Philadelphia NOW has new officers! Statement from outgoing President and Profiles of New Officers:

From outgoing President Karen Bojar:

I have very much enjoyed being President of Philadelphia NOW for the past eight years, but it’s time for a change, both for me personally and for the organization. We have an impressive team of officers, political action committee board members, and chapter activists who have done a great deal to advance feminist issues and raise the profile of Philadelphia NOW.

Six years go we started a political action committee to support our efforts to elect feminist candidates. Five years ago we set up the Philadelphia NOW Education Fund, a separately incorporated non-profit which supports our educational work. Our major effort in this area was the very successful, well attended 2006 Women of Color Conference chaired by Cindy Bass.

Our greatest challenge is attracting younger members who will remain committed to the organization. Many of the older progressive organizations are experiencing similar difficulties recruiting a younger generation of leaders who are committed to building the organization and staying involved through good times and bad.

It may be that a younger generation will build different organizations. However, a multi-issue, multi-strategy feminist organization that is active on the local, state, and national level is still very much needed.

Although the feminist movement has been extraordinarily successful, this success has not been shared equally. Women with economic privileges and access to elite educational institutions have made enormous strides in the professions, business, political and civic life. Of course there is still a glass ceiling in American life. However, many affluent white men have been willing to make room for their daughters--the same men who have fought the economic policies which would provide opportunities and a robust safety net for the majority of women in our society.

At this stage in its history, NOW must focus on expanding opportunities for the women who have not been the primary beneficiaries of the feminist movement—working class and low-income women, who are disproportionately women of color.

Lauren Townsend, who is running for chapter president is uniquely qualified to take on these challenges. She is committed to continuing and strengthening the partnership we have built with the Philadelphia Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). Lauren has often referred to herself as a member of the bridge generation, women in their 40’s who can relate to older feminists as well as to a younger generation of women in their teens, 20’s, and 30’s.

We are incredibly fortunate to have a candidate like Lauren, who has extensive experience as an activist, a deep understanding of feminist issues, and who is very well-known and highly regard by local progressive community.

Lauren understands that if our organization is to continue to exist it must do more to address issues of concern to young women, women of color and low-income and working class women. She has recruited a strong team of NOW veterans and active members who are new to NOW leadership. Under their leadership, I am very optimistic about the future of Philadelphia NOW


Phila NOW Candidates
Lauren Townsend – President
Dee Johnson – Executive Vice President
Kathy Black – VP for Finance
Caryn Hunt – VP for Membership
Louise Francis – Treasurer
Terri Falbo – Secretary & Newsletter Producer
Francesca Alvarado – Representative to the State Board
Doris Pridgen – Representative to the State Board
Rosa Woods – Alternate Representative to the State Board
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Lauren Townsend – President
Lauren Townsend has been doing progressive organizing and advocacy since she moved to Philadelphia in 1984. For the last three years, Lauren has worked in partnership with Lou Freimiller doing general political consulting. Townsend Freimiller Associates has been at the helm of a number of winning campaigns. Some of these were with candidates endorsed by by Philadelphia NOW PAC including: Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez; Superior Court Judge, Christine Donohue, State Representative Vanessa Brown and Democrat, Dawn Segal who was elected judge of Philadelphia's Municipal Court. Currently, Lauren and Lou are running Montgomery County Commissioner and former congressman, Joe Hoeffel's campaign for governor of Pennsylvania.

Before beginning her consulting business, Lauren was the Executive Director of Citizens for Consumer Justice (CCJ) for almost 10 years. CCJ was responsible for convening Pennsylvanians for a Fair and Independent Court that opposed the Alito nomination to the Supreme Court; coordinating the successful Pennsylvania arm of Americans United to Protect Social Security and the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities; registering over 25,000 new African American and Latino voters 2004; executing highly-publicized bus trips to Canada with seniors who couldn’t afford their prescription drugs; successfully fighting tort reform legislation through the pro-active Pennsylvania Safety and Justice Act; and convening the Patients Not Profits Coalition during the demise of the Allegheny Health System.

