Category Archives: Human Rights

Clinton Global Initiative, Taking Place Sept. 18-19 in NYC, Focuses on Facilitating Actions that Make Tangible Difference in Lives Around the World


At the 2022 Clinton Global Initiative, themed “Taking Action Together,” President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton present the Clinton Global Citizen Award to long-time fighter for human, civil, workers and immigrant rights, Dolores Huerta. This year’s meeting, taking place Sept. 18-19 in NYC, will focus on what it takes to keep going—to maintain and advance progress, in spite of the difficulties that arise. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Clinton Global Initiative taking place in New York City September 18-19, is aimed at bringing together organizations across government, business, and civil society; established and emerging leaders; activists and advocates; and community workers and doers who are on the front lines of our most pressing global challenges, and facilitate collaborations and actions that have real impact on people’s lives around the world.

Launched by President Clinton in 2005, CGI has built a community of doers who are taking action to make a tangible difference in people’s lives around the world.

CGI works with partners to develop Commitments to Action, which are new, specific, and measurable solutions. Since 2005, more than 3,900 Commitments to Action have been launched through CGI. At the 2022 meeting, members of the CGI community launched more than 140 Commitments to Action that are now improving access to health care, advancing sustainability, creating employment opportunities, supporting refugee resettlement, and more.

President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton, in a letter to the CGI community,  said this year’s meeting would focus on how to “keep going” – in spite of the difficulties that arise – to build a stronger future for all.

“We all have the power to make a difference, and therefore the responsibility at least to try. This fundamental belief is what led us to call the CGI community back together in 2022. The response was remarkable: more than 2,000 leaders attended our September meeting in New York City, where more than 650 partnering organizations came together to launch more than 140 Commitments to Action – new, specific, measurable projects. All told, the CGI community has now made more than 3,900 Commitments.

“Throughout 2023, we’ve built on that momentum, convening leaders, innovators and dreamers across geographies and areas of focus to forge new partnerships and drive further action, all to achieve more durable, meaningful and yes, measurable impact. In the spring alone, we hosted events on five continents to get input from the CGI network and bring more partners into the fold—and we heard from you over and over again how important it is to reconvene CGI again this September.

“That’s why, on September 18-19, we will gather again in New York City. This year’s meeting will focus on what it takes to keep going—to maintain and advance progress, in spite of the difficulties that arise, and increase our capacity to cross the divides and make common cause with one another wherever possible to build a stronger future for all.

“At CGI’s annual meeting, we’ll hear from those who are tackling some of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change, health inequities, food insecurity, economic inequality, threats to democracy around the world, and record-breaking refugee displacement. We will examine ways to channel energy and investment to scale solutions that are already improving people’s lives, and explore how tools like AI can be responsibly harnessed for good. As always, the focus will be on what we can do, not what we can’t—and will highlight how even seemingly small actions, when taken together, can turn the tide on even our most stubborn challenges.”

At CGI 2023, President ClintonSecretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton will be joined by leaders from across business, government, philanthropy, and civil society, including Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO, Flagship Pioneering; Co-Founder and Chairman, Moderna; Ajay Banga, World Bank President; Jason Buechel, CEO, Whole Foods; Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education; Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO, Airbnb; DanielsDaniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Directors/Writers/Producers; Philip E. Davis, Prime Minister, The Bahamas; Patrick Dempsey, Actor, Producer, Founder and Board Member of The Dempsey Center; Michael J. Fox, Founder, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; Maura Healey, Governor, Massachusetts; Kathy Hochul, Governor, New York; Padma Lakshmi, Host/Executive Producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, Writer, and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador; Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO, MercyCorps; David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Wes Moore, Governor, Maryland; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization; Noel Quinn, CEO, HSBC; J.B. Pritzker, Governor, Illinois; Liev Schreiber, Co-Founder, Blue Check Ukraine; Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; will.i.am, President & Founder, i.am Angel Foundation.

Additional featured participants include Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, Founder, President, and CEO, InterEnergy; Nicole Hockley, CEO, Sandy Hook Promise; Eugenia Kargbo, Arsht-Rock Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer of Cisco; Sophia Kianni, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Cardinals; Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Author; Peter Laugharn, President and CEO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Sage Lenier, Founder & Executive Director, Sustainable & Just Future; Louise Emmanuelle Mabulo, Founder, The Cacao Project; Janet Murguía, President, UnidosUS; Vaishali Nigam-Sinha, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Sustainability, ReNew Energy Global PLC; ‘Aholotu Palu, Chief Executive of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company; Amy Pope, Incoming Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Founder and CEO, Zipline; Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Founder & Chair, Council for Inclusive Capitalism and CEO, E.L. Rothschild; Paul Stormoen, CEO, OX2; Pete Upton, CEO and Chairperson, Native CDFI Network; Asha Varghese, President, Caterpillar Foundation; Gary White, Co-Founder, Water.org; Debra Whitman, Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer, AARP; Darrin Williams, CEO, Southern Bancorp.

Previously announced featured participants include José Andrés, Founder and Chief Feeding Officer, World Central Kitchen; Orlando Bloom, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador; Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer; Jesper Brodin, Chairman and CEO, INGKA Holding; Matt Damon, Co-Founder, Water.org; Tony Elumelu, Founder and Chair, The Tony Elumelu Foundation; Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Ashley Judd, Author and Goodwill Ambassador, UNFPA; Karlie Kloss, Entrepreneur and Founder of Kode With Klossy; Lorenzo P. Lewis, Founder, the Confess Project; Tsitsi Masiyiwa, Co-Founder and Chair of Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies; Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Ai-jen Poo, President, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; Ai Weiwei, Artist; and more.

The schedule for CGI 2023, including plenary and spotlight sessions, can be found at www.clintonglobal.org/2023.

Sponsors for the CGI 2023 meeting span a broad range of supporters from business, philanthropy, and civil society. CGI is grateful for their support in building a convening that will help drive action across the major global challenges of our time. They include InterEnergy/Evergo, Domuschiev Impact, AFT, American Beverage, APCO Worldwide, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Beatrice Snyder Foundation, Bob and Jane Harrison, Caterpillar Foundation, Christie’s, Cisco, Dream, The EKTA Foundation, The Elevate Prize Foundation, Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, Flagship Pioneering, Fondation Botnar, Global Education Foundation, Global Sae-A, JetBlue, Joyce Aboussie, The Marc Haas Foundation, The Masimo Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, MEBO International, Pernod Ricard USA, Pfizer Inc., SAP, Tarsadia Foundation, Teena Hostovich, The Nima Taghavi Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, Postcode Lottery Group is serving as a partner for the CGI 2023 Meeting. For the second consecutive year, decision intelligence company Morning Consult is serving as the official data partner.

The CGI 2023 Meeting will also include the return of two programs launched in 2022 – CGI Greenhouse that directly connects entrepreneurs with partnership and scaling opportunities; and the CGI Story Studio that inspires action through stories of frontline leaders and lived experiences.

You can livestream the event by registering to participate.

For schedules and information, visit www.clintonglobal.org/2023. Follow CGI on FacebookInstagramThreadsLinkedIn, and X, for meeting news and highlights.

The Status of Women is the Status of Democracy: Advancing Women’s Political and Civic Participation and Leadership at the Second Summit for Democracy

“Democracy not theocracy – protests in the United States over attacks on reproductive freedom, turning women and girls into second-class citizens without the same right to bodily autonomy or self-determination. Vice President Kamala Harris has said “the status of women is the status of democracy.” The ability of women and girls to participate safely, freely, and equally in political life and in society is a defining feature of democracy, but this hard-won progress is increasingly fragile. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

As Vice President Kamala Harris has said, “the status of women is the status of democracy.” The ability of women and girls to participate safely, freely, and equally in political life and in society is a defining feature of democracy, but this hard-won progress is increasingly fragile. Wherever women and girls are under threat, so, too, is democracy, peace, and stability—from Iran, where women are courageously demanding respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms in the face of oppression; to Ukraine, where we are once more seeing rape used as a weapon in Russia’s brutal and unjust war; to Afghanistan, where the Taliban bars women and girls from attending school and fully participating in society.

As we face unprecedented global challenges, we must harness the full potential, participation, and leadership of women and girls. In hosting the second Summit for Democracy, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing women’s political and civic participation and leadership and ensuring that they are at every table where decisions are being made. Research shows that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked, and that societies that foster gender discrimination and allow oppressive gender norms to flourish are more likely to be unstable. 

At the second Summit for Democracy, the Biden-Harris Administration highlighted key actions and progress made during the intervening Year of Action.

Accelerating Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership under the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal. At the first Summit, President Biden established the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, a landmark set of policy and foreign assistance initiatives that increase the Administration’s ongoing work to bolster democracy and defend human rights globally. Today, we are building on those efforts by:

  • Expanding the Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership Initiative, including in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Announced at the first Summit for Democracy, this USAID-led initiative works to dismantle barriers to the political empowerment of women and girls by building the pipeline of women leaders and facilitating their safe and meaningful participation in political, peacebuilding and transition processes. This initiative will expand efforts to prevent and mitigate violence against women in politics and public life. USAID is providing more than $15 million to this initiative and is beginning program implementation in eight focus countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Kyrgyz Republic, and Yemen.
  • Establishing the Network for Gender Inclusive Democracy: USAID is launching a Network for Gender Inclusive Democracy (Network) to provide strategic direction and a platform for bilateral donors, intergovernmental institutions, civil society and academic partners to align their multilateral and country-level efforts in support of women’s political and civic participation and leadership.  The Network will facilitate coordination, knowledge-sharing, and policy advocacy and carry forward the work of the Cohort on Gender Equality as a Prerequisite for Democracy, including the policy recommendations and roadmap developed during the Year of Action.
     
