential economic blowback, but the bill later died in the legislative chambers.

However, days after her veto and amid intense criticism from conservative groups, Noem signed two executive orders on March 29 that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports at public high schools and colleges. But that move also prompted criticism from conservatives, who claim the executive orders are unenforceable.

Advocates hope that potential economic and political consequences could deter governors from enacting this year’s wave of legislation. In 2016, North Carolina passed its so-called “bathroom bill,” which meant that people at government-run facilities must use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the sexes on their birth certificates. In practice, the law meant that many transgender and nonbinary people were unable to use restrooms in government buildings and felt unsafe to do so elsewhere in public. The bill’s passage led to public outcry followed by business boycotts, and was repealed the next year.

Bans on gender-affirming health care for minors

Twenty states have introduced bills that prohibit or impede the administration of gender-affirming therapy to minors. One bill recently introduced in Alabama would make it a felony for medical providers to provide transition-related care to transgender minors.

HB 1570, named the “The Arkansas Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act (SAFE),” was originally vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson after passing both chambers of the legislature, but the veto was overridden days later. It’s the first bill in the US to become law that would prohibit health care professionals from administering gender-affirming care. The day the veto was overridden, the ACLU announced that the organization would sue to prevent the bill from being enacted. Currently, the bill is set to go into effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, though it has not yet set a date for when it will do so.

Although these laws are framed as protecting children — the legislation in Alabama, for example, is called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act — trans advocates and researchers believe they will do just the opposite. Pediatric groups have also protested these bills, saying that the treatment they provide to gender nonconforming or transgender youth can often be lifesaving. 

Kerith Conron, research director at the UCLA Law Williams Institute, expressed concern about the implications for the mental health of trans adolescents in these states.

“Trans youth are dependent on parents, schools, institutions and pediatricians to support them, in living authentically and to access gender-affirming care — and now on policy makers to facilitate or deny access to care,” she told Appradab. “It places trans youth in a precarious place.” 

Based on the Williams Institute’s estimates of where trans adolescents live in the United States, Conron said approximately 1 in 4 could be affected by the current active bills if they were to become law.

“These laws are not grounded in science or majority medical opinion and have strong implications for the survival of trans youth in these states …  and for long-term quality of life for those who make it through adolescence,” she added. 

There is a growing body of research that supports access to gender-affirming care in adolescence. A 2020 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that access to pubertal suppression treatment was associated with lower odds of long-term and consistent suicidal thoughts among transgender adults, a finding similar to studies done by the Williams Institute, Cornell University and other institutions.

Curriculum bans, ID restrictions and other legislation

Several states have introduced other anti-trans bills that target education, ID restrictions and more.

One Iowa bill requires that parents give written consent for teachers to discuss gender identity while their children are present in the classroom, and another stipulates that any curriculum that includes gender identity must include “the potential harm and adverse outcomes of social and medical gender interventions.” A bill in Arkansas says that educators must refer to students only by their “biological sex,” a disputed term that refers to the sex as listed on students’ original birth certificates. Medical experts say one’s biological sex should not be used to challenge people’s own assertions about their gender identities.

Aiden Cloud, an 18-year-old transgender student in Tennessee, says that restricting exposure to LGBTQ education may further harm the trans community. 

“The students who need to be taught about LGBTQ issues the most are also the students whose parents are going to opt them out of this,” they told Appradab. “The students who really need to be learning these things and unlearning certain biases wouldn’t be able to.” 

Tennessee’s legislature is currently debating HB 529, which would allow parents to opt their children out of curriculums that discuss LGBTQ issues, and HB 800, which would prohibit educators from discussing LGBTQ issues in the classroom.

Arizona, Montana and South Dakota have introduced bills that restrict ID cards and other forms of documentation from reflecting a person’s gender identity. Iowa has introduced a bill that removes gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa civil rights act. 

What’s next for these bills?

