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On April 16, 2021, thousands of protesters rallied and marched to honor 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was killed by the Chicago police in the city's Little Village neighborhood.Love & Struggle Photos

At the close of 2021, the right is poised to treat the pandemic as a political portal, and the left is not. Thats a disturbing reality, but it is not a fixed condition, says Kelly Hayes. In this year-end episode of Movement Memos, Kelly reflects on what were up against and what we need to build in the new year.

Music by Son Monarcas and Jon Bjrk

Note: This a rush transcript and has been lightly edited for clarity. Copy may not be in its final form.

Kelly Hayes: Welcome to Movement Memos, a Truthout podcast about things you should know if you want to change the world. Im your host, writer and organizer, Kelly Hayes. On this show, we talk about building the relationships and analysis that we need to create movements that can win. Today, as we wrap up our third season of Movement Memos, I wanted to share some final thoughts on 2021 and our experience of outrage in the COVID era. Because the last two years have been a remarkably dystopian ride and most of us still have a lot of emotional baggage that we havent unpacked yet. So I wanted to close the season with some thoughts for the activists who are tired and feeling discouraged. This is not a pep talk. But it is a check-in about where we are, where were headed, and how we can get right with ourselves on this journey.

We are almost two years deep into a pandemic that has transformed our experience of the world. In some cases, it has changed the way we see other people, and deepened ideological divides. We began the year by watching Trumpian rioters attack the Capitol as part of a failed right-wing coup. Since then, we have watched right-wing anti-vaxxers worsen the pandemic amid an ongoing global crisis. Researchers estimate that 163,000 COVID deaths could have been prevented by vaccination in the U.S. since June 2021. We have a confirmed death toll of over 800,000 in the United States, and yet we see proud op-eds from conservatives with titles like, Where I Live, No One Cares About COVID.

When it comes to protecting their constituents from COVID, Republican officials have failed miserably, but as an authoritarian project, the Republican Party has made significant gains during this era of crisis. Emboldened by the same stolen election narrative that launched an insurrection, Republicans have introduced at least 400 voter suppression bills in 49 states. According to Voting Rights Lab, seven states have enacted tougher voter ID laws and 14 states have created or expanded election-related crimes in a manner that could potentially suppress votes. About 55 million people live in states that enacted more restrictive voting laws this year.

Meanwhile legal abortion access hangs in the balance, and right-wing attacks on the mere discussion of racism in public schools are illustrative of whats at stake in our pandemic era culture wars. Historically speaking, pandemics are eras of factionalization and political extremity. For the right wing, the pressure cooker of the pandemic has been incredibly fruitful. With so many people at home, googling for answers, fixated on social media, the pandemic further popularized conspiracy theories and conspiracy-obsessed groups. Thanks to a whistleblower, we now know that Facebooks own research has confirmed that the platforms algorithm pushes new conservative users into rabbit holes of radicalizing content, including QAnon conspiracies, in as little as two days.

Left of center, we have witnessed some hard-fought battles, and some important victories, such as the recent unionization of a Starbucks in Buffalo, but also, a great deal of exhaustion and resignation. While there are people organizing relentlessly in defense of abortion access and voting rights at the local level, we have not yet seen a national response commensurate with these threats. Normally, I would expect the pending demise of Roe or the resurrection of Jim Crow to generate a robust response from liberals and leftists alike. And yet, while Republican outrage causes havoc and potentially rewrites the rules of political ascension, the outrage of liberals and leftists often comes in reactive fits and bursts. I often find myself looking back on comments some officials in Washington made to Axios, after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of George Floyd. The officials said that with the guilty verdict, they were confident that outrage over police violence would now play out in the same manner as liberal outrage about gun violence after a major shooting, there are a few days of intense clamour, and then people are reliably distracted by the next big story.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about outrage, how we express it, and what it means to us. Recently, I read an article in Politico in which the author argued that Republican moves against abortion will not rally pro-choice voters at the polls, as some liberal pundits have predicted. In the piece, Julie Roginsky, a former top adviser to New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, said:

I wish we lived in a world where outrage mattered. But I think we live in a post-outrage world, and voters today are affected only by that which directly affects them, which is why the economy, affordability and cost of living is such a major issue for so many people. While a lot of people will express sympathy for that 12-year-old girl in Texas who got raped but no longer can terminate her pregnancy, its not what motivates them to go to the polls, sadly.

Could the jolting reality of a post-Roe world re-energize enthusiasm around abortion rights at the polls? I honestly dont know. But I did find myself rattled by the words post-outrage world, because those words touch on possibilities that are both real and frightening.

Outrage is obviously part of our daily lives. For some, its a matter of routine. If youre on Twitter, you may learn who the so-called main character of the day is someone whose offensive words have gone viral such that we all get to take turns throwing metaphorical rotten fruit at them, once we figure out what the hell everyone is talking about. So we make our joke, or fire off our rageful critique, and if were being honest, the satisfaction is usually short-lived. I have indulged in that kind of discourse plenty of times, and to say it usually isnt generative would be the understatement of 2021. Because these conflicts avail us nothing and do nothing to address our pain. And we are carrying a lot of pain.

Our biosphere is being killed, and it is killing us in turn. The Biden administration recently held the largest-ever auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexicos history, while claiming that it was legally required to do so. That turned out to be a lie, and its a lie that feels representative of the Biden experience. A campaign promise of no more drilling, including offshore gave way to the administration auctioning off an area of the gulf twice the size of Florida.

Even among people who did not expect much from this administration, the abandonment of issues that were the subject of popular alarm under Trump can stir pain and resentment. Many of us are aching for each other, for millions of lives lost to COVID, and for the Earth. We are hurting. And we have to honor that hurt in real ways.

I am determined, in the new year, to develop very intentional practices and rituals around outrage, grief and trauma. We absorb so much horrific imagery and terrible news, and most of us are not adopting personal practices, or group practices, that provide the emotional outlets we need. Whether we want to or not, we are going to spend the coming years engaging with the traumas, resentments and unprocessed grief of the pandemic in our movement spaces either in intentional ways that help us heal and grow, or in messy, unintentional ways that cause derision and disrupt our work.

Our movements could make gains by offering people a place to connect over our pandemic-related hurt and dysfunction in collectivity. This society is not offering us any popular reckoning with the events of the last two years because the people that govern this society do not want a reckoning. They want us to cosplay normalcy. We have to build movements that offer an alternative to the consumerist zombie approach to mass trauma.

Most groups and organizations I have talked to this year have agreed on the need to incorporate grief work into their organizing, but almost none of them have actually adopted new practices or routines to help their members cope with grief. Some simply dont know where to begin. The scale of loss weve experienced is staggering, and the denialism of some people in the face of so much death, can be difficult to reconcile. But I think its important to remember that anger is one of the ways grief manifests itself, and that some of us lean on it because its easier to be angry than it is to feel sadness. You can get into a debate on social media with a stranger and feel like youre winning when youre angry. Its hard to feel like youre winning when youre sad.

Some people have told me they are feeling sad or weary because they feel like the transformative potential of the pandemic was not realized, or was squandered on electoralism. But the transformative power of the pandemic is not behind us. Some researchers have pointed out that a pandemic can actually suppress unrest in its early stages. Concerns about spreading the illness and exploitation of emergency powers by repressive governments can mean fewer protests. International Monetary Fund (IMF) researchers claim that, during the pandemic, the number of major unrest events worldwide has fallen to its lowest level in almost five years. Their study also found that, historically, the risk of upheaval increases with time. I found the following observation, which was published in the IMFBlog in February of this year particularly interesting:

Looking beyond the immediate aftermath, the risk of social unrest spikes in the longer term. Using information on the types of unrest, the IMF staff study focuses on the form that unrest typically takes after an epidemic. This analysis shows that, over time, the risk of riots and anti-government demonstrations rises. Furthermore, the study finds evidence of heightened risk of a major government crisis an event that threatens to bring down the government and that typically occurs in the two years following a severe epidemic.

Im not saying we should let the IMF be our guide, but based on this analysis, all of the political extremity we have already experienced in the United States during the pandemic has happened during the tamest days of the COVID era.

Right now, many of us are angrily grieving the loss of factory and warehouse workers including Amazon workers who died last week because they were ordered to remain in the path of a winter tornado, so that they could keep working. As we reflect on how drastic those storms were, and how workers experienced those events, we also need to remember that, in other parts of the world, more heavily impacted by climate change, this kind of grief and rage has been building since long before the hardships of the pandemic. I believe a game-changing era of global political upheaval is looming.