  • Investing in SHE PERSISTS (Supporting Her Empowerment: Political Engagement, Rights, Safety, and Inclusion Strategies to Succeed). The State Department will invest $2 million over this year in support of SHE PERSISTS, an initiative announced at the first Summit for Democracy that bolsters women’s political participation and empowerment to build and sustain good governance and lasting democracy globally.  This multi-year program provides funding for technical assistance to advance women’s safety, political participation and empowerment, and initiatives for inclusive democracy, with a focus on diverse groups and marginalized populations.

Advancing Women’s Involvement in Peace and Security Efforts. Women’s participation in peace and security processes—as peacekeepers, leaders, and members of the defense and security sector—is essential to global security, stability and democracy. To advance women’s meaningful participation, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken the following actions:

  • Investing in SHE WINS (Support Her Empowerment: Women’s Inclusion for New Security): The Department of State is investing an additional $1.7 million, working with Congress and subject to the availability of funds, for the SHE WINS initiative, a nearly $10 million program that advances the leadership of local women and women-led civil society organizations to address peace and security challenges in their communities. Since the first Summit for Democracy, SHE WINS has initiated projects in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Papua New Guinea, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. To provide agile, easy-to-access funds that directly support women-led groups facing emerging crises and challenges related to Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), the State Department launched the SHE WINS Rapid Response Fund in November 2022.
     
  • Co-Chairing the Women, Peace, and Security Focal Points Network. The United States, in partnership with the government of Romania, is the 2023 Co-Chair of the UN Women-led Women, Peace, and Security Focal Points Network (WPS-FPN), a cross-regional forum coordinated by UN Women to share best practices and experiences to advance WPS globally.  As co-chair, the U.S. will host the WPS-FPN Capital Level Meeting in June 2023, bringing together representatives and leaders from over 95 different countries and organizations, including members of Congress and the Administration. 
     
  • Reducing Gaps for Women’s Participation in Security Forces: In consultation with the Department of State, the Department of Defense is establishing a pilot program to conduct an assessment of opportunities for women’s involvement in the security forces of select partner nations.  Through this multi-year program, the Department of Defense intends to standardize the way it assesses barriers to women’s participation in partner nation security forces, in order to inform future security cooperation activities.

The Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse (Global Partnership). A commitment from the first Summit for Democracy and launched at the 66th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Global Partnership, which currently has 12 participating governments, brings together international organizations, civil society, and the private sector to prioritize, understand, prevent, and address the growing scourge of technology-facilitated gender-based violence,  which disproportionately impacts women and LGBTQI+ political and public figures, leaders, journalists and activists.

Today, alongside the release of the Global Partnership’s 2023 Roadmap, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing key actions and investments to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and counter its chilling effects on women leaders and democratic participation, including more than $13 million in targeted funding across USAID and the Department of State. Key actions include:

  • Combatting technology-facilitated violence targeting women in politics and public life, including gendered disinformation.
    • Transform Digital Spaces Initiative (Transform). USAID is launching Transform, with planned investments of up to $6 million over three years, to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, especially violence perpetrated against women in politics and public life. Transform’s pilot projects across three countries will integrate expertise from women-led civil society organizations working to address gender-based violence, women’s political and civic participation, and digital democracy.  Transform will synthesize and share practical, comparative knowledge drawn from these pilots to inform global efforts to address this problem. 
       
    • Promoting Information Integrity and Resilience Initiative (ProInfo). This week, USAID will announce the Promoting Information and Resilience Integrity (Pro-Info) Initiative, which will build on the work of the Summit for Democracy Information Integrity Cohort, and expand efforts by USAID and the U.S. Department of State to strengthen information integrity and resilience globally, with efforts to address the disproportionate targeting of women and LGBTQI+ leaders, activists, and public figures.
       
    • Capacity-building to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence globally, including access to services for survivors. Working with Congress and subject to the availability of funds, the Department of State will continue to invest over $7 million in programs focused on documenting, mitigating, preventing and responding to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and integrating solutions that address online harassment and abuse, including support for women in public-facing roles in politics and the media, through: small grants for awareness, prevention and digital safety workshops; access to legal and psychosocial services for survivors; and programs to encourage collaboration between civil society organizations focused on gender-based violence and digital rights, to support coalitions to promote institutional change.
       
  • Expanding data and research on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
    • Deepening the evidence base on gendered disinformation. Today, the State Department Global Engagement Center (GEC) is releasing a public Executive Summary of a joint research report on gendered disinformation. Conducted with Canada, the European External Action Service, Germany, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom, the groundbreaking global study finds that state and non-state actors use gendered disinformation to silence women, discourage online political discourse, and shape perceptions toward gender and the role of women in democracies, and underscore the need for more research to tackle this scourge.
       
    • Measuring technology-facilitated gender-based violence through Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). In 2023, USAID will pilot questions within the DHS Domestic Violence Module in two countries with high internet penetration rates to measure technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
       
  • Advancing U.S. policies to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Countries represented on the Global Partnership—including the United States—make a commitment to advance activities within their own countries to prioritize and address gender-based online harassment and abuse.  In support of that commitment, the Administration has taken the following key actions:
    • Building a blueprint for action to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence. To tackle this scourge in the U.S, President Biden established a Task Force with a mandate to identify concrete actions in a Blueprint to prevent online harassment and abuse, provide support for survivors, increase accountability, and expand research. Last month, the White House published an Executive Summary of the initial Task Force blueprint, which includes a broad range of new and expanded commitments from Federal agencies to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence across four lines of effort: Prevention, Survivor Support, Accountability, and Research. 
       
    • Integrating a gender lens in the National Cybersecurity Strategy. Earlier this month, the Administration released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which integrates a gender lens across key priorities to secure cyberspace and our digital ecosystem, including the imperative of increasing the participation of women and LGBTQI+ persons in the cybersecurity workforce; recognizing how technologies are misused to proliferate online harassment, exploitation, and abuse; and prioritizing partnerships, such as the Global Partnership, and the Freedom Online Coalition, to advance common cybersecurity interests.
       

Prioritizing technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to GBV Globally. In December 2022, the Administration released an updated U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, which bolsters U.S. commitments to prevent and address this global scourge, including a specific objective to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

FACT SHEET: Biden Signs Executive Order to Strengthen Racial Equity, Support Underserved Communities

Nieves Ayress, Member of Trabajadoras por la Paz, activist in South Bronx, speaks out for women’s reproductive freedom and against gender-based violence at a NYC rally for the 50th anniversary of Roe. President Biden is directing U.S. foreign policy and assistance to address the factors that increase the risks of gender-based violence and undermine access to services and safety, particularly for the most marginalized groups, and enhance the U.S. Government’s partnerships to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

On his first day in office, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. That Order emphasized the enormous human costs of systemic racism and persistent poverty, and provided a powerful and unprecedented mandate for all federal agencies to launch a whole-of-government approach to equity. Over the past two years, agencies have taken historic steps toward ensuring that federal programs are serving the American people in an equitable and just manner and supporting communities that have been locked out of opportunity. Through the implementation of landmark legislation and historic executive action, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to make real the promise of America for everyone—including rural communities, communities of color, Tribal communities, LGBTQI+ individuals, people with disabilities, women and girls, and communities impacted by persistent poverty.
 
Despite the meaningful progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made, the reality is that underserved communities—many of whom have endured generations of discrimination and disinvestment—still confront unacceptable barriers to equal opportunity and the American Dream.  It is imperative that we reject the narrow, cramped view of American opportunity as a zero-sum game. When any segment of society is denied the full promise of America, our entire Nation is held back. But when we lift each other up, we are all lifted up. As the President has said: “Advancing equity is not a one-year project. It’s a generational commitment.”  
 
To strengthen the federal government’s ability to address the barriers that underserved communities continue to face, President Biden signed a new Executive Order, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. This second Order reaffirms the Administration’s commitment to deliver equity and build an America in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.
 
The Executive Order:

  • Launches a new annual process to strengthen racial equity and support for underserved communities. Building on the initial Equity Action Plans developed under Executive Order 13985, this Executive Order directs agencies to produce an annual public Equity Action Plan that will assess and include actions to address the barriers underserved communities may face in accessing and benefitting from the agency’s policies, programs, and activities.
     
  • Empowers Federal equity leaders. The Executive Order strengthens requirements for agencies to build and resource Agency Equity Teams and designate senior leaders accountable for implementing the President’s equity mandate. In line with the President’s commitment to advancing gender equity and equality at home and abroad and the President’s commitment to advancing environmental justiceequality for LGBTQI+ individuals, and other equity work streams, this Executive Order fosters greater collaboration and accountability, and streamlines agencies’ reporting of progress and planning in order to advance equity in support of all those who face overlapping discrimination and bias.
     
  • Strengthens community partnerships and engagement. Too often, underserved communities face significant hurdles and a legacy of exclusion in engaging with federal agencies and providing input on the very federal policies and programs that impact them. The Executive Order requires agencies to improve the quality, frequency, and accessibility of their community engagement, and to consult with impacted communities as each agency develops its Equity Action Plan, funding opportunities, budget proposals, and regulations.
     
  • Invests in underserved communities. The Executive Order directs the Office of Management and Budget to support implementation of the annual agency Equity Action Plans through the President’s budget request to Congress. The Executive Order also formalizes the President’s goal of increasing the share of federal contracting dollars awarded to small disadvantaged business (SDBs) by 50 percent by 2025, and instructs agencies to expand procurement opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses through grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and other investments and programs that flow through states and local entities.
     
  • Improves economic opportunity in rural and urban communities. The Executive Order directs agencies to spur economic growth in rural areas and advance more equitable urban development by ensuring that federal resources contribute to building wealth and opportunity in these communities through locally-led development.
     
  • Addresses emerging civil rights risks. The Executive Order instructs agencies to focus their civil rights authorities and offices on emerging threats, such as algorithmic discrimination in automated technology; improve accessibility for people with disabilities; improve language access services; and consider opportunities to bolster the capacity of their civil rights offices. It further directs agencies to ensure that their own use of artificial intelligence and automated systems also advances equity.
     
