Originally published: Pittsburgh Business Times. July 8, 2020

P3R announced a set of new policies it will be implementing to address diversity and inclusion in the programs it hosts throughout the city, with the most notable being the annual Pittsburgh marathon.

As part of these efforts, the group will form a partnership with the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), which is a national nonprofit that aims to educate and empower the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination.

“Running is a great equalizer and unifying force,” Troy Schooley, P3R CEO, said in a press release. “It doesn’t matter your age, your sexual orientation, your ethnicity, how much money you make, what school you went to, what religion you practice, or who you voted for in the last election. When you’re on a P3R race course, everyone is a runner, and every step taken is a commitment to getting better. We will do everything in our power to make sure everyone feels welcome and safe participating in our sport in Pittsburgh, whether that’s at one of our events or running just for the joy of moving.”

P3R’s commitment to addressing diversity and racism was also shown with its $20,000 donation in June to four local organizations: the Pittsburgh Branch of the NAACP, Black Girls Run Pittsburgh, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.

The organization also announced it would renew its focus for its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI), and offer training for all team members via partnerships with local organizations.

“We want all voices, experiences and opinions to be heard on the committee,” DEI Committee Chair Derrick Shoffner said in the release. “We know that everyone we’ve invited to join us will bring a unique perspective to help ensure that everyone who runs with us has a voice in our events and in our sport.”

Originally published: Trib Live. August 8, 2020
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/burghers-brewery-creates-black-is-beautiful-beer-helps-urban-league/

The beer can reads: “Brewed to support justice and equality for people of color.”

“I have been around a long time and I have seen a lot of things but I have never seen anything this strong on a product,” said Esther Bush, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. “Burgh’ers Brewing wants to make a statement publicly to all of their customers this is something they care about.”

Bush was referring to a beer can she saw at Burgh’ers Brewing, a burger joint and craft brewery with restaurants in Lawrenceville and Zelienople.

The new brew will be released Saturday at both locations and is part of the national Black is Beautiful campaign in the beer brewing community. The effort aims to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face, while raising money for police brutality reform and people who need help with legal fees.

The beer’s base recipe as an imperial stout was created by Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio, Texas.

Burgh’ers brew has a “mellow herbal bitterness and floral notes that are subdued by burnt toffee, coffee and the richest cocoa you can find with a mellow caramel note at the end in this robust, velvety ganache of a beer,” according to co-owner Neil Glausier.

More than 1,000 breweries in 50 states and 20 countries are taking part in the campaign. Locally, Couch Brewery in East Liberty, Abjuration Brewing in McKees Rocks and First Sip Brew Box teamed up for a brew. Many others have joined in: 11th Hour Brewing and Cinderlands Beer Co. in Lawrenceville, Butler Brew Works in Butler, East End Brewing Co. in Larimer, Hop Farm Brewing in Lawrenceville, Union Brothers Brewing in Harmony, Noble Stein Brewing Company in Indiana, Hitchhiker Brewing Co. in Sharpsburg, and Inner Groove Brewing in Verona. Each is choosing a different organization to benefit.

Burgh’ers, founded by chef Fiore Moletz, and co-owned with brewmaster Glausier, and his wife Jill, of Brighton Heights, chose the Urban League as the recipient of proceeds from sale of the beer.

“This unfortunate period we are living in now and that unfortunate murder that brought us to this place has inspired me to see a cross-section of Americans embrace and try to have a fuller understanding of what the African American community and other communities of color experiences in the United States,” Bush said.

The Urban League helps African-Americans with education, health advocacy, housing counseling, support for early childhood and youth development, hunger prevention and career preparation.

“We wanted the money to go to something bigger than us,” Neil Glausier said.

Neil Glausier spent the early part of the week working on the first-ever canned beer at Burgh’ers.
Burgh’ers Brewing, a burger joint and craft brewery with restaurants in Lawrenceville and Zelienople has begun canning its beer for the debut of its “Black is Beautiful” brew. The brewery is using an Alpha Brewing Operations beer cannon series can line capable of producing 24 cans per minute. It will be released Aug. 8

He canned 20 cases. The canned beer will be unveiled in conjunction with the restaurant’s 10th anniversary.