Lauren has also worked with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Pennsylvania Citizen Action, The Philadelphia Singers, The Clay Studio, New Jersey Citizen Action, Farm Workers Support Committee, Kensington Joint Action Council, Clara Bell Duvall Education Fund, NARAL-PA, Lutheran Settlement House Women’s Program and The League of Conservation Voters.

Lauren lives in West Philadelphia with her son, Alex , who is a junior at Central High School.

" I am honored to be asked to run for president of Philadelphia NOW," said Lauren Townsend. " If the membership of Philadelphia elects me and this incredible slate of women to the board, my top priorities will be, fundraising, aggressive recruitment of diverse young feminists, public and media relations about the campaigns on which we have been, and will be, working and solidifying our growing clout in elections"


Dee Johnson – Executive Vice President
Dee Johnson is currently communications manager/managing editor for The Pennsylvania Prison Society ― the oldest prison reform organization in the world striving to advance a humane, just and constructive correctional system. A staunch advocate for prisoners and their families, she has been an integral part of a recent effort to establish legislation that bans the practice of shackling pregnant prisoners in Pennsylvania.
A native New Yorker, Dee Johnson worked with members of the New York State Legislature for nearly two decades on Albany’s Capitol Hill before relocating to Philadelphia a few years ago. She served several members, liaising with elected officials, the press, and representatives of government and community organizations to ensure that legislative goals and objectives were met. She also managed legislative affairs, researching, developing and introducing bills that would eventually become state law and help improve the quality of life of New York residents.
“I look forward to working with Lauren Townsend and Philadelphia NOW board members, taking action to change those practices that serve as barriers to a woman’s full participation in American society,” said Johnson.


Kathy Black – VP for Finance
Kathy Black is running for her fourth term as VP for Finance of our Philadelphia Chapter. Her main duties are to organize the annual fundraiser with the President, and serve on the Executive Board. Kathy works as the Health and Safety Director for AFSCME District Council 47, representing professional and technical city employees. She is the President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the women's movement within the labor movement, which promotes many of the same issues as NOW. Kathy is also a national Co-Convenor of US Labor Against the War, the anti-war movement within the labor movement, founded in 2003. She serves on several other community boards and has been active in many political campaigns.


Caryn Hunt – VP for Membership
Caryn Hunt is a Philadelphia writer and activist. She's been involved since 2006 with planning along the Delaware River- from helping organize Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront (NABR) to advocate for sensible riverfront development, to covering planning issues before there was a planPhilly.com, to serving on the board of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, whose mission is to implement the citizen-driven Civic Vision for the Delaware River. She's written extensively about environmental and other issues at www.GreenCityJournal.com.

Caryn is a proud and active member in Philadelphia NOW. She was a NOW Citizen Activist Honoree in 2009 for her work to keep maternity units open in the city. She represents NOW on Maternity Care Coalition's Policy Committee, and continues to push for building greater access to maternity care in Philadelphia. Caryn currently works as Political Liaison for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. She is passionate about reaching out to citizens to help empower them in the political process, and about clarifying how complex issues like health care reform effect women and families.



Louise Francis – Treasurer
Louise Francis is the current Treasurer of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women. She has been the Chapter’s Treasurer since 1991. She has been involved in all aspects of the Chapter’s activities, including pro-choice marches in Washington DC, demonstrations against local employers that discriminate against workers, city-wide organized clinic defense when Operation Rescue staged an “operation” against Philadelphia’s abortion providers and helping to organize the 2009 International Women’s Day event. She is also a member of the Philadelphia NOW Political Action Committee and regularly interviews candidates seeking the NOW endorsement. On many elections she is an election worker at her local polling place.
Ms Francis is an avid gardener and is a member of the Waverly Gardens community garden in the Washington Square West section of Philadelphia.
Ms Francis is the Consulting Principal and founder of Francis Analytics and Actuarial Data Mining, Inc. where she leads predictive modeling, simulation and related actuarial projects and engagements. Ms. Francis has introduced insurance professionals to advanced modeling methods, including simulation, predictive modeling and text mining, both as a speaker at conferences and as an author of papers and articles. Six of her papers were awarded prizes by the Casualty Actuarial Society.
Ms. Francis was appointed by the Casualty Actuarial Society's board of directors to a three year term as Vice President of Research and Development. In this capacity, she is responsible for helping the CAS achieve its vision of being recognized internationally as a leader in sponsoring and conducting property and casualty insurance research. For a complete description of the company and listing of Ms. Francis’ awards, papers and presentations, please see www.data-mines.com.