While many of these bills have already died in the committee stage, the trans community — and trans youth in particular — may still feel the mental toll of seeing the bills make progress in their states.

“It’s super demoralizing to see these things going through the state and getting passed,” said Cloud, who is also a member of GLSEN’s SHINE team of youth organizers in Tennessee. 

“I’ve read some of [these bills] and it’s so depressing that people still think of me this way in 2021. It’s really demoralizing that people still believe these things and think it’s OK to just go after the LGBTQ community without knowing anything about us.”

These bills are also in opposition to the Biden administration’s position on transgender rights. On March 31, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever federal proclamation of its kind for this year’s International Transgender Day of Visibility. On the same day, the Pentagon issued new policies to allow transgender Americans to serve openly in the military, reversing the Trump administration’s ban. Biden campaigned on prioritizing issues facing LGBTQ youth and has issued several executive actions intended to advance LGBTQ rights.

Advocates say that a strong response at the federal level is needed to counteract these bills, which create a patchwork of legislation across states for the trans community to navigate.

The Equality Act, which was introduced to Congress in February, would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes. The bill passed in the House, but its fate in the Senate remains unclear. 

In the meantime, Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said she hoped that lawmakers realize the potential damage that passing these bills could create. 

“In a year where we’ve been isolated from each other, where children in particular have had a difficult time, isolating them further in this moment is an unconscionable choice,” she said in a news conference on March 24. 

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mariatramp56-blog · 5 years

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12 Best Things to Do in L.A. This Week

From Vegan Sweets Con to an event tackling L.A.'s homelessness crisis, a dance benefit and Latinx performance art, here are the 12 best things to do in L.A. this week.

DANCE

Tilting at Windmills

Miguel de Cervantes' epic novel Don Quixote, about an idealistic knight-errant and his comrade Sancho Panza, has proved to be a universally resonant tale over the past four centuries, with interpretations in multiple formats, including film and opera. The ballet adaptation, with music by Ludwig Minkus and choreography by Marius Petipa, staged and choreographed further by Alexander Gorsky in 1900, has endured as the definitive ballet adaptation, and that's the version brought to the Southland this week by St. Petersburg's high-flying and stylish Mikhailovsky Ballet. Principal dancer Ivan Vasiliev portrays Basilio in the first two evening performances, and Victor Lebedev takes over in the role in the matinees on Saturday and Sunday, with Angelina Vorontsova and Anastasia Soboleva alternating as Kitri. Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; Fri., Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 10, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 11, 1 p.m.; $29-$189. (714) 556-2787, scfta.org. —Falling James

ART

Check in Here

The last time Art at the Rendon let a few dozen artists loose inside the walls of the mid-transformation Rendon Hotel, they took over every room with a series of art installations that made for an immersive and sometimes intense, hallucinatory experience. A lot of that art is still in place but this weekend, it's interior and exterior video projections and live performance art throughout the building that take center stage. Well, less of a stage and more of a choose-your-own-adventure narrative pastiche of theater and visual reimaginings of the history of this gloriously seedy original Arts District location. In fact, the corner dive bar (familiar to fans of Bukowski's Barfly, and which in the film version basically played itself) will be reactivated as a jazzy period piece serving local brews. All proceeds benefit the theatre programs at nearby Inner City Arts. Rendon Hotel, 2055 E. Seventh St., downtown; Fri.-Sat., Nov. 9-10, 7 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 11, 6 p.m.; $25. (213) 537-0687, artattherendon.com. —Shana Nys Dambrot

BrockusRED hosts Dance/BACK.

