Good morning!

Beverly Johnson calls out lack of diversity in fashion

By Maghan McDowell

Beverly Johnson leads a discussion on diversity in the fashion industry at Macy’s annual Black History Month event in San Francisco. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Despite a decade-spanning career in the fashion industry, with cover appearances on more than 500 magazines, Beverly Johnson actually attended her first fashion show three years ago. Disappointed, she’s skipped the biannual fashion shows at New York Fashion Week, and she’s not attending any shows this month.

Fellow former model Bethann Hardison, who was a fixture on runways in the ’70s and ’80s, now says, “I find Fashion Week boring.”

The clothes aren’t the problem. It’s who is – or isn’t – wearing them.

“There are no models of color on the runway – OK, maybe there’s one,” Johnson said during her Feb. 5 stop in San Francisco for Macy’s annual Black History Month event, which focused on the contributions of African American style.

“The lack of acknowledgement is disrespectful,” Johnson said, “particularly when we, as African Americans, participate in the bottom line of these designers and the entire industry.” At the event, Johnson, along with Daily Beast contributing editor Allison Samuels and host Renel Brooks-Moon, discussed the impact of icons ranging from Diana Ross to Beyoncé and Rihanna.

Johnson said that the fashion industry is less diverse now than in 1974, when she became the first black model to appear on the cover of Vogue. These days, people concerned about diversity “have even gone to counting the number of girls of color on the runway.”

She’s referring to those like Hardison, a self-described fashion advocate who is known for name-checking specific designers with all-white runways. Hardison started a series of panel discussions on the increasing lack of runway diversity in 2007, and although it helped to initiate a conversation in the industry (See: Vogue, July 2008), “things got quiet” again, Hardison says. The day before Johnson’s visit to Macy’s, Hardison, on behalf of the Diversity Coalition (a collection of industry insiders), sent an update to the governing bodies of the major international fashion weeks.

The numbers suggest that, despite a Caucasian prevalence on runways – about 80 percent, according to the coalition – there are some notable exceptions: Examples include Puerto Rico’s Joan Smalls (No. 1 on www.models.com), China’s Liu Wen (No. 3), England’s Jourdan Dunn and France’s Anais Mali.

At Calvin Klein, for example, the coalition reported zero non-Caucasian models at the February 2013 show; that number climbed to five in September. Just the month before, in a New York Times article about “fashion’s blind spot,” the label’s creative director, Francisco Costa, had addressed the challenge of having a diverse runway: “There are only a handful of top-level, professionally trained models of color at a particular level out there now.”

“I think it sounds like a really poor excuse,” Johnson said.

“It’s just nonsense, what he said,” Hardison agreed, “but one thing is true: A lot of the houses don’t have enough girls to choose from.”

So are the agencies to blame for not representing enough nonwhite models? San Francisco’s JE Model agency owner Phillip Gums says agencies simply reflect what the market demands. Gums, who is also an African American model, says it’s harder to find work for nonwhite models, noting that the agency’s San Francisco clients do typically request more racial diversity – but not much more.

Although San Francisco modeling agencies do represent African American and Asian models, “we hate to just have them on our wall sitting there” without work, Gums says.

As former Essence editor and fashion journalist Constance White suggests, it’s not just a model issue. “Fashion can do better in terms of diversity at all different levels,” she says, including executive suites and the fashion designers themselves. “Fashion reflects the society as a whole.”

Ultimately, Johnson and Hardison are encouraged that seeing more diversity in fashion is a possibility. Hardison points to the January issue of Vogue, calling its content “beautifully, organically diverse.”

If major designers, magazines and retailers continue to set an example, she said, “It will change what the next guy does. They tend to follow.”

Johnson and White also credited the influence of events like the one at Macy’s. “This emphasis on Black History Month, and celebrating the impact of African American style, from a company with the power of Macy’s, will help,” White says.

“You just have to shine a spotlight where you see there’s an injustice, and somehow the universe will correct it,” Johnson said. “We have to be reminded that we are all one, and that’s the human race.”

*****

Readers: If you want to see the exact stats of the diversity of models at New York Fashion Week, click here. Is this “Fashion Racism?” Would you call the casting agencies and designers racist for not including more women of color? What are your thoughts? Blog me.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

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Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

From Think Progress:

15 Photos From The Massive Progressive Protest You Didn’t Hear About This Weekend

CREDIT: PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Somewhere between 80 to 100,000 people from 32 states turned out to protest four years of drastic state Republican initiatives in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday.