Unfortunately, in the United States, its the right that seems poised to change the shape of the system, and topple any semblance of democracy. Their gains are discouraging, but there are many ways to organize against them, and many ways in which they must be fought. One of the great narrative battles of our time will be waged between those who depict migrants and refugees as an invasive threat, and those who would build global solidarity with displaced and oppressed people. The organizing of prison and police abolitionists, and activists working to end surveillance, is also of critical importance right now.

We have to ask ourselves who we want to be in relation to this moment. What does our outrage mean to us? What shapes should it be taking? As we enter the new year, I hope we will opt out of unworthy conflicts more often. When confronted with the outrageous, I hope we will take constructive actions, and I hope that when our feelings run to extremes, that we can manifest that extremity in powerful ways, including the kind of broad-scale direct action and mutual aid efforts we are going to need in the years ahead. I also hope we can shake off any remaining illusions people may have had about the Biden administration and neoliberalism as a path to salvation. We have delayed the onset of right-wing authoritarianism, but those forces are still on course, and the nature of neoliberalism will continually deliver us to the same destructive ends: organized abandonment, the mass manufacture of premature death and a natural world strip-mined for resources. To reject those ends, we have to do more than fend off right-wing advances. We have to play offense with a bold vision for the future. Without world-changing demands, we are practicing a politics of surrender in apocalyptic times.

In 2022, our organizing must be visionary and courageous, but also welcoming. We must be willing to grapple with the imperfections and contradictions of building communities and coalitions. We must remember, as grassroots strategist Ejeris Dixon has told us, that we dont always get to choose who helps us survive. We also need to prepare ourselves for an increasingly catastrophic future, and to understand, as Chicago organizer Monica Cosby suggested on the show last week, that when we cant yet see or envision a light at the end of the tunnel, we sometimes have to work with those around us, to make our own light.

At the close of 2021, the right is poised to treat the pandemic as a political portal, and the left is not. Thats a disturbing reality, but it is not a fixed condition. We have a great deal of power, but what passes for democracy in the United States is about to crash into the wall, and hollow rituals of self-expression will not save us. We need to deepen our commitments and our relationships in the new year, and to strap in for whats bound to be a rough ride. We need a bold vision for an unstable world and it must be a vision we are willing to fight for in collectivity. There are countless storms ahead, and to survive, we will have to anchor ourselves to one another.

As we end this year, I think a lot of you are probably feeling the same love, rage and grief that Im feeling. I think the question for 2022 is what we plan to do about those feelings beyond merely expressing them. What will we contribute to? What will we build? Who will we get to know or deepen our relationships with? What is the world worth to us? And what are we worth to each other?

I know a lot of people like to get down on New Years resolutions, but Im a big fan of making commitments. So I encourage people to make at least one commitment, as we head into the new year, with regard to how we spend our time and how we vent our outrage into the world. If you spend a lot of time taking shots at people on social media, and its not helping you feel any better, could you redirect a little of that time? If theres an issue youre passionate about, like voting rights, climate justice or prison abolition, and you are not actively engaged with that work, will you re-budget some time toward that issue? Or create a ritual that gives you a more meaningful outlet for your anger or your hurt?

Maybe thats something we can work on together.

I want to thank our listeners for joining us today and throughout this third season of the show. Movement Memos began just before COVID turned our worlds upside down, and we have done our best to create something useful for the moment were living in. Building a plane in flight is tricky as hell, so I am more grateful than I can say to everyone whos on this journey with me. Were going to take a break for a few weeks, but we will be back in January to talk about prison abolition, organizing, mutual aid and how we can fight the continued rise of right-wing power. I am honored that I get to engage in these conversations, and that there are people out there who find them useful. I am inspired by your messages and by your efforts. So please take care of yourselves, and remember, our best defense against cynicism is to do good, and to remember that the good we do matters. Until next time, Ill see you in the streets.

Show Notes

Previous episodes you may want to revisit:

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What Will We Do With Our Rage in 2022? - Truthout

Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya warns that reforms recently adopted by the State Duma to further the centralization of power in Russias federal government could endanger the entire political system by pinning too much on the presidency and the Kremlins subjective and closed insider logic. Constitutional Putinism is supposed to weed out remnants of the destabilizing opportunism elevated in Russias Yeltsin Constitution, Stanovaya argues in a recent essay for the Carnegie Moscow Center, but Putinism could prove to be even more prone to opportunism if it is incapable of accommodating the multiple power centers that would emerge in a serious political crisis (for example, the loss of United Russias parliamentary monopoly or a severe decline in the presidents popularity).

In redesigning much of the relationship between Russias central and regional governments, many of the Kremlins latest political reforms are more meaningful even than last years constitutional amendments, argues political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya. The public administration draft law, she says, isnt just a declaration of the presidents supremacy; it significantly expands presidential prerogatives relative to both governors and regional parliaments, allowing the president to interfere directly in their work more than is formally possible now.

In democratic terms, this effectively gives the Kremlin a veto on voters choices in regional politics. After all, when governors need the central governments approval for their own cabinet appointments, what really is the point of direct gubernatorial elections? The new reforms will expand Moscows command over regional legislatures, as well, requiring the consent of the State Council (which the presidential administration controls) for revisions to a long and classified list of issues designated as the joint jurisdiction of Russias central and regional governments.

The public administration legislation does make some inconsequential concessions on legislative review procedures, and it grants a few new powers to governors, but these reforms come at the expense of Russias municipal authorities, duplicating at the gubernatorial level some of the executive vertical prerogatives granted to the president. This consolidation of the power vertical will also reduce the possibilities for political opposition within the system and tie up mayors and town councils in Moscows deadlock. Stanovaya calls this the executive branchs blitzkrieg against local government.

Federal lawmakers did not compromise on the abolition of the presidential titles in regional governments, continuing Moscows conflict with Tatarstan, where Russias last regional president still holds office. Stanovaya points out that the new public administration law would empower Tatarstans attorney general to initiate a constitutional review within the republic to change the regional leaders title, though abolishing the presidency even in name would require a popular referendum that is doomed to fail among local voters, says Stanovaya.

The justifications for these changes to Russian federalism are based on the same rationale that fueled constitutional reforms to allow Vladimir Putin to seek another two presidential terms: political stability. Ever the Kremlins guiding star, the pursuit of stability motivated the introduction of gubernatorial term limits in 2015. In six years, however, the Putin administration has replaced Russias governor-politicians with governor-technocrats, obviating the need to treat regional heads as potential rivals, and term limits have become a burden on the Kremlin.

For all its apparent vigor, this more centralized federal government is strong and unified today, says Stanovaya, but it becomes a monstrously dangerous system, the moment Russia has a politically weak head of state.

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The risks of Constitutional Putinism - Meduza

Other senators who have previously been reluctant to alter filibuster rules including Senators Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, and Angus King, independent of Maine have become more open to the idea of doing so to enact new voting rights laws. Along with Mr. Kaine, they have talked repeatedly this week with Mr. Manchin about how to get over the filibuster hurdle, including a meeting on Wednesday with Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. Participants say the talks have been productive and they are pleased that Mr. Manchin remains engaged, but no breakthrough has emerged that would allow Democrats to approve the measures over near-unanimous Republican opposition.

Still, some expressed optimism.

I think we will get something, I really do, Mr. Tester said.

Republicans say that Democrats are only seeking to tilt the election playing field to their own advantage and federalize what has traditionally been a state and local role in overseeing elections. They say that if state voting restrictions are considered discriminatory, it is up to the Justice Department to challenge them.

Under the Freedom to Vote Act, Congress would set minimum standards for early and mail-in voting, make Election Day a national holiday and allow requirements that voters produce identification, though the I.D. provision would be less restrictive than those Republicans have imposed. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act seeks to restore elements of the landmark Voting Rights Act weakened by two Supreme Court decisions.

In a joint interview, the Kings portrayed the filibuster which Southern senators used for decades to block civil rights measures as a Jim Crow relic employed throughout history to deny rights to minorities, and called for its abolition. They noted that they still had to work to protect voting rights for coming generations represented by their 13-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee King, decades after her grandfather helped secure passage of the Voting Rights Act.

I learned from my mother that every generation has to earn its freedom, Mr. King said. Freedom is not permanently given.

