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Will Americans Lose Their Right to Vote in the Pandemic?

By Editors' Choice

The safest way to cast a ballot will very likely be by mail. But with opposition from the president, limited funding and time running out, will that option be available? By Emily Bazelon, NYT — In March, as a wave of states began delaying their spring primaries because of the coronavirus, Wisconsin’s election, scheduled for April 7, loomed. The ballot for that day included the presidential primary, thousands of local…

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Anti-smallpox shots in now DR Congo 1962

The African slave who taught America how to vaccinate itself from smallpox

By Reparations

By Carey Baraka, Quartz Africa — In April 1721, a smallpox outbreak swept through Boston. This was the latest in a string of six epidemics that had, since, 1630, laid waste to the city. Cotton Mather, a local slave owner and preacher, claimed to be in possession of a way of preventing contraction of the disease. Mather, who had first come to public prominence as one of the thinkers behind…

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Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber (D-San Diego) presents her reparations bill in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Photo courtesy of California State Assembly

Win for Reparations: California Assembly Committee Votes Yes on Bill

By Reparations

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media — On May 11, the California Assembly Judiciary Committee voted yes on a bill that would mandate the state to set up an 8-member commission to examine how California engaged in — and benefited from — the enslavement of Black men, women and children. If the bill, AB 3121, passes, it would charge the commission with coming up with proposals for redressing the “negative…

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Panel from the Florentine Cortex depicting smallpox outbreaks in the Americas during the 16th century.

Aztec Kings Had Rules for Plagues, Including ‘Do Not Be a Fool’

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

But When Cortés’s Soldiers Arrived Carrying a Novel Virus, the Empire First Succumbed to Smallpox and Then Fell to Spain. By David Bowles, Zocalo Public Square — Every civilization eventually faces a crisis that forces it to adapt or be destroyed. Few adapt. On July 10, 1520, Aztec forces vanquished the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men, driving them from Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire. The Spanish soldiers…

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May 4, 2020 - Volunteers line up to begin taking hundreds of free COVID-19 tests at a pop-up site at the House of Hope in Decatur, Ga. Many African Americans watching protests calling for easing restrictions meant to slow the spread of the new coronavirus see them as one more example of how their health, their safety and their rights just don’t seem to matter.

In clamor to reopen, many black people feel overlooked

By COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

By Jay Reeves, AP News — Many African Americans watching protests calling for easing restrictions meant to slow the spread of the new coronavirus see them as one more example of how their health, their safety and their rights just don’t seem to matter. To many, it seems that the people protesting — who have been predominantly white — are agitating for reopening because they won’t be the ones to suffer the consequences.

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