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When you hear Civil Rights Movement, its easy to think of the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which stated that segregation in publics schools is unconstitutional. I think of Emmett Till who in 1955 was shot and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman, of the student sit-ins in 1960 where college African American students would go into segregated parks, swimming pools, theaters, & libraries and sit in protest of segregation, or the 24th Amendment which abolished the poll tax that made it difficult for poor blacks to vote. Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Stokely Carmichael, and of course, the legendary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were also prominent figures we think of who allow us to look back at the Civil Rights Movement in awe.

But what about when you hear Black Lives Matter? What do you think of?

When I hear it I think about people of color who are fighting for equality in America, said Jeremiah Harris, a sophomore communications major.

#BlackLivesMatter started in 2012 as a hashtag after Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old African American boy, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted for his crime. The founders of BlackLivesMatter are Alicia Garcia, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. According to their website, BlackLivesMatter is, a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.

The controversy of BLM is astounding and has become one of the biggest topics of debate in our nation. But if we were to compare it to The Civil Rights Movement, how would it stand?

According to Mic.com, 42% of young white Americans today say they dont support BLM and in 1964, 63% of Americans said civil rights leaders pushed too fast. Despite this, I think it is a lot more complicated than this statistic puts forward.

Lets look at three areas of comparison between the two movements.

1. Origins

During the Civil Right Movement the fight was against literal institutional racism that plagued our country. There were actual laws that oppressed blacks and other minorities during this time.

Segregation was a great example of this. Brown v. Board of Education found segregation unconstitutional and everyone could see what the issue was whether they agreed of disagreed because it was tangible evidence. Millions of black people were effected by laws like Jim Crow that allowed segregation or the poll tax that prevented poor blacks from voting.

With BLM and the rhetoric going on in our nation today, there is no tangible enemy to protest.

There is a heavy rhetoric in the general conversation that there is racism out there, but I have yet to see a law that is actually racist. Yes, there is inequality, specifically with blacks in our nation, but calling out institutional racism without real evidence does nothing for anybody.

When I compare BLM to the Civil Rights Movement, I see the evidence of disparity blacks faced in the U.S. 60-70 years ago, but it is extremely hard to say that for blacks today. There may be disparity that blacks face today, I believe there is, but the evidence is not being put forward like it should.

2. Protests

On Aug. 28, 1973, over 250,000 people came together for the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom in Washington D.C. It rallied thousands of Americans to come together and peacefully protest the injustices that blacks and minorities were facing at the time. For the event, internal Marshalls were trained to keep order within the event due to security reasons, but the marchers chose peace instead of violence. This day was most memorable for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s I Have a Dream speech.

Previous protest to this included the Montgomery bus boycotts, and the freedom riders. These were student volunteers that decided to test out the new laws that prohibited segregation, and were attacked by angry mobs while traveling across the country.

Today we see the destruction of private property, setting things on fire, throwing rocks at innocent bystanders, and much more.

Riots and violence did happen later in the Civil Rights Movement with The Black Panthers and other protest events in the late 60s, until that point the protests were very peaceful. After Dr.Kings death, there was much more violent sides of protests.

Today, it began with violence and continues with it.

3. Leadership

The start of the Civil Rights Movement formed off the death of Emmett Till and the stubbornness of Rosa Parks. It is a huge step down from Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, in my opinion. We know without a shadow of a doubt that Emmett Till was killed due to blatant racism. We do not know that with Trayvon Martin. Rosa Parks literally fought against an institutionally racist law, but we dont know what the founders of BLM have fought against.

When I hear Civil Rights Movement I think of MLK, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers,Harris said. Its very hard for me to think of anyone prominent nowadays.

There is also no figure anywhere close to the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today. The leadership of todays black movement is horrendous and lacking in integrity among other factors.

I think Dr. King was great, and I think the fact that he was a pastor played a huge role in his involvement, said Isaac Mowbray, an undeclared sophomore. I firmly believe that a major lack in todays fight for minorities is in the realm of faith. Faith in Christ and what He can do for those oppressed is not taken into strong consideration. The black church, which had been a staple since the times of the black slave, has dwindled into a poor excuse of what we now call the black church when compared to the historical practices of black christians back then, but that is another comparison for another time.