“It was a labor of love,” Neil Glausier said. “I wanted this to be the first batch because of the Urban League’s mission.”

Originally published: 8/14/2020.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Reporter: Alexis Johnson

Kathi Elliott is very familiar with stories of history-making Black women.

Her mother, Gwen Elliott, founded the North Side women’s advocacy group Gwen’s Girls nearly 30 years after she became one of the first Black police officers in the city of Pittsburgh. Gwen Elliott eventually went on to become the first woman promoted to sergeant and then first Black female commander during her tenure with the police.

Kathi Elliott said she thought of her late mother immediately following Tuesday’s announcement from presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden that he had chosen Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as his running mate. Ms. Harris marked a first of her own becoming the only Black woman to ever be named on a major party’s presidential ticket.

The importance of this moment was far from lost upon Ms. Elliott, who runs her mother’s organization. She has been reflecting upon what Ms. Harris’ representation means for young girls in the Gwen’s Girls programs.

“We always have our parents and mentors tell us we can be what we want to be,” Ms. Elliott said Thursday. “But we know that on a real level, there are barriers and systemic issues that prevent us from being able to be what we want to be. So this is a step in the right direction for a woman of color to be a part of leadership to hopefully change the trajectory of our nation.”

Gwen’s Girls honored Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on Thursday, and Ms. Elliott said Ms. Harris’ presumptive vice presidential candidacy is reflective of how Black women are consistently battling to prove their worth and value in this country.

In the 48 hours after Mr. Biden’s declaration, Ms. Harris has faced criticism from some voters and constituents about her record — as California’s attorney general and as district attorney in San Francisco — during a time of unrest surrounding law enforcement and criminal justice reform.

But beyond that, the Oakland, Calif., native — born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father and who identifies as Black — is already facing birther questions from President Donald Trump’s campaign while also having her ethnic identity littered with public commentary about what her true race is.

Barbara Johnson, director of race and gender equity at YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, said for her, these challenges that Ms. Harris faces make her all the more relatable.

Ms. Johnson’s parents are both Jamaican born, and as someone who spent her career focusing on racial justice education and advocacy, she understands the nuance in the experience of being Black but not considered African American.

“I have a Jamaican background, so I was excited about [Ms. Harris] because I relate to her,” she said. “My experience in America with a Jamaican background is that it’s kind of depleted. No one ever asks me what my ethnic heritage is. There is always an assumption that I am an African American.”

Ms. Johnson empathized with Ms. Harris and said while the senator’s mixed race may contribute to questions surrounding her Blackness, she is glad that a woman with that specific background is now at the forefront of the discussion that may help to educate people on the intersectionalities of race and ethnicity.

“For me it was really exciting because when I got to be older and started to learn more about my own history and heritage from relatives, then I was more able to embrace it. It’s hard to embrace a culture when no one around you has any concept of what you are talking about except your inner-circle family,” Ms. Johnson said.

Race and policies aside, Mr. Trump and his campaign have also made attacks on Ms. Harris’ character since Mr. Biden’s announcement. Mr. Trump called in to Maria Bartiromo’s show on the Fox Business Network Thursday morning for an interview in which he referred to Ms. Harris as a “mad woman.” Mr. Trump also said Ms. Harris was “angry” during her questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.

The president’s comments have come under fire from Democratic Party members and social media users alike who called his words racist and misogynistic.

For Cheryl Hall-Russell, former chief executive of the Hill House Association and founder of Black Women, Wise Women, Mr. Trump’s “angry Black woman” narrative is one that she looks to combat through her daily work.

Ms. Hall-Russell’s doctoral studies focused on intersectional leadership and the experiences of Black women in executive leadership roles. Her professional career eventually led her to start BW3 in 2017, an agency that offers diversity, equity and inclusion training in corporate settings throughout Pittsburgh.

The Indianapolis native called Mr. Trump’s remarks “not creative and incredibly predictable,” while arguing that her research over the last few decades shows Black women are often scrutinized at higher levels than their peers.

