WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE

As more women enter public life, I see developing a more humane society. - Dorothy Height, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement

ACLU ONLINE NEWSLETTER 7MAI10

What Happens in Arizona, Stops in Arizona Put an End to Workplace Discrimination ACLU Marks Passing Of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Dorothy Height This Mother's Day, Urge your Senators to Stand Up for Women and Mothers Maryland Liberates Prisoners of the Census Human Rights: It's Time to Practice What We Preach Human Rights: It's Time to Practice What We Preach For years, U.S. leadership on the world stage has suffered because our nation seems to hold a double standard on human rights. Historically, notions of U.S. exceptionalism and the selective ignoring of injustices and human rights violations—home and abroad—have bred mistrust of U.S. leadership based on our incomplete commitment to universal human rights. The Obama administration, however, has committed to changing that. Combining the United Nations Human Rights Council, the appointment of officials promoting civil and human rights, and the willingness of this administration to work with members of civil society sends the promising message that President Obama is prepared to engage with the international community on new and more principled terms than previous administrations. These efforts, however, are not enough. What we have yet to see are new, bold steps that prioritize human rights at home. That's why the ACLU is working with the Human Rights at Home Campaign—a coalition of more than 50 human rights, civil rights and social justice organizations working to strengthen our country's commitment to human rights at home and abroad. Its goal is to create a national political culture that supports and advocates for human rights. The campaign is advocating for an explicit commitment to implementing the full spectrum of human rights as envisioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, recognizing that every human being is entitled not only to civil and political rights but also to economic, social and cultural rights. As a first step, the campaign has been calling on the administration to issue an executive order aimed at increasing the effectiveness and coordination of the efforts of the executive branch to meet our domestic human rights obligations by creating an identifiable focal point for the administration's human rights activities and policy work. This type of mechanism would also establish a specific structure with a systematic and transparent process for implementing human rights obligations in U.S. domestic policy and would enhance federal, state and local coordination in support of human rights. >> Take action: Ask President Obama to sign an executive order on domestic human rights. back to top Do you know somebody who would be interested in getting news about the ACLU and what we're doing to protect civil liberties? Help us spread the word about ACLU Online — forward this newsletter to a friend.

