civil rights

HOUSE PASSES EQUALITY ACT; ISSA OPPOSES WHILE OTHER SAN DIEGO REPRESENTATIVES SUPPORT

By Miriam Raftery

March 4, 2021(San Diego) – By a 224 to 206 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Equality Act (H.R. 5) , a sweeping civil rights bill intended to prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in both public and private places.  But the bill will face an uphill battle in the Senate.

The Equality Act prohibits discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community in the areas of employment, education, credit, housing, jury service, federal funding and more by adding gender identity and sexual orientation to existing anti-discrimination civil rights protections.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

PASSAGES: CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER CARROL WAYMON, 1925-2020

By Miriam Raftery

Memorial service has been moved to Bethel Baptist Church on Jan. 24. See details below.

Photo: Carrol Waymon PhD, watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama during a celebration at the Malcolm X Library in San DIego in January, 2009.

January 12, 2020 (San Diego)--San Diego’s most prominent civil rights leader, Carrol Waymon PhD, passed away in early January at age 94.  As executive director of San Diego’s first human rights agency, the Citizens Interracial Committee, he was a tireless fighter for justice who broke down many barriers for people of color.

Born May 15, 1925, Waymon was the grandson of a slave and son of a Methodist minister.  He was one of seven children, including his sister, the late jazz musician Nina Simone. While working on the Los Angeles Human Relations Agency in 1964, he was asked by San Diego's City Council  to come to San Diego and help address racial issues. He moved here and never left,  leading the Citizens Interracial Committee and devoting his life to attaining equal rights for all.

ECM interviewed Waymon in January 2009, during a local viewing of the inuauguration of Barack Obama, our nation’s first African-American president.  For Waymon, who once served as San Diego’s delegate to the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., Obama’s election was a major milestone hailed by Waymon.  “It is incredible to me. I couldn’t imagine at that time in 1968 that we’d have a black president 40 years later,” he said.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER TO SPEAK AT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY BREAKFAST JANUARY 18

 

By Miriam Raftery

December 27, 2015 (San Diego) - The Martin Luther King Jr. community breakfast will be held on January 18 at 7 a.m. at the Jacobs Center (404 Euclid Ave., San Diego) . The featured speaker will be Rev. Richard Lawrence, a long-time Civil Rights advocate who marched with Dr. King to desegregate Chicago and participated in the Selma walk.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

READER'S EDITORIAL: WHY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES SHOULD FOLLOW THE LAW, NOT THEIR PRIVATE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

 

By June Wise

September 3, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) -- A Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, has stirred controversy for defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court declared marriage a constitutional right for same-sex couples. She claims giving gay couples licenses to wed would violate her religious beliefs, yet she has refused to resign. Today, a  judge  ordered her jailed for contempt of court.

If government  workers  could refuse to  serve the public  anytime  a law conflicts with their private religious views, that would be a dangerous and trouble-prone path.  Divorce, birth control, war, and blood transfusions are all prohibited in some religions.  Some faiths ban immodest dress, adultery, consumption of caffeine or alcohol, musical instruments, celebrating birthdays, serving certain foods, and seeking psychiatric care.  

Should public employees in jobs with responsibilities for such matters be able to refuse to follow laws governing all of these issues and more?


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

OBAMA DELIVERS POWERFUL SPEECH ON VOTING RIGHTS AT 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SELMA MARCH

 

View video: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/03/08/president-obama-marks-50th-anniversary-marches-selma-montgomery

East County News Service

This weekend marked the 50th anniversary of “bloody Sunday,” when marchers in Selma, Alabama were attacked and beaten back by police as they marched for voting rights.  The incident sparked national outrage and ultimately helped win passage of the Voting Rights Act.  Yet voting rights are once again under assault across the U.S., as bigotry and attempts to suppress African-American votes continue long after that fateful day in Selma.

We still have a long way to go as a nation, as President Barack Obama made clear in an speech delivered to a crowd on the bridge in Selma, Alabama on Sunday. The President celebrated the victories achieved since Selma, also urging that marchers symbolically continue.  calling for  voting rights for all Americans.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS LAUNCHES CIVIL RIGHTS BOOK AT COMICON

 

Representatives John Lewis and Susan Davis talk with ECM on civil rights and voting rights

“Comics can change history.” – Andrew Aidyn, coauthor

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Tom Abbott

July 21, 2013 (San Diego)—Congressman John Lewis (D-GA-5) came to San Diego Comicon International to launch his story from the Civil Rights movement. This graphic novel is the first in a trilogy put out by Top-Shelf called March. It will be released to the general public next month.http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/march/760

“This is another way, another method of reaching people, telling the story, making it come alive,” the Congressman said, “especially for young people.”


