Category: No Hate In Our States - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

The 2022 New American Citizenship Report - No Hate in Our States

11/10/2022

The 2022 State of New American Citizenship Report - No Hate

No Hate in Our States

Boundless Immigration, Inc

The immigration law firm, Boundless, has written the 2022 State Of New American Citizenship Report, using public data to understand national trends in the handling of citizenship applications. Below is an excerpt from their website:

As of January 2021, roughly 9.2 million immigrants in the United States are lawful permanent residents (green card holders) eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.

Naturalization is the process by which an immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen.It has considerable economic benefits at the individual, regional, and national levels. Naturalized immigrants earn around 10% more in annual income than non-naturalized immigrants (controlling for skills, education, and fluency in English), suggesting that naturalization, which gives skilled immigrants the long-term freedom to live and work in the United States, makes them more attractive to employers and leads to higher-paying jobs.

A 2015 study in 21 U.S. cities found that if all eligible immigrant residents were to naturalize, their aggregate income would increase by $5.7 billion, leading to an increase in homeownership of more than 45,000 people and a $2billion increase in tax revenue.. If just half the eligible immigrant population of the United States naturalized, the increased earnings and demand for home ownership could boost the nation’s GDP by $45 billion per year.

However, barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen have gotten worse over time, and are not uniform across the country. Boundless’ report uses public data sets to assess the government’s handling of citizenship applications nationally, as well as understand barriers at the local level.

Read the rest of this report on the Boundless website.

PACG Web Master

"The Downing of a Flag" - No Hate In Our States

11/6/2022

Watch the PBS Documentary The Downing of a Flag

No Hate In Our States

Photo Credit: PBS.org

From PBS: Downing of a Flag is a two-hour documentary film that uses firsthand interviews, featuring various perspectives and a wealth of historical footage, to examine the impact of the Confederate Battle flag on the people, politics and perceptions of South Carolina and beyond.

This brilliant film explains how the present-day Confederate flag made a resurgence in the south in the early 1960s and the danger of its unchecked use today.

Watch a two-minute clip here. Find the documentary on your local PBS station or purchase it on Amazon.

PACG Webmaster

Honoring Matthew Shepard - No Hate In Our States

10/7/2022

Honoring Matthew Shepard

No Hate in Our States

From the Matthew Shepard Foundation website:

On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally attacked and tied to a fence in a field outside of Laramie, Wyoming and left to die. On October 12, Matt succumbed to his wounds in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

In the aftermath of Matt’s death, his parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, started the Matthew Shepard Foundation to honor his life and aspirations. Inspired by the tragedy they endured, the initial purpose of the Foundation was to teach parents with children who may be questioning their sexuality to love and accept them for who they are, and to not throw them away.

Our Mission
The Matthew Shepard Foundation’s mission is to amplify the story of Matthew Shepard to inspire individuals, organizations, and communities to embrace the dignity and equality of all people. Through local, regional, and national outreach, we empower individuals to find their voice to create change and challenge communities to identify and address hate that lives within our schools, neighborhoods, and homes.
Our work is an extension of Matt’s passion to foster a more caring and just world. We share his story and embody his vigor for civil rights to change the hearts and minds of others to accept everyone as they are.

The documentary Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine can be rented on Amazon for $2.99 or viewed on various other platforms.

PACG recently created a forum to work on LGBTQ+ issues. To get involved, contact our Gender Equity Forum.

PACG Webmaster

UN calls out racial disparities in US Immigration - No Hate In Our States

9/29/2022

United Nations Calls Out Racial Disparities in U.S. Immigration System

Boundless Immigration, Inc

Friday, August 26th

The U.S. government is facing public criticism over its long history of racial discrimination in immigration policy. Last week, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) raised a series of questions about the U.S.’s racial profiling, questionable detention practices, flawed asylum system at the U.S.-Mexico border, and more. The CERD committee’s role in the UN is to evaluate the U.S. government’s compliance with international human rights law as it pertains to racial discrimination and hold government officials accountable when they fail to do so.

After raising a series of questions to U.S. delegates, the CERD committee determined that racial discrimination in the U.S. immigration system is a “systemic issue that requires a systemic overhaul,” and that the U.S. government must be held accountable for its abuses against immigrants of color.

