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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Kiren Marshall, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, [emailprotected]Angelo Greco, The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation/Black Womens Roundtable, 917-499-2688, [emailprotected]Lacy Crawford, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 202-558-7900, [emailprotected]NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.(LDF), 212-965-2200, [emailprotected]Marc Banks, NAACP, 443-608-4073, [emailprotected]Tkeban X.T. Jahannes, National Council of Negro Women, 404-944-1615, [emailprotected]Niamb Tomlinson, National Urban League, 202-629-5750, [emailprotected]Rachel Noerdlinger, National Action Network, [emailprotected]

WASHINGTON Leading civil rights organizations released the following joint statement urging senators to be on the right side of history and pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act:

History will judge senators for what they do to protect voting rights, not arcane rules. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act will ensure that voters across the country can safely and freely cast their ballots. Every senator who chooses obstruction over protecting our freedom to vote is contributing to the fall of our democracy. Their legacies and our legacy as a country are on the line. Senators are elected to vote, not hide behind procedural rules while our voting rights are under attack. Sham excuses are unacceptable.

The right to vote is our most fundamental right and is the right upon which all our other rights rest. People have died to achieve and protect this precious right. Democracy cannot exist without all of our participation. We cannot tolerate barriers to voting for people of color, veterans, people with disabilities, rural voters, new Americans, senior citizens, or young people. We cannot tolerate efforts to remove local election officials or harass them to prevent them from counting every vote. Instead, we must move forward and protect the voice and vote of every American.

We are especially disappointed in senators of both parties who have supported amending the Senate rules for economic matters, but are unwilling to do so for the most critical matter facing our nation: the protection of the right to vote. These senators are either misguided or disingenuous in their motivations. We are also disappointed in senators who have supported voting rights legislation in the past, but who refuse to do so now out of fear of political retribution from cynical party leadership. History will judge them for it, as it has judged others who have sat idly by as civil rights have been abridged. They will be viewed with as much disdain as those who have actively sought to abridge civil rights. In the tradition of those civil rights giants who fought for voting rights before us, we ask those senators: which side are you on, senator, which side are you on?

As we approach Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we will not accept empty promises in pursuit of Dr. Kings dream for a more equal and just America. Our leaders have a historic opportunity to restore and protect Dr. Kings legacy by passing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.

The Senate must act by any means necessary to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act so that every vote counts and we all have a say in our future. This legislation addresses some of the major problems facing our democracy by restoring the power of the Voting Rights Act, setting national standards to protect access to the vote, ending partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, beginning to overhaul our broken campaign finance system, and creating new safeguards against subversion of the electoral process. The filibuster must not be a barrier to protecting our freedom to vote.

The current efforts to advance this important legislation will finally allow for an open and public debate. We will be watching the debate closely. We encourage all to watch closely and note where each senator, regardless of party, stands on preserving democracy and protecting the fundamental right to vote.

This statement was signed by the following organizations:

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) is one of the most active civil rights and social justice organizations in the nation dedicated to increasing civic engagement, economic and voter empowerment in Black America. The Black Womens Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls empowerment and power building arm of the NCBCP. At the forefront of championing just and equitable public policy on behalf of Black women, BWR promotes their health and wellness, economic security & prosperity, education and global empowerment as key elements for success.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit http://www.civilrights.org.

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all, particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and hate crimes. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org.

Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nations first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDFs Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP.

National Council of Negro Women is a Washington, D.C.-based charitable organization making a difference in the lives of women, children, and families through a four-pronged strategy that emphasizes entrepreneurship, health equity, STEAM education, and social justice. Founded 86 years ago, NCNW has 330 community and campus-based sections and thirty-two national affiliates representing more than two million women and men. NCNWs programs are grounded on a foundation of critical concerns known as Four for the Future. NCNW is known for GoodHealthWINs that provides trusted health care information, for producing the Black Family Reunion and the HBCU College Fair. For more information please visit http://www.ncnw.org or NCNWs social channels via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 91 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit http://www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague and @NULPolicy.

National Action Network (NAN) is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the Nation, with chapters throughout the entire United States. Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, NAN works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights plan that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, nationality or gender.

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Link:
Civil Rights Groups Call on Senate to Take Immediate Action on Voting Rights - Civilrights.org

Janet Jackson is known for doing just about everything, from singing to dancing to acting. But during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Jackson like many other people took time to learn new things. For the Grammy-winning singer, this included getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time in years.

Janet Jackson first burst onto the scene as a solo star in 1982 with her self-titled debut album. She came from the famous Jackson family and entered the music industry on the heels of her famous brother Michael and her brothers who formed The Jackson 5.

