League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara, Inc.

10/11/2021

The League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara regrets that we must cancel the Candidates’ Forum for October 18, 2021, for candidates running in the November Election for offices that serve North Tonawanda. In accordance with our Empty Chair Policy, the League of Women Voters cannot hold a forum when there is only one candidate present for any contest. We have received acceptance from only one candidate for any of the contests. We thank the candidates who were endorsed by the Democratic and Working Families Parties who responded and planned to participate.

The League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara is deeply disappointed that residents of North Tonawanda will not be able to hear from all the candidates for city and county offices. A Candidates’ Forum is a unique opportunity for voters to learn about candidates on their ballots. So when candidates decide not to attend or participate, it is a lost opportunity for all voters. Declining to participate to discuss the issues that matter most to voters is contrary to the public interest and it is the voters who are harmed. We consider a Candidates’ Forum as a job interview. After all, the winners of the election will be working for all of us.

The League of Women Voters takes no position on candidates for public office or on political parties. The League works to encourage the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

We urge all candidates for Niagara County legislators to participate in the League’s online voters guide at Vote411.org to provide an opportunity for voters to learn their qualifications, endorsements, and views about some of the issues facing Niagara County. Contact our Vote411.org coordinator, Barbara Jezioro, at [email protected].

10/03/2021

There are four important constitutional propositions on the ballot this year. Join us to learn more about them.

There are four important constitutional propositions on the ballot this year. Join us to learn more about them.

08/26/2021

What our League is all about!

The 19th Amendment was ratified 101 years ago today, granting many women the right to vote.

But our work still isn't done. From the suffragists to the civil rights movement to today's activists — we are still fighting to ensure that every vote is counted and every voice is heard.

08/04/2021

Charlottesville removes two Confederate statues as onlookers cheer

"(Removing the statues) is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America grapple with its sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gains," Mayor Nikuyah Walker told reporters shortly before the Lee statue was lifted. "It is my hope that we stop taking these steps in 100-year increments and increase the frequency (of) bold daily action and critical examination of accurate history, even when it denounces whiteness as supreme," she said. [article date July 10, 2021]

Bronze statues of two Confederate generals were removed on Saturday from public property in Charlottesville, Virginia, almost four years after they were a flashpoint for a violent "Unite the Right" rally that left one person dead.

08/02/2021

Buffalo and WNY are digitally segregated, new map suggests

If you live east of Main St. it’s probable that anywhere between 25-45% of the neighborhood doesn’t have internet access at home. Additionally, a similar divide exists for residents of the city lacking a smartphone.

The data from the NTIA measures lack of access due to affordability as well as physical lines being run to a home or business. Additionally, Internet speeds across the one-carrier city make little sense. The high-tech hub known as the medical campus shares a census tract with the Fruit Belt. The census tract averages an internet speed of 8Mbps.
The average speed in downtown Buffalo is 17Mbps.

(article date June 21, 2021)

The new map from the NTIA paints a clear picture that digital segregation is a big problem in Buffalo and WNY

07/31/2021

Harriet Tubman monument replacing a Christopher Columbus statue in Newark is "poetic," mayor says

Mayor Was Baraka said having Tubman take over Columbus' old spot in Washington Park was "poetic." As the nation continues to weigh the future of controversial statues, he said the monument felt like an opportunity to embrace history and Tubman's roots in the Garden State. "Harriet Tubman actually stepped foot here in this property, Christopher Columbus did not," Baraka said. "So, it seems more appropriate to have a statue of Harriet Tubman and talk about the abolitionists' work that went on that most people in New Jersey don't even know... fighting against a system that was trying to allow slavery in this state." (article date June 21, 2021)

"Harriet Tubman actually stepped foot here in this property, Christopher Columbus did not," the city's mayor said.

07/29/2021

HUD secretary links student loan debt to decline in Black homeownership

The FHA is making updates to its student loan monthly payment calculations in an effort to “remove barriers and provide more access to affordable single family FHA-insured mortgage financing for creditworthy individuals with student loan debt, which has a disproportionate impact on people of color.” (article date: June 21, 2021)

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge said student debt is playing a role in limiting homeownership for Black people.

