The local leaders of the effort to pass the ERA; A new documentary explores the Taser related death of a South Florida teen

Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity.

Congress first approved the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972.

But it also needed to be approved by ¾’s of the states in order to be part of the US Constitution.

Twenty-two state legislatures quickly ratified it, but then opposition from conservatives opposed to the women’s movement virtually halted ratifications. Three quarters of the states are required, or 38, and Illinois became the 37th last May.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/equal-rights-amendment-96-years-old-and-still-not-part-constitution-heres-why-180973548/#3kh34SjDriYgLSkk.99
Our guests are leaders of the local effort to get the ERA passed.

Kim DeBosier, is past president of the Athena Society, and the Hillsborough County Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) and Linda Saul Sena represents the Athena Society and the LWV of Hillsborough County.  Pinellas County Employment Attorney, Ryan Barack is our third panelist.

Part Two:

There’s a new, short film out about the death of a Broward teenager earlier this year. A death that’s received little publicity. It’s the subject of a new investigative report from the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and The Intercept.

Tape

Jess Swanson is co-director of the film.

Tthe Florida Center for Investigative Reporting in partnership with The Intercept put out a short film last week.  It’s about a little publicized case—a  black teenager who drowned in a canal following a police chase in Broward County earlier this year. The documentary short raises questions about whether the Sunrise police in Broward County struck Damain Martin with a Taser probe as he entered the water.

See the film here:

https://vimeo.com/374059158

“Drowning by Sunrise” also taps into larger national questions about the treatment of young black men by police and law enforcement’s frequent use of Tasers, which killed at least 49 people in 2018.

About The Intercept:
The Intercept is an award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to holding the powerful accountable through fearless, adversarial journalism. Its in-depth investigations and unflinching analysis focus on surveillance, war, corruption, the environment, technology, criminal justice, the media and more.

About the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting:
The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, founded in 2010, is a nonprofit journalism organization whose mission is to expose corruption, waste and miscarriages of justice. FCIR produces award-winning projects in partnership with traditional and ethnic news media in Florida and across the nation