Thurgood Marshall bust to replace bust of author of racist Dred Scott ruling

The House voted Wednesday for a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice, to replace one of the chief justices who wrote the racist 1857 Dred Scott decision denying Black Americans citizenship.

The House passed legislation by voice vote that directs the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove a marble bust from near the entrance to the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol of the former Chief Justice Roger Taney and replace it with one of Marshall.

The bill passed in the Senate last week and will be sent to President Biden’s desk to sign into law. A more expansive version that included the removal of other statues was approved by the House last year but stalled in the Senate.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) introduced the legislation in 2020.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who reintroduced the bill last year, tweeted that while "it's important to know our past, we ought not place those who sought to divide our nation in a place of honor."

"I'm pleased a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, whose commitment to civil rights and the advancement of our most marginalized communities, will be placed in the Capitol to represent the principles of democracy & freedom we cherish today," he added.

[SOURCE: AXIOS]

Kamala Harris statement on Trump's nomination of Amy Barret for the US supreme Court

U.S. Senator and Democratic Vide President pick, Kamala Harris took to Twitter to voice her thoughts of Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Barret to the United States Supreme Court.

Harris tweeted:

Trump’s hand-picked successor to Justice Ginsburg’s seat makes it clear: they intend to destroy the Affordable Care Act & overturn Roe. This selection would move the court further right for a generation & harm millions of Americans.

I strongly oppose Judge Barrett’s nomination.

NAACP statement on COMCAST attack on the Civil Rights Act of 1866

While Trump's shenanigans continue to capture the headlines this story about an attack on the Civil Rights act of 1866 is one that we all should be paying attention to.

The NAACP has released the following statement on a very important civil rights case involving Byron Allen and Comcast case to be heard on Wednesday November 13, 2019. The statement is in reference to attempts by COMCAST to roll back protections against discrimination given by the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

In a few days the United States Supreme Court will hear one of the most important civil rights cases to come before it this term. Comcast – the second largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world – is poised to take an unprecedented step. Because of a dispute with a Black businessman, the company has urged the Supreme Court to roll back the crucial protections of one of the nation’s oldest civil rights laws, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

For more than a century, Section 1981 has been used as an important tool to combat race discrimination, particularly for employment discrimination claimants. Throughout the NAACP’s history, standard-bearers of justice like Thurgood Marshall have harnessed the power of Section 1981 to fight various forms of discrimination. Yet now, in a situation that has become all too familiar during this era, an upcoming Supreme Court decision has the potential to reject these lessons of history by rolling back the clock on basic civil rights.

Although the NAACP takes no position on the underlying dispute, we have decided to take the lead on this issue. We urge Comcast to cease its attack on Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866; a bedrock civil rights statute that has been in place for more than 150 years.