In order to improve African-Americans lives this blog sheds light on racism by calling it out. The fact that I discuss racism should not deem me an unreliable idealistic liberal, a racist, or a race-card playing cry baby. I was created by God to shed light on racism. My employment discrimination and retaliation experience while employed by NYS Depart of Corrections, and David and Goliath court battle with Eliot Spitzer’s NYS Attorney General Office gave me painful knowledge of RACISM.
On October 15, 2011, while attending Rev Al Sharpton's match for jobs and justice in Washington, DC, I had a brief but divine appointment with one of Dr. King’s sons Martin Luther King III. I spoke to him and told him that his father was a great man. My appointment was divine because it confirmed the reason that I was created by God. My divine purpose is to shed light on employment discrimination in general and my employment and discrimination experience in particular.
Approximately fifty years ago my uneducated mother was fired from working on a tobacco farm in Quincy, Florida. According to Mr. Carter my mother was fired for mentioning “ that nigger’s name Dr. Martin Luther King on his farm.”
The facts that my mother was fired because of her beliefs in racial equality and I was fired by New York State Department of Correctional Services a year after filing a lawsuit alleging employment discrimination and retaliation are not a coincidence. In my complaint I charged New York State Departments of Corrections and Civil Services with violating Title VII (employment discrimination) of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended. Although my lawsuit was unjustly dismissed it was possible because of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's life and death that resulted in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Lastly, I believe that my employment discrimination experience and lawsuit which I detailed in my book “Screwed by Former Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer” sheds light on employment discrimination and retaliation. That light reveals that salutary purpose of summary judgment (to avoid unnecessary trials) and the right 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 Civil Rights Act of 1964 employment discrimination and retaliation cases.
Vera Richardson
Click link to buy and download to your smartphone or kindle Screwed by Former Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to start a race conversation. It is my hope that after a fact base conversation that President Obama will use an executive order to amend, protect, and strengthen Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 again.
I am excited about the 2012 election because African-Americans responded to calls for action by Rev. Al Sharpton and the Martin Luther King Memorial committee and came to our nation's capitol by the thousands. I came to Washington, DC from Houston, Texas to make and witness history being made. I am so glad that I made the sacrifice and made my way to the national mall. I meet and talked to African-Americans from New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Ohio, and North Carolina.
I believe that it is time for Reid, President Obama, and the Democrats to fight for the passing of the entire American Job Act bill as hard and successfully as George W. Bush and the Republicans fought to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United Supreme.
I oppose breaking the bill into provision and bringing those individual provisions up for a vote in the Senate. Reid should schedule the entire bill again and Pres Obama and Democratic national committee, Moveon.org and other progressive groups should all run ads showing how often the Republicans have abused the filibuster to prevent President Obama from delivering on his 2008 campaign promises.
Bringing the entire bill up again in the Senate and making the Republicans and two (fake) Democrats vote once again to deny allowing debate on the bill in the Senate will ultimately help to pass the bill. Senators who oppose doing everything humanly possible to ease the suffering of 14 million unemployment Americans a second time will be hard pressed to explain those votes during national and world wide new coverage of their continued dysfunctional party. Additionally, their action will lead to the re-election of President Obama in 2012.
Vera Richardson
Author of Screwed by Former Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
John Boehner’s refusal to cooperate with President Obama and his American Job Act is an example of hypocrisy and/or lying. John Boehner lied during his November 2, 2010, midterm election speech when he said: “"The people’s priorities will be our priorities. The people’s agenda will be our agenda. This is our Pledge to America; this is our pledge to you.”
According to a September 8-11, 2011, Gallup poll: Sixty-seven percent of American rank jobs and the economy as the most important problem facing America. Only twelve percent listed the federal budget deficit as the most important problem. Yet Boehner and his party are still placing their will and goal (making President Obama a one term president) over the welfare of this nation and the world.
When will Speaker Boehner honor his pledge to America? How many jobs have been created since John Boehner became Speaker of the House of Representatives?
Boehner needs to change course the federal budget deficit is not the most important issue facing this nation. The American People want and needs jobs. Speaker Boehner should pass the American Job Act bill with deliberate speed.
When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, it was an historic election. The prospect of voting for America's first African-American president brought black folks to the polls who had never voted before. People voted early, stood in long lines, some were in wheelchairs or on walkers -- but the passion and enthusiasm were palpable in black communities across America.
The rights and opportunities that our ancestors marched for finally came to fruition on election night, November 4, 2008, when the votes were cast and the T.V. networks announced that Barack Obama had been elected the 44th President of the United States. Tears of joy were shed across America by young and old.
Some of us mistakenly thought that, with President Obama's election, we had finally arrived. We could take it easy and not have to press so hard for our rights to be affirmed.
We underestimated the backlash from the opposition. Those who did not vote for Obama and who thought a black man would never occupy the White House -- either through prejudice, ignorance or defiance of authority -- quickly rose up in anger and indignation. The Tea Party was formed and we've seen their influence on politics in general and the Republican Party, in particular.
In his September 24, 2011, speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, President Obama was speaking for me and to me when he said, “Throughout our history, change has often come slowly. Progress often takes time. I never promised easy. Easy has never been promised to us. But we’ve had faith. We have had faith. We’ve had that good kind of crazy that says you can’t stop matching.”
