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The Lens - January 2022
City of Iowa City sent this bulletin at 01/18/2022 01:49 PM CST
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January 2022 |
The Lens, a newsletter to expand conversations on equity, justice, and human rights.
The Grammys and representation
The Recording Academy released a contract addendum
last fall that lays out a plan to increase diversity on and off-
stage at the 64th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
After years of critique for failing to recognize enough artists
and staff members of color, the Grammys organizer shared
an inclusion rider that ensures “equity and inclusion at
every level.” The full eight-page document, which can be viewed here, details steps for recruitment,
audition and interview objectives, hiring objectives, data collecting, and more.
An inclusion rider is a change to a contract that sets goals for or requires a certain level of diversity
in production. Stacy Smith, the founder of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion
Initiative, first brought up the idea of an inclusion rider in 2014, but the suggestion didn’t gain much
attention until 2018 when Frances McDormand spoke about the term during her Oscar acceptance
speech for Best Actress. Still, only a small number of major productions have implemented one.
Many significant Hollywood award shows have been criticized by audiences for their lack of diversity in
recent years. The #OscarsSoWhite campaign, created by April Reign in 2015, called out the Academy
Awards for awarding all 20 lead and supporting categories to white actors for two consecutive
years. Only white performers won all major acting categories at the 2021 Emmys. The Hollywood
Foreign Press Association, which organizes the Golden Globe Awards, fell under criticism in 2021
when its lack of representation was revealed - the organization included no Black members.
The Grammys, a show also under scrutiny, began to change last May by altering its controversial
voting system, which consisted of biased and unclear anonymous committees, and is now adopting a
new “10-3” voting system for its 12,000 members. The first announcement of an inclusion rider in
August makes the Grammys the “latest major entertainment awards show to pledge
change,” according to Téa Kvetenadze, writer at Forbes, with intentions to give historically and
systematically excluded groups better opportunities in the industry.
In an article from The Hollywood Reporter, Kalpana Kotagal, a civil rights attorney and co-author of the
inclusion rider, highlighted four key components of the contract addendum that will drive improvement
for representation:
Diversifying hiring pools. The Academy is tracking representation of women, disabled
people, older people, those who identify as LGBTQ+, and Black, Indigenous, Asian American
Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latinx, and other people of color.
Creating benchmarks and targets for hiring. The Academy is setting a goal of having a
least a third of the host candidates, presenters, and performs come from representative groups.
Collecting and analyzing application and hiring data.
Upholding strict accountability measures.
Furthermore, the 64th annual production plans to provide gender-neutral bathrooms for the crew and
attendees of the show and share public acknowledgment of the relationship between Indigenous
peoples and the land where the broadcast takes place, according to Forbes.
The Recording Academy is also partnering with Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial
justice organization, as part of the #ChangeMusic Initiative. Rashad Robinson, president of Color of
Change, commented on the inclusion rider in a Variety article by Jem Aswad, stating, “Color of
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Change and the Recording Academy are working to change the rules that have enabled systemic
discrimination in the music business for far too long. The Inclusion Rider is a concrete accountability
mechanism aimed at breaking through an endless stream of empty commitments.”
Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. is proud of the change and shared with The Hollywood Reporter,
“You’re not going to find an organization that cares more about diversity and changing and heading in
that direction than us. We are dedicated to that work.”
With the rise of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the 64th annual Grammy Awards has been
postponed from January 31 until further notice. View the list of nominations and tune in to CBS the
night of the ceremony to see who wins.
The War on Homelessness
The ACLU of California recently released a report that, while
focusing on California, contains lessons for local and state
governments nationwide. The report, “Outside the Law: The
Legal War Against Unhoused People,” details the many ways in
which the law may be used to criminalize the state of being
homeless. Laws against “loitering,” sitting on sidewalks or sleeping on park benches, public urination,
overnight parking, and similar actions might seem neutral, but affect only those without a home. Often,
amorphous definitions of infractions such as “disorderly conduct” leave ample room for law
enforcement to arrest homeless (or housed) people for any public behavior seen as undesirable. Fines
and other costs associated with being arrested can become a significant burden for people who are
homeless; one writer estimated the cost of her stint of homelessness was over $54,000, an amount
that ruined her credit score for years and was only resolved through a combination of advocacy and
her status as a journalist.
The ACLU proposes categorizing unhoused people as a protected class, allowing for anti-
discrimination laws to apply to them. If this were the case, seemingly neutral laws that
disproportionately affect the homeless could be challenged under a “disparate impact” theory, a legal
concept that allows for finding a discriminatory effect without proving an overt discriminatory intent.
Characterizing the homeless as a social group might also begin to change perceptions about people
who do not have homes. “People who are unhoused elicit reactions of contempt and disgust more
than any other stigmatized group in the U.S.,” the ACLU report notes, citing a study published in
Trends in Cognitive Sciences. If they were protected as a class, this attitude might begin to change.
The ACLU hopes a change in perspective might lead to a change in affordable housing policy.
Changes in housing policy are badly needed. An annual income of $71,000 is needed to afford a one-
bedroom apartment in Orange County, CA; the unhoused population there has increased by over 50%
since 2015. (ACLU report, p. 11.) While California may be an extreme example, housing affordability is
a crisis nationwide. In Iowa City in 2021, a person needed to earn between $19.23 and $21.54 per
hour, working full-time, to afford a two-bedroom rental, depending on the rental’s zip code. Iowa’s
minimum wage is $7.25/hour. If more attention were given to the homeless as people, the ACLU
hopes more humane laws and effective housing policy might follow.
Remembering the Holocaust
On January 27, 1945, Allied troops liberated the largest
Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau in
Oświęcim, Poland, marking the beginning of the end of
World War II. Sixty years later, the United Nations
commemorated the date with Resolution 60/7, establishing
Holocaust Remembrance Day. The resolution also rejects
Holocaust denial, encourages nations to preserve Nazi camp and prison sites as a warning, and
condemns all forms of intolerance, harassment, or violence based upon religion or ethnic origin. (The
Nazi regime persecuted and killed Roma and Sinti people and those with disabilities as well as Jewish
people.) The UN designates an annual theme for the remembrance. The theme for 2022 is “Memory,
Dignity, and Justice.”
According to the United Nations, the theme was chosen because “the writing of history and the act of
remembering brings dignity and justice to those whom the perpetrators of the Holocaust intended to
obliterate. Safeguarding the historical record, remembering the victims, challenging the distortion of
history often expressed in contemporary antisemitism, are critical aspects of claiming justice after
atrocity crimes. The theme encompasses these concerns.”
Between Monday, January 24, and Thursday, February 17, 2022, the UN will host several free virtual
presentations in remembrance. Register for them here. UNESCO - the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization - will also host online virtual events. Register for them here.
Stay connected with City Commissions
Readers of this newsletter might also take special interest in the work of two City of Iowa City
commissions: the Human Rights Commission and the Ad Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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The Human Rights Commission meets the fourth Tuesday of each
month in Emma J. Harvat. Hall inside City Hall. Meetings are open
to the public and meeting agendas can be viewed here.
The Iowa City Ad Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission meets
the first and third Thursdays of each month in Emma J. Harvat
Hall. Meetings are open to the public and meeting agendas are
available to view here.
All City board and commission meetings are recorded and can be
viewed by visiting this link.
Stay Connected to Equity and Human Rights News
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