“There are no mistakes that can be forgiven. There is no wiggle room. Our smallest mistakes become massive. Our big mistakes become insurmountable,” Ms. Hall-Russell said. “[Ms. Harris’] work ethic is very emblematic of Black women because if we’ve gotten that far, we had to go above and beyond or we never would have been allowed in these positions. So we have to be super smart, very talented and have some kind of broad appeal, or we never get to where she is now.”

Ms. Hall-Russell said she was elated to use Ms. Harris’ story as a teaching moment for her 17-year-old daughter as they have personal discussions about what it means to be a Black woman in America.

“I love being able to tell my daughter that Kamala Harris is now a vice presidential candidate. I love talking to her about different shades of Black women. I love having an intelligent exchange with her about what this meant and warning her about the red herrings that will be thrown her way,” she said. “I told her to watch and look because her path is also going to be littered

with all types of sharp objects in her way too. As a Black woman, she is going to learn how to deal with the fact that she is beautiful and strong and smart and she is going to be ready for the challenges that come with that. I am able to use this moment to educate her on that.”

Longtime Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh president and CEO Esther Bush said that as a Black woman, she was excited that Mr. Biden kept his promise to choose a woman of color as his running mate, but her support for Ms. Harris goes beyond race.

“Kamala Harris 100% deserves this nomination. Not because she is a woman. Not because she is a woman of color. She deserves this nomination because she is a proven professional: qualified and experienced. Her previous professional positions underscore her intelligence and commitment to the citizenry,” Ms. Bush said in an emailed statement Thursday.

Ms. Bush, who has served on the state Board of Education, Law Enforcement and Community Relations Task Force, and the Voting Modernization Task Force among other committees, said that while she hopes Ms. Harris helps to motivate women of color to go after goals they may have thought were unobtainable, she realizes the work that is still left to do to combat systemic racism and inequality in America.

“Just as the nomination and election of President [Barack] Obama did not end systemic racism, Senator Harris’ role as vice presidential candidate or vice president will not be the end of systemic racism,” Ms. Bush said. “That work relies on each of us individually. It takes local actions, decisions and intentionality to untwine the long and deeply entrenched vines of structural racism. It is up to [us] to make the difference.”

Kathi Elliott agrees that Ms. Harris’ nomination is a step in the right direction. She said her focus through the work of Gwen’s Girls looks to continue to reinforce what Ms. Harris represents for women of color.

“We have to change the narrative and image of how people see Black women and girls, and that is the mission of Gwen’s Girls. And I am hoping that Biden’s pick of Kamala Harris will help to do that as well.”

The Associated Press contributed.

Alexis Johnson: ajohnson@post-gazette.com and Twitter @alexisjreports.

Why Pennsylvania is ground zero for mail-in voting debate

Originally published: 9/4/2020. The Christian Science Monitor. By: Christa Case Bryant, Staff writer

The phone is ringing nonstop in Pennsylvania’s Lycoming County.

“Did the November election get delayed?”

“Can I still vote by mail?”

“Why did my wife, who died in 2011, get an application for an absentee ballot with her name and address already filled in?”

It’s the last category that drives county election director Forrest Lehman and his staff especially batty. Various groups, in an apparent bid to boost voter participation, are sending out a tsunami of pre-filled ballot applications based on voter data that is years out of date. And they have Mr. Lehman’s name on the return label.

“Their first reaction is to call us and ask, ‘What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are you running?’” he says, comparing it to a denial of service attack, which disables a website by flooding it with traffic. “We can’t get anything else done. … Applications are just piling up while we answer questions.”

Across the country, as states are racing to prepare for holding a high-stakes presidential election amid a pandemic, swing states are coming under particular scrutiny. The tighter the race, the more possible it is that the election could be tipped by a relatively small number of voters who are unable to vote or whose ballots are delayed or disqualified. With a disproportionate number of mailed votes coming from Democrats and studies showing that minority voters experience higher rates of disqualification, such rejections could tip the presidential race to the Republicans.

