By Sue Sturgis, Facing South — This week marked a decade since the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico 40 miles off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers and injuring 17 others and triggering the worst oil spill in U.S. history. From the initial blast on April 20, 2010, until the well was sealed four months later, 200 million gallons of crude oil poured into Gulf waters…
By Benjamin Barber, Facing South — Earlier this month, after Wisconsin’s Republican-led legislature refused to allow an expansion of mail-in voting, GOP officials and judges forced the state’s voters to choose between casting their ballot and risking their health during the coronavirus lockdown. Milwaukee health officials have already identified seven people who have contracted the coronavirus because of in-person voting during the April 7 state primary. Voters were also forced to endure difficult…
By Max Elbaum, Organizing Upgrade — I have never been prouder of the people of my home state than over the last twelve days. I went to John Marshall High School in Milwaukee, class of 1964. It was after coming home from school one day that I watched on television as non-violent Civil Rights protesters were attacked with dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham, Alabama. A few weeks after I…
Meharry Medical College President James Hildreth has been advocating for advanced or pre-emptive screening in black neighborhoods for weeks. By Curtis Bunn, NBC News — Meharry Medical College was founded in 1876 in Nashville, Tennessee, to teach medicine to former enslaved Africans and to serve the underserved. Now, in one of its laboratories, a scientist says he is two weeks away from testing an anti-virus to prevent COVID-19, the disease…
Public officials lament the way that the coronavirus is engulfing black communities. The question is, what are they prepared to do about it? By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker — The old African-American aphorism “When white America catches a cold, black America gets pneumonia” has a new, morbid twist: when white America catches the novel coronavirus, black Americans die. Thousands of white Americans have also died from the virus, but the…
By White People 4 Black Lives (WP4BL) — Amidst the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, the national Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) has put forth a set of urgent policy demands. White People 4 Black Lives wholeheartedly endorses M4BL’s policy demands, and we pledge to fight for them — and against, in the words of M4BL’s platform preamble,the “the tragic and unnecessary theft and loss of Black life.” As white people, we…
New data from 29 states confirm the extent of the racial disparities. By Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic — I grew up in the Christian Church, the second son of two ministers. I’m not one for making biblical references about my life, but I can’t say the same about my father. Two weeks ago, Dad likened me to John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the wilderness for racial data on the pandemic….
By Verene A. Shepherd — Jamaican History is replete with stories of heroic men and women who at one time or another placed themselves on the frontline of battles for freedom. Such was the case in the war for African liberty in 1760 in St. Mary, led by “Gold Coast Africans” Chief Takyi and Chief Jamaica, who knew enslaved people’s entrapment in “Babylon” was a violation of their right to…
Episodic livestream reconsiders abstinence-based drug education, in favor of modern harm reduction framework. By Made of Millions & Drug Policy Alliance — April 1, 2020 – New York, NY – Coinciding with National Drugs and Alcohol Facts Week, global mental health advocacy nonprofit Made of Millions, in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), has launched First of All— a web series hosted by DPA’s Safety First Senior Program Manager, Sasha Simon. The first episode went live…
Image: Unemployment By Ernest Neuschul 1931. By Massoud Nayeri, Global Research — The least expectations of all hardworking families are simple and noble. They want to raise their children to be educated, content and prosperous in a safe environment. This is a universal aspiration. From Baghdad to Boston, working families share the same hopes and expectations; only the degree of suffering separates them. When one part of a body is in strain,…
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