  • Promotes data equity and transparency. The Interagency Working Group on Equitable Data created by the day one Executive Order has been institutionalized at the National Science and Technology Council. This Executive Order directs the body to facilitate better collection, analysis, and use of demographic data to advance equity, and to regularly report on progress to the White House and the American public.

Since the release of their Equity Action Plans in April 2022, federal agencies continue to take ambitious action to expand federal investment in and support for underserved communities. For instance, the following are some recent actions to advance equity:

  • The Department of Agriculture is administering $3.1 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding to distressed USDA farm loan borrowers and is expediting assistance for those whose agricultural operations are at financial risk. The Department will also provide $2.2 billion in assistance to farmers who have experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending programs.
     
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development is administering $2.8 billion in competitive funding to homeless services organizations across the country for wrap-around services and housing programs for people experiencing homelessness. To combat the long history of discrimination in housing, the Department has proposed a new “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule to help overcome patterns of segregation and to hold state, localities, and public housing agencies that receive federal funds accountable for ensuring that underserved communities have equitable access to affordable housing opportunities.
     
  • The Department of Transportation issued proposed rules to modernize the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program regulations to help further level the playing field for small disadvantaged businesses, including Black and brown owned businesses. The Department also adopted a set of Disability Policy Priorities to guide efforts to ensure people with disabilities can move freely, fairly, safely, affordably, and spontaneously through every part of our transportation system and released the Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights to empower travelers to understand their rights and help the travel industry uphold those rights.
     
  • The Department of the Treasury established the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Department on matters related to the advancement of racial equity, particularly aspects of the domestic economy that have directly and indirectly resulted in unfavorable conditions for communities of color. The Committee is addressing topics like financial inclusion, access to capital, housing stability, federal supplier diversity, and economic development. The agency also created a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs to work across its portfolio on issues related to Tribal nations, and intends to work with Congress to ensure this office is adequately resourced to carry out its mission.
     
  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program to foster partnerships between the agency and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), community colleges, and very high research-intensive universities. The program focuses on providing students with paid research and engineering opportunities to support the transition of undergraduate students into graduate programs and/or employment with NASA and in the broader science and engineering fields; it supports capacity-building efforts at partner institutions that are historically under-resourced in the NASA research and engineering enterprise.
     
  • The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development released the 2022 U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, directing U.S. foreign policy and assistance to address the factors that increase the risks of gender-based violence and undermine access to services and safety, particularly for the most marginalized groups, and enhance the U.S. Government’s partnerships to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
     
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs is engaging in robust outreach to veterans, including those who are not already in the VA system, particularly veterans in underserved communities, to ensure that they receive information on potential eligibility through the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veteran health care and benefits in decades. In addition to having hosted more than 125 PACT Act ‘Week of Action’ events across the country and Puerto Rico, VA is developing a National Rural Recruitment and Hiring Plan for health care professionals to better reach under-resourced communities; exploring efforts to increase the workforce in rural and underserved areas to provide PACT Act benefits; and spearheading targeted social media outreach and events to foster awareness of PACT Act benefits among women and minority veterans.
     
  • The Department of Defense awarded $27 million to HBCUs to conduct research in defense critical technology areas, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, cyber security, and autonomy. This investment will enhance the capacity of the HBCUs to participate more fully in the Department’s research programs and activities, while also elevating their own research rankings among other universities and improving potential access to federal research funding, philanthropic donations, and other funding sources. Additionally, the Department selected Howard University as the first HBCU to lead a University Affiliated Research Center with a five-year $90 million contract.
     
  • The Department of the Interior announced $2.7 million in funding to support Tribes’ planning activities for the installation or expansion of broadband internet, which will improve the quality of life, spur economic development and commercial activity, create opportunities for self-employment, enhance educational resources and remote learning opportunities, and meet emergency and law enforcement needs in Native American communities.
     
  • The Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Management and Budget are coordinating the Justice40 Initiative, which is transforming hundreds of federal programs to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other federal investments to disadvantaged communities. The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool measures burdens such as legacy pollution and projected climate risk to identify 27,251 geographically-defined disadvantaged communities across the U.S. that can benefit from the Justice40 Initiative.
     
  • The President took bold action to address our failed approach to marijuana. The criminalization of marijuana possession has upended too many lives—for conduct that is now legal in many states. While white, Black, and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are disproportionately arrested, prosecuted and convicted for it. In October 2022, the President announced a full, unconditional, and categorical pardon for prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple possession of marijuana. This pardon lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people with those prior convictions. The President also called on every state governor to follow his lead, as most marijuana prosecutions take place at the state and local level. And because this Administration is guided by science and evidence, he called on the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to expeditiously review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.
     
  • The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy also released the first-ever federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity, a roadmap that federal agencies will use to ensure they are collecting the data and building the evidence they need to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ Americans.
     
  • The White House hosted the second Tribal Nations Summit of this Administration to help foster Nation-to-Nation relationships and provide Tribal leaders with an opportunity to engage directly with senior Administration officials. The President signed a new Presidential Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation, establishing uniform standards to be implemented across all federal agencies regarding how Tribal consultations are conducted. In the FY23 omnibus funding law, the Administration also secured—for the first time in history— advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, which will ensure a more predictable funding stream and improve health outcomes across Indian Country.

To read more about additional steps agencies have taken and details on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to advance equity and justice for underserved communities, visit www.whitehouse.gov/equity. Find all agency 2022 Equity Action Plans and links to other equity-related public documents at www.performance.gov/equity.
 

NY’s AG James at Long Island Synagogue Where MLK Preached: ‘We Stand United Against Hate, Bigotry’

Closing out the annual MLK Shabbat service at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, Long Island, keynote speaker New York State Attorney General Letitia James joins Rabbi A. Brian Stoller, Cantor Adam Davis, Conductor Nigel Gretton and the choir to sing “We Shall Overcome.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com

Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, Long Island, New York, has long been an social justice and civil rights activist, and for more than 25 years, has hosted a Martin Luther King Shabbat Service. Indeed, Martin Luther King Jr., himself, addressed Temple Beth-El congregation from this pulpit 56 years ago.

“We do this service every year not merely to remember an historical event—as though it were a moment, or a series of moments, that occurred once and are now fossilized in time,” said Rabbi A. Brian Stoller. “If that were the case, we could simply read about it in history books as a matter of curiosity. We come together at sacred moments like this, year after year, to translate history into present and future.”

It is fitting that the MLK Shabbat Service happens to come when the Torah reading for Jews everywhere begins reading the book of Exodus, the story of how Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Milk and Honey.

Attorney General Letitia James gave the keynote. Here are highlights from her remarks:

The greatest honor and sign of respect is to be invited into another’s place of worship – this is a holy place. So many others have spoken here. I am  honored and privileged to say a few words this evening, and be welcomed to your sanctuary. You can never take that for granted – many places in world, even in this country to have Jews, Christians, blacks, whites, young, old, coming together for most basic ritual we do.

That we are all together tonight, cannot be overstated – to pray, for spiritual enrichment, to summon God, to commemorate freedom from bondage and commemorate creation.

We all know someone who gave up something to be here – who sacrificed lives – parent/grandparents, survived Holocaust, pograms – perhaps we have some here this evening.

Our ancestors enslaved in Egypt, Europe and here in America – our ancestors fought for our right to be here- standing up to their oppressors, taking risks, protesting injustice.

It feels fitting that we receive that message from Torah this week, the week we honor the life, legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. – the person we most credit for the fight for civil rights, the quest for freedom.One of the most influential figures to enter history.

There were two midwives who engaged in the first recorded instance of civil disobedience: the new pharaoh decreed Jewish people were now slaves, midwives should kill their baby boys when they were born. But Shiphrah and Puah refused, feared doing something immortal more than they feared the pharaoh – midwives do what they do because that’s what a human being is supposed to do.

Pharoah continued to enslave the Jewish people for [400] years to come – but acts paved the way for Pharaoh’s daughter to take Moses from the river to nurture. Moses, who ultimately freed the Jewish people and lead them to the promised land.

We should learn from these midwives and pharoah’s daughter that when faced [with evil], even if means disobeying the rules, angering those who are powerful, [when called to do the right thing] the answer is simple, the answer is yes.

Dr. King led movement of ordinary people fed up with the injustices of society, savage inequities, who refused to move to the back of the bus, refused to leave the lunch counter, attend inferior schools, live in uninhabitable housing, but who could not exercise most basic right, right to vote.

He had hope for a better society [and that people would come forward like] Shiphrah and Puah, who marched with Dr King.

56 years ago Dr. King was here at this congregation, speaking of his vision that one day would live in harmony. He had two versions: “One is a beautiful America, where there is the milk of opportunity and the honey of equality. There is another America where the daily ugliness has transformed the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair.”

NYS Attorney General Letitia James at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck for the annual MLK Shabbat Service: “I will stand with you …there is no space between us, to move our nation closer to the vision that Dr King had for all of us, because we, my friends, are all children of his dream, and that dream must live on. His legacy deserves it, we deserve it, so do our children.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

We made progress but much more to do – there are many pharaohs who stand in our way, who try to push us down, drag us backwards – too many who would take advantage of the most vulnerable to line their pockets, who spread hate, who separate us by race and artificial constructs.

It can feel like we are in the eye of moral crisis. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by hate and bigotry that continues to spread in America. I am sure I am not alone.

It is overwhelming when we read of acts of antisemitism every day, see shocking videos of bigoted, deadly assaults against our fellow citizens, even worse, when we see children commit these acts of hate. Children should know better, should be taught to respect and love. . These individuals who engage in these deadly assaults simply because of racial, ethnic, religious differences, we must confront them, even if they are our neighbors, even if they look like us, we’ve got to confront them.