Terri Falbo – Secretary & Newsletter Producer
Terri Falbo has been involved in many movements for social justice since coming to Philadelphia in 1974. After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, she became a union steamfitter for over 17 years. While working as a steamfitter, Terri was active in Tradeswomen of Philadelphia/Women in Non-traditional work (TOP/WIN) working as an instructor in the pre-apprenticeship program. She also served on the Philadelphia AFL-CIO Women's Committee. She has been on the board of the Philadelphia Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) for over 12 years.
Following her passion for social justice, Terri spent eight years as a union organizer for healthcare workers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kansas City. She helped nurses to organize for professional respect and conditions for themselves, as well as for more influence to enable them to provide better patient care.

In 2004, Terri was selected by the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Anniston (Alabama) Star to write a series of 16 essays as a representative of a "Blue State" on various topics discussed during the Presidential election. In 2005, she received CLUW's Working Woman Award during Working Women's Awareness Week, as well as citations from State Representatives, partly because of the essay series.
Since 2006, Terri has been working as a Real Estate agent throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. She has been the secretary & newsletter producer for Philadelphia NOW since 2008.


Francesca Alvarado – Representative to the State Board
Francesca Alvarado has a BS in Accounting; however, her work is not her life. Francesca’s passion is human rights, and she has been active in areas such as Health care, Education, Domestic Violence, Pro-choice, Fair Wages etc. She has been on the Executive Board of several organizations such as AFSCME District Council 47 Local 2187, Coalition Labor Union Women, PHILA NOW, and PA NARAL. She is a member of various nonprofit organizations. One of her favorite quote is “My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong."
—Mother Jones



Doris Spivey Pridgin – Representative to the State Board
Doris attended Temple University and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta. In 1999 she retired after working as a teaching assistant, primarily with junior and senior high school social studies students. While working for the school district, Doris became active in the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers as a representative for her school. After retiring, Ms. Pridgin attended Community College. It was there that Doris became acquainted with NOW. Doris joined in 2000 and has shown exemplary service ever since! She always steps up to the plate when called upon to represent PhilaNOW at any event or speaking engagement.


Rosa B. Woods – Alternate Representative to the State Board
Rosa B. Woods is currently an elected Democratic Committee Person in the 22nd Ward in Philadelphia. For several years previously, she served as Committee person in the 9th Ward. Ms. Woods is a dedicated community activist and has worked diligently to seek changes to improve and uplift her community. Besides PhilaNOW, other organizations in which she is involved include: West Mount Airy Neighbors, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Progressive Women of Pennsylvania, and Triumph Baptist Church.
Ms. Woods is a political strategist, advisor, and consultant. In 2007 she led the campaign for Cindy Bass a candidate for City Council for the 8th Councilmanic District. In 2002 she was a Political consultant for Democratic National Committee as a facilitator for Political Seminars in Washington, D.C. Also, in 2002 she Coordinated Get Out the Vote for Gubernatorial Candidate Edward Rendall in the 22nd Ward. In 2000 she Coordinated the Black Clergy and Vicinity Gospel Rally for Democratic National Committee. With her expertise, in 2000 she led the Philadelphia Get Out the Vote effort for the NAACP National Voter Fund and supervised fourteen coordinators with over 3000 volunteers.
In 1999 Ms. Woods Coordinated the Northwest Philadelphia region for Mayoral candidate, John F. White, Jr., in Democratic Primary. Also, in 1996 she coordinated Black Clergy and Vicinity Gospel Rally for Democratic National Committee. In 1995 Ms. Woods was the ward Coordinator for Hon. Edward Rendell – Mayoral Race. he identified, trained, and supervised volunteer staff responsible for literature distribution as part of the “Get Out The Vote” campaign.

