In the aftermath of the Democratic victory in the November 2006 Congressional elections, obituaries of the conservative movement have been pouring forth thick and fast. These pronouncements read like a Rorschach test, with pundits and politicians on all sides seeing in the election results a confirmation of their own prejudices and hopes.

Hardliners such as Patrick Buchanan attribute the defeat to the Bush administration’s insufficient zeal in pursuing the Far Right’s prescriptions on affirmative action, isolationism, immigration, downsizing government and gay bashing. They accuse the GOP of having abandoned the base.

Does the new Democratic majority in Congress present a rare opportunity for civil rights advocates to go on the offensive?

EJS thinks so, and is joining our colleagues across the country in calling on Congress to pass key civil rights observations. "Civil rights folks across the nation are unified in calling on Congress to recognize that discrimination still exists, that we have not achieved a level playing field, and that legislative protections have been eroded by an increasingly conservative judiciary," said EJS President Eva Paterson.

READ MORE

In a signal that the new majority will not sit idly by in the face of continued attempts to push the judiciary to the extreme ideological right, the Senate has staunched the flood of Bush's most radical appointees.

In January, in the face of certain Democratic opposition, four of the five most ideologically conservative of the Bush judicial nominees -- William Haynes, William Myers, Terrence Boyle, and Michael Wallace -- withdrew their names from consideration, and were not re-nominated.

*The California Legislative Black Caucus released its commissioned study on the state of Black Californians last week. The brainchild of Caucus Vice Chair, Assembly Majority Leader, Karen Bass, the study is an expansion on the state of Black Los Angeles report released by the Urban League and United Way in 2005.

I swear, black people have to be the most studied people in the history of the universe. It's not like we don't know "the state" of black people. We know all too well. What we don't know is why "the state" continues to persist. I'm sure other folk have their reasons, and they're not the same as what Black America believes. They'll probably say it's "self-inflicted." Black America maintains it's been systemic and institutional, from the very start.

READ MORE

"Achingly beautiful" is how one guest described Marcus Shelby's Harriet Tubman Jazz Oratorio - a sneak peek performance featured at the EJS Annual Gala in December. Shelby's instrumentation joined by the stirring vocals of the Bay Area's own Faye Carol, a living legend of jazz, stirred our historical imaginations.

Invoking an icon of freedom like Harriet Tubman simultaneously evokes feelings of atonement and pride, celebration and loss, no matter which racial or ethnic identity we are. So while. Tubman's courageous actions and contribution to ending slavery are indeed beautiful, it is also painful to realize that the structural racism of her time existed not so long ago, and continues today in dubious forms.

"Celebrating the Little Rock Nine: 50 Years of Resistance, Revolution and Rebuilding," was the theme of the Third Annual Creative Justice Art Show sponsored by the University of San Francisco School of Law Equal Justice Society Chapter in February.

The Art Show included painting, sculpture and photograph, as well as spoken word, dance and poetry. Artists from the law school, the community, and even from the military in Iraq to presented work reflecting themes from the criminal justice system, to the war in Iraq. Third year student Ifeoma Ajunwa performed a powerful spoken word piece that she wrote to commemorate the Little Rock Nine. EJS Co-chair Michael Caves contributed poetry about the assault on our environment. A 12-minute dance performance addressed the oppression of women in society.