By Ausra Mussett and Cameron Carver
“In the midst of all things dystopian—a global pandemic, a climate crisis and an ever-amplified outcry for racial justice—what is the use of designing a utopia?”
By Jalonda Hill
Read the full article from The Buffalo News here.
“The BPD’s history of disproportionately stopping Black drivers also counters the argument that police improve community safety. Stop receipt data from 2020 shows that 68% of receipts were issued to Black motorists, despite Black people making up roughly 37% of the city’s population. This apparent racism also drives the disproportionate and unjustified use of police force against unarmed people of color.”
By David Graeber
Read the full essay from Jacobin here.
“[I]n reality, the crisis we just experienced was waking from a dream, a confrontation with the actual reality of human life, which is that we are a collection of fragile beings taking care of one another, and that those who do the lion’s share of this care work that keeps us alive are overtaxed, underpaid, and daily humiliated, and that a very large proportion of the population don’t do anything at all but spin fantasies, extract rents, and generally get in the way of those who are making, fixing, moving, and transporting things, or tending to the needs of other living beings.”
By Sandra Tan
Read the full article from Buffalo News here.
“When it comes to getting the Covid-19 vaccine in Erie County, affluence equals access. Of the top seven ZIP codes in Erie County where more than a fifth of residents have already received the Covid-19 vaccine, six came from the Amherst, Clarence and Orchard Park, which are among the wealthiest communities in the region…Meanwhile, of the dozen ZIP codes which have fewer than 10% of the population vaccinated, nine were from poorer neighborhoods in Buffalo/Cheektowaga…”
By Naomi Jagoda
Read the full article from The Hill, here.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday unveiled legislation to create a wealth tax for high-net-worth households, furthering her efforts on an idea that was a central feature of her 2020 presidential campaign. The bill, called the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, would create an annual tax of 2 percent on the net worth of households and trusts between $50 million and $1 billion and a tax of 3 percent on net worth above $1 billion. The rate for net worth above $1 billion would increase to 6 percent if a “Medicare for All” health care plan is enacted.
By Joshua Vaughn
Read the full article from The Appeal, here.
Between 2013 and 2020, the Philadelphia Police Department budget rose by nearly a quarter. At the same time, murders doubled, but police only solved half of all murders in the city. Community members and lawmakers want to know why those who control the city’s budget—the City Council and the mayor in particular—keep funneling money into a department that they say is failing to keep the community safe.
By Malaika Jabali
Read the original article from The Guardian, here.
Instead of transformative changes, we get Black History Month-themed Apple Watches and Black sitcom collections on Netflix
By Astra Taylor
Read the full article from The Guardian, here.
At his recent town hall, Joe Biden made a series of convoluted and condescending comments about American student debt. His remarks cast doubt on his ability, or willingness, to confront this country’s ballooning student loan crisis. Within hours, #cancelstudentdebt was trending on Twitter.
By Ashik Siddique
Read the full article from In These Times here.
“Climate change will impact every aspect of society, so it’s long overdue to factor the crisis into all aspects of government policy. But it’s important to ask on what terms the climate crisis is being integrated into the mission of different agencies. Most fundamentally, what kind of ’security’ is most useful against the climate crisis: mutual security, which promotes cooperation against a common planetary threat? Or a fortress mentality that defines others as threats, to be dominated or even eliminated?”
By Keri Blakinger
Read the full article from The Daily Beast, here.
As a once-in-a-generation snowstorm walloped the Lone Star State this week and led to widespread power outages, prisoners and corrections officers agree: already-dire conditions inside Texas prisons somehow got even worse.