Saturday, December 21

Tag: americans

Does Computing Technology Oppress Or Liberate Black Americans
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TECHNOLOGY

Does Computing Technology Oppress Or Liberate Black Americans

In 2015, two colleagues—Deen Freelon and Meredith Clark—and I set out to better understand how Black Lives Matter emerged. Our report, Beyond the Hashtags, the Online Struggle for Offline Justice, crystalized then-NAACP president Cornell Brooks’ sentiment: “This isn’t your grandparents’ civil rights movement.” Our study showed us that Ferguson, Missouri birthed Black Lives Matter. It told us that Twitter named Michael Brown for the world. Traditional news media outlets were a day late, and when they did arrive, Twitter was their primary source for information. It afforded a 24-hour glimpse into a radical new way of making news, of telling stories—giving unfiltered voice to those whose voices are traditionally unheard, ignored, or silenced. Digital media—social networking platforms, b...
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African Americans Have Long Celebrated Black Culture In Public Spaces Defying White Supremacy
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IN OTHER NEWS

African Americans Have Long Celebrated Black Culture In Public Spaces Defying White Supremacy

From Richmond to New York City to Seattle, anti-racist activists are getting results as Confederate monuments are coming down by the dozens. In Richmond, Virginia, protesters have changed the story of Lee Circle, home to a 130-year-old monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It’s now a new community space where graffiti, music and projected images turn the statue of Lee from a monument to white supremacy into a backdrop proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. This isn’t a new phenomenon. I’m a historian of celebrations and protests after the Civil War. And in my research, I have found that long before Confederate monuments occupied city squares, African Americans used those same public spaces to celebrate their history. But those African American memorial cultures have often been o...
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Since The Death Of Dr. King Black Americans Mostly Left Behind By Progress
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Since The Death Of Dr. King Black Americans Mostly Left Behind By Progress

On Apr. 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while assisting striking sanitation workers. Back then, over a half century ago, the wholesale racial integration required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act was just beginning to chip away at discrimination in education, jobs and public facilities. Black voters had only obtained legal protections two years earlier, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act was about to become law. African-Americans were only beginning to move into neighborhoods, colleges and careers once reserved for whites only. I’m too young to remember those days. But hearing my parents talk about the late 1960s, it sounds in some ways like another world. Numerous African-Americans now hold positions of power, from mayor to governor to corporate chief...
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Poorest Americans Are Hit Hardest By Inflation Inequality And Soaring Prices On Necessities
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IN OTHER NEWS

Poorest Americans Are Hit Hardest By Inflation Inequality And Soaring Prices On Necessities

The fastest rate of inflation in 40 years is hurting families across the U.S. who are seeing ever-higher prices for everything from meat and potatoes to housing and gasoline. But behind the headline number that’s been widely reported is something that often gets overlooked: Inflation affects different households in different ways – and sometimes hurts those with the least, the most. Inflation, as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is designed to track the price increases in a typical U.S. household’s basket of goods. The problem is spending bundles differ across households. For example, a family in the lowest 20% of income typically spends around 15% of their budget on groceries – this is nearly 60% more than households in the top 20% of the income distribution, according to m...
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Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation
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SOCIETY

Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation

Family relationships are on many people’s minds during the holiday season as sounds and images of happy family celebrations dominate the media. Anyone whose experiences don’t live up to the holiday hype may find this difficult or disappointing, but those feelings may be felt even more acutely among those involved in family rifts. I have done a significant amount of research on ambivalence and conflict in families, which led to a five-year study of family estrangements. At the outset, I was surprised at how little evidence-based guidance exists on the frequency, causes and consequences of family estrangement, or how those involved cope with the stress of family rifts. There are few studies published in academic journals on the topic, as well as limited clinical literature. I sought to fil...
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3 Takeaways From The Latest Jobs Report – Wages Up And Americans Are Encouraged Back To Work And Into The Office
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WORK

3 Takeaways From The Latest Jobs Report – Wages Up And Americans Are Encouraged Back To Work And Into The Office

Christopher Decker, University of Nebraska Omaha After a lackluster jobs report in September 2021, the latest news on employment gives Americans plenty of cheer about ahead of the holiday season. In total, 531,000 jobs were added in October – outstripping the already optimistic predictions of economists. This caused the unemployment rate to fall 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%. Even with those gains, the U.S. is still below pre-pandemic employment levels. But as an economist, I see details in the latest jobs report that suggest the workforce is emerging from 18 months of what has been the “new normal” and getting back to, well, the “normal normal.” Remote working in the rear-view mirror? Americans are returning to offices after a year-and-a-half of Zoom meetings and digital water cooler m...
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Expect The Dollar To Fall If The US Defaults On Debt And With It, Americans’ Standard Of Living
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LIFESTYLE

Expect The Dollar To Fall If The US Defaults On Debt And With It, Americans’ Standard Of Living

Michael Humphries, Touro College Congress has seemingly kicked the debt ceiling deadline down the road – but the threat of a future default still exists. On Oct. 7, 2021, lawmakers in the Senate agreed to extend the government’s ability to borrow until December. It came after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a temporary suspension to the debt limit, averting a default until at least December. But at that point, Democrats would have to find a way to raise the debt ceiling on their own – something they’ve said they won’t do. This isn’t the first time Republicans have resisted helping a Democratic president raise the debt ceiling. As an economist, I know that this political game of chicken has real-life consequences – even if it doesn’t end with default. In August 2011, duri...
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Can Churches Help African Americans In A Mental Health Crisis?
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Journalism

Can Churches Help African Americans In A Mental Health Crisis?

Brad R. Fulton, Indiana University Centuries of systemic racism and everyday discrimination in the U.S. have left a major mental health burden on African American communities, and the past few years have dealt especially heavy blows. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that Black Americans are twice as likely to die of COVID-19, compared with white Americans. Their communities have also been hit disproportionately by job losses, food insecurity and homelessness as a result of the pandemic. Meanwhile, racial injustice and high-profile police killings of Black men have amplified stress. During the summer of 2020, amid both the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, a CDC survey found that 15% of Black respondents had “seriously considered suicide in the pa...
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For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse
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Journalism, SOCIETY, WORK

For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse

WORK Jeffrey Kucik, University of Arizona and Don Leonard, The Ohio State University Millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose pandemic-related jobless benefits after Labor Day – just as surging cases of coronavirus slow the pace of hiring. In all, an estimated 8.8 million people will stop receiving unemployment insurance beginning on Sept. 6, 2021. An additional 4.5 million will no longer get the extra US$300 a week the federal government has been providing to supplement state benefits. But with the pandemic still raging thanks to the rise of the delta variant, particularly in Southern states, the expiration of these benefits seems ill-timed. While some claim that the aid is no longer needed and doing more harm than good, we believe that the data tell another story. Benefits lo...
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Air Travel Used To Be Easy – An Entire Generation Of Americans Has No Idea
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CULTURE

Air Travel Used To Be Easy – An Entire Generation Of Americans Has No Idea

CULTURE Janet Bednarek, University of Dayton During the mid-1990s I traveled between Dayton, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., twice a month during the school year as half of a commuting couple. I could leave Dayton by 5:15 p.m., drive nearly 80 miles to the Columbus airport during rush hour, park my car in the economy lot, and still get to my gate in plenty of time for a 7:30 p.m. departure. Then 9/11 happened. The terrorist attacks brought swift and lasting changes to the air travel experience in the United States. And after 20 years of ever-more-elaborate airport security protocols, many air travelers have no knowledge of – or only vague memories of – what air travel was like before 9/11. As someone who has studied the history of airports in the United States – and someone old enough to ...
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