Category Archives: Racism

The Voting Rights Act of 1965--57 Years Later

Restoring the Promise of the Voting Rights Act — 57 Years Later

Restoring the Promise of the Voting Rights Act — 57 Years Later

Joan Neal, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Diversity Officer
August 9, 2022

Fifty-seven years ago, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a son of the South who recognized the grave wrong of denying African-Americans their right to vote. For the first time in U.S. history, Black Americans had the legal means to ensure compliance with the 15th Amendment of the Constitution and to challenge restrictive voting laws and practices designed to deny them access to the ballot. This was a victory brutally fought for in the Civil Rights Movement and a long time coming.

African Americans were hopeful that at last they could assume their place as full citizens of this country, participate equally in the political process, and exercise their right to vote without fear or harassment. But celebration was short-lived as the Voting Rights Act was met with almost immediate court challenges, mostly from Southern states, the same states where slavery had once thrived. Many people remained determined to deny the most basic right of citizenship to a large swath of their fellow citizens.

Sadly, this ‘tug of war’ for the full rights of citizenship for people of color has continued over time. In 1970, 1975, and 1982, Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act. In 2007, Congress amended it to include non-English speaking U.S. citizens, Indigenous people, and other excluded populations, and extended its enforcement provisions for 25 years. But many states, mostly in the South, continued to place obstacles in the way of non-white citizens’ exercise of their right to vote in order to dilute Black voters’ electoral power and their potential to threaten the political status quo.

Despite these efforts, the political power of Black, Latinx, Native American, and AAPI voters across the country has grown over time. Increasingly, Black and Brown voters have diversified the ranks of elected officials, making their voices heard through the ballot box so powerfully that in 2008, we saw the election of Barack Obama, the first Black President in U.S. history. In 2021, we saw the election of the first Black and the first Jewish Senators from Georgia. While these were historic victories for our country, many white citizens found them a threat to their traditional idea of America.

Backlash against Voting Rights

A growing number of white voters now fear their historical monopoly on political power in this country will be forever eroded if Black, Latinx, Native American, and other excluded voters are able to freely exercise their constitutionally protected right to vote.
This fear was apparent when the Supreme Court, in its Shelby County v Holder decision, struck down the enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. The court’s ruling found that the formula to determine which jurisdictions were subject to pre-clearance requirements was unconstitutional because it is based on an old formula and assumed there was no longer a need for such enforcement. Contrary to the Court’s assumption, immediately after the ruling was handed down, states began to pass restrictive voting laws and increase ID requirements once again.

State legislatures gerrymandered district maps and made it harder to access the voting booth by closing polling places, especially in communities of color, limiting early voting, placing restrictions on mail-in voting, and by putting people in positions who will enforce these restrictions no matter the infringement on their citizens’ rights. Since the beginning of 2021, 18 states have passed 34 restrictive voting laws, which disproportionately affect voters of color.

Reclaiming Our Right to Vote

Today, as a country, we find ourselves facing the same situation the Voting Rights Act was designed to end. Once again, Black and Brown citizens have to fight to retain the fundamental right to vote their conscience and their preference in free and fair elections.
This is not just a problem for people of color. Unfounded restrictions on lawful access to the ballot, excessive and undue requirements for citizens to exercise their right to vote, and the undergirding white supremacist ideology that fuels them, are a problem for all of us. Voting is the pillar and hallmark of a functioning democracy and when citizens are unduly prevented from the free and fair exercise of that right, it weakens our democracy. That is why everyone must step up to reject these unconstitutional attacks on the right to vote.

Now Is the Time to Act

Right now, our democracy is on the verge of collapse in the face of an unrelenting assault on our rights by people who seek only their own, unrestricted power. Everyone needs to wake up to this threat to our democracy!
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an important step in securing the rights of citizenship for all people. We cannot and must not let its legacy be lost. At this crucial time in our country’s history, we must come together to protect our right to vote from those who would withhold the full rights of democracy from some people based on race, ethnicity, or other arbitrary distinctions.