May 7, 2010 What Happens in Arizona, Stops in Arizona Tell your governor and state representative: What happens in Arizona, stops in Arizona. By now, you've heard about SB 1070, a racial profiling bill in Arizona that was signed into law last month. This outrageous and unconstitutional racial profiling law is causing a national uproar — and for good reason. Arizona's new law sacrifices the civil liberties of millions of people living and working in Arizona, while doing nothing to address the real problems the state is facing. We must make sure this kind of law doesn't spread to other states. The ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, the ACLU of Arizona, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the National Immigration Law Center have teamed up to mount a legal challenge to this extreme, new law. The goal is to prevent the law from ever going into effect. But lawsuits are not enough. We need you to take action, too. Send a message to your state lawmaker and governor. Even if you think your elected representatives and governor are sympathetic on this issue, they need to hear that you will not tolerate a dangerous racial profiling law. Only a complete rejection of this dangerous, un-American approach will prevent it from spreading to other states. >> Tell your governor and state representative: What happens in Arizona, stops in Arizona. >> Learn more about other ways to get involved. back to top     MY LETTER TO VA GOVT ON IMMIGRATION I am writing to express my outrage about the bill that was just signed into law in Arizona. It invites and virtually compels racial profiling, and I don't want such a law to spread to my state. Among other flaws, the law requires every police officer in Arizona to ask people for their papers based only on some undefined "reasonable suspicion" that they are in the country unlawfully. To avoid arrest, citizens and non-citizens will effectively have to carry their "papers" at all times, so the residents of Arizona are treated just like the residents of Nazi Germany and the communist block were, and like the people of our theocratic dictatorship allies in the Persian Gulf are as are the residents of the PRC, Iran, and N.Korea. What a group of nations to model our policies after!!!!! It is discriminatory, unfair and inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution and comes at a high cost both to Arizona taxpayers and to our treasured civil liberties. Arizona's transformation into a potential police state has already spawned similar efforts elsewhere. I strongly oppose any effort to adopt this kind of legislation in our state. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Put an End to Workplace Discrimination It may be hard to believe, but the original version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was first introduced in Congress more than a generation ago. LGBT people have made a great deal of progress in the decades since; however, the need for Congress to act and finally pass ENDA could not be stronger. Today, it remains legal to fire or refuse to hire someone for being lesbian, gay or bisexual in 29 states—while transgender workers can be denied or refused jobs in 38 states. These numbers clearly demonstrate the pressing need for the federal government to expand employment non-discrimination protections to LGBT workers. ENDA will allow all American workers who stand side-by-side at the workplace and contribute with equal measure in their jobs to also stand on the same equal footing in the eyes of the law. It is fundamentally unacceptable that in present-day America there is a group of people who go to work and are forced to deny their families and loved ones—and have to hide who they are for fear of losing their livelihood. The House of Representatives will soon be voting on a fully-inclusive version of ENDA that will protect workers from discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity. This critical and long-overdue legislation will not succeed without the support of Americans who are committed to fairness and equality in the workplace. >> Take action! Please ask your representative to support ENDA today. back to top ACLU Marks Passing Of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Dorothy Height Dorothy Height, civil rights leader and tireless social justice advocate, passed away on April 20 in Washington, D.C. Laura Murphy, Director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, reflects upon Dr. Height's activism. The passing of Dr. Dorothy Height was a huge loss to the nation, particularly to American women. She inspired me and so many women leaders because she embraced and nurtured her sisters and daughters in the movement. I lost a role model and a mentor who, whenever we met, always clasped my hand in hers, looked me in the eyes and said, "Carry on." She had a determination to stand her ground as a leader for over 70 years throughout the entire modern day civil rights movement which is sadly, to this day, a deeply male-dominated sphere. It is striking how Dr. Height outlasted so many men who were the civil rights leaders of the moment. It was her extraordinary combination of skills and attributes that were hardwired into her being: a tremendous memory for names, dates and events, a flawless command of the English language, a unique speaking voice, an elegant style of dressing, her height, a steady temperament and unwavering good manners. Dr. Height often demonstrated her remarkable skill as the "clean-up" speaker. The men in the civil rights movement often had her speak last (so as to not to miss the elusive TV cameras), and when she did, she packed a powerful punch by putting the moment in historical context and reminding us to stay resolved to keep the pressure on. Unlike some leaders, when she spoke, she never burned a bridge with a vicious attack or an off-color remark. She rarely budged when men tried to shunt her aside. And, she understood that whenever possible she should lift up the good that Black America had to offer—especially its women. Thank goodness there was much made of the passing of Dr. Height, with services at the National Cathedral and with press editorials and statements from the White House, former U.S. presidents, and national and world leaders. Dr. Height may get her due in her passing, but what about the one thing that Dr. Height worked so hard to achieve? What about her work to lift women— especially black women—into leadership roles? For those of us who knew and loved her, the best thing that we can do is to grab the hand of a young woman, especially those who are committed to social justice issues, look them in the eye and say: "Carry on!" back to top This Mother's Day, Urge your Senators to Stand Up for Women and Mothers Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, and the United States. Those are the seven nations worldwide that have not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a landmark international treaty that affirms women's human rights. Although the U.S. played a major role in drafting the treaty and signed it in 1980, it has never been ratified by the Senate. In fact, CEDAW has been dormant in the Senate since 2002, when it was last reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But we're happy to report that, last year, the Obama administration prioritized CEDAW ratification, prompting a reenergized campaign to join the 186 countries around the world that have ratified CEDAW. Across the globe, CEDAW has been used to ensure primary education for girls, improve access to health care services, combat human trafficking, pass laws against domestic violence and female genital mutilation, and allow women to own and inherit property. Domestically, ratification of CEDAW would encourage the U.S. to take stronger action against issues such as gender-based and domestic violence, as well as discrimination against women in housing, education and employment. Though ratifying CEDAW will not automatically result in changes to U.S. law, it would provide a new and significant opportunity for a national dialogue on the gains made and the challenges that remain to improve women's full equality. >> This Mother's Day, urge your Senators to stand up for women and mothers in the U.S. and across the globe by finally ratifying CEDAW.. back to top Maryland Liberates Prisoners of the Census On April 12, Maryland became the first state in the country to count incarcerated people as residents of their hometowns, rather than as residents of the place where they are imprisoned, for the purposes of legislative districting. The passage of the No Representation Without Population Act ends prison-based gerrymandering, which falsely inflates the political power of districts with prisons, due to the U.S. Census's practice of counting incarcerated populations as residents of the prison. Incarcerated populations have the potential to skew representation significantly because prisons tend to be located in sparsely populated rural areas. For example, in one Western Maryland legislative district, 18 percent of the population is comprised of prisoners. This means that every group of four residents in this district has as much political influence as five residents anywhere else in the state. It is important to note that the new redistricting does not affect the distribution of any funding based on census data, nor does it weaken the economic benefits associated with prisons. Correcting this power imbalance is not the urban-versus-rural issue as it is sometimes portrayed, but rather, it is a crucial step in the fight for electoral equality and fair representation. back to top

DOROTHY I HEIGHT

Stop worrying about whose name gets in the paper and start doing something about rats, and day care, and low wages ... We must try to take our task more seriously and ourselves more lightly.

- Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday. (Source: The Washington Post)

Dorothy I. Height, founding matriarch of U.S. civil rights movement, dies at 98

By Bart Barnes
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, April 21, 2010; A01

Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday at Howard University Hospital. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Ms. Height was among the coalition of African American leaders who pushed civil rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations in the 1950s and 1960s.

As president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, Ms. Height was arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of civil rights leadership.

Although she never drew the media attention that conferred celebrity and instant recognition on some of the other civil rights leaders of her time, Ms. Height was often described as the "glue" that held the family of black civil rights leaders together. She did much of her work out of the public spotlight, in quiet meetings and conversations, and she was widely connected at the top levels of power and influence in government and business.

As a civil rights activist, Ms. Height participated in protests in Harlem during the 1930s. In the 1940s, she lobbied first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of civil rights causes. And in the 1950s, she prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to move more aggressively on school desegregation issues. In 1994, Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

In a statement issued by the White House, President Obama called Ms. Height "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans."

She "devoted her life to those struggling for equality . . . witnessing every march and milestone along the way," Obama said.

In the turmoil of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, Ms. Height helped orchestrate strategy with movement leaders including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph and John Lewis, who would later serve as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia.

In August 1963, Ms. Height was on the platform with King when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. But she would say later that she was disappointed that no one advocating women's rights spoke that day at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Less than a month later, at King's request, she went to Birmingham, Ala., to minister to the families of four black girls who had died in a church bombing linked to the racial strife that had engulfed the city.

"At every major effort for social progressive change, Dorothy Height has been there," Lewis said in 1997 when Ms. Height announced her retirement as president of the National Council of Negro Women.
Women's rights champion

As a champion of social justice, Ms. Height was best known during the early years of her career for her struggles to overcome racial prejudice.

She was also energetic in her efforts to overcome gender bias, and much of that work predated the women's rights movement. When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, Ms. Height was among those invited to the White House to witness the ceremony. She returned to the White House in 1998 for a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of that legislation to hear Clinton urge passage of additional laws aimed at equalizing pay for men and women.

"Dorothy Height deserves credit for helping black women understand that you had to be feminist at the same time you were African . . . that you had to play more than one role in the empowerment of black people," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) once said.

As president of the National Council of Negro Women, Ms. Height was instrumental in organizing and sponsoring programs that emphasized self-help and self-reliance.

Those included nutrition, child care, housing and career counseling. In response to a public TV program, "The Vanishing Black Family," Ms. Height helped create and organize the Black Family Reunion Celebration, which has been held on the Mall and in cities across the country annually since 1985. The gatherings are intended to honor the traditions, strength and history of African American families while seeking solutions to such social problems as teen pregnancy and drug abuse.

"The reunion is as important today as some of our marches were in the past," Ms. Height said in 1992.

In 1995, Ms. Height was among the few women to speak at the Million Man March on the Mall, which was led by Louis Farrakhan, the chief minister of the Nation of Islam. "I am here because you are here," she declared. Two years later, at 85, she sat at the podium all day, in the whipping wind and rain, at the Million Woman March in Philadelphia.
A constant fight

Dorothy Irene Height was born in Richmond on March 24, 1912, and she grew up in Rankin, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where she attended racially integrated schools. But she felt the lash of racial bigotry early in her life. A music teacher in her mostly white elementary school appointed her student director of the school chorus, but a new principal forbade her to take that position. At the next school assembly, the chorus refused to stand and sing until Ms. Height was reinstated as leader, and the principal relented.

The principal subsequently became one of her staunchest supporters, Ms. Height recalled in her 2003 memoir, "Open Wide the Freedom Gates."