Among the groups organizing and participating in the marches are the National Action Network, National Urban League, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Service Employees International Union, MoveOn, Demos, the Center for Popular Democracy, Voto Latino, Sierra Club, Coalition for Peace, Faith in Public Life, When We All Vote, March For Our Lives, Bend the Arc and the African American Christian Clergy Coalition.

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King Family and Activists Plan Marches to Pressure Democrats on Voting Rights - The New York Times

As the year comes to a close, I cant help but think about what seemed like a never-ending 87th Legislative Session. The regular session ended in May and was, without a doubt, an interesting one. The Session didnt officially conclude; however, until the third Special Session was adjourned in mid-October.

Regular sessions are 140 days and are convened every other year, from mid-January through May. Those with something to advocate, show up in January and leave in late May. Not this time. The 87th began with many unknowns because of the pandemic. The usual bustle of the State Capitol was replaced with empty hallways, elected officials in quarantine, committee hearings conducted via Zoom, mandatory Covid-19 testing prior to entering the building, and other unfamiliar rituals. The clock kept ticking as always and time was running out.

Then suddenly, around mid-March, the activity began to pick up and the Capitol was bustling again. Everyone was trying to make sure their bills got heard despite knowing the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, and Governor all had a list of priorities they wanted to pass. Your bill had to either align with leaderships priorities or fight its way to the Governors deskone hearing, one chamber vote at a time. With the first half of the session taking place via Zoom, there was no time to waste.

One such entity who advocated for change this session was, Texas Regional Bank (TRB). With the help of State Rep. Eddie Lucio III (Brownsville), who filed HB 654, and Sen. Nathan Johnson (Dallas), with co-sponsor Sen. Chuy Hinojosa (McAllen) who filed SB 1377, a companion bill to HB 654, the TRB team was determined to amend the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP).

TRB, together with the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT), the incredible team at the Texas Bankers Association (TBA), and many other community banks worked tirelessly together to change the very outdated lawa law that for the past 10 sessions has seen several banks step up to modify it.

So, what is the RAP and why is this change important to community banks? The TBA put it best in a letter sent to Governor Abbott late this Session, in which it asked for his support. The Rule Against Perpetuities is an antiquated legal principal based on English feudal law that defines a permissible duration for certain trusts, it read in part. Texas current RAP statute generally requires that an interest in a trust be settled no later than 21 years after some life in being at the time of the creation of the trust. The restrictive nature of Texas RAP statute not only limits Texans choices as they develop estate and gift plans, but it also puts the state at an economic disadvantage because the estate plans of Texans are being developed in one of the numerous other states that have already extended their RAP statutes, it continues. These dollars leave the state for generations.

In other words, a trust in the state of Texas has an expiration date of roughly 121 years, whereas in other states, a trust can exist for 300 years. When someone wants to open a trust in Texas at their local community bank, the financial advisor must make them aware of the trusts short life span; thus, risk losing the opportunity to gain a new client and their investment to a bigger bank with branches in states with a longer trust life. Basically, this statute was making Texas less competitive, and as a result, billions of dollars were leaving Texas.

In fact, a studyconducted in 2003 and featured in the Yale Law Journal, found that a states abolition of the RAP increased its average reported trust assets by $6 billion and its average trust account size by $200,000. In addition, approximately $100 billion in trust funds have moved to take advantage of states where RAP has been abolished.

Although this study is very outdated, one can only speculate that the average reported trust assets are now in the double digits. However, assuming they are not, an increase of $6 billion in trust assets with a 1% annual management fee would equate to $60 million in revenues staying in Texas.

These additional fees and resources by your local bank would contribute to significant growth in the states economy, producing new jobs to support the additional and growing accounts. HB 654 not only supports trust asset growth in Texas but it allows community banks to remain competitive.

Fortunately for Texas, as the legislative session progressed, Texas Regional Bank quickly learned it wasnt the only one who understood a change in this law made economic development sense. With the help of Rep. Lucio III, his Chief of Staff, Sergio Cavazos, Sen. Johnson, his Chief of Staff, Deisy James, Sen. Hinojosa, his Chief of Staff, Luis Moreno, Sen. Lucio, his Chief of Staff, Ruben OBell, IBAT and TBA, HB 654 was approved by both the House and Senate where it was then sent to the governors office for signature.

House Bill 654 was signed into law on June 16, 2021. It became effective September 1, 2021. As a result, the life of a trust in the state of Texas was extended to 300 years.

It is not by coincidence that I often compare community banks to economic development corporations. EDCs, simply put, are tasked with improving the economic well-being and quality of life of a community. Similarly, community banks work strategically to create meaningful economic impact in the communities they serve.

Community banks are in the business of providing solutions. They must be proactive and take bold action to keep investments from leaving their community. They do all they can to retain and serve clients to help grow their community. Whether its providing the right type of checking account, loan, financial guidance, or enduring a never-ending Legislative Session to help change state law, providing solutions that contribute to the growth of communities is what local banks do best.

Editors Note: The above guest column was penned by Alex Meade, executive vice president for economic development and public finance at Texas Regional Bank. The column appears in The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with the permission of the author. Meade can be reached by email via: [emailprotected]

Producing quality journalism is not cheap. The coronavirus has resulted in falling revenues across the newsrooms of the United States. However, The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service is committed to producing quality news reporting on the issues that matter to border residents. The support of our members is vital in ensuring our mission gets fulfilled.

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Meade: Community Banks Are in the Business of Providing Solutions - Rio Grande Guardian

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Ford Foundation announced its overall funding for independent documentary film for 2021. JustFilms, a part of the foundation's Creativity and Free Expression (CFE) program, provided over $20.29 million to support 122 organizations and filmmakers in the United States and Global South.

From that allocation, JustFilms granted over $5 million to support 71 content projects, with 49 comprising new grantees and 73% of the support going to filmmakers identifying as Black, Indigenous, or people of color. The additional $15.29 million went to fund documentary organizations that are working to support emerging creatives and diversify the documentary film industry at large. These include continuing support for such organizations as Black Star Projects, Third Horizon, and Sundance Institute and support for new grantees such as Color Congress, Cousin Collective, and Morpheyes Studios at Rochester Institute of Technology National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

"We are thrilled to support a variety of filmmakers who refuse to be spectators of history and are using independent documentary as a tool to drive accountability, and not only observation," said Jon-Sesrie Goff, program officer for JustFilms at the Ford Foundation. "They provide a critical perspective that is all more needed for both audiences and the field at large as nonfiction content continues to rise in popularity. We are confident these works will drive wide reach and impact."

"The stories we tell will define the world we live in, with documentarians holding a mirror to our humanity in their works," said Chi-hui Yang, senior program officer for JustFilms at the Ford Foundation. "We are committed to supporting Independent filmmaking that offers a slow approach to storytelling where the makers spend time entrenched in subject matter and craft and are rooted in the perspective of the communities that are seen in their films."

The JustFilms grantees span over 60 years of filmmaking practice, including a new documentary in development by filmmaking pioneer Madeline Anderson, the first Black woman to produce and direct a televised documentary film and one of the first women of color to join the Motion Picture Editors Guild. The film will reflect on her career and contributions to independent documentary film and public television.

Alex Rivera's BANISHMENT will frame abolition and the re-imagining of law enforcement through the United States' history of deportation. The documentary will examine ways in which the 19th-century implementation of deportation was misaligned with the country's founding principles and the contested history of the practice.

A trio of filmmakers, Heather Courtney, Chelsea Hernandez, and Princess Hairston, follow the fearless journalists at The 19tha CFE journalism granteeand the stories they cover across the United States. As the filmmakers document the story of a newsroom intent on sharing stories from women's perspectives, they are also intentional about creating a documentary from the point of view of women.

There are projects that grapple with the subject of racerecently released THE NEUTRAL GROUND is director CJ Hunt's examination of "The Lost Cause" through the six-year battle to remove four Confederate monuments from public grounds in New Orleans and Andrew Goldberg's WHITE explores the systemic and structural bias practiced daily in America. David Siev's BAD AXE explores race and resilience through the story of his Cambodian-Mexican-American family's fight to save their restaurant in their rural town, while Jos Antonio Aguilera Contreras explores the colonial legacy and contemporary failure to address racism in Mexico in RACISMO MX.