The Senate must join the House in passing H.R.4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. And it’s our time to emulate the Civil Rights advocates of the 1960s and demand the rights of democracy for all. Most importantly, we must use our political power to elect policymakers who will safeguard the right to vote for all citizens.
Our vote is our voice and right now, we have to raise our collective voice and overcome these anti-democracy forces once and for all. If we fail, we might wake up to find that we no longer live in a pluralistic, democratic society, but an autocracy enforced by the political and financial power of a small group of people who fundamentally do not believe in democracy at all. The time is now to act.

The Dobbs Decision and NETWORK’s Continued Work for Racial and Economic Justice

The Dobbs Decision and NETWORK’s Continued Work for Racial and Economic Justice

Joan F. Neal, Mary J. Novak, and Sr. Erin Zubal, OSU
June 24, 2022

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will have deep ramifications in people’s lives, many of whom may not even realize it yet. Undoing nearly half a century of precedent and jurisprudence will undoubtedly have a disorienting and destabilizing impact on our laws, the provision of maternal health care, and our already fraught civil discourse. 

At NETWORK, we speak from five decades of women-led, person-centered advocacy and hundreds of encounters with women, families, and communities across the country that have been disinvested in, and marginalized by, our systems and structures. As a Catholic organization with 50 years of political ministry in a pluralistic democracy, we recognize the role and distinction of the moral and legal questions at issue here.   

This Supreme Court decision leaves NETWORK with the following questions from our perspective of pursuing justice and the common good through federal policy:  

  • Will state and federal legislatures now introduce and pass a groundswell of policies to offer a robust social safety net of resources for all women and families that allow everyone to thrive?  
  • Are religious leaders prepared to allocate resources through the largesse of their institutions and donors to ensure that any gaps in the social safety net are filled?  
  • Will this decision lead to an increase in maternal mortality for the people who are already the most lacking in access to resources in our society, especially women living in rural, low-income communities and women of color?   
  • Will state legislatures continue to pass invasive and punitive measures that create a culture of surveillance and criminalization of women, including those experiencing ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage?   
  • Will this decision create a chilling effect among medical providers, making them hesitant or unable to provide life-saving care to patients suffering conditions such as ectopic pregnancy or hemorrhaging after a miscarriage?  

With polarization and extremist violence growing in our country, people of faith have a moral duty to work toward the common good across a spectrum of issues. Catholic teaching states that a focus on one moral priority cannot lead to “dismissing or ignoring other serious threats to human life and dignity” (“Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” #29).   

For anyone who has made ending federal protections for abortion the singular focus of their political activity, we at NETWORK urge you to expand your focus to include the economic realities of women and families. Now is the time to listen to the experience of women, particularly women living in rural, low-income communities and women of color. 

Founded by Catholic Sisters and imbued with their charisms, NETWORK educates, organizes, and lobbies to create a society that promotes justice and the dignity of all. We invite all who share our passion for justice to work with us to create a more just, equitable, and inclusive future.  

 Joan F. Neal is NETWORK’s deputy executive director and chief equity officer. Mary J. Novak is NETWORK’s executive director. Sr. Erin Zubal, OSU, is an Ursuline Sister of Cleveland and NETWORK’s chief of staff. 

