February, 20 2009, 01:29pm EDT
Judge Rules School Board Elections Violate Voting Rights Act
ACLU Calls Ruling a Victory for Political Equality
COLUMBIA, S.C.
A federal judge ruled late Thursday that the method of electing members to a South Carolina county school board resulted in unlawful racial discrimination in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The decision comes in a long-running American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging Lexington County School District Three elections that dilute the minority vote. In her ruling, Judge Margaret B. Seymour of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ordered new proposals to change the election method within 60 days.
"This is a victory for political equality," said Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "The judge's decision made it very clear that racially polarized voting in the school district is a major problem. We have made a lot of progress when it comes to voting rights, but this decision shows the continuing importance of the Voting Rights Act to ensure effective minority participation in the political process."
The school board district has a significant minority population and, before 1994, three black individuals were elected to the board. That year, elections were changed from being held annually during the last week of February to November of even-numbered years, to coincide with the general election. Following that change, not a single minority was elected until after the lawsuit was filed in 2003. Judge Seymour found that "there are lingering socio-economic effects of discrimination" in the county and that black voters in the school district "have been denied equal opportunity to elect School Board members of their choice."
"This is an incredible decision that will have a significant impact for the black community in this district," said R.O. Levy, a plaintiff in the case. "We will now have a more effective say in the operation of schools in the district. This is what equal opportunity in elections is all about."
Attorneys in the case are McDonald and Meredith Bell-Platts of the ACLU Voting Rights Project and cooperating attorney Herbert Buhl of Columbia, SC.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Netanyahu Says Israel 'Will Stand Alone' as Biden Threatens to Withhold Arms
"If we have to, we will fight with our nails," the Israeli prime minister said in response to the American leader's warning against a major Rafah invasion.
May 09, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday responded to U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to withhold shipments of arms used by the Israel Defense Forces to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians by declaring that his far-right government would continue its assault on Gaza with or without American help.
"If we are forced to stand alone, we will stand alone," Netanyahu said in a video ahead of next week's anniversary of Israel's establishment in 1948, largely via the ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Arabs. "I have already said that if we have to, we will fight with our nails."
Echoing Netanyahu, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the IDF already has the "necessary weapons" to wage war, "including in Rafah," where over 1 million people forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza are sheltering alongside around 280,000 local residents, all of them bracing for a full-scale Israeli invasion.
The prime minister's remarks came a day after Biden threatened to withhold bombs and artillery shells from Israel if it launches a major invasion of Rafah—even as critics noted that Israeli forces have already attacked and entered the city. Some accused Biden of walking back a previous "red line" warning against any assault on Rafah.
Common Dreamsreported Tuesday that Biden is delaying shipments of two types of bombs to Israel in order to send a message that the president's tolerance for what he called Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gazan civilians is waning.
However, observers noted that Biden recently signed off on $14.3 billion in emergency armed assistance for Israel atop the nearly $4 billion the key ally already receives from Washington each year. The Biden administration has quietly approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel since October 7, while pushing for billions of dollars worth of additional deals, including advanced fighter jets.
Biden has also repeatedly bypassed Congress to fast-track weapons transfers to Israel as it wages what the International Court of Justice in January called a "plausibly" genocidal war that's killed, injured, or left missing more than 124,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—since October 7.
The U.S. administration also provides diplomatic cover for Israel's policies and practices in the form of United Nations Security Council vetoes.
Despite all this support—which comes as most election-year voters supporting Biden's Democratic Party believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza—Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Thursday tweeted, "Hamas ❤️ Biden."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Disgusting': Israeli Minister Rebuked for 'Hamas ❤︎ Biden' Post
"When Biden, far too late, pushes back just a little, this is how the far right responds," said one analyst. "There is no appeasing these murderous fanatics."
May 09, 2024
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir was sharply condemned on Thursday for lashing out at U.S. President Joe Biden after the American leader threatened to withhold weapons if Israel scales up its ongoing assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war with or without outside assistance, Ben-Gvir—who rose to his current post despite being convicted of incitement to racism and supporting an anti-Arab group that Israel classifies as a terrorist organization—took aim at the U.S. president on social media, writing, "Hamas ❤️ Biden."
Hamas—which Ben-Gvir and Biden's governments consider a terrorist group—has governed Gaza for nearly two decades and led the October 7 attack that sparked Israel's retaliatory and "plausibly" genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave. In just seven months, Israeli forces have killed at least 34,904 Palestinians there, wounded another 78,514, destroyed civilian infrastructure, and repeatedly displaced survivors.
Once Biden threatened to cut off weapons to Israel on Wednesday, reporter Emma Vigeland predicted responses along the lines of, "Biden is an antisemite who loves Hamas." After Ben-Gvir's post on X, formerly Twitter, she said, "Update: This is not even a parody tweet anymore."
Journalist Mehdi Hasan also seemed unsurprised by the news, writing: "Yep, now Biden is Hamas too. Can't make this stuff up."
Biden has faced growing backlash from critics of the war for not already cutting off U.S. arms to Israel—particularly given that he previously called an attack on Rafah a "red line," which didn't stop Israeli tanks and warplanes from targeting the city overwhelmed by refugees this week.
Some of the responses to Ben-Gvir's post stressed the U.S. president's strident support for the Israeli war since October.
