A new spirit in the air
The overwhelming response condemning the reprehensible comments of radio “shock jock” Don Imus is a reminder, if one were needed, that racism and sexism remain a virulent presence in the United States. But it also demonstrated that the 51 seconds of Imus’ comment concerning the Rutgers University women’s basketball team did not go unchallenged.
A critical time for immigrant rights
May Day demonstrations across the country accelerated grassroots pressure to make legalization and social justice, instead of punitive and profit-oriented measures, the priority in the public and congressional debates on immigrant rights.
EDITORIAL: Privatization = 250,000 displaced New Orleanians
Some 250,000 refugees from Hurricane Katrina still cannot go home, nearly two years after the levees broke. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin led a march April 28 by former city residents demanding that relief dollars be released so that the evacuees, scattered still from coast to coast, can come home and reclaim their homes and their land.
Organizing heats up to defend womens rights
Last November, South Dakota voters overturned a state abortion ban by a 12 percent margin. The April 18 Supreme Court anti-abortion ruling shows the court is “farther to the right than these conservative ‘red states’ voters,” says Kathi Di Nicola, media relations director for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