The “Moral March on Raleigh,” organized by Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) and the North Carolina NAACP, marched from Shaw University to the state capitol to push back against the “immoral and unconstitutional policies” of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory during the 2013 NC General Assembly session. Since North Carolina Republicans took over both legislative chambers in 2010, legislators have eliminated a host of programs and raised taxes on the bottom 80 percent, repealed a tax credit for 900,000 working families, enforced voter suppression efforts, blocked Medicaid coverage, cut pre-Kindergarten funding, cut federal unemployment benefits, and gave itself the authority to intervene in abortion lawsuits.

Activists have gathered at weekly protests, called ‘Moral Mondays,’ in North Carolina since 2013 as a way to give voice to individuals whose rights were under attack by the Republican-controlled legislature. While there were no reported arrests in Saturday’s protest, hundreds of nonviolent protesters were arrested during last year’s Moral Monday events.

Here’s a look at 15 of the best photos from Saturday’s Moral March:

Happy Sunday everyone! Blog me.

PS: If the photos are not showing up, please click here or on the title of this write.

Peace & Love…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

I’ll be in SF at City Hall. Last year was a blast! Girls and guys…Don’t miss out this year! Come join me today, on V-Day. Support your sisters by rising and dancing to put an end to violence and gender inequality for women and girls.

Last Year at One Billion Rising:

San Francisco Uses Valentine’s Day to Draw Attention to Sexual Abuse Against Women

This Valentine’s Day, San Francisco is hosting a seemingly a-typical Cupid event, yet one that’s probably more compelling than any Hallmark bouquet you might get.

 For the second year in a row, city leaders will welcome “One Billion Rising for Justice Day,” a global campaign spanning 207 countries that raises awareness of domestic and sexual abuse against women. One Billion Rising began in 2013 in response to the alarming statistic that one in three women throughout the world will experience sexual or domestic abuse in their lives. The campaign invites survivors of abuse and their allies to join in solidarity to fight against the oppression and humiliation inflicted upon victims.

On Feb. 14, from 4-6 pm, thousands are expected to gather at City Hall in San Francisco to dance in support of One Billion Rising. The evening will include musical performances by the Black Eyed Peas and Taiko Drummers from Ruth Asawa SF School of the Arts. There will be appearances by many city leaders, including Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascón,V-Day Executive Director Susan Celia Swan, Commission on the Status of Women President Nancy Kirschner-Rodriguez and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu.

Last week, Chiu proposed a resolution confirming the city’s adoption of “One Billion Rising for Justice day” this year. The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the resolution tomorrow at their regular board meeting.

Mariya Taher, the Community Liaison Manager at Women Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent (WOMAN Inc.), an agency that helps victims of domestic abuse in San Francisco, says she thinks that the “One Billion Rising for Justice Day” is a necessary reminder that gender discrimination happens right here in San Francisco. “The well-known statistic that 1 in every 3 women will be a victim of gender violence is a horrible reality and this also means that the likelihood of you knowing someone who is a survivor of gender violence and/or sexual assault is very real,” says Taher.

In conjunction with the event, VDAY has organized a free legal clinic at UC Hastings to consult survivors of domestic and sexual assault. Throughout the day, volunteer attorneys will provide legal advice to survivors of abuse who are facing problems, including employment and immigration issues.

Taher says that the importance of recognizing and eliminating violence in the city is a community effort. She concedes that domestic abuse and sexual assault not only affect women, but are also on the rise in the LGBTQ community in San Francisco. Although the event draws attention to the prevalence of sexual assault, it is also a time to “celebrate the strength of survivors who have undergone these experiences.

“It is a global movement, and it’s time to dance in protest of the violence that occurs in our communities today,” says Taher.

A powerful video showing the abuse of women…and women rising.

*****

Readers: I’ve written so many times about the repubs trying to take away our rights of our bodies. Telling us what we can and cannot do. I can’t tell you how many more writes I have in my queue, about this. It’s time to end this madness. This means that we all need to participate in more than one way. It means blogging about it, and supporting women by attending events such as One Billion Rising, and writing congress. All of us (women and men) need to care enough to do something.

