Keeping Score: Calls to Investigate ICE; Climate Clock Issues Warning; RBG Still Trailblazing

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.


Lest We Forget

+“I just want to say, man, to all the young cats out there and even the older ones, older than me, there’s a lot more life to live… Please, I’m telling you, change y’all lives out there. We can stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people because there’s so much time that’s been wasted.”

Jacob Blake from his hospital bed in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

+ “May her memory be a revolution.”

—Amanda Litman on the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

+ “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus… This is deadly stuff.”

—Donald Trump on Feb. 7 in conversation with Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward. At the time, Trump was publicly downplaying the coronavirus.

+ “Those who raise women’s voices are always at risk of being targeted… but I think these attacks will never succeed in silencing the voices of the women of Afghanistan.”

Emal Zaki, the husband of prominent Afghani film director Saba Sahar, who was shot multiple times.

+ “Historically, that’s what’s changed history. Is when people engaged in civil disobedience. It calls attention to what you’re doing, it calls attention to the problem, and it’s what has to become the new normal now.”

—Jane Fonda on the podcast Hysteria (episode “Ring the Alarm”).

Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s School Strike for Climate Fridays, Jane Fonda came up with the idea of Fire Drill Fridays, where activists would protest against a different climate calamity that would end with civil disobedience. (vpickering / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

+ “Every time California suffers a particularly bad fire season, we ask the same questions: How can we prevent destructive fires in the future? Where can we turn for more resources? What can we do to help those who lost their homes and businesses?… There’s no silver bullet to creating a sustainable clean energy economy. But every tangible action taken by Congress can make a difference in diverting us from the calamitous path we are on.”

—California Senator Dianne Feinstein in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times.

https://twitter.com/nationalparke/status/1303783891199643649

+ “In a crisis like COVID-19, girls and young women are the first to be removed from school and the last to return. But educated young women are also critical to public health and economic recovery. Malala Fund is calling on governments to start planning now to ensure all girls are able to return to school when the crisis has passed.”

Malala Yousafzai, after the Malala Fund reported on the devastating effects of the pandemic on women’s education.

+ “It comes down to: Do you care about what people are going through? Because when it comes to protecting children, when it comes to paying women what they’re worth, when it comes to racial justice, protecting our vote, having the census count, following science, putting in OSHA protections for workers, we always hear the price is too high, but it’s never too high when we’re intervening for corporations or the very wealthiest of Americans.”

—Rep. Katherine Clark in conversation with host Michele Goodwin on the back to school episode of “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin.”

+ “The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people, because he rejects evidence and science.”

Scientific American, upon issuing its first-ever presidential endorsement.

+ “The implication that paternity leave is unimportant sets a dangerous precedent, one that suggests fathers are not an integral part of the child care unit, and perpetuates the antiquated belief that mothers alone should be the primary caregivers. Worse, explicitly (or implicitly) telling a male employee that they’re less of a man for taking time to be with their family after their child’s birth is as stupid as it is outdated. Showing up is exactly what fathers should be doing for their families. Now is the time to eliminate the stigma associated with paternity leave, once and for all.” 

—Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, on the importance of paternity leave.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian. (Adam11051983 / CC PDM 1.0)

+ “All these men, some of whom I knew intimately and others I’d never met, were debating who owned an image of me.”

—Emily Ratajkowski in “Buying Myself Back,” her ground-breaking essay about her experience being exploited as a model. 

+ “After 30 years in local law enforcement trying to reform it, I would have to frankly say no, we cannot reform our current system. Reform over the past few years has mostly been tinkering around the edges — a policy change here, a trend change there. But it didn’t go far enough. Our current system of policing not only has the impact of racial disparities, but it’s still very much impacted by structural racism. We’re going to have to dismantle this thing all the way to the ground and rebuild it.”

—Ronald Davis, former director of President Obama’s community oriented policing strategies office.

Milestones

(Illustration by ED Hose)

+ Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and feminist icon, passed away Friday, Sept. 18.

+ Zendaya became the second Black woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, the first being Viola Davis. She was nominated for her role in the hit show “Euphoria.”

+ Artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd unveiled a “Climate Clock” in Union Square to warn the public of a looming, irreversible climate crisis.

+ Breonna Taylor’s family will receive a $12 million settlement from the city of Louisville, after she was killed during a drug raid six months ago. 

+ VP candidate Kamala Harris stated that she would not trust a COVID-19 vaccine distributed by the Trump administration, unless it were backed by a different, “credible” source.

+ A Colorado Springs middle school called the police on a Black 7th grader for playing with a toy gun in his own home, during virtual class. The 12-year-old boy, Isaiah Elliot, subsequently faced a five-day suspension and now has a record with the sheriff’s office. 

https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1303392993009979396

+ South African Olympic runner Caster Semenya lost an appeal filed with Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court, challenging a ruling that required competing female athletes to take drugs in order to reduce naturally high levels of testosterone. Semenya still refuses to manipulate her hormones, and instead plans to only participate in races in which World Athletics does not disqualify her for having high testosterone levels.

+ A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of “young people everywhere” aims to prevent the Australian government from allowing an environmentally harmful coal mine extension, which would contribute substantially to climate change. 


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+ Following outrage and protests over the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, N.Y., the city’s police chief and command staff all announced that they would be stepping down from office.

+ Jane Fraser was selected to replace Mike Corbat as CEO of Citigroup, marking Wall Street’s first female CEO of a major bank. Kathryn Farmer made history as the first woman to be named CEO of a major U.S. railroad: BNSF.

+ The Houston Texans protested racial injustice and police brutality at their NFL game in Kansas City by staying in their locker room during “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which has been referred to as the Black national anthem.

