Select Page ::

From fighting Covid-19 to locusts, drones showcase their potential and wide user-applications – DNA India

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

At a time when the Indian government looks to boost home-grown manufacturing and self-reliance, drones are a key focus area. While India imports sophisticated drones that are meant for the Armed Forces, there are various purposes for which home-grown options have proven their mettle. Indigenously designed and developed drones have displayed their capability in spraying disinfectants across crowded, inaccessible areas in Covid-19 hotspots and also recently in the fight against locusts.

Experts who work in the field also believe that the scaling up indigenous drone manufacturing could not only boost the local industry but also generate lakhs of jobs across sectors.

Shortly after the Covid-19 outbreak in Indias major cities in March, drones took to the skies, spraying disinfectant over vast, congested urban spaces. Drones were aiding the civic authorities efforts in fighting against the deadly pandemic. Drones from educational institutions, private companies were widely being used for disinfection of areas in a quick and efficient manner. Whats more, some of these drone models are also fulled by petrol, hence can operate for longer durations without the worry of longer charging hours.

Recently, Indias Ministry of Civil Aviation had also permitted the Agriculture Ministry to utilize engine-powered drones (with a fully-loaded weight below 50kgs) to fly night operations, sparing pesticides against locusts in Certain North-Western and Central states. So far, only the drones operated by Indias defence forces had the clearances to fly during day and night. This permission is being viewed as a major boost to the home-grown manufacturers of this technology. This could mean more opportunities for drone-makers, engineers and various others involved in the supply chain to contribute in a larger way.

Drones built by Chennais Abdul Kalam Advanced UAV Research Center in Anna University have been among the ones fighting locusts in Rajasthan. Three drones and eight pilots have been camping in the state and assisting the authorities who are also employing traditional methods to avert the locust threat.

Dr K Senthilkumar, Director, Abdul Kalam Advanced UAV Research Centre at Chennais Anna University points out that the petrol-operated drones are the future and that their applications are wide-ranging as the petrol-powered variants had several advantages over their battery-operated counterparts.

Our petrol-powered drones can fly for 40 minutes non-stop and just need maintenance after every 50 hours of operation. Battery-powered drones require the battery pack to be disposed of after every 100 flights. Our drones have a 40-minute endurance using 3.5 litres of fuel, whereas battery models fly about 10 minutes before they need to land and charge. The model being flown in Rajasthan has a tank capacity to hold 18 litres of liquid (disinfectant or insecticide) and uses an ultra-low volume atomizer spray which is highly efficient and reduces wastage. Just one of our drones can spray 5000sq meters in a single 40-minute flight, Senthilkumar told WION.

With wide-ranging applications and enhanced emphasis on indigenisation, it is needless to say that in the coming times, the sky is the limit for Indias domestic drone manufacturers. Favourable policy and liberal regulations in the relevant sectors too play a major role in generating interest from the industry.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA) supports the use of drone-tech in agriculture. In addition to aerial surveillance and spraying, it can do wonders in crop analytics and farm yield improvement. As demand rises and prices fall, we foresee many Indian villages having their own rented drones, much like tractors and harvester combines. This will help create local entrepreneurs, jobs and higher farm earnings, Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary and Head of Drones Division at MoCA told WION.

Dr Senthilkumar adds that better engineering and modifications to drones can help allay the fears about misuse and mishaps involving these flying machines. He talks about programming the drones and limiting range in such a way that they wont fly above 20 metres in height and 300 metres in distance.

He adds that there are also methods to avoid crashes and fires that may result from them. Our drones have battery backup and can land in case of primary engine failure and we have programmed it in such a way that it will land at the take-off location. Even our petrol engine isnt a direct drive model, it works like a generator and the power is transferred to the motor. We have done several crash tests from a 100m height and observed that only the landing gear gets affected, we are also considering using a fire-resistant material for the petrol tank henceforth, Senthilkumar says.

Dr MK Surappa, the Vice Chancellor of Anna University says that drones have become widely popular in a matter of a few years and that they have unlimited potential.

After military use, it used to be a toy for some, and also meant for photographers, but there is the option of using them in swarms, as coordinated drones and what not. Its not just abut building drones, but about equipping them for Internet-of-things(IoT)and fitting more advanced sensors and cameras, thus allowing them to have software-driven functionalities. The potential here is enormous, he told WION.

Senthilkumar envisions that drones can bring about the next manufacturing revolution, like automobiles had done over the years. He estimates that India alone would need over 5 lakh engine-operated drones for civilian needs in the coming years.

This would in turn mean employment for lakhs of people ranging from engineers to drone operators, manufacturers, suppliers, service technicians and a whole lot of others, he says.

Read the original:

From fighting Covid-19 to locusts, drones showcase their potential and wide user-applications - DNA India

Trump opponents’ worst traits are Trump’s fault | News, Sports, Jobs – Minot Daily News

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

You could say its all Donald Trumps fault. His bad qualities his carelessness about facts, his obstinance about admitting error, his contempt for others views have turned out to be contagious, to the point that you could argue theyre more damaging to his opponents than to him.

This started early on, during the 2016 campaign. I will look at it at the time, Trump replied when asked during the final fall debate whether he would concede if he lost. Thats horrifying, Hillary Clinton replied, quite reasonably.

But maybe not so horrifying. Clinton, Obama administration intelligence, law enforcement appointees and Democrats generally spent more than two years advancing, without serious evidence, their Russian-collusion theory. Delegitimizing an election result, previously seen as horrifying, suddenly became OK.

Or perhaps this was a case of projection, the psychological term for assuming your adversary would do what you would do if you were in his or her shoes.

Projection may also be at work when Trumps political opponents emulate his habit of refusing to admit error and apologize for mistakes.

A prime example is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, like the president, grew up in one of the more verdant neighborhoods of Queens, the son of a man who rose from humble beginnings to considerable renown.

Cuomo has been hailed, not least by himself, as a hero for his response to COVID-19. But his judgment, as even CNNs Jake Tapper has argued, has not been flawless. His health commissioners March 25 order requiring nursing homes to admit patients infected with the virus clearly resulted in the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of elderly residents whose vulnerability was apparent early on.

As I argued in a mid-May column, this order (and similar ones in New Jersey and Michigan) may have been issued to keep hospital ICUs from being overwhelmed which seemed a possibility at the time but didnt happen.

But Cuomo, who defends lockdowns as worthwhile if they save just one life, insists he made no mistake. A better defense is to admit that no policy can prevent every virus death and that balancing risks of unknowable magnitude will always be subject to error.

Trumps carelessness with facts, his frequent criticisms of fake news and his cavalier remarks about making it easier for public figures to sue for libel made many of his opponents fear he would clamp down on freedom of speech.

Some liberals began describing themselves as The Resistance, summoning up visions of French resistance to the Nazis. Democracy dies in darkness, The Washington Post started proclaiming on its front page.

Perhaps projection was at work here as well, for the unhappy fact is that the parts of our society that are most firmly controlled and almost entirely peopled by those on the left half of the political spectrum are also the places where freedom of speech is most under attack: academia and journalism.

Speech codes and restrictions, as readers of my columns know, have become standard operating procedures in many, perhaps most, colleges and universities. They are justified on the theory that certain speech labeled, plausibly or not, as bigotry or racism is tantamount to violence.

Newsroom pressure resulted in the resignation of New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet last month and the resignation of editor Bari Weiss this week. As she wrote in a stinging resignation letter to publisher A. G. Sulzberger, A new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isnt a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.

Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times, she went on. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. No coincidence, perhaps, that its also the favorite medium of expression of Donald Trump.

A more notable journalist is resigning this week, Andrew Sullivan from New York Magazine. He is full of contempt for Trump, but he has been writing about the crudeness and certainty of the new orthodoxy that America is systematically racist, and a white-supremacist project, from the start, which is the central thesis of The New York Times 1619 Project.

This unorthodoxy surely hasnt gone unnoticed in the New York Magazine newsroom, though Sullivan will surely land on his feet. And hell go down in history with Jonathan Rauch as the pioneering advocates who literally changed a nations mind on same-sex marriage.

Rauch and Weiss are among the 150 signers of the Harpers Magazine letter endorsing the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society. The letter starts with a rote description of Donald Trump as a real threat to democracy, but its clear thrust is that the real threat to free exchange today is not Trump but his perhaps-projecting opponents.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Here’s how much men and women earn at every age – CNBC

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Women in the U.S. earn 81 cents for every dollar men make in 2020.