In 1995 Ms. Woods was the Campaign Manager for Robert T. Vance, Jr., Esquire. She developed and implemented a campaign strategy aimed at capturing the 8th District Council seat. She supervised the day-to-day activities for staff of 85 volunteers and paid staff. Also, she recruited over 400 volunteers for election day. She monitored campaign operations and finances against measurable goals and timetables.

In 1994 she was ward coordinator for Hon. Chaka Fattah – 2nd Congressional District. she coordinated grass roots communications and fundraising activities with supporters, ward leaders, committee people, and block captains in the 9th and 22nd Wards, to increase voter participation.

Political Action Committee Board
The Political Action Committee Board consists of the officers with the President of the chapter serving as President of the PAC board. Francesca Alvarado is Treasurer of the PAC board.

In addition to the officers, PAC board includes:

Cindy Bass
Cindy M. Bass is a dynamic political strategist, community activist, public speaker and policy formulator. She is currently an elected Democratic Committee Person in the 22nd Ward in Philadelphia, PA and an elected member of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. In 2000, 2004 and 2008, Ms. Bass was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Currently, she is the Senior Policy Advisor on Urban and Domestic Policy to sixth term United States Congressman Chaka Fattah. Congressman Fattah is a nationally recognized expert on urban policy and education who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Prior to joining Congressman Fattah’s staff, Ms. Bass was Special Assistant to then State Senator Allyson Schwartz, who was recently elected to Pennsylvania’s 13th United States Congressional seat.
Ms. Bass holds a deep commitment to increasing the role and the number of women and minorities in the political arena. She is a board member of The Philadelphia NOW PAC and formerly for the Metropolitan Career Center, NARAL Foundation and New Directions for Women. She is also the former chairperson for the National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s National Public Policy Committee, and the former chairperson of the Political Awareness Committee for this organization’s local chapter. Ms. Bass has also been involved in various organizations throughout the years, which have included the Philadelphia Chapter of the League of Women Voters, Democrat Women of Philadelphia, The NAACP, The Coalition of Labor Union Women, East Mt. Airy Neighbors and the steering committee for 2000 African American Women PAC. She is a frequent presenter and panelist at workshops and forums aimed at increasing the role and number of women and minorities involved in politics, education, business, and the health care arena. In 2006, Ms. Bass served as conference Chair for the Phila NOW Women of Color and Allies Summit. This successful conference reached hundreds of women throughout the Greater Philadelphia region and beyond.
Most recently, Ms. Bass was a candidate for City Council in Philadelphia’s 8th District. Ms. Bass finished in second place in a crowded field of challengers. As a candidate, Ms. Bass received numerous endorsements including both daily papers, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News. The Inquirer described her as “poised, gracious and smart….. ready to put the skills and relationships she developed….. to good use on Council. She has walked the walk of neighborhood improvement in Northwest Philadelphia as a staffer at the superb Mount Airy, USA community development corporation and as a president of the East Mount Airy Neighbors. Her willingness to look anywhere and everywhere for best practices that Philadelphia could emulate would be a nice addition to an often-parochial Council”. The Daily News’ endorsement echoes this sentiment by stating “The district….is filled with possibilities. We believe Cindy M. Bass can turn those possibilities into realities…. Many things impress us about Bass….. But it's more than just her resume. Bass exudes the energy and political savvy needed to change things in the district and move it forward…. It's Bass who has the right experience, connections and drive to serve this district.”



Karen Bojar
Karen Bojar has served as President of Philadelphia NOW for the past eight years. She recently retired from her job as Professor of English and Women’s Studies and Coordinator of the Women's Studies program at the Community College of Philadelphia.
She has been a lifelong political activist and plans to continue her involvement in grassroots politics during her retirement and hopes to do what she can to support the new leadership of Phila NOW.
Her retirement projects include writing a history of the second wave feminist movement in Philadelphia and maintaining a blog about women and retirement at http://www.the-next-stage.com/

I’m glad I got it together to go to DC for the National Lobby Day to Stop Stupak

I’m glad I got it together to go to DC for the National Lobby Day to Stop Stupak and Pass Health Care Reform.

