#voting rights in america

[ausetkmt]

Ben & Jerry's Celebrates the Power of Black Voters with Rebrand of Change is Brewing Flavor

Ben & Jerry's Celebrates the Power of Black Voters with Rebrand of Change is Brewing Flavor

National Campaign Kicks Off With a Seven-Week Tour in Georgia Encouraging Fans to Stand Up For Voting Rights and Turn Out for Historic Midterms

ATLANTA, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, on National Voter Registration Day, Ben & Jerry's, alongside Black Voters Matter, is unveiling a sweet new look and mission to their popular flavor, "Change is Brewing" — a cool combination of cold brew ice cream, marshmallow swirls, and fudge brownies. This rebranded flavor is focused on advancing racial justice through protecting voting rights and encouraging voter turnout ahead of November's midterm elections by connecting voters with the Ben & Jerry's Voter Resource Center.

Black Voters Matter and Ben & Jerry's unveil the Relaunched Change Is Brewing Flavor to Celebrate the Power of Black Voters and Encourage Fans to Stand Up For Voting Rights and Turn Out for Historic Midterms

Ben & Jerry's Celebrates the Power of Black Voters with Rebrand of Change is Brewing Flavor and National Campaign

At the founding of our nation, voting was limited to white, land-owning men. It was only in recent history that all Black people have had the right to vote, and even that was, and still is, a hard-fought right. The Voting Rights Act, landmark civil rights legislation passed in 1965, put important safeguards in place to protect the rights of Black voters. However, the Voting Rights Act was gutted in a 2013 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for a number of states to pass regressive voter suppression laws that make it harder, not easier, for people of color and young people to vote. Many states have since passed regressive voter ID laws, limited mail-in voting, and even limited distribution of water in voting lines.

"It is precisely because of the power of the Black vote that a number of states — all controlled by Republicans — are trying so hard to suppress it,'' said Maroni Minter, US Activism Manager for Ben & Jerry's. "That's why today we are also excited to kick off a seven-week tour of Georgia in partnership with Black Voters Matter to engage voters across the state and connect them with information and tools they need to ensure that their vote is counted and their power is felt. And yes, there will be free ice cream."

The seven-week tour, in conjunction with the Black Voters Matter We Won't Black Down tour, will crisscross the state of Georgia in a Ben & Jerry's Scoop Truck, hosting events and engaging voters in the run-up to the historic midterm election. The tour will visit HBCUs, big cities, and rural communities in partnership with Black Voters Matter, serving up free scoops of the decadent coffee-based flavor that is as delicious as it is inspiring. Black Voters Matter works 365 days a year, in Georgia and beyond, to build power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. The tour is part of a larger campaign that will use digital and social media channels, radio, newspaper, and outdoor advertising to encourage participation in the midterms and connect people to the Ben & Jerry's Voter Resource Center, a tool that allows voters to check their voter-registration status, register to vote, find their polling place, and identify key election-related dates.

"Mobilizing and community-building with Black voters is mission critical for BVM," said Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown, co-founders of BVM, in a joint statement. "There are so many pressing national and local issues at the forefront right now from healthcare to housing to basic needs like access to clean water, which we know disproportionately impacts Black communities. While voting is always an exercise in using our power, we know this year that our safety, our health, our freedom is also on the ballot. And change happens when we use our power collectively at the voting booth. We look forward to partnering with Ben & Jerry's while on our tour this fall, which has for so long been a voice for change in our communities, and will continue to do the necessary work of increasing progressive power through movement-building."

The rebranded "Change is Brewing" pint design features the work of Black multi-disciplinary artist Laci Jordan, and builds on her first pint design. "Last year when we launched the Change is Brewing flavor, I imagined my ideal version of the world for Black communities. This year, the new visual reflects what I see as one of the integral pathways to actualizing that world - voting. This artwork underscores how important it is for the Black community to have access to the ballot box and to use our votes to move our communities and each other forward."

The deep, rich coffee flavor in "Change is Brewing" is from BLK & Bold, the first Black-owned, nationally distributed coffee company — 5% of their profits go to programs to provide resources to youth in need. Greyston Bakery — a values-led supplier and longtime Ben & Jerry's partner known for their groundbreaking Open Hiring program — provides the scrumptious fudge brownies. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Change is Brewing will go to Black Voters Matter to support their work.