That's the raw gender pay gap, "which looks at the median salary for all men and women regardless of job type or worker seniority," Payscale explains in a 2020 report on the state of the pay gap.

The gap forms early and continues to grow: As data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows, men earn more from the start. And women not only earn less, but their peak earning age is lower than that of the average man.

Here's the median income American men are earning, broken down by age group, as of the second quarter of 2020.

And here's how much women earn at various ages:

Women could be disadvantaged even more due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Women have a higher risk of suffering greater penalties in earnings," Payscale notes in its report, since they make up a larger percentage of occupations in fields like social services, education and office and administrative support, which are positions that are more likely to be suspended or asked to work reduced hours.

"Women are also more likely to have to take time off work, or even resign their positions, in order to care for children who are no longer in school as well as other family members," Payscale adds.

Women overall in the U.S. earn less than men, but the disparity in pay widens for minorities. Black women, for example, earn 61 cents for every dollar that their White male counterparts are paid, according to the National Women's Law Center's analysis of 2018 Census Bureau data. That could amount to $946,120 in lost wages over a 40-year career.

Here's the median income of American White men broken down by age group, according to Q2 2020 data from the BLS:

Here's the median income of American Black men broken down by age group:

Here's the median income of American White women broken down by age group:

Here's the median income of American Black women broken down by age group:

Pay transparency, or openly sharing employee salaries, could be the top solution to closing the gap, 2020 data from PayScale shows. When companies are open about the salaries they give employees, the wage gap in most industries and at all job levels disappears, the report finds.

Another way women are able to close the gender gap, though time-consuming and oftentimes expensive, is by getting one more degree.

A 2018 wage gap report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found that in order to earn the same salary as men, women essentially need to get one more degree. "A woman with a bachelor's degree earns $61,000 per year on average, roughly equivalent to that of a man with an associate's degree," the Georgetown CEW reports. "The same rule holds true for women with master's degrees compared to men with bachelor's degrees and for each successive level of educational attainment."

To help narrow the gap, there are a few things women can do besides getting another degree, the report notes. For starters, pick a college major that pays well: "Women majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields earn $840,000 more from the base year to retirement than women who major in the liberal arts, regardless of the occupations they choose."

And when you land your first job, negotiate your starting pay well. As the Georgetown CEW report finds, "The first salary is a very important leverage point for upward mobility and can result in a slower trajectory if women aim lower to begin with."

If you're well past day one on the job and think you're being paid less than you should be, you can still negotiate for a fair salary. First, do your research on comparable salaries. A salary calculator can help you gauge your market value.

Before initiating a conversation with your manager, document a list of achievements, such as new projects you've taken on or any measurable goals you've achieved since you started.

Read up on more negotiation strategies and remember: Although only half of job seekers negotiate, the majority of those who dosucceedin getting a raise.

Don't miss:Millennials who tripled their salaries in 10 years share their best advice for getting a raise

Like this story?Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!

Continued here:

Here's how much men and women earn at every age - CNBC

‘They’re really good men’: Victoria Beckham is proud of her sons – Dothan Eagle

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Victoria Beckham feels "really proud" of her sons.

The 46-year-old designer has Brooklyn, 21, Romeo, 17, and Cruz, 15, with her husband David Beckham - with whom she also has nine-year-old daughter Harper - and has said she couldn't be happier with the way her sons are growing up, as they're "turning out to be really good men".

She said: "I feel really proud of our boys because they are turning out to be really good men. They work hard and they're kind, and being kind is key now. I think everybody should be kind - there are so many horrible things going on in the world. With regards to the boys they always have to have respect for themselves, for others, for girls. Our boys have always had the utmost respect for everyone. They have always been like that."

And for the former Spice Girls star, motherhood is her greatest achievement.

She added during an interview with photographer Alexi Lubimorski for his YouTube series: "Being a mum is the most important job in the world. I love what I do professionally and I take it very seriously but there is nothing more serious than having children. It's your responsibility to bring up really good, good people so I take that responsibility seriously. I try to be the best mum, I try to be the best wife, and I try and be the best professional."

Victoria has been staying at home with her family amid the coronavirus pandemic, and recently said her time in lockdown has been "precious".

She explained: "While working from home, we've been on walks every day as a family. How often would we all go on a walk together normally? Usually there's a conference call or a work meeting or someone is travelling abroad. These times are precious.

Read the original post:

'They're really good men': Victoria Beckham is proud of her sons - Dothan Eagle

THE WAITING GAME BEGINS: NYCFC must sit and hope for the best – frontrowsoccer.com

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

ORLANDO New York City FC probably wont know until Thursday night whether its work at the MLS Is Back Tournament is finished.

As one of six third-place teams vying for four spots in the knockout, head coach Ronny Deila and company will have to wait until the Houston Dynamo-LA Galaxy game is completed at 10 p.m. ET.

First of all, were going to enjoy the victory, Deila said after his team defeated Inter Miami CF in its final group stage match Wednesday. Thats important and then were going to train and develop ourselves. We want to get another chance, so hopefully we can do it, but its not in our hands anymore. We gave ourselves an opportunity that it can happen with winning today. Were going to prepare for playing one more game down here, hopefully more than one.

Midfielder Keaton Parks had the same attitude.

Were going to stay ready just in case we go through, he said. Our mindset is the same. Were ready [for the knockout round] and were going to keep training and keep being intense out on the field and well be ready whether were going home or playing.

Deila was just happy his team earned something three points after going winless in the past five consecutive matches one in the Concacaf Champions League, two in Major League Soccer in March and the first two contests at the competition here.

Today Im very proud of the team, he said. We can talk as much as we want about chances or savesbut if youre going to be a good team you need to be organized, and you need to be working as a unit and be very safe defensively. Today the boys worked their asses off. They were fantastic in the pressureIm unbelievably proud of the boys today. Its a tough situation when you dont win games, and to stay together, stick together and be a unit, the victory is very, very important.

Midfielder Ismael Tajouri-Shradi said NYCFC was the only team to play twice at 9 a.m. While the heat isnt as high as in the afternoon, both sides are playing in the sunlight and of course, in humidity.

It was so hot, there were four hydration breaks two in each half as opposed to the normal two.

Its unbelievable how hot it was, Tajouri-Shradi said. Today, I think it was more than the first game against Philadelphia, but yeah, we knew it was going to be really hard.

Added Deila: To play at 9 oclock in the morning, its really, really tough. Its not about who plays good, its about those who dont do mistakes. Thats what we did today, we didnt do any mistakes. We didnt give them anything.

Follow this link:

THE WAITING GAME BEGINS: NYCFC must sit and hope for the best - frontrowsoccer.com

Workplace Inclusion Study Highlights Need for Change – Oregon Business

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Last year Partners in Diversity, an organization dedicated to attracting and retaining diverse talent, commissioned the Workforce Diversity Retention Project, a scientific study on the experiences and outcomes of people of color at Oregon companies.

The study, conducted by Martinez Organizational Consulting, surveyed nearly 300 professionals of color from across the state, 45% of whom held management positions. It also conducted 30 in-depth qualitative interviews.

While the study was conducted before the national protests over the death of George Floyd on May 25, the report found widespread racial prejudice in the workplace, a lack of broad diversity and a culture of isolation that punishes employees of color who spoke up to management.

RELATED STORY: Black Lives Matter: Improving Racial Justice In the Workplace

Below are five takeaways from the study:

1. Most employees of color face discrimination at work

Nearly three in four respondents (74%) reported facing discrimination at their place of work, and only 27% of employees said they felt satisfied with their job.

Coming from the South, my friends and family thought I was escaping much of the racism we experienced, said one respondent. We now know that racism, xenophobia, and prejudice all live here too, but in less overt forms. White liberals often are at this intersection in my experience.

These experiences ranged from social exclusion and unintentionally hurtful comments to overt racist remarks from co-workers.

One respondent reported how they were accosted by a fellow employee who was an outspoken member of the Proud Boys, a far-right, neofacist organization. After the incident, managers did not respond with disciplinary action.

Only 17% of respondents said they felt supported by their organizations upper level of management. Partners in Diversity says that having management and human resource divisions well-versed in diversity, equity and inclusion practices can help to mitigate these situations.

2. Companies employ few people of color

Only 12% of respondents reported their workplace was diverse. Most employees of color (70%) said they experience tokenism, in which they are the sole spokesperson for their ethnic group at their organization.

Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland,recommended in an online panel about the findings of the study that managers organize affinity groups for employees of color to help them find community within the organization.

