ColorOfChange.org changing the color of democracy

Big Telecom fears any real regulations by the Federal Communications Commission that might prevent it from exploiting customers for astronomical profits. Our Executive Director, Rashad Robinson, recently published an op-ed in The Root, exposing what's really behind the industry's attack on "government regulation" — and how AT&T and Verizon are responsible for the biggest threat to the open Internet we've seen yet. Rashad explains:

Every monthly cable bill is a fresh reminder of how a lack of competition keeps us tied to underperforming, unresponsive telecom monopolies primarily dedicated to price-gouging their customers. Without the FCC serving as a watchdog — protecting our right to all access the same Web, no matter what telecom market we live in — broadband providers would be working overtime finding new ways to charge us even more for even less.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson appeared on Current TV's The War Room Friday to discuss our campaign urging ALEC's corporate funders to take a stand against profit-driven gun violence. Thanks to ALEC's deep, decades-long relationship with the NRA, a hard push to enact "model" bills designed to expand the gun market — at any cost — has long been a cornerstone of ALEC's legislative agenda.

ALEC is the driving force behind the infamous "gun show loophole" widely discussed in the 1990s, more accurately described as a private sale loophole. In over 30 states, the loophole permits anyone who isn't a licensed firearms dealer to sell an unlimited number of guns with no criminal background check or mental health check — and with no real liability for making sales to straw purchasers engaged in gun trafficking. Unsurprisingly, ALEC's loophole now drives 40% of all gun sales in the United States.

ALEC's work to ensure that as many people purchase as many guns as possible, knowing that more guns mean more homicide, is why we're demanding that corporations cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council. Watch the video above and join our campaign.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — the corporate "bill mill" known primarily for pushing discriminatory voter ID laws through statehouses across the country — is bleeding members. Since ColorOfChange began drawing attention to ALEC's voter suppression efforts last year, 40 major corporations and 70 state legislators have publicly disavowed any relationship with the group.

In the midst of this PR disaster, ALEC is grasping at straws to try to polish its image. Last week, Executive Director Ron Scheberle tried to convince readers of the San Francisco Chronicle that ALEC is a natural ally of tech startups and small-business entrepreneurs. Scheberle failed to mention that ALEC continually pushes legislation designed to protect entrenched special interests by killing off the competition.

Today, the Chronicle is featuring ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson's response to Scheberle's op-ed, and to ALEC's cynical attempts to whitewash its record.

As Republicans gathered in Tampa, FL for their national convention, the country once again turned its eyes to a state that has become synonymous with voter suppression efforts which include discriminatory voter purges, strict voter ID laws which create undue burdens on voters, ex-felon disenfranchisement, and a calculated curtailing of the rights of third parties to register new voters in the state.

In an editorial in The Root, ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson highlights the hypocrisy of a GOP convention platform that is rooted in the calculated discrimination of people of color by peppering their speakers' list with high-profile Republicans of color:

This past weekend, The Grio featured an editorial by ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson. Focusing on the words of Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, Robinson highlights the prevalence of race-baiting in modern-day politics and the connection between coded rhetorical racism and voter suppression. His article underscores our responsibility to hold politicians accountable when their language and policies suppress the voices of people of color:

UPDATE: If you're in Austin Sunday, 03/11, please join ColorOfChange and Colorlines for a meet and greet at 6:30pm. Location: #321 Gables Park Plaza, 115 Sandra A. Muraida Way (near N. Lamar Blvd. & W. Cesar Chavez St.) Hope to see you there!

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual conference showcasing cutting-edge music, film and technology, kicks off this week. On Monday, ColorOfChange ED Rashad Robinson will be there as part of a panel titled, "Can Bloggers Put Hope Back into the 2012 Election?" Watch it live at YoungVoterLive.com.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson appeared on "The Young Turks" last night to talk about the culture war rhetoric that's been a centerpiece of the Republican primary. The conversation was prompted by a recent Salon.com article that warns that a long primary "threatens to change the very parameters of our political discourse," shifting the dialogue further right as social issues take center stage and the economy and unemployment go ignored.

But as the candidates head into today's Michigan and Arizona primaries, Rashad points out that voters have more opportunities to see just "how far outside the mainstream some of [the candidates'] proposals are..."

Yesterday, ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson was interviewed by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. Cenk posed the question, "Should progressives give up on bipartisanship?" The question was prompted by two recent pieces on the topic, one in The New Yorker and another that ran yesterday in Politico.

Rashad drove home the point that Americans (and Black folks in particular) can't wait for political harmony to come to Washington. As he put it on the show, "We need to demand big and bold solutions to these problems" right now. 

Watch the clip here, and please let us know what you think in the comments section.

ColorOfChange co-founder James Rucker sent the message below to our members last week. Here it is in case you missed it. Happy New Year!

...My goal when I started ColorOfChange was to lead it for a year or so and then find new leadership. That year turned into five, until a year ago when I re-connected with Rashad Robinson. I knew Rashad from his voting rights work and his more recent work in media accountability. Rashad was smart, unafraid, and interested in helping everyday folks achieve the dignity and an empowered political voice that everyone deserves — exactly the kind of leadership ColorOfChange needs...