Alongside traditional documentary funding, JustFilms contributed to special projects including the May 19th Project by See Us Unite, an artist collective founded by Renee Tajima-Pea and Jeff Chang. The project included 14 short videos to promote solidarity within Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. They additionally supported Viewers Like Us, a podcast executive produced and hosted by filmmaker Grace Lee stemming from an essay Lee wrote about public television for Ford's Creative Futures initiative, and the production of the orientation film at the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

The full list of documentary films supported by JustFilms in 2021 includes:

Newly Granted Projects

AFTERSHOCKDirectors & Producers: Paula Eiselt & Tonya Lewis LeeFollowing the preventable deaths of two young women due to childbirth complications, two bereaved fathers galvanize activists, birth-workers and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our timethe US maternal health crisis.

ASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSIONDirector(s): Travis Gutirrez SengerProducer(s): Travis Gutirrez Senger, Nick Boak, Andrew RenziExecutive Producer(s):Gael Garca Bernal and Diego LunaASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSION is a feature length documentary that profiles the extraordinary art collective of the 70's-80's, ASCO, who merged activism/art and challenged Latinx representation in the art world, politics, and Hollywood through their incendiary performance art, photography, video, and muralism. WITHOUT PERMISSION examines the importance of their subversive and wildly spirited work and how it serves as a framework for representation in today's cultural landscape. Through formal invention and the creation of original works with the next generation of Latinx artists, along with interviews with prominent actors, artists and activists, this documentary provides a call to action while celebrating a group that was far ahead of its time.

BAD AXEDirector(s): David SievProducer(s): Jude Harris, Katarina Vasquez & David SievA second-generation Cambodian-American filmmaker returns to his rural hometown amid the pandemic to document his family struggling to keep their restaurant open. When the family uses their voice to speak up in a community divided by the BLM movement, mask mandates, and the impending election, we see them come together to heal their own American Dream in the face of white nationalists, anti-maskers, and scars of the Killing Fields.

BANISHMENTDirector & Producer: Alex RiveraDeportations happen every hour of every day in the United States, but "deportation" appears nowhere in the US Constitution. 'Banishment' is the incredible true story of where deportation came from, how it almost never began, and a roadmap towards, perhaps, ending the practice forever.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE (working title)Director(s): Phil BertelsenProducer(s): Phil Bertelsen & Lise YasuiErnest Withers' camera captured the joys and sorrows of African American life and spread the news of civil rights. His photos also appeared in FBI files, provided by informant ME-338-R: Ernest Withers. DOUBLE EXPOSURE unravels the mystery and motives in Withers life and career, raising questions about loyalty, power, and patriotism in very troubled times.

EAT BITTERDirector(s): Pascale Appora-GenekindyCo-Director(s): Ningyi SunProducer(s): Mathieu FaureExecutive Producer:Steve DorstEAT BITTER is a character-driven vrit film set in the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world. During the civil war, an immigrant Chinese construction manager and a local African laborer work on opposite ends of the spectrum to construct a sparkling new bank. As deadlines loom, they don't hesitate to strip the earth and destroy their family lives for a seat at the table of prosperity.

EL JUICIODirector(s): Ulises de la OrdenProducer(s): Ulises de la Orden & Alessandro BorrelliArgentina, 1985. Trial of the military Juntas of the last dictatorship. On the stand, the six judges. On one side the Prosecution, on the other, the military personnel accused of genocide. The witnesses in the centre. During 90 days, the horror stories were heard. And the final sentence: Never again.

THE EMPIRE OF EBONYDirector(s): Lisa CortesProducer(s): Roger Ross Williams, Brenda Robinson, Linda Johnson-Rice, Geoff Martz & Alyse ShorlandThe story of John H. and Eunice Johnson isin many waysa classic story of the American dream. Starting in 1942 in Chicago with a $500 loan secured by Mr. Johnson's mother's furniture, they grew the Johnson Publishing Company into a media juggernaut that included not just the iconic magazines Ebony and Jet, but also books, cosmetics, fashion, television and radio stations. Ebony and Jet magazine chronicled over 75 years of African American historythrough the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement to the greatest Black firsts across society. The cultural impact is unparalleled: this was a place where African Americans could see themselvesnot just in the articles and photo spreads, but in the advertisements, too. This media empire was a beacon of possibility and aspiration personified and has left a rich archival legacy to be explored.

FREE CHOL SOO LEEDirector(s): Eugene Yi & Julie HaProducer(s): Su Kim, Julie Ha & Eugene YiCo-Producer: Sona JoA Korean immigrant lands in prison after being mistaken for the hitman in a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gang murder. The case sparks a landmark movement, uniting Asian Americans as never before, and they succeed in setting Chol Soo Lee free. But, once out, he struggles to live up to his newfound status as a symbol, and his demons ultimately threaten to destroy the legacy of the movement and the man himself.

FOR ALL THE SAINTSDirector(s): CB HackworthProducer(s): Jane Cole, Andrew YoungReverend Andrew Young reflects on the lives and work of John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and Hosea Williams in the Civil Rights Movement.

HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARYDirector(s) & Producer(s): Maia Lekow & Christopher KingTwo tenacious Kenyan women are transforming a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a hub for the city's citizens and creatives. But first they must wrangle with the local government, raise several million dollars for the rebuild, and confront the ghosts of a problematic colonial history still trapped within the library walls.

HUMMINGBIRDSDirector(s): Silvia Castaos, Estefana "Beba" Contreras, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco & Jillian SchlesingerProducer(s): Leslie Benavides, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Ana Rodriguez-Falco & Jillian SchlesingerIn this collaborative coming-of-age film, best friends Silvia and Beba escape the cruel heat of their Texas border town, wandering empty streets at night in search of inspiration, adventure, and a sense of belonging. When forces beyond their control threaten their shared dreams, they take a stand and hold onto what they canthe moment and each other.

I DIDN'T SEE YOU THEREDirector(s): Reid DavenportProducer(s): Keith WilsonSpurred by the spectacle of a circus tent that goes up outside his Oakland apartment, disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport launches into an unflinching meditation on freakdom, (in)visibility, and the pursuit of individual agency. Filmed entirely from the filmmaker's physical perspective, I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE delves into Davenport's thoughts on how he is seen, his distant family, and whether his own films have fallen into the legacy of the Freak Show.

JFK8(working title)Director(s): Brett Story & Stephen MaingProducer(s): Samantha Curley & Marianne VerroneFrom the perspective of a single Amazon fulfillment center, JFK8 is an intimate portrait of current and former Amazon workers taking on one of the world's largest and most powerful companies in the fight to unionize.

KARUARA, PEOPLE OF THE RIVERDirector(s): Miguel Araoz Cartagena & Stephanie BoydProducer(s): Stephanie Boyd, Leonardo Tello Imaina, Mari Luz Canaquiri & Fabricio Deza IturriBeneath the waters of Peru's Amazon lies a vibrant world of spirits led by the Karuara. A brave indigenous woman and her people confront powerful interests to save their river and these sacred beings.

MADELINE ANDERSON MEMOIR UNTITLEDDirector(s): Madeline AndersonProducer(s):Immy HumesAt 94, the first Black woman documentary filmmaker is making another film, this time about her own life as an activist and filmmaker.

MAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZESDirector(s) & Producer(s): Sam Pollard & Ben ShapiroMAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES explores the life and musical career of the legendary drummer, composer and activist, across an incredible series of career and personal peaks, valleys, reinventions. His creativity, constant thirst for innovation, and unshakable commitment to social change kept Roach at the forefront of music and cultural activism across seven decadesfrom the Jim Crow era to the Civil Rights years, from the heady days of post-war modern jazz, clear to the hip hop-era and beyond.

MAY 19 PROJECTDirector(s):Grace Lee, Stephen Maing, Juan Mejia, Bo Mirhosseni, Tadashi Nakamura, PJ Raval, Jun StinsonProducer(s): Jeff Chang, Renee Tajima-PeaA rapid response social media campaign launched during a surge of anti-Asian American Pacific Islander violence and racially divisive narratives. The 14 short videos center the legacy of AAPI and interracial solidarity, from histories like Frederick Douglass and Wong Kim Ark's fight for immigrant rights, to stories of the now, such as Youa Vang Lee's advocacy for justice for her son and for George Floyd.

