SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG
Read and share extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change
Systems Not Symptoms - Impact Fund Grant Program Tackles Racial Injustice Head On
“While we are a small funder, we are in complete solidarity with the movement to end the killing of unarmed Black men by police, as well as all other police brutality. That the list of names of men who have been so killed is so long that it would take up more than a whole page is a commentary on how police have been protected from accountability, at least until now. They have been protected by police unions who block the imposition of discipline. They have been protected by politicians who want to be seen as ‘tough on crime’ and pass laws that make it next to impossible for the public to find out which officers are engaging in brutality against people. And they are protected by the courts that make up rules like ‘qualified immunity’ that let police off the hook when brought to court. We recognize that the police function as part of the system that has been called the criminal justice system, they are but one part. That whole system is what gave us mass incarceration. And the whole system now must come down.”
Civil Rights Class Action Challenges Broken Criminal Justice System in Louisiana
Under Louisiana law, confining any person without legal authority to do so is false imprisonment. And the United States Supreme Court has said that, while some extra time to process paperwork may be necessary, it is unreasonable to imprison a person any longer than 48 hours after they are entitled to release. Louisiana’s imprisonment of people for months after they are entitled to release flagrantly violates the laws of Louisiana and the United States.
Impact Fund Joins Fight Against Transgender Discrimination at Starbucks
Most of Maddie’s coworkers were supportive of her transition and easily adjusted to her new name and pronouns. Over the following weeks, however, Dustin became cold and distant. He started avoiding her, cut her hours, and stopped talking to her about further career advancement. For months, Dustin insisted on calling Maddie by her former name or male nicknames, deliberating misgendering her. Outside of work, Dustin was a regular poster of anti-transgender memes and messages on Facebook and Twitter. When Maddie tried to discuss Guthrie’s hostile behavior with him, he ignored her. When she reached out to other Starbucks managers, she received no meaningful response. Experiencing significant anxiety and depression, Maddie had no choice but to leave Starbucks in June 2018.
Environmental Justice Appeals Court Victory in Minnesota Paves The Way To Hold PolyMet Accountable.
The proposed PolyMet mine project, located at the headwaters of the St. Louis River, the largest U.S. tributary to Lake Superior, would destroy or impair more than 1,000 acres of wetlands and leach toxic metals like mercury, lead and arsenic into our waters. PolyMet’s tailings waste dam uses the same cheap design as the tailings dam that catastrophically failed in Brazil in early 2019, killing over 250 people.
Stunned by the Wall Street culture of harassment, one brave woman says "no" and becomes a Class Action Hero.
Overnight, I was locked out of my accounts, stripped of my livelihood and my office was relocated to the deep hinterlands of the building where I was isolated from coworkers who no longer acknowledged me, left with only a small box of belongings and my dignity. At that moment I decided I would never, ever let them see me cry. I had two choices, put my tail between my legs and run or stand my ground. I didn’t have anything more to lose; there was only one choice, stand back up.
Indiscriminate Use of Psychotropics among Children in Foster Care Is a National Disgrace
Because of the success of our lawsuit, Missouri will now begin implementing reforms to protect these children: medical records will be monitored; doctors and caregivers, with real input from youth, will vet the risks and the benefits of medication before it is administered; and an independent child psychiatrist will be available to provide secondary review of prescriptions for efficacy and safety.
EPA sits on the scales of justice for polluters with new Environmental Appeals Board proposal
The Trump administration has shown repeatedly its willingness to silence the voices of those who live at the doorsteps of polluting industrial facilities, and to consistently value profit over people. With this proposal, through the provisions described above and others, the administration is attempting to institutionalize lawlessness and corporate cronyism in its most cynical form, and close the door on people seeking to hold their government accountable to the law.
A Victory for Citizen Science along the Gulf Coast: Nurdles, Zero Discharge, and $50M
When the suit went to trial for the liability phase in March 2019, the Waterkeepers packed the 2,428 samples into boxes, drove them to the courthouse in downtown Victoria, and presented them as evidence. Plaintiffs’ marine science expert, Dr. Jeremy Conkle, also testified that from 2017 to February 2019, Formosa’s contractor cleaned up between 7.6 billion and 75 billion individual pellets, meaning that Formosa had discharged well more than this amount since extensive plastics still remained in the environment. Other concerned local citizens testified about seeing extensive discharges of pellets and powder from Formosa’s wastewater discharge pipe directly into the middle of Lavaca Bay.
Schoolteachers Fight For Environmental Justice In Battle With Rio Tinto Over Air Pollution--And Win!
For six years, Elisabeth “Lis” Stannus and Emily Toews, two elementary school teachers in the remote community of Kitimat in northwestern British Columbia, have been fighting a legal battle to protect their local airshed from increasing air pollution. On the other side of this battle were the BC Ministry of Environment (MOE) and Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest metals and mining companies.
