Vermont Racial Justice Alliance

06/04/2026

Community Discussions on Health and Wellness

Centering the Safety, Health, and Wellness of Black People

Open and ongoing community dialogue is essential to building a comprehensive and effective alternative to the harmful narratives and failed policies that continue to impact our communities. These policies contribute to inequity, undermine public safety, and disproportionately harm Black residents.

A recently released Burlington Police Department report found that Black residents accounted for a disproportionately high share of arrests and use-of-force incidents relative to their share of overall police interactions. These findings raise serious concerns about the continued impact of policing practices on Burlington's Black community and underscore the need for honest community conversation, accountability, and solutions.

Join us for a community discussion focused on the health, safety, and wellness of Black people in Burlington and throughout Vermont.

When: Wednesday, 6 June
First Saturday of Every Month
Time: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: Richard Kemp Center

Together, we will examine the realities facing our community, share experiences, discuss alternatives, and explore pathways toward justice, healing, and true public health and wellness.

All are welcome

The Rutland Area NAACP
ACLU-Vermont
The Root Social Justice Center
Disability Rights Vermont
MadFreedom Advocates
Outright Vermont
Peace & Justice Center
350 Burlington, VT
Food Not Bombs Burlington
Vermont Workers' Center
Burlington Community Justice Center
People's Kitchen
Human Rights Commission, Vermont
City of Burlington's REIB Office
Richard Kemp Center
Vermonters for Justice in Palestine

05/20/2026

Raise Up Justice
A Movement to Reclaim Democracy
Organizing Meeting

Thursday 21 May, 2026
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Richard Kemp Center
Join us every 3rd Thursday!

Did you know that this regime has eliminated all federal civil rights enforcement as we have known them? On April 29th the US Supreme Court passed a decision that rendered the Voting Rights Act of 1965 useless.

Without civil rights there can be no democracy! We have learned that civil rights, policies and programs to redress the harm caused by our history of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation are necessary if we are to have any hope for multiracial democracy. Assertions that they are zero sum policies that cause harm to white men are only intended to divide this nation and better enable the most powerful to gain absolute power.

Today's civil rights movement must be a movement that teaches the truth about our national history. This movement pedagogy must be one which insists that the legacy of slavery (systemic racism) is inextricably bound to civil rights and that civil rights epitomize democracy. The civil rights movement of today must be a movement that creates and maintains systems of protection, aid and and support in local communities. This movement must hold state and local officials accountable and insist that they use their power to protect and defend the people they serve.

The objectives of this movement include:

Education on the legacy of slavery, its relationship to civil rights and how they undergird our democracy

Community Resilience - Mutual aid, social, economic, spiritual, emotional and legal support

Anti-racist & anti-oppression programs; Civil rights, racial justice and disparate impact policies, and effective Oversight of Law Enforcement at State/municipal and Organizational levels.

Remote users can register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOqrqjgoEt2RKp3ga2M--Y4UKZscYcus

Agenda:
Welcome (5 minutes)
Intros (10 minutes)
Civil Rights Updates (15 Minutes)
A Multi-racial Democracy (30 minutes)
Mutual Aid and Community Resilience Updates and Discussion (20) Minutes
Demands - Shield Vermont and other initiative (30 minutes)
Next Steps (10 minutes)

Sign on the the Movement here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEjnhvXVrzVqAsU42-E37IWozT2G-NuBw5I-NrJ4yEXaz_jg/viewform?usp=header

https://raiseupjusticevt.org/

Find our Executive Order Analysis HERE:
https://vtracialjusticealliance.org/eo-data-dashboards/

Shield Vermont

The legislature has completed work on the Equal Protection Constitutional Amendment (PR.4). We’ll discuss what happens next in our demands update.

City of Burlington's REIB Office The Rutland Area NAACP Howard Center King Street Center Ben & Jerry's Burton CVOEO Richard Kemp Center Vermont Workers' Center Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Vermont Growers Association First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington Vermont Human Rights Commission, Vermont Food Not Bombs Burlington Peace & Justice Center 350 Burlington, VT Vermont Professionals of Color Network The Root Social Justice Center Vermont Poor People's Campaign: National Call For Moral Revival People's Kitchen Vermont Environmental Justice Network NOFA-VT Vermont Interfaith Action Faith in Action

05/13/2026

Today, the Vermont House of Representatives voted to pass Proposal 4, the Equal Protection Constitutional Amendment.

This means that Vermonters will now have the opportunity to vote on whether equal protection under the law should be made explicit in the Vermont Constitution.

This is a historic moment for our state.

At a time when federal civil rights protections are weakening and equal protection doctrine continues to narrow, Vermont has chosen to move forward — not backward.

Proposal 4 would establish a clear constitutional foundation for equal protection in Vermont.

It does not create special rights.
It does not eliminate judicial review.
It does not mandate outcomes.

It provides constitutional clarity and helps ensure that equal protection under the law remains durable and enforceable for future generations.

This amendment now belongs to the people of Vermont.

And now the people must speak.

Now the people must vote.

Over the coming months, we will work to ensure Vermonters understand what Proposal 4 is, why it matters, and why this constitutional moment is so important.

History teaches us that democracy depends on equal protection being real — not symbolic.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this moment possible.

Sign on to the SHIELD VERMONT Campaign HERE:
https://forms.gle/pp79vJej2TdxiusL9

Human Rights Commission, Vermont
ACLU-Vermont
Vermont Commission on Women
Vermont Interfaith Action
The Rutland Area NAACP
Vermont Center for Independent Living
Rural Vermont
Vermont Growers Association
NOFA-VT
Disability Rights Vermont
Outright Vermont
Liberation Ecosystem

05/13/2026

The full House has the final legislative vote on the equal protection constitutional amendment tomorrow.