A diverse group of women from all over the country gathered in DC; the really good news is that the majority were young women in their 20’s and 30’s. I think many women in my generation breathed a sigh of relief when we saw all these young women determined to protect reproductive rights.

Lobby days can be tedious as you go to one office after another, usually meeting with staff rather than with elected officials. (Thanks to Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, one of the few elected officials who met with constituents.)

The lobbying may have been tedious, but the rally was inspirational. Leaders of major feminist organizations and women legislators with long careers fighting for gender equality affirmed their determination to stop this assault on women’s rights.

Many emphasized that that here has been a compromise in place for decades that federal funds can not be used for abortion but that women can purchase insurance coverage which includes abortion with private funds—-i.e.with their own money. The Stupak-Pitts amendment would overturn this compromise and dramatically change the status quo.

No other legal medical procedure has been singled out to be excluded from plans on the proposed newly created insurance exchange—just this procedure which applies only to women.

A common theme from the women legislators who have been fighting for real health care reform is “We are going to win this one. We are not going to pass health care reform which restricts access, which takes away a right which women currently possess.” As Carol Maloney (Dem. representative from NY) said, “I didn’t go to Congress to roll back women's rights."

We must make sure that in arguing that health care reform not undo the compromise in place for decades(the Hyde amendment), that we are not legimitizing this law's discrimination against low income women.

After we defeat Stupak, we will mobilize against the Hyde amendment which denies government employees and women on Medicaid access to abortion. And we will win!

Health Care reform must not come at the expense of chipping away at abortion rights

I had come to terms with the fact that health care reform would not be all I wanted. I assumed that like previous major social reforms it would represent a step forward and the inadequacies would be remedied over time.

But unlike Social Security and Medicare, this legislation takes a step backward by mandating that plans included in the insurance exchange, including the public option, will not cover abortion. Some women who currently have abortion coverage would lose the right to it.

Major social reform has always been piecemeal. In order to get the votes to pass social security, FDR made a devil’s bargain with Southern Democrats to exclude domestic workers and share croppers, effectively excluding the majority of African-Americans. In many ways the New Deal was racist, but it established the principle that the elderly were entitled to financial support. In the 1950’s the laws were amended to ensure that the principle applied to all workers. (Those who had been excluded from social security or their descendants should have been compensated.)

Medicare was similarly a work in progress, with prescription drug coverage not included. Medicare established the principle that the elderly were entitled to health care, but it took forty years for prescription drug coverage to be included, and even then, the prescription drug coverage passed during the Bush administration was deeply flawed. The proposed health care reform should improve it somewhat.

I had expected similar gaps and inadequacies in the current legislation, but I didn’t expect an erosion of hard-fought rights.

Tomorrow I will be contacting my Senators. We’ve got to keep this erosion of abortion rights out of the Senate bill!

Remarks of Kathy Black, on behalf of the Coalition for Essential Services, 9/17/09

Good morning. I am here today speaking on behalf of Philadelphia NOW and Philadelphia CLUW, which represents hundreds of members of many different unions from across our region. We have been an organizational member of the Coalition for Essential Services since its inception, and we are proud to stand with the city workers’ unions and the many community and constituency groups who are concerned about the well-being of our City and its citizens.

We reject as false the Mayor’s claim that draconian service and staff cuts are the only way to restore fiscal stability to our ailing city. There is no way that the delay of the hoped for additional $16-$20 million in sales tax revenue requires the cutting of 3000 jobs, or the closing of any libraries or recreation centers, much less all of them. Deferred pension payments are not due until the middle of next year, giving us plenty of time to find other solutions.

No one here is denying that we are in a recession or that the City has lost revenue as a result. But eliminating some of the most necessary and cherished services the City provides to its citizens is not an acceptable answer to these problems.

