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II. Social Justice
A. Civil Rights and Equal Rights

1. Women's Rights

   [Women's Rights section goes here... a separate amendment addresses it]

2. Racial Discrimination

   The development of the United States has been marked by conflict over race. The growth and expansion of the United States depended on displacement or extermination of Native Americans,and importation of slaves from Africa. White supremacy was our history from the beginning. Today, we still struggle to overcome and compensate for past suppression of our non-white minorities.

   1. We support reparation to people of color. One form of reparation could be a guarantee that all children of color who graduate from high school, will be fully funded for 4 years of college. Another form could be monetary compensation. The actual choice of reparation should be decided by the people to whom we owe it.
   2. We condemn all symbols and practices of racial discrimination wherever they occur. Examples are Confederate flags on government buildings and police profiling of minorities.
   3. We demand enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, including language access for voting.
   4. We call for a national language policy that offers all citizens the chance to learn at least two languages.
   5. We demand enforcement of laws against hate crimes and all laws - local, state and federal that protect minorities and guaranteed equality under the law to all citizens.

3. Indigenous Peoples, including Native Hawaiians
   1. All treaties signed by the United States government have the same legal status as our Constitution and to circumvent or deny the provisions of a treaty is a federal crime. Throughout our history, we have ignored many treaties with native Americans.
   2. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) should stand alone and separate from the Department of the Interior. The BIA should have authority to settle claims for health injuries suffered by Native Americans in Uranium mines or other extractive industries. No agency of the federal government may be immune to claims for harm done to Native Americans while working in these industries.
   3. Tribal governments of Native Americans are sovereign nations within their boundaries and no arm of the US government can deny them the practice of their rights, the preservation of their traditions and the protection of their sacred spaces.
   4. Years of denial and confining natives on Reservations has left them impoverished and without the resources and infrastructure necessary to sustain themselves and prosper. In particular,land, water mineral and other resource rights have been curtailed or denied.
   5. The health and education of Native Americans has been ignored and they have been cheated of millions of $dollars owed to them; thus preventing them from providing for themselves and from sharing in the economy of the United States.
   6. We support clean up of left over minds and tailing piles spread throughout Native American lands, a vast destructive legacy of the Cold War era still to be paid for.
   7. Native American land and treaty rights often stand as the front line against government and multinational corporate attempts to plunder energy, mineral, timber, fish, and game resources. These rights must be recognized.
   8. The protection and preservation of the rights of Native Hawaiians are equivalent to those of Native Americans and must be given the same respect.

4. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

   In keeping with the Green values of diversity and social justice, we support full legal and political equality for all persons, regardless of sex, gender or sexual orientation.

   1. We affirm the right of all individuals to choose intimate partners regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation.
   2. We support equal rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, to housing, jobs, civil marriage, medical benefits, child custody, and in all areas of activity enjoyed by all citizens.
   3. We support language in state and federal anti-discrimination law that secures the rights of intersex individuals and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. We are opposed to intersex genital mutilation.
   4. All persons have the right to determine their gender identity and sex and their choice may not be over-ridden by police authority. We support access to medical and surgical treatment for reassignment of gender or sex.
   5. We support legislation against all forms of hate crimes directed against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender and intersex.

5. Rights of the Disabled and Mentally Ill
   1. We support:
      1. the full implementation and enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
      2. Increase of rehabilitation funding for education and training for work of the disabled; and allowing them, when feasible, to live at home rather than in state-funded institutions.
   2. Neglect of the housing needs and care for the mentally ill has resulted in many being homeless; a danger to themselves and possibly to others. The government’s obligation to care for the mentally ill is a constant, not just after a crisis.
   3. We support:
      1. Mainstreaming the differently-abled and allow them to participate in the allocation of state rehabilitation funds.
      2. Funding in-home support services that include hiring personal attendants.
   4. Funding of community-based programs that offer out-patient medical services, case management services and counseling.
   5. Provide residential living for those who do not need institutional care but cannot live independently.
   6. Reduce the paperwork and facilitate applications for Supplemental Security Income for chronically mentally ill.
   7. Increase teacher training in special education courses for the needs of differently-abled students.
   8. Fund publicity programs to increase public sensitivity to the needs of the mentally ill and differently-abled.

