Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 21:31:23 -0400 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Pennsylvania Expose - 7/10/96 ================================================================== Pennsylvania Expose - 7/10/96 Pennsylvania Expose is a project of the Fight the Right Network (FTRN) and the People for the American Way (PFAW) Action Fund. The two-page formatted faxletter version is at http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa/ We are soliciting voluteers who will download the acrobat version to be a part of a statewide fax-tree network. ==================================================================== 1.Save Affirmative Action from Elimination 2.An Appeal for Funds for Rebuilding the Burned Churches 3.Pennsylvania Expose fax-tree ====================================================================== 1. Save Affirmative Action from Elimination by Brian Gocial, People for the American Way Action Fund Background Newt Gingrich has promised that H.R. 2128, which would eliminate all federal affirmative action programs, will be voted on by the House of Representatives in July. This dangerous and draconian measure would wipe out thirty years of bipartisan federal civil rights enforcement policies. Despite the progress we have made as a nation, serious discrimination and the legacy of past discrimination persist today, blocking advancement of women and minorities. Studies have repeatedly concluded that minorities and women still do not enjoy equal opportunity with respect to employment, education, housing, and voting. Too often, individual or institutional discrimination precludes women and minorities from participating in many levels of society. Affirmative action programs therefore remain essential to help remedy these problems. This bill would severely threaten the progress this country has made in attempting to achieve equal opportunity and, in fact, turn back the clock on the protection on civil rights. H.R. 2128 would legalize intentional sex discrimination and would eliminate the Executive Order 11246, which bars discrimination by government contractors and is one of the most successful and effective civil rights programs. Actions 1. Contact the targeted Representatives in your state and tell them to protect these needed affirmative action programs and to oppose H.R. 2128.: William Clinger (R-5-PA) 202-225-5121 202-225-4681 (fax) Jon Fox (R-13-PA) 202-225-6111 202-225-3155 (fax) William Goodling (R-19-PA) 202-225-5836 202-226-1000 (fax) Jim Greenwood (R-8-PA) 202-225-4276 202-225-9511 (fax) Joseph McDade (R-10-PA) 202-225-3731 202-225-9594 (fax) Curt Weldon (R-7-PA) 202-225-2011 202-225-8137 (fax) 2. Urge your members and activists in these districts to contact these Members of Congress. 3. Reprint this action alert in your newsletter or upcoming mailings. Thank you for participating in this effort. If you would like more information regarding this harmful legislation, please call Brian Gocial at 1-800-326-7329. Affirmative action is broadly defined as any measure adopted to correct or compensate for past and present discrimination or to prevent discrimination from recurring in the future. Affirmative Action Talking Points * Discrimination continues to be a persistent problem as evidenced by the recent rash of fires devastating black churches and the fact that Mitsubishi is currently facing one of the largest sex harassment class action suits ever filed, involving hundreds of women who claimed they were continually physically and verbally abused. Study after study concludes that in employment, housing, and voting, minorities and women do not have the same opportunities as white males. * Affirmative action policies do not mandate quotas and do not give unqualified candidates jobs. Quotas are illegal. To be permissible, affirmative action must involve only qualified workers. Affirmative action policies ask employers to consider sex, race, or national origin as one of the many factors when reviewing qualified job applicants. * Affirmative action is about providing people the opportunity to compete and to use their talents. * Women and people of color are paid significantly less than white men for similar work. * White men hold a disproportionate percentage of upper management positions. * Other types of preferences are used all the time with no objection. For example, children of alumni are given preference in admission to colleges and universities. *The minority population in the U.S. is growing. This growing population needs to be given the opportunity to be educated and learn job skills. If not, the detrimental effects on the country in the future are incalculable. ===================================== 2. An Appeal for Funds for Rebuilding the Burned Churches The Fight the Right Network broadcast the following message on the Internet and placed it in Philadelphia's two gay weeklies. To: Philadelphia's sexual minority community The recent burning of more than thirty African- American churches in the south is shocking to us, the undersigned, as it is to most Americans. To our oppressed African-American sisters and brothers whose churches have been burned, we extend our deepest sympathy. In support we will intensify our efforts to eliminate racism in our own communities and in the nation at large. These church burnings are a terrible expression of the militia-minded, hate-filled, violence-prone agenda of the resurgent radical right--the Klan, the skinheads, the Patriots and the others who comprise this virulent, anti-democratic political movement. As lesbians, bisexuals, gay men and trans people we have an especially keen understanding and strong feelings about the radical right. We too have been subjected for decades to another of its widespread expressions, homophobia, in the form of denunciation, discrimination and physical assault. Homophobia, similar to the age-old oppression of African-Americans, denies us our civil rights, our fair educational and career opportunities, our families, our dignity, and increasingly, even our lives. To defeat the radical right all who are oppressed must recognize the common origin of our oppressions, attend to the pain and need of those attacked, and together fight this potent and growing threat to a humane society. If you are able to contribute financially to rebuilding the burned churches, please make your check payable to the National Council of Churches (note on your check it is for the Burned Churches fund) and send it promptly to the Fight the Right Network c/o its Interfaith Working Group P.O. Box 11706 Philadelphia, PA 19101. The accumulated checks will be forwarded to the Burned Churches Fund of the National Council of Churches at the beginning of August. David Acosta Shilpa Mehta Rebecca Alpert Jesse Milan Cathy Barlow Carol Moore Michael Hinson Frances Negron-Muntaner Denise Kulp Dick O-Malley Walter Lear Tyrone Smith Richard Liu Elizabeth Terry Marge Meann Kevin Vaughan Maggie Heineman and Chris Purdom for the Fight the Right Network =================================================== 3. Pennsylvania Expose fax-tree by Maggie Heineman, Fight the Right Network The Pennsylvania Expose fax-tree is a concept, not a reality. The concept is simple. Volunteers around the state who have access to the world wide web and who have software that can broadcast faxes, can do the following: go to our website; download the formatted version of the newsletter; send it to individuals and organizations with fax machines in your local calling area. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's fast. People for the American Way faxes this newsletter to about 150 organizations in different parts of Pennsylvania. The Fight the Right Network distributes the text version through email and faxes the formatted version to individuals and groups in the Philadelphia area. Pennsylvania Expose is on our web page both in html and formatted in Acrobat. If you are a Pennsylvanian and have access to the web please visit our site and consider becoming a fax-tree volunteer in your community. It's not difficult-- you need to download a free Acrobat reader once, and then three times a month (twice a month in the summer) download the fax-letter, and then broadcast it using the fax software on your computer. Please contact Brian Gocial or Maggie Heineman with your questions and offer of help. http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa/ Maggie Heineman Brian Gocial =================================================================== Pennsylvania Expose - July 10, 1996 Pennsylvania Expose is published two-four times a month. It is based on postings to the pa-expose@critpath.org E-mail list. To subscribe to the main list (daily announcements, discussion) mail to: listproc@critpath.org in the body: subscribe pa-expose To subscribe to the low-volume list (newsletter, occasional alerts) mail to: listproc@critpath.org in the body: subscribe pa-explv ===Pennsylvania Expose Project -- http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa ---FTRN Communications Working Group --- 215.389.1400 http://www.critpath.org/ftrn/ ---People for the American Way Action Fund --- 800.326.7329 http://www.pfaw.org/ ==================== Permission to Repost ==========================