Men: The best thing you can do for your woman and for the wonderful women of this world for Valentine’s day…really any day…is put an end to the violence and abuse toward women and girls. What will you do in support?

It’s a bit quiet out there. How about flapping your lips?! It’s Friday…Its V-day…It’s Valentine’s Day. No excuse…Your lips should be flapping today for so many reasons!

Last but not least…thank you Eve Ensler for your strength, passion and dedication to helping women and girls RISE.

Happy Friday! Happy V-day! Happy Valentine’s Day! Blog me. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

4 Ways Tunisia Is Now More Progressive Than The United States

After what had at times been a slow and frustrating process, the Tunisian National Assembly on Sunday evening voted to approve what is one of the most progressive constitutions in the region, with only 12 members of the 216-member legislative body voting against. Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and outgoing Assembly chief Mustapha Ben Jaafar signed the document on Monday morning, bringing it into effect.

With its new constitution, Tunisia, the starting place of the massive protests that swept Western Asia and North Africa in 2011, manages in some ways to surpass even the United States in terms of enshrining progressive ideals. According to the most recent unofficial draft available in English, the government takes on responsibilities that the U.S. government has had to struggle to provide. Most of these principles are laid out in a Chapter 2 of the constitution, a section titled “Rights and Liberties” in the translation, which lays out 29 areas that the Tunisian state must provide for the betterment of the people — both now and in the future. Here are three highlights that showcase some of the most progressive of these guarantees:

1. Climate change Given the conservative attempts to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency and deny the very existence of climate change, it would seem improbable at best that the U.S. will mention conservation efforts in the Constitution anytime soon. But Tunisia has done just that. “Contribution to a sound climate and the right to a sound and balanced environment shall be guaranteed,” the constitution promises. “The state shall provide the necessary means to eliminate environmental pollution.” Given Tunisia’s location in the Maghreb, with portions of the country within the Sahara Desert, the state also is given custody over ensuring the “conservation and rational use of water” as one of its duties.

2. Health care Health care policy-making in Tunisia’s capital of Tunis has also managed to leapfrog that in Washington as of Monday. “Health is a right for every person,” the document announces, declaring that Tunisia shall “guarantee preventative health care and treatment for every citizen and provide the means necessary to ensure the safety and good quality of health services.” Even as the U.S. begins to implement the Affordable Care Act, and Republican governors block the implementation of the portions that expand Medicaid, the new Tunisian constitution promises “free health care for those without support and those with limited income.”

3. Women’s rights The new constitution also goes further than the American version in explicitly promoting women’s rights, a goal of the now-dormant push to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. “The State shall commit to protecting women’s achieved rights and seek to support and develop them,” the constitution reads. “The State shall guarantee equal opportunities between men and women in the bearing of all the various responsibilities in all fields.”

The draft version also committed the government to try to balance the number of men and women serving in elected councils, which would far outstrip the current 82-17 split between the two in the U.S. Congress last year. Given the struggle to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in the United States last year, it would seem that Tunisia has American beat there as well. “The state shall the necessary measures to eliminate violence against women,” the constitution guarantees.

4. Workers’ rights Tunisia’s laborers get a huge boost under the new constitution, particularly in comparison to their American counterparts. Under the terms of the document, the right to form trade unions in guaranteed along with all of the powers that grants laborers — including the ability to strike. Members of the army and security services are the one exception to this rule, while unions and all other political parties and associations are required to reject violence and abide by all areas of the law.

The constitution also promises that all citizens, male and female alike, shall “have the right to adequate working conditions and to a fair wage.” As the debate over raising the minimum wage kicks off anew in the U.S. — and women are still paid far less than their male counterparts for similar jobs — the Tunisian guarantees look almost idyllic.

Monday’s approval came after a final reading of the draft, with all of the articles having been separately approved over recent weeks in a slew of compromise between the ruling Enhadda party and the opposition within the Assembly. As part of the deals made, the Government will step down in favor of a technocraticcaretaker government which will be in place until elections can be held later this year. Islamist parties were also forced to agree to have Islam be the listed religion of the country, but to not promote sharia as the basis for future laws.

“This constitution was the dream of Tunisians, this constitution is proof of the revival of the revolution, this constitution creates a democratic civil nation,” Assembly chief Mustapha Ben Jaafar said after the votes were tallied.