It can be all consuming to know white supremacists and their ideas are allowed to breed, fester in darkest corners of internet and basements, leading to Nazis in Charlottesville, and evil individuals targeting our houses of worship, like Mother Emanuel in Charleston, Tree of Life in Pittsburgh, a grocery store named Topps in Buffalo.

We can feel paralyzed by widespread attacks on fundamental rights, not knowing how to turn and respond, even as I stand before you, watching nationwide effort to deny us our voting rights, wystemic dismantling of hard fought civil rights gained at the Supreme Court, and efforts around the country to erase the Black and Jewish experience from textbooks, Diversity, inclusion at elementary schools, college campuses, workplaces.

Through it all, we find comfort that those who have seen ugly face of hate – women, Jews, Blacks, Asian, LBGTQ – understand we all carry the responsibility of standing up to it, have a special charge to show up and stand up for one another.

As an African American, I have responsibility to speak out against antisemitism, not just allow only the Jewish community to speak out, just as Martin Luther King reminded us that though it was illegal to aid and comfort Jews in Hitler’s Germany, but had he lived in Germany then, he would have aided Jewish brothers and sisters, even if it were illegal.

We have a responsibility to stand up taller, speak louder, act more deliberately, and if history is any guide for the future, we have so much to be hopeful about.

Jews and blacks have a long history that is intertwined – hands that made bricks without straw, joining with the hands that picked cotton, the hands of drum majors for justice, righteousness, all of us.

So many times in history, there were Jews who disobeyed the rules because they knew how wrong the rules were – this is what should be taught.

Far back, it was Jewish merchants in the South who would address Blacks as Mr. and Mrs., who would allow Black customers to enter the front door, not the back.

And Jewish leaders were some of earliest supporters of groundbreaking organizations and Jewish philanthropists like Julius Rosenthal [along with Henry Moscowitz, Lillian Wald, and Rabbis Emil Hirsh and Stephen Wise who in 1909] founded the NAACP and created the first HBUC schools like Howard University School of Law – because he believed that Black children should have the same opportunity as white children

And when the fight for freedom hit the Supreme Court, it was research by American Jewish Committee and the Anti Defamation League, and American Jewish Congress that helped prevail – and all that was done in the halls of Howard University, where Blacks and Jews together came up with the winning legal strategy to overcome segregation in this nation.

During the 1960s, it was Jews [like Rabbi Walter Plaut of Temple Emanuel in Great Neck] who rode freedom buses in the South, stayed in humble homes, marched in Selma, Birmingham, and they died too.

Blood scattered all over the South. No one said Black blood, Jewish blood, just blood of those who died for what was right.

They worked voter registration drives because they believed the color of your skin didn’t make you more or, less of a person. Everyone’s voice should be equal.

It would have been easier, safer to follow the rules, stay home, stay silent, but no, the Torah teaches you that the moral imperative is to act – far greater than following the rules.

[As one who rarely follows rules I know] they knew consequences in face of such hateful aggressors but they acted anyway.

In 1963, at the March on Washington, before MLK delivered the “I have dream” speech, Rabbi [Joachim] Prinz  [President of the American Jewish Congress] spoke, saying, “When I was the Rabbi of the Jewish community of Berlin under Hitler, I learned many things, most important was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem, the most urgent and the most disgraceful, shameful, tragic problem is silence.”

Just months before, while Martin Luther King was sitting in a Birmingham jail, arrested for participating in civil rights demonstration, he wrote, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

Some 60 years later, the good people are making their voices heard. The moral arc of universe is long but bends toward justice.

Continue to carry Dr King’s fight through 2023 and beyond.

Stand up for what we believe in, fighting back against those forces that seek to deny and divide us, committing to forward progress and being responsible to do right thing even when the odds are stacked against; breaking the rules that never should have been rules in the first place.

MLK had the audacity to stand up for the moral compass of our society.

Even though I may have my moments of doubt, sadness, I remain overwhelmingly hopeful, buoyed by progress we have made.

Just think: regardless of your politics tonight, when you see the son of a black woman who picked cotton, and the grandson of Jewish immigrants, standing together [as U.S.Senators] in a state in the cradle of Deep South, that’s progress.

When leaders of Democratic party in the Congress are Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that’s progress.

And I am hopeful the cries for justice and equality are too loud, too strong and too diverse to be silenced or ignored, we march with millions of feet for progress cannot be ignored not now, or ever.

I am hopeful love, acceptance, inclusion will always push out hate, darkness, that these will be the ideals you pass along to your children…Teach them the beauty of all God’s children, that silence in face of hate and discrimination simply cannot be.

And God’s love, ah, god’s love knows no race, or ethnicity, that we are all covered by his grace and mercy.

I am hopeful because of people like all of you in this room – seeing that spark that ignites the fires of change, always simmering but never fully flamed throughout our nation’s history.

 I am thankful this temple would embrace this woman, who believes in change, and fights each and every day for progress..

56 years ago you welcomed Dr King to your congregation at a time when people still feared each other and when many questioned Dr King’s intentions.

This congregation knew painfully well what was at stake and the heavy toll of silence…

In the beautiful words of your executive director, Stuart Botwinick, “Jews have a special responsibility to hold up and support those who are held down, and we continue till this day to look towards equality and civil rights, do our part to lift people up.”

All of you are essential to make progress possible, when it comes to fight the ugly face of discrimination…

I will stand with you …there is no space between us, to move our nation closer to the vision that Dr King had for all of us, because we, my friends, are all children of his dream, and that dream must live on. His legacy deserves it, we deserve it, so do our children…Let’s pray and keep the dream alive.

__________________________

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Biden at UN Slams Russia’s Ukraine Invastion, Calls for Action on Climate Change, Human Rights, Global Health, Nuclear NonProliferation

President Joe Biden at the United Nations General Assembly: So let’s stand together to again declare the unmistakable resolve that nations of the world are united still, that we stand for the values of the U.N. Charter, that we still believe by working together we can bend the arc of history toward a freer and more just world for all our children, although none of us have fully achieved it. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features via msnbc.

President Joe Biden presented America’s foreign policy manifesto in his speech to the United Nations 77th General Assembly in New York, asserting a world striving toward equity, shared progress, social, economic and environmental justice, just as he has endeavored to implement at home. He called out Russia, China and others for their human rights abuses, called for climate action, global health initiatives, food security, cooperation rather than competition on the technology advances to improve the lives of everyone. He called for diplomacy instead of conflict and a reaffirmation of the rule of law and the essential founding principles embodied in the United Nations Charter.

“So let’s stand together to again declare the unmistakable resolve that nations of the world are united still, that we stand for the values of the U.N. Charter, that we still believe by working together we can bend the arc of history toward a freer and more just world for all our children, although none of us have fully achieved it,” Biden declared. “We’re not passive witnesses to history; we are the authors of history. We can do this — we have to do it — for ourselves and for our future, for humankind.”

Here is an edited, highlighted transcript – Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

11:08 A.M. EDT
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you. 
 
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, my fellow leaders, in the last year, our world has experienced great upheaval: a growing crisis in food insecurity; record heat, floods, and droughts; COVID-19; inflation; and a brutal, needless war — a war chosen by one man, to be very blunt. 
 
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Let us speak plainly.  A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map. 
 
Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter — no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force. 
 
Again, just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe and a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non-proliferation regime. 
 
Now Russia is calling — calling up more soldiers to join the fight.  And the Kremlin is organizing a sham referenda to try to annex parts of Ukraine, an extremely significant violation of the U.N. Charter. 
 
This world should see these outrageous acts for what they are.  Putin claims he had to act because Russia was threatened.  But no one threatened Russia, and no one other than Russia sought conflict. 
 
In fact, we warned it was coming.  And with many of you, we worked to try to avert it.
 
Putin’s own words make his true purpose unmistakable.  Just before he invaded, Putin asserted — and I quote — Ukraine was “created by Russia” and never had, quote, “real statehood.”
 
And now we see attacks on schools, railway stations, hospitals, wa- — on centers of Ukrainian history and culture. 

In the past, even more horrifying evidence of Russia’s atrocity and war crimes: mass graves uncovered in Izyum; bodies, according to those that excavated those bodies, showing signs of torture. 
 
This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people.  Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not — that should make your blood run cold.
 
That’s why 141 nations in the General Assembly came together to unequivocally condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine.  The United States has marshaled massive levels of security assistance and humanitarian aid and direct economic support for Ukraine — more than $25 billion to date. 
 
Our allies and partners around the world have stepped up as well.  And today, more than 40 countries represented in here have contributed billions of their own money and equipment to help Ukraine defend itself. 
 
The United States is also working closely with our allies and partners to impose costs on Russia, to deter attacks against NATO territory, to hold Russia accountable for the atrocities and war crimes.
 
Because if nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences, then we put at risk everything this very institution stands for.  Everything.
 
Every victory won on the battlefield belongs to the courageous Ukrainian soldiers.  But this past year, the world was tested as well, and we did not hesitate. 
 
We chose liberty.  We chose sovereignty.  We chose principles to which every party to the United Nations Charter is beholding.  We stood with Ukraine.
 
Like you, the United States wants this war to end on just terms, on terms we all signed up for: that you cannot seize a nation’s territory by force.  The only country standing in the way of that is Russia. 
 
So, we — each of us in this body who is determined to uphold the principles and beliefs we pledge to defend as members of the United Nations — must be clear, firm, and unwavering in our resolve. 
 
Ukraine has the same rights that belong to every sovereign nation.  We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine.  We will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression.  Period.
 
The US Will Defend Democracy

Now, it’s no secret that in the contest between democracy and autocracy, the United States — and I, as President — champion a vision for our world that is grounded in the values of democracy. 
 
The United States is determined to defend and strengthen democracy at home and around the world.  Because I believe democracy remains humanity’s greatest instrument to address the challenges of our time. 
 