To check your voter registration, eligibility status, and to pledge and make a plan to vote, visit action.benjerry.com/vote and then treat yourself to a pint of our new "Change is Brewing" to celebrate (in stores soon).

About Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's is an aspiring social justice company that believes in a greater calling than simply making and selling the world's best ice cream. The company produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream and Non-Dairy/vegan desserts using high-quality ingredients and lots of big chunks and swirls. As a certified B Corp, Ben & Jerry's incorporates its vision of Linked Prosperity into its business practices via values-led sourcing initiatives when purchasing ingredients. Ben & Jerry's is distributed in more than 35 countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchised Scoop Shops, and via on-demand delivery services. Ben & Jerry's, a Vermont corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever, operates its business on a three-part Mission Statement emphasizing product quality; a fair financial return; and social, racial, and environmental injustice around the globe. The Ben & Jerry's Foundation, guided by Ben & Jerry's employees, granted $3.4MM in 2020 to support progressive, justice-focused grassroots organizing around the country. For up-to-date information, visit benjerry.com.

About Black Voters Matter

Black Voters Matter, a 501c4, and Capacity Building Institute, a 501c3, are dedicated to expanding Black voter engagement and increasing progressive power through movement-building and engagement. Working with grassroots organizations, specifically in key states in the South, BVM seeks to increase voter registration and turnout, advocate for policies to expand voting rights/access, and help develop infrastructure where little or none exists to support a power-building movement that keeps Black voters and their issues at the forefront of our election process.

For more information, please visit https://www.blackvotersmatterfund.org/

Ben & Jerry's relaunches Change Is Brewing flavor to target regressive voting practices and ensure all have an equal vote.

Ben & Jerry's relaunches Change Is Brewing flavor to target regressive voting practices and ensure all have an equal vote.

Ben & Jerry's relaunches Change Is Brewing flavor to target regressive voting practices and ensure all have an equal vote.

[bixels]

Always an experience watching the leftism leave FNAF fans when someone mentions that Scott Cawthon financially backed fascist politicians.

The switch from posting hardline leftist tweets about boycotts and signal boosts and critical takedowns of politicians and celebrities to ‘ohhh, well. everyone makes mistakes. who can blame him, listen he. he donated money to gay charities too. that makes it ok! a millionaire in his forties is allowed to have political beliefs. does it even matter? just let it go!’ is whiplash inducing. The antivaxxer celebrities have got to go, but this one horror dev who quietly handed wads of cash to antivax lawmakers? He’s chill, he can stay.

The charity thing is so funny too because suddenly utilitarian positive-negative point counting is the way to go. Maybe an abacus would help calculate the net good of donating to the Trevor Project minus donating thousands of dollars to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. -10 points if I push a kid in a lake but +11 points if I help an old lady across the street, so I’m chill. You can’t judge me. Hey, maybe. Just don’t push a kid in the lake period. How fucking low is the bar when we’re excusing maxing out the possible dollar amount of donations to Mitch fucking McConnell. That should be like. Default you’re a bad person.

[beauty-funny-trippy]

Ladies, don't worry, even after the Republican "Project 2025" is implemented, you and your doctor will still have full authority regarding your reproductive health — with some minor exceptions...

• The Republican Party will decide if you're allowed to use contraception, and if so, we'll decide what method we think is appropriate, and we'll make all other methods illegal.

• The moment you become pregnant, the Republican Party will gain control over your uterus via the laws we've enacted. It doesn't matter to us whether you're a 12 year old child or an adult. Whatever your opinions or individual circumstances are, we literally do not care. Unless we decide your life is in jeopardy, you will be forced to give birth. If you do not conform to our laws, you and your doctor will be sentenced to prison.

Just to be clear, we're not fascists, really we aren't. We just want control over women because women are incapable of making these private decisions on their own. That's why we're going to make you live by our "values". You and your doctor shouldn't be making decisions that will dramatically change the rest of your life. Only the Republican Party knows what's best for every uterus in America.

[sher-ee]

Trump: “Now, If I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country.”

Wake Up America. This isn’t a fucking game. Vote to end the nightmare that is Trump.

[mephistopholes-brain]

2,977 civilians died tragically in 9/11, 343 being firefighters.

Since then it has been “Never forget.” for over 20 years, the US attacked and destabilized an innocent country, and white ppl have further pushed the narrative that Muslims and Middle Easterners are all “evil terrorists”.