The approval of the constitution marks the latest step towards the vision that revolutionaries set out following the toppling of longtime rule Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali three years ago. Since then, other countries have followed Tunisia’s lead with less success to date. While Tunisia was celebrating its new legal framework, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces in Egypt endorsed the recently promoted military leader Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi as a candidate to run for president, after the army removed Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi last yer. Libya and Yemen are still struggling to provide security after the ouster of their long-time leaders, while Syria’s opposition and government are still in open armed conflict with each other even as peace talks take place in Geneva.

Readers: How cool is this? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Here’s The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly About The Bipartisan Bill To Restore The Voting Rights Act

On Thursday, Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) plan to introduce bipartisan legislation that will undo much of the damage done by the Roberts Court’s 5-4 decision to neuter a key prong of the Voting Rights Act. Since its enactment in 1965, the Voting Rights Act required states with a record of racial voter suppression to “preclear” any new voting laws with the Department of Justice or a federal court in D.C. The Supreme Court’s decision last June struck down the formula that determined which states are subject to this preclearance regime, effectively halting federal supervision of many states that were actively engaged in voter suppression.

Prior to the Roberts Court’s decision, nine states were subject in their entirety to the preclearance requirement, and parts of six others were also covered. Notably, much of the state of North Carolina, which recently enacted the most aggressive voter suppression law in the nation, was covered under the old formula.

The bipartisan fix to the Roberts Court’s decision creates a new formula that would initially lead to far fewer states being covered by preclearance. As the Nation’s Ari Berman explains, the new formula requires preclearance in states “with five violations of federal law to their voting changes over the past fifteen years,” and to localities “if they commit three or more violations or have one violation and ‘persistent, extremely low minority turnout’ over the past fifteen years.” The upshot of this new formula is that only four states, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas will immediately be subject to preclearance in their entirety. Notably, none of these four states are North Carolina, with its comprehensive voter suppression law.

The other piece of bad news is that the bipartisan bill creates a special carve-out for voter ID laws. Voter ID, which requires voters to show a photo ID before they can cast a ballot, are one of the most common voter suppression tactics in the country. Though their proponents claim that they are necessary to prevent voter fraud at the polls, such fraud is virtually non-existent. Indeed, a Wisconsin study found that just 0.00023 percent of votes are the product of in-person voter fraud, so a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit fraud at the polls.

What voter ID does accomplish that it removes many low-income, student and minority voters from the electorate, all of which are groups that tend to favor Democrats over Republicans. Yet, despite their impact on racial minorities, the bipartisan voting bill will not count voter ID laws as a violation of federal voting rights that that can be used to subject a state to preclearance. Berman reports that this special carve out for these racially discriminatory laws was necessary to secure the support of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and some other Republicans.

It should be noted, however, that while voter ID laws cannot be used to bring a state under the preclearance requirement, the bipartisan bill will allow them to be blocked in states that are already subject to preclearance — either under the new formula or under another provision that will be discussed shortly. In this sense, the bipartisan bill appears to be a compromise between a radical proposal hinted at by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — that voter ID be exempt from the Voting Rights Act entirely — and the pre-Roberts Court status quo. Nevertheless, there is a risk that the bipartisan voting bill will allow voter ID laws in some states to be grandfathered in if they are enacted during a period when the state is not subject to preclearance.

So that’s the bad news for supporters of voting rights. The biggest piece of good news is that the law does not just create a new formula that will immediately subject a handful of states to preclearance, it also strengthens the ability of courts to bring states and localities engaged in voter discrimination under the preclearance umbrella. Currently, the Justice Department is suing Texas andNorth Carolina under Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision which allows a state to be made subject to preclearance if a court finds “violations of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment justifying equitable relief have occurred within the territory of such State or political subdivision.”

The problem with Section 3, however, is that it is widely understood to require the Justice Department to prove that Texas and North Carolina enacted voter suppression laws with the intent of disenfranchising voters because of their race. Proving intent is a challenge in any context — neither judges nor attorneys are mind readers — so DOJ faces a difficult road ahead under current law. The bipartisan bill will strengthen Section 3 so that “any violation of the VRA or federal voting rights law – whether intentional or not – can be grounds for a bail-in.” This is a really big deal. Big enough that it probably justifies paying the high price Cantor and others have demanded in order to revive the Voting Rights Act.