MEANWHILEDirector(s): Catherine GundProducer(s):Erika DildayMEANWHILE is the first docu-essay film to animate Claudia Rankine's voice with cinematic devicesarchival and observational footageto capture how living inside the grips of a society controlled by whiteness shapes our connections to others

THE MINUSCULESDirector(s): Khristine GillardProducer(s): Julien ContreauTHE MINUSCULES accompanies a civic struggle in Nicaragua, initiated in 2013 against the construction of the Interoceanic Canal that would cut the country in half, under the volcano, through forests and farmland. In April 2018, in a reaction against multiple abuses of power, different social movements convergethe peasants, the students, the environmentalists, the LGBTQ+ communityand the insurrection explodes. What does resistance create?

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEEDDirector(s)& Producer(s): Louis Alvarez & Andrew KolkerBuilding on the mission of PEOPLE LIKE US, the classic film on social class and inequality, MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED examines the current state of social class in America: how the educated upper-middle-class is increasingly separating itself from both the middle and working classes, and how Americans on the economic margins endure a daily regime of structural challenges that remain largely invisible to most of their fellow citizens.

NINEDirector(s) & Producer(s): Rachael DeCruz & Jeremy S. LevineNINE follows Gerald Hankerson, a Black 52-year old community leader, as he fights to get his former cellmate out of prison and pass legislation to reinstate parole in Washington State. Gerald met Henry Grisbya man he came to lovingly call "Pops"in Washington State's maximum security prison. NINE is about enduring bonds of friendship forged across generations and decades, and the power it gives both men to push back against an oppressive criminal justice system.

RACISMO MXDirector(s): Jos Antonio Aguilar ContrerasProducer(s): Jos Antonio Aguilar Contreras & Christian RubioRACISMO MX explores how racism manifests in the lives of three people in Mexico: Manu, Viri, and Jean. The film depicts how Mexican racism has evolved since Colonial times and the way most of the country denies its existence although it still affects millions of non-white people. The director joins them in this emotional journey, confronting himself to the issue that he has experienced many times in his life.

RIVER OF GRASSDirector(s): Sasha WortzelProducer(s): Danielle Varga & Sasha WortzelA film about Florida's water crisis, RIVER OF GRASS brings audiences on a journey through the past, present, and precarious future of the Everglades, an imperiled and iconic American region on the verge of collapse.

SELL/BUY/DATEDirector(s): Sarah JonesProducer(s): Sarah Jones, David Goldblum & Julie Parker BenelloSELL/BUY/DATE is a heartfelt, candid and witty documentary that follows the Tony Award-winning playwright, performer and comedian Sarah Jones. As a Black woman in America she, with the help of the multi-cultural characters she's known for, explores her own personal relationship to one of the most urgent issues at the intersection of feminism, race, power and identity in our current cultural climate: sex work.

SILENCE IN SIKESTONDirector(s): Jill Rosenbaum MeyerProducer(s): Cara AnthonySILENCE IN SIKESTON tells the story of how the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wrightand the failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynchingcontinues to haunt a rural Missouri community divided by race, with the past reverberating in a 2020 police killing of a young Black father.

TELL ME ANOTHER STORYDirector(s): Damani BakerProducer(s): Noah Bashevkin, Rachel Chanoff, Deborah Pope & Diana VozzaTELL ME ANOTHER STORY paints a portrait of the children's literature community and its movement toward a greater diversity of voices and stories. Through intimate conversations with some of the most esteemed creators in the field and an historical account of 20th century activism, this is the story of the unique power and potential of children's books to change our culture and reimagine the future.

TESTAMENT(working title)Director(s): Meena Nanji & Zippy KimunduProducer(s): Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu & Eliane FerreiraSet in Kenya, TESTAMENT follows Wanjugu Kimathi, a woman searching for her father's remains. She soon discovers a buried history of British colonial atrocities, including concentration camps and land theft that left hundreds of thousands Kenyans destitute. Her personal mission expands, and she transforms into a powerful advocate for exposing colonial brutality while building a grassroots movement for land resettlement.

THE UNTITLED 19TH* NEWS FILMDirector(s): Heather Courtney, Chelsea Hernandez, Princess HairstonProducer(s): Diane Quon, Heather Courtney, Chelsea HernandezIn 2020, a fearless group of female journalists seek to upend the white male status quo by launching an all-women and non-binary news start-up. Building a newsroom that reflects the women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities they're writing about, The 19th* News could be a model in these changing timesif they can survive their tumultuous first years.

UNTITLED DETROIT EDUCATION DOCUMENTARYDirector(s):Brian George and Samara RosenbaumProducer(s):Brent Palmer, Samara Rosenbaum, and Danny Glover (executive producer)This feature documentary investigates the connections between education, structural racism, and democracy in America. The film follows a student, a teacher, a mother, and a long-time activist in Detroit as they fight against private interests for control over their public school district.

UNTITLED DOMESTIC WORKERS DOCUMENTARYDirector(s): Paola MendozaProducer(s):Jill Howerton, Josh Kunau and Olga SeguraThere are 2.5 million domestic workers in the United States serving as a foundation for the growth of our economy, yet their work has consistently been rendered invisible. The film follows inspiring characters in the care industry as they fight for safety, dignity and respect, carrying on the legacy of generations of domestic workers that came before them, all while navigating their own personal journeys.

UNTITLED JAMAICA KINCAID PROJECTDirector(s) & Producer(s): Stephanie BlackBeginning with early childhood visits to tropical colonial gardens in Antigua to present-day global seed expeditions, the garden is both metaphor and manifestation of a quest for diversity, in the life of award-winning author, Jamaica Kincaid. This literary biography will follow the many-storied dimensions of Jamaica's life experiences growing up in colonial Antigua, being sent to work as an au pair in Scarsdale as a teenager, becoming an acclaimed staff writer at the New Yorker at age 26 and beloved novelist.

UNTITLED LERONE D. WILSON DOCUMENTARYDirector(s): Lerone D. WilsonProducer(s): Andrea Mustain & Lerone D. WilsonGood intentions, unforeseen consequences, and the forces of the internet collide, revealing the humanity of social media and the humans confronting its unprecedented power.

UNTITLED NAM JUNE PAIK DOCUMENTARYDirector(s): Amanda KimProducer(s): Jennifer Stockman, David Koh & Amy HobbyA documentary about the life and work of Nam June Paik, widely considered the father of video art. The story follows Paik's displacement from his home country, South Korea to the US, in his youth, which fueled his desire to use technology and art to imagine a globally connected world and foster electronic empathy between warring countries. In pursuit of this vision, he overcame many obstacles as a minority artist to pioneer a new art form that was initially dismissed by the art world.

VIEWERS LIKE USDirector(s): Grace LeeProducer(s): Grace Lee (co-executive producer and series host), Joaquin Alvarado (co-executive producer), Ken Ikeda (co-executive producer) & Olivia Aylmer (producer)Viewers Like Us documents the growing disconnect between PBS's founding mission and the increasingly diverse public it was created to serve. The audio series unearths five decades of rhyming history within the public broadcasting system, explores who gets to tell America's stories today, and envisions what the future could look like if PBS centered a true diversity of experiences and perspectives. Following 2020's intersecting racial and social reckonings, VLU's podcast and digital platform aim to break a cycle of inertia when it comes to advancingand sustainingequity and inclusion throughout public media.

WHEN THEY WALKDirector(s): Jason DaSilvaProducer(s): Jason DaSilva, Naomi Middleton &Leigh DaSilvaFifteen years ago, Jason DaSilva was diagnosed with a rare and relentless form of Multiple Sclerosis. Now quadriplegic, his biggest struggle is living in a world not made with people like him in mind. Faced with the issue of global inaccessibility, Jason attempts to map accessibility around the world. In this autobiographical and participatory documentary, Jason turns the camera on himself to show his body getting weaker and his life getting fuller. Can he make the future for accessibility brighter?

WHOSE CITYDirector(s): Javier LoveraProducer(s): Ina FichmanWHOSE CITY follows four community coalitions in North America fighting against the rise of smart citiesthe trend to embed technology in public spaces and infrastructure. Weaving the personal journeys of community leaders and expert testimony from technologists and scholars, WHOSE CITY explores the impact of emerging technologies on local democracies and human rights, celebrating those working tirelessly to reclaim their cities and redefine their future.

WILFRED BUCKDirector(s): Lisa JacksonProducer(s): Lisa Jackson, Alicia Smith & Priscilla GalvezWILFRED BUCK is a hybrid feature documentary centering on a Winnipeg-based Cree elder who's at the forefront of an Indigenous star knowledge movement. Weaving together his harrowing youth and present life with sky stories, we'll explore colonization's impact on Indigenous ways of knowing and follow the dialogue that emerges as Wilfred's work draws the attention of Western scientists.