Building community for employees of color is crucial to solving issues of tokenism. Mari Watanabe, executive director of Partners in Diversity, says that events in which employees of color can meet and network with one another, such at her organizations annual Say Hey events, can help connect employees facing similar situations.

Related Story: Why Business Owners of Color Are More Impacted By Covid-19.

3. Employees who speak up face retaliation

While employers are legally unable to punish employees for speaking out about discrimination, respondents who brought up racist incidents experienced retailation of a different kind: respondents reported co-workers kept their distance after such incidents.

Some respondents referred to the attitudes of white co-workers as Portland nice, meaning that while a co-worker might present a veneer of being liberal and accepting, when conflict around race arose, they would punish the employee of color who spoke up by not speaking to them or by being brief and curt instead of warm and friendly.

This is a very passive-aggressive place, said one respondent.

Humans naturally punish each other with isolation, says Larry Martinez, lead researcher of the study. If we do something bad, we get sent to jail to be isolated. If we do something bad in jail, we get sent to solitary confinement.

Partners in Diversity recommends employers put anti-retaliation policies in place, and that managers should offer praise and public thanks to employees who make their grievances known.

4. Companies pay lip service to inclusion practices

While many respondents reported their companies attempt to earn brownie points by holding diversity and inclusion events, they did little to improve the employee experience. Respondents reported their views and opinions were heard and politely received, but lacked implementation.

Culture is more important than strategy, said Patrick Criteser, president and CEO ofTillamook County Creamery Association. Unless inclusion practices are woven into a companys DNA and mission statement, one-off events do not have a positive effect.

5. Employees of color cannot solve these issues on their own

White employees and white managers play a large role in ending racist and discriminatory practices in the workplace. Since there is little employers can do to stop employees from shunning one another, Jeremy Barnicle, executive director of Ecotrust, says that white employees understanding of racial prejudice is vital.

We now have antiracism learning groups where white folks can get together and read up on the topic, he says. Additionally, Ecotrust employees have signed shared agreements in which employees commit to honoring anti-racist practices.

Understanding Oregons racist past is essential in understanding the plight of employees of color, he says.

To subscribe toOregon Business, clickhere

Read the rest here:

Workplace Inclusion Study Highlights Need for Change - Oregon Business

Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams Are Proud Parents of 2 Boys Discover Their Family – AmoMama

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

For seventeen years, musician Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams have sustained their relationship without scandal. Together, the pair are parents to two amazing sons, making up their adorable family of four.

The country music artist,Brad Paisleyand his wife of seventeen years, Kimberly Williams, are proud parents of two boys. Since starting a family, the pair has proven to be the ideal power couple, who have undoubtedly done a good parenting job.

KIMBERLY WILLIAMS AND BRAD PAISLEY'S FAMILY

The pair tied the knot in 2003, years after their first hookup. Four years into theirmarriage, on February 22, 2007, they welcomed their first son.

Two years later, theywelcomedanother son, Jasper Warren, on April 17, 2009. They named their second son after Paisley's grandfather, who spurred the country singer's career by gifting him his first guitar.

Brad Paisley's children, Huck and Jasper, now aged 13 and 10 respectively, have grown up away from prying eyes. This was partly due to their parent'sdecisionto keep their kids' lives as "normal" as possible.

RAISING TWO BOYS AMID THE FAME

Paisley and his wife have been open about how theyraisetheir kids. Sharing some of his parenting tips, the singer once revealed they raised the boys to be humble and kind. He acknowledged that every parent needs to actively take that approach before kids would embrace the two virtues.

In addition to encouraging the kids to adopt good behaviors, Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams allow them limited screen time.

Brad Paisley's kids got to watch the TV mostly on weekends while keeping busy with other essential things on school days. The singer admittedly appreciates how Huck and Jasper have turned out so far.

Despite his seemingly firm parenting approach, Paisley allowed his children room to express themselves and offered assurance that their opinions were valued.

Headmittedto relying on the boys as the first sources of public reaction to his music. The music icon explained how, before releasing a new song, he ran it by his family. Once they loved it, he knew it was okay to share with the world.

BRAD PAISLEY'S KIDS INSPIRED HIS NASHVILLE NON-PROFIT

In a bid to foster kindness and humility in their kids, Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams discovered a new passion. In 2019, the duo launched a new non-profit called "The Store" in Nashville.

Explaining the concept, the couple related the project to the Unity Shoppe in Santa Barbara. Going further, they revealed how discovering Unity Shoppe during their parenting journey gave them the idea to start up the non-profit. Paisleyrecalled:

"It was one Thanksgiving when Kim said, 'These kids are spoiled. They need to understand there's hungry people out there. And where should we go?'"

On a friend's suggestion, they took the kids to Unity Shoppe and made them volunteer. After helping out a couple of times, the kids finally realized the importance of charity.

After several visits, Huck, then aged seven, admitted it felt great helping others. That admittedly inspired his parents' determination to continue the good work and create their own avenue to render help.

KIMBERLY AND BRAD'S LOVE STORY

Before becoming Kimberly Williams' husband, Paisley lived through his bout of heartbreak, and phases of uncertainty. His interest in the actressdevelopedfrom the first time he spotted her in her debut movie, "Father Of the Bride," at nineteen.

Again, at 23, after suffering a breakup, he watched Williams in the movie's sequel and realized she possessed many qualities he admired and considered rare. However, their paths never crossed in real life until five years later, when Paisley's career was taking off.

Brad Paisley wrote a song about his ex-girlfriend as well as the movie, "Father Of The Bride." He considered it ideal to cast Kim as the female figure in the music video.

She took the offer, leading to their first meeting. They kept in touch for several weeks after the video, before eventually going on a first date.

Months later, they officially became a couple. Paisleyproposedto Williams on the Venice Beach Pier, the same spot they first professed their love for each other. On March 15, 2003, six months after their engagement, the pair got married.

Kimberly and Brad Paisley's family flourished over the years, as the foursome live happily together in their little Tennessee neighborhood.

Here is the original post:

Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams Are Proud Parents of 2 Boys Discover Their Family - AmoMama

The Motherhood Rejection: ‘We Didnt Need A Baby To Make Us Feel Complete’ – elle.com

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

My inbox was going insane. Every second, a new ping! Every refresh, another 10 emails. It was December 2018, and I was doing some research for a project about women who had decided to not have children.

I wrote a tweet asking people to get in touch: 'For a thing! I am looking to speak to a range of women who have zero desire to have kids (by choice!) who might talk to me, please reply or slide into ones DMs thank you.'

Within an hour I had 180 public replies, 200 private DMs, then non-stop emails for weeks afterwards.

'Im 48 now and neither of us has had a change of heart,' said one.

'Ive long let go of the distraction of giving a fig about what society thinks, and it is freeing,' said another. 'There are obvious positives, such as having more independence and money, but these arent really reasons why I wouldnt want [children]. I just simply am not interested.'

I gulped their messages down, savouring every last word. Sometimes I read them late at night for comfort. Their stories were not the ones the world tells us about childfree women: that they are sad, bitter, in denial, consumed with career or lacking a natural instinct. These women were joyful, open-hearted and deeply unapologetic about their choice to skip motherhood.

As their messages stacked up, I felt something akin to a high. For years, I had struggled to articulate why I felt so differently about being a mother compared to other thirtysomething women I knew.

I realised it was because there had never been a language that moved beyond the claptrap and clich to explain why women had decided to opt out of parenthood. (The stereotypes being that we were selfish, narcissistic, hedonistic, even.) As I replied to each message, it felt like a cloud had been lifted. That, finally, the decision to say no to being a mother could at last be celebrated.

Motherhood was never a dot on the horizon that came into focus the older I got

I never really gave much thought to babies when I was growing up. They were there, on my periphery, but never front of mind. When I looked at them, my heart didnt skip a beat. I just saw what looked like a lot of hard work and a lot of crying. I was more smitten with the idea of independence: living with friends, having a job, carving my own path but nothing beyond that. Motherhood was never a dot on the horizon that came into focus the older I got. It was just never there to begin with.

Which was fine, until I hit my late twenties and suddenly, just like that, motherhood was everywhere. It infiltrated my social circles conversations who was feeling broody, who wasnt. It was in the books I read, the podcasts I listened to.

Franziska & Tom WernerGetty Images

It was there, lingering, in conversations with new acquaintances and on the tip of the tongues of well-meaning relatives. Everyone my age, it seemed, knew with absolute certainty that they wanted to be mothers, in the same way that I knew with the same resoluteness that I did not.