+ A woman was refused entry to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which is famous for its nude art, simply because she was wearing a low-cut dress. In a letter posted to Twitter, the woman—identified only as Jeanne—wrote,

“Arriving at the museum entrance, I didn’t even have time to get out my ticket when the sight of my breasts and low-cut dress shocked the agent in charge of checking reservations… She left, chanting ‘ah, no, that won’t be possible, that isn’t possible, that won’t work that.’” 

The museum is full of paintings of naked women. 

+ In Georgia, 19 Black families are developing a 97-acre city to be a safe haven for Black Americans. The area will be named Freedom, and they hope to cultivate an entirely pro-Black community, even if not all the residents are Black themselves.

+ A new feminist group in Paris, Les Colleuses, is plastering slogans across the city in order to shed light on gender-based violence. Although the displays on public walls are technically illegal, the group is using their posters to encourage government response to domestic violence.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFGXM2WImJR/?igshid=19ufcbwyqljlk

+ 22-year-old tennis player Naomi Osaka won her last game in the U.S. Open, becoming a two-time U.S. women’s champion in a span of only two years.

+ Netflix defended French Senegalese filmmaker Maimouna Doucouré’s new movie “Cuties” in response to criticism that deems it an inappropriately sexual depiction of girls. “It’s an award-winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up,” Netflix said in a statement. “We’d encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.”

+ “Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood was awarded a Dayton literary peace prize, the Richard C Holbrooke distinguished achievement award, for using her voice to encourage empathy and progress.

(In a truly depressing turn of fiction-becoming-reality: Amy Coney Barrett, one of the women Trump is trying to push through to the Supreme Court, is a member of an extreme wing of Catholicism called People of Praise, which served as Atwood’s inspiration for the novel.)

+ A whistleblower alleges facilities were medically neglectful to women under ICE’s custody.  While there are several claims, the most egregious is that the department approves questionable and unapproved hysterectomies. The informant, Dawn Wooten, is a nurse who used to work at a facility that treated the immigrant women. 

+ The Black Girl Freedom Fund is calling for an investment of $1 billion towards young Black women. 

+ Sarah McBride of Delaware won her primary race for state senate, pushing her closer to being the first openly transgender person to be a state senator. 

+ Nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations such as the Center for Election Innovation and Research are directing donations towards local governments to fund elections, with the goal of ensuring universal access to voters during the pandemic.

How We’re Doing

+ 62 percent of Americans say that the Supreme Court vacancy should be filled by the winner of the presidential election. The belief is bipartisan, with eight out of 10 Democrats and five out of 10 Republicans agreeing that the appointment should be made after Nov. 3.

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez outside Schumer’s and Ginsburg’s alma mater, James Madison High School in Brooklyn. (Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer / Twitter)

+ 93 percent of the Black Lives Matter protests between May and August were peaceful and non-destructive, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project.

+ Democrats have raised over $70 million since the announcement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.

+ A Hong Kong study found that financial advisors were more likely to guide women towards risky investments than men: 37 percent of women were encouraged to make undiversified investments, as compared to only 14 percent of men.

+ Since it began tracking police shooting victims in 2015, The Washington Post has tallied nearly 250 women killed by officers.

+ The Color of Coronavirus project has revealed that the racial discrepancy in COVID deaths continues to grow, with Black and Latinx communities experiencing disproportionate deaths during the recent months of the pandemic.

+ Researchers estimate the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota—attracting 460,000 attendees—could be responsible for 266,796 new coronavirus cases, making it one of the largest superspreader events throughout the course of the pandemic.

https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1303376339429470208

+ A new Gallup poll reveals health events could prompt bankruptcy concerns for half of American adults, shedding light on the harmful effects of non-universal healthcare, especially amongst people of color.

+ The majority of Americans agree that racism is ingrained in the U.S. economy and other institutions, with less than 1 in 3 claiming that “America is not a racist country.”

+ Approval for labor unions has reached a record high, hitting 65 percent for the first time since 2003. Support is particularly strong amongst Democrats, 83 percent of whom approve of labor unions.

+ Almost every group of Americans is seeing decreases in unemployment, except for Black women. August saw a nearly 27 percent unemployment rate for young Black women between the ages of 20 and 24—1.4 percent higher than in July.

+ A report from the Death Penalty Information Center reveals the racial disparity among those sentenced to capital punishment. Last year, over half of the inmates on death row were Black, despite Black Americans accounting for only 13.4 percent of the population in 2019.

+ 2020 Women on Boards (2020WOB), the national campaign to advance women to corporate boards of directors, says that women hold 22.6 percent of board seats—the highest percentage ever— among the nation’s largest publicly-traded companies with regards to the Russell 3000 Index. 

+The Reflective Democracy Campaign has made several key insights. They found: 

  • White men make up 30 percent of America’s population, but 90 percent of America’s police sheriffs.
  • 95 percent of prosecutors are white.
  • Women and people of color are increasingly likely to hold elected local office. Out of the 100 largest cities in America, women and people of color are mayors of 54.
  • In 45 of America’s largest cities, men hold two-thirds of leadership positions in office.

About and

Sophie Dorf-Kamienny is a junior at Tufts University studying sociology and community health. She is a Ms. contributing writer, and was formerly an editorial fellow, research fellow and assistant editor of social media. You can find her on Twitter at @sophie_dk_.
Sarah Montgomery is a senior at USC. She is passionate about using writing as a tool for social change. Her Starbucks beverage of choice is the iced skinny vanilla latte—personal cup and reusable straw, of course.