NETWORK's reparation vigil featured Reverend Traci Blackmon

NETWORK’s Reparations Vigil in Cleveland Featured Revered Traci Blackmon

NETWORK’s Reparations Vigil in Cleveland Featured Reverend Traci Blackmon

Elissa Hackerson
June 17, 2022

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice hosted Repair and Redress: A Vigil for Reparations (In-Person) on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at St. Aloysius – St. Agatha Parish in Cleveland, OH. People in the parish church and school community, sisters, the Cleveland NETWORK Advocates Team, justice-seekers, and NETWORK staff made a powerful stand for reparations for Black Americans and called for an H.R.40-style reparations commission by Juneteenth. NETWORK’s reparations vigil in Cleveland featured Reverend Traci Blackmon, Associate General Minister, Justice and Local Church Ministries (United Church of Christ). The United Church of Christ shared a condensed video presentation of her remarks.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/721233419″ title=”NETWORK’s reparations vigil in Cleveland featured Rev. Traci Blackmon”]

Rev. Blackmon’s stirring and powerful remarks spoke to the theological call to repair a society broken by the sin of chattel slavery and the racism that has followed in its wake and addressed society’s need to atone and provide redress.  Rev. Blackmon declared that it is time to end government charity for Black people (giving fish) and deliver justice (equitable access to the lake).

[su_quote cite=”Rev. Traci D. Blackmon”]The reason we have not reckoned with racism in this country–decision makers have decided that God cannot be Black, that God cannot be Brown. That God indeed must be white and therefore we have created a fractured and disabled society.[/su_quote]

A classically trained violinist from Venezuela added music to the vigil.

NETWORK’s Build Anew agenda calls for a society where we all share equally in God’s abundance. For this to happen, our country’s laws, policies, and norms must:

  • Dismantle Systemic Racism
  • Cultivate Inclusive Community
  • Root Our Economy in Solidarity
  • Transform Our Politics

As Rev. Blackmon stated so clearly in her vigil remarks, “Reparations is about the church and the people and the society moving from charity to justice. Moving from hand out to hand up. Moving from simply offering to give someone a fish to giving them access to the lake so they can fish for themselves.”

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Delivers Keynote Speech at H.R.40 Policy Update _share_credit Beatrice De Gea

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Delivers Keynote Speech at H.R.40 Policy Update

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Delivers Keynote Speech at H.R.40 Policy Update

Elissa Hackerson
June 8, 2022

On June 1, 2022, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice hosted a webinar to educate and mobilize advocates about an H.R.40-style federal reparations committee to study the impact of slavery — and the racist policies and laws that were created in its wake. NETWORK Staff was joined by Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister for Public Theology and Transformation at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. Rev. Lewis delivered a keynote speech that positioned reparations in a scriptural, theological framework for over 300 webinar attendees.

Rev. Lewis’s reflection zoomed in on human history with examples of humans capturing and conquering God’s people. And she challenged the ideology that some people deserve access to freedom and liberty more than others. She asserted that the ideology of whiteness has broken Black people, baptized the Holocaust, and broke Indigenous people. Reparations will bring healing, and we who have followed a Jewish rabbi into a world of faith seek repair.

Repairers of the Breach

Rev. Lewis began her remarks with scripture as a frame, choosing a beautiful call to the kind of worship, fasting and feast that God wants in Isaiah 58.  “A call to be different kinds of faithful people. A call to Israel then, and to us now, to fix what’s broken in the world…to heal the world. When we do this, God says our names will be changed. We will be called repairers of the breach, restorers of streets to live in.”

Why Reparations?

“Because we have participated, friends, in the breaking of the covenant with God. In the breaking of God’s design, in the dismantling of God’s hope and dream for us. And, I’m not talking about what happened in the Garden [of Eden] where Adam and Eve disobey and eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Sacrifice Honors God’s Creation

Rev. Lewis goes on to share that from our Biblical origin story until today, our human desire to be like God, to make a world with God, has been corrupted along the way. White supremacists have imposed their worldview and ideology in a biased way, subduing God’s people.

We are to fast, worship, welcome the outsider, feed the hungry, clothe the naked…not hold onto ideology and a sense of supremacy. This connection to repair and connection to God is the healing and reparations required to “restore the created order” and realize that everyone has enough in “God’s economy.”