At times, it can be difficult living with this knowledge, because it feels like you are constantly on the defence. It can make people feel uncomfortable, hearing this sort of thing. Being 'childless' is different to 'childfree', you see. The 'less' implies you have no choice; the 'free' implies bloody mindedness.

We didnt need a baby to make us feel complete

Ill give you an example: recently I picked up my 18-month-old nephew at a family gathering. I slung him on my hip and gave him a big wet kiss on his edible cheek. I love feeling the weight of his warm body in my arms. I love being an auntie. Suddenly, there was a gentle elbow in my side as a friend of the family said, 'Getting in some practice for when you have your own, eh?'

She meant no harm. I was holding a baby. She was being nice. But my throat tightened, my body stiffened. It was the directness of the assumption that did it. I love the children in my life deeply, but I know I do not want one of my own. So I decided to tell her, casually, so as to not make a big deal out of it. Suddenly she looked very sad for me.

'Oh' she simply said.

Because saying you are childfree feels more like an admission than a fact. For years, I have had to take a deep breath before I tell people, mentally preparing myself for their reaction. (Will they look confused? Alarmed? Will they pat me on the arm and assure me Ill change my mind when I get older?) It can throw people, in the same way that a single woman attending a wedding once did.

I came of age in the early nineties, a whole decade after the phrase,'having it all' was coined. That meant I watched as an entire generation ahead of me battled it out to have everything: the family, the career, the fulfilling sex life, the bountiful friendship circles And, from where I was standing, it looked exhausting.

I wasnt sure I could, or indeed wanted to have it all. But the one thing I knew I could live without was the one thing society believed I couldnt: motherhood.

A lot happened during my twenties to get me to this place of certainty. I left university. I moved to London. I left my job in PR. I created a blog. I started my own business. I wrote three books. I launched an award-winning podcast. I got to know and like who I was becoming, and the life I was carving out for myself.

I wasnt sure I could, or indeed wanted to have it all

I also met my partner Paul. Paul is amazing with kids; he has a face that can pull a million different expressions. Children love him. And he loves them. Which means that throughout our entire relationship he has always been met with: 'Oh, youll make a great dad some day!' But we are content just as we are. They say when you meet the right man, youll change your mind. But I didnt. I just knew I wanted to nest with Paul. No one else. We didnt need a baby to make us feel complete.

We were complete as we were.

Paul and I never had the 'children' conversation, by the way. Not because we were skirting around it, it just never came up. Until one evening when we were at home, cooking pasta, and he turned to me and said: 'What do you think youd be like if you couldnt sleep, read, travel or do your work in peace?'

I hesitated.

'I think Id be miserable,' I replied, pouring us some red wine.

'I really think you would be. Those are your favourite things,' he replied, laughing while continuing to stir the sauce.

'But Im 80 per cent sure I dont want them' I trailed off, because I knew what he was really asking me.

He paused. Im... 75 per cent sure.

'Im pretty sure, though,' I added.

'Same. But I guess we cant say for sure,' he said, switching on the TV.

And that was it. Our 'children' talk.

Paul feels it, too; the sense that we have to 'defend' our decision. It is hard when culture insinuates that childfree couples are self-centred or hedonistic, while couples with children are homemakers. Paul and I are homemakers, just in a different way.

Heres the unpalatable truth: I cant see a world in which having a child slots into my life.

Nolwen CifuentesGetty Images

I dont want to take time off work. I dont necessarily want a new or different identity to the one I already have. I like my life as I have built it. Its taken years to say this without feeling guilty. But I now realise that guilt belongs to society, not me. Being truly selfish is bringing a child into the world when you have no desire to make real space for it.

Saying you are childfree feels more like an admission than a fact

Of course, knowing you feel a certain way doesnt mean you are completely at peace with it. When I first said out loud that I didnt want children, it felt like some huge revelation, even if just to myself. Going against societys deeply entrenched grain isnt easy when human instinct is to follow the crowd. Thats why we need a new conversation and a new crowd. This isnt an exercise in picking sides the child-bearing on one, the childfree on the other its about us all having the option to choose the path that best suits us. And it means shining a light on the path that is least spoken about: the childfree one.

Thats why we need more examples in media, culture and real life showing what it is to live a wonderful childfree existence. The more examples we have, the more it becomes understood. (It is, in fact, why I have based my first novel, Olive, on a young, childfree woman.)

But I do believe that my generation and Gen Z, the one following mine, will finally settle this narrative: that we shouldnt be 'expected' to want children by default. The movement is about being childfree, not childless.

As the actor Kim Cattrall says: 'Its the "less" that is offensive it sounds like youre "less" because you havent had a child.'

For those who are childfree by choice, theres nothing missing from your life. Youre still surrounded by all the relationships and plans and things you love. You can have your own 'family' without having children. You can live your own version of 'having it all'. And it will be full of life and love.

Olive by Emma Gannon is out July 23. This article appears in the July 2020 edition of ELLE UK.

Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.

In need of more inspiration, thoughtful journalism and at-home beauty tips? Subscribe to ELLE's print magazine now and pay just 6 for 6 issues. SUBSCRIBE HERE

This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site.

View post:

The Motherhood Rejection: 'We Didnt Need A Baby To Make Us Feel Complete' - elle.com

NASA Experiment: Radishes Could Probably Grow in Lunar Soil

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

NASA scientist Max Coleman has been trying to figure out if its possible to grow radishes in lunar soil analogues in his kitchen.

NASA scientist Max Coleman has been trying to figure out if it’s possible to grow radishes in lunar soil — in his kitchen.

His goal is to figure out whether astronauts could one day grow their own food on the lunar surface — much like Matt Damon’s character in Ridley Scott’s 2015 film “The Martian.”

Coleman chose radishes because “they have been used before in space, and they germinate very, very fast,” according to a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) statement.

That’s essential, because astronauts will only have 14 Earth days of daylight — half a lunar day — followed by no Sun for another 14 Earth days.

After the coronavirus pandemic forced Coleman and his team of 12 other scientists to put a pause on hands-on tests of special sensors destined for the Moon, Coleman decided to take matters into his own hands. He ordered some radish seeds and desert sand online, and got to work.

His plan was to grow seeds in the desert sand, which is as nutritionally void as lunar regolith. He gave some no additional nutrients and others only small amounts of nutrients.

“We’re trying to show astronauts can use horticulture to grow their own food on the Moon,” Coleman told JPL.

“We want to do one tiny step in that direction, to show that lunar soil contains stuff which can be extracted from it as nutrients for plants,” he added. “This includes getting the right chemical elements to allow plants to make chlorophyll and grow cell walls.”

Coleman then raided his kitchen for paper towels, chopsticks, and plastic takeout containers. He even used folded tin foil and a battery tester to measure and track moisture levels.

According to his results, radishes only need tiny amounts of water to germinate. In fact, they grew best when only getting minimal amounts of water. As shown in a series of images taken with his iPhone, the radishes began to sprout and grow over time.

The idea is to keep the amount of stuff astronauts have to take to the Moon to an absolute minimum. “The more you can use what’s already there, the more efficient you can be because you don’t have to carry that much with you,” Coleman explained.

“We can’t properly test here on Earth with perfect lunar soil, but we’re doing as much here as we can,” he added. “Then we want to show that it actually does work on the Moon.”

READ MORE: NASA Scientist Over the Moon With Homegrown Radish Research [NASA’s JPL]

More on growing stuff on the Moon: NASA Wants to Grow a Moon Base Out of Mushrooms

The post NASA Experiment: Radishes Could Probably Grow in Lunar Soil appeared first on Futurism.

The rest is here:
NASA Experiment: Radishes Could Probably Grow in Lunar Soil

How to Use Neurohacking for Super Learning (WITHOUT …

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Neurohacking is a form of biohacking that concentrates on the brain and central nervous system. The accepted methods of neurohacking involve manipulation or interference used with the performance or structure of neurons. Medically, it has been used to help with illnesses or disorders to control pain, depression or anxiety. There is a growing interest in whether the same techniques could be employed to help encourage super learning in humans. Current research by Dr. Herman Epstein, Joseph LeDoux, Alex Ramonsky, Frederick Starr, and David Barker are on the hunt for the answer.

Fortunately, the technology does not exist that allows mental thought processes to experience hacking. Useful neurohacking is a process of guiding the nervous system through internal and external stimuli to respond in ways that are beneficial for a positive outcome. Drinking caffeinated beverages is one method that people use to neurohack every day. The caffeine affects the nervous systems response to feeling tired.