We’re working with the G7 and likeminded countries to prove democracies can deliver for their citizens but also deliver for the rest of the world as well. 
 
Reaffirm the United Nations’ Founding Principles

But as we meet today, the U.N. Charter — the U.N. Charter’s very basis of a stable and just rule-based order is under attack by those who wish to tear it down or distort it for their own political advantage. 
 
And the United Nations Charter was not only signed by democracies of the world, it was negotiated among citizens of dozens of nations with vastly different histories and ideologies, united in their commitment to work for peace. 
 
As President Truman said in 1945, the U.N. Charter — and I quote — is “proof that nations, like men, can state their differences, can face them, and then can find common ground on which to stand.”  End of quote.
 
That common ground was so straightforward, so basic that, today, 193 of you — 193 member states — have willingly embraced its principles.  And standing up for those principles for the U.N. Charter is the job of every responsible member state. 
 
I reject the use of violence and war to conquer nations or expand borders through bloodshed.
 
To stand against global politics of fear and coercion; to defend the sovereign rights of smaller nations as equal to those of larger ones; to embrace basic principles like freedom of navigation, respect for international law, and arms control — no matter what else we may disagree on, that is the common ground upon which we must stand. 
 
If you’re still committed to a strong foundation for the good of every nation around the world, then the United States wants to work with you. 
 
The UN Should Become More Inclusive

I also believe the time has come for this institution to become more inclusive so that it can better respond to the needs of today’s world.
 
Members of the U.N. Security Council, including the United States, should consistently uphold and defend the U.N. Charter and refrain — refrain from the use of the veto, except in rare, extraordinary situations, to ensure that the Council remains credible and effective.
 
That is also why the United States supports increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent representatives of the Council.  This includes permanent seats for those nations we’ve long supported and permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
 
The United States is committed to this vital work.  In every region, we pursued new, constructive ways to work with partners to advance shared interests, from elevating the Quad in the Indo-Pacific; to signing the Los Angeles Declaration of Migration and Protection at the Summit of the Americas; to joining a historic meeting of nine Arab leaders to work toward a more peaceful, integrated Middle East; to hosting the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in — this December.
 
Relentless Diplomacy to Tackle Challenges

As I said last year, the United States is opening an era of relentless diplomacy to address the challenges that matter most to people’s lives — all people’s lives: tackling the climate crisis, as the previous speaker spoke to; strengthening global health security; feeding the world — feeding the world.
 
We made that priority.  And one year later, we’re keeping that promise.
 
From the day I came to office, we’ve led with a bold climate agenda.  We rejoined the Paris Agreement, convened major climate summits, helped deliver critical agreements on COP26.  And we helped get two thirds of the world GDP on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 
 
And now I’ve signed a historic piece of legislation here in the United States that includes the biggest, most important climate commitment we have ever made in the history of our country: $369 billion toward climate change.  That includes tens of billions in new investments in offshore wind and solar, doubling down on zero emission vehicles, increasing energy efficiency, supporting clean manufacturing.
 
Our Department of Energy estimates that this new law will reduce U.S. emissions by one gigaton a year by 2030 while unleashing a new era of clean-energy-powered economic growth.
 
Our investments will also help reduce the cost of developing clean energy technologies worldwide, not just the United States.  This is a global gamechanger — and none too soon.  We don’t have much time.
 
Climate Crisis

We all know we’re already living in a climate crisis.  No one seems to doubt it after this past year.  As we meet, much of Pakistan is still underwater; it needs help.  Meanwhile, the Horn of Africa faces unprecedented drought. 
 
Families are facing impossible choices, choosing which child to feed and wondering whether they’ll survive.
 
This is the human cost of climate change.  And it’s growing, not lessening.
 
So, as I announced last year, to meet our global responsibility, my administration is working with our Congress to deliver more than $11 billion a year to international climate finance to help lower-income countries implement their climate goals and ensure a just energy transition.
 
The key part of that will be our [PREPARE] plan, which will help half a billion people, and especially vulnerable countries, adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience.
 
This need is enormous.  So let this be the moment we find within ourselves the will to turn back the tide of climate devastation and unlock a resilient, sustainable, clean energy economy to preserve our planet.
 
Global Health

On global health, we’ve delivered more than 620 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 116 countries around the world, with more available to help meet countries’ needs — all free of charge, no strings attached.
 
And we’re working closely with the G20 and other countries.  And the United States helped lead the change to establish a groundbreaking new Fund for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response at the World Bank.
 
At the same time, we’ve continued to advance the ball on enduring global health challenges.
 
Later today, I’ll host the Seventh Replenishment Conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.  With bipartisan support in our Congress, I have pledged to contribute up to $6 billion to that effort.
 
So I look forward to welcoming a historic round of pledges at the conference resulting in one of the largest global health fundraisers ever held in all of history.
 
Food Crisis

We’re also taking on the food crisis head on.  With as many as 193 million people around the world experiencing acute — acute food insecurity — a jump of 40 million in a year — today I’m announcing another $2.9 billion in U.S. support for lifesaving humanitarian and food security assistance for this year alone.
 
Russia, in the meantime, is pumping out lies, trying to pin the blame for the crisis — the food crisis — onto sanctions imposed by many in the world for the aggression against Ukraine. 
 
So let me be perfectly clear about something: Our sanctions explicitly allow — explicitly allow Russia the ability to export food and fertilizer.  No limitation.  It’s Russia’s war that is worsening food insecurity, and only Russia can end it.
 
I’m grateful for the work here at the U.N. — including your leadership, Mr. Secretary-General — establishing a mechanism to export grain from Black Sea ports in Ukraine that Russia had blocked for months, and we need to make sure it’s extended.
 
We believe strongly in the need to feed the world.  That’s why the United States is the world’s largest supporter of the World Food Programme, with more than 40 percent of its budget.
 
We’re leading support — we’re leading support of the UNICEF efforts to feed children around the world. 
 
And to take on the larger challenge of food insecurity, the United States introduced a Call to Action: a roadmap eliminating global food insecurity — to eliminating global food insecurity that more than 100 nation member states have already supported.
 
In June, the G7 announced more than $4.5 billion to strengthen food security around the world.
 
Through USAID’s Feed the Future initiative, the United States is scaling up innovative ways to get drought- and heat-resistant seeds into the hands of farmers who need them, while distributing fertilizer and improving fertilizer efficiency so that farmers can grow more while using less.
 
And we’re calling on all countries to refrain from banning food exports or hoarding grain while so many people are suffering.  Because in every country in the world, no matter what else divides us, if parents cannot feed their children, nothing — nothing else matters if parents cannot feed their children.
 
Rules of the Road for International Cooperation

As we look to the future, we’re working with our partners to update and create rules of the road for new challenges we face in the 21st century.
 
We launched the Trade and Technology Council with the European Union to ensure that key technologies — key technologies are developed and governed in the way that benefits everyone. 
 
With our partner countries and through the U.N., we’re supporting and strengthening the norms of responsibility — responsible state behavior in cyberspace and working to hold accountable those who use cyberattacks to threaten international peace and security. 
 
With partners in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, we’re working to build a new economic ecosystem while — where every nation — every nation gets a fair shot and economic growth is resilient, sustainable, and shared. 
 
That’s why the United States has championed a global minimum tax.  And we will work to see it implemented so major corporations pay their fair share everywhere — everywhere.
 
It’s also been the idea behind the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which the United States launched this year with 13 other Indo-Pacific economies.  We’re working with our partners in ASEAN and the Pacific Islands to support a vision for a critical Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, connected and prosperous, secure and resilient.
 
Together with partners around the world, we’re working to secure resilient supply chains that protect everyone from coercion or domination and ensure that no country can use energy as a weapon.
 
And as Russia’s war riles the global economy, we’re also calling on major global creditors, including the non-Paris Club countries, to transparently negotiate debt forgiveness for lower-income countries to forestall broader economic and political crises around the world. 
 
Instead of infrastructure projects that generate huge and large debt without delivering on the promised advantages, let’s meet the enormous infrastructure needs around the world with transparent investments — high-standard projects that protect the rights of workers and the environment — keyed to the needs of the communities they serve, not to the contributor.
 
That’s why the United States, together with fellow G7 partners, launched a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.  We intend to collectively mobilize $600 billion
in investment through this partnership by 2027. 
 
Dozens of projects are already underway: industrial-scale vaccine manufacturing in Senegal, transformative solar projects in Angola, first-of-its-kind small modular nuclear power plant in Romania.
 
These are investments that are going to deliver returns not just for those countries, but for everyone.  The United States will work with every nation, including our competitors, to solve global problems like climate change.  Climate diplomacy is not a favor to the United States or any other nation, and walking away hurts the entire world.
 
Relations with China, Nations

Let me be direct about the competition between the United States and China.  As we manage shifting geopolitical trends, the United States will conduct itself as a reasonable leader.  We do not seek conflict.  We do not seek a Cold War.  We do not ask any nation to choose between the United States or any other partner. 
 
But the United States will be unabashed in promoting our vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous world and what we have to offer communities of nations: investments that are designed not to foster dependency, but to alleviate burdens and help nations become self-sufficient; partnerships not to create political obligation, but because we know our own success — each of our success is increased when other nations succeed as well.
 
When individuals have the chance to live in dignity and develop their talents, everyone benefits.  Critical to that is living up to the highest goals of this institution: increasing peace and security for everyone, everywhere. 
 
The United States will not waver in our unrelenting determination to counter and thwart the continuing terrorist threats to our world.  And we will lead with our diplomacy to strive for peaceful resolution of conflicts. 
 
We seek to uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. 
 
We remain committed to our One China policy, which has helped prevent conflict for four decades.  And we continue to oppose unilateral changes in the status quo by either side. 
 
We support an African Union-led peace process to end the fight in Ethiopia and restore security for all its people. 
 