This is certainly not the first time the U.S. has been accused of discriminatory policies against immigrants of color, particularly Black immigrants of African and Caribbean descent. According to a recent study, the Center for Migration Studies found that 76% of Black immigrants are deported on criminal grounds, as opposed to 45% of all immigrants. Black immigrants are also detained for longer periods of time on average, and are more likely to be subjected to harsher forms of treatment in immigration detention, such as solitary confinement.

More recently, immigration advocates have also drawn attention to the inherently different experiences between Afghan and Ukrainian nationals seeking asylum in the U.S., amid refugee crises in both countries. While Ukraine was swiftly designated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in response to Russia’s invasion, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) waited nearly six months after the Taliban’s seizure of power to do the same for Afghanistan.

Note: if you are interested in more information like this, sign up for BIT by Boundless. This is a weekly email regarding immigration issues.

PACG Webmaster

Final DACA Rule to be released - No Hate in Our States

9/9/2022

Biden Administration Releases Final DACA Rule

Boundless Immigration, Inc

August 26, 2022

On Wednesday, the Biden administration released the final version of a rule to codify and fortify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The rule, scheduled to be published on August 30, 2022 in the Federal Register, largely maintains the DACA program as it was created by an Obama-era memo in 2012. The rule should take effect October 31, 2022, presuming no legal challenges are launched against it.

DHS received over 16,000 public comments on the proposed rule that was released in September 2021. Many of these comments urged DHS, who proposed the new rule, to move the required entry date into the United States forward so that younger people who are otherwise eligible for DACA could apply for the program. However, the new rule maintains the requirement that the applicant must have entered the U.S. and resided in the country continuously since June 15, 2007.

In a change from the 2021 proposed rule, the final rule released Wednesday did not follow through with a plan to “decouple” work authorization (the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) application) from the principal DACA application. Immigration advocates worried that making the application for work authorization optional would put applicants at risk of losing their work permits while waiting for the USCIS EAD backlog to clear.

Despite the new rule, the DACA program remains under threat in the Fifth Circuit federal appeals court, which could issue a decision on the legality of the program at any time.

Note: if you are interested in more information like this, sign up for BIT by Boundless. This is a weekly email regarding immigration issues.

PACG Webmaster

Link between rates of enslavement and gun ownership - No Hate In Our States

8/23/2022

Historical rates of enslavement predict modern rates of American gun ownership

No Hate In Our States

Photo credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The above headline is from United Kingdom based Phys.org, an online source of science, research and technology news.

A recently-published article on research done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states that: The higher percentage of enslaved people that a U.S. county counted among its residents in 1860, the more guns its residents have in the present, according to a new analysis by researchers exploring why Americans' feelings about guns differ so much from people around the globe.

More than 45% of the world's civilian-owned firearms are in the United States, where just 5 percent of the world's people live. This disparity may have something to do with the way the majority of American gun owners view gun ownership.

"Gun culture is one case where American Exceptionalism really is true," says Nick Buttrick, a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of psychology. "We are really radically different even from countries like Canada or Australia, places that have similar cultural roots."

Pew Research Center surveys show two-thirds of Americans who own guns say it's a way to keep themselves safe, while in other countries, people are more likely believe the presence of a gun adds risk and danger to their lives, considering, for example, the far higher rates of homicide and suicide in households with guns. Gun culture scholars have also explored the role of race in American gun attitudes for some time, Buttrick says, and the two may be linked.

Read more about this fascinating research here.

PACG Webmaster

Tribal Rights and SCOTUS - No Hate In Our States

8/19/2022

Historic Case for Tribal Rights at the Supreme Court

No Hate In Our States

Credit: AP Photo/Morgan Lee

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) – a law that aims to protect Native children from forced removal from their families, tribes, and culture – is currently under attack and at risk of being struck down by the Supreme Court in Brackeen v. Haaland.

This case is one of the largest threats to Native children, families, and tribes before the Supreme Court in our lifetimes – and that's why today the ACLU and a 12-strong collective of our affiliates from across the country have filed an amicus brief today urging SCOTUS to uphold ICWA.