The solution being researched to increase intelligence will be in the form of a drug administered once a day. Drugs like Ritalin are already in use to help children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) to feel less distracted and promote the ability to sit still long enough to learn. The hope is that one day there will be a class of super drugs that specifically target the learning centers of neurons in the brain. There is reasonable hypothesis that the right medications will increase memory capabilities of humans and perhaps even allow for computer paced cognitive processing. Until then, it is best to stick to getting enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, and reduce stress. External controls are the only provable ways to increase the ability to learn at present, but the research will continue.

This page was last edited on 4 September, 2018.

How to Use Neurohacking for Super Learning (WITHOUT ...

Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market to Witness Significant Demand in the Global Market during 2020-2028 – Jewish Life News

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

With 1000+ market research reports and 1 billion+ data points, Future Market Insights (FMI) serves each and every requirement of the clients operating in the global packaging industry. FMI deploys digital intelligence solutions to offer compelling insights to report buyers that help them in overcoming market challenges, especially at the time of a crisis. Our dedicated team of professionals performs an extensive survey for gathering accurate information associated with the market.

FMI, in its upcoming business report, elaborates the historical and current scenario of the global Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market in terms of production, consumption, volume, and value. The report scrutinizes the market into various segments, regions and players on the basis of demand pattern and growth prospects.

Crucial information and forecast statistics covered in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market report will arm both existing and emerging market players with necessary insights to craft long-term strategies as well as maintain business continuity during a crisis such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis on Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 has adversely affected various markets in the packaging industry, and the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market is no exception. Products which are deemed essential continue to experience significant sales, while non-essential items faced a sharp decline in demand.

Following governments measures, particularly social distancing norms and stay-at-home orders, companies operating in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market have put their production on a halt. Additionally, movement restrictions and supply chain disruptions have created a logistical nightmare for market players, leading to severe product shortages in the global marketplace. Several market players are further planning to relocate their supply chain from China the first epicenter of the COVID-19.

The FMIs report includes an interesting chapter on preliminary impact of the COVID-19 on the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market. This allows both leading and emerging market players to understand the market scenario during a crisis and aids them in making sound decisions to gain a distinct competitive edge.

Request for Covid-19 Impact Analysis: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/covid19/rep-gb-6653

Why Choose Future Market Insights

Discounted prices for new customers! Offer expires soon!

Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market: Segmentation

Valuable information covered in the FMIs Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market report has been segregated into key segments and sub-segments.

By Packaging Type

By Material Type

For more insights into the Market, request a sample of this report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6653

Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market: Competition Analysis

The FMIs study presents a comprehensive analysis of global, regional, and country-level players active in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market. Competitive information detailed in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market report has been based on innovative product launches, distribution channels, local networks, industrial penetration, production methods, and revenue generation of each market player. Furthermore, growth strategies and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activities associated with the players are enclosed in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging market report.

Key players covered in the report include:

Important Questions Answered in the Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market Report

For Information on the Research Approach Used in the Report, Request Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-6653

Key Offerings of the Report

Follow this link:

Nanotechnology For Food Packaging Market to Witness Significant Demand in the Global Market during 2020-2028 - Jewish Life News

Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market 2020: Global Industry Analysis By Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast Till 2025 – 3rd Watch News

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials are key enablers for a whole new generation of products and processes. New products with enhanced properties are coming onto the market from a broad range of players in consumer electronics, packaging, composites, biomedicine, healthcare and coatings.Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. It refers to the projected ability to construct items from the initial stage, using modern tools to develop high-performance products. Upcoming nanomaterials such as graphene and nanocellulose are anticipated to witness significant growth opportunities in the global nanotechnology and nanomaterials market owing to economically viable and lucrative properties possessed by these nanomaterials. These nanomaterials have widespread applications across sectors including aerospace, automotive, coatings, composites, consumer goods, electronics, filtration, medical and life sciences, military, oil and energy, and sensors, which are also expected to contribute positively to market augmentation. Nanocellulose finds widespread usage in new applications such as scaffolds in tissue engineering, artificial skin and cartilage, wound healing and vessel substitutes, and biodegradable food packaging. This may also drive the nanotechnology and nanomaterials market growth over the coming years.

Access the PDF sample of the report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2341945

In 2017, the global Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.This report focuses on the global Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials development in United States, Europe and China.

The key players covered in this studyAltair NanotechnologiesAMCOL InternationalBioDelivery SciencesClariant InternationalCompetitive TechnologiesDendritic NanoTechnologiesEastman KodakFrontier CarbonHosokawa MicronHyperion CatalysisSun NanotechTeva Pharmaceutical IndustriesNanophase TechnologiesAbbott LaboratoriesNanodynamicsSuperior Micro ProductsNanoViricidesNanosysAccess PharmaceuticalsAlmatisEvident TechnologiesZyvexNanoOptoNanomatQuantum Dot

Make an enquiry of this report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/2341945

Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoAluminium Oxide NanoparticlesAntimony Tin Oxide NanoparticlesBismuth Oxide NanoparticlesCarbon NanotubesCerium Oxide NanoparticlesCobalt Oxide Nanoparticles

Market segment by Application, split intoAerospace and AviationAutomotiveBatteriesBiomedicine and HealthcareFood and AgricultureHousehold Care and Sanitary

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South America

Browse the complete report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-nanotechnology-and-nanomaterials-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025

The study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials development in United States, Europe and China.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies.To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Report Overview

1.1 Study Scope

1.2 Key Market Segments

1.3 Players Covered

1.4 Market Analysis by Type

1.4.1 Global Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2013-2025)

1.4.2 Aluminium Oxide Nanoparticles

1.4.3 Antimony Tin Oxide Nanoparticles

1.4.4 Bismuth Oxide Nanoparticles

1.4.5 Carbon Nanotubes

1.4.6 Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

1.4.7 Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles

1.5 Market by Application

1.5.1 Global Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Share by Application (2013-2025)

1.5.2 Aerospace and Aviation

1.5.3 Automotive

1.5.4 Batteries

1.5.5 Biomedicine and Healthcare

1.5.6 Food and Agriculture

1.5.7 Household Care and Sanitary

1.6 Study Objectives

1.7 Years Considered

Chapter Two: Global Growth Trends

2.1 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Size

2.2 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Growth Trends by Regions

2.2.1 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Size by Regions (2013-2025)

2.2.2 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)

2.3 Industry Trends

2.3.1 Market Top Trends

2.3.2 Market Drivers

2.3.3 Market Opportunities

Chapter Three: Market Share by Key Players

3.1 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market Size by Manufacturers

Continued.

About Us:

Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.

Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (972)-362-8199 ; +91 895 659 5155

See the original post:

Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Market 2020: Global Industry Analysis By Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast Till 2025 - 3rd Watch News

Labor Flexes Its Muscles On Behalf Of Black Lives – New York Magazine

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Protesters march outside a McDonalds in Detroit. The national workers strike, dubbed the Strike for Black Lives, saw people walk off the job on Monday in U.S. cities to protest systemic racism and economic inequality. Photo: Paul Sancya/AP/Shutterstock

For thousands, this Monday isnt a typical workday. In fact, it isnt a workday at all. Theyre on strike. Frontline workers in dozens of cities are participating in the Strike for Black Lives, which links racial and economic justice amid a catastrophic recession and protests over police brutality. Supported by a coalition of unions that includes the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers union along with advocacy groups like the Poor Peoples Campaign, the strike has a simple premise: If Black lives truly matter, Black workers need unions, living wages, and health-care benefits they can actually use.

This strike is an expression of our members fierce belief that there is a reckoning in this country, both on unchecked corporate power that has caused too much poverty and on systemic racism that has caused the over-policing and criminalization of the Black community, Mary Kay Henry, the president of SEIU, told Intelligencer by phone.We see the strike as a way to unite with the Movement for Black Lives and all of the partners in this struggle for justice by using economic power to say we want to win justice on every front.

Workers, of course, have understood the connection between racial and economic justice for a long time. So have civil-rights leaders. When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, he was there to rally support for striking Black sanitation workers. His Poor Peoples Campaign, lately revived by the Reverend William Barber and the Reverend Liz Theoharis, established racism as the axis around which a series of economic injustices revolves. But the events of this year take historical truths and project them wide-screen, filling our whole field of vision. The coronavirus kills Black and brown people at the highest rates. The recession the pandemic created saps wealth mostly from Black and brown households. And the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor illuminate the far reach of prejudice. The precise statistics change for each crisis, but the reality they convey is constant: Racism impoverishes and kills.

