5 Issues to Listen For During the First Presidential Debate - Advancement Project - Advancement Project

5 Issues to Listen For During the First Presidential Debate

During the first presidential debate, candidates will discuss the direction, prosperity and security of America.

During the first presidential debate, candidates will discuss the direction, prosperity and security of America. Tune in and use the following listening guide to hear what candidates are saying on issues that matter to communities of color. Join the conversation on social media using #FirstDebate. Follow @adv_project for live commentary.

Police & Safety

The criminalization of people of color has cost the lives and freedom of too many Black and Brown men, women, and children. Today, police disproportionately harass, shoot and kill Black adults and youth. In states like New York, Blacks and Latinx residents are also unfairly stopped-and-frisked on suspicion of illegal activity, even though they’re less likely to be in violation of the law than whites. The recent police killings of Keith Lamont Scott in North Carolina, 13-year old Tyre King in Ohio and Terrence Crutcher in Oklahoma show the consistent attack people of color. While white communities experience police that protect and serve, while Black and Latinx communities receive law and order policing. These same police departments are given millions of dollars from Congress to pay for military equipment that has been used against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to hold government accountable.

Economic Inequality

People of color still lag far behind their white counterparts when it comes to wealth and income. The wage gap between Blacks and Latinx, and whites is worst today that it was nearly 40 years ago. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute confirms that racial discrimination was, and still remains, the driver of this gap, outweighing factors like education, work and experience. As a result, people of color continue to face an uphill battle towards achieving the American Dream.

Immigration

More than 11 million immigrants, many people of color, live in the shadows under fear of arrest or deportation as a result of an immigration system that works to tear families and communities apart every day. Racial profiling continues as a practice across the nation, feeding workers, parents, and family members into our criminal system. When it comes to national security, immigrants of color are the first to be singled out, profiled, marginalized and persecuted. Reckless deportation policies feed the nation’s prison industrial complex, criminalizing adults and young children alike. Many are detained in for-profit private prisons lacking access to adequate healthcare or education. Read Advancement Project’s case study in Georgia, Manufacturing Felonies.

Voting Rights

The 2016 election will be the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act. As a result of weakened legislation, many states have enacted strict Voter ID laws, cut early voting periods and took deliberate steps to prevent those with prior felony convictions from voting. Congress has failed to move the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore protections due to a lack of bipartisan support. Efforts by state legislators in Virginia would permanently disenfranchise those many with felonies for life. Read Judith Browne Dianis’ recent op-ed on The Washington Post decrying the racist intent behind these laws.

Education & School to Prison Pipeline

Over the past 20 years, communities of color have experienced the divestment, closure and privatization of traditional public schools. Overly harsh school discipline policies and the presence of police in schools are pushing many students of color from the classroom into the criminal justice system. Black and Latinx students are disproportionately suspended, expelled, and even arrested for minor infractions. Today, 1.6 million students attend schools that have no school counselor, but employ a sworn police officer in their building. The misallocation of funding to punish students of color as opposed to nurturing them has only calcified the school-to-prison pipeline. Read Advancement Project’s reports on the impact of school closures and on limiting the use of police force.

KEEP READING

Advancement Project National Office Applauds Senate Confirmation of Kristen Clarke as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice

Clarke Becomes First Woman of color to lead the Department’s Civil Rights Division

Read More
How Organizing Saved My Life: My Road to Racial Healing

By Chris Bufford, Campaign Strategist I was 14 years old when I learned first-hand how the existence of Black youth is criminalized. I was walking home late at night and a police officer pulled up alongside of me. He asked me where I was headed. I told him, “I’m heading home from a friend’s house.” He continued to follow me down the street, watching me from his car. It made me nervous. Had I done something wrong? Did I fit the description of a suspect? Was he going to stop me for curfew? After about half a block I asked,…

Read More
Healing Communities of Color Beyond Wellness

By Flavia Jimenez, Managing Director of Organizational Development & Leadership We are our only relevant hope We are our only possible medicine –what is unveiled? the founding wound  by Adrienne Maree Brown When organizations discuss plans to address the impact that systemic racism and the violence of white supremacy have on staff, we often lack the language to openly discuss viable options. Perhaps it is because the wounds are too deep and too raw. Where do we even begin to bring a framework to folks who live and work with the pain? What do we do about…

Read More
Leading Civil Rights & Racial Justice Organizations Observe the National Day of Racial Healing

Leading racial equity organizations will pause to participate in the 5th Annual W.K. Kellogg National Day of Racial Healing (#NDORH) on January 19, 2020.

Read More
Advancement Project National Office Applauds Nomination of Civil Rights Leaders to Biden-Harris U.S. Department of Justice

“Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke are formative civil rights leaders with decades of experience fighting discrimination, ensuring equity and safeguarding all Americans."

Read More
Voting in the 2020 Election

We know that voting is an important way to advance our fight against systemic racism. But the ongoing pandemic has created significant challenges in getting out the vote—challenges made even worse by opportunistic and racist government officials who are leveraging this crisis to make voting more complicated and less accessible to Black and Brown people. That’s where you come in. Voters need help understanding how to vote during a pandemic. Here you can find: Scripts to make online videos Memes and gifs to share on social media Messaging guides GOTV Graphics Videos to share…

Read More
Advance The Ball

Stand Up and VOTE Advancement Project National Office and the Washington Football Team are working together to advance racial justice and equality in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. By encouraging civic engagement and providing mutual aid, we can help to build the power of Black and Brown communities. Together, we’re giving the DMV a playbook for making their vote count. Voter education is particularly important this year, when so many people will be voting by mail for the first time. The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday, October 13 in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. Go to…

Read More
Civil Rights Organizations Debunk Myths of No COVID-19 Cases in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison

Impacted people behind bars share harrowing stories of coronavirus outbreaks, unsanitary conditions Baton Rouge, LA – Last night, several civil rights and racial justice organizations pushed back on efforts by the Sheriff and Warden of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison to silence the detainees trapped inside the facility and to hide from community members and taxpayers what the organizations say is really happening in the jail.  The Sheriff and Warden, defendants in a federal lawsuit filed by the advocates, claim that the jail has the coronavirus pandemic under control, but the plaintiffs and…

Read More
Women Did That! 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

One hundred years ago today, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote was ratified. Women’s suffrage was a century-long fight achieved through protest, advocacy and the legendary work of trailblazing women of color including Sojourner Truth, Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells. These women organized to combat racist policies, elect people of color to public office and create community institutions that provided mutual aid to their communities. Today, the nation cannot deny that women of color are a “…

Read More