Denise Leitner

sat 11/10

DANCE

Giving Back

Deborah Brockus is the prime mover of the L.A. Dance Festival and her own contemporary company, BrockusRED. For the past three years they've hosted the local dance community's charity event Dance/BACK, with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to a designated charity or nonprofit. This year's participants include Maura Townsend's PROJECT21DANCE, Nancy Evans' Dodge Dance Company, Sean Greene, Fuse Dance Company, Lindsey Lollie, Leah Hamel's Carpool Dance Collective, Luke Zendar, Charlotte K. Smith and the host company. Past recipients include Doctors Without Borders (2015), Family Rescue Center (2016) and Doctors Without Borders/International Rescue Committee (2016). This year, the ACLU and the Good Shepherd Women's Shelter will benefit. Whatever finally happens when the dust settles on the midterms, the ACLU undoubtedly will be going to court or paying for current court cases challenging voter suppression efforts in states like Kansas, North Dakota and Georgia. This annual event has become a way to channel the energy of the local dance community and its audience to dance and give back. Entry is an online donation (action.aclu.org/teamaclu/campaign/danceback-2018) or a donation for the shelter brought to the show; advise which you'll do when making the required reservation ([email protected]). Brockus Project Studios, 618B Moulton Ave., Lincoln Heights; Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 11, 6 p.m.; entry by donation. brockusproject.org. —Ann Haskins

FOOD & DRINK

Block Party

While it may not be summer anymore, SoCal's temperate climes mean there's never really a bad time of the year to have an event like the Gonzoplex Block Party, with Pitfire Artisan Pizza celebrating the opening of Superba Snacks + Coffee. A host of food — burgers, pretzels, pizza, french fry cones and more — awaits attendees, as well as live music, games and a cash beer garden.There will be various contests of skill, or at least appetite, including pizza making, pizza eating and latte art competitions. All proceeds from the block party's raffle benefit KPCC/Southern California Public Radio (and really, when you think about it, you and your commute, too). Superba Snacks + Coffee, 730 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena; Sat., Nov. 10, noon-5 p.m.; free. eventbrite.com/e/the-gonzoplex-block-party-tickets-48671148716. —Avery Bissett

Courtesy Druid Underground

FILM

Prepare to Be Provoked

"No one knows who they were or what they were doing, but their legacy remains," the great hard-rock philosophers Spinal Tap once mused about the druids in their daft musical homage "Stonehenge." The druids' legacy resurfaces in another form this evening at the 12th annual Druid Underground Film Festival, with a two-hour program of short films and found footage. While the works in this year's edition will shed little light on the actual culture of the druids, they do represent a fascinating collision of provocative short films on numerous subjects presented by series founder Billy Burgess. HM157, 3110 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights; Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m.; $10. (562) 895-9399. —Falling James

sun 11/11

FOOD & DRINK

Dairy-Free Deliciousness

Vegans tend to get ridiculed for their strict diets. But at Vegan Sweets Con — fittingly taking place around the holidays, the most sugar-filled time of year — the healthy and animal-free desserts are anything but boring. Following this summer's Long Beach Vegan Festival, this event gathers more than 30 vendors selling every type of sweet, from cookies and macaroons to chocolates and shakes, in addition to savory options, such as Compton Vegan, which specializes in soul food and BBQ. The schedule also features a cookie bake-off, children's cookie decorating and a dairy-free milk and cookies lounge, as well as demonstrations and appearances by Lauren Toyota, Nicole Allen and Flower Bullock, creator of Stone Girl Treats & Eats, who teaches how to use cannabidiol. The Renaissance Hotel, 1111 Ocean Blvd., Long Beach; Sun., Nov. 11, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; $10-$40, 12 & under free. (562) 437-5900, vegancookiecon.com. —Siran Babayan

mon 11/12

BOOKS

Murder Mystery

That dozens of unsolved murders were finally solved remains a high point of 2018, and detective novelists have seized upon these latest developments with characteristic vigor. Tonight, Live Talks L.A. presents Paul Levine and Michael Connelly discussing Connelly's new book, Dark Sacred Night (A Ballard and Bosch Novel) ($29, Little, Brown and Company). In this latest page-burner, Detective Renée Ballard stumbles upon former detective Harry Bosch rummaging through old files to solve a cold case. After he leaves, she finds out that he's really on to something and they join forces to close the books on the case at last. Ann and Jerry Moss Theater, 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica; Mon., Nov. 12, 8 p.m.; $52 reserved + book/$42 general + book/$20 general. (310) 855-0005, livetalksla.org/events/michael-connelly/. —David Cotner