Last Spring, we all applauded the Mayor’s initiative to involve citizens in the process of planning the City’s financial future. Hundreds of us attended the four forums that were held around the City, and we spent hours thinking through the problems and proposing solutions. Many of our members attended these forums and reported back to our group. Obviously, we can’t speak for every small group in each forum, but we think it’s fairly safe to say that no group of citizens suggested, or would find acceptable, the laying off of 1000 police officers, or the closing of our court system, or the elimination of the critical programs for our children that libraries and rec centers provide.

We do know that hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue enhancement and cost cutting ideas were proposed through these forums - ideas that had been carefully researched by many of our Coalition’s member groups. What happened to those ideas? Why weren’t they implemented? Why did we go through that process if our ideas were to be ignored? We do hate to sound cynical, but in retrospect, it appears those forums were just window dressing. Cutting services and jobs appears to have been the real aim of the Mayor all along.

And so we call on the Mayor and City Council to go back to the drawing board. Look at the creative suggestions that have already been proposed and find others, including raising taxes if necessary, to fill the budget gaps. But please, do not tell the citizens of our beloved City that the only way out is to jeopardize the public safety, decimate the services that provide culture, education and recreation for our people, or eliminate the jobs that provide living wages and family benefits for thousands of City workers who are our friends, relatives and neighbors. Because we do not believe it and we will not accept it.

Regular folks are talking more about racism and sharing their stories

NOW member, Jocelyn Morris


As a retired person I’ve had a lot of time to read the news and although I welcomed Jimmy Carter’s forthright statements about race, it’s clear many did not. I’m stunned by some of the responses such as these reported by Politico:


Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards, who has represented a conservative, heavily white Texas district for 18 years, said he didn’t believe there was any evidence to support Carter’s assertion that racial factors had motivated Wilson.
“I just don’t want a divisive dialogue on race to become a battering ram of division for our country,” he said.
Alabama Democratic Rep. Artur Davis agreed. “It’s not a productive or healthy conversation,” he said.

Read more: here

No evidence?? Not a healthy conversation?? Sure I am worried that focus on the racism of right wing extremists might fuel opposition to Obama, but enabling those who are in denial is what’s really unhealthy.

I do think a lot of regular folks are talking more and sharing feelings and stories on a personal level.

I'd like to share the story I received from my friend and NOW sister, Jocelyn Morris about her experiences. Jocelyn is a Philly native, former East Mt. Airy resident, former president of Germantown NOW and currently a member of the national NOW Combating Racism Committee. She now works for US Army in Missouri

My Story:

I have worked as a civilian for 23 years for the U.S. Army. My current
position is a combat Developer in the Maneuver Support Battle Lab doing
limited and other types of experiments on new equipment and concepts
before material solutions are developed. We have 23 employees in our
department. There are only 2 Black Females and no other minorities.

Yesterday, is typical in that most meetings I attend I am the only Black
and only Woman in the meeting. Yesterday was a little different because
there were 2 other women in attendance. However, I was the only Black
and no other minorities were in attendance.

We were doing an update on our programs to the Commanding General and
other schools and directorate leadership. During the briefing, a lower
ranking Soldier comes into the meeting with a mug of something to drink
to give the General. When I told my husband about it he said maybe he
is the General's driver and assistant. My comment was it was a
continuation of the Slave Plantation mentality to have a Black Man
(Soldier) serving/waiting on a White Man (General). Don't they see or
get it at all? I can't remember a time when I have seen this
relationship any different. Racism at its finest!

Is it because I am Black, that automatically when I enter a room, I
notice whether I am the only minority there? Do Whites notice the lack
of minorities in the setting they are in (Work, social, sports, etc.)?
The "Old Boys Network (White and male) is slowly being infiltrated by
women (One at a time mostly), because organizations like NOW are out
there fighting a daily battle for Equality for Women and other
Minorities. We should not let these incidences of racism go
unchallenged.

My husband said I should contact our new Black General (One star pinned
on 1 Sep 09) and see if he has a White Driver/Assistant). I might just
do that (Smiles)!!!

Yours in Global Sisterhood,

Jocelyn P. Morris

Philadelphia NOW, Bucks County NOW, Montgomery County NOW speak out against racism underlying right-wing opposition to health care reform

The members of Philadelphia NOW, Bucks County NOW, and Montgomery County NOW urge our fellow citizens to speak out against the racism underlying right-wing extremists’ opposition to health care reform.