Hopes for a Reparations Commission Moves to the White House

Hopes for a Reparations Commission Moves to the White House

Julia Morris
June 1, 2022

For over a year the drum beat for reparations has been building. After 30 years of Congressional delays, for the first time on January 4, 2021 H.R. 40 made it out of committee and onto the House floor. House leadership knows this will not pass in the Senate, so the pressure is now on the Biden Administration to establish a committee to execute a reparations study, which will lay out the plan to make amends for the United States original sin of slavery and the systemic racial oppression that followed. Reparatory justice activists, social justice groups, and faith-based organizations are urging the Biden Administration this spring to finally follow through on a commitment made on the 2020 campaign trail. The Biden-Harris campaign promised, in ‘Lift Every Voice: The Biden Plan for Black America’, to tackle systemic racism and the continuing impacts of slavery by “supporting a study of reparations.” 

You may ask what would this look like? A commission will study the impact of 400+ years of racist policies, laws, and practices that have deprived Blacks fair access to participation in America’s cultural, political, social and economic life. Join NETWORK in calling for President Biden to establish a commission to study reparations via executive order, call the White House at 1-888-422-4555 or email the White House here. 

The commission would evaluate programs like the Homestead Act and the GI Bill. Both were federal programs designed to help families achieve economic footing in times of change. The Homestead Act granted land out West at the turn of the 20th Century, and the GI Bill helped forge the middle class after World War II with home buying and educational opportunities for veterans These programs paved the way for the US middle class, it was not accidental or unintentional that these programs were denied to Black families. In fact, today schools are more segregated now that they were at the time of Brown vs. Board of Education. 

Chattel slavery was abolished in 1865, but because of the legacy of discrimination that flows from slavery, the Black community continues to suffer. For too long in this country, the expectation and delivery of better housing, education, jobs – has only been a reality for white families. The legacy of being Black is discrimination and oppression. We see it in our societal frameworks, access to fair wages and quality employment, the criminal legal system 

What is not named cannot be healed. This is a historic opportunity to, using the frame of the Catholic tradition, name our original sin of slavery and move towards repair.  

NETWORK is joining with partner organizations to urge President Biden to create a federal commission to study reparations by Juneteenth (June 19, 2022). Add your voice, call the White House at 1-888-422-4555. Or email President Biden to issue an executive order to create a federal commission to study reparations today!

Black Maternal Health Week

Ending the Black Maternal Health Crisis Is a Moral Imperative

Ending the Black Maternal Health Crisis Is a Moral Imperative

Joan F. Neal
April 15, 2022

This week marks the five-year anniversary of Black Maternal Health Week in the United States. During Black Maternal Health Week, advocates and elected officials build community and draw awareness toward the maternal mortality epidemic that is sweeping our nation. At NETWORK, we believe that access to quality, affordable health care is a fundamental human right. It is our moral responsibility as Catholics to ensure accessible health care for all and eliminate racial and economic health disparities. As Representative Lauren Underwood (IL-14) who is the co-chair and co-founder of the Black Maternal Health Caucus stated, “This work is deeply personal” during an interfaith event NETWORK helped to organize.

Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in February revealed that the Black maternal mortality crisis has only gotten worse. The data shows that the mortality rate for Black women rose by 26 percent in 2020—a rate three times greater than that of white women. In an interfaith event last month, Representative Alma Adams (NC-12) said, “Overlooking the pain of Black women in health care results from implicit bias and racism.” The United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, especially for birthing people of color. This is unjust and sinful.

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a historic call to action to improve lives and health outcomes for birthing people, especially people of color, across the country. The Biden-Harris administration made a series of announcements that will work toward health equity including extending Medicaid and CHIP coverage for a full year after pregnancy in 11 additional states, and proposing “Birthing-Friendly” hospital designations to make improvements in maternal health outcomes. These announcements, along with the 12 key bills in the Momnibus Act, are vital steps forward to invest in maternal health and dismantle systemic racism in our health care systems.