Even among the swing states for whom widespread voting by mail is uncharted territory, Pennsylvania stands out. Leading up to this year’s June primary, the state enacted its most sweeping legislation on election administration in 80 years and overhauled voting systems in all 67 counties. Then the pandemic hit, driving a 17-fold increase in mail-in ballots, overwhelming local election officials. It took two weeks to certify all the races and more than 37,000 absentee ballots were rejected – not far off from the 44,292 votes by which Donald Trump won the state in 2016, propelling him to the White House. New polls show Mr. Biden’s lead shrinking to less than the margin of error, indicating a statistical tie with two months to go.

No one wants to be the Florida of 2020 – the one state that the country is waiting on for weeks to determine the results of a contested presidential election. In Pennsylvania, a wide array of officials from local election directors like Mr. Lehman up to Democratic state executives like Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the Republican-led legislature are working around the clock to ensure that Pennsylvania’s vote is fair, safe, and secure – with clear and prompt results.

While Pennsylvania’s June primary raised concerns about the state’s ability to handle a greater influx of mailed ballots, some say it may in fact have helped build the state’s electoral muscles for a heavier lift this fall.

“We were learning on the fly from February to June,” says Jeff Greenburg, the director of elections in Mercer County until August, when he stepped down to work for The National Vote at Home Institute. “I really think Pennsylvania is in a better position now. … To me we have a much better chance of succeeding because we now know what to do.”

Maximizing voter access while ensuring a secure vote

Pennsylvania was the first state to extend absentee voting to soldiers, before the deployment of thousands of troops to the Civil War caused other states to follow suit during the 1864 presidential election. Last fall, the state expanded the opportunity for voting by mail through Act 77, which introduced “no-excuse” absentee voting, created a 50-day window for voting by mail, and extended the deadline for registering and submitting one’s ballot.

When the pandemic hit, the state was better prepared to accommodate voters concerned about voting in person. But it also accelerated implementation, taxing election staff and raising concerns about everything from denying people the opportunity to vote to diluting legitimate votes through uneven interpretation of election laws and policies among the counties. The challenge is how best to maximize voter access while ensuring the safety of voters and the security of the voting process, and there are partisan differences over how to strike the right balance.

Following Pennsylvania’s primary, the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee (RNC) launched a lawsuit demanding a uniform interpretation of the state’s election code to guard against abuse and fraud, including through unattended ballot drop boxes that were used in more than a dozen counties.

“Our right to vote is one of the most important, if not the most important, right bestowed upon us,” says Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a plaintiff in the case who served with the Navy in Iraq and says he was proud to fight to protect the right of everyone to vote, regardless of political leaning. In an emailed response to questions, he says a consistent application of the law is the key to ensuring a fair and equal election. “Treating certain areas of the commonwealth differently is an inherent risk to the integrity of our important tradition of making sure every vote counts, and every vote counts equally.”

Many Democrats are also worried about every vote counting, particularly when it comes to minority voters. A lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters demands that Pennsylvania establish a standardized procedure for verifying voter signatures and to join 17 other states that allow voters whose mailed ballots are invalidated for mismatched signatures to be notified and given a chance to “cure” their ballots by verifying their identity.

The case notes that county staff untrained in handwriting analysis are often the ones to throw out ballots based on a signature mismatch, which can disproportionately affect voters who are disabled, elderly, or less educated. The suit cites a study that found that laypeople misidentify genuine signatures as inauthentic 26% of the time.

Another issue that disproportionately affected minority voters in Pennsylvania’s primary was the consolidation of polling places, driven in part by polling worker shortages during the pandemic. The two most populous counties – Philadelphia and Allegheny, which includes Pittsburgh – downsized from 2,100 polling stations to fewer than 500, leading to long lines. African Americans make up nearly half of Philadelphia’s population and nearly a quarter of Pittsburgh’s.

“I think absolutely this is intentional,” says Celina Stewart, senior director of advocacy and litigation for the League of Women Voters. “It’s a voter suppression tactic.”

By National Urban League
Published 09 AM EDT, Fri Sep 25, 2020

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last night issued an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to rush the 2020 Census to a close while a legal challenge to that plan plays out in the courts. The court’s order preliminarily enjoins the Census Bureau and Secretary of Commerce from using a September 30, 2020 deadline for the completion of data collection and a December 31, 2020 deadline for processing and then reporting the census count to the President.  Under the Court’s Order, the census count will continue through October 31, as the Census Bureau had earlier planned, and its data processing will continue under a timeline that allows for a full, fair and accurate overall tabulation and reporting of the total population to the President..