See the rest here:
Black Lives Matter vs. The Civil Rights Movement - The Clause

Former Attorney General Eric Holder will lead an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at Uber.

Uber has hired former US Attorney General Eric Holder to lead an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at the ride-hailing company.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced the appointment of Holder, who served as the nation's top law enforcement official in the Obama administration, in a memo to employees on Monday provided to CNET. The company also said it plans to begin publishing internal diversity numbers, a practice that has become more common among Silicon Valley companies.

The memo outlined a series of moves to address outrage that has erupted since a former Uber engineer described in a Sunday blog post how women in the company were sexually harassed by other employees and complaints were dismissed by HR.

"I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do," Kalanick wrote in the memo. "Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time. What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take what's happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization, where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice."

Late Sunday, Uber promised to conduct an internal investigation into allegations made by Susan Fowler. A site reliability engineer at Uber from November 2015 to late last year, Fowler claims that one manager had inappropriately sexually propositioned many women, but Uber management repeatedly "refused" to punish him as he was a "high performer."

Fowler's blog post also claims there was a chaotic companywide culture of sexism and unprofessional business practices. This, Fowler said, had serious work-flow consequences, including the abandonment of projects and altered objectives.

Arianna Huffington, a member of Uber's board, joined Kalanick and Uber's head of human resources for a company meeting Tuesday to discuss the investigation. During the meeting, Kalanick reportedly apologized for Uber's lack of diversity and for not properly responding to employee complaints.

"Travis spoke very honestly about the mistakes he's made -- and about how he wants to take the events of the last 48 hours to build a better Uber," Huffington wrote in an Uber blog post. "It was great to see employees holding managers accountable. I also view it as my responsibility to hold the leadership team's feet to the fire on this issue."

Sexual harassment and a lack of gender diversity in Silicon Valley have become key concerns for many tech companies. Women make up around 30 percent of the workforce at major tech companies but fill only 15 percent of technical roles. In a 2016 survey of 200 women who had worked in Silicon Valley for over 10 years, 60 percent of respondents said they'd received unwanted sexual advances, 65 percent said those advances came from a superior and one of three said they were in fear for their personal safety.

The full memo sent by Kalanick is below:

Team,

It's been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, and understand everyone has been waiting for more information on where things stand and what actions we are going to take.

First, Eric Holder, former US Attorney General under President Obama, and Tammy Albarran -- both partners at the leading law firm Covington & Burling-- will conduct an independent review into the specific issues relating to the work place environment raised by Susan Fowler, as well as diversity and inclusion at Uber more broadly. Joining them will be Arianna Huffington, who sits on Uber's board, Liane Hornsey, our recently hired Chief Human Resources Officer, and Angela Padilla, our Associate General Counsel. I expect them to conduct this review in short order.

Second, Arianna is flying out to join me and Liane at our all hands meeting tomorrow to discuss what's happened and next steps. Arianna and Liane will also be doing smaller group and one-on-one listening sessions to get your feedback directly.

Third, there have been many questions about the gender diversity of Uber's technology teams. If you look across our engineering, product management, and scientist roles, 15.1% of employees are women and this has not changed substantively in the last year. As points of reference, Facebook is at 17%, Google at 18% and Twitter is at 10%. Liane and I will be working to publish a broader diversity report for the company in the coming months.

I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do. Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time. What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take what's happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization, where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

Thanks,

Travis

First published Feb. 20, 4:50 p.m. PT. Update, Feb. 21 at 3:45 p.m. PT: Adds comments from Arianna Huffington.

Solving for XX: The industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

CNET Magazine: Check out a sampling of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.

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Uber taps former AG Eric Holder to lead sexism probe - CNET

Uber has hired the former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate allegations of sexual harassment after an engineer went public with claims that she repeatedly faced sexism and discrimination at the ride-sharing company.

In a staff email shared with the Guardian on Monday, Ubers CEO, Travis Kalanick, said Holder would conduct an independent review and also revealed that women made up only 15% of the companys workforce in engineering, product management and scientist roles.

The hiring of Holder, who was attorney general under Barack Obama, comes as the description of harassment from Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, has gone viral, prompting women across Silicon Valley to share stories of facing misconduct and discrimination in the male-dominated tech industry.