YINTAHDirector(s): Michael ToledanoProducer(s): Brenda Michell, Jennifer Wickham, Franklin Lpez, Michael ToledanoExecutive Producer: Sam VinalCommissioner: Canadian Broadcasting CorporationFreda Huson, a Wet'suwet'en leader, faces down fossil fuel corporations, the government, and police wielding assault rifles as she galvanizes her nation in a high-stakes struggle to protect their territory from gas and oil pipelines.

Continuing Grant SupportAANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR/GREAT-GRANDPARENT/GREAT-GRANDCHILD]Director(s):Adam Khalil & Zack KhalilProducer(s):Steve Holmgren, Franny Alfano, Grace Remington, & Tiffany SiaIn the sterile storage of museums and archives our ancestors' remains struggle to find their way home. The film follows the Indigenous repatriation specialists that make up MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance) fighting to rebury and return ancestors from settler-colonial libraries, archives, and museums. Through an essayistic approach the film lays bare the history of Indigenous collections, the laws passed to ensure return of human remains and funerary objects, and vrit portraits of the righteous and courageous individuals doing the hard and emotionally draining work of bringing our ancestors back home.

AT THE READYDirector(s): Maisie CrowProducer(s): Maisie Crow, Abbie Perrault & Hillary PierceTen miles from the Mexican border, students at Horizon High School in El Paso, Texas, are enrolling in law enforcement classes and joining a unique after-school activity: the criminal justice club. Through mock-ups of drug raids and active-shooter takedowns, they inch closer to their desired careers in border patrol, policing, and customs enforcement. We follow Mexican American students Kassy and Cesar and recent graduate Cristina as they navigate the complications inherent in their chosen path and discover their choices may clash with the values and people they hold closest.

BORDERLANDDirector(s): Pamela YatesProducer(s):Paco de OnsThe United States border is not just a geographical location. The border is everywhere. In every immigrant family, the border is inside each and every member because at any moment they can be ensnared, deported, destroyed. Skylight's forthcoming feature-length documentary Borderland weaves the story of Indigenous Mayan migrants working to build a movement in the US claiming their human rights.

CAIRO, IL PROJECTDirector(s): Lisa Marie Malloy, JP Sniadecki & Ray WhitakerProducer(s): Karin ChienCAIRO, IL PROJECT offers a collectively-authored portrait of the overlooked yet vibrant and historic town of Cairo, IL, a former industrial and agricultural empire at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers that was a nexus for civil rights movements in the 1960s. Through intimate depictions, our film celebrates the town's vibrant community spirit and participates in its resurgence in defiance of economic hardship, racial injustice, and negative perceptions.

GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECTDirector(s) & Producer(s): Joe Brewster & Michle StephensonGOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT pushes the boundaries of biographical documentary film to reveal the enduring influence of one of America's greatest living artists and social commentators.

IN PLAIN SIGHTDirector(s):PJ RavalProducer(s): Farihah ZamanIN PLAIN SIGHT is a limited docuseries that radically reframes the immigrant experience in support of the abolition of US migrant detention. The series will explore the critical role of art and artists through the coalition of activists, writers, scholars, and makers who collaborated on a spectacular trans-national, trans-media artwork in which meaningful phrases were skytyped over immigrant detention facilities, many of which are hidden from the American people whose tax dollars keep them running.

THE IN BETWEENDirector(s): Robie FloresProducer(s):Alejandro Flores, Kellen QuinnTHE IN BETWEEN is a lyrical coming-of-age portrait of growing up on the US-Mexico border. Woven from singular moments in the lives of children, from early childhood to adolescence, the film celebrates and explores the ordinary and extraordinary moments of day-to-day life.

MURDERS THAT MATTERDirector(s) & Producer(s):Marco WilliamsMURDERS THAT MATTER documents Movita Johnson-Harrell an African American Muslim mother who, in the aftermath of her youngest son's murder, vows to save all the other black sons, on both sides of the gun.

NO ACCIDENT (working title)Director(s): Kristi JacobsonProducer(s): Alexandra Moss, Michelle Carney & Netsanet NegussieWith exclusive access to attorney Roberta Kaplan, her team, and the plaintiffs she represents, NO ACCIDENT, an urgent, timely, and intimate verit film, will capture the rapidly unfolding legal drama in the case of Sines v. Kessler, which holds that the organizers of the Unite the Right march that took place in Charlottesville on August 11-12, 2017, intended to incite the violence that so tragically erupted there.

THE NEUTRAL GROUNDDirector(s): CJ HuntProducer(s): Darcy McKinnonIn 2015, director CJ Hunt began filming the New Orleans City Council's vote to remove four Confederate monuments. But when the proposed removal was halted by death threats, Hunt sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America. The result is THE NEUTRAL GROUND, Hunt's smart, and bitterly funny look at America's troubled romance with The Lost Cause."While the film is an exploration of race in America, it is also an exploration of Hunt's own racial identity as African American.

STORMING CAESARS PALACEDirector(s): Hazel Gurland-PoolerProducer(s): Hazel Gurland-Pooler & Nazanet HabtezghiSTORMING CAESARS PALACE uplifts the story of Black women who took on Presidents, the Mob, and everyday Americans, challenging the pernicious lie of the "welfare queen." Las Vegas activist Ruby Duncan recalls how she and a band of ordinary mothers launched one of the most extraordinary feminist, anti-poverty movements in our history, offering a blueprint today for an equitable future.

UNTITLED MICHAEL PREMO FILMDirector(s): Michael PremoProducer(s): Rachel FalconeA feature film about contemporary America.

UNTITLED MUSCOGEE NATION DOCUMENTARYDirector(s): Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe PeelerProducer(s): Garrett Baker, Conrad Beilharz, Tyler GraimWhen the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government's corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country.

WAGING CHANGEDirector(s)& Producer(s): Abby GinzbergWAGING CHANGE shines a spotlight on the challenges faced by restaurant workers trying to feed themselves and their families off tips with the growing movement to end the tipped minimum wage. Featuring Saru Jayaraman, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the film reveals an American workers' struggle hidden in plain sightthe effort to end the federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13 for restaurant servers and bartenders.

WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (LO QUE DEJAMOS ATRS)Director(s): Iliana SosaProducer(s): Emma D. Miller & Iliana SosaFor decades, filmmaker Iliana Sosa's grandfather Julin has traveled by bus from Mexico to visit family in the US. Now 89 and unable to make the journey, Julin begins construction on a new house in Mexico that he says will be for the whole family. WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (LO QUE DEJAMOS ATRS) follows Julin in the twilight of his life, as his granddaughter pieces together how their transnational family has built and rebuilt home over decades of separation.

About the Ford FoundationThe Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization with assets currently valued at $16 billion. For more than 85 years it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

SOURCE Ford Foundation

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Ford Foundation Invests $20.29 Million to Support Documentary Filmmaking in 2021 - PRNewswire

In March 1911, in a garment factory in Manhattan, over 100 people, mostly Jewish and Italian women migrants, some as young as 14, were trapped inside and died as the factory burnt to the floor. Management had locked the doors.

In the following years, women workers mobilised. Their protests catalysed major law reforms in the US which are still enjoyed today social security, unemployment insurance, the abolition of child labour, minimum wages and the right to unionise.

Yet the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is alarmingly reminiscent of the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza in the Savar Upazila district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, which saw the death of 1,134 people, mostly young women, and over 2,500 injured.

Rana Plaza was home to factories manufacturing garments for renowned global brands, but the spotlight on this tragedy is now dimming. Years on, accountability for the resulting safety accords remains insufficient and many factories continue to escape scrutiny.

Consumers are increasingly looking for sustainable and ethical fashion. We believe these goals are inseparable from an industry which embraces gender justice. But gender justice cannot be achieved by consumer demand and boycotts alone. Instead, we need gender-responsive law reform.

Our new research sets out six ways to cut a more gender-just and sustainable fashion sector.

The fashion sectors gendered hierarchy is ingrained. Workers on the floor are largely female, while floor managers, security and factory owners are largely male.

Female workers are vulnerable to harassment, violence and exploitation. There is an absence of adequate complaint mechanisms and women often risk retaliation.

Accountability is needed not only in the countries producing garments, but also in countries where the garments are sold, and through all stages of the supply chain.