In Venezuela, where years of the political oppression have driven more than 6 million people from that country, we urge a Venezuelan-led dialogue and a return to free and fair elections.
 
We continue to stand with our neighbor in Haiti as it faces political-fueled gang violence and an enormous human crisis.
 
And we call on the world to do the same.  We have more to do. 
 
We’ll continue to back the U.N.-mediated truce in Yemen, which has delivered precious months of peace to people that have suffered years of war.
 
And we will continue to advocate for lasting negotiating peace between the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and the Palestinian people.  The United States is committed to Israel’s security, full stop.  And a negotiated two-state solution remains, in our view, the best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity for the future and give the Palestinians the state which — to which they are entitled — both sides to fully respect the equal rights of their citizens; both people enjoying equal measure of freedom and dignity.
 
Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Let me also urge every nation to recommit to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime through diplomacy.  No matter what else is happening in the world, the United States is ready to pursue critical arms control measures.  A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. 
 
The five permanent members of the Security Council just reaffirmed that commitment in January.  But today, we’re seeing disturbing trends.  Russia shunned the Non-Proliferation ideals embraced by every other nation at the 10th NPT Review Conference
 
And again, today, as I said, they’re making irresponsible nuclear threats to use nuclear weapons.  China is conducting an unprecedented, concerning nuclear buildup without any transparency. 
 
Despite our efforts to begin serious and sustained diplomacy, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea continues to blatantly violate U.N. sanctions.
 
And while the United States is prepared for a mutual return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action if Iran steps up to its obligations, the United States is clear: We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
 
I continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome.  The nonproliferation regime is one of the greatest successes of this institution.  We cannot let the world now slide backwards, nor can we turn a blind eye to the erosion of human rights.
 
Human Rights

Perhaps singular among this body’s achievements stands the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the standard by which our forebears challenged us to measure ourselves.
 
They made clear in 1948: Human rights are the basis for all that we seek to achieve.  And yet today, in 2022, fundamental freedoms are at risk in every part of our world,
from the violations in Xinjiang detailed in recent reports by the Office of U.N. High Commissioner, to the horrible abuses against pro-democracy activists and ethnic minorities by the military regime in Burma, to the increased repression of women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

And today, we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights.
 
But here’s what I know: The future will be won by those countries that unleash the full potential of their populations, where women and girls can exercise equal rights, including basic reproductive rights, and contribute fully to building a stronger economies and more resilient societies; where religious and ethnic minorities can live their lives without harassment and contribute to the fabric of their communities; where the LGBTQ+ community individuals live and love freely without being targeted with violence; where citizens can question and criticize their leaders without fear of reprisal.
 
The United States will always promote human rights and the values enshrined in the U.N. Charter in our own country and around the world.
 
Let me end with this: This institution, guided by the U.N. Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is at its core an act of dauntless hope.

Let me say that again: It’s an act of dauntless hope.
 
Think about the vision of those first delegates who undertook a seemingly impossible task while the world was still smoldering.
 
Think about how divided the people of the world must have felt with the fresh grief of millions dead, the genocidal horrors of the Holocaust exposed.
 
They had every right to believe only the worst of humanity.  Instead, they reached for what was best in all of us, and they strove to build something better: enduring peace; comity among nations; equal rights for every member of the human family; cooperation for the advancement of all humankind.
 
My fellow leaders, the challenges we face today are great indeed, but our capacity is greater.  Our commitment must be greater still.

So let’s stand together to again declare the unmistakable resolve that nations of the world are united still, that we stand for the values of the U.N. Charter, that we still believe by working together we can bend the arc of history toward a freer and more just world for all our children, although none of us have fully achieved it.

We’re not passive witnesses to history; we are the authors of history.
 
We can do this — we have to do it — for ourselves and for our future, for humankind.

Thank you for your tolerance, for listening to me.  I appreciate it very much.  God bless you all.  (Applause.)

11:37 A.M. EDT

Biden Signs EO Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Citing ‘An Out of Control Court’ Calls on Women to Exercise their Voting Power

New Yorkers protest for reproductive freedom. President Joe Biden is taking actions he can to protect access to reproductive health care services in light of the Supreme Court overturning the constitutional protections afforded by Roe v. Wade and multiple states immediately implementing bans on abortion rights, in most cases even in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. But the President noted that there is only so much he could do by Executive Order or that his administration can do, and exhorted women to take action at the ballot box, elect representatives to local, state and federal office who will protect their personal freedom, liberty and autonomy. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Joe Biden delivered a speech on July 8 on actions he is taking to protect access to reproductive health care services in light of the Supreme Court overturning the constitutional protections afforded by Roe v. Wade and multiple states immediately implementing bans on abortion rights, in most cases even in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. But the President noted that there is only so much he could do by Executive Order or that his administration can do, and exhorted women to take action at the ballot box, elect representatives to local, state and federal office who will protect their personal freedom, liberty and autonomy. Here is a highlighted transcript of his remarks: — Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Now, with the Vice President, Secretary Becerra, and Deputy Attorney General Monaco, I want to talk about an executive order I’m signing to protect reproductive rights of women in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s terrible, extreme, and, I think, so totally wrongheaded decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
 
[It] both formalized actions I announced right after the decision, as well as adding new measures today.
 
Let’s be clear about something from the very start.  This was not a decision driven by the Constitution.  Let me say it again: This was not a decision driven by the Constitution.  And despite what those justices in the majority said, this was not a decision driven by history.
 
You’ve all probably had a chance to the read the decision and the dissent.
 
The majority rattles off laws from the 19th century to support the idea that Roe was historic- — was a historical anomaly because states outlawed abortion in the 1880s, toward the end.  But that’s just wrong.
 
The truth is today’s Supreme Court majority that is playing fast and loose with the facts.  Even 150 years ago, the common law and many state laws did not criminalize abortion early in pregnancy, which is very similar to the viability line drawn by Roe.
 
But the Dobbs majority ignores that fact.  And the Dobbs majority ignores that many laws were enacted to protect women at the time when they were dying from unsafe abortions.
 
This is the horrific reality that Roe sought to end.  The practice of medicine should not — emphasize — should not be frozen in the 19th century.
 
So, what happened?
 
The dissenting opinion says it as clear as you can possibly say it.  And here’s the quote: “Neither law nor facts nor attitudes have provided any new reason to reach a different result than Roe and Casey did.”  And that’s has changed — excuse me — and “All that has changed is this Court.”  End of quote.  “All that has changed is this Court.”
 
That wasn’t about the Constitution or the law.
 
It was about a deep, long-seething antipathy towards Roe and the broader right to privacy.  As the justices wrote in their dissent, and I quote, “The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them, and now it has the votes to discard them.”  End of quote.
 
So, what we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment.  It was an exercise in raw political power.  On the day the Dobbs decision came down, I immediately announced what I would do.
 
But I also made it clear, based on the reasoning of the Court, there is no constitutional right to choose.  Only the way — the only way to fulfill and restore that right for women in this country is by voting, by exercising the power at the ballot box.
 
Let me explain.  We need two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law.  Your vote can make that a reality.
 
I know it’s frustrating and it made a lot of people very angry.  But the truth is this — and it’s not just me saying it; it’s what the Court said: When you read the decision, the Court has made clear it will not protect the rights of women.  Period.  Period.
 
After having made the decision based on a reading of a document that was frozen in time in the 1860s, when women didn’t even have the right to vote, the Court now — now — practically dares the women of America to go to the ballot box and restore the very rights they’ve just taken away.
 
One of the most extraordinary parts of the decision, in my view, is the majority writes, and I quote, “Women…” — it’s a quote now, from the majority — “Women are not without electoral or political power.  It is noteworthy that the percentage of women who registered to vote and cast a ballot is consistently higher than the percentage of the men who do so.”  End of quote…
 
 
That’s another way of saying that you, the women of America, can determine the outcome of this issue. 
 
I don’t think the Court or, for that matter, the Republicans who for decades have pushed their extreme agenda have a clue about the power of American women.  But they’re about to find out, in my view.
 
It’s my hope and strong belief that women will, in fact, turn out in record numbers to reclaim the rights that have taken from them by the Court.
 
And let me be clear: While I wish it had not come to this, this is the fastest route available.  I’m just stating a basic, fundamental notion.
 
The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage at my desk.
 
And we can’t wait.  Extreme Republican governors, extreme Republican state legislatures, and Republican extremists in the Congress overall — all of them have not only fought to take away the right — our rights — but they’re now determined to go as far as they can.  
 
Now the most extreme Republican governors and state legislatures have taken the Court’s decision as a green light to impose some of the harshest and most restrictive laws seen in this country in a long time.  These are the laws that not only put women’s lives at risk, these are the laws that will cost lives. 
 
What we’re witnessing is a giant step backwards in much of our country.  Already, the bans are in effect in 13 states.   Twelve additional states are likely to ban choice in the coming weeks.  And in a number of these states, the laws are so extreme they have raised the threat of criminal penalties for doctors and healthcare providers.  They’re so extreme that many don’t allow for exceptions, even for rape or incest.  Let me say that again: Some of the states don’t allow for exceptions for rape or incest. 
 
This isn’t some imagined horror.  It’s already happening.  Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the [pregnancy] and maybe save her life.  That’s — the last part is my judgment.  Ten years old.  Ten years old.  Raped, six weeks pregnant.  Already traumatized.  Was forced to travel to another state.  Imagine being that little girl.  Just — I’m serious — just imagine being that little girl.  Ten years old.
 
Does anyone believe that it’s the highest majority view that that should not be able to be dealt with, or in any other state in the nation?  A 10-year-old girl should be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child?  I can tell you what: I don’t.  I can’t think of anything as much more extreme.
 
The Court’s decision has also been received by Republicans in Congress as a green light to go further and pass a national ban.  A national ban.  Remember what they’re saying.  They’re saying there’s no right to privacy, so therefore it’s not protected by the Constitution, so leave it up to the state and the Congress, what they want to do. 
 
