Author: Henry Taylor

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?”

Uncategorized

Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa admits they hid nursing home data so feds wouldn’t find out

By Bernadette Hogan, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding

Read the full article from New York Post, here.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned. The stunning admission of a coverup was made by secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.

COVID-19

Changes in Shooting Incidence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Between March and November 2020

By Jessica H. Beard, Sara F. Jacoby, Zoë Maher; et al

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

“Firearm violence occurred more frequently in US cities in 2020 compared with previous years. Two major events of 2020 may explain this increase: enactment of containment policies to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and a national reckoning with systemic racism, including widespread protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. This study evaluated independent associations between COVID-19 containment policies and the killing of George Floyd on firearm violence in one US city, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”

Uncategorized

An Atlanta Neighborhood Will Finally Own Property as a Community

By Adina Solomon

Read the full article from Next City here.

“The Guild’s model is a community real estate trust that allows for anyone in the building’s 30310 ZIP code to contribute $10-100 a month. That investment goes into shares of the trust. Resident investors get a return through an annual dividend and the share price, which is tied to property values in this gentrifying neighborhood. The idea is to shift returns from developers to the community.”

Selected Media

Surgery launches anti-racism, health care equity initiative with West lecture

By Ellen Goldbaum

Read the full article from UBNow here.

“Cornel West, Harvard University professor, bestselling author, political activist and public intellectual, will speak via Zoom at “Beyond the Knife,” the initiative’s first public event, from 4-5 p.m. on Feb. 18. This event is free and open to the public. Register and submit questions for the question-and-answer session online.”

Selected Media

Joe Biden is a White Supremacist War Hawk, Too

By Danny Haiphong

Read the full article from Black Agenda Report here.

“For one, Biden is a white supremacist and a war hawk but one would never know listening to the corporate media. The ruling class understands that Joe Biden is less popular than Bernie Sanders’ mittens and has thus focused all of its energy on the optics of his administration. However, endless celebrations of the “diversity” embodied in Joe Biden’s cabinet are nothing but hollow gestures for people under the crossfire of U.S. empire. As Nikole Hannah-Jones pondered the significance of Lloyd Austin being named the first Black Secretary of Defense , no one in the Biden camp has spoken out against the past, present, and future war crimes which will undoubtedly shape the administration.”

Uncategorized

Why Black Marxism, Why Now?

By Robin D.G. Kelley

Read the full article from Boston Review, here.

Black Marxism is neither Marxist nor anti-Marxist. It is a dialectical critique of Marxism that turns to the long history of Black revolt—and to Black radical intellectuals who also turned to the history of Black revolt—to construct a wholly original theory of revolution and interpretation of the history of the modern world.

Selected Media

The Chamber of Commerce Wants to Slash COVID-19 Relief Checks. We Can’t Let Them.

By Andrew Perez

Read the full article from Jacobin, here.

The nation’s biggest business lobby is pushing Democrats to slash COVID-19 relief checks for middle-class families, despite new census data showing that nearly half of those families have lost income because of the pandemic. Top Democrats are now reportedly considering excluding millions of those families from the checks, and President Biden himself has said he is willing to negotiate with Republicans on limiting eligibility for the checks.

Selected Media

St. Louis Considers Spy Planes to Survey the City 18 Hours a Day

By Eoin Higgins

Read the full article from The Nation here.

“The program’s detractors object to the way PSS technology has been used in other municipalities—Baltimore, Md., and Compton, Calif.—to target marginalized communities and violate the civil rights of city residents. Representative Cori Bush, who represents St. Louis and much of northern St. Louis county, told The Nation in an e-mail that the program, which she said “actively harms our communities,” will have dire consequences for the city.”

Translate »