EXPAND

Susanna Mälkki

Simon Fowler

tue 11/13

MUSIC

A Quintet of Premieres

The Green Umbrella series is always one of the highlights of L.A. Philharmonic's season, as adventurous members of the orchestra band together as the L.A. Phil New Music Group to perform strange and experimental avant-garde pieces in front of diverse, open-minded audiences on Tuesday nights. But with L.A. Phil celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the orchestra is taking the bold step of filling every Green Umbrella program this season with the world premieres of new works. Tonight, Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki presents a program of new music by European composers Francesco Filidei, Arnulf Herrmann, Lotta Wennäkoski, Miroslav Srnka and Yann Robin. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Tue., Nov. 13, 8 p.m.; $20-$60. (323) 850-2000, laphil.com. —Falling James

wed 11/14

ART

Clay Makes a Comeback

Ceramics has been having an extended moment of popularity and acclaim in fine-art circles, as more and more contemporary artists embrace the appeal of this slow, heavy, messy medium. Not content to simply appreciate the appeal of this exceptionally analog and physical material, perhaps as a countermeasure against the surge of the digital and virtual, new generations of sculptors are pressing tradition into the service of the modern. One of the most intriguing voices in the clay conversation has been Matt Wedel, whose new show, "Everything is everything," opens in Venice this week. Wedel's unique vision merges his own family background (his dad is a potter) with art historical confidence and expressively personal narrative to create eccentric, painterly ceramic sculptures that innovatively interpret elements from natural and psychological landscapes. L.A. Louver, 45 N. Venice Blvd., Venice; opening reception: Wed., Nov. 14, 6-8 p.m.; exhibit Tue.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., thru Jan. 5; free. (310) 822-4955, lalouver.com. —Shana Nys Dambrot

ACTIVISM

Challenging Homelessness

While the response from Los Angeles' political leaders to the city's homeless epidemic has been less decisive leadership and more unfulfilled promises and moribund policymaking, the participants at the L.A. Homelessness Challenge aren't as content to sit around waiting for the status quo to change. Sponsored by United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Watt Companies, the Shark Tank (but with better ideas!)–style event will award $200,000 to the best service solution for tackling homelessness. The finalists include Venice Family Clinic's proposal to expand and educate the public on street medicine; a program that offers families mobile childcare; and various housing and support regimes. The evening opens with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles, 900 Wilshire Blvd., downtown; Wed., Nov. 14, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; free, RSVP required. eventbrite.com/e/la-homelessness-challenge-pitch-event-tickets-50787065480. —Avery Bissett

thu 11/15

ART

The Body Politic

En Cuatro Patas is the Broad's feminist Latinx performance series, in which an eclectic range of possible identities across the community and positions as citizens of the world have been explored, manifesting as interdisciplinary avant-garde quasi-theatrical experiences. This edition features Given Over to Want by internationally acclaimed multimedia artist Nao Bustamante; Shadow Woman by Gina Osterloh, a visual artist who has always enacted performative elements as part of her installations and compositions; and INFESTACIÓN: PISOS I, II, III by the operatically soulful composer-singer-activist Dorian Wood. The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Thu., Nov. 15, 8:30 p.m.; $15. (213) 232-6200, thebroad.org. —Shana Nys Dambrot