District Judge Lucy H. Koh issued her ruling after a hearing Tuesday afternoon in National Urban League et al. v. Wilbur L. Ross Jr. et al., the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups, civil organizations, and tribal and local governments on August 18 to block the administration’s attempt to rush census operations to a close by September 30 and send population numbers for apportionment to the President by December 31. The plaintiffs sought to stop the Trump administration’s plan to force the Census Bureau to shorten the 2020 count against the judgment of the bureau’s own expert staff and in the middle of a pandemic.

The court had already issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from shutting down its census operations while the court prepared the ruling it issued today.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are membership and advocacy organizations, counties, cities, federally-recognized Indian tribes, and individuals whose communities will be underrepresented in the final census count if the administration succeeds in ending the 2020 Census data collection and processing prematurely. The plaintiffs are the National Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the League of Women Voters, the Navajo Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Harris County in Texas, Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia of the Harris County Commissioners Court, King County in Washington, the city and county of Los Angeles, the cities of San Jose and Salinas (California) and  the City of Chicago, Illinois.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Latham & Watkins, LLP, Public Counsel, Navajo Nation Department of Justice, the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney, the Office of the Salinas City Attorney, Edelson P.C., the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Holland & Knight LLP.

The Covid-19 pandemic posed new challenges to the decennial census, including massive displacements of people, just as the count was getting underway. It upended all census field operations and undermined outreach to populations that the bureau has long struggled to count, including racial and ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, and undocumented persons.

Bureau officials requested an extension of census data collection, processing, and reporting deadlines to accommodate a Covid-19 plan that President Trump publicly supported, and spent multiple months acting on that plan. But on August 3, Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross and Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham abruptly announced that the data-collection would stop on September 30, a full month short of the time census officials had previously said was necessary to complete the count.

The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration’s new, accelerated census timeline cuts a crucial four weeks from the actual count and four months from the time for processing and reporting the data used to apportion the U.S. House of Representatives. The abrupt change disregards the bureau’s own plans for dealing with the hardships imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also undermine the quality and accuracy of the census as well as produce a massive undercount of communities of color.

The lawsuit argues that the administration’s attempts to rush the census to a close pose a grave threat to the vital functions that rely on census data, from reapportioning the House of Representatives and redrawing state and local electoral districts to equitably distributing over $1.5 trillion annually in federal funds that support basic needs like education, food, and health care.

The lawsuit seeks to have the court declare the decision to scuttle the census Covid-19 plan unlawful because it violates the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the Enumeration Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

The suit asks the court to keep the 2020 Census on the schedule proposed by census officials in April in response to Covid-19. Under that plan, the bureau would complete the census, including door-knocking, by October 31, 2020, and deliver apportionment numbers to the president by April 30, 2021. Redistricting data would be reported to the states by July 31, 2021.

For the ruling, please click here.

The following comments are from:

Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League

“The court’s decision affirms our contention that changes to the census schedule will irreparably harm the integrity of the 2020 Census and result in a devastating undercount of vulnerable communities.  Career officials at the Census Bureau opposed the shortened schedule precisely for these reasons, and to avoid the perception of political manipulation, and we are confident that integrity and equity will win out over the partisan vandalism that threatens our democracy.”

Jonathan Nez, President, Navajo Nation

“We have a strong and diverse coalition of plaintiffs who are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau uphold their original plan to allow the census count to continue through the month of October. The coronavirus pandemic has set all of us back and created many challenges to get people counted, especially for rural areas such as the Navajo Nation. Today’s ruling should be respected to allow the census count to continue without disruption.”

Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

“In the face of a global pandemic, the last thing we should consider is cutting short the decennial census that has long-lasting repercussions on the well-being, health, and livelihood of so many Americans. The decision to continue the census will ensure proper attention is given to overlooked and unreported areas that need to be counted the most.”