Black mothers should not fear for their lives or their infant’s life while giving birth. As Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) said during Wednesday’s Black Maternal Health Week event, “Birthing while Black should not be a death sentence.” NETWORK is proud to see the work done by the Biden-Harris administration to achieve healthcare equity for Black mothers, and continually supports the work of the Black Maternal Health Caucus to pass the Momnibus. With ongoing advocacy and a commitment to Build Anew, we can end the Black Maternal Mortality crisis in the United States. And we should do that.

Judge Jackson’s Nomination Soon to Move to the Senate Floor

Judge Jackson’s Nomination Soon to Move to the Senate Floor

Julia Morris
April 1, 2022

Next Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote  on whether to send the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination for the Supreme Court to the Senate floor. This will likely split the committee in a party line vote, but not necessarily derail the prospect for a final confirmation vote later next week. The particular day for confirmation depends on how much Republicans want to obstruct before leaving town.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) publicly expressed her support for nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. In her statement Sen. Collins expressed her concern with the manner in which these hearings have proceeded saying, “In my view, the role the Constitution clearly assigns to the Senate is to examine the experience, qualifications, and integrity of the nominee … [I]t is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the ideology of an individual Senator or would rule exactly as an individual Senator would want.” Sen. Collins’ support means Vice President Kamala Harris will not have to break a 50-50 tie for the nomination.

At NETWORK, we urge the Senate to confirm her nomination with all deliberate speed. As our Executive Director Mary Novak stated:

“In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaims a new law of love known as the Beatitudes. He said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. We the People are hungering for justice. We need our political and judicial systems to live up to the vision of ‘right relationship’ where every person’s sacred worth is respected. On behalf of NETWORK’s 100,000 members and supporters, I express our strong support for the swift and historic confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court.

“Judge Jackson’s service as a federal public defender, the first defender nominated since Justice Thurgood Marshall, means she experienced firsthand the way our criminal legal system works for some but not all of us. This unique experience will allow her to bring a commitment to equal justice for all, grounded in human dignity to the Court.”

Join us in celebrating this occasion. Call 888-897-9753 to urge both of your Senators to Confirm the Honorable, and extremely qualified, Ketanji Brown Jackson!

Equal Pay Day: Privilege Should Not Predict Pay

Equal Pay Day: Privilege Should Not Predict Pay 

Gina Kelley
March 15, 2022

This year Equal Pay Day is March 15th, symbolizing how far into the year women have to work to earn what men earned the year before [1]. Women are not a monolith, a woman’s race, assigned gender at birth, ability, or sexuality can widen the gap. Therefore we mark multiple ‘equal pay’ days throughout the year to raise awareness for the persistent gender and racial income gaps that have become the norm.  

May is AAPI Women’s Equal Pay Day, marking the 85 cents Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women earn for every dollar a white man does. June and July have LGBTQIA+ and Moms Equal Pay Days respectively. Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is in September marking the 63 cents they earn in comparison to white male counterparts.  

Both Native and Latina equal paydays are in December with Native women earning 60 cents on the dollar and Latina women earning 57 cents. Meaning that Native and Latina women have to work over two years just to earn what a white man earns in one. 

Cents on the dollar can seem abstract. A recent study found that in 2021 the difference in median earnings nationally found that in U.S workers employed full-time last year women earned $10,000 less. This difference in median earnings varied by states with states and territories like Wyoming, Washington, D.C., and Utah having gendered wage disparities of more than $15,000.  

In an even bigger picture, some reports have estimated that women earn over 400,000 dollars less than their male counterparts do over the course of a 40-year period. The total wage differences between men and women on average is more than $799 billion every single year. 

These gender and racial discrepancies are harmful examples of the ways our society undervalues women and communities of color. There are multiple ways labor laws and employment practices create this loss of women’s wages.  