07/27/2021

‘The water is coming’: Florida Keys faces stark reality as seas rise

the Florida Keys is now acknowledging a previously unthinkable reality: it faces being overwhelmed by the rising seas and not every home can be saved. “The water is coming and we can’t stop it,” said Michelle Coldiron, mayor of Monroe county, which encompasses the Keys. (article date: June 24, 2021)

Officials prepare to elevate streets despite financial shortfalls, amid recognition that not every home can be saved

07/25/2021

CEOs made 299 times the salary of what the median employee received: analysis

The difference in compensation between CEOS and the average workers trended upward in 2020, according to a new report from the the AFL-CIO. The average S&P 500 CEO made $15.5 million in 2020, and chief executives made 299 times more than the average employee's salary. (article date: July 14, 2021)

The difference in compensation between CEOS and the average workers trended upward in 2020, according to a new report by a labor union released on Wednesday.

07/23/2021

How Black women athletes are being scrutinized ahead of the Olympics despite their successes

In recent weeks, the governing body for aquatic sports refused to approve the use of a swimming cap designed to accommodate natural Black hair during international competitions. A US Olympic hammer thrower was also criticized for protesting during the playing of the national anthem and two Namibian sprinters were ruled ineligible to compete in a race due to naturally high testosterone levels.

Those incidents, experts say, show how sports policies don't necessarily take into account athletes of color and the dehumanization that Black women and girls experience. "We tend to center whiteness. We don't necessarily think about how the rules that we might implement impact other groups because we're thinking about whiteness and White people being the norm," said Lori L. Martin, a sociology professor at Louisiana State University.

(article date: July 6, 2021)

As the world's top athletes head into the Tokyo Olympics, a wave of penalizations and criticism are shedding light onto how Black women in sports are treated.

07/21/2021

German Museum Repatriates Lakota Chief’s Shirt, Citing ‘Moral and Ethical Reasons’

Ina Hartwig, deputy mayor in charge of Culture and Science for the City of Frankfurt am Main, said, “Provenance research is one of the great challenges facing museums in the 21st century. Even if it represents a loss for the collection [..], I see the return of the leather shirt to Chief Duane Hollow Horn Bear as an obligation that outweighs the formal legal situation.” [article date: July 9, 2021]

The shirt was given to the chief’s great-grandson and successor.

07/19/2021

Henrietta native becomes first female captain of the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls

At 21, McHenry got her captain’s license through the Coast Guard. This enabled her to operate large commercial vessels, and she began filling in as captain of the Colonial Belle, cruising the Erie Canal. She is the first and only female Maid of the Mist captain in the Maid of the Mist's 175-year history. McHenry said she would love to see more women get into the maritime field, “and I know that’s something that’s happening." [article date July 6, 2021]

“For a lot of people, it’s a big deal ... but for me, I’m just going to work.”

07/17/2021

More than 150 companies call on Congress to strengthen Voting Rights Act

“Despite decades of progress, impediments to exercising the right to vote persist in many states, especially for communities of color. We need federal protections to safeguard this fundamental right for all Americans,” the companies wrote in the letter. (article date: July 14, 2021)

Amazon, Starbucks and Pepsi are among the companies that signed on to a letter calling on Congress to pass legislation that would expand the Voting Rights Act.

07/15/2021

Undercover Exxon video reveals an anti-climate campaign

"Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes," Keith McCoy, the Exxon (XOM) lobbyist, said during a covertly filmed job interview recorded by Greenpeace's UK investigative platform. "Did we join some shadow groups to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that's true," McCoy said in the video, which was published Wednesday by the UK's Channel 4. "But there's nothing illegal about that. We were looking out for our investments. we were looking out for our shareholders." [article date July 1, 2021]

A senior ExxonMobil lobbyist appears to have unwittingly revealed how the oil company uses its political muscle to undercut climate action.

07/01/2021

Voting Rights: A Short History | Voting Rights | Carnegie Corporation of New York

"The struggle for equal voting rights dates to the earliest days of U.S. history. Now, after a period of bipartisan efforts to expand enfranchisement, Americans once again face new obstacles to voting." (Article from 2019, but lots of good history!)

The struggle for equal voting rights dates to the earliest days of U.S. history. Now, after a period of bipartisan efforts to expand enfranchisement, Americans once again face new obstacles to voting

06/29/2021

A 19-year-old aspiring astronaut is the only person who's attended every NASA space camp. She's already positioning herself for a mission to Mars.

Carson was the youngest person to graduate from the Advanced Space Academy and is currently pursuing an astrobiology major at the Florida Institute of Technology. The eventual goal: fly to Mars, which NASA plans to do in the 2030s.

Alyssa Carson is one of a group of young people who are already positioning themselves to become NASA astronauts just in time to travel to Mars.

06/27/2021

State funding coming to upgrade Freedom Wall in Buffalo

More than $360,000 in state funding will go towards installing LED lighting to accent the wall's 28 portraits, and to fix sidewalks running alongside the wall. The Freedom Wall is located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street.

Over $360,000 will go towards LED lighting and sidewalks.

06/25/2021

‘One Oppressive Economy Begets Another’

"It’s not by chance that 158 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, rural Black communities bear the environmental consequences of Louisiana’s biggest industry. Overlay a map of southern Louisiana’s petrochemical and petroleum plants with archival maps of the area’s plantations, and you’ll find that in many cases the property lines match up. 'One oppressive economy begets another,' Barbara L. Allen, a professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech and the author of Uneasy Alchemy, a book on environmental justice in the region, told me over the phone. 'The Great River Road was built on the bodies of enslaved Black people. The chemical corridor is responsible for the body burden of their descendants.'"

Louisiana’s petroleum industry profits from exploiting historic inequalities, showing how slavery laid the groundwork for environmental racism.

06/23/2021

"Then will come forward women who have gained courage from the efforts and sacrifices of others, and the great world will say, 'Here come the women who are going to do something.'" —Martha Coffin Wright, 1860, Auburn, NY.

06/22/2021

TODAY!
Tuesday, June 22 is New York State Primary day. Make it a priority to let your voice be heard at the polls!

NYS Board of Elections—County Board Finder
https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoardRoster/CountyBoardRoster

Candidate and Voting Info
www.vote411.org

TODAY!
Tuesday, June 22 is New York State Primary day. Make it a priority to let your voice be heard at the polls!

NYS Board of Elections—County Board Finder
https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoardRoster/CountyBoardRoster

Candidate and Voting Info
www.vote411.org

06/21/2021

TOMORROW!
Tuesday, June 22 is New York State Primary day. Make plan, grab a friend, and let your voices be heard at the polls!

NYS Board of Elections—County Board Finder
https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoardRoster/CountyBoardRoster

Candidate and Voting Info
www.vote411.org

TOMORROW!
Tuesday, June 22 is New York State Primary day. Make plan, grab a friend, and let your voices be heard at the polls!

NYS Board of Elections—County Board Finder
https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoardRoster/CountyBoardRoster

Candidate and Voting Info
www.vote411.org

06/19/2021

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, and just one of several “Emancipation Days” observed by Black diasporic communities in the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.

The holiday is celebrated on June 19th (thus the name, Juneteenth) because, on that date in 1865, Union soldiers announced to enslaved persons in Texas that the U.S. Civil War had ended and that they had been freed from bo***ge by the Emancipation Proclamation (two years prior in 1863). Freed Black and Afro-Indigenous people from Texas brought the celebration with them when they migrated to nearby places like Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mexico and—even farther—to California, Oregon, and Washington state.

Of course, the fight for Black liberation was not resolved with the end of slavery and the close of the U.S. Civil War. The U.S. has failed to extend the promise of liberty to all, and we must all commit ourselves to the work of expanding democracy and protecting the vote, on behalf of all people, until this country reflects the world we want to live in.

https://www.lwv.org/blog/juneteenth-celebration-emancipation-and-black-liberation

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, and just one of several “Emancipation Days” observed by Black diasporic communities in the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.

The holiday is celebrated on June 19th (thus the name, Juneteenth) because, on that date in 1865, Union soldiers announced to enslaved persons in Texas that the U.S. Civil War had ended and that they had been freed from bo***ge by the Emancipation Proclamation (two years prior in 1863). Freed Black and Afro-Indigenous people from Texas brought the celebration with them when they migrated to nearby places like Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mexico and—even farther—to California, Oregon, and Washington state.

Of course, the fight for Black liberation was not resolved with the end of slavery and the close of the U.S. Civil War. The U.S. has failed to extend the promise of liberty to all, and we must all commit ourselves to the work of expanding democracy and protecting the vote, on behalf of all people, until this country reflects the world we want to live in.

https://www.lwv.org/blog/juneteenth-celebration-emancipation-and-black-liberation