And now my Republican friends are talking about getting the Congress to pass a national ban.  The extreme positions that they’re taking in some of these states.  That will mean the right to choose will be illegal nationwide if, in fact, they succeed.  Let me tell you something: As long as I’m President, it won’t happen, because I’ll veto it.  
 
So the choice is clear.  If you want to change the circumstances for women and even little girls in this country, please go out and vote.  When tens of millions of women vote this year, they won’t be alone.  Millions and millions of men will be taking up the fight alongside them to restore the right to choose and the broader right to privacy in this nation, which they denied existed.  And the challenge from the Court to the American women and men — this is a nation.  The challenge is: Go out and vote.  Well, for God’s sake, there’s an election in November.  Vote, vote, vote, vote.  Consider the challenge accepted, Court. 
 
But in the meantime, I’m signing this important executive order.  I’m asking the Justice Department that, much like they did in the Civil Rights era, to do something — do everything in their power to protect these women seeking to invoke their right: 
 
In states where clinics are still open, to protect them from intimidation. 
 
To protect the right of women to travel from a state that prohibits seeking the medical attention that she needs to a state to provide that care. 
 
To protect a woman’s right to the FDA-approved — Federal Drug Administration-approved medication that’s been available for over 20 years. 
 
The executive order provides safeguards to access care.  A patient comes into the emergency room in any state in the union.  She’s expressing and experiencing a life-threatening miscarriage, but the doctor is going to be so concerned about being criminalized for treating her, they delay treatment to call the hospital lawyer who is concerned the hospital will be penalized if a doctor provides the lifesaving care.  It’s outrageous.  I don’t care what your position is.  It’s outrageous, and it’s dangerous. 
 
That’s why this executive order directs the Department of Health and Human Services — HHS — to ensure all patients, including pregnant women and girls experience pregnant — experiencing pregnancy loss get emergency care they need under federal law, and that doctors have clear guidance on their own responsibilities and protections no matter what the state — no matter what state they’re in.  
 
The executive order protects access to contraception — that I’m about to sign. 

 
Justice Thomas himself said that under the reasoning of this decision — this is what Justice Thomas said in his concurring opinion — that the Court “should reconsider the constitutional right to contraception — to use contraception even among married couples. 
 
What century are they in?  There used to be a case called –[Griswold v. Connecticut], which was declared unconstitutional in the late ‘60s.  It said a married couple in the privacy of their bedroom could not decide to use contraception.

Right now, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Affordable Care Act guarantees insurance coverage for women’s health services, including — including free birth control.  The executive order directs HHS to identify ways to expand access to reproductive health services, like IUDs, birth control pills, emergency contraception. 
 
And equally important, this executive order protects patient privacy and access to information,
which looking at the press assembled before me, probably know more about it than I do.  I’m not a tech guy.  I’m learning.

But right now, when you use a search engine or the app on your phone, companies collect your data, they sell it to other companies, and they even share it with law enforcement.  There’s an increasing concern that extremist governors and others will try to get that data off of your phone, which is out there in the ether, to find what you’re seeking, where you’re going, and what you’re doing with regard to your healthcare. 

Talk about no privacy — no privacy in the Constitution.  There’s no privacy, period.

This executive order asks the FTC to crack down on data brokers that sell private information to extreme groups or, in my view, sell private information to anybody.
 
It provides private health information — it protects private health information in states with extreme laws.  

And the executive order strengthens coordination at a federal level.  It establishes a task force, led by the White House Department — and the Department of Human Services, focused specifically on using every federal tool available to protect access to reproductive healthcare.

You know, let me close with this: The Court and its allies are committed to moving America backward with fewer rights, less autonomy, and politicians invading the most personal of decisions.  Remember the reasoning of this decision has an impact much beyond Roe and the right to privacy generally. 

Marriage equality, contraception, and so much more is at risk.  This decision affects everyone — unrelated to choice — beyond choice.  We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with the extremist elements of the Republican Party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy. 

The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme, between moving forward and moving backwards, between allowing politicians to enter the most personal parts of our lives and protecting the right to privacy — yes, yes — embedded in our Constitution.  
 
This is a choice.  This is a moment — the moment — the moment to restore the rights that have been taken away from us and the moment to protect our nation from an extremist agenda that is antithetical to everything we believe as Americans. 
 
Now, I’m going to sign this executive order. 

The executive order is “Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services.”

(The executive order is signed.)

Thousands Join NYC March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice

Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, News & Photo Features, news-photos-features.com

Thousands gathered in Foley Square, in front of the federal court house, to hear calls for justice, equal rights and full personhood for women in face of the assault on abortion rights from Texas and dozens of states and the right wing majority Supreme Court’s deference and then marched up to Washington Square Park, bringing their messages of “Save Roe” “Keep Your Rosaries Off My Ovaries”, “Hands off Our Privates” “We Won’t Go Back” and “Ruth Sent Us.” (See: NYC Joins Millions Across Country in Rallies, Marches for Women’s Reproductive Freedom)

Here are some highlights:

We Demand Abortion Justice”. Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“I Love Someone Who Has Had an Abortion.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Break All the Chains.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“No Going Back.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Protect Our Rights.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Pro Roe”. Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“We Are Not Your Incubators.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Safe Accessible Abortions for Everyone.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Baby.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“My Body. My Choice.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Resistance Revival Chorus sings for Reproductive Freedom. Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

NYC Joins Millions Across Country in Rallies, Marches for Women’s Reproductive Freedom

By Karen Rubin, News & Photo Features, news-photos-features.com

“Remember Roe v Wade.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Thousands gathered in Foley Square, in front of the federal court house, to protest for justice, equal rights and full personhood for women in face of the assault on abortion rights from Texas and dozens of states and the right wing majority Supreme Court’s deference. The timing was key, just days before the Supreme Court begins its session in which it will hear a Mississippi case banning abortions after 15 weeks. Texas SB8 bans abortions after six-weeks, the theoretical point when a fetus has a heartbeat, and deputizes vigilantes and bounty hunters to enforce it against anyone even suspected of aiding a woman who gets an abortion and collect $10,000.

“Ruth Sent Me.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Rana Abdelhamid, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Rana Abdelhamid: “This is not about religion, not about life. They called us ‘hysterical’ for warning about the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s time for congress to do what’s right and protect our constitutional right to abortion. End the filibuster. We know what it is to have our bodies policed. Abolition Justice!

Donna Lieberman, NYCLU Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU: We stand with women in Texas, Mississippi and all over the country. Abortion Justice. Reproductive Justice. Make New York a safe haven, close every loophole in state law, so anyone can come for reproductive health. We won’t turn back. We will be at every polling place in every election. Hold elected leaders accountable.

Heidi Sieck, Vote Pro Chooce, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Heidi Sieck, Vote Pro Choice: Reproductive freedom and abortion justice are at stake. Small, massively overfunded group of white supremacist, Christian conservatives have invested in state legislatures, built an anti-choice infrastructure. They stole two Supreme Court seats. That changes now. Over 80 percent support reproductive freedom. Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (that passed the House, but not the senate), end the filibuster, rebalance Supreme Court. In November, 2021, 40,000 seats are up for election. Every ingle elected has a role to protect reproductive rights. Not just congress but state and local. Run for office, donate to VoteProChoice.us.

Batala NY, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney: They have been chipping away at abortion rights for years, but now they are bulldozing our rights into the ground.Last week, chaired House Oversight Committee on Texas SB8, when three Congresswomen told their abortion stories. Women are speaking out. In December, Mississippi comes before the Supreme Court. For my entire time in Congress we hadn’t had a pro-choice majority, until this year. We passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, codifying Roe. It has to pass in the Senate. We could pass it except for the filibuster. We have to carve out an exception. There is no democracy if women cannot control their own bodies, make their own reproduction choices. It is so outrageous, I can’t believe we are still fighting for this.

Brita Filter, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Brita Filter: Abortion rights are LGBTQ rights.

“My Body, My Business.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Congressman Jerry Nadler, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Congressman Jerry Nadler, who, over 50 years ago, lobbied the New York State Assembly to legalize abortion: It’s been 30 days since women were stripped of their constitutional rights, their freedom to make their own decisions of their lives, their bodies. That’s 30 days too many.

Amsi, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Amsi: The battle for reproductive rights is not new. It’s been long, hard, frustrating.

Pascale Bernard, Planned Parenthood of New York City, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Pascale Bernard, Planned Parenthood of New York City: History is repeating. We have been here before. Enough is enough. Women in Texas are having to drive to Oklahoma, having to choose between paying for an abortion or feeding their children. People are scared. Justice Ginsburg told us to dissent, she left a roadmap to protect reproductive rights. We are lucky in New York, but we nee dto close loopholes, we need an abortion fund so women can come to New York for care, for safety.

Cathy Rojas, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Cathy Rojas, a teacher and candidate for NYC mayor running as a Socialist: We need to build a sustainable people-powered movement ion New York City, In Texas, where people were freezing and is one of worst states to live – hunger, poverty of children, maternal mortality – they are leading the attack on abortion rights. So when claim is about protecting life, is really about protecting profit over lives.The right wing don’t give a damn about lives. Instead of dealing with the real crises are attacking abortion rights. Congress is ineffective at passing laws for basic necessities, but quick to bail out banks and the ultra rich. They always find time to attack women, LGBTQ and the vulnerable. This is not just about a bad law, but the whole damn system – the bigots, the politicians for hire, the courts up to the Supreme Court, the corporate control of the media, the police and ICE. I am fed up with capitalism. We need systemic change.

“Legalize Abortion, Once and For All.” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
The Band Betty, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Band Betty: We are one-fourth through the 21st century. I don’t see flying cars or universal health care. I see women being told to be ashamed. Until women have equal rights in the Constitution, we will continue to see how the state commands our fate.

