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Chelsea Clinton delivered a clear message to all those watching “Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU” on Friday night: she’s not giving up and we shouldn’t either.

Introduced as the “alternate universe current first daughter of the United States,” Clinton stopped by the event to bring attention to voter suppression and the various efforts lawmakers utilize to prevent from certain groups from making it to the polls. 

“The right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy,” Clinton said. “It gives us, each and every citizen, a voice in how our government works. Sadly, this fundamental right is under attack all across the country. Dozens of states have passed laws in recent years making it harder to vote. These laws disproportionately affect minority groups, the poor and the elderly. Millions have been disenfranchised by voter ID laws alone.”

To drive her point home, Clinton then introduced viewers to Ruthelle Frank, a Wisconsin resident who’s been voting since 1948 without an official birth certificate. However, Frank has been barred from voting since 2011 because of a lack of proper ID, one of the many ways citizens are kept away from the voting booth. Five years ago, The ACLU partnered with Frank to fight the voter ID law, but the case is still being appealed in courts. 

After the clip, Clinton ended her donation ask with a powerful plea to Americans to never give up the fight. 

“Well, Ruthelle isn’t giving up and the ACLU isn’t giving up. I’m not giving up.  I hope that none of you are giving up because we know that our right to vote is fundamental precious and worth fighting for,” she added. “And we know that we need the ACLU to be part of leading this fight on all of our behalf, so if you believe that please, please put that belief into action and give.”

Since her mother Hillary Clinton lost the election, rumors have swirled that Chelsea might run for public office. The former first daughter addressed the speculation about her political future in an interview with Variety published Wednesday.

“I really am constantly surprised by the stories of me running for, fill in the blank — Congress, Senate, City Council, the presidency,” Clinton said. “I really find this all rather hysterical, because I’ve been asked this question a lot throughout my life, and the answer has never changed.”

In the meantime, Clinton will be working on her children’s picture book titled She Persisted featuring the stories of powerful women throughout history like Harriet Tubman, Maria Tallchief, Claudette Colvin, Oprah Winfrey and Sonia Sotomayor.

Ready to give? Text POWER to 20222 to donate $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call to explain other actions you can take to help. (Terms here.) You can also support “Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU” by heading to the ACLU website. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

If there’s anyone who could compel Americans to stand up and fight for human rights, it’s “America’s sweetheart” Tom Hanks.

As the de facto host of “Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU” on Friday night, Hanks kicked off the evening on a lighter note with an off-the-cuff and “kooky” opening to encourage viewers to get in formation. 

The Oscar winner decided to distill the ACLU’s mission into emojis and slang to appeal to the internet-friendly millennials surfing at home because he’s got it like that.

“ICYMI, when our constitutional rights go MIA, the ACLU, aka the USA’s BFF, will be there ASAP    ,” Hanks said.

After welcoming celebrities like Tracy Morgan, Nia Vardalos and Zosia Mamet to the party, he turned his attention to the struggles facing immigrants in President Donald Trump’s America by asking the stars about their personal experiences. 

Considering Hanks wasn’t shy about voicing his political beliefs over the election season ― this is the man responsible for the most brutal Trump analogy after all ― it’s no surprise he was asked to open the event. Days after Trump was elected, Hanks delivered a powerful speech about America’s resilience. 

“We are going to be all right, because we constantly get to tell the whole world who we are,” he said.  “We constantly get to define ourselves as Americans. We do have the greatest country in the world. We may move at a slow pace, but we do have the greatest country in the world, because we are always moving towards a more perfect Union. That journey never ceases. It never stops.”

Ready to give? Text POWER to 20222 to donate $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call to explain other actions you can take to help. (Terms here.) You can also support “Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU” by heading to the ACLU website. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

President Donald Trump, who has been publicly accused of sexual assault by more than 15 women and was caught on tape boasting he could grab women “by the pussy” without their consent, has officially proclaimed April 2017 to be National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.  

In 2009, Barack Obama became the first president to officially proclaim April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, although activists had recognized the month as a time to boost awareness of sexual violence for several decades. Since 2009, a proclamation has been released each year by the White House. But 2017 brings us the first year that a president who has been accused of committing sexual assault has issued such a proclamation.

“At the heart of our country is the emphatic belief that every person has unique and infinite value,” reads the beginning of Trump’s statement. “We dedicate each April to raising awareness about sexual abuse and recommitting ourselves to fighting it. Women, children, and men have inherent dignity that should never be violated.”

The statement goes on to affirm a commitment to reducing and ending sexual violence, calling on all Americans “to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities.”

The Trump administration’s first Sexual Assault Awareness Month proclamation hits many of the same general notes that Obama’s statement did in 2016 ― with a few notable changes.

