Category: Social Justice
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…
“Power and Respect for the Working Class”
New Orleans I’m sorry, but whenever there’s a subhead in the Wall Street Journal in bold, italics heralding “Power and Respect for the Working Class,” it’s a signal that we have to pay special attention to…
For Native Americans, US-Mexico border is an ‘imaginary line’
By Christina Leza, Colorado College March 19, 2019 Immigration restrictions were making life difficult for Native Americans who live along – and across – the U.S.-Mexico border even before President Donald Trump declared a national emergency…
The issue at Parchman Prison is bad conditions not cellphones
Amsterdam If Parchman Prison in the fertile Mississippi River delta of Sunflower County is in the news, it means there’s bad news, never good news. Parchman is the only men’s state prison in Mississippi. Parchman is…
Teaching history through art: “The Uninvited”
New Orleans In a post-Christmas present, our crew was invited to an opening night play. Top that, bam! The staging was at the Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses in the heart of the French Quarter…
City National Bank Shows Why Some CRA Proposals are Wrong
New Orleans There’s a big split within the federal banking establishment about what to do about revisions to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. This is not your run of the mill, chest thumping, and elbow…
Disparate neighborhood policing strategies
New Orleans The headline may have said that Iran sent twenty missiles at two Iraqi bases where US troops and materials were stationed, but the picture in my local paper was equally disturbing. It showed…
To find Jose Montelongo, ICE agents targeted his whole family
One family’s ordeal under Trump’s zero tolerance immigration tactics. *Note: Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals By Sarah Tory High Country News One afternoon last April (2019), a group of agents with…
When disaster strikes, Indigenous communities receive unequal recovery aid
U.S. citizens recovering from natural disasters receive $26 per person, per year from the federal government. Tribal citizens? Just $3. By Allison Herrera High Country News In the last decade, more than 70 natural disasters have…
Unita Blackwell’s life and work is a beacon for us all
New Orleans At the end of every year, there’s a section in the New York Times about the “lives they lived” that looks at people large and small that died during the past year. Unita…
A New Year, A New Decade
San Juan 2020, nice round numbers with a good solid sound. A new year. A new decade. We always hope for the best and settle for the rest. Living in the United States, after three…
Debt means “Can’t Win for Losing”
Ponce Arkansas Community Organizations, one of KABF and ACORN’s partners on many projects, especially those involving financial security for low-and-moderate income families, recently released a report about major debt that is oppressing these families. The…
Apaches standing strong defending sacred Oak Flat from mining
By Sandra Rambler, Censored News Chi’Chil’Bilda’Goteel (Oak Flat) — How do you respond to a White Man whose name is Paul Gosar, an Arizona Congressman who recently said, “You’re still wards of the government.” And then…
Are Hong Kong protestors caught in a box canyon?
Ponce, Puerto Rico The Hong Kong protests continue unabated as the year ends, having begun on March 15, 2019, and definitely serving as a benchmark for the year. Over Christmas, the protests moved once again into…
Small communities across the U.S. struggle to cope in the shadow of larger disasters
By Justine Coleman and Isaac Windes, Investigative Reporting Workshop Katrina. Sandy. Harvey. Maria. Each was a disaster of shattering magnitude, battering America’s shores over the past two decades. But between these pivotal storms lie hundreds of…