So on balance, this is a good bill for voting rights. It will improve the baseline significantly from the post-Roberts Court status quo, and will make it much, much easier to hold states like North Carolina accountable for voter suppression. Nevertheless, two caveats are in order.

The first is that anyone who remembers what happened after the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill knows that it is always dangerous to bet on progressive legislation surviving contact with the GOP-controlled House. Majority Leader Cantor’s apparent support for the bill is a good sign that it may pass, but it remains to be seen whether that support can be relied upon or whether he can deliver the votes necessary to pass the bill into law.

The second is that there is always some risk that the very conservative Roberts Court will object to this bill as well. The Court’s June decision gutting the Voting Rights Act includes some language suggesting that any preclearance formula is unconstitutional unless it is limited to states engaged in the kind of “‘pervasive,’ ‘flagrant,’ ‘widespread,’ and ‘rampant’ discrimination that faced Congress in 1965.”If the Roberts Court applies such a standard in future cases, not even North Carolina is likely to be susceptible to preclearance — though it remains to be seen whether the five conservative justices would actually go this far.

In other words, the biggest challenge facing voting rights advocates is that they must overcome two lawmaking bodies controlled by very conservative officials — the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court of the United States. Should they clear these hurdles, however, this bipartisan proposal would go a long way towards fixing the damage caused by the Roberts Court last June, and its amendments to Section 3 would actually make American voting rights law more robust in some ways than it was before Chief Justice Roberts got his hands on it.

*****

Readers: New topic for today. However I am sort of stuck on the topic from the last few days. Feel free to comment on whatever pulls at you. Or introduce something new. :)

So many interesting comments to Bee and women like Bee. All I can say is good stuff. Nothing really new to add except I want to address one commenter…

Morris: I appreciate you sharing your story as it inspired me to think deeper on it when I was discussing your comment to a male friend. It sounds to me like you got married young. So, your wife made a mistake and slept with you on the first date. You wanted her to and you got her to. Young girls do that all of the time – they don’t know any better. (So do mature women, but they should know better.) Between males telling girls that they aren’t worth much and tricking them into feeling that if they don’t give it up on the first date they’ll not see the man again, it is challenging for a young girl who doesn’t have a sense of herself, nor know herself, or her value, to say no and wait.

However, you still married her because you fell in love with her, and to this day still love her as much. And although you felt she was a great mother, wife and partner, you still hold onto this one thing, and have not gotten over it. With all of the wonderful things that you respect and love about your wife, it is too bad that you let the fact that she slept with you on the first date, and continually questioned her faithfulness, bother you for so long.

What I don’t understand is you felt that the marriage license was a “wedding pact” for you not to cheat on your wife, (And you didn’t. I congratulate you for upholding your end of the “pact.”) however, you didn’t trust that the piece of paper, the “wedding pact,” would also be upheld on your wife’s end.

The last time I checked it seems to be that men are more prone to cheat on their wives than women cheating on their husbands. So I find it interesting that because she made this one mistake, when she was young, which has bothered you ever since, yet you still loved her enough to marry her, that you could not afford her the same trust in her upholding her end of the “wedding pact.”

It reminds me of a commenter who felt that it was no big deal to cheat on his wife, yet, if she did the same and cheated on him, it would be something that he would never forgive.

In my opinion, it is unfortunate that you never got over it. Because women have a sense about these things, I can only imagine how your wife must’ve felt, knowing how uncomfortable your first sexual encounter made you feel throughout your entire marriage. And knowing that you never really trusted her to not fuck a man that she may have liked. Even if she never cheated on you, which I am guessing she didn’t, or would never cheat on you, she probably had to live with the fact that you never totally trusted her and thought that she would.

Your uncomfortableness was that she slept with you on her first date, didn’t value herself, and couldn’t be trusted. Her uncomfortableness may have been that you felt that because of her youth and sleeping with you on the first date, that you didn’t trust that she valued herself enough to be faithful to you. I really don’t know – I am just putting myself in her shoes and guessing.

She may have grown to really know herself, respect herself and know her value. But she may have felt that no matter what she did, no matter how great of a wife, mother or partner she was, you would not trust her totally, nor think she was as valuable as she had grown to know and be.

I really don’t know but that is my gut feeling. And I HOPE you don’t mind me expressing it.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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