Nana Gyamfi, Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration

“We are pleased with the court’s ruling, affirming what we already know – every person counts and must be counted in this 2020 census. For the Black community, this decision means we have extra time to claim the governmental resources and representation that we’ve been denied. We look forward to continuing the important work of making sure our community members are counted by the census deadline.”

Stephen Roe Lewis, Governor, Gila River Indian Community

“The decision by the Commerce Department to abruptly cut off counting would have dramatically compounded the historic issue of undercounting in Indian Country. I couldn’t be more pleased that the court has put things back on track for a fairer and more accurate count, both for our tribe and for all tribes across the country.”

Virginia Kase, CEO, League of Women Voters of the United States

“Today’s decision is a victory for democracy. Census officials outlined an extended counting period in order to achieve the full enumeration of all people living in the United States. The effort to rush the timeline set by our trusted census experts was a blatant attempt to force an undercount, deprive American communities of critical funding, and undermine the accuracy of our representative districts. The League now urges the American public to fill out the census and ask their friends and family to do the same. Our democracy depends on it.”

Rodney Ellis, Harris County Precinct One Commissioner, Texas

“Today’s decision helps ensure a fair and accurate Census count for Harris County, Texas. An undercount within Harris County’s multi-racial and multi-ethnic communities, which have not yet responded to the Census, will perpetuate the inequities already faced by these communities.”

Sam Liccardo, Mayor, City of San Jose

“Today, against powerful forces of exclusion and elitism, the court has vindicated a fundamental American principle: everyone counts.  We are proud to join forces with our partners to hold the Trump Administration accountable to our nation’s constitutional commitments.”

Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney

“Today’s injunction is a major victory in our fight for an accurate census count—which is crucial to fair political representation and the proper allocation of essential federal resources. The court saw through the Trump administration’s efforts to camouflage its political interference in what is supposed to be the neutral, nonpartisan process of counting every American. Now, with little time to lose and so much at stake, I urge everyone to take the few moments necessary to be included in the census.”

Dow Constantine, Executive, King County, Washington 

“Today’s ruling reaffirms that in America, everyone counts and everyone deserves to be counted. At every turn, the 2020 census has been politicized and many residents have felt alienated and targeted by these senseless actions. Today’s ruling allows the full window of enumeration to occur so that our communities are counted fairly and accurately.”

Mark Flessner, Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago 

“The Trump administration once again showed its blatant political agenda in trying to halt census operations early. The ruling today is a significant win to make sure all are counted.”

Christopher A. Callihan, Salinas City Attorney

“Democracy depends on giving a voice to even those people who are hard to count.  Today is a victory for Salinas’s hard to count population and for everyone who believes in a free and fair representative democracy.”

Melissa Arbus Sherry, Partner, Latham & Watkins 

“We are gratified by the Court’s well-reasoned and swift ruling on this important, time-sensitive case.  As the Court recognized, the Census Bureau has itself repeatedly recognized that a full, fair, and accurate count takes time, especially when faced with a historic pandemic. Every day that the 2020 Census count continues, and Census operations appropriately continue, will help ensure the accuracy and completeness of this once-in-a-decade tally.”

Thomas Wolf, Senior Counsel and Spitzer Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice

“Today’s ruling is a significant victory in the ongoing fight to save the 2020 Census from a critical undercount of our country’s communities of color. The census must count everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or citizenship status. To do that in the face of Covid-19, hurricanes, and wildfires, the Census Bureau needs all the time it asked and planned for in the spring. The court’s order will give that time back to the Bureau by blocking the Trump administration’s illegal decision to shut down the census early.”

Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

“The court’s decision ensures that our underrepresented and most vulnerable communities will not be disadvantaged by an unfair and incomplete census count. With this directive, the Trump administration was attempting to fan the flames of racial division, further divide our country and exclude communities of color from the final enumeration. The court’s decision repudiates the 11th hour actions of the Trump administration and makes clear that our democracy turns on achieving a full and fair count of all people across our nation.”

Originally Published: New York Times. 10/7/2020
By Jan Hoffman. Photograph by Chang W. Lee
Original content available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/health/coronavirus-vaccine-trials-african-americans.html