Its been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, Kalanick said in his email. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

Fowlers lengthy account on her blog alleged that management and the HR department at the San Francisco-based company frequently dismissed documented cases of sexual harassment, protected a repeat offender and threatened to fire her for raising concerns.

Fowler, who declined to comment further on Monday, alleged in her post that a manager immediately propositioned her for sex when she joined in late 2015, and that a director explained the dwindling number of women in her organization by saying the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers.

Fowler, who now works for technology company Stripe, said a manager harassed her with messages on the company chat system but did not face any consequences from HR despite her providing screenshots. She said she later learned that other women had complained about his inappropriate behavior.

Upper management told me that he was a high performer -- and they wouldnt feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake, she wrote.

In one anecdote, she said managers had promised staff leather jackets but ultimately decided not to order them for women because there were not enough women in the organization to justify placing an order.

Following her complaint about that incident, an HR representative asked if I had ever considered that I might be the problem, she said. Her manager also later told her she was on thin ice and that if she filed another report, she would be fired, according to her account. Although an HR official admitted that this threat was illegal, no action was taken, she said.

On Monday, Kalanick said Uber board member Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, would also assist in the investigation alongside Liane Hornsey, the companys newly hired chief human resources officer, and Angela Padilla, general counsel.

The harassment controversy comes as Kalanick struggles to move past the viral #DeleteUber campaign, which stemmed from his participation on Donald Trumps economic advisory council.

The company has long refused to release demographic data on its workforce, even though most major tech companies have in recent years begun disclosing data and publicly acknowledging their lack of diversity. Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter have all published staffing reports.

Kalanicks email only provided gender data, saying the 15% figure for women has not changed substantively in the last year. The email did not offer statistics on the number of women in senior roles, a key metric for diversity.

A spokeswoman declined to provide racial demographic data to the Guardian on Monday. The CEO said he and Hornsey would publish a broader diversity report in the coming months.

Fowler alleged that when she left Uber at the end of 2016, out of over 150 engineers in the site reliability engineering teams, only 3% were women.

This is not the first time a tech corporation has hired Holder in the wake of a discrimination scandal. In 2016, home-sharing startup Airbnb brought him in to investigate claims that users were refusing to rent their homes to black guests, a controversy that spread under the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. The company subsequently implemented new staff and rules aimed at preventing discrimination, though some critics said the reforms were inadequate.

Image Credit: Uber (logo).

2017 Guardian Web syndicated under contract with NewsEdge/Acquire Media. All rights reserved.

More here:
Uber Hires Eric Holder To Investigate Sexual Harassment Allegations - CIO Today

New York Times

At Democrat's 'Listening Session,' Concern About Trump, Minus the Jeers New York Times Credit Lauren Justice for The New York Times. LA CROSSE, Wis. Representative Ron Kind stood in front of the crowd gathered at an American Legion post in his district in western Wisconsin and listened. As a Democrat in the House minority, that is ... and more »

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At Democrat's 'Listening Session,' Concern About Trump, Minus the Jeers - New York Times

Renee C. Byer/Sacramento Bee via ZUMA

I forgot about this until Rachel Maddow mentioned it on her show last night:

A Democrat on the Federal Election Commission is quitting her term early because of the gridlock that has gripped the panel, offering President Trump an unexpected chance to shape political spending rules.

The commissioner, Ann M. Ravel, said during an interview that she would send Mr. Trump her letter of resignation this week. She pointed to a series of deadlocked votes between the panels three Democrats and three Republicans that she said left her little hope the group would ever be able to rein in campaign finance abuses.

The ability of the commission to perform its role has deteriorated significantly, said Ms. Ravel, who has sparred bitterly with the Republican election commissioners during her three years on the panel. She added, I think I can be more effective on the outside.

Ravel is not the first Democrat to resign a post early after Trump's election win. SEC Chair Mary Jo White is another high-profile Democrat who's resigned, and there have been several others as well.

Why? With Republicans in control of everything, isn't this precisely the time when Democrats should want to retain as much power as they can muster for as long as they can? Ravel's resignation will break the FEC's frequent deadlocks, but it will break them by almost certainly giving Republicans total control over election policy. This is precisely the thing that Ravel has been fighting against the past three years.

I don't get it. What am I missing here?

Read more from the original source:
Another Democrat Hands Over the Reins to Republicans - Mother Jones