By the early 1990s, Janet Jackson was a star in her own right. Her albums Control and Janet Jacksons Rhythm Nation 1814 proved that she was a force to be reckoned with. And in the early 90s, she crossed over from stage to screen in films such as Poetic Justice opposite Tupac Shakur.

In recent years, Jackson has been enjoying her status as a legend. She released her last album, Unbreakable, in 2015, and in 2019, she had a residency show in Las Vegas.

During the pandemic, however, Jackson was forced to examine her life and the things she holds dear. She also took it upon herself to learn new things namely, how to drive.

Jackson spoke about her life in 2022 in a cover story for Allure magazine. Shes lived in London for nearly six years, which is where her son Eissa was born, even though she preferred living in California. And even though she had to learn how to drive in the British capital, it wasnt her first time behind the wheel: she already had a license and was learning to drive in London, which meant having to remember to stay to the left.

Two things relax me: the ocean and driving. So I had to learn how to drive, she said, adding, I was tired of drivers driving me everywhere.

When I need to clear my head, I would go for a drive before, when I lived at the beach back home. That was always my thing.

Janet Jackson is gearing up to kick off 2022 in a big way. On January 28 and 29, Lifetime will air a special four-part documentary about the singer, simply titled Janet. Among the stars who will be singing Jacksons praises in the doc are Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott, Ciara, Teyana Taylor, Whoopi Goldberg, Rev. Al Sharpton, Paula Abdul, Debbie Allen, and Regina King.

In addition to the Janet documentary, another documentary, produced by Hulu and FX, was also released in November 2021 about the singer. The difference with Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson is that Jackson herself wasnt involved, as it explored a part of her life shed like to forget: the 2003 Super Bowl halftime show. It remains unclear if shell discuss the infamous incident in the Janet documentary.

RELATED: Janet Jackson Is Inspired By Lizzos Confidence

Originally posted here:
Why Janet Jackson Had to Relearn How to Drive During the Pandemic - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

One year ago on Thursday, Joe Biden took the oath of office as the 46th president at the US Capitol in an inauguration ceremony devoid of the usual crowds due to pandemic restrictions.

Biden identified four crises facing America: the coronavirus, the climate, the economy and racial justice. He could have added a fifth: a crisis of democracy in a divided nation where, just two weeks earlier, the Capitol had been overrun by insurrectionists.

How has he fared on all five counts?

Biden took office pledging to lift the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, which he called a raging virus that silently stalks the country. And there was a period of his presidency when it appeared he had.

Last summer vaccination rates soared as the virus receded and the economy rebounded. Touting the administrations progress at an Independence Day celebration, Biden declared that the US was closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.

But then came the arrival of the Delta variant, followed by the extremely transmissible Omicron variant. Biden rushed once again to restrict travel but it did little to slow the spread. In recent weeks, Covid-19 cases have reached record levels. Deaths are rising nationally and the number of Americans hospitalized with the disease is higher now than at any previous point during the pandemic.

Long lines to obtain Covid tests and low availability of at-home tests have sparked criticism of the White Houses preparedness, while shifting guidelines and muddled messaging from federal public health officials left a disease-weary public confused and frustrated. Public confidence in Bidens handling of the pandemic has dropped significantly, weighing down his overall approval ratings.

Biden responded by ordering 1bn at-home coronavirus tests and is requiring private insurance companies to cover the cost of up to eight of these tests a month. Biden also announced plans to make high-quality masks available to Americans free of charge and deployed military medical units to help hospitals overwhelmed by a shortage of staff and beds. Leveraging the Defense Production Act, the administration is working with pharmaceutical companies to increase the supply of antiviral pills.

More than 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated, with nearly 77 million receiving a booster shot. Efforts to improve vaccination rates continue to be undermined by partisanship and misinformation. And a ruling by the supreme court this week blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses, though it allowed a vaccine mandate for most healthcare workers to take effect.

In response to the latest wave, the Biden administration has shifted its rhetoric and its expectations. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease specialist, said the Omicron variant would find just about everybody, warning that the unvaccinated risk far worse outcomes.

In his inaugural address, Biden promised to heed the planets cry for survival by marshalling an unprecedented response to the climate crisis. But his ambitious plans have since collided with the reality of an evenly divided Senate, where a coal-state senators opposition has thwarted major pieces of the presidents climate agenda, with potentially dire consequences for the planet.