Proposal 4 provides Vermont with:

* A constitutional foundation for equal protection
* Independence from federal doctrinal collapse
* The ability to evaluate both purpose and effect
* Capacity to address systemic and algorithmic harm
* Support for durable civil rights policy

The Vermont House of Representatives should pass it and LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE in November.

Human Rights Commission, Vermont
ACLU-Vermont
Vermont Commission on Women
Vermont Interfaith Action
The Rutland Area NAACP
Vermont Center for Independent Living
Rural Vermont
Vermont Growers Association
NOFA-VT
Disability Rights Vermont
Outright Vermont
Liberation Ecosystem

05/12/2026

MEDIA ALERT
Contact: Rev Mark Hughes / [email protected] /

Press Conference:
Equal Protection Vermont Constitutional Amendment

MONTPELIER, VT — The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, Vermont Interfaith Action, the NAACP, the Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Women, alongside civil rights advocates, faith leaders, legal experts, legislators, and community organizations, will hold a press conference at the Vermont State House ahead of the Vermont House of Representatives’ final vote on Proposal 4, an Equal Protection Constitutional Amendment.

What: Press Conference
When: Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 9:00 AM
Where: Cedar Creek Room
Who: The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, alongside civil rights advocates, faith leaders, legal experts, legislators, and community organizations, Individuals, community leaders, educators, elected officials and media are encouraged to attend.

WCAX-TV
VTDigger
Seven Days
Vermont Public
ABC22 & FOX44
ORCA Media
CCTV & Town Meeting TV

05/04/2026

Remember Dred Scott? Plessy? Are you really surprised? WAKE UP!

SCOUTUS decided 14th's Equal Protection was color blind years ago. Civil rights are required because of slavery's legacy and democracy - democracy for EVERYONE can not exist without civil rights?

The silence is killing us. All of us.

ACLU-Vermont
Human Rights Commission, Vermont

66 likes, 8 comments. "I Broke Down the Voting Rights Act in 4 Minutes"

05/02/2026

On April 29th the United States Supreme Court took the final steps in gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most consequential civil rights law in the history of the US. Though this decision ranks amongst the the most severe blows the SCOTUS has ever made to reverse equal protection and civil rights in the United States this is not new. We will discuss what this all means to this state and this nation and how we as a community and a state must rise to meet this challenge at a time such as this.

The Rutland Area NAACP
ACLU-Vermont
The Root Social Justice Center
Disability Rights Vermont
Vermont Center for Independent Living
MadFreedom Advocates
Outright Vermont
Peace & Justice Center
350 Burlington, VT
Food Not Bombs Burlington
Vermont Workers' Center
Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante
People's Kitchen

Human Rights Commission, Vermont
City of Burlington's REIB Office

04/30/2026

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the ruling was “a devastating blow to what remains of the Voting Rights Act.”

“Today’s decision is a devastating blow to what remains of the Voting Rights Act, and a license for corrupt politicians who want to rig the system by silencing entire communities. The Supreme Court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy,” Johnson said in a statement.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the “1619 Project,” said the ruling will likely lead to a “disappearance of much of the Black congressional representation.”

“There are people still living who fought — and watched their compatriots be murdered — for the passage of this act and to attempt to democratize America,” she wrote. “To see it [completely] felled in the span of their OWN lifetime is just absolutely devastating.”

The Supreme Court just took a blowtorch to the landmark Voting Rights Act.

03/19/2026

Tonight

The Raise Up Justice Movement meets Thursday, April 16, 2026, at 6:00 PM at the Richard Kemp Center.
Remote Access:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOqrqjgoEt2RKp3ga2M--Y4UKZscYcus

City of Burlington's REIB Office The Rutland Area NAACP Howard Center King Street Center Ben & Jerry's Seventh Generation Burton CVOEO Richard Kemp Center Vermont Workers' Center Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Vermont Growers Association First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington Vermont Human Rights Commission, Vermont Food Not Bombs Burlington Peace & Justice Center 350 Burlington, VT The Rake Vermont Vermont Professionals of Color Network The Root Social Justice Center Vermont Poor People's Campaign: National Call For Moral Revival People's Kitchen Vermont Environmental Justice Network

03/18/2026

The Legacy of Slavery - Systemic Racism, Civil Rights, Democracy and the Homeland Security Task Force.

Statement of the Homeland Security Task Force Violence

"We say this plainly: this crisis is rooted in the same long history that began with slavery and grew into segregation, exclusion, over-policing, and racial control. The names of the systems change, but the pattern remains. This is another racial backlash that has conflated civil rights with DEI in an effort to kill them both, return to a divided nation of racial hierarchies, and once again dash any hope of a multiracial democracy."

https://mailchi.mp/9810fb40531c/homeland-security-task-force-6427365

Raise Up Justice Meeting Tonight:

The Raise Up Justice Campaign meets Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 6:00 PM at the Richard Kemp Center.
Remote Access: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOqrqjgoEt2RKp3ga2M--Y4UKZscYcus

City of Burlington's REIB Office The Rutland Area NAACP Howard Center King Street Center Ben & Jerry's Seventh Generation Burton CVOEO Richard Kemp Center Vermont Workers' Center Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Vermont Growers Association First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington Vermont Human Rights Commission, Vermont Food Not Bombs Burlington Peace & Justice Center 350 Burlington, VT The Rake Vermont Vermont Professionals of Color Network The Root Social Justice Center Vermont Poor People's Campaign: National Call For Moral Revival People's Kitchen Vermont Environmental Justice Network