Dear President Obama: We Can’t Wait the Civil Right Act of 1964 needs to be amended again

President Obama we can’t wait the Civil Right Act of 1964 needs to be amended again. The Herman Cain alleged work place sexual harassment news coverage present you the perfect time to once again address and correct unlawful work place behavior that harms minorities emotionally and financially. President Obama I believe that we can’t wait until next year or your next term in office to address employment discrimination and the toll that it has on African-Americans.

On January 29, 2009, you signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act which amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Like Ledbetter based on my belief that other Civil Rights Act of 1964 employment discrimination and retaliation victims will unjustly be denied a jury trial I am still fighting. As you stated in your remarks the day that you signed the Ledbetter Act Ledbetter didn’t give up fighting for a just cause. Just like Ledbetter I too could have given up and avoided the unimaginable pain and depression  that continues to occur in my life fourteen years after initially filing my Pro-Se lawsuit, ten years after the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit refused to reverse the unjust dismissal of my lawsuit, and nine years after the United States Supreme Court refused to review, remanded, and/or reverse the dismissal of my case.

During your remark on the Ledbetter bill you stated in part: ”It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign - the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act - we are upholding one of this nation's first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness. Lilly Ledbetter didn't set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job - and did it well - for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for the very same work. Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than ten years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court, and lead to this bill which will help others get the justice she was denied.”

For more than five years I have pleaded and begged CNN, Soledad Obrien, 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, Oprah, Jessie Jackson, Congressman Shelia Jackson-Lee, Tavis Smiley, Clinton in her role as Senator of New York to review my factual allegations of employment discrimination and abuse of power by Eliot Spitzer (filing seven perjured summary judgment motion declarations) and his staff at the New York State Attorney General Office.

I believe that my racism experience detailed in my book sheds light on employment discrimination and retaliation. That light will reveal that salutary purpose of summary judgment (to avoid unnecessary trials) and the rights of all Americans to a jury trial can both be accomplished with a well written and defined amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Amending the Civil Rights Act again would prevent one judge from having the absolute power to grant summary judgment motions that dismiss discrimination and retaliation cases.

Vera Richardson

“Screwed by Former Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer”