Tagged: racial equity and social justice

It’s Time for Italian Americans to Give Up on Columbus

By Chris Gelardi

Read the full article from The Nation, here.

“What these Columbus defenders are saying, in essence, is that the idolization of a genocidaire is excusable because Italian Americans over a century ago decided to build a mythology around him. They take a play from the Confederate apologists’ book in arguing that a historical figure like Columbus shouldn’t be judged by contemporary standards—as if mass killing, slavery, pillaging, and human trafficking were acceptable during certain time periods.”

The new faces of racism: Why reconceptualizing bias is essential to our lives

By Tolulope Odunsi

Read the full article from UBNow, here.

“The public’s inability to address covert racism such as bias, micro-aggressions, and coded racist language and policies (such as my local liquor store) is why an officer felt emboldened to kneel on George Floyd’s neck for 8:46, responding to an accusation that Floyd had proffered a counterfeit $20 bill. It is why studies tell us that Black women with natural hairstyles are less likely to be called back for job interviews and that Black newborn babies are three times more likely to die when looked after by white doctors. If racism has no place at the University at Buffalo School of Law or in our society, the question becomes, how do we disrupt racism where it may exist?”

Racial Capitalism: A Fundamental Cause of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Inequities in the United States

By Whitney N. Laster Pirtle

Read the full article from Health Education & Behavior, here.

“Racial capitalism is a fundamental cause of the racial and socioeconomic inequities within the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in the United States. The overrepresentation of Black death reported in Detroit, Michigan is a case study for this argument. Racism and capitalism mutually construct harmful social conditions that fundamentally shape COVID-19 disease inequities. . .Interventions should address social inequality to achieve health equity across pandemics.”

Racial Capitalism: A Fundamental Cause of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Inequities in the United States

By Whitney N. Laster Pirtle

Read the full article from Health Education & Behavior, here.

“Racial capitalism is a fundamental cause of the racial and socioeconomic inequities within the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in the United States. The overrepresentation of Black death reported in Detroit, Michigan is a case study for this argument. Racism and capitalism mutually construct harmful social conditions that fundamentally shape COVID-19 disease inequities. . .Interventions should address social inequality to achieve health equity across pandemics.”

Newly Exclusionary Zoning Expected for Approval in Philadelphia Neighborhood

By James Brasuell

Read the full article from Planetizen, here.

“Clearly, the zoning changes expected for approval by the Philadelphia City Council run afoul of most of contemporary planning thought about the racist and discriminatory effects of exclusionary zoning and the negative financial and environmental consequences of parking regulations. Society Hill has been accused of playing by its own rules before, as described in detail by Inga Saffron, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, in a column published in November 2019.”

OAH Statement on White House Conference on American History

“As the largest professional organization in the country representing historians of U.S. history, the Organization of American Historians opposes the biased views and mischaracterizations of historical inquiry and education expressed in these statements. Further, the OAH rejects the narrow and celebratory “1776 Project” put forward in this speech as a partisan ploy meant to restrict historical pedagogy, stifle deliberative discussion, and take us back to an earlier era characterized by a limited vision of the U.S. past.”

OAH Statement on White House Conference on American History

“As the largest professional organization in the country representing historians of U.S. history, the Organization of American Historians opposes the biased views and mischaracterizations of historical inquiry and education expressed in these statements. Further, the OAH rejects the narrow and celebratory “1776 Project” put forward in this speech as a partisan ploy meant to restrict historical pedagogy, stifle deliberative discussion, and take us back to an earlier era characterized by a limited vision of the U.S. past.”

Poor kids get hit twice when landlords ignore lead law

By Rod Watson

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

“Exposure to lead in chipping, peeling paint can cause brain and nervous system damage, slow a child’s growth and development, and cause learning and behavior problems. The damage can be irreversible. Yet the only recourse for a parent unwittingly renting a lead-infested property is to file their own lawsuit. And even then, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act doesn’t allow for punitive awards, or even for the lifetime impacts of stunted development. It allows only for ‘3 times the amount of damages incurred by such individual.'”

AG: Buffalo landlord knowingly allowed dozens of kids to be lead poisoned

By Samantha Christmann

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

“Since 2013, at least 63 of the Dalfin-controlled properties have been cited for lead hazards, and nearly two dozen Dalfin properties have been associated with lead poisoned children, the attorney general’s office said. After receiving the initial citations, Dalfin and an associated group of businesses and individuals rented the homes to families anyway without making any of the lead remediations required by law, the office said.”

We’ve Entered the Era of ‘Branding for Black Lives’

By Dave Zirin

Read the full article from The Nation, here.

“Amid this push and pull between player dissent and league branding, a hero did emerge—but not in the NFL. Naomi Osaka won the US Open in thrilling fashion, and the 22-year-old tennis star wore a different mask before every match with a different name of someone who had been killed by police. After her final triumph, a comeback victory against Victoria Azarenka, ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi asked Osaka, ‘You had seven masks with seven names, what was the message you wanted to send?’ She gave a response for the ages, looking at Rinaldi and saying, ‘Well… what was the message you got?'”

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