That fact affects every aspect of Lisa Elliotts life, including her work at a Detroit-area nursing home. Our managers dont even speak to us. Being a Black person and working in any nursing home during this time is very hard. Its very stressful, said Elliott, a certified nursing assistant and SEIU member who is participating in Mondays strike. Shes had panic attacks as shes worked through the pandemic, she explained, and the racism she experiences on the job contributes to her stress. Most workers in Elliotts facility are Black, and, according to her, managers ignore them when they ask for better COVID-19 prevention in the facility. Managers barely listen to them at all, in fact, and treat them mostly as the help. Rather than pick up for themselves, they even leave personal trash behind for the Black housekeepers to clean up.

When Black workers complain, Elliott added, the same managers call them insubordinate and the facilitys administrator is no help. To be honest with you, the administrator really thinks that all we do is lie. He thinks all Black people lie, she said. That unfair treatment filters down to the homes Black residents, she added. In the upstairs dementia unit, the Black residents dont get treated well at all, she said. White residents in the rehabilitation unit get hot meals and a variety of food. But the Black residents, they give them what they give them, she continued. The meals are often cold.

I support the strike 100 percent, Elliott said. And so do her co-workers. Were ready. Dietary department, housekeeping, laundry, activities. CNAs on all three shifts. We are ready.

The strike affords workers like Elliott a chance to demonstrate their might and then leverage it for better conditions on the job. But Mondays action has additional significance. It not only commands attention on behalf of Black workers; it undermines key conservative claims about the political ambitions of the working class, and it gestures toward new challenges for a changing labor movement.

Though Republicans, including Donald Trump, frequently insist they represent a silent majority of working Americans, that rhetoric has little in common with reality. The lowest-wage workers in the U.S. are overwhelmingly Black and brown. Theyre more likely than either whites or Asians to take jobs in blue-collar fields like transportation and service, and these days, the average construction worker is also more likely to be Latino than white. The work of child and elder care isnt just underpaid; it is also increasingly performed by women of color. Racism keeps their pay low, arrests their children, and sends ICE to their doorstep. Theres no way to lift up American workers without breaking down the racist institutions that keep them poor and vulnerable and that makes police brutality a working-class problem too. Mondays strike occurs amid ongoing protests over the police killings of Black people and follows a massive Juneteenth strike organized by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Los Angeles. McDonalds workers in Chicago went on strike the same day.

A lot of workers of color live in communities where they are also overpoliced, explained Missouri state representative Rasheen Aldridge, a former Fight for $15 organizer who entered the legislature in 2019. On top of making these low wages, which I call slave wages, you also have these same individuals that are constantly in oppression and constantly being pushed out, if not from their job then from law enforcement in their community. Over-policing can also happen at work. Elliott told Intelligencer that the administrator of her nursing home has a nephew in the local police department, a family connection he has allegedly exploited in order to punish his workforce. When staff parked in front of the home instead of in the back, per the administrators preference, he called the police. Everyone who parked in front of the home received a ticket.

Like Elliott, Aldridge knows intimately that Black workers fight a war for liberation on multiple fronts. Before he entered politics, he worked at Jimmy Johns, a national chain of sandwich restaurants. He was working hard, he told Intelligencer, but his pay was low. After Aldridge finished community college, his life took an unexpected detour: He got involved with the Fight for $15. A year later, Darren Wilson, a white cop, killed Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, not far from where Aldridge lived in St. Louis. Aldridge joined other Fight for $15 activists on the front lines of the ensuing protests. Mike Brown was killed right around the corner from a McDonalds where a lot of our organizing had been going on. It was one of our strongholds, he explained. This isnt the first time weve been stepping up for Black lives.

Six years have passed since the Ferguson protests, but the circumstances that produced them feel painfully familiar and provide the most immediate context for Mondays strike. While the formal demands of the Strike for Black Lives emphasize collective-bargaining rights and wages, unions invested in anti-racism have to address police brutality, too and that sets up a potentialfight within the labor movement itself. Protesters have demanded the defunding and even the abolition of police. Police unions, meanwhile, use the collective-bargaining process to enshrine broad immunity from oversight in their contracts.

A pointed statement from No Cop Unions, a coalition of rank-and-file union members in various trades, expressed support for the strike but called for labor to disavow law enforcement. Police, correctional officers, ICE agents, and Border Patrol agents must be expelled from the AFL-CIO and the broader labor movement, the statement read. We must divest from punitive institutions, such as policing and prisons, that serve the class interests of the rich and powerful. Several AFL-CIO affiliates, including the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, have recently passed resolutions asking the federation to expel the International Union of Police Associations, and in June, the Seattle-area MLK Jr. County Labor Council voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

So far, though, most labor leaders have adopted a more moderate tone, urging some reform but not expulsion. Henry, the SEIU president, is somewhat more critical. SEIU doesnt belong to the AFL-CIO, and on the phone with Intelligencer, Henry estimated that a little over half of SEIUs membership is Black, brown, or Asian, which places her in a somewhat unique position. Though she hasnt called for the expulsion of police unions from the labor movement, she told In These Times in June that the option to do so should remain on the table.

Were asking that our law-enforcement members commit to the principle that our unions, including police unions, are never used as a shield to protect abusive conduct, she explained to Intelligencer. I think we are at a moment of reckoning, which has helped catalyze a debate that reform isnt enough. Better training, body cameras, psychological testing are all good steps, but theyre insufficient to the demands being made by the movement.

For now, though, supporters see the strike as a positive, even necessary step toward broader change. I hope that it continues to uplift the message that not just the Black Lives Matter movement has been pushing but that the Fight for $15 and a Union have also been pushing, Aldridge said. Were talking about changes in policies when it comes to policing, but were also talking about change in policies at every level, not just the executive level and not just the local level. We need elected officials to understand. Were sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

Labor Flexes Its Muscles On Behalf Of Black Lives - New York Magazine

Saidiya Hartman on insurgent histories and the abolitionist imaginary – Artforum

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Five centuries of white supremacist terror: not just a past to which we are ineluctably fastened, but a present which produces us, albeit in differing orders of magnitude and vulnerability. The United States has long maintained the fiction that this country had molted its foundational violence, and yet, just as your skin sheds daily only to live dispersed atop your furniture and knick-knacks, so too does the grime of history make up the loam in which a person is destined to flourish, struggle, or wither. The work of Saidiya Hartman has charted a path in and through the social arrangements produced by the sedimented forces of accumulation and dispossession. Her writing, in numerous essays, and in such books as Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth Century America (1997), Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route (2007),and Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (2019) has not only reshaped the contours of scholarly inquiry, but has given form to what she has called the as-yet-incomplete project of freedom. Below, Hartman speaks about the continuity of the Black radical tradition, the insurrectionary qualities of Black life, and the wild exercise of imagination required to challenge the reigning order.

WHAT CONSTITUTES RADICAL THOUGHT? How do we bring into view the constancy of Black radical practicea practice that has overwhelmingly fallen from viewand a certain lexicon of what constitutes the political, or the radical political, or an anarchist tradition, or a history of anti-fascism? In looking at the lives of young women, gender nonconforming and queer folk in Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (2019), one thing was absolutely clear: the practices of refusalshirking, idleness, and strikea critique of the state and what it could afford; and an understanding that the state is present primarily as a punishing force, a force for the brutal containment and violation and regulation and eradication of Black life. In Wayward Lives, I discuss the jump warrant, which enabled police to enter apartments at will. We know that Breonna Taylor was murdered in the contemporary equivalent of that jump warrant, which is the no knock warrant. The police just enter a place and do as they will.

Because the wayward are largely acting in and conceiving of the world in a way that exceeds the boundaries of the normthe legitimate, the respectabletraditional political actors and thinkers have failed to understand their actions as animated and inflected by the spirit of radical refusal. But to me, that was utterly clear. I would like to think of waywardness as prefigurative of todays protests and insurgency and also as a sustained practice. In Frederick Douglasss My Bondage, My Freedom, he describes the plantation as a nation within the nation, as a space of exception outside the embrace of democracy, as an enclosure. Black people have been abandoned by the law, positioned outside the nation, and excluded from the terms of the social contractand this recognition is in fact hundreds of years old. Wayward Lives gives young Black women credit for understanding this, for their acute understanding of relations of power, and the book attends to the ways they tried to live and sustain themselves, never forgetting the structure of enclosure that surrounded them, and the forces intent on conscripting them to servitude.

