ACLU: Three Artists Explain and Visualize What Black Joy Means to Them

Three Artists Explain and Visualize What Black Joy Means to Them

We asked three artists to help us visualize what Black joy could look like after we achieve systemic equality — the joy that can exist in an inclusive and equitable world. Learn more about each artist and their work below.

https://infogram.com/1pd3yyg3jneplnumv1nzgwjk2mckg65g7vv?live

Octavia Ink

Black joy is freedom. Black joy is radical. The Black joy to come from systemic equality would change the world. For my personal journey as an artist I’ve been given opportunities I never imagined with the help for my community, family, and friends. Black joy leads to liberation and the freedom of self expression. With this type of community and access to resources I’m starting to paint my canvas; I get to paint my future. Every Black artist deserves that freedom. Finding your identity comes when one is given access to knowledge without boundaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSmdNcl5Tjk

Octavia “Ink” Mingerink is a local illustrator, printmaker, and graphic designer. She believes in art as a form of expression, using her art to represent those who are underrepresented while bringing social justice issues to the forefront. As an illustrator, Octavia is driven and inspired by Black women. She’s set out to push forward those who are severely underrepresented and even excluded from the art industry. She wants to see women that look like her at the helm and she reflects that in her art. Constantly utilizing bright colors and dynamic movement in each piece, Octavia loves to incorporate flowers throughout her work. Pushing the message that we should give ourselves our flowers and celebrate growth and joy.

Eliana Rodgers

With this piece, I wanted to focus on the act of freedom. Freedom to laugh, freedom to dance, freedom to create, freedom to thrive in a world without policies and social structures attempting to curtail — even end — your very existence. Within this freedom lives unbridled joy, happiness from your head to your toes, flowing into the earth and into those around you. I see my figure as the embodiment of this joy, a joy so unrestricted and celebrated that it radiates out from her physical being and nourishes the world around her.

Black people are resilient — we’ve created so much already. It is truly intoxicating to think about what we could do with full access and opportunity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSGTqVOzpKs

Eliana Rodgers is a Black biracial illustrator and textile artist based in Brooklyn, New York. In her illustrative work, she creates worlds full of beauty and goods, bright colors and optimism, and individuals who celebrate humanity in all forms. Her illustrations can be found in various national publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. She recently illustrated her first children’s picture book, “Ray Ray Paints a Self-Portrait,” about a biracial kindergarten girl who learns to love her curly hair. Eliana graduated from Columbia University in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts.

Thaddeus Coates

Visualizing Black joy after systemic equality, for me as a Black creative, means to free ourselves from societal norms and preconceived notions about blackness. Blackness is not a monolith, we are many things, much more than our agony and much more than our pain. We are light, we are the embodiment of excellence. It is important to know that everyday is Black history; we are cultivating a legacy that lives beyond 28 days, we are Black 24/7 and 25/8, we are monumental and it is important to pour into us and we have poured into so many. Black joy is eternal forever and ever. We are infinite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBhPnpMuf2g

Thaddeus aka Hippy Potter is a NYC-based artist who creates bright and thought-provoking illustrations centered around amplifying Black voices while also focusing on diverse representation, Black queer joy and other important topics. Using vibrant technicolor hues and expressive shapes. His inspiring compositions simultaneously evoke powerful and playful emotions. A common thread of optimism runs strongly throughout his work creating empowering and personal moments between the artist and his viewers. Blending the aesthetics of 80s-era Japanese City Pop and Future Funk with the spirit of 90s-era cartoons, Thaddeus has shaped his own style of illustration that is filled with energy and personality.

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Published March 14, 2022 at 07:34PM
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Ukraine: Request for Purchase under the Rapid Financing Instrument and Cancellation of Stand-by Arrangement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Ukraine;

Ukraine: Request for Purchase under the Rapid Financing Instrument and Cancellation of Stand-by Arrangement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Ukraine;
Published March 14, 2022 at 06:30PM
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Cameroon: Selected Issues

Cameroon: Selected Issues
Published March 11, 2022 at 08:00AM
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Cameroon: 2021 Article IV Consultation and First Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Fund Facility Arrangements and Requests for Waivers for Performance Criteria Applicability and Nonobservance and Modification Of Performance Criterion-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cameroon

Cameroon: 2021 Article IV Consultation and First Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Fund Facility Arrangements and Requests for Waivers for Performance Criteria Applicability and Nonobservance and Modification Of Performance Criterion-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cameroon
Published March 11, 2022 at 08:00AM
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ACLU: The War on Drugs Failed — Lawmakers Must Meet the Fentanyl Crisis With New Solutions

The War on Drugs Failed — Lawmakers Must Meet the Fentanyl Crisis With New Solutions

This editorial was originally published by The Sentinel and has been updated since publication.