Rev. Nori Rost of New York Society of Ethical Culture, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Rev. Nori Rost, New York Society of Ethical Culture: They are “protecting” a fetus with a heartbeat? How about fighting for people who already have a heart beat. Anti-choice, anti-woman is nothing new – it is about subjugation, oppression. We will not give up, shut up, slow down, sit down until all people have agency over their own body. We are among millions marching as one, we will not be stopped.

Jeannie Park, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Jeannie Park (Warriors in the Garden): Abortion bans have no humanity, no exception for rape, incenst. 3 million have experienced rape, the next 3 million will be forced to carry to term. The penalty to abort is more severe than to rape. Women’s bodies are more regulated than guns. What does it mean to be pro life if you only value certain lives. Encouraging vigilantes, bounty hunters is too lcose to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. I will not go back.

Miriam Elhajli, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Miriam Elhajli sings a song 100 years old, “Wagoner’s Lad,” and sounding so much like Joan Baez who sang it:  “Oh, hard is the fortune of all woman kind/She’s always controlled, she’s always confined/Controlled by her parents until she’s a wife/A slave to her husband the rest of her life”

Carol Jenkins, ERA Coalition, Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Carol Jenkins, Co-President and CEO of The ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality: The Equal Rights Amendment has been around for 100 years; it has been 50 years since passed in Congress, now 38 states have ratified it, so could be published in the Constitution. The only hold up is a time limit, put into the introduction, not the amendment. The root of sexism, misogyny, and racism is in the Constitution, written by slaveholding white males. Everything we’ve been doing since has been to repair what was left out of the Constitution. We have to put the ERA on list of things, so we don’t have to keep repairing the Constitution. Congress has removed the timeline twice, it is now in the Senate. We are done having to beg for rights, gather in the streets and ask “please”. Go to ERACoalition.org.

Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC organizers Rose Baseil Massa and Juliet Aguerre, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“Abortion is a Human Right!” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
“My Body, My Choice,” Women’s March for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, NYC, October 2, 2021 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

See next: THOUSANDS JOIN NYC MARCH FOR REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE

____________________________

© 2021 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email [email protected]. Blogging at www.dailykos.com/blogs/NewsPhotosFeatures. ‘Like’ us on facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures, Tweet @KarenBRubin

Biden Proclaims Days of Remembrance for VictIMs of Holocaust: ‘Silence in the Face of Such Bigotry is Complicity’

Crematorium at Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria. In his proclamation declaring days of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, President Joseph R. Biden stated, The legacy of the Holocaust must always remind us that silence in the face of such bigotry is complicity.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

In his proclamation on the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, 2021 President Joe Biden stated that Yom HaShoah points to the urgency to speak out whenever they witness anti-Semitism or any form of ethnic and religious hatred, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia. “The legacy of the Holocaust must always remind us that silence in the face of such bigotry is complicity.”

On Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day — we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people in America, Israel, and around the world to remember and reflect on the horrors of the Holocaust. An estimated six million Jews perished alongside millions of other innocent victims — Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others — systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in one of the cruelest and most heinous campaigns in human history.

We honor the memories of precious lives lost, contemplate the incomprehensible wound to our humanity, mourn for the communities broken and scattered, and embrace those who survived the Holocaust — some of whom are still with us today, continuing to embody extraordinary resilience after all these years. Having borne witness to the depths of evil, these survivors remind us of the vital refrain: “never again.” The history of the Holocaust is forever seared into the history of humankind, and it is the shared responsibility of all people to ensure that the horrors of the Shoah can never be erased from our collective memory.

It is painful to remember. It is human nature to want to leave the past behind. But in order to prevent a tragedy like the Holocaust from happening again, we must share the truth of this dark period with each new generation. All of us must understand the depravity that is possible when governments back policies fueled by hatred, when we dehumanize groups of people, and when ordinary people decide that it is easier to look away or go along than to speak out. Our children and grandchildren must learn where those roads lead, so that the commitment of “never again” lives strongly in their hearts.

I remember learning about the horrors of the Holocaust from my father when I was growing up, and I have sought to impart that history to my own children and grandchildren in turn. I have taken them on separate visits to Dachau, so that they could see for themselves what happened there, and to impress on them the urgency to speak out whenever they witness anti-Semitism or any form of ethnic and religious hatred, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia. The legacy of the Holocaust must always remind us that silence in the face of such bigotry is complicity — remembering, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, that there are moments when “indifference to evil is worse than evil itself.”

Those who survived the Holocaust are an inspiration to every single one of us. Yet they continue to live with the unique mental and physical scars from the unconscionable trauma of the Holocaust, with many survivors in the United States living in poverty. When I served as Vice President, I helped secure Federal funding for grants to support Holocaust survivors — but we must do more to pursue justice and dignity for survivors and their heirs. We have a moral imperative to recognize the pain survivors carry, support them, and ensure that their memories and experiences of the Holocaust are neither denied nor distorted, and that the lessons for all humanity are never forgotten.

Holocaust survivors and their descendants — and each child, grandchild, and great-grandchild of those who lost their lives — are living proof that love and hope will always triumph over murder and destruction. Every child and grandchild of a survivor is a testament to resilience, and a living rebuke to those who sought to extinguish the future of the Jewish people and others who were targeted.

Yom HaShoah reminds us not only of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but also reinforces our ongoing duty to counter all forms of dehumanizing bigotry directed against the LGBTQ+, disability, and other marginalized communities. While hate may never be permanently defeated, it must always be confronted and condemned. When we recognize the fundamental human dignity of all people, we help to build a more just and peaceful world. In the memory of all those who were lost, and in honor of all those who survived, we must continue to work toward a better, freer, and more just future for all humankind.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 4 through April 11, 2021, as a week of observance of the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, and call upon the people of the United States to observe this week and pause to remember victims and survivors of the Holocaust. 

Biden Administration Declares Strong Support for Reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act

Protesting violence against women at the Women’s March 2020, New York City © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Office of Management and Budget issued a statement strongly supporting passage of H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021, introduced by Rep. Jackson Lee (D-TX) with 182 co-sponsors.

The statement comes as news reports circulate about a Georgia man who murdered 8 women in a shooting spree in Atlanta, March 16.

The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021.  The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation that was first enacted in 1994 and that was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2013.  VAWA has transformed the Nation’s response to violence against women and has brought critically needed resources to States, Territories, Tribes, and local communities to help prevent and improve the response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.  Strengthening and renewing VAWA, however, is long overdue.  As many as 1 in 3 women are subjected to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking at some point in their lives, and the rate is even higher for women of color, lesbian and bisexual women, and transgender people.  VAWA reauthorization is more urgent now than ever, especially when the pandemic and economic crisis have only further increased the risks of abuse and the barriers to safety for women in the United States. 
 
The Administration is pleased that H.R. 1620 continues to build upon previous VAWA authorizations, and includes new provisions to enhance efforts and address identified gaps and barriers.  H.R. 1620 would authorize funding for VAWA grant programs for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 and would continue to invest in, and expand, strategies that advance access to safety, justice, and economic stability for victims and survivors.  The bill would maintain established and effective protections and programs, while also addressing persistent gaps through more holistic approaches in order to address the complex realities and intersecting issues that impact survivors’ lives.

H.R. 1620 would reauthorize grant programs that support the development of a coordinated community response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.  It would expand the categories for which funds may be used in various grant programs to provide additional pathways to safety and support for survivors.  Further, the bill seeks to reduce intimate partner homicides committed with firearms by expanding protections for victims and enhancing support for law enforcement agencies and courts to improve the enforcement of court orders.  The bill would also improve the health care system’s response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
 
Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and their children.  Without the ability to access affordable housing, a victim must often times choose between becoming homeless or remaining in an abusive situation.  H.R. 1620 includes provisions that would provide important housing protections to allow survivors in federally assisted housing to relocate to safe housing with victim relocation vouchers, maintain their housing after a perpetrator leaves, or terminate a lease early.  The bill also would expand economic security protections for survivors.  
 
H.R. 1620 would authorize increased funding to enhance culturally specific services for victims. This would include developing culturally-relevant training and education programs for health care professionals that are designed to be inclusive of the experiences of all individuals, including people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.  It would also include training on equity and anti-racism approaches to health services delivery, disparities in access to health care services and prevention resources, and current and historic systemic racism in health care services.
 
The Rape Prevention & Education (RPE) formula grants, administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, authorize essential funding to States and Territories to support rape prevention and education programs conducted by rape crisis centers, sexual assault coalitions, and other public and private nonprofit entities.  H.R. 1620 would authorize higher levels of funding for prevention through the RPE program grants, as well as grant programs focused on prevention efforts with youth administered through the Department of Justice.  It also would expand grants to support implementation of training programs to improve the capacity of early childhood programs to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking among the families they serve.  H.R. 1620 would also support institutions of higher education in developing and disseminating comprehensive prevention education for all students and expanding training for school-based personnel and campus health centers to meet the needs of young victims of sexual violence.
 
The Administration strongly supports measures in H.R. 1620 that would expand access to justice for Native American victims.  Native women are victimized at rates higher than any other population in the United States, and the vast majority of Native victims report being victimized by a non-native individual.  This bill would build on the effectiveness of special criminal jurisdiction for domestic violence cases that was included in prior VAWA reauthorization laws and address other significant co-occurring crimes.  It recognizes tribal jurisdiction that will allow participating Tribes to hold accountable non-native perpetrators of sexual violence, sex trafficking, domestic violence against child victims, stalking, elder abuse, and assault against law enforcement officers when they commit such crimes on tribal territory.
 
The Administration is pleased that H.R. 1620 recognizes the need to provide protection and services to all victims of abuse and includes proposals to strengthen existing policies that were supported by both Democrats and Republicans last year.  The Administration urges swift passage of this legislation.