The 2017 proclamation removes any references to military sexual assault and adds a line on the importance of fighting “against the scourge of child pornography and its pernicious effects.” 

Most strikingly, the proclamation removes almost all references to rape culture, though Trump does acknowledge that “research has demonstrated the effectiveness of changing social norms that accept or allow indifference to sexual violence.”

In its first paragraph, Obama’s 2016 statement called on Americans to “stand up and speak out to change the culture that questions the actions of victims, rather than those of their attackers,” later “reaffirm[ing] our commitment to shift the attitudes that allow sexual assault to go unanswered and unpunished.” 

There are no such allusions to a culture of victim-blaming in Trump’s 2017 statement.

Trump is currently facing a defamation suit filed by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, who has accused Trump of kissing and groping her without her consent in 2007, a year after she had appeared on his reality TV show.

Read Trump’s full proclamation below:

At the heart of our country is the emphatic belief that every person has unique and infinite value. We dedicate each April to raising awareness about sexual abuse and recommitting ourselves to fighting it. Women, children, and men have inherent dignity that should never be violated.

According to the Department of Justice, on average there are more than 300,000 instances of rape or other sexual assault that afflict our neighbors and loved ones every year. Behind these painful statistics are real people whose lives are profoundly affected, at times shattered, and who are invariably in need of our help, commitment, and protection.

As we recognize National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we are reminded that we all share the responsibility to reduce and ultimately end sexual violence. As a Nation, we must develop meaningful strategies to eliminate these crimes, including increasing awareness of the problem in our communities, creating systems that protect vulnerable groups, and sharing successful prevention strategies.

My Administration, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, will do everything in its power to protect women, children, and men from sexual violence. This includes supporting victims, preventing future abuse, and prosecuting offenders to the full extent of the law. I have already directed the Attorney General to create a task force on crime reduction and public safety. This task force will develop strategies to reduce crime and propose new legislation to fill gaps in existing laws.

Prevention means reducing the prevalence of sexual violence on our streets, in our homes, and in our schools and institutions. Recent research has demonstrated the effectiveness of changing social norms that accept or allow indifference to sexual violence. This can be done by engaging young people to step in and provide peer leadership against condoning violence, and by mobilizing men and boys as allies in preventing sexual and relationship violence. Our families, schools, and communities must encourage respect for women and children, who are the vast majority of victims, and promote healthy personal relationships. We must never give up the fight against the scourge of child pornography and its pernicious effects on both direct victims and the broader culture. We recommit ourselves this month to establishing a culture of respect and appreciation for the dignity of every human being.

There is tremendous work to be done. Together, we can and must protect our loved ones, families, campuses, and communities from the devastating and pervasive effects of sexual assault. In the face of sexual violence, we must commit to providing meaningful support and services for victims and survivors in the United States and around the world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2017 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. I urge all Americans, families, law enforcement, health care providers, community and faith-based organizations, and private organizations to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-first.

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Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

The Pussycats might be on the move. 

The CW’s “Riverdale” hasn’t even finished its first season, but breakout star Ashleigh Murray already has her eye on a bright and leopard-spotted future for Josie and her bandmates, Melody and Val. 

The homegrown rock band is pretty much the equivalent of Destiny’s Child in the “Archie” universe (even teen redheads solving mysteries go to concerts sometimes, OK?) and are clearly destined for bigger and better things than the Riverdale High football halftime show. For the record, they slayed that one, too. 

“I would absolutely do a spinoff,” Murray told The Huffington Post during a recent Build Series interview. “I want to bring Josie to New York. I want her to have her first big city experience.”

Although “Riverdale” ditches everything that might be familiar to older generations of Archie readers for CW “regulation hotties” and major “Twin Peaks” vibes, a “Josie and the Pussycats” spinoff would actually stay true to the comic-book origins.

Josie made her first appearance in 1962 with Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals alongside Melody and Pepper, who was later replaced by Val. The girl group received their own cover seven years later and were a mainstay on comic-book store shelves until 1982. 

An animated series following the group’s misadventures also aired 16 episodes in the early 1970s and was later reconceptualized as “Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.” Yes, space.

“There have been discussions and wishful thinking,” Murray added about the potential of a spinoff. “I’ve been quoted saying that I didn’t want to, but it was solely because I didn’t want to live without the [cast]. They’re my family now. We talk all the time. I love them. To start this journey and then be pulled into another place, I know that’s what happens, but I don’t want to not be in school with Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. But I’ll do it.” 

Watch Murray’s full Build Series interview below. 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Mahershala Ali, Amy Poehler and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live. 

You can support the ACLU right away. Text POWER to 20222 to give $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call you to explain other actions you can take to help. Visit www.hmgf.org/t for terms. #StandForRights2017

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Remember when you were just a wee human, when a simple game like Super Mario Bros. could distract and amuse you for hours and the White House wasn’t a daily s**t show?

