Florida NOW

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

The Voting Rights Act passed on August 6, 1965. For African American women, this was meant to deliver on the promise of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was intended to guarantee women the right to vote. The Amendment’s promise of suffrage for women, unfortunately, did not protect indigenous women and women of color. It took the Voting Rights Act to finally outlaw various discriminatory voting practices which acted as a barrier for women of color and was specifically aimed at laws adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Today we must continue to protect women, particularly women of color, from the onslaught of voter suppression laws and institutional barriers that can tilt the balance of elections. Our democracy is being hijacked by voter restriction techniques that disproportionately impact young people, the elderly, low-income individuals and especially people of color—and within each of these communities, women are most harshly affected.

NOW is outraged that women, who fought so hard for suffrage and particularly women of color, who were the last to secure that right, could now be the first to lose it. These laws could deeply impact women at a time when we need to stop the right-wing from continuing to wage its war on women. Simply put, we need more women at the polls in 2018 to elect leaders who will stand up for our rights.

Contact
Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

The Voting Rights Act passed on August 6, 1965.  For African American women, this was meant to deliver on the promise of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was intended to guarantee women the right to vote.  The Amendment’s promise of suffrage for women, unfortunately, did not protect indigenous women and women of color.  It took the Voting Rights Act to finally outlaw various discriminatory voting practices which acted as a barrier for women of color and was specifically aimed at laws adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Today we must continue to protect women, particularly women of color, from the onslaught of voter suppression laws and institutional barriers that can tilt the balance of elections. Our democracy is being hijacked by voter restriction techniques that disproportionately impact young people, the elderly, low-income individuals and especially people of color—and within each of these communities, women are most harshly affected.

NOW is outraged that women, who fought so hard for suffrage and particularly women of color, who were the last to secure that right, could now be the first to lose it. These laws could deeply impact women at a time when we need to stop the right-wing from continuing to wage its war on women. Simply put, we need more women at the polls in 2018 to elect leaders who will stand up for our rights.

Contact

Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Emmy-award winning writer and producer Dinah Kirgo, one of six women who has come forward with charges of sexual harassment against CBS CEO and chairman Les Moonves, told NPR that she is not trying to end the executive’s career as much as she is trying to change a culture that enables such misconduct.

“People think that we’re trying to take these guys down, and that is, at least in my case, that is so not true. It’s about stopping this behavior.”

We agree and we stand in solidarity with her How many more stories do we need to read about a powerful boss who thinks he can aggressively kiss, or pin down on a couch, or make sexual remarks to a woman with no consequences and no reckoning?

Enough is enough – those days are over. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements cannot be stopped, and they will not stop until we end this culture of abuse against women.

Toxic men like Les Moonves must know they can no longer prey on vulnerable women over whom they wield tremendous power in the workplace. Les Moonves shouldn’t be at work today and he shouldn’t come into the office tomorrow. CBS must suspend Les Moonves and conduct an independent, outside investigation into his behavior.

Les Moonves received $68.4 million in 2017 for his role as chief executive and chairman of the CBS board of directors. The women he is accused of harassing are paying a terrible price. How much will CBS pay the women for their loss of wages, career advancement, and prestige caused by CBS’ protection of powerful men? They are the ones that deserve CBS’ attention, financial remuneration and care today—not Les Moonves.

It’s time we change the norm. Our silence ends now.

Contact

Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org, 202-628-8669