On Sunday, President Biden visited Selma, Alabama to mark the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the historic 1965 march for African American voting rights. Civil rights advocates were brutally beaten by state troopers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. During his remarks commemorating the march, Biden called for new voting protections. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Maya Contreras. Contreras is a political strategist, a narrative interpreter, and an advocate for anti-racist policy. She co-founded All Women’s Progress Policy Center to create an intersectional policy institute dedicated to improving the lives of womxn and marginalized groups through research and education. As a lifelong advocate, Contreras’s focus has been on Voting Rights because all paths to policy begin with access to the ballot box. As a political strategist, Maya bridges communication between political leaders and groups who have been deemed “hard to count” by the Census (e.g. BIPOC communities, those experiencing homelessness, low-income individuals, members of the disability community). One of Contreras’s voter outreach programs during the 2018 midterms was “Step up and Vote” which provided voter registration and voter education support to all 101 HBCUs. Media includes: DAME Magazine, France24, PBS.
Protests against a new police training center planned in Atlanta continue, and 23 people – 21 of whom come from outside of Georgia – have been charged with domestic terrorism. Opponents of the proposed center say the site, which they call “Cop City”, is a vital green space for the city and will fuel police brutality. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea Ritchie. Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant survivor who has been documenting, organizing, advocating, litigating, and agitating around policing and criminalization of Black women, girls, trans, and gender nonconforming people for the past three decades. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color and co-author of Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, and the forthcoming No More Police: A Case for Abolition. She co-founded the Interrupting Criminalization initiative with Mariame Kaba, as well as the In Our Names Network, a network of over 20 organizations working to end police violence against Black women, girls, trans and gender nonconforming people. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Root, MSNBC, HBO, NPR.
Walgreens has decided to stop distributing abortion pills in 20 Republican controlled states. To discuss, we FEATURE Renee Bracey Sherman. Bracey Sherman is an award-winning reproductive justice activist and the author of Saying Abortion Aloud: Research and Recommendations for Public Abortion Storytellers and Organizations. She has extensive advocacy, messaging, and digital media experience consulting with organizations in the the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements, including Forward Together and Strong Families, the Sea Change Program, Reproductive Health Technologies Project, and the Bay Area Doula Project. Bracey Sherman is a writer and advocate focusing on public abortion storytelling and ending abortion stigma. An outspoken voice, Bracey Sherman’s own abortion story has been featured in digital storytelling features for Fusion and The Guardian. Media includes: Ebony, TIME, Salon, The Atlantic.
Schoolgirls in over 50 Iranian schools have been poisoned, officials believe in response to the protest movement that followed the death of Mashsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police. President Ebrahim Raisi has announced an investigation into the poisonings following international media coverage and an escalating number of cases. To discuss, we FEATURE Nina Ansary. Ansary is an award-winning Iranian American author, historian and women’s rights activist. Her books include Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality and Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran. Ansary holds an MA in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies and a PhD in History from Columbia University. She serves on the International Advisory Board of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum (MENAF); a think-tank based at the University of Cambridge, the Board of Trustees of the Iranian American Women Foundation (IAWF), and the Board of Directors of My Stealthy Freedom (MSF); an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Iranian women’s actions to secure their rights. Media includes: Time, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times,Teen Vogue, CNN, Fox News, BBC.
Following the announcement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, which would curtail the power of the Supreme Court, protests have emerged among the nation's military. To discuss, we FEATURE Naomi Chazan. Professor Chazan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, where she co-chairs the Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS). Chazan served as a member of Knesset for three terms (1992–2003) on behalf of the Meretz Party. She was one of the founders of the Israel Women’s Network and is also active in a variety of women’s, human rights, and peace organizations. She served as the President of the New Israel Fund (2009–2012) and is a member of its international board. She has written and edited many books on comparative politics and has published numerous articles on African politics, the Israeli-Arab conflict, politics in Israel, and the status of women. Extensive media experience.
During the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, UN members reached an accord to protect marine life. To discuss, we FEATURE Lyne Morissette. Morissette owns a B.Sc. degree in biological sciences from Université de Montréal (QC Canada), a M.Sc. in Wildlife Management from Université du Québec à Rimouski (QC Canada), and a Ph.D. in Zoology (specialized in marine ecology and ecosystem functioning) from the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia (BC Canada). She did a postdoc in conservation biology & marine mammal ecology at the Arizona State University with Dr. Leah Gerber, and another one in theoretical ecology with the Canadian Research Chair in Biodiversity at University of Guelph, under the supervision of Dr. Kevin McCann. Dr. Morissette has a long record or accomplishments and research collaboration all around the world. She has a world-renown expertise in marine mammal ecology, conservation, and biodiversity and published her work in the most prestigious journals such as Science. Extensive media experience.
International Women's Day is Wednesday, March 8th. To discuss, we FEATURE Mariana Ardila. Mariana is an expert in women’s rights and litigation as a platform for social change. She was recently appointed as the Transitional Justice Director of the Ministry of Justice and Law in Colombia, after working nearly a decade for Women's Link Worldwide. In Colombia, Mariana has successfully litigated various cases before the Constitutional Court. She was one of the leading plaintiffs in the historic case decriminalizing of abortion in Colombia up to 24th week of pregnancy. She led the submission of the first and only report before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace about reproductive violence by the FARC rebel group, as well as reports to Colombia's Truth Commission on violence against black women in the context of the armed conflict in alliance with grass-roots Black women organizations. Media includes: The New York Times, Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, NPR.
Liz Theran