Damien Echols

Courtesy Sounds True

BOOKS

Wrongly Convicted

Damien Echols was one of the West Memphis Three, a trio of teenagers who were convicted in 1994 of murdering three young boys in Arkansas in 1993. The case attracted a lot of media attention, with many followers, including Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, decrying the judicial process, and the West Memphis Three eventually were freed from prison, if not fully exonerated. Echols and his friends appeared to have been convicted based more on their lifestyle as fans of heavy metal than on hard evidence that definitively proved their guilt. "Magick saved my life," Echols writes in his new book, High Magick. "Magick was the only thing in prison that gave my life purpose and kept me sane." He discusses the book with The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines. The Regent Theater, 448 S. Main St., downtown; Thu., Nov. 15, 8 p.m.; $32. (323) 934-2944, ticketfly.com/event/1769072-damien-echols-in-conversation-los-angeles/. —Falling James

Source: https://www.laweekly.com/arts/12-best-things-to-do-in-la-this-week-10036509

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ucbcomedy · 7 years

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#KeepMarching

So, Trump is our president. Terrified? Yeah, a lot of us are. We still have a lot of work to do, right now and over the next 4 years. If you haven’t already donated or volunteered, below is a handy list of some of the biggest organizations you can support in order to #KeepMarching:

1. American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU: http://www.aclu.org

WHAT THEY DO: Since its founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been the guardian of liberty, working in the nation's courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve individual working rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This group could the super hero Gotham needs to protect us against unlawful and unconstitutional proposals by our White House, and they’re gonna need all the help they can get.

2. Planned Parenthood, PP: https://www.istandwithpp.org/

WHAT THEY DO: Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual's income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Planned Parenthood will be under attack more than ever before under the Trump Presidency, but lucky for us, istandwithpp.org clearly outlines everything we need to do to defend our reproductive rights as Americans.

3. Human Rights Campaign, HRC: http://www.hrc.org

WHAT THEY DO: The Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation together serve as America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This is the biggest LGBTQ group in America, we’ll need this group to be as strong as possible in order to lobby against any anti-LGBTQ agenda our ultra-conservative controlled government tries to pass.

4. Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC: https://www.splcenter.org

WHAT THEY DO: The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: SPLC is one of the best organizations in the country at identifying hate groups, and they’ll need even more support during Trump’s presidency to fight back against hate crimes, which have already increased since the election.

5.The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP: http://www.naacp.org

WHAT THEY DO: The NAACP's principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This is longest-serving group dedicated to protecting the rights of people of color. They’ve already seen legal victories against suppression efforts, but the battles are only going to get bigger and badder during a Trump presidency.

6. Stomp Out Bullying http://www.stompoutbullying.org/

WHAT THEY DO: STOMP Out Bullying focuses on reducing and preventing bullying, cyberbullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educating against homophobia, racism and hatred, decreasing school absenteeism, and deterring violence in schools, online and in communities across the country

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Since Trump has been elected, bullying in schools has been on the rise. This group teaches empathy, acceptance, and choosing kindness, which welll definitely need a lot more of in the next 4 years.

7. Sierra Club http://www.sierraclub.org/about

WHAT THEY DO: The Sierra Club mission statment is: to explore, enjoy and protect the planet. To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out those objectives.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Trump himself has claimed that climate change is a hoax, and he continues to surround himself with climate change deniers. So those of us that believe in science will need to go the extra mile to support groups like Seirra Club.

8. Support Legit Journalism

With freedom of press under attack since Trump threatened to kick the press out of the White House, it’s more important than ever to support (with your money, not just your clicks) news sources that are doing legit journalism. So pick your favorite news source (like PBS, New York Times, The Guardian, or The Washington Post) and start paying for your news.

9. National Immigration Law Center https://www.nilc.org/

WHAT THEY DO: NILC is one of the leading organizations in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: With ideas like a “deportation force” being thrown around by Trump, the rights and protection of immigrants in this country is severely at risk. Groups like NILC are working to make sure the rights of immigrants are protected.

