The Need To Protect Interracial Marriage

Local News

A new ordinance in St Paul went into effect on May 1st that caps rent increases at 3% each year. St Paul voters approved the ordinance last year, but since it has gone into effect the city has seen growing exemption requests from landlords. These exemptions include things like covering costs for renovations or tax increases. Most surprising, however, is the ability for landlords to “self certify” that increasing rent up to 8% is necessary, without city review. Many St. Paul renters are at a standstill waiting for the city to respond to their landlords hiking up rent prices.

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Strive Bookstore, located in the IDS Center of Downtown Minneapolis, held its grand opening yesterday, July 20th. The woman behind the bookstore, Mary Taris, founded both Strive Community Publishing and Strive Bookstore to help bring representation of Black authors to Minnesota readers. The publishing company has published work from 20 authors and 5 illustrators, and they work to hire Black editors for their books. The bookstore will carry books published with Strive, although they are able to order books published through different companies upon request.

BIPOC News

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage. The Respect for Marriage Act will now go to the evenly split Senate, where, at this point, anything is possible. We can see the minority republicans joining a filibuster to block the vote from happening. Republican senators have said that they see no point in this law and that it is a “political charade” or just “election-year politics”. 

But the fear that marriage equality may not be a national law is a real and valid concern for many Americans. The Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, allowing many states to outlaw abortion because it isn’t explicitly mentioned in the Constitution (or some B.S. like that). A similar concern is being applied to marriage equality, especially after seeing the Supreme Court’s willingness to strip away rights through Roe. Since then, Sen. Ted Cruz has said that the Supreme Court’s decision protecting marriage equality was “clearly wrong,” and the states should decide the issue. Also after basic healthcare was ripped away from millions of citizens, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said that the justices “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell“- cases that deal with the right to contraception and marriage equality. 

Perhaps the Republican senators that say that the Respect for Marriage Act is pointless should listen to what their party counterparts have been saying. The other justices have come out to say that the overturning of Roe v. Wade only deals with abortion. Contrary to Thomas’ opinion, restricting marriages is not on the agenda. But how can anyone trust them? Remember in their confirmation hearings when they said Roe was a precedent and “settled law”? Look where we are now.

Bottom of the News

Denzel Washington honored Jackie Robinson at the MLB All-Star game. No summary can truly capture the emotion and inspiration that filled Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, so here’s an excerpt from his moving speech.

“[Jackie Robinson] said that life is not a spectator sport. And he lived that model to the fullest. Whether it was charging down the baselines, or standing tall for opportunity and justice, No. 42 blazed a trail that would light the way for people of every walk of life and every color and to this very day, every generation. That inspiration, that profound impact looms just as large today, as it did 75 years ago.”

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