Tag Archives: late

Mississippi Ratifies 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery … 147 Years Late

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Mississipi slavery

The “not so great” state of  Mississippi has FINALLY  “officially” ratified the 13th amendment to the US constitution, which abolishes slavery and which was officially noted in the constitution on 6 December 1865 and it only took them 147 years.

Two academics Dr Ranjan Batra and  Ken Sullivan embarked on research prompted after watching Lincoln, Steven Spielberg‘s Oscar-nominated film.  Sullivan remembered that a 1995 move to ratify the 13th amendment had passed the Mississippi Senate and House which at that time was only 130 late and racked down a copy of the bill and learned that its last paragraph required the secretary of state to send a copy to the office of the federal register, to officially sign it into law which they had not.

Sullivan then contacted the current Mississippi secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann, who filed the paperwork for the passage of the bill on January 3oth. The bill passed on February 7th. Hosemann said the passage of the bill “was long overdue”.

No shit.

15 Years AFTER It Goes Into Effect The Human Rights Campaign Launches Coalition To Repeal DOMA

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The Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry have put together a “Coalition” of groups to fight for the repeal of DOMA. (The Defense of Marriage Act)

Here’s the list so far:

Alliance for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Democratic Action, Anti-Defamation League, Association of Flight Attendants, Center for American Progress, Coalition of Labor Union Women, COLAGE, Courage Campaign, Communications Workers of America, Family Equality Council, Feminist Majority, Freedom to Marry, GLAD, Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, Interfaith Alliance, International Union, UAW, Lambda Legal, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Log Cabin Republicans, MALDEF, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women’s Law Center, People for the American Way, PFLAG, Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), Service Employees International Union, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Stonewall Democrats, Third Way, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and USAction.

Impressive list.

But you know whats not impressive is that DOMA has been on the books since September 21, 1996 and its taken them 15 years to put a “coalition” together to fight it.  Perhaps the HRC didn’t think it important enough to seriously start fighting DOMA the day after it was signed into law?

And whats equally unimpressive is that the NAACP, an organization founded for the very purpose of ending discrimination, isn’t part of it