My work tries to think about the question, the open questionthe almost impossible questionof Black life in this context, and the ways to best convey the rich texture of existence in these circumstances: to render visible the brutal and abstract relations of power that make violent domination and premature death defining characteristics of Black life. How does one push against particular plots or impositions of the subject? Defy the script of managed and regulated life? Persist under the threat of death? One of the things that I love about W.E.B Du Boisand my work is in dialogue with and indebted to hisis his imaginative capacity and commitment to experimentation. To understand the epistemic revolution that takes place in Black Reconstruction (1935) is to understand the abolition of slavery and Reconstruction as the making of American democracy, and to conceive the radical and insurgent political practice of enslaved actors. Even C.L.R. James marvels at Du Boiss ability to conjure that revolutionary consciousness and reflects on his own shortcomings, in comparison, in Lectures on The Black Jacobins(1971).

There is always an open question of form: How does one bring a minor revolution into view? Most often we want to maintain a fiction that desire exists on one hand and violence and coercion on the other, and that these are radically distinct and opposed. We might instead think of sexual violence as a normative condition, not the exception. Under heteropatriarchy, violence and rape are the terms of order, the norm; they are to be expected. So how does one lust after or relate to or want or love another? How does one claim the capacity to touch when touch is, in so many instances, the modality of violence? As I say repeatedly, Wayward Lives is not a text of sexual liberation. But I really wanted to think about sensory experience and inhabiting the body in a way that is not exhausted by the condition of vulnerability and abuse. What does it meanfor those persons whose bodies are most often subjected to the will, desire, and violence of othersto imagine embodiment in a way thats not yoked to servitude or to violence? For me, this was essential to thinking about radical politics: What does it mean to love that body? To love the flesh in a world where it is not loved or regarded? To love Black female flesh. Breonna Taylors murderers have still not been charged.

The possessive investment in whiteness cant be rectified by learning how to be more antiracist. It requires a radical divestment in the project of whiteness and a redistribution of wealth and resources. It requires abolition, the abolition of the carceral world, the abolition of capitalism.

Incredible vulnerability to violence and to abuse is so definitive of the lives of Black femmes. And so, what does it mean to want to imagine and to experience something else? It cant but be politicalsimply to want to free ones body from its conscription to servitude, to no longer be made a servant in the reproductive project of the worldall of this is part of an abolitionist imaginary. We have been assigned a place in the racial capitalist order which is the bottom rung; the bottom rung is the place of the essential worker, the place where all the onerous reproductive labor occurs. Not just reproductive labor in the terms of maintaining and aiding white families so that they might survive and thrive, but the reproductive work that nurtures and supports the psychic life of whiteness: that shores up the inviolability, security, happiness and sovereignty of that master subject, of man. In large measure, this world is maintained by the disposability and the fungibility of Black and brown female lives. Intimacy is a critical feature of this coerced labor and of care. Black intimacy has been shaped by the anomalous social formation produced by slavery, by involuntary servitude, by capitalist extraction, and by antiblackness and yet exceeds these conditions. The intimate realm is an extension of the social worldit is inseparable from the social worldso to create other networks of love and affiliation, to nurture a promiscuous sociality vast enough to embrace strangers, is to be involved in the work of challenging and remaking the terms of sociality.

What we see now is a translation of Black suffering into white pedagogy. In this extreme moment, the casual violence that can result in a loss of lifea police officer literally killing a Black man with the weight of his knees on the others neckbecomes a flash point for a certain kind of white liberal conscience, like: Oh my god! Were living in a racist order! How can I find out more about this? That question is a symptom of the structure that produces Floyds death. Then theres the other set of demands: Educate me about the order in which we live. And its like: Oh, but youve been living in this order. Your security, your wealth, your good life, has depended on it. So, its crazy-making. The largest loss of Black property since the Great Depression was a consequence of the subprime mortgage crisis, and proliferating acts of racist state violence occurred under a Black president. The largest incarcerated population in the world; the election of 2016 and the publicly avowed embrace of white supremacy by 45all of these things we know, right? We know the racially exclusive character of white neighborhoods; how in urban centers upper-class people monopolize public resources to ensure their futures and their childrens futures over and against other children. Im a New Yorkerthe city has the most racially segregated school system in the country. The Obama and Clinton voters are invested in a school system that disadvantages Black and brown children and they resist even the smallest efforts to make it more equitable. The possessive investment in whiteness cant be rectified by learning how to be more antiracist. It requires a radical divestment in the project of whiteness and a redistribution of wealth and resources. It requires abolition, the abolition of the carceral world, the abolition of capitalism. What is required is a remaking of the social order, and nothing short of that is going to make a difference.

Everyone has issued a statementevery elite racist university and cultural institution, every predatory banking and investment companyhas issued a statement about being down with Black Lives Matter. Its beyond hypocrisy. Its utter cynicism. These institutions feel required to take part in this kind of performance and this kind of speech only because of the radically capacious demands of those in the street, those who are demanding abolition, and who have said: We are not a part of the social contract, we will riot, we will loot. These are legitimate political acts. These are ways of addressing the violence of that order at the level of the orderthe police precinct, the bank, the retailer, the corporate headquarters.

Theres a great disparity between whats being articulated by this radical feminist queer trans Black movement and the language of party politics, and the electoral choices, which are so incredibly impoverished theyre not choices at all. The demand to defund the police was taken up because theres been a movement unfolding for decades, an analysis that has been in placebuilding on the work of Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, The Combahee River Collective, Marsha P. Johnson, Audre Lorde, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Mariame Kaba, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza, Michelle Alexander, Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor. Its not a surprise that so many of the people in the street are young. Theyre in the streets with these powerful critical and conceptual tools, and theyre not satisfied with reform. They understand reform to be a modality of reproducing the machine, reproducing the ordersustaining it. I do feel that there is a clarity of vision that wont be lost. Thats what has been so inspiring about these protests and uprisingsthe clarity and the capaciousness of the vision.

As told to Catherine Damman

Read the original here:

Saidiya Hartman on insurgent histories and the abolitionist imaginary - Artforum

These Teen Black Lives Matter Activists Are Writing the Future – ELLE.com

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Over the last several months, Black Lives Matter protestors and activists have led the nation in an overdue reckoning, an excavation of how racism has permeated every aspect of American life: our schools, our policing, our workplaces, our justice system, our housing market, and more. For the young people in this movement, it's a new chapter in a lifelong fight, one that will shape the very world they'll grow up in.

But what does the country these teens envision look like? What would they say to themselves, 10 years from now, about this moment? Here, ELLE.com speaks to three Black Lives Matter activists across the country to ask just that: What would you say in a letter to your future self? What do you want to remember, and what changes do you hope to see? Below, what Thandiwe Abdullah, Anya Dillard, and Sophie Ming had to say.

Thandiwe Abdullah is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard and helped create the Black Lives Matter in Schools program, which was then adopted by the National Education Association. She says her biggest victory was helping to end random searches in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

When Black Lives Matter was founded, I think I was 10 years old. Being in those spaces and having access to all these amazing organizers kickstarted me in this work. It made me want to take it on for myself.

When I think about my future self, I hope that I'm staying in the community. I'm from the Crenshaw District, and we have a community that has been told that in order to be successful, you have to leave. That in order to be successful, you have to distance yourself from the hood, distance yourself from your people. That you have to be a capitalist. You have to be rich. You have to assimilate as much as you can into white supremacy and this white picket fence ideal. But personally, I don't agree with that. For me, success and my work should always be connected to the community. Making sure that I'm continuing to support and uplifteven if it's not my own peopleanyone who is oppressed, anyone who is in need or being subjugated. That's my job.

I want to remember that none of our wins came easy. Showing up at the mayor's office, at the DA's office, pressuring them, writing letters, going to the capitolall of this exhausting work just to get an inch of justice. It sounds corny, but don't give up.

Don't let activist work become something thats about fame, thats about money, thats about clout, thats about recognition. There's a difference between doing the work and subsequently receiving those things, but the way we're moving right now, we're in a dangerous place where people want to turn organizing and activist work into something thats profitable. It's easy to get lost in that, but you might end up forgetting the purpose of why you're doing this work in the first place. I would tell myself: Surround yourself with people who remind you of your duty and remind you why you're doing this work.