"Biden has staked a good chunk of his reelection chances on his absolute support for Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza," noted foreign policy analyst and writer Mitchell Plitnick. "Israel has responded by continually pushing the envelope, and when Biden, far too late, pushes back just a little, this is how the far right responds. There is no appeasing these murderous fanatics."
Attorney Aaron Regunberg similarly said that "Israel's national security minister posted this because Biden, who's (disastrously) done everything the Israeli government's asked of him, took the first step towards a more rational policy. This is not how a [government] that wants to maintain a 'special relationship' with the U.S. acts."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pointed out that "this disgusting tweet comes from Israel's extremist national security minister, who was convicted by an Israeli court of racist incitement and supporting terrorism."
"This is the government waging war against the entire Palestinian people. We cannot be complicit in Ben-Gvir's war," added Sanders, who also spoke on the Senate floor and put out a statement about Rafah.
"President Biden is right," Sanders said in the statement. "The United States cannot continue to provide more bombs and artillery shells to support Netanyahu's disastrous and inhumane war policies."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Indomitable' Gaza Journalist Bisan Owda Awarded Peabody for War Coverage
"We rise simply to document the genocide happening to our people," said the Palestinian reporter who dedicated her award to protesters around the world speaking out against Israel's military assault.
May 09, 2024
"It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm still alive."
The line has become familiar to social media users and viewers of the Al Jazeera Media Network's show of the same name, hosted by Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda. On Thursday the show was lauded by the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors as it awarded Owda one of journalism's highest honors.
"Despite a lack of clean water and the increasing scarcity of food, she draws on her indomitable spirit to keep the world informed," said the board. "For showing bravery and persistence in the midst of imminent danger, and for carrying a heavy journalistic burden as the entire world looks on, It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive is honored with a Peabody Award."
Since Owda first broadcast from her bombarded home of Gaza in early November, less than a month into the Israeli onslaught that has now killed at least 34,904 Palestinians, she has given viewers a glimpse into how civilians across the enclave are impacted by air and ground attacks.
Her first broadcast—opening with the words: "Good morning, everyone. This is Bisan from Gaza. I'm smiling because I'm alive"—documented the makeshift tent encampment Owda was living in at Al-Shifa Hospital, after fleeing her home in Beit Hanoun with her family.
Since then Owda has interviewed her neighbors and documented the spread of disease at overcrowded shelters; the plight of families forced to leave northern Gaza due to Israel's total blockade on aid, pushing them toward starvation; and her family's experience marking Ramadan "in the rubble" left by relentless Israeli airstrikes.
On Thursday, Save the Children International featured Owda's reporting on Israel's takeover of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border as it invaded the city of Rafah this week.
"No people can evacuate to a safe place, no humanitarian aid trucks entering," she said in the video. "Now I am in the middle of Rafah, and these people behind me are trying to gather their stuff. Their mattresses, some food. And they're taking now their stuff again to be displaced again after living [here] for months."
The situation in #Gaza is devastating.
The takeover by Israeli forces of the #Rafah crossing means no aid can enter.
Due to the rise in violence & evacuation orders, families are fleeing again, despite there being nowhere safe to go.
Bisan reports from Rafah👇#CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/5vISDNweOl
— Save the Children International (@save_children) May 9, 2024
Accepting the Peabody, Owda said she and other journalists in Gaza "rise simply to document the genocide happening to our people."
"The victory of the Palestinian cause was never just for Palestinians," she said. "It is rather a victory for humanity."
She dedicated the award to people around the world who are helping to defeat "one of the [Israeli] occupation's strongest tools": dividing people "so we can never support one another."
"I dedicate this award to all the college students who are protesting," she said. "To all the people who took to the streets. To all the people at home who are participating in boycotts. To all the people worldwide, regardless of their religion, color, and ethnicity. Regardless of what makes them different, they're united in one mission: in their demands for a free Palestine. You deserve this award. And so do we."
Bisan Owda has just won one of broadcast journalism’s highest honors – the Peabody Award – for her work with AJ+.
Bisan is currently facing intense Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the occupied Gaza Strip. This is her message to the world: pic.twitter.com/rFTV7jjBIN
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 9, 2024
"And one day, this genocide will end," she continued. "And Palestine will be free. And we will welcome you here on Gazan soil. All of you... Thank you so much for this award and for always supporting us, standing by us, and for continuing to do so until we reach our demands: an end to the genocide, a cease-fire, and a free Palestine."
Tony Karon, editorial lead at AJ+, which has collaborated with Owda since Israel's onslaught began, applauded Owda's "heroic storytelling."
"We strive to tell the human story from where the missiles land, to elevate the human spirit and the hope that it brings for better days, to shine a light on places and stories those in power would rather keep shrouded in darkness," he said.
Zahira Jaher, a professor at University of Sussex in the U.K., said Owda and other journalists in Gaza "are rewriting how reporting is done... She is the future of Palestine."
The award was announced days after the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded a "special citation" for all journalists covering Israel's attack on Gaza—without giving recognition to those who are reporting from the frontlines, more than 100 of whom have been killed by Israeli forces.
"No one deserves this award more than Bisan, who is risking her life to ensure that the world bears witness to Israel's atrocities," said writer and foreign policy analyst Tariq Kenney-Shawa. "But no award will bring back the over 100 Palestinian journalists Israel has killed over the last seven months."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular