July 21, 2010

Dear friend,

Yesterday, news broke that Shirley Sherrod, a Black USDA official, was fired because FOX News and Tea Party conservatives whipped up the hype that she was racist toward whites. In fact, Sherrod's comments in a speech to the NAACP communicated that poor whites and poor Blacks have a lot in common and can come together to organize. It seems that in this "post-racial" society just being a Black woman talking about race and class can land you in hot water. Today, the Obama administration was shamed into issuing a weak apology and the USDA has offered to rehire her (though not at her old job).

Meanwhile, NARAL, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are outraged that the Obama administration is excluding abortion coverage in the temporary health-insurance pools. Where were they on March 24, 2010 when Obama signed an anti-abortion Executive Order as part of a deal to get misogynists like Rep. Bart Stupak to vote for the national healthcare reform bill? The title of the Executive Order says it all, "Ensuring Enforcement and Implementation of Abortion Restrictions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."

Time and time again the White House caters to the right wing at the expense of women and people of color. Enough is enough!

Contact President Obama to demand that Sherrod gets her old job back, that the anti-abortion Executive Order be repealed, and that the new health-insurance pools cover abortion and all reproductive health services.

Send a message to Obama online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact, by phone at 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414, by fax at 202-456-2461 or by U.S. mail at The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500.

In solidarity,

Anne Slater
National Organizer
Radical Women

National Radical Women
625 Larkin St. Ste 202, San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone 415-864-1278 * Fax 415-864-0778
RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com
www.RadicalWomen.org