Category: Social Justice
Strategic nonviolent conflict
by Wade Rathke November 29, 2020 Pearl River I really, really want to like Erica Chenoweth and her work as a researcher and advocate of “strategic nonviolent conflict,” but I keep having trouble getting all…
Rathke: Have Doctors and Hospitals Joined Banks as Fraudsters?
New York City It’s the holiday season when old time movies used to give us hope that miracles might happen. Santa might climb down from the chimney, if you had a chimney anymore. There were…
Rathke: The Crisis and Crime of Lost Children
New York City As people look at the year gone by and a decade coming to an end there are a barrage of lists with of best movies, books, songs, plays, TV shows, and on…
Rathke: Voter Purges Coming in Wisconsin and Georgia
New Orleans A Georgia judge allowed a 300,000 voter purge to happen hours ago in that state. A lawsuit filed by Fair Vote Action seeking to prevent the purge will happen later this week on…
Rathke: Figuring out which companies are naughty or nice
Quebec City Even as the Brexit landslide seemed to be building in the formerly United Kingdom, the European Union leadership was piecing together an ambitious plan to achieve climate goals by 2050. Their plan was to…
Rathke: Consolidating the fight against housing displacement in Canada
Quebec City After a day of training and reports, the ACORN Canada organizing staff really got serious when the Year End / Year Begin meeting began no holds barred wrestling with campaigns. The discussion was particularly…
Majority of Americans back Black Lives Matter protests and think demonstrations will help racial justice: Gallup poll
A new Gallup survey shows that 65% of U.S. adults support the protests. by Andrea Germanos, staff writer Tuesday, July 28 Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the nationwide protests for Black lives and racial justice that…
‘Just Make It Home’: The unwritten rules Blacks learn to navigate Racism in America
Cara Anthony June 18, 2020 ST. LOUIS — Speak in short sentences. Be clear. Direct but not rude. Stay calm, even if you’re shaking inside. Never put your hands in your pockets. Make sure people can…
Protests disrupt, no duh!
“Power concedes nothing without struggle and once the vigilance of struggle subsides, will seek to re-impose the comforts it once enjoyed.” The kumbaya of revision and co-optation later can’t alter the reality of disruption inherent in the…
The path beyond extinction and escape: return to earth, regenerate and share
Message for World Environment Day, 5th June 2020. by Vandana Shiva Friday, June 5, 2020 On 31st May, while people were dying during the Corona Pandemic, while millions had lost their livelihoods and were going hungry…
On the minds of Black Lives Matter protesters: A racist health system
Black lives are being lost to COVID-19 at twice the rate of others. For protesters we talked to, that’s one more reason to be on the street. “If it’s not police beating us up, it’s us…
Facebook has no moral compass
Little Rock While America burns, Trump inflames and divides, Facebook vacillates and postures. Mark Zuckerberg and his number two executive Sheryl Sandberg seem to have no moral compass at all. Facebook once was a semi-harmless…
Global protests erupt in solidarity with racial justice crusaders in US
“Police brutality has created a flashpoint for unrest that was already simmering,” read an editorial published Monday in The Times of London. by Julia Conley, staff writer Monday, June 1 People in a number of international…
Don’t let cops join our protests
Cops who turn marches against police violence into parades don’t actually want substantial changes to policing. This piece is a commentary, part of The Appeal’s collection of opinion and analysis. by Derecka Purnell, The Appeal Sunday…
Hospitals have left many COVID-19 patients who don’t speak English alone, confused and without proper care
One medical worker told us: “It takes 10 minutes of sitting on the phone to get an interpreter, and that’s valuable time when you’re inundated. So this utilitarian calculus kicks in. And the patients that are…
Class and culture clashes
New Orleans Ok, let’s be clear, everything about the pandemic sucks, alright? For the most part we don’t hate our homes, but we definitely don’t like being told we have to stay at home. Attach…
Deported to death: US sent 138 Salvadorans home to be killed
At least 138 people deported from the United States to El Salvador since 2013 have been killed, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch, which investigates human rights abuses worldwide. Updated February 7,…
Zero Tolerance: “Women to one side, men to the other”: how the Border Patrol’s new powers and old carelessness separated a family
Under Trump, Border Patrol agents wield nearly unchecked power over the fate of migrants — and their seemingly random decisions can cleave families apart. by Dara Lind, ProPublica Jan. 31, Mirza had a sense of foreboding…
Learning from King’s last campaign
Before he died, Martin Luther King, Jr. joined a campaign to unify working people of all races. Today, nothing could be more powerful. Before he died, Martin Luther King, Jr. joined a campaign to unify working…
3 ways HUD is using regulatory attacks to dismantle fair housing protections
More than 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the ultimate goal of the law—to eliminate all forms of housing discrimination and end residential segregation—is still far from reach. By Areeba Haider…
‘We Have so much more to do,’ youth climate activists declare as global elite close out Davos forum
“It is time to get out of our comfort zones.” by Andrea Germanos, staff writer Youth climate activists marched through the streets of Davos, Switzerland Friday as the World Economic Forum wrapped up in a Fridays…
The cynicism of emergency aid for Puerto Rico
Newark There seem to be no limits to the vengeful pettiness of President Trump and his administration. Nowhere is that clearer than looking at the deliberate obstacles placed in the way of Puerto Rico’s recovery –…
The big, fat, long tail of neighborhood segregation
Manchester The “long tail” is a tech-marketing concept that pundits and futurists promote with some enthusiasm. The heart of it is that some businesses, especially enabled by the internet and the Amazon world view, could make…
Turning gray and into the red: The true cost of growing old in America
Are you economically ready for old age? Shutterstock Jan Mutchler, University of Massachusetts Boston The U.S. population is aging at such a rate that within a few years, older Americans will outnumber the country’s children for…