Yes, the extremists have a constitutionally protected right to racist speech, but the majority of Americans who abhor these ugly appeals to racial fears have a moral obligation to speak out against this poison.

We believe that a relatively small number of people are responsible, but their influence is magnified by media coverage of their attacks on President Obama. The extremists gain legitimacy when leaders of our society appear reluctant to condemn implicit and at times frighteningly explicit racism. Although journalists (e.g. Maureen Dowd, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Joan Walsh) have begun to speak out forcefully, for the most part our elected officials have been silent.

This racism must be exposed for the lunatic fringe movement it is. It’s time for fair-minded citizens to make their voices heard.

Karen Bojar
President, Philadelphia NOW

Helene Ratner
President, Bucks County NOW

Kathy Shank
President Montgomery County NOW

Resolution requesting that national NOW officers address the racism underlying right wing extremists’ opposition to health care reform.

At our September 14th chapter meeting, Phila NOW and Bucks County NOW passed a resolution requesting that national NOW officers address the racism underlying right wing extremists’ opposition to health care reform.

Although some of our members have concerns about some of President Obama’s policies, we are all appalled by the implicit and at times frighteningly explicit racism of right wing extremists’ opposition to health care reform. Our members want the national organization to take a strong stand and to encourage chapters and individual members to raise their voices in protest.

We are also very upset that although some journalists (e.g. Maureen Dowd, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Joan Walsh) have been quite vocal, for the most part, our elected officials have been silent.

Yes, the right wing extremists have a constitutionally protected right to racist speech but the majority of Americans who abhor these ugly appeals to racial fears have a moral obligation to speak out against this poison.

Last night I asked our members to forward links to articles by journalists who have forthrightly addressed this issue and that I would include these references with our resolution. Special thank to Caryn Hunt and Lauren Townsend for forwarding many of the following links:


http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/15/race/?source=newsletter


http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/09/14/obama/


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/is-it-because-hes-black/


http://www.openleft.com/diary/15084/on-racism-death-threats-the-blindness-of-those-who-will-not-see

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27120.html


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13dowd.html?_r=1


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13ehrenreich.html?em


http://www.theroot.com/views/president-get-used-it


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/09/bill_moyers_on_obamas_moment.html


http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/09/04/obama_back_to_school_speech/?source=newsletter


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23rich.html?_r=2


http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/26/hate.groups.report/

Philadelphia NOW supports Acme workers

Judy Spires, President
ACME Markets Inc.
75 Valley Stream Parkway
Malvern PA 19355
July 1, 2009

Dear Ms. Spires:

Philadelphia NOW is concerned that the four thousand Acme workers, in Philadelphia and the suburbs, have worked under a contract extension since February 2008. The majority of these workers are women and many of them are single parents.

We are contacting you as leaders of our community to urge you to return to the bargaining table to resume contract negotiations.

We have learned that on June 9, 2009 Acme issued a last, best and final offer. The company threatened to terminate the existing contract and implement its proposal unilaterally. Its proposals, rejected by 95% of Acme’s employees, would gut the health care benefits, decimate the pension benefits and lower the standard of living of workers who have labored for Acme for many years.

The Supervalu Company, the Minnesota-based company which owns Acme, may consider that the current economic difficulties justify its hard-nosed bargaining tactics. Here in Philadelphia, however, Supervalu/Acme’s tactics are increasingly seen as a low blow against the very workers responsible for a good part of Acme’s success. Even if Supervalu/Acme succeeds in imposing its “last, best, and final” offer, it may well generate such hostility that many Philadelphians, many of our members among them, will desert Acme and reduce its share of a very competitive market.

We urge you not to take an action against the best interests of the Philadelphia community, Acme’s employees and the Supervalu/Acme Company itself. We urge you to return to the bargaining table immediately to resume contract negotiations.


Sincerely,


Karen Bojar
President
National Organization for Women, Philadelphia Chapter