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

POLITICAL REFLECTIONS COLUMN: HIGH COURT ON RIGHTS: 1 WIN, 1 LOSS, 2 DRAWS

 

By Mark Gabrish Conlan

Columnist's elation over marriage equality rulings is tempered by dismay over high court's ruling on Voting Rights Act

June 26, 2013 (San Diego)--The sun is shining this Wednesday, June 26 and it’s a beautiful, if rather hot, day in San Diego. I sent my husband Charles off to work this morning after we both got up early to watch MS-NBC broadcast news of the United States Supreme Court’s rulings on two cases involving the rights of same-sex couples to marry each other. It was a personal story to us because Charles and I are legally married.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

VOTING RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK IN U.S. AND SAN DIEGO

Common Cause seeks volunteers to monitor polls on Election Day

October 24, 2012 (San Diego)--This past June, San Diego witnessed an unprecedented surge in voter intimidation during the primary. A nationally funded voter suppression effort is expected to employ even harsher bullying tactics on November 6th, when even more voters will be exercising their fundamental right to cast a ballot.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE SCOTT PETERS REFLECTS ON 48TH ANNIVERSARY OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

 

July 3, 2012 (San Diego) – Yesterday, on the 48th Anniversary, of the Civil Rights Act, Scott Peters, candidate for the 52nd Congressional District, released the following statement:

“During this campaign, I’ve talked a lot about my dad, Harvey Peters. I’m thinking about him today as our nation celebrates the 48th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination on the basis of race and gender. It was an historic piece of legislation, but the work didn’t stop there; my dad helped continue the fight as a minister and civil rights leader who fought against housing desegregation in the Detroit suburbs in the late 1960s.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

RICHARD LAWRENCE TO RECEIVE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

 
June 10, 2012 (San Diego) -- The San Diego Housing Federation Board of Directors has selected Richard Lawrence as the recipient of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented at the Federation’s Ruby Awards…There’s No Place Like Home event Thursday, June 14.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

INTERNATIONAL LGBT AUTHOR, COLUMNIST TERRY ANGEL MASON TO SPEAK AT SAN DIEGO NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE

 
May 10, 2012 (San Diego) -- On May 18, 2012, legendary HIV/AIDS advocate, civil rights activist, author and columnist Terry Angel Mason will be a guest speaker at the San Diego Neighborhood House Association, located at 841 South, 41st Street, San Diego, CA 92114. The special event will take place at 1:30 pm, and will include a discussion about HIV/AIDS prevention and book signing by the famed author.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF TOM TORLAKSON RESPONDS TO FEDERAL REPORT ON STUDENT SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION RATES

 
March 9, 2012 -- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has applauded efforts by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to shed light on the problem of excessive use of suspension and expulsion of students as a disciplinary tool in the nation’s schools.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

WILL POWER REPORT: 60 VOTES? UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Nothing but the truth!
 
By Will Power
 
 
 
October 17, 2011 (San Diego)-It is beyond my understanding why politicians of both parties continue to insist the US Constitution requires 60 votes to stop a filibuster and only 51 to pass legislations.

The US Constitution is quite clear- the majority required to pass legislation is only 51 votes.  How did the current 60 vote logjam come about?
 

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

LEFT HOOK: ROSA HINSON DAVIS

 

 

By Walter Davis

 

Editor’s note: This memoir, submitted this week, provides eyewitness insights into turbulent times in our nation's history as well as the strength of a remarkable woman and her son.

 

July 1, 2010 (Birmingham, Alabama)--In 1915 when Mrs. Davis was a little girl, she could not go into the front door of most restaurants and public places like bus terminals. When traveling her family was not allowed to use the public restrooms in gas stations along the way because of the pigment in their skin. Finding a hotel was a challenge and crooked police could stop, search, rape, and kill as they pleased.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE WE GO: SAN DIEGO’S UNFINISHED REVOLUTION

 

Local Civil Rights Leaders to be Honored Sat. Nov. 7, Waymon Shares Memories, Dreams with ECM



By John P. Falchi



San Diego’s most prominent living civil rights leader, Carrol Waymon, PhD and others who championed civil rights in the 1960s locally will be honored on Saturday, November 7th at a 40th reunion program of the Citizens Interracial Committee (CIC) titled "What you should know before we go: San Diego’s unfinished revolution." In an exclusive interview this week with ECM, Waymon shared triumphs of the past, along with his hopes for the future.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.