The Justices will hear oral arguments in this case in November, and tribal nations will be leading the fight to uphold the constitutionality of ICWA at that time.

Until then, we encourage you to do all you can to get informed about this monumental case and the fight for Indigenous rights. You can begin by digging into our latest piece today – which gives you a rundown both on the details of Brackeen v. Haaland, and the heinous history of forced separation and assimilation of Native children in this country that surrounds it.

Since European settlers arrived on the shores of what is now known as the United States, federal and state governments – intent on seizing Native lands – have sought to undermine and threaten the existence of tribes by severing Native children from their families, tribes, and culture.

Up until Congress passed ICWA in 1978, public and private agencies were removing 25-35% of Native American/Alaska Native children from their homes. And 85% of those children were placed in non-Native households, where Native children had little access to their culture, language, or tradition.

If SCOTUS rules against this essential law, it could put a centuries-long legal precedent upholding tribal sovereignty – including tribes' right and ability to preserve their unique cultural identities, raise their own children, and govern themselves – in jeopardy.

That's why we all must pay serious attention to this case and make sure the Court knows we, the people, are in support of ICWA. So please dive into this case today and be ready for more on our nationwide fight for Indigenous rights and all civil liberties up ahead.

Thank you for staying informed,

Theodora Simon (Navajo)
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Indigenous Justice Advocate, ACLU of NorCal

P.S. Brackeen v. Haaland could have devastating consequences for Native children and families. That's why the ACLU and its affiliates are so united in the work to file today: Along with the ACLU – the ACLU of NorCal, Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington – are all a part of this amicus brief.

PACG Webmaster

Iowa rejects appeal to pull book from school library - No Hate In Our States

8/14/2022

Iowa State board rejects appeal to pull ‘Gender Queer’ book from school library

Gender Equity Forum

This important decision helps us move to solidify equal rights for all. From the Iowa Capitol Dispatch:

The Iowa Board of Education refused Thursday to review a decision by the West Des Moines School District that keeps a book about LGBTQ identity on library shelves.

Last year, Teri Patrick of Clive complained about the book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” which is available for check-out at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School, a West Des Moines school campus for ninth grade students. Patrick wrote in the complaint that some of the book’s content violated state law which prohibits giving minors explicit material. The book, by Maia Kobabe, includes scenes which involve sexual activity and masturbation.

The West Des Moines school board voted in March to keep “Gender Queer” on school library shelves. Patrick then filed an appeal of the board’s decision to the state Department of Education.

We must continue to work for gender equity. Read the full article here.

Alta Price

Reimagine Gender - No Hate In Our States

6/26/2022

Alok Vaid-Menon Wants You to Reimagine Gender -
ACLU At Liberty Podcast

Civil Rights Forum

From the "ACLU At Liberty Podcast:"

This year brings an unprecedented surge of anti-trans legislation banning everything from sports participation to healthcare access. So far, we’re tracking roughly 280 state bills that have been filed ahead of or during this legislative session. At the same time, the Supreme Court is on the precipice of delivering a final decision that will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, blocking people who can get pregnant from abortion care. These attacks are actually all part of the same movement, a movement against bodily autonomy and our ability to live freely no matter our model or make, a movement to re-entrench gender hierarchy and binary thinking.

To that end, we’re bringing you a conversation with Alok Vaid-Menon, a nonbinary writer, performer, public speaker, activist and artist exploring the themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of 'Femme in Public, Beyond the Gender Binary, and Your Wound/My Garden.

Listen to the ACLU At Liberty Podcast: Reimagine Gender now.

Dee VanThournout

"Civil Rights Queen" Podcast - No Hate In Our States

3/29/2022

Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley - the 1st Black Female Federal Judge

No Hate In Our States

In 1966, Constance Baker Motley became the nation's first African American woman to serve as a federal judge. Her many achievements should have earned her a place in American history books. However, few today know her name or her story. Learn about this civil rights icon’s life from this PBS Newshour story:

www.pbs.org/newshour/show/civil-rights-queen-examines-the-legacy-of-constance-baker-motley

Julie Ross