Today, in a public comment addressed to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Demos strongly objects to the addition of an untested question on citizenship status to the 2020 decennial Census. Brenda Wright, Senior Advisor of Legal Strategies at Demos, says the proposed question will have a detrimental impact on the accuracy of the census count and ultimately hinder fair political representation of people of color in the upcoming decade.
Both economic and racial justice are core progressive priorities, but too often we discuss them separately. On the contrary, racial and economic harms are intertwined, as are our desired solutions to them. Wealthy elites exploit racial fears to turn working people against each other and government; economic pain increases racial resentment and facilitates scapegoating, fueling support for punitive measures against people of color.
Hundreds of Thousands Were Added to Rolls or Updated Their Voter Information in First 10 Weeks of Motor Voter Program
Sacramento – California has expanded the number of people ready to participate in democracy by modernizing its voter registration system, according to numbers released today by the California Secretary of State’s office. Under the new program, called California Motor Voter, eligible voters are added to the rolls when they interact with the Department of Motor Vehicles, unless they opt out.
Today, Democratic members of the House of Representatives released the Aim Higher Act, a bill that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the federal law which authorizes a broad range of student aid programs and governs the federal role in higher education.
Demos, a public policy organization based in New York, has this response:
Judge Kavanaugh's record raises serious concerns that he would expand the power of big money in politics, weaken voter protections, and insulate the president from the rule of law.
Chiraag Bains, the Director of Legal Strategies for Demos, issued the following statement tonight in response to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Trump:
“With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court in less than two years, the stakes couldn’t be higher for individuals and families whose lives are directly impacted by the Court’s decisions.
Once an institution accepts the premise that all people, regardless of their background, have the potential to thrive and contribute to the success of an organization, they can begin to recognize systemic disparities and gaps as flaws to be addressed.
New York, NY – Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 is a blow to workplace democracy—furthering the consolidation of power arrayed against workers by big business and greedy special interests.
Washington – In response to the news that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will retire from the Supreme Court, Demos Director of Legal Strategies Chiraag Bains released the following statement:
NEW YORK, NY – Today Vijay Das, a campaign strategist at Demos, issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s end to the ‘zero tolerance’ immigration stance that has led to the forced separation of families and the traumatic accounts of infants and toddlers being ripped from their parents.
Repeatedly during his campaign, Donald Trump appealed to black voters by asking, “What do you have to lose?” We now have enough evidence to answer the question definitively: everything.
For the last year, we—Demos, Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO Communications) and Ian Haney López (author of Dog Whistle Politics), —have partnered in an ambitious multi-phase project to build an effective new narrative on race, class, and democracy. The central question we’ve explored is how to engage simultaneously around race and class in ways that strengthen social solidarity, reduce division and scapegoating, and create a viable foundation for progressive policy victories. We crafted, empirically validated, and field-tested a range of narratives and compared these to existing frames.
WASHINGTON – In a 5-4 ruling in Husted v. APRI, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld an Ohio voter purge practice that removes infrequent voters from the registration rolls. The decision creates a danger that other states will pursue extreme purging practices to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters across the country.
For the last year, we—Demos, Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO Communications) and Ian Haney López (author of Dog Whistle Politics), —have partnered in an ambitious multi-phase project to build an effective new narrative on race, class, and democracy. The central question we’ve explored is how to engage simultaneously around race and class in ways that strengthen social solidarity, reduce division and scapegoating, and create a viable foundation for progressive policy victories.
For the last year, we—Demos, Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO Communications) and Ian Haney López (author of Dog Whistle Politics), —have partnered in an ambitious multi-phase project to build an effective new narrative on race, class, and democracy. The central question we’ve explored is how to engage simultaneously around race and class in ways that strengthen social solidarity, reduce division and scapegoating, and create a viable foundation for progressive policy victories. We crafted, empirically validated, and field-tested a range of narratives and compared these to existing frames.