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	VIEWS MAGAZINE ARTICLES

	WINTER, 2001 - VOLUME 21 Download Entire Volume

	Who is America? Gay Rights, Women’s Rights, Racial & Economic Justice Threaten Conservative Vision of America.



	From the Director Surviving the Bush Years For all his "aw, shucks" posture and his derision as a lightweight by pundits and comedians alike, George W. Bush has moved quickly and aggressively to define a reactionary agenda that will have the full weight of all three branches of government behind it.



	Voter Mobilization Progressive Communities Around the Region Expand Base, Build Power



	Voz Hispana Causa César Chávez Voz Hispana was founded in 1997 in Woodburn, Oregon by parents, workers, students, small business owners and community activists who came together to demand that a new public school in Woodburn be named for César E. Chávez. While this objective wasn't achieved, Voz Hispana won two major victories: the school library was named for Chávez, and his birthday was permanently designated as César E. Chávez Day in all seven Woodburn schools, the only public recognition in the state of this kind to date.



	Montana Income Support Coalition With Montana ranking last nationwide in wages, and first in poverty growth and number of people working more than one job, progressive groups were inspired to take coordinated action in the 2000 elections.



	Publicly Financed Campaigns: Election Results Illustrate Benefits & Challenges Since 1996, voters have approved Clean Money initiatives in three states, but now they’ve turned down two. At the same time, the recent elections in Maine, Arizona and Vermont proved that public financing of campaigns delivers a quantifiable boost to the democratic process. It brings new players to the field, and increases the number of elected officials who are accountable only to voters, not to donors.



	Communities Against Rape & Abuse: Changing a Culture of Rape & Racism Ihe Black People's Project aims to forge new pathways of thinking and talking about rape and sexual abuse in African American, African, Caribbean, and Native communities. This program develops creative ways to challenge rape culture as it connects to slavery, lynching movements, sexual abuse, torture, police brutality, the prison industrial complex, the death penalty, and economic injustice in the United States.



	FAST Jobs Coalition: Workers of Color Challenge Barriers Inside, Outside Organized Labor Some of the most dynamic union organizing drives in the country are now taking place among workers of color, women, and immigrant workers. But while organized labor represents one of the strongest forces for progressive social change, it — like every other institution in America — reflects the racism and sexism of the dominant culture. At the same time as the AFL-CIO and affiliated unions are providing increasing support for this organizing, full acceptance of the new leadership and membership — and the changes they will demand — is an ongoing struggle.



	Diversity Training: Good for Business but Insufficient for Social Change In the past ten to fifteen years, diversity training has become a boom industry, as government agencies, corporations, and non-profits attempt to manage race and racial attitudes in the workplace. Organizations employ diversity training for reasons ranging from protection against liability to a more liberal notion that "in diversity there is strength." The belief that workplace diversity can bring increased productivity, new ideas, and therefore higher profits, appeals particularly to corporations. Although diversity training may make good business sense, the model falls terribly short of the comprehensive racial justice approach required for progressive social change.



	Assessing Organizational Racism A tool for predominately white organizations and multi-racial organizations of white people and people of color.



	The Dismantling Racism Project: Organizations Making Change Mention Idaho and many outside the region will picture potatoes, wilderness, and the Aryan Nations. But those familiar with the progressive forces within the state also know it as a place where several predominantly-white organizations are working hard to become anti-racist. The result: a stronger progressive movement.



	Nightstand Book reviews by Western States Center board, staff and friends.



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