The Time is Now.
Current laws do not adequately protect the rights and lives of people of color.
The Time is Now.
Current laws do not adequately protect the rights and lives of people of color.
Introduction
We need a modernized and enhanced “New Civil Rights Act” (NCRA)
With the backdrop of police brutality, voter purging, flint water crisis, and many other wrongs to our society, it is evident that the current system of laws is clearly lacking in specificity and enforcement. These bold new laws are meant to address the gaps in current law and strengthen their enforcement.
We propose an NCRA that:
- Enacts bold, comprehensive change
- Erases the effects of Slavery, Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration, and Systemic Racism once and for all
- Identifies all the laws that perpetuate systemic racism and changes them
- Criminalizes the impact of discrimination toward people of color
- Decriminalizes the effects of previous racist laws and gets people out of prison
- Holds politicians accountable that perpetuate systemic racism
- Protects the health, safety, and wellness of people of color
- Puts people of color into positions of power in public office and corporate America
- Balances the scales of power
- Permanently protects voting rights to preserve these laws
The US has a system of laws that protect police with impunity and preserve white supremacy. This is the "system" in systemic racism. Until we identify the offending parts of this system and take it apart piece by piece, we won't see meaningful change in behavior or justice being served.
We need bold new laws that tackle the largest of problems in the US affecting communities of color, specifically, black and brown people. We've referenced "the black agenda" and other materials to assemble this sweeping reform that broadly criminalizes discriminatory behavior based on its impact to communities of color. So even if we haven't addressed it in the NCRA, if it impacts people of color negatively, it will be illegal.
We hold the cards to Joe Biden's candidacy, and potentially all three branches of government. Therefore we weild the power of the majority. We need to demand a change in the laws to balance the scales of power.
Below is a first draft of the New Civil Rights Act.
New Civil Rights Act: A First Draft
Economy
- Establish NCRA Commission to study the impact of slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration, and investigate and quantify the impact to black and brown communities.
- Reparations through a basic income. Show evidence as a descendant of slaves and receive $2K a month for X number of years.
- Criminalize paying people less by race. Every company to regularly report their numbers and need to have no disparities.
- Access to capital through grants for small businesses / entrepreneurs.
- Investigate and prosecute redlining.
Voting & Representation
- Invalidate all race-based laws based on their racist origin or impact to minorities. Reverse discrimination is explicitly not protected.
- Voter ID and purging laws and actions are given the highest scrutiny and need to meet certain requirements.
- Require the Senate and House have a representative body based on race.
- Make it easier to elect more people of color into office.
- Reinforce the Voting Rights Act.
- Legalize Affirmative Action policies.
- US Territories receive statehood, voting representation in Congress, & electoral college votes.
Safety
- Increase the penalties of race-based crimes that impact minorities. Reverse discrimination is explicitly not protected.
- Rewrite law enforcement laws to favor citizens. A person dying at the hands of an officer is unacceptable, especially black and brown people.
- Prosecute all cases of false police reports based on race.
- Use of force is explicitly determined by law, and not left up to a subjective reasonableness standard. Any death by police is independently investigated by a citizen's commission.
- Make white nationalism illegal in the US, similar to how Nazis are illegal in Germany.
- Scrutinize any police department that arrests more black and brown people.
- Release from prison all black and brown nonviolent offenders. Just as marijuana has been decriminalized, we need to decriminalize race, state by state.
- Remove all monuments to the treasonous, and racist confederacy.
- Remove the pay for bail system which punishes poor people but not the wealthy.
- Civil rights enforcement arm at the federal level. Specific investigators and law enforcement for each of the above categories. Permanent funding for Civil Rights division at DOJ.
Education
- Strengthen HBCUs with increased and permanent funding.
- All US colleges need to meet certain minimum requirements of underrepresented students of color (Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Indigenous) and have practices in place to actively seek and recruit these students.
- Access to public education and college for people of color with no disparities in funding.
- Reestablish the fair news reporting laws to reduce division and fanaticism, especially with regard to issues related to race.
Health
- Universal basic healthcare (Medicare for all or Public option) that can’t be rejected by providers.
- Invest in birthing centers in communities of color to reduce maternal mortality.
- Hospitals with high death rates for women of color will be investigated.
- Water for Flint, Subterranean electrical system for Puerto Rico, reestablish Section 936, and allow for bankruptcy (disband fiscal oversight board).
Conclusion
The time is now.
We have Joe Biden’s career on the line. He only gets elected with our support, so we hold the cards to the majority’s candidate, and potentially both houses of the legislative branch and the executive after November. Therefore, we wield the power of the majority.
With that power, we need to start dismantling the system of laws that protect and perpetuate systemic racism. Law by law. Elected official by elected official. We will identify them and root them out.
We need bold, comprehensive change in this country for things to improve for black and brown people.
It’s not a candidate that gets us there. It can’t be a lone person. It’s upon all of us to channel the collective consciousness surrounding this moment into action. We need black and brown people to unite, and we need white allies to demand this legislation with us.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Let’s make our ancestors proud.
Contact us below & follow us on social.
- The New Civil Rights Act Team