At the international talks in Glasgow last year, Biden pledged the US would slash its greenhouse gas emissions in half compared with 2005 levels by the end of this decade. But failure to enact the presidents Build Back Better legislation would make it nearly impossible for the US to meet that target.

The roughly $2tn proposal would amount to the nations largest ever investment in combatting climate change and contains a suite of tax incentives, grants and other policies that would grow the green energy sector and invest in sustainable vehicles and public transport services. Without it, the Biden administration would be forced to rely on a raft of environmental regulations and rules that could be overturned by future presidents.

Throughout the first year of his presidency, Biden has made climate change a priority, elevating climate advocates to key posts, creating a White House office of domestic policy, and appointing John Kerry as the special presidential envoy for climate, which he made a cabinet-level position. In April, he convened a summit to pressure world leaders to make stronger commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reassert US leadership on the global stage.

Biden used his executive authority to quickly reverse many of former president Donald Trumps energy and environmental policies, starting with his first day in office when he moved to rejoin the Paris climate accords.

In November, Biden signed into law a $1tn bipartisan infrastructure bill that provides billions of dollars to make communities more resilient to climate-fueled disasters, but did little to reduce planet-warming emissions.

At the international talks last year, the US played a major role in negotiations over global efforts to fight climate change, though the final agreement disappointed activists and some world leaders. This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes, an existential threat to human existence as we know it and every day we delay the cost of inaction increases, Biden said in Glasgow.

Yet the coming weeks and months will be critical for Bidens climate goals, and his legacy. The presidents Build Back Better legislation is doomed without Senator Joe Manchins support and it remains unclear if negotiations can be revived. Next month the supreme court will hear a case brought by Republican-led states and coal companies that could significantly restrict the administrations power to regulate carbon emissions driving climate change.

And if Republicans gain control of Congress in this years midterm elections, action on climate change could stall, potentially for years.

It is the best of times and the worst of times. The White House ended 2021 pointing to jobless claims at a 50-year low, a stock market smashing records and an economy among the fastest growing in the world.

On the positive side, 6.4m jobs have been added under Biden, the most of any first-year president in history. When he took office the unemployment rate was 6.3%; today it is 3.9%, the lowest yet of the pandemic.

Consumer demand is strong, helping the economy grow by an estimated 7% in the final quarter of 2021, although the Omicron variant, which has ravaged airlines and restaurants, is likely to cause a slowdown.

Wages are also up. With a record wave of people quitting their jobs, often to seek work elsewhere, average hourly pay jumped 4.7% in December compared with a year ago.

The stock market is thriving. In 2021 the Standard and Poor 500 index hit new records 70 times and finished up 29%. This beat Donald Trumps first year as president when the S&P 500 hit new records 62 times and finished up 17%.

There is, of course, a but coming. The economy is still about 3.6m jobs short of its pre-pandemic level. Many employers are struggling to fill positions and many people are reluctant to return to the workforce.

Most dauntingly, inflation climbed to 7% in 2021, the biggest 12-month gain for 40 years, while supply chain problems left some supermarket shelves bare. This prompted a barrage of Republican criticism and fed a feeling of economic malaise, whatever the reality.

Allan Lichtman, a distinguished professor of history at American University in Washington, said: The economy is actually better than the perception. Unemployment is down to 3.9%. Many millions of jobs were created and youre going to get inflation under those circumstances. But the message hasnt gotten out. Everybody thinks Bidens done a poor job.

Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and strategist, instead argues that Biden overpromised. The entire economy is seizing up, and people do blame Biden because he was trumpeting how successful he had been, he said. Dont do that.

President Biden met with some of the civil rights leadership and we reminded him You said the night you won that Black America had your back and that you were going to have Black Americas back, activist Al Sharpton told a voting rights rally in August. Well, Mr President, theyre stabbing us in the back.

Biden is yet to fulfil his promise. But he has met some of his commitments to embed racial equity in policy. The early $1.9tn coronavirus relief package included $5bn for Black farmers, the most important legislation for this group since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Biden named a historically diverse administration that includes, in interior secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. Kamala Harris is the first woman of colour to serve as vice-president, though she has been handed intractable problems to solve and her approval rating is even lower than Bidens.

But police reform efforts have stalled. Biden abandoned a campaign promise to create a national police oversight commission in his first hundred days.

Talks in Congress over the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to improve police training, curb use of excessive force and end techniques such as chokeholds, collapsed in September in what Jacari Harris, executive director of a foundation named after Floyd, described as a devastating setback.

Most dramatically, the presidents lobbying efforts have failed to deliver on protecting voting rights for people of colour. National legislation aimed at blunting Republican-led state efforts to impose voter restrictions has stalled in the Senate, where a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans leaves no margin for error.

Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have declared their opposition to reform of a procedural rule known as the filibuster, a necessary step for passing the legislation. Biden is accused by critics of doing too little too late, failing to use his bully pulpit to give the issue the same priority as his bipartisan infrastructure law.

In a sign of the disappointment and exasperation, when Biden travelled to Atlanta this week to make his most aggressive case yet for filibuster reform, some campaigners boycotted the event.

Charles Blow, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote: For a year, activists have been screaming and pleading and begging and getting arrested, trying to get the White House to put the full weight of the presidency behind protecting voting rights, only to be met by silence or soft-pedaling.

He added: When Biden fully entered the battle, the other warriors were already bloody, bruised and exhausted.

In his inaugural address, Biden proclaimed: We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed. Restoring the soul of the nation, he added, requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.

Nearly a year later, back at the US Capitol, Biden struck a very different and more pugnacious tone. I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy, he vowed, signaling a belated realisation that instead of repairing the breach with Republicans, he must now stand in it and fight.

Biden, who had run for election as an apostle of bipartisanship, and did get a win with Republican support for a $1tn infrastructure law. But the radicalised opposition party remains implacably opposed to legislation that would codify national protections for voting rights (see above).

Republicans remain in the iron grip of Trump, his big lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him and the delusion that the January 6 insurrection was inconsequential or even a righteous cause.

Trump acolytes and election deniers are now seeking office as secretaries of state and other positions that would put them in charge of running of future elections. This could given them the power to overturn results they do not like.

This year Biden has begun to speak out forcefully on the voting rights issue Do you want to be the side of Dr King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? he demanded in Atlanta but less so on the more insidious, precinct-by-precinct threat to the electoral process.

Tony Evers, the Democratic governor of Wisconsin, told the Guardian last month: At the state level were raising hell about it but the Democrats on the national level are talking about Build Back Better, the infrastructure bill, lots of other things.

Bidens mission to heal divisions has crashed into polarisation that has only been accelerated by the pandemic and its battles over mask and vaccine mandates, as well as Republican-stoked culture wars over schools and critical race theory. Far from fading away, Trump is resuming campaign rallies ahead of a possible run for the White House in 2024.

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Joe Bidens first year: Covid, climate, the economy, racial justice and democracy - The Guardian

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Contact NAN | National Action Network :: Rev. Al Sharpton ...

Speaking outside a courthouse in Glynn County, Georgia, Reverend Al Sharpton said Wednesday's guilty verdict in the case of Ahmaud Arbery's murder signaled that the almost all-white jury decided that "Black lives do matter."

"A jury of 11 whites and one Black, in the Deep South, stood up in the courtroom and said that Black lives do matter," Sharpton said at a press conference.

Leading the group in prayer, Sharpton said "[God] came in the state of Georgiaa state known for segregation, a state known for Jim Crowand you turned it around. You took a young, unarmed boy...and you put his name in history."

"Years from now, decades from now, they'll be talking about a boy named Ahmaud Arbery that taught this country what justice looks like," he added.

The jury reached a relatively quick verdict on Wednesday, given the number of defendants and the fact that each defendant faced multiple felony counts. After roughly ten and a half hours of deliberations, the jury found all three defendants guilty of felony murder.

Travis McMichael was found guilty on all nine counts he faced.

Greg McMichael was acquitted on one count of malice murder, but found guilty on the other eight charges. William "Roddie" Bryan was acquitted on one count each of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, but found guilty on the other six charges.

Sharpton thanked everyone who marched in the Black Lives Matter protests demanding justice for Arbery and his family and for marching and rallying outside of the courthouse, despite comments from the defendants' defense attorneys referring to them as a "lynch mob."

"They kept on marching and let us know that all whites are not racists and all the Blacks are not worthless," he said.

The trial in Georgia has drawn crowds of people demanding a guilty verdict in the death of Arbery, including an influx of Black pastors who poured into the city of Brunswick after one of the defense attorneys raised issue with the number of Black pastors, like Sharpton, who accompanied the Arbery family during the trial.

Sharpton added that while Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday will still be a somber holiday for the Arberys, with an empty chair at the table for Ahmaud, his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones "can look at that chair and say to Ahmaud, 'I fought a good fight and I brought you some justice.'"

"Even though it will be a somber and solemn Thanksgiving, you can thank God you didn't let your boy down," Sharpton told the Arbery family.

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Al Sharpton Says Almost All-White Jury in Arbery Case ...