This administration really has become a challenge to describe, so let’s do it using something we actually like: Nintendo games. 

We perused our collection and tried to find the Nintendo games that would be the best fit for the members of Donald Trump’s cabinet.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

You can support the ACLU right away. Text POWER to 20222 to give $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call you to explain other actions you can take to help. Visit www.hmgf.org/t for terms. #StandForRights2017

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

WATCH Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Jon Hamm, Tracy Morgan, Padma Lakshmi, Amy Poehler and more of your favorite celebrities team up to entertain you during #StandForRights, a Facebook Live telethon to support the American Civil Liberties Union.

Expect incredible performances, hilarious skits and plenty of hijinks. Best of all, it’s for a great cause. 

“[It is] the collective will and tireless actions of ‘we the people’ that serve as a bulwark against unconstitutional and wrong-headed policies and executive orders,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement. “By supporting our work through this telethon, we can fight even harder to defend the rights guaranteed by our Constitution.”

Stand for Rights is produced by Friend of a Friend Productions, in partnership with The Huffington Post, Funny Or Die and Maggie Vision.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

WATCH Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Jon Hamm, Tracy Morgan, Padma Lakshmi, Amy Poehler and more of your favorite celebrities team up to entertain you during #StandForRights, a Facebook Live telethon to support the American Civil Liberties Union.

Expect incredible performances, hilarious skits and plenty of hijinks. Best of all, it’s for a great cause. 

“[It is] the collective will and tireless actions of ‘we the people’ that serve as a bulwark against unconstitutional and wrong-headed policies and executive orders,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement. “By supporting our work through this telethon, we can fight even harder to defend the rights guaranteed by our Constitution.”

Stand for Rights is produced by Friend of a Friend Productions, in partnership with The Huffington Post, Funny Or Die and Maggie Vision.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Rikers Island, the gigantic island of incarceration in New York City that serves as an embarrassing emblem of violence, cruelty and neglect in the American jail system, is finally on its way to shutting down for good.

Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Friday that a plan was in place to shutter the complex ― the nation’s second largest ― within the next 10 years. Many of the details are yet unclear, but at least part of the plan includes moving inmates to new, smaller jails scattered across the boroughs, according to The New York Times. Building those jails could cost around $10.6 billion.

An independent commission, created by City Council and headed by New York state chief judge Jonathan Lippman, reportedly plans to release more details on Sunday.

“New York City has always been better than Rikers Island,” de Blasio said in a press release. “[Its closure] will require that our state government, and each component of our criminal justice system, contribute to the reform efforts critical to reducing our jail population and improving re-entry services and educational programming.”

A draft of the Lippman’s report recommends reducing the Rikers population from 10,000 now to less than 5,000 in the near future, according to the New York Post.

“From 1991 to 2016, the daily jail population declined from more than 21,000 to 10,000,” the report states. “The recent history of New York City clearly demonstrates that crime and incarceration can be driven down simultaneously. Contrary to what many people believe, more jail does not mean more public safety.”

If it takes 10 years to close the facility completely, it may take a lifetime to shake off Rikers’ reputation.

Several federal reports over the years have found overwhelming evidence of systemic violence, excessive force and neglect at the facility. HuffPost’s Chris Mathias reports that solitary confinement is doled out like candy on Halloween. Assaults on inmates are a dime a dozen, and they’re often covered up. There are nearly 500 inmates between the ages of 16 to 18 there on any given day. It’s been called a revolving door for people of color and the poor.

Rikers also houses a disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates ― at one point, it had more mentally ill inmates than all of the state’s 24 psychiatric hospitals combined ― and critics have long said there’s not nearly enough treatment.

For many, its closure can’t come too soon.

“For too long, New Yorkers ― especially poor people of color ― have languished in this grist mill, where human rights abuses are routine,” Glenn E. Martin, president and founder of JustLeadershipUSA, said Friday. “Countless failed attempts at incremental reform have proven that the only viable solution is to close Rikers. I am grateful that Mayor de Blasio has joined the progressive majority.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

By now, you’re probably aware that Jordan Peele considers his movie “Get Out” to be a “social thriller” ― a genre he coined himself. 

The film has been both a box-office and critical success, earning over $150 million in ticket sales and settling at a 99 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (with only one negative review).

During a long media cycle for the movie, Jordan Peele appeared on numerous podcasts, including “Fresh Air” and “Nerdist,” and showed up in print publications, such as GQ and The New York Times. The Huffington Post suggested that “Get Out” is the type of movie the Oscars should pay attention to, and praised the ending as “a reason to go to the movies.”

If you’re reading this, you are probably, like us, already craving another great “social thriller” to watch ASAP. 