As a high school senior and the valedictorian, she won a national oratorical contest, and with it a $1,000 college scholarship. But the college of her choice, Barnard in New York, had already admitted its quota of black students -- two. When Ms. Height applied, she was informed that she would have to wait at least a semester before she could enroll.

Instead, she went to New York University, where she graduated in three years and received a master's degree in educational psychology in her fourth year.

As a young woman, Ms. Height made money through jobs such as ironing entertainer Eddie Cantor's shirts and proofreading Marcus Garvey's newspaper, the Negro World. She went nightclubbing in Harlem with composer W.C. Handy.

Ms. Height began her professional career as a caseworker for the New York City welfare department. She got her start as a civil rights activist through the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr., pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and from the pastor's son, the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who later represented Harlem in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ms. Height later said that as an officer of the Harlem Christian Youth Council, "I was one of the multitude whose first experience as a civil rights activist was in walking and talking with merchants on 125th Street."
Seizing an opportunity

After attending an international church youth conference in London in the summer of 1937, Ms. Height returned to New York with the conviction that she needed to operate from a broader base than that of a welfare caseworker. She found her opportunity that November at the Harlem branch of the YWCA during a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Mary McLeod Bethune, president of the Harlem YWCA, was impressed by Ms. Height's poise and style in greeting the president's wife, and she promptly offered her a job.

Quitting her job as a welfare caseworker, Ms. Height joined the staff of the Harlem YWCA. She remained a full-time YWCA staffer until 1975, serving the last 18 years simultaneously as president of the National Council of Negro Women.

As a child, she had once been turned away from the Pittsburgh YWCA swimming pool. As a YWCA staff member, she was instrumental in bringing about an interracial charter for Ys in 1946.

In the 1940s, Ms. Height came to Washington as chief of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA branch. She joined the staff of the national YWCA board in 1944, and, until 1975, she remained on that staff with a variety of responsibilities, including leadership training and interracial and ecumenical education.

In 1965, she organized and became the director of the YWCA's Center for Racial Justice, and she held that position until retiring from the YWCA board in 1975. She was a visiting professor at the Delhi School of Social Work in India, and she directed studies around the world on issues involving human rights.

Ms. Height became national president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority in 1947, and she held that position until 1957, when she became the fourth president of the National Council of Negro Women.

Over the next four decades, she established a national reputation as a graceful and insistent voice for civil rights and women's rights. She was tall and stately and spoke in a tone that always commanded attention. She rarely had to raise her voice.

"If the times aren't ripe, you have to ripen the times," she liked to say. It was important, she said, to dress well. "I came up at a time when young women wore hats, and they wore gloves. Too many people in my generation fought for the right for us to be dressed up and not put down."

Ms. Height never married. She is survived by one sister, Anthanette Height Aldridge of New York.
Wide influence

As the women's rights movement gained momentum in the early 1970s, Ms. Height forged alliances with white feminist leaders, while disagreeing periodically on matters of tactics and racial emphasis. "African American women have advanced in every field that women have advanced, but the sad point is that those are the few and not the many," she said.

Under her leadership, the National Council of Negro Women sponsored voter registration drives and organized an education foundation for student activists who interrupted their education to do civil rights work.

Another 1960s program, Wednesdays in Mississippi, was a favorite of Ms. Height's. It consisted of weekly trips to Mississippi by interracial groups of women to assist at Freedom Schools and voter registration campaigns. This was often perilous work, especially during the summers of 1964 and 1965, when the hundreds of young civil rights volunteers who streamed into Mississippi were routinely harassed, sometimes beaten and, in a few cases, killed.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the council helped organize and operate development projects in African countries. It ran a "pig bank" project in rural Mississippi in which pigs were given to poor, hungry families so they could raise them, with the understanding that two pigs from subsequent litters would be put back into the bank for another family.

Over the years, there were fundraising drives for a statue of Bethune and acquisition of a large and imposing headquarters building in downtown Washington to house the National Council and the Dorothy I. Height Leadership Institute. The building, with white oak woodwork, a marble staircase and fluted cast-iron columns, stands at 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, the site of what was once a slave market. For years after stepping down as president of the National Council, Ms. Height made daily visits to her office there, using a walker or a wheelchair as she became infirm.

On her 92nd birthday, she received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest decoration Congress can bestow. But Ms. Height often urged her co-workers to "stop worrying about whose name gets in the paper and start doing something about rats, and day care and low wages. . . . We must try to take our task more seriously and ourselves more lightly."

Staff writer Hamil R. Harris contributed to this report.