10. People for the American Way, PFAW: http://www.pfaw.org

WHAT THEY DO: People For the American Way was founded in 1981 by Norman Lear, Barbara Jordan, and a group of business, civic, religious, and civil rights leaders who were disturbed by the divisive rhetoric of newly politicized televangelists. They defend constitutional values under attack, including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This group fights for those marginalized in court. With a current vacancy in the Supreme Court that will likely be filled by Trump, PFAW will need every bit of help to make sure a Trump Court won’t repeal equal marriage and reproductive rights that previous courts have upheld.

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thisdaynews · 4 years

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Voter suppression issues rank low among reasons nonvoters stay home

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/voter-suppression-issues-rank-low-among-reasons-nonvoters-stay-home/

Voter suppression issues rank low among reasons nonvoters stay home

Illustration by Michelle Pereira

Democratic campaign committees and activist groups have been spending millions of dollars to fight against a range of legal obstacles on voting, believing that making voter registration easier and keeping polls open longer would inspire more Americans to turn out.

But to nonvoters themselves, those issues don’t seem to be at the forefront of their minds: Only 8 percent of nonvoters said they don’t vote because they don’t have the time to get to the polls — fourth on the list of reasons they cited. Only 5 percent of nonvoters said they don’t vote because they aren’t registered.

That was the surprising finding of a sweeping new study released Wednesday by the Knight Foundation. The study, which involved polling and interviews with over 14,000 people, showed that a plurality of nonvoters cited a dislike of the candidates (17 percent) and a feeling that their votes don’t matter (12 percent) as the main motivators for not voting.

There were similar responses with why eligible citizens chose not to register. According to the study, 29 percent of nonvoters said they were not registered to vote because of a lack of interest, followed by 13 percent saying their votes don’t matter. Only 8 percent said they don’t vote because they don’t know how or it’s too complicated.

Only 3 percent of nonvoters said a more convenient process to register would motivate them to vote in more elections.

That finding may be important to the numerous groups fighting to increase voter turnout by combating structural barriers to voting. Voter suppression has been a hot-button issue in recent years, boiling over during the 2018 elections as voters cried foul with long lines, faulty machinery and massive voter purges.

Leading up to the 2020 elections, Democrats in particular have highlighted the issue, opposing largely Republican-led efforts to create stricter laws for access to the polls. Among the most high-profile activists is former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who stepped back from serving in elected office to advocate for greater access to the polls.

The 2018 race between Abrams and then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp gained national attention after Kemp purged over 600,000 from voter rolls, allegedly for not having voted in recent elections. Abrams’ supporters have called the purge a blatant act of voter suppression.

The election has since led Abrams to launch Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to fighting voter suppression. The organization works in 20 states training staffers to combat voter suppression and to register voters and raise awareness of election reforms.

Other groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice and the League of Women Voters have taken legal action to stop laws they view as unfairly blocking voters from the polls. They also work to influence lawmakers to reform voting laws and use the courts to ensure those protections are fully enforced.

Abrams did not respond to requests for comment, and the organizers of other groups said they didn’t want to directly respond to an embargoed survey they couldn’t review. But some organizers said it didn’t surprise them that nonvoters would cite other reasons for not pursuing a chance to vote, being reluctant to admit that they don’t know or couldn’t follow the rules.

“Asking people to draw the causal link between a legal regime and their behavior, I think, is difficult, and I don’t know if it’s the most reliable way to figure out how laws affect human behavior,” said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU voting rights project.

Structural issues such as voter ID laws and difficulty accessing polling places didn’t come up enough to even be marked in the Knight survey results. In fact, 89 percent of voters, 76 percent of nonvoters and 69 percent of young people aged 18-24 found voting either very or somewhat easy.

Young voters aged 18-24 reflected a similar sentiment to nonvoters at large, with 28 percent of those not registered saying they weren’t due to a lack of interest.

Responses were open-ended with respondents coming up with their own answers for pollsters.