Now, in less than 6 months the OFFICIAL death toll in Gaza exceeds 30,000, half being CHILDREN. At least 200 doctors have died and many were TARGETED by IOF soldiers. I have seen children dismembered, maimed, sniped, run over, crushed, starved, scalped, exploded, burned, and strung up on the side of a building.

I have seen men, women, and children desperately digging through the rubble to find their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, friends, lovers etc.

I have seen brave doctors run outside to save injured civilians while at extremely high risk of being shot by snipers.

I have seen a father carrying BAGS full of his children’s remains.

I have seen a young girl, no more than 9, with a leg, an arm, and a hand blown off while her scalp hangs from her skull.

I have seen doctors speak out against the cruelty and ethnic cleansing while surrounded by the bodies of those they tried to save.

I have seen hundreds of pictures of NICU babies who were going to die soon because the hospital was about to run out of electricity.

I have read the first hand story of a father who traded one of his children for one of his brother’s children so that if one group dies at least one of their children would make it.

I have read posts from lgbt+ KIDS talking about how they regret not kissing their crush because they just watched them DIE.

I have seen the public posts of IDF and IOF soldiers where they show off the underwear and lingerie they looted from the drawers of the Gazans they are massacring.

I have listened to the screams of mothers after hearing their child is dead.

I have watched a teen boy’s gaze harden into something cold and empty after his entire family died in front of him, leaving him completely alone.

I have seen an IOF soldier throw a father and his baby into a giant wood burning oven just for fun.

I have seen many children with shell-shock, shaking because their minds and bodies can’t comprehend the horrors they have experienced.

I have seen tanks run over women actively giving birth on the roads of Gaza.

I have watched oldest siblings, no more than 11, take on the responsibility of keeping their younger siblings safe. I cannot comprehend how incredibly stressful that must be.

A little 6yo girl was trapped for 2 weeks in a car surrounded by the dead bodies of her family as they rotted.

This is all done with American tax dollars while companies like McDonalds give free food to Israeli soldiers. We are quite literally paying for this. 20% of your work and hard earned money is paying for the genocide of innocent people in Palestine.

This is NOT a political issue. This is a human rights issue.

Pro-Palestine is Pro-Humanity.

[awesomecooperlove]

OBAMA OPENLY ENCOURAGES ILLEGALS TO VOTE

💩👿💩

[atfisty]

To any American reading this of voting age. Or will be of voting age for the 2024 election… VOTE! Vote vote vote. Register to vote. Ensure your friends are registered to vote. If it wasn’t clear before the SCOTUS decisions in the last two days have spelled it out clearly.

If you are not an able-bodied cis white heterosexual man, you are at risk. They will strip away your rights, they will do everything they can to make sure you are erased. That you are silenced that you are dead.

And if you think that your vote doesn’t matter. That there is no point. Then they have won. You have already let them win. You have let them control you.

They will come after you. If you are not a cis white male you are a target. You are disposable. And you will eventually lose your basic rights as a human being. Because if you are not a cus white man… to them you are not human. Simple as.

[coochiequeens]

First there was a protest against Femicide in Kenya that American news media barely covered. Now there was a protest in Honduras that was barely mentioned.

February 7, 2024

Dressed in black as a sign of mourning, about 300 women marched on Thursday in Tegucigalpa to the National Congress, on Honduran Women’s Day, to protest the increase in femicides.

“We come to demand that the lives of Honduran women be respected, that’s why we come to this National Congress,” an activist who covered her face and hair with black scarves said through a megaphone.

The police placed barriers around Congress as a new legislative period began with the attendance of President Xiomara Castro, but the protesters managed to jump over them and reach the lower part of the building.

“We are marching today against all violence, from domestic violence to femicide. We demand the approval of the Comprehensive Law against Violence that the president promised; we can’t wait,” said Sandra Deras.

According to the Women’s Rights Center, violence against women is on the rise in Honduras. In the first 15 days of 2024, at least 16 women were murdered (according to preliminary police reports there were 15).

According to the National Autonomous University of Honduras’ Violence Observatory, 380 femicides were registered in 2023, compared to 308 in 2022.

According to UN Women data, Honduras is the fifth country with the highest rate of femicides in the world, 6.47 per every 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for women in Latin America.

Congress established January 25 as Honduran Women’s Day because, on that date in 1955, women were granted the right to vote and participate in the country’s political life.