The fentanyl crisis continues to cause unfathomable loss across the country. Amid so much pain, we have a responsibility to embrace bold, proven, and life-saving public safety solutions. Now is the moment when we must also put to bed, forever, decades of failed, punitive policies that led to this unprecedented crisis. It is far past time for lawmakers to take aggressive action to protect families by investing in evidence-based solutions that save lives.

For over 50 years, the United States had only one answer to the question of how to save lives and reduce harm from drug use: punishment and prison. The result of this horrifying experiment is a mountain of evidence showing “the overall effect of imprisonment is null.” Prison sentences do not improve safety. They do not save lives. They do not help people recover from substance use disorder. They do not keep us safe from or reduce the supply of dangerous drugs, or save lives in the event of an overdose.

Here is the cold, hard truth: We could increase prison sentences 10-fold, cut them by half, triple them, then eliminate them, and all those changes would do absolutely nothing to protect our families and loved ones from future fentanyl tragedies.

Examining the research is hardly necessary for most American families. They know all too well from their experience with a family member, friend, or even their own lived experience that locking someone up with a substance use disorder will not provide them with the resources and treatment they need. Locking people up only wreaks tremendous intergenerational costs and a never-ending cycle of harm for families and children.

Unfortunately, some lawmakers appear to have no solutions at all, offering only stale and warmed-over war on drugs leftovers. At best, increasing prison sentences for drug-related offenses will have no impact whatsoever on this crisis. At worst, and far more likely, it will stigmatize people who need treatment, exacerbate racial injustice, and squander valuable resources. It is imperative that money be spent on addressing the root causes of the overdose epidemic.

We are thinking far too small for this enormous crisis when we debate about tinkering at the edges of our ancient and ineffective mass incarceration architecture. It is also a colossal waste of time when lawmakers should be laser-focused on rapidly scaling up evidence-based solutions that have proven effective at saving lives: overdose prevention centers, fentanyl test strips, safe supply, drug decriminalization, public education campaigns, and low-barrier access to naloxone and other rehabilitative and life-saving therapies.

Voters of all stripes agree “the war on drugs has failed,” — Democrats (83 percent), Independents (85 percent), and Republicans (82 percent). Voters also know that there is nothing more “soft on crime” than politicians who are too scared to act decisively and aggressively to prevent death and harm from happening in the first place.

Lawmakers claiming the same failed approaches that haven’t worked for the last 50 years are now suddenly going to succeed are displaying a very dangerous mix of willful ignorance, magical thinking, and political expediency. If they have no real solutions to offer, they should step aside and let lawmakers with a real vision and commitment to keeping families safe lead the way. We can and must meet this moment.

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Biden: Bring 25,000 People Home Through Clemency

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Published March 11, 2022 at 05:48PM
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ACLU: The War on Drugs Failed — Lawmakers Must Meet the Fentanyl Crisis With New Solutions

The War on Drugs Failed — Lawmakers Must Meet the Fentanyl Crisis With New Solutions

This editorial was originally published by The Sentinel and has been updated since publication.

The fentanyl crisis continues to cause unfathomable loss across the country. Amid so much pain, we have a responsibility to embrace bold, proven, and life-saving public safety solutions. Now is the moment when we must also put to bed, forever, decades of failed, punitive policies that led to this unprecedented crisis. It is far past time for lawmakers to take aggressive action to protect families by investing in evidence-based solutions that save lives.

For over 50 years, the United States had only one answer to the question of how to save lives and reduce harm from drug use: punishment and prison. The result of this horrifying experiment is a mountain of evidence showing “the overall effect of imprisonment is null.” Prison sentences do not improve safety. They do not save lives. They do not help people recover from substance use disorder. They do not keep us safe from or reduce the supply of dangerous drugs, or save lives in the event of an overdose.

Here is the cold, hard truth: We could increase prison sentences 10-fold, cut them by half, triple them, then eliminate them, and all those changes would do absolutely nothing to protect our families and loved ones from future fentanyl tragedies.

Examining the research is hardly necessary for most American families. They know all too well from their experience with a family member, friend, or even their own lived experience that locking someone up with a substance use disorder will not provide them with the resources and treatment they need. Locking people up only wreaks tremendous intergenerational costs and a never-ending cycle of harm for families and children.

Unfortunately, some lawmakers appear to have no solutions at all, offering only stale and warmed-over war on drugs leftovers. At best, increasing prison sentences for drug-related offenses will have no impact whatsoever on this crisis. At worst, and far more likely, it will stigmatize people who need treatment, exacerbate racial injustice, and squander valuable resources. It is imperative that money be spent on addressing the root causes of the overdose epidemic.