Modern Slavery Acts, including Australias 2018 law, establish reporting obligations for businesses, requiring them toreport on the due diligence they have conducted with respect to potential risks of exploitation in their supply chains.

But accountability has to go beyond the current naming and shaming provisions.

Penalties should be imposed and used to fund victim compensation, not just for workplace injuries but also for workers who suffer gender-based harms.

Read more: Senate's vote to ban slave-made imports shows the weakness of Australia's Modern Slavery Act

Minimum wages rarely equate to a living wage, one that affords a decent standard of living for the worker and her family.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for full and productive employment and decent work for all.

In factories, this would mean acknowledging a living wage is needed for workers to be able to afford food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing and other essential needs. This needs to be coupled with an appreciation of how workers are impacted when rental prices outpace annual increases in the minimum wage.

Sustainable economic growth also requires financing the social security of workers including maternity leave, unemployment and disability insurance.

Read more: It would cost you 20 cents more per T-shirt to pay an Indian worker a living wage

Workers are often migrants who leave their children behind in the care of families.

Many garment-producing countries lack sufficient gender-responsive public services needed by women workers: decent public housing, street lighting and healthcare in close proximity to factories.

The Sustainable Development Goals ask for the recognition of the unequal share of unpaid care work borne by women. This impacts women workers lives outside the factory floor. Without this recognition, gendered labour will continue to sustain the global economy.

Women also face gender-based violence on and off the factory floor. Legislation is needed to protect workers from such violence in all the spaces in which they move, including the commute to and from work.

Potential tax revenue is lost by governments in garment-producing countries through regulatory loopholes.

Rather than directly owning production factories, some companies claim to buy their products from independent suppliers. This arms-length principle eradicates the need for major retail brands to pay corporate tax in these countries.

This lost revenue has a disproportionate impact on women, including undermining the provision of gender-responsive public services. Comprehensive social protection schemes remain underfunded.

Reforms to eradicate these tax loopholes may see a notable increase in government revenue for garment-supply countries to fund these much needed services.

Women make up the majority of garment workers, but their influence over corporate and government decision-making remains marginal.

Trade unions have improved representation, but frequently their approach to gender equality is piecemeal. Many women fashion workers remain un-unionised. As a result, fundamental concerns of women workers are often given inadequate attention.

The implementation of labour standards from the International Labour Organization could see more spaces carved out for women workers interests to be voiced and heard.

Read more: Shocking Bangladesh reality for workers highlights key role for labour unions

Consumer choice is often presented as the key to transforming the fashion industry. Consumers need persuading to make human rights-based decisions, in the same way they are persuaded by brand, quality and price.

Consumers may look for clothing labelled as ethical fashion, organic or eco, but shoppers are also wary of greenwashing.

Read more: 'I can only do so much': we asked fast-fashion shoppers how ethical concerns shape their choices

While imperfect, the European Unions proposal to make transparent the environmental footprint of clothing should enable stronger transparency on the environmental impact of fashion labels.

This transparency must also extend to human rights issues looking at how the clothing is produced.

Clearly law and fashion have much to gain from each other. But there has to be a more robust and effective solution than shifting accountability from corporations to the individual. A simple boycott may not be the best choice: instead contact your local MP and encourage them to care about and demand gender-responsive law reform.

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How we can use the law to make the fashion industry fairer to women and the earth - The Conversation AU

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a PIL seeking social security benefits for gig workers employed by online food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy, taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber, and courier services.

A Bench led by Justice LN Rao issued notice to the Union ministries of commerce and industry, food and public distribution, electronics and others on the PIL by the Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers (IFAT) wanting cash transfers of Rs 1,175 per day for app-based drivers and Rs 675 per day for others till December 31 or till the pandemic subsides. Besides, the petition is seeking a declaration that all app-based workers be recognised as unorganised workers as per Unorganised Workers Social Welfare Security Act, 2008. IFAT also wants health insurance, pension, disability allowance and maternity benefits for all gig workers.

The apex court posted the matter for further hearing in January.

As FE reported earlier, the government is working on a plan to bring 38 crore unorgansied sector workers under the social security net, as part of its plan to extend old-age pension, health insurance, disability aids and a host of other social security benefits to all section including gig, platform and migrant workers under the recently-passed Social Security Code.

Only a tenth of the countrys estimated 50 crore working population now comes under some sort of social security cover.

Nearly 11 crore unorgansied sector workers have got themselves registered on the e-Shram portal so far, which is aimed at creating a comprehensive database of such workers, and facilitating delivery of various welfare programmes and entitlements meant for them.

Senior counsel Indira Jaising, appearing for IFAT, contended that currently these workers are being denied the benefit of social security under any of labour laws for organised or unorganised sectors. She argued that the drivers or delivery workers are actually workmen in the classical sense of the word.

Denial of the social security to the gig workers and the platform workers is an affront to the workers right to life and right against forced labour that are secured by Articles 14, 21 and 23 of the Constitution, the PIL stated, adding that the absence of social security is hitting gig workers even harder with reducing commissions.

Alleging that Uber, Ola, Swiggy and Zomato give their workers contracts of the nature of take it or leave it, the PIL alleged that rising daily delivery targets often deny a delivery bonus to the gig workers, leave alone an opportunity or time to work with another delivery app side-by-side. Technically, a gig worker engaged with a company can also work with another company as none of the contract binds him/her, according to the IFAT.

IFAT also claimed that commissions to app-based delivery personnel have declined from around Rs 50 per delivery to Rs 20 per delivery, with an equally gruesome picture for cab drivers. It has also questioned the revised daily targets for gig workers, which claims are practically impossible for riders to claim daily bonuses of Rs 500 or above.

The petition stated that the companies have been claiming that there exists no contract of employment and their relationship with such workers are in the nature of partnership. If such a claim were to be accepted, this would be inconsistent with the purpose of social-welfare legislations.

It further contended that the companies, which owns the apps, exercises complete supervision and control over the manner and method of the work with those who are allowed to register on the said apps. The PIL said that gig workers are still outside the ambit of Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and The Employment Compensation Act 1923.

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Social security: SC seeks govt reply on cover for gig workers - The Financial Express

I think we will get something, I really do, Mr. Tester said.

Republicans say that Democrats are only seeking to tilt the election playing field to their own advantage and federalize what has traditionally been a state and local role in overseeing elections. They say that if state voting restrictions are considered discriminatory, it is up to the Justice Department to challenge them.

Under the Freedom to Vote Act, Congress would set minimum standards for early and mail-in voting, make Election Day a national holiday and allow requirements that voters produce identification, though the I.D. provision would be less restrictive than those Republicans have imposed. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act seeks to restore elements of the landmark Voting Rights Act weakened by two Supreme Court decisions.

In a joint interview, the Kings portrayed the filibuster which Southern senators used for decades to block civil rights measures as a Jim Crow relic employed throughout history to deny rights to minorities, and called for its abolition. They noted that they still had to work to protect voting rights for coming generations represented by their 13-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee King, decades after her grandfather helped secure passage of the Voting Rights Act.

I learned from my mother that every generation has to earn its freedom, Mr. King said. Freedom is not permanently given.

Among the groups organizing and participating in the marches are the National Action Network, National Urban League, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Service Employees International Union, MoveOn, Demos, the Center for Popular Democracy, Voto Latino, Sierra Club, Coalition for Peace, Faith in Public Life, When We All Vote, March For Our Lives, Bend the Arc and the African American Christian Clergy Coalition.

The Kings said they would happily cancel the demonstrations if Congress found a way to enact the legislation before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a prospect that appears highly unlikely.

If it does, Mrs. King said, then on Jan. 17, we will have a glorious celebration.

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King Family and Activists Plan Marches to Spur Action on Voting Rights - The New York Times

NEWTON, MA Rep. Jake Auchincloss is heading into his second year in Congress representing Massachusetts 4th Congressional District. In a phone interview, Patch asked him some questions about the first half of his two-year term and his priorities for next year.

Here's what Auchincloss had to say about his first year in office, his most difficult moment of 2021, his goals for 2022, and more:

Putting COVID-19 behind us.

One of my day one priorities was working with school districts throughout the force for pooled coronavirus testing. We were helpful in directing federal funding and in working with local officials to get kids back into full in-person learning. Ive been a leader in the house on championing a Marshall plan for vaccinations to the Global South, because we are going to continue to have new variants, we are going to continue to struggle with this pandemic until we vaccinate ideally 70 percent of the world, and the United States should lead on that and Ive been a strong force in the House on that issue.

