Author: Henry Taylor

Selected Media

The Case for Prioritizing COVID-19 Vaccines in Prisons and Jails

By Emily A Wang & Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein & Lisa B. Puglisi

Read the full article from The Appeal, here.

Prisons and jails across the country have been breeding grounds for COVID-19. Built to house scores of people in a confined setting, correctional facilities have accounted for a majority of the largest single-site, cluster outbreaks across the country. Nearly 20 percent of the nation’s prison population has tested positive for COVID-19, with an infection rate more than five times higher and an age-adjusted mortality rate three times higher than that of the general population.

Selected Media

Why Texas Republicans Fear the Green New Deal

By Naomi Klein

Read the full article from The New York Times here.

“Today, Texans are at the mercy of regulation-allergic politicians who failed to require that energy companies plan for shocks or weatherize their infrastructure (renewables and fossil fuel alike). In a recent appearance on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, Austin’s mayor, Steve Adler, summed it up: ‘We have a deregulated power system in the state and it does not work, because it does not build in the incentives in order to protect people.'”

Selected Media

Merrick Garland vows to target white supremacists as attorney general

By Martin Pengelly

Read the full article from The Guardian here.

“The pledge was contained in Garland’s opening testimony for the session before the Senate judiciary committee, released on Saturday night. ‘If confirmed,’ Garland said, ‘I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on 6 January – a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.'”

Selected Media

Convicted or not, Trump is history – it’s Biden who’s changing America

by Robert Reich

Read the full article from The Guardian here.

“Democratic presidents from Franklin D Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson sought to alleviate poverty and economic insecurity with broad-based relief. But after Reagan tied public assistance to racism – deriding single-mother “welfare queens” – conservatives began demanding stringent work requirements so that only the “truly deserving” received help. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama acquiesced to this nonsense. Not Biden. His proposal would not only expand jobless benefits but also provide assistance to parents who are not working, thereby extending relief to 27 million children, including about half of all Black and Latino children.”

Selected Media

Biden faces pressure as US sets new course on immigration

By Elliot Spagat and Ben Fox

Read the full article from Associated Press here.

“While Biden has taken some major steps in his first weeks in office to reverse Trump’s hardline immigration policies, his administration hasn’t lifted some of the most significant barriers to asylum-seekers. In fact, it’s discouraging people from coming to the country, hoping to avoid what happened under both Trump and former President Barack Obama — border agents getting overwhelmed by migrants, including many Central Americans with children.”

Uncategorized

Police clash with residents in Portland over discarded food after power outage

By Wilson Wong

Read the full article from NBC News, here.

Portland police officers confronted a group of residents on Tuesday who tried to salvage food that was thrown away by a grocery store, authorities said.

A power outage caused by a winter storm forced workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer in Portland to toss thousands of perishable items into two large dumpsters outside the store, police said.

Selected Media

The US Regulatory System and COVID-19 Vaccines: The Importance of a Strong and Capable FDA

By Joshua M. Sharfstein, Jesse L. Goodman, and Luciana Borio

Read the full article from Journal of the American Medical Association here.

“For many in public health and medicine, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the US has been a frustrating journey from one disappointment to the next: late access to testing, insufficient staff and inadequate funding for contact tracing, jumbled communications, and, at the end of 2020, a chaotic launch of vaccination efforts. But in one area, from the beginning of the pandemic to the present, the US has excelled: facilitating the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines.”

Selected Media

Dunkirk nonprofit plans new housing development for Fruit Belt neighborhood

By Jonathan Epstein

Read the full article from Buffalo News here.

“That would bring 50 new apartments and homes to the low-income community east of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and north of downtown. The project would help counteract the gentrification trend in the neighborhood by keeping rents down for its new apartments. The nonprofit agency is partnering with the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust, which is the city’s designated developer for vacant sites in the neighborhood.”

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

Trapped: Racism, Health Inequities, Black Neighborhoods, and Reimagining the Legal System

By Henry-Louis Taylor Jr.

Read the full article here.

The We Charge Genocide petition poses a troubling question, “are African Americans forced to live under conditions that breed unnecessary hardship, suffering, disease, dying, and premature death?” In my presentation today, I argue that the city-building process produces racially segregated, marginalized, and under-developed neighborhoods that breed low-incomes, disease, dying, and premature death among African Americans. These unhealthy housing and neighborhood conditions, I maintain, are made possible by a legal framework consisting of vague housing laws and a lax building code enforcement system. Moreover, this legal framework and enforcement system allow predatory landlords to operate with impunity in underdeveloped Black communities. Market-driven residential segregation is the culprit that creates the context that enables predatory business activities to thrive.

Selected Media

BLM co-founder Cullors discusses power of protest with UB audience

By Ellen Goldbaum

Read the full article from UBNow here.

“What does it mean when authorities in your own government call you a terrorist? What does that mean when you’re a social activist, a co-founder of a movement that calls out the frank injustice of the long history of police violence against Black people and other Americans of color? And how is it that that movement, that has been so viciously targeted, has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?”

Translate »