We are thinking far too small for this enormous crisis when we debate about tinkering at the edges of our ancient and ineffective mass incarceration architecture. It is also a colossal waste of time when lawmakers should be laser-focused on rapidly scaling up evidence-based solutions that have proven effective at saving lives: overdose prevention centers, fentanyl test strips, safe supply, drug decriminalization, public education campaigns, and low-barrier access to naloxone and other rehabilitative and life-saving therapies.

Voters of all stripes agree “the war on drugs has failed,” — Democrats (83 percent), Independents (85 percent), and Republicans (82 percent). Voters also know that there is nothing more “soft on crime” than politicians who are too scared to act decisively and aggressively to prevent death and harm from happening in the first place.

Lawmakers claiming the same failed approaches that haven’t worked for the last 50 years are now suddenly going to succeed are displaying a very dangerous mix of willful ignorance, magical thinking, and political expediency. If they have no real solutions to offer, they should step aside and let lawmakers with a real vision and commitment to keeping families safe lead the way. We can and must meet this moment.

What you can do:

Biden: Bring 25,000 People Home Through Clemency

Add your name

Published March 11, 2022 at 11:18PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/6bhXSPW

ACLU: Before Ketanji Brown Jackson Came Pauli Murray’s Letter to Nixon

Before Ketanji Brown Jackson Came Pauli Murray’s Letter to Nixon

In February, Ketanji Brown Jackson made history by being the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. In accepting the nomination, Judge Jackson paid homage to Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge, with whom Judge Jackson shares a birthday.

Listening to Judge Jackson’s remarks, there was another great lawyer I wished were alive to see this achievement: Pauli Murray.

In 1971, Murray wrote a letter to President Nixon purporting to apply for a seat on the Supreme Court. “I am a Negro woman 60 years old,” Murray wrote. (Though Murray identified as a woman in the letter, Murray often expressed a male gender identity; not knowing what pronouns Murray would use today if given a choice, I use Murray’s name instead.) The letter continued:

“It should be of passing interest that I represent the largest group of minority status in the United States — namely, female. The Court would be more representative of the composition and interests of the population of the United States if a qualified woman were appointed. My application is to forestall the popular misconception that no qualified women applied or are available. “

One of the greatest legal minds of the 20th century, Murray was not widely known outside legal circles until recently. While still a law student at Howard University, Murray argued that separate was inherently unequal, work that formed the basis for the landmark victory in Brown v. Board of Education. Murray was among the first to theorize that the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under law, the premise of the Brown decision, could be used to challenge laws that discriminated based not only on race, but also on sex.

That work formed the foundation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s advocacy during her years as director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, as Ginsburg herself acknowledged repeatedly. Murray also served the ACLU on its national Board of Directors and as part of an advisory committee guiding its women’s rights work and was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women. The letter to President Nixon recounts none of these accomplishments (some of which admittedly did not happen until later), condensing them into a single sentence: “I am a Constitutional lawyer whose specialty is human rights.”

Murray knew, of course, that one does not “apply” to be a justice of the Supreme Court. That was an unspoken rule, alongside another implicit requirement: being a white man. Today, there have been 115 justices, 108 of them white men.

At the time of Murray’s letter, only white men had been tapped to serve on the high court. In fact, a single Black woman — Constance Baker Motley — had been nominated to any federal court in the country. Judge Motley faced unique barriers as a Black woman. President Lyndon B. Johnson initially hoped to nominate her to a seat on the prestigious Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated by Thurgood Marshall when he was elevated to the Supreme Court. Marshall had been confirmed three times by that point — first as Solicitor General and then again for each court on which he sat. But senators objected to the idea of Judge Motley, a Black woman, in such an influential post. Without key votes, President Johnson nominated her for a district court judgeship instead. Judge Motley faced obstacles on the bench as well, as litigants questioned her ability to be impartial and called for her recusal in civil rights cases. That Murray decided to write to President Nixon in the first place reflects the ugly history of discrimination faced by Black women like Judge Motley.

Yet Murray’s letter manages to hold complexity. It’s simultaneously cutting and deeply funny, opening with a referral to Murray’s cardiologist as proof of physical heartiness. The letter goes on to point out that Murray’s nomination would sail through the vetting process — because Murray’s activism had already been subject to FBI surveillance.

Murray’s many gifts to us include not only legal brilliance but humor and joy. I often tell my team in the Women’s Rights Project to think like Pauli Murray. This Women’s History Month, my hope is that we can laugh like Murray did, too.

Read Murray’s full letter below:

https://twitter.com/irin/status/1486448684879708160

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Published March 10, 2022 at 11:44PM
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