Blatant pay is discrimination is only one of the ways these inequities are formed. Job segregation is a subversive way that women are overrepresented in lower-paying (and often) service-providing industries due to assumptions about the types work different genders are best suited due to an imagined inherent gendered quality. However, compounding on top of job segregation is that across occupations women are most often employed at the lower end of the wage distribution. A powerful example of this is that women make up 52.8% of legal positions in the U.S but only 37.4% of lawyers are women—meaning that women disproportionately occupy lower-paying positions like legal assistants and paralegals.  

NETWORK continues to actively support policies that address economic inequalities. This includes major labor law reform like the Protecting the Right to Organize Act because we know that collective bargaining agreements and implementing standard wage policies are critical steps to closing these gaps for women and people of color. We also know that creating a national paid family and medical leave program is instrumental in making sure women are not punished for the caretaking responsibilities they disproportionately hold. We also support legislation that implements equitable employment practices like the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Schedules That Work Act, and the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights.  

This Equal Pay Day and this Women’s History Month we have to recognize that labor issues are women’s issues and these issues matter and demand prioritization. Women’s issues require our attention now more than ever and what women need is economic stability and just labor laws.  

 

1 All studies referenced compare women’s earnings to non-Hispanic white men—even if something more general like “male counterparts” is used. There are also harmful disparities between men of color and white men.  

From the Factory Floors to the Halls of Congress, the Call for Unionization is Growing

From the Factory Floors to the Halls of Congress, the Call for Unionization is Growing

Gina Kelley
March 2, 2022

After decades of inadequate labor laws and declining union membership, the labor movement is gaining traction. Initially titled “Striketober”, the swell of strikes and contract negotiations have finally reached Capitol Hill.

Sparked by the viral anonymous Instagram account “Dear White Staffers” which shares horror stories of working in Congress, the call for labor reform is in the halls of the Capitol. The account calls specific attention to the obstacles faced by people of color on the Hill. Congress has not escaped the pay and treatment disparities that harm people of color across the country.

Studies have shown that white staffers make about 8% more than Black staffers because Black staffers are rarely hired into high-level positions. The account has become a megaphone for what was previously one of the worst kept secrets in Washington: Working on the Hill often means low pay, poor treatment or harassment, and burnout.

The folks who answer the call of public service in the efforts of committing themselves to the common good. They choose this occupation with hopes and ambition of working hard and making a difference. Instead, the broken system inside the Capitol spits many of them back out into the private sector, where they can make more money on a normal schedule.

Staffers on both sides of the aisle call out the hypocrisy of their employment practices. Republican legislators wage war against subsidies but pay their employees so little they have no choice but to utilize food stamps and Medicare. In contrast, Democratic lawmakers promote progressive labor policies and call for a celebration of diversity in the workplace but fail to implement equitable pay and hiring practices in their own offices. It seems dissatisfaction is bipartisan. One report of 516 respondents found 47% of staffers struggle to pay bills, 68% are unhappy with their compensation, and 85% believe Congress is a toxic work environment.

Congress currently operates with each office and committee run individually. This means there are more than 535 “employers” on the Hill with no unified hiring practices, paid leave policies, salary structures, or human resource departments. Even with previous legislative attempts to modernize Congress as a workplace, bills like the Congressional Accountability Act have failed to create adequate systems to support a safe and healthy work environment.

We work with Congressional offices to advance legislation that promotes the common good and we proudly support their efforts to unionize. In that commitment, we signed onto the Staffer’s letter to Congressional Leadership in support of their effort to unionize. Our commitment to equitable labor reform is a central part of our mission and is embodied in our efforts to pass key legislation like the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. We know that we cannot live out our faith and mission if we do not root ourselves in solidarity with workers and hear their lived experiences.

Despite statements of support from Democratic Leadership and the introduction of a Resolution by Representative Andy Levin, the future of a Congressional Union is unknown. What is clear is that the movement for workers’ rights is growing. From factory workers to television workers to congressional staffers the message is clear: Enough is enough.