6. Religious Freedom and Secular Equality

   The United States Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion. We call for:

   1. Re-affirmation of the first amendment rights, and vigorous prosecution of hate crimes based on religious affiliation or practice.
   2. Elimination of religious displays on government buildings, property, websites, money or documents.
   3. Restoration of the "Pledge of Allegiance" to its pre-1954 text by eliminating the phrase "under god."
   4. Ending "faith based" initiatives and charitable choice programs using public funds.
   5. Ending school vouchers.
   6. Prohibit religiously-based curricula in government funded public schools.
   7. Revocation of the Congressional charter of the Boy Scouts of America until it eliminates its practices against certain religious beliefs.

7. Youth Rights

   [Youth Rights section -- amended or not -- would still go here, renumbered from #8 to #7.]

8. Veterans Rights
   1. Increase the current pay levels, monthly imminent danger pay, and family separation allowances for military personnel in combat zones.
   2. Honor legal limits on deployment, allowing rare exceptions, and extend home leave, and rest and relaxation leave for combat military to a minimum of six weeks.
   3. Ensure that all pre-deployment physicals are complete and that medical follow ups are done routinely on all.
   4. Independent medical panels must examine and oversee the military policies regarding forced vaccinations and shots.
   5. Care for the military wounded, sick and injured returning home is required without qualification, for as long as necessary.

9. Consumer Protection
   1. Consumer advocacy agencies must have the same access to legislators and regulatory agencies as corporate lobbyists have.
   2. Legal monopolies and regulated industries including electric, gas, water, and telephone utilities, must be legally responsive to information requests from local public counsel offices that protect the consumer.
   3. Consumers have a legal right to be informed about the origin and ingredients of a product. "Truth in advertising" must declare what is recycled; what is organic and what is natural.
   4. We defend class action rights against manufacturers of unsafe products and practices, and call for restrictions on secrecy agreements that conceal information about public health, labor conditions and environmental safety.
   5. The "Whistle blower" is the public’s best protection against fraud, misuse and waste. We support stronger laws to protect the whistle-blower against demotion, job-loss and other forms of retaliation.

B. Environmental Justice

Low-income citizens and minorities suffer disproportionately from environmental hazards in the workplace, at home, and in their neighborhoods. Inadequate laws, lax enforcement of existing environmental regulations, and weak penalties for infractions undermine environmental protection. Therefore, the Green Party advocates:

1. Government oversight of responsible agencies, and prosecution for their delinquency for non-enforcement of enforcement crimes.
2. Expand legal responsibility of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate and penalize industry with slack enforcement of anti-pollution laws.
3. Moratoria on new toxic chemical or waste facilities in areas with high hazardous waste already deposited
4. Legal provision for alternatives to hazardous work places and prevent promises of jobs to bribe a community to agree to hazardous practices or pollution.
5. Storage of hazardous materials or practices must be preceded by public hearings, conducted in the language of those community members who will be directly affected.

C. Economic Justice/Social Safety Net

The passage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act under President Clinton, left the safety net in tatters, and weakened it further by reducing or de-funding the remaining portions. City and State governments have attempted to remedy the loss and protect poor families and the unemployed, but not sufficiently to bring them back under the protection of the social contract.

1. The Green Party opposes any privatization of social security whatsoever. We oppose raising the retirement age above 65 years.
2. All people have a right to food, housing, medical care, education, and living-wage work. Federally funded entitlement programs to underpin these rights must be restored. Exploiting labor by paying wages below a living-wage standard violates a worker’s rights.
3. We support public funding of living wage jobs in community and environmental service such as environmental clean up, recycling, sustainable agriculture and forest management, repair and maintenance of public facilities, aids in schools, libraries and childcare centers, and construction and renovation of energy efficient housing.
4. Reduce the work week to 35 hours. In addition, we recognize that work performed outside the monetary value of commodity exchange in the marketplace is equally, socially useful, beneficial and productive work. Such work includes child and elderly care, homemaking, voluntary community service, advocacy work in the political arena, and in the arts.
5. The widening gap between wealth of the top 5% and the rest of the population contradicts economic democracy and undermines political democracy. We call for ending corporate subsidies, tax loop holes, bailouts and other privileges that sustain the imbalance in wealth distribution.