Putting a strong economy ahead of us.

We have passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that has directed $9 billion to Massachusetts to make us a more competitive economy. Thats cleaner water, thats better roads and bridges, thats a historic, unprecedented amount of transit funding, thats funding for downtown revitalizations, and weve given $150 million dollars worth of tax cuts to working families in the district. This president in his first year has added six million jobs, its historic. Ive been a part of that in supporting his agenda in the House and weve obviously got challenges with inflation and hiring shortages, but this is the best economy for new college graduates and for the bottom 20 percentile of workers in my lifetime in terms of the upward wage pressure and the demand for their labor. Right now, theres five million missing workers. Theres 11 million open jobs and six million people looking for work, thats five million missing workers. You dont have to be a PhD in economics to know what happens when youve got a huge imbalance of demand over supply for labor. People who are offering their services in the economy are in high demand, so college graduates and low-income workers are facing a stronger wage environment than they have in my lifetime.

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Protecting the integrity of democracy.

We have passed several rounds of voting rights legislation in the House, and I have been really out front both in refusing to work with and when necessary censuring republican colleagues who have been insurrectionary or who have incited political violence, and also in calling for the abolition of the filibuster so we can pass voting rights legislation in the Senate.

My hardest moment in general in this last year has been my frustration with the anti-vax movement, and the fact that weve politicized science is so damaging to our public health and to our countrys policies. Thats been very challenging for me, coming from a family of scientists and representing a district that cares a lot about the integrity of science and about reason debate, I really feel like Ive got a role to play in just reinforcing empiricism and how we discuss things. Its just been very disheartening to see how much anti-science, anti-vax propaganda is out there.

The priority in 2022 is protecting democracy. That means passing voting rights legislation and pushing back on efforts at the state level, whether its Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, or Arizona, to undermine the integrity of our elections.

Yes.

I really think were all in this together as a state. The focus has got to be on rolling out this booster shot and on ensuring that we can keep our schools and the economy open this winter. We know that its definitely going to be a seasonal bump, we know the Omicron is obviously here and we also know what we have to do. We have got to get booster shots, and on a targeted basis following the best of science and public health guidance, we can persist some common sense measures like mask wearing in crowded indoor public places. Weve got to put this pandemic behind us in 2022 and the way to do that is vaccinating not just here in Massachusetts, not just here in the United States, but vaccinating the world. And we can do it.

Whats best for the states pandemic recovery is for us to vaccinate the Global South. Four percent of the continent of Africa has gotten the complete vaccination regime. We are going to continue to see a full Green alphabets worth of variants for so long as weve got a massive reservoir of unvaccinated hosts. Thats what viruses do, they mutate, and we can put this pandemic onto a course of becoming just another source of the common cold like other coronaviruses are, but to do that, weve got to deny it hosts in which to mutate, because every new variant is a game of Russian roulette.

Its continuing to be a major issue for me. As you said, I co-sponsored a bill with Joe Neguse to close the boyfriend loophole and to fight back against this countrys epidemic of gun violence. Im a strong believer that nobody has a constitutional right to an assault weapon and Im going to support candidates who advocate common sense gun safety policies throughout the country. Im doing that with a leadership pack that I formed so I can support candidates who are in districts that might be tougher than mine on issues of gun violence and gun safety to support them when they are standing up for common sense policy.

If everybody convinced one person who hasnt been vaccinated to get the vaccine, we could put this pandemic in the rearview mirror in a matter of months.

Like I said at the beginning, my priorities are to put the pandemic behind us, a strong economy ahead of us, and to protect the integrity of our democracy, and those remain my three key priorities.

This article originally appeared on the Newton Patch

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A Conversation With Rep. Auchincloss: A Look At 2021, 2022 Goals - Yahoo News

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said this week that the U.S., China and North Korea agreed in principle on declaring a formal end to the Korean War, replacing an armistice agreement that ended hostilities in 1953. However, analysts are not sure it will happen, or if such a step is advisable, given concerns over the security situation in northeast Asia.

Moon announced the agreement during a press conference on December 13 with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison following bilateral talks. The president said his government will work hard in the coming months to transform the armistice that has hung over the peninsula for nearly 70 years into a permanent peace treaty supported by all sides that took part in the conflict. Moon added that a declaration that finally ends the war will inject new energy into talks involving the U.S., South Korea and North Korea that have been stalled for more than two years.

The South Korean leader made a similar declaration in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, calling on the belligerents to "come together and declare that the war on the Korean Peninsula is over." Doing so would allow the two Koreas "to make irreversible progress in denuclearization and usher in an era of complete peace," he said.

How realistic is Moon's plan?

However, Moon's upbeat tone comes amid repeated test launches of what Pyongyang has described as "advanced" new missiles and intelligence reports that North Korea continues to develop nuclear warheads at its Yongbyon atomic facility.

A recent editorial in South Korea's JoongAng Daily pointed out that the North has made no effort to do away with its nuclear weapons or even engage in negotiations with the U.S. or South Korea. It describes Moon's determination to sign an agreement formally ending the war as "totally detached from reality." "I think this is so important to Moon and his supporters because he sees it as unfinished business," said Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow specializing in security issues at the Center for a New American Security.

Moon served as chief of staff in the progressive administration of President Roh Moon-hyun between 2003 and 2008 and wanted Seoul at that time to push for an agreement to end the war. That initiative was only halted when senior diplomats and security advisers, and U.S. President George Bush, convinced Roh that it would be a mistake to grant the North a concession before Pyongyang gave up its nuclear weapons program, Kim told DW.

While completing his earlier ambition is one motivation, she said, Moon also wants to "leave a peace legacy for the history books before he has to step down in May of next year." "I do not think an end-of-war declaration with a nuclear-armed North Korea is beneficial to the region as it is premature," Kim said. "It carries significant political and security risks for Korea and the wider region as it creates a false sense of security and permits North Korea to make demands, such as the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula and the abolition of the U.N. Command."

Security threats on the Korean Peninsula

Analysts have repeatedly expressed concern that abolishing an armistice that has been backed by the United Nations will permit Pyongyang and its key allies primarily China and Russia to increase their objections to a permanent U.S. and U.N. military presence on the 38th parallel, where the Demilitarized Zone divides the two Koreas. North Korea's aim, they say, would be to build a consensus for foreign troops to be withdrawn from the peninsula, dramatically reducing South Korea's ability to fend off any aggressive moves by the North and weakening the ability of the U.S. to defend its regional security partners, which include Japan and Taiwan.

Daniel Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, told DW that Moon has "lost sight of the security threat" and that the dangers of an end-of-war declaration far outweigh the possible benefits. "Moon is trying to achieve something for his own political legacy, even if it is largely symbolic and has little regard for the administrations that follow his and have to deal with the negative impacts of any agreement," he said.

"I think the idea is really dangerous as it would do nothing to improve security on the peninsula and the North could use it as another truncheon with which to beat its rivals," he added. "And let's remember that the North remains committed to fighting what it describes as its own revolution and taking complete control of the peninsula. That has not changed and the North has never renounced the use of force to achieve its aims."

Pinkston said he is also "deeply skeptical" about Beijing's expressions of support for the initiative, pointing out that China "would like nothing more than to see the U.S. having to leave the Korean Peninsula and having to pull back from the region." And despite Moon's insistence that Washington is supportive of his campaign to finally end the Korean War, the analysts are not convinced. "The U.S. would want significant or sufficient denuclearization before any real declaration ending the war," said Kim.

U.S. insists North Korea give up nukes

U.S. President Joe Biden is "very clear-eyed on this," said Kim. The U.S. "may have no reason to be opposed to the concept of an end-of-war declaration, but the key will be in the details, in the language used and the impact it will have," the expert said. "They will not oppose it on principle, but the details and the sequencing matter to the Biden administration, and that includes the North denuclearizing," she added.

Pinkston said that the Moon administration only has three months left to run and while the South Korean leader may be desperate to get his pet initiative over the line, there is no such urgency in Washington. "The U.S. has so many issues to deal with right now domestic situations, the Ukraine, NATO this is not even on their radar at the moment," he said. "It's not getting the attention it would need to be moved forward and time is almost up. I do not think it will happen."

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Is South Korea close to officially ending the Korean War? - Frontline