Plastic or People? Protecting the Gulf Coast From the Fossil Fuel Industry Helps the Whole Planet
Refineries and petrochemical plants that process fossil fuels are hurting poor communities and communities of color along the Gulf Coast, including southern Louisiana’s notorious Cancer Alley. And that environmental racism is only getting worse, as Formosa’s decision to target St. James Parish for its next massive plastic facility shows.
Connecting the Dots: Fracking and Voter Suppression in Youngstown, Ohio
People in Ohio have a right to the initiative to directly “check and balance” the government. Nonetheless, governing officials are repeatedly telling residents that they do not have the authority to vote on these measures. “It’s voter suppression,” says Wilkins, “because they’re not allowing you to vote on things you believe in. We the people should have the right to vote on these things.”
Ohio Voting Rights Case For Pretrial Detainees Erupts Out Of 2018 Midterms
Ohio, like many states, has a system that allows people who experience unforeseen hospitalization or other medical emergencies to request, receive, and cast absentee ballots, even if their emergency took place after the normal absentee ballot request deadline. However, despite the constitutional presumption of innocence, the same provision is not available to voters arrested after the deadline. These voters, have not been convicted of any crime, are similarly unable to reach the polls on Election Day, yet they are denied access to the emergency voting procedure.
El maíz nativo de México se enfrenta a la gran Agricultura Corporativa en batalla épica por la justicia ambiental, marcando así el camino para las acciones colectivas
Sin embargo, a pesar de la enorme importancia del maíz nativo, en el año 2009 el gobierno mexicano comenzó a conceder permisos a las empresas multinacionales para cultivar un maíz modificado genéticamente. Los defensores del medio ambiente, de la salud y de la justicia social denunciaron dicha maniobra. En 2013, una surtida coalición compuesta por 53 personas y organizaciones no gubernamentales en representación de científicos, pequeños agricultores, apicultores, consumidores y activistas de derechos humanos se unieron para presentar una demanda judicial colectiva e innovadora para frenar el cultivo del maíz modificado genéticamente (transgénico). Su caso, La Demanda Colectiva para la Protección del Maíz Nativo de México contra la Modificación Genética, va a generar leyes fundamentales para la justicia ambiental y social en México.
Advocates for Clean Water Fight For Environmental Justice as Pollution from California BigAg Creates Looming Central Valley "Flint" Crisis
Discharges from irrigated agriculture are the largest source of pollutionin California’s Central Valley. Water diversions for irrigated agriculture pose significant environmental challenges by diminishing instream flows and depleting aquifers throughout the state. Agricultural operations also pose a significant threat to water quality when nitrates, pesticides, sediment, pathogens, heavy metals, and salts run off fields into surface and groundwater. Farming right up to the riverbank by intensive farming operations has also led to the destruction of natural riparian zones through increased erosion, nutrient and sediment pollution, higher water temperatures, and degraded aquatic habitats.
Native Corn In Mexico Takes On Big Ag in Epic Environmental Justice Battle, Trailblazing A Path For Collective Actions
Despite native corn’s enormous importance, in 2009 the Mexican government began granting permits to multinational corporations to cultivate genetically modified corn. Environmental, health, and social justice advocates denounced the move. In 2013, a diverse coalition made up of fifty-three individuals and non-governmental organizations representing scientists, small farmers, beekeepers, consumers, and human rights activists banded together to file an innovative class action lawsuit to halt further genetically modified corn cultivation.
Youth v Gov: 11-year-old Levi knows Climate Change is no hoax; Sues Government for His Future
Levi and the other Juliana plaintiffs are going to see the lawsuit through to trial so that their voices may be heard in court. Climate change is one of the most pressing problems that the world faces, and Levi and his co-plaintiffs are determined to get their government to stop contributing to it and start stopping it.
TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund - Helping to Break the Cycle of Silence and Isolation
We’re fueled by all those who are with us, including you, and the conviction that every person deserves a workplace free from violence and where they are treated with dignity and respect. We know you share this conviction, and we need you. We can’t wait to fund your cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, for you to join our Network, and for you to tell us about your experience.
Impact Fund and allies say "YES" to Equality Act
Since 1994, federal lawmakers have repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination because of sexual orientation and—later—gender identity. The 116th Congress, with its historic numbers of women, people of color, and LGBTQ members, offers the best chance yet for the Equality Act to pass the House of Representatives. But what exactly would it do?
Sharing Food With The Homeless Is Not A Crime--It's A First Amendment Right
The Court recognized the significance of food sharing throughout history: “Like the flag, the significance of sharing meals with others dates back millennia.” The Court found that Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs was clearly engaged in more than a “picnic in a park” and had instead established “an intent to ‘express[] an idea through activity.’” The Court concluded that Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs is engaged in protected expression when it shares food outdoors in public parks.
Too Many, Too Much, and Too Young: Class Action Seeks To Protect Foster Kids From Dangerous Mistreatment With Psychotropic Drugs
On any given day, thousands of children in foster care across the country are administered psychotropic medications to address mental health and behavioral issues. Some of these children receive combinations of two, three, or more such medications at a time, often in elevated dosages. Some, like Joe, are even placed on antipsychotics, which led him to say, “I feel like I have knives in my eyes.”