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This Activist Organization Wants to Transform the Criminal Justice System—Starting with Prosecutors

This article dives into Color Of Change’s Winning Justice Initiative, dedicated to supporting progressive reform-minded candidates and pulling the curtain back on DAs who prosecute people of color for political gain. Our online database with info on more than 2,400 prosecutors gives people with tools to put pressure on DAs to eliminate cash bail, end prosecution for petty drug crimes—and elect better prosecutors.

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OP-ED: Your Favorite Crime Shows Hinder this Life-and-Death Cause

Rashad Robinson writes on how crime TV shows, among the most popular on air today, profoundly influence and distort people’s understanding of our justice system. Research shows what we see on TV profoundly shapes how people behave in real life. As momentum for changing our criminal justice system builds, it’s time to ask: are these shows helping move us forward or taking us backward? Read more in Color Of Change’s new report Normalizing Injustice up at hollywood.colorofchange.org/crime-tv-report.

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Facebook Removes Misleading Trump Census Ads

Facebook pulled a Trump ad that pretended it would take people to participate in the Census but went to linked to the Make America Great Again donate page. “Going forward, harmful and misleading ads must be flagged in a pre-posting review process, not after they’ve hit hundreds, if not thousands, of news feeds,” Rashad is quoted as saying. Facebook has the most permissive – and most damaging – approach to political speech, allowing candidates to post misleading information and target it to specific audiences.

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Facebook Takes Down Deceptive Trump Campaign Ads — After Allowing Them

Rashad is quoted in this article on Facebook’s decision to let a deceptive Trump campaign ad online before changing its mind. “Facebook has demonstrated once again that protecting its users from misinformation is not a priority, and instead that its integrity can be bought by the Trump campaign. While Facebook has now committed to removing the mis-informing post in question, the damage is done.”

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Elizabeth Warren Has Won Black Activists. She’s Losing the Black Vote.

Rashad is quoted in this article about why Elizabeth Warren has failed to turn out Black votes despite winning coveted endorsements and releasing racial justice plans most agree would make a difference. It’s about investing time in building trust with Black communities. “It’s taken Bernie 4 years to do this well with young Black people. Our community has deep loyalties and they stick with people. And it takes time for people to pick a new horse if that’s what they were going to do.”

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As Natural Hair Is Embraced, States Adopt Laws to Protect It

As part of the CROWN coalition, Color Of Change is standing up for Black women in the workplace by banning discrimination against wearing natural hairstyles. Virginia will likely become the 4th state to do so, with legislatures in two dozen other states and Congress considering following suit. Campaign director Jade Magnus Ogunnaike is quoted, “Hair is not just hair to Black people. It’s cultural expression.”

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Hilton Hotel To Host Neo-Confederate Group Conference During Black History Month

Color Of Change is pressing Hilton to stop the Sons of the Confederate Veterans from holding a major gathering at their hotel. Campaign director Brandi Collins-Dexter is quoted: “Allowing this hate-filled organization space at your hotel validates its existence and intentions. They, much like neo-Nazis, recognize Confederate iconography as an expression of white supremacy and the deadly ways it intersects with this country’s toxic legacies of racism.”

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#OscarsSoWhite Is Still Going Strong

Our Twitter takeover and work with #OscarsSoWhite founder April Reign is mentioned in this piece as the Oscars runs up against the same problem it’s had for decades: a lack of diversity. “Presented without comment,” Rashad tweeted. “In 2017: 18 Black nominees In 2018: 13 Black nominees In 2019: 15 Black nominees In 2020: 5 Black noms #OscarsSoWhite #Oscars.”

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How Rashad Robinson, Racial Justice Activist, Spends His Sundays

The New York Times profiles a day in the life with COC President Rashad Robinson – from interviewing Democratic presidential candidates to pushing forward strategies to overhaul our criminal justice system to good old-fashioned Sunday brunch. Since Rashad took charge of COC, the organization has grown by more than a million members.

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TV Cop Shows Affect Real-World Policing, Study Says

Rashad explains how crime TV shows – and how they distort our understanding of our justice system – shapes how people look at crime, injustice, and racist violent policing in the real world. “These shows paint this magical space in cities like New York and Chicago where people of color exist but somehow racism doesn’t.” These shows rarely depict how disproportionately Black people are targeted by police or how bias is baked into the system.

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Superbowl Ads Dialed Up Fun as an Antidote to Politics

Superbowl ads went for fun over serious this year. The big exception: an NFL ad about the devastation police violence has on families. But many were quick to point out the league’s hypocrisy given the exile of Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee. Rashad tweeted, “Every attempt by the @NFL to rehabilitate its image among Black viewers will ring hollow as long as Kaepernick is still unsigned to an NFL team. You cannot co-opt his message and blackball him at the same time.”

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Are Crime Shows Slowing Justice Reform?

This article explores the political and social impact of crime TV shows, and dives into the data in our latest report Normalizing Injustice. Rashad is quoted: “Only someone who doesn’t have to suffer the consequences of a criminal justice system would say that these shows are apolitical.” Indeed, fictional misrepresentations of the criminal justice system on TV may be thwarting much-needed reforms in the real world.

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