[violottie]

if you are still going to vote for biden, and are pressuring and guilting others, especially poc, into voting for biden, you are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. directly.

from Khaled Beydoun, 12/Mar/2024:

[ausetkmt]

Blackest Buses in America to Stop in 12 States This Fall as Part of National 'We Won't Black Down' Campaign

Black Voters Matter, one of the nation’s leading voting rights organizations, announced its plans to mobilize Black voters as part of its “Blackest Bus in America” fall bus tour.

This year’s campaign and tour titled “We Won’t Black Down” will make stops throughout the region leading up to the general election on Nov. 8 and will engage with Black voters, policymakers, faith-based leaders, Black influencers, and HBCU students. At this moment, we’re seeing a rise in white supremacy, political division, and the weaponizing of race. We are standing firmly in Black social movements and standing firmly in our birthright. We deserve a strong and inclusive democracy, and we won’t back down. We won’t Black down.

Coinciding with National Black Voters Day on Sept. 16, this GOTV campaign is designed to raise awareness on issues impacting local Black communities, engage in on the ground GOTV mobilization efforts, particularly around local and state elections, and build community power through the celebration of Black love and joy. The tour will include multiple activations that reflect BVM’s vast programming and partnership network, including the Florida coalition campaign “We Draw the Lines,” which seeks to draw attention to gerrymandering underway in the state; BVM’s Take the Field Initiative focuses on GOTV efforts on local HBCU campuses; and various partnerships, including BET, The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and National Pan-Hellenic Council (Divine Nine); among others.

“While voting is always an exercise in using our power, we know this year that our safety, our health, our freedom is also on the ballot,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

“Racist practices and policies that attempt to subvert our democracy directly stem from the far right’s fear of Black voters’ power. And right-wing leaders have a long track record of devaluing Black lives and placing power and their own agenda over the health and well-being of our people. Our campaign is meant to shine a light on issues that matter to Black voters, but also to expose the far-right’s intentional strategy to undermine freedom and progress.”

“From the criminalization of abortion to the water crises in my hometown state of Alabama, and Mississippi, Black people have always bore the brunt of racism in this country. But we will not let them kill us,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

“We will not let them systematically take our right to freedom away. And we will not allow a culture of fear, intimidation and frustration hinder us from showing up and turning out this November. Local and state elections are pivotal to protecting our rights. This fall, BVM will take to the road to do what we have always done – educate, mobilize and build power with our communities because we know that when we show up, we win.”

The tour will collaborate with several of BVM’s local and state partners to host rallies, educational events and canvassing across 12 key states, including Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Black Voters Matter will be updating its website with new bus stops over the next several weeks. A schedule of initial stops is provided below. For the latest information as well as locations, please visit BVM’s website.

Florida

– Sept. 14: “We Draw the Lines” Congressional District 14 (Tampa).

– Oct. 13-16: Tampa/St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach, Sanford, Orlando.

Georgia

– Sept. 16: Albany State University.

– Sept. 17: Fort Valley State.

– Sept. 18: Americus and Cordelle, Georgia.

– Sept. 19: Savannah State University.

– Sept. 19: Griffin, Georgia.

– Sept. 20: Trees Atlanta.

North Carolina

– Sept. 26-30: Charlotte, Salisbury, Winston Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Elizabeth City.

Texas

– Sept.24-27: Central Texas.

– Oct. 5-8: East Texas.

To learn more about the tour, visit https://blackvotersmatterfund.org/we-wont-black-down/.

[godisarepublican]

Biden now unstoppable as he adds anti American college "Protesters" to his base of convicted felons, illegal aliens & dead people

[beauty-funny-trippy]

[sher-ee]

“Christian white men”.

[gawayne]

if I’m honest I’m kind of baffled that there’s anti-voting content going around. again. you cannot have forgotten so quickly how bad trump was and how hard the republicans tried to prevent you from voting. did you forget the russian bots??

[motherofplatypus]

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That genocidal state forces are using drones and loudspeakers over the nuseirat camp, broadcasting cries of women and children to lure and target civilians.

[sordidamok]

I work in a homeless shelter, so this isn't a surprise to me.

Homelessness in USA is the direct result of capitalism. There are solutions - providing people with housing is an obvious one - but the problem can't be solved overnight. And it can't be solved when the super-rich are hoarding mountains of money and the rest of us are barely scraping by.