“Even when folks were hitting you over the head you can’t stop matching. Even when they’re turning the hoses on you, you can’t stop. Even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you can’t stop. Even when it looks like there’s no way, you find a way—you can’t stop. Through the mud and muck and the driving rain, we don’t stop. Because we know the rightness of our cause-widening the circle of opportunities, increasing each other’s prosperity. We know our cause is just. It’s a righteous cause.”
It will be difficult to duplicate the magic of the 2008 campaign, but we can't afford to sit down -- you have to put on your marching shoes once again and work to re-elect President Obama in 2012! You need to not only vote, but work in the trenches to put President Obama back in the White House for four more years.
Don't be fooled. With Republican legislatures around the country attempting to make voting more difficult in poor and minority communities, the election in 2012 matters more than ever!
Here's why President Obama's re-election is important:
1. He cares about ordinary people -- the poor, middle class and those hardest hit by the recession.
2. He can keep the right-wing forces from enacting discriminatory policies and enacting more voter suppression legistration accross America.
3. He can appoint more federal and Supreme Court justices who are sensitive to the needs of blacks and other minorities.
4. The presence of the Obama First Family in the White House is an important positive symbol for our young people and others around the world.
5. America needs President Obama's continued outstanding foreign policy experience during an unstable international environment.
President Obama has instituted "Operation Vote" to make it easier for African-American communities to organize for 2012. What are you willing to do?
Here are some things you can do to help with President Obama's re-election:
1. Make sure you have the proper documents to vote by securing a state-issued driver's license or photo I.D., if you don't already have one.
2. Sign up as a voting registrar and register people to vote in your neighborhood.
3. Host a fundraiser for President Obama in your home or through one of your community organizations; and/or send a personal contribution to his re-election campaign online.
4. Post information via social media like Facebook and Twitter encouraging your friends to vote for President Obama's re-election.
5. Encourage your church or pastor to host voter registration drives.
6. Stay informed about the presidential election campaign by watching news broadcasts each day.
7. Voice you support for President Obama’s agenda and vision for this country on popular blog sites, radio and television websites, youtube, and CNN.com I-Reports.
8. Write letters to the editor or commentaries in support of President Obama and submit them to your local daily newspaper.
It will take a concerted effort from all of us to get President Obama re-elected. Put on your marching shoes and let's get to work!
On September 20, 2011, author Ron Suskind appeared on the Morning Joe Show to discuss his new book “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President.”One of the allegations discussed was that the Obama’s White House is a hostile environment for females.I don’t believe that President Obama would allowed anyone on his staff to violated civil rights laws as they related to women.
For three years I was a victim of a continued hostile work environment. I believe that Suskind’s book and the current media pundits that appear to accept his White House hostile work environment claims are doing a disservice to true victims of employment discrimination in general and hostile work environment in particular.
I don’t believe that Obama's White House is a hostile environment for females. Even if Anita Dunnsaid "This place would be in court for a hostile workplace" that doesn't make it true or factual. The duration of the unlawful behavior (discrimination and retaliation) frequency of the behavior and an employer refusal to take corrective action to end the unlawful behavior are factors that would be used to evaluate if a hostile wk environment existed at the White House.
Many African-Americans who voted in 2008 didn’t vote during the 2010 midterm elections. Our failure to vote in 2010 has made it very difficult for President Obama to lead and govern after the Republican gained control of the House of Representatives.
President Obama is currently working very hard to improve the economy including the unemployment crisis in African-American communities. In order to achieve his objective of reducing the unemployment rate he needs to have Congress approve “The American Job Act Bill.”
Once again Congressional Republicans don’t appear to be interested in putting the economic welfare of this nation and millions of it citizens before their political party. Instead of passing "The American Job Act" they are voicing political talking points. According to the Party of NO "the job bill" is Obama's way of getting another stimulus package passed. Many of them will not even refer to the bill as "The American Job Act Bill."
In order to work around the dysfunctional political process President Obama has reminded us that we are the change that we seek. In order to change and correct the toxic political climate he has requested that voters contact their congressional representatives and tell them to pass “The American Job Act Bill.”
The CNN.com's I-Report platform is an excellent tool to use to tell congressional leaders and your own representatives to pass "The American Job Act Bill." Posting I-Reports will allowed you to join in the political discourse, silence the Republicans opposition, and support President Obama.
Citizen journalists are allowed to post pictures, stories, and videos on CNN.com. Please join me and become a CNN I-Reporter. Your work will be reviewed and if selected and vetted it will appear on CNN’s platform including CNN network programs.
African-Americans like other races can’t control what other people say or their actions but we can do our part to determine our own fate and destiny. We can make this country a better place for us,our children, and our grand children. Starting today we can make a commitment to work tirelessly to reelect President Barack Obama in 2012.
On November 6, 2012, we can change the political landscape again by voting in record numbers for President Obama and democratic congressional candidates. By voting for democratic congressional candidates (excluding Blue Dogs Democrats) we can regain a majority in the House of Representatives and gain a larger majority in the Senate. Increasing a democratic presence in Congress will help us and help President Obama fulfill his vision of equality and justice for all Americans.