Although it may be a while before a new movie comes out, it’s already possible to discover an older film that may be brand new to you. During numerous interviews, Peele referenced “The Stepford Wives” as a good choice.

But in any case, it was a welcome surprise when streaming movie service Warner Archive reached out about a new curation by old Hollywood podcast host extraordinaire Karina Longworth, the creator of the popular “You Must Remember This.”

The curated list, which mostly focuses on movies from the mid-1900s, including “West Point” (1928), “Bombshell” (1933), “The Star” (1952) and “The Prince and the Showgirl” (1957), features a flick that might just interest “Get Out” fans.

Here’s Longworth talking to the Warner Archive about the 1942 movie “Cat People.”

I think the most essential film on the list is “Cat People.” It’s definitely something I would recommend for people who think they don’t like horror movies. It’s a masterclass in filmmaking with budgetary limitations, and its political allegory (critiquing the idea of American security as being synonymous with homogeneity, and the fear of the other) couldn’t be more timely. 

HuffPost sent a few follow-up questions Longworth’s way to get a further explanation of “Cat People” and its role in culture. Her responses are below.

You said “Cat People” is the most essential film on this list in your mind, due to its ability to create a successful political allegory on a low budget. Could you talk a bit more in length about the message the movie was trying to present and your understanding of how it was received?

Longworth: There’s a part in the “YMRT” episode I did on “Cat People’s” producer Val Lewton, in which Lewton is in a meeting at RKO and an executive says to him, “Remember, we don’t want any ‘messages’ in our movies.” Lewton responded, “Sorry, but my movies do have messages. The message is, death is good.” 

That deliberate antagonism of his bosses aside, all of Lewton’s films intentionally used the horror/thriller genre as an excuse to make movies about social and psychological life in the post-war world. In “Cat People,” Lewton depicts a cheerful, peace time America that equates a secure society with a homogenous one.

The “monster” is the foreign other who has infiltrated the American family by marrying a boring American man, and in a foreshadowing of the 1950s’ totally mixed-up ideas about women and sex, this exotic creature has to remain chaste in order to keep the monster locked up inside her.

If I had to explain what Lewton meant by the idea that his “message” is that “death is good,” I’d point to the fact that the harbinger of death in “Cat People” is also the film’s most sympathetic character, and is absolutely a victim of social circumstance. “Cat People” was a massive hit, probably because all of these ideas were subliminal rather than overt. 

Do you see parallels between “Cat People” and Jordan Peele’s recent stated goal to make social commentary horror (such as “Get Out”)? Do you think “Cat People” can be considered a urtext for that genre (if not necessarily for Peele specifically)?

I think the genre of horror (or, supernatural fiction) has been frequently used as a vehicle for social commentary and criticism. I wouldn’t call “Cat People” the single urtext, because it’s not part of the first or second wave of socially conscious supernatural films.

Certainly it is a classic, but it was actually probably more innovative in its visual style than in its social content. In terms of looking for other foundational films, prior to “Cat People,” a lot of the monster movies of the 1930s, including “King Kong” and “Frankenstein,” and two of my favorites, “Mad Love” and “The Walking Dead,” use the stories of monsters, and the idea of a porous line between life and death, to critique society.

If there is one single urtext, maybe it’s Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” 

Watch the trailer for “Cat People” below.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Mayor De Blasio announced a 10 year plan to close the notoriously violent New York prison facility Rikers Island on Friday afternoon. The decision comes after a year of aggressive crusading to shut down the prison from the #CLOSErikers campaign, which was founded by activist and former Rikers prisoner Glenn E. Martin.

In a statement sent to The Huffington Post, Martin said that he’s “grateful” the mayor has realized that the only solution to the prison’s problematic nature is to close it.

“For too long, New Yorkers – especially poor people of color – have languished in this grist mill, where human rights abuses are routine,” Martin said. “Countless failed attempts at incremental reform have proven that the only viable solution is to close Rikers.”

The campaign, which Martin founded in 2016, has done everything from follow the mayor to Florida to ensure he hears their concerns surrounding the prison to create a commercial calling the mayor out on his inaction around Rikers.

Martin, who was imprisoned at Rikers twice and currently has a brother in the prison, said the mayor’s announcement was “especially meaningful” to him.

“Mayor de Blasio has finally heard the demands of the #CLOSErikers campaign, and we thank him for recognizing that the problem with Rikers is Rikers,” he continued.

Martin is also a member of the Lippman Commission which, in a 97 page report provided to the mayor, outlined ways to successfully go about closure of the prison.  

Aside from his intent to close the island and open other jails in its place, the mayor’s full plan has not yet been released. But is expected to include some of the suggestions from the commission’s report.

You can read more about the mayor’s announcement here. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices