Saturday, April 5

Tag: black

A short history of black women and police violence
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IN OTHER NEWS

A short history of black women and police violence

Just after midnight on March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, an EMT in Louisville, Kentucky, was shot and killed by police officers who raided her home. The officers had entered her home without warning as part of a drug raid. The suspect they were seeking was not a resident of the home – and no drugs were ever found. But when they came through the door unexpectedly, and in plain clothes, police officers were met with gunfire from Taylor’s boyfriend, who was startled by the presence of intruders. In only a matter of minutes, Taylor was dead – shot eight times by police officers. Although the majority of black people killed by police in the United States are young men, black women and girls are also vulnerable to state-sanctioned violence. The #SayHerName campaign has worked to bring greater a...
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It Looks Like The Black New Deal
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Journalism

It Looks Like The Black New Deal

It’s been two weeks since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes until he died. It’s been almost as long since protests erupted in all 50 states and numerous countries across the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America—amid a global pandemic—calling for an end to police violence against Black people in the United States. But surrounding the central demands of the moment—of stopping police killings and holding them accountable when they don’t—there are systemic issues of racism and poverty that, if not addressed comprehensively, will ensure that any “reform” effort today will be short-lived. What kind of a solution born in this moment would address those systems? Turns out, it looks...
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Why are white supremacists protesting the deaths of black people?
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IN OTHER NEWS

Why are white supremacists protesting the deaths of black people?

As protests about police violence among black people continue and become more widespread across the U.S., certain individuals and groups have begun to stand out – including anarchists, agitators and members of a variety of far-right groups. With the country’s long history of racist killings, it may be confusing to think that racists and white supremacists are among those objecting to the killing of people of color. But people affiliated with far-right groups aren’t trying to be part of the overall protest movement. Having researched these groups, we think it’s likely that they are attempting to hijack the event for their own purposes. As researchers of street gangs and far-right groups, we see that in this case, they want to stoke a civil war between the races – one they think they can ...
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Protestors for Black Lives A Glimpse Of Solidarity And Hope Around The World
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IN OTHER NEWS

Protestors for Black Lives A Glimpse Of Solidarity And Hope Around The World

In the past week, demonstrations have erupted in big and small cities across the United States and in countries around the world over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Amid the outpouring of outrage over Floyd’s death, the killing of Breonna Taylor by a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky, and of Ahmaud Arbery by vigilantes in Georgia, along with pent-up anger, exhaustion, and fear experienced by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people facing structural racism and systemic disparities, are glimpses of solidarity and hope. Here are some takeaways. • Throughout Europe, across Latin America and in parts of the Middle East, protesters took to the streets in a powerful display of solidarity with U.S. demonstrators. In Brazil, people joined an existing pr...
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Why cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Why cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs

As Ahmaud Arbery fell to the ground, the sound of the gunshot that took his life echoed loudly throughout his Georgia neighborhood. I rewound the video of his killing. Each time I viewed it, I was drawn first to the young black jogger’s seemingly carefree stride, which was halted by two white men in a white pickup truck. Then I peered at Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, who confronted Arbery in their suburban community. I knew that the McMichaels told authorities that they suspected Arbery of robbing a nearby home in the neighborhood. They were performing a citizen’s arrest, they said. The video shows Arbery jogging down the street and the McMichaels blocking his path with their vehicle. First, a scuffle. Then, gunshots at point-blank range from Travis McMichael’s weapon....
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Poor and black ‘invisible cyclists’ need to be part of post-pandemic transport planning too
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Journalism

Poor and black ‘invisible cyclists’ need to be part of post-pandemic transport planning too

As states and workplaces prepare to open up after the lockdown, many people are looking for alternatives to public transit to get to work. The National Association of City Transport Officials reports an “explosion in cycling” in many U.S. cities. Bike stores are selling out, and global supply chains are struggling to meet demand. But the post-pandemic ride will be more bumpy for some. Low-income and minority groups are often more reliant on cheaper modes of travel such as cycling. Back in 2013, the League of American Bicyclists reported that “the fastest growth in bicycling is among the Hispanic, African American and Asian American populations.” Yet these groups may find cycling to work more problematic. As a professor of urban and environmental policy and planning, I believe it critica...
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Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice

Black Americans have certainly faced many challenges trying to live the American Dream and partake in the many blessings other races have enjoyed here. One of the biggest hindrances black Americans have to continue facing in this country is the constant racial prejudice sent their way by white people. The original black people in this country were taken by force from Africa on ships to America where they were subjected to extreme abuse. They were made slaves, had their families separated, women violated and men whose self- esteem was reduced to nothing. They had no rights and were considered personal property. You may ask "how can a civilized people like the English fall to such abhorrent behavior? What reason could they possibly have to partake in behavior that treated a whole race of p...
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Black Americans are bearing the brunt of coronavirus recession – this should come as no surprise
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HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

Black Americans are bearing the brunt of coronavirus recession – this should come as no surprise

As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in April, many Americans were shocked by the extent that black Americans were being disproportionately impacted: higher infection rates, more deaths and greater job loss. But many black Americans were not surprised. This is not new. The same dynamic has been going on at times of crisis for decades and generations. As a labor economist and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under the Clinton administration, I know that history has shown that black Americans consistently bear the brunt of recessions and natural disasters. Economic history repeating itself Prior to this pandemic, the worst economic downturns in post-World War II America were the 1981-82 recession and the Great Recession that followed the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Duri...
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Coronavirus discriminates against Black lives through surveillance, policing and the absence of health data
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COVID-19

Coronavirus discriminates against Black lives through surveillance, policing and the absence of health data

The claim that COVID-19 and its associated medical and social responses do not discriminate belies the history of how pandemics work and who is most impacted by them. States of emergency show that citizenship privileges some, is partial for others and disappears others. In our early analysis of national media coverage, those experts sharing the grim statistics of infections and deaths, those front-line workers seen as risking their lives and those who have lost loved ones are predominantly white. Black, Indigenous and racialized people, and many whose lives have been further imperilled by this pandemic, remain virtually disappeared from the Canadian landscape. That makes collective care for members across our communities untenable. We take pause and reflect on how this will impact Black ...
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COVID-19 is hitting black and poor communities the hardest, underscoring fault lines in access and care for those on margins
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COVID-19, VIDEO REELS

COVID-19 is hitting black and poor communities the hardest, underscoring fault lines in access and care for those on margins

As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to ravage the American public, an unsurprising story emerges: Poor communities are hot spots for COVID transmission. The death rate from COVID-19 appears to be staggeringly high among African Americans compared to whites. The Washington Post reports, for example, that while 14% of the Michigan population is black, 40% of COVID-19 deaths are among blacks. This is a familiar pattern to a social and infectious disease epidemiologist like myself. It is evidence of centuries of segregation and discrimination that have disproportionately placed people of color in communities without access to health care, with degraded and crowded living conditions and a lack of basic opportunities for health and wellness. In the context of the current pandemic, blacks are mo...
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