But the lack of focus on legal obstacles to voting shouldn’t serve as encouragement for those seeking to impose further restrictions, advisers to the study maintained. Political scientists have a general consensus that asking nonvoters to explain their actions is not an effective way to measure voter suppression, painting a far more nuanced image of the issue.

“To find out the effects of [restrictive voting laws], you really don’t want to ask voters about it. They really don’t have a feel of how institutions’ rules affect them,” said Eitan Hersh, a political science professor at Tufts University who advised the study.

Though the laws dictating voter registration play a major role in blocking people from turning out, voters generally see them as the background conditions for their decisions, and they rarely identify them as dictating their political decisions over faith in a candidate or an issue, activists said.

“I suspect when voters make the conscious decision to go to the polls … they’re not saying, ‘Well, because the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., I was able to vote this year,’” Ho said. “They think, ‘Oh, I really care about this midterm,’ and, if it works in their schedule, they go.”

Yanna Krupnikov, another adviser to the Knight survey and a political science professor at Stony Brook University, added that nonvoters may feel social pressure to offer more philosophical explanations of why they stayed home, rather than admit that the voting system was too complicated.

“When there are so many social messages that people get to vote, to turn out, about how important that is, it becomes even harder to give a reason for not voting that seems random or spontaneous or not good enough,” Krupnikov said.

But Hersh said that no matter how many other factors actually contribute to nonvoters opting to stay home from the polls, the reasons respondents themselves identified shouldn’t be lightly dismissed.

When asked what could motivate them to vote in more elections, a plurality of nonvoters cited “a candidate I believe in” with 22 percent. Seven percent of nonvoters said they would vote more often “If my vote would affect the outcome.”

One nonvoter in Milwaukee who participated in a focus group cited by the study said she didn’t vote because of a “lack of interest, uneducated. The times that I’ve spent to get a little bit more educated, all the options suck. I don’t feel like one is great so I’m not going to vote at all.”

And just because structural barriers to voting are not forefront in voters’ minds doesn’t mean they don’t have a major impact.

Ho points out that states with more accessible voting infrastructure — particularly election-day registration — routinely have higher turnout than states that don’t. Minnesota, New Hampshire and Iowa all have election-day registration and had substantially higher turnout rates than the national average in 2016 — in some cases by greater than 10 percentage points.

Among nonvoters in the Knight study, 7 percent said they didn’t register because they’d forgotten — a problem that could have been remedied with election-day registration.

Ho also added that the United States is singular among advanced democracies in placing the onus for registering to vote on citizens rather than the government. In countries where the state registers voters, registration is substantially higher, with 91 percent registration in Canada and 96 percent in Sweden versus only 70 percent in the U.S. in 2016.

Six percent of nonvoters in the Knight study said they didn’t register because they’d recently moved. Ho pointed out that the U.S. is unique among advanced democracies in requiring citizens to re-register to vote when they move, making voting even less accessible.

“I don’t have any reason to think that Americans are more helpless or apathetic than people who live in other Western democracies,” Ho said. “So that makes me ask: What else is different about our systems? And the first thing I think of is how byzantine our registration systems are.”

Helping navigate those systems is among the top priorities of activists encouraging higher voter participation.

Speaking with POLITICO in November, Abrams said a major method to combating voter suppression is warning constituents about potential purges and letting them know how to to contest them. Abrams led a massive phone banking operation in November to warn voters in Georgia about a potential purge that drew then-Democratic presidential candidates Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang.

Jeanette Senecal, senior director of mission impact at the League of Women Voters, stressed that many would-be first-time voters especially don’t turn out to the polls because they aren’t aware of early voting opportunities. And those first-time voters may not realize just how difficult it can be to register and turn out.

“It’s really important to do some education, especially for new and first-time voters, around what the early voting opportunities are for them,” Senecal said. “And they wouldn’t know that’s an institutional barrier … But in reality, not knowing what their options are is a barrier.”

#Foreign #nonvoters #Politics #reasons

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