Later this month, Metro Justice will be announcing to dozens of community organizations, block clubs, unions, churches, and schools the creation of our Speakers Bureau.

We know that building movements for social justice requires a shift in consciousness among many of the people in our city. While many of our core values are incredibly popular, the specifics of some arguments are lost, and often members of the public are easily manipulated because they lack awareness of many important details of policy decisions being made or proposed. [More after the Jump]

By Rosemary Rivera, Metro Justice Member

The March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act changed the American landscape 50 years ago allowing more access to the ballot. Yet in June of this year, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by eliminating section five.

Sections 4 and 5 (Section 4 is still in effect, but without Section 5 it is useless) constitute what Rep. John Lewis calls the heart and soul of the act. They require nine states (most of them in the Old South, plus a few others outside this region, and also smaller jurisdictions like Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx) with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval before changing their election procedures. This requirement, dubbed “pre-clearance,” came under attack by Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Scalia, et al., who claim that our country has changed and that pre-clearance has become an undue burden for these states and localities and that the formula for determining how the law applies is outdated and unconstitutional. Eliminating Section 5 lifts the restrictions on states, so now they can determine their own voting regulations without federal approval. Justice Roberts has been on the warpath with a long term strategy about lifting restrictions for these states for quite some time. [More after the jump]

Racist violence, White privilege – and real solutions

By Pat Mannix

All over the country stories of police misconduct in the performance of their duties are reported online Facebook and YouTube. In Rochester, we have recently followed the story of Benny Warr, a physically disabled man who, while waiting for a bus, was maced, dumped out of his wheelchair, and viciously kicked by the RPD. The attack was not only caught on video but was personally witnessed by the Commissioner on the Board of Education. Justice was not served for Benny and he, suffering from PTSD from the attack, finally took an ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal) just to put the whole thing to rest.

This incident was closely followed by another when a family dispute was interrupted by the police which resulted in a 16 year old boy and his pregnant sister being viciously beaten by officers, then arrested. [More after the jump] 

Last week our Housing is a Human Right Campaign had an important victory - the eviction of the Woods Family was postponed by MidFirst Bank after an eviction protest with Metro Justice, Take Back the Land, and the Band of Rebels. 

A joint effort of the Dryden Theatre and the Rochester Labor Council, the Rochester Labor Film Series presents motion pictures celebrating workers around the world. The first film program of this kind in the nation, we show dramas, comedies and current documentaries on important issues relating to work and workers, especially aspects of work often marginalized or absent in dominant commercial media. Our films from around the world are selected to inform, provoke and inspire.

This year's program is diverse in tone and subject and depicts a variety of workplaces. Several concern physically dangerous jobs (La Camioneta, Burn, Taxi!, Black Diamonds, The Miners' Hymn). Others depict demanding service jobs (Women of the Sixth Floor, The Waiting Room) or artistic work (La Camioneta). Others present the interplay of social class and race (Nothing But a Man) or reflect market shifts in manufacture (Kinky Boots). But common to all is the story of workers' determined and unflinching response to the physical, social and economc challenges they face.

By: Ken Traub and Janet Gelein, Metro Justice Members and Co-chairs for the Elder Justice Subcommittee of Dignified Retirement

The Elder Justice subcommittee of Metro Justice compliments the Democrat and Chronicle and staff writer Patti Singer for the excellent series of investigative reports on the Blossom South nursing home.

It is positively shameful that this 1-star Medicare rated nursing home is among the worst in the nation and had been a “Special Focus Facility” for 27 months before the state Department of Health recommended to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that Medicare and Medicaid funds paid to the home be terminated. We believe that as a result of the public exposure generated by this newspaper, CMS acted within one week after receiving the 

state recommendation and informed Blossom South’s administrator that funding would soon end. If it loses its court appeal, Blossom South would have to include as part of a closure plan how it would find appropriate and safe placements for current residents in other facilities.

There are only 48 hours left until the City "Best of Rochester" primary ballot closes! 

Help us get the word out!! Fill out the City Newspaper Best of Rochester Primary Ballot and choose Metro Justice as "Best Local Activist Group" (question 64). http://svy.mk/14FRm8K

We can't wait to have more pictures up soon!

We have put together a new, more integrated blog for all of you to enjoy!  This blog will have new and original content for everyone to enjoy!  If you want to read our old blog, go to http://metrojustice.org/media-center/news/!