When it comes to the future of our country, I want to start from scratch. I want to see a world where folks don't have to worry about not affording basic human needs like food, shelter, education, medical care. I want a world where police arent militarized, where prisons don't essentially look like slavery, where we don't put profits over people. I want to see a redistribution of wealth. I want to see reparations. I want to see the abolition of I.C.E.

I'd want to see a culture shift, getting rid of the idea that in order to make it anywhere and be successful, you're on your own. I want everyone to care about other people. I want people to think that their own success and justice is tied to everyone around them. That's my world.

This June, Anya Dillard was part of a group of West Orange students who organized a Black Lives Matter protest for their community, drawing thousands of people and garnering the attention of their mayor and local officials. She's also the creator of The Next Gen Come Up, a non-profit organization encouraging community service and activism among teens.

George Floyds death emotionally jarred me. I was lucky enough to grow up in a generation that saw the first Black president, but I also live in a time where we constantly see people who look like our best friends, our brothers, our parents being killed every day. You get to a point where it becomes a harsh reality as a person of color. When I saw the video of George Floyd, I didn't feel the way I should've felt. It felt more like, "Oh my gosh, again?" The shock of it becoming so normal in my mind threw me into an emotional whirlwind. I had to shut everything off and reevaluate my purpose.

A lot of the time, people who are faced with the struggle move forward only seeing the struggle. That is the entire mechanism that keeps the system of racism going and keeps it alivethat people who are constantly beaten down are trained to believe that they can't move forward because of every obstacle the oppression builds in our path.

When I think about my future self, I hope I haven't gone through anything that has encouraged me to stop doing what I'm doing or to stop being resilient and unapologetic about starting uncomfortable dialogue. I hope that no matter how progressive the world becomes, I will always make sure that marginalized groups of people and their perspectives are brought to the forefront.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

I want to always be a "soldier of the people," to make a substantial difference in the width of the door of opportunity for people of color. I've always hoped that I grow up to be someone who builds a door where there is no door and advocates for people to accomplish the goals society tells them are impossible.

As for the future of our country, I sincerely hope that people start seeing others as human beings regardless of class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation. People have mastered the art of dehumanizing those who are different than them. Everybody deserves respect, everybody deserves freedom, everybody deserves to be happy, to be successful, to obtain an education, to feel love.

I hope I remember what I've realized about my community. I've always grown up around people of every race, but Ive never seen so many young, Black kids come together to fight for something so important. It wasn't until the protests that I really felt connected to each and every Black kid in my school. That's changed how I, as a person of color, move through my own community. It helped me realize I am so much more connected to all of these people now because I recognize that we can all fall victim to the same system.

To my future self: Don't be so hard on yourself. I've always been a radical personality and passionate about the things that I believe. I often look back and think, Should I have been so serious? Should I have been so passionate about that?"

Dont question yourself. Feel free in being forward. Feel free in your creativity, your ambition. Dont dull yourself down for anybody. Move in your truth.

Most recently, Sophie Ming has organized both large protests in Manhattan as well as smaller gatherings to discuss topics directly affecting Black people. She is the founder of the New York City Youth Collective, which focuses on educating youth on issues related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

I hope my future self knows that everything I'm doing is much bigger than me. I do it now because I'm passionate about it, but it's for my children and their future children and their future children. It's about the Black friends and family that I have. And I hope that, in 10 years, I can look back at the work I'm doing now and appreciate that and understand that. I'm doing this because I love it, but it's also going to help so many more people that aren't me.

Gili Getz

I want to become a doctor. I want to become a physician working with kids and incorporate social justice into medicine. Racial segregation and racial disparities show up in every single field in this country, especially the medical field. One day, ideally, Id run my own hospital as a Black woman and hire more Black physicians and Black nurses and Black healthcare workers. We need more of them. We need people that understand Black health. A hundred years ago, I couldn't have become a Black doctor, and now I can. I want to bring my passion for social justice reform and racial justice reform into that field.

In the future, I hope the NYPD is defunded. I hope that I'm living in a world where I feel safer as a Black woman and my kids feel safer being Black and walking around Black. I hope Im someone whos still confident, who's curious, and always ready to learn new things.

I hope I remember to take breaks, especially when there's a lot of momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement. I'm fighting a fight that I was never meant to fight in the first place. It's not my responsibility to dismantle white supremacy. But I still do it because I'm with millions of other Black people across this country. Whether my future self is fighting for political reform or working in a hospital, I hope I remember to be present and allow myself to rest.

These responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site.

These Teen Black Lives Matter Activists Are Writing the Future - ELLE.com

Is It Time To Rethink Policing In America? – Texas Public Radio

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

*This post was updated on Monday, July 20, at 4:10 p.m.

The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black individuals during encounters with law enforcement officers sparked protests and renewed calls for police reform in cities throughout the U.S.

Demands to "defund the police" have become part of mainstream discussions about police brutality, with people calling for new ways to protect and defend that don't involve the use of deadly force, especially in communities of color.

Supporters say reallocated funds could go toward improving and expanding social services, thereby relieving pressure on police officers to handle calls that do not immediately require violence.

I think that what I want people to understand is the police don't enact the law. They are trained to do and enforce the law that the government set, said Ron DeLord, attorney and founder of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.

This reimagining of public safety responsibilities also includes the demilitarization of police departments, updated deescalation practicies and implicit bias training, as well as funding towards services which address the root causes of many crimes poverty, mental illness and addiction.

DeLord said he believes the death of George Floyd has been a tipping point for the defund the police movement.

It's bigger than let's, you know, fire all the Minneapolis police and start over and change their name, he said. That's got the United States to stop and think about the systemic racism that's built into our criminal justice system. It falls so heavily on people of color in poor people in our justice system in our jails.

In June, the City of San Antonio held threelistening sessionsafter hundreds took to the streets for days on end to demand justice for victims of police brutality and advocate for change.

Other Texas cities including Houston and Austin started dialogues about policing amid the social upheaval. There's been some movement on the state level, as well. Will these conversations and proposals amount to real change?

Policy proposals include increasing accountability for officers and taking power back from unions; demilitarizing police departments and prioritizing deescalation over use-of-force tactics; making public safety budgeting a transparent and public process; community policing and more.

What does real police reform look like? What's the difference between abolition and reformation of police? What would San Antonio look like if SAPD was abolished?

How are police departments' budgets allocated and who is involved in the process? How much money usually goes to training officers and to measure improvement?

How integral are police unions to successfully reforming the status quo? What are the justifications for policies and tactics considered problematic by those advocating for change?

What services and departments are being proposed to work in conjunction with law enforcement? How would community policing work in practice? What is the public safety impact of these models?

How have other cities attempted to reform their police departments and what can we learn from the results? What policies are shown to improve police-community relations and reduce the risk of violence against people and communities of color?

Guests:

"The Source" is a live call-in program airing Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. Leave a message before the program at(210) 615-8982. During the live show, call833-877-8255, emailthesource@tpr.org or tweet@TPRSource.

*This interview was recorded on Monday, July 20.

TPR was founded by and is supported by our community. If you value our commitment to the highest standards of responsible journalism and are able to do so, please consider making yourgift of support today.

Excerpt from:

Is It Time To Rethink Policing In America? - Texas Public Radio

CBC announces The Book of Negroes encore presentation and special programming to mark Emancipation Day – CBC.ca

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

In recognition of Emancipation Day, CBChas announceda series of specials this summer highlighting works by Black Canadians, including an encore presentation of the screen adaptation of the bestselling novelThe Book of Negroes.

Observed in Canada on Aug. 1, Emancipation Day commemorates the abolition of slavery across the British Empire.

The Book of Negroes, a six-part miniseries,will receive an encore broadcast as a three-night special event, Sunday, July 26 through Tuesday, July 28 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC TV and CBC Gem.

Based on the award-winning 2007 novel of the same name by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill,the story is a portrayal of the brutal realities of the slave trade told through one woman's life.

Aminata Diallo is kidnapped from her village in Niger and brought to South Carolina to work as a slave at the age of 11. After eventually winning her freedom, Diallo goes on to face decades of struggle and adversity, but later becomes a driving force in the abolitionist movement in Britain.

The Book of Negroeswon Canada Reads2009, championed by Canadian filmmaker and journalist Avi Lewis. Its French translation version, Aminata, also won the French-language showLe combat national des livres in 2013.

The Book of Negroesreceived the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

The miniseries originally premiered on CBC in January 2015 and went on to win 10 Canadian Screen Awards.

Leading into the first night of The Book of Negroes, CBC will also feature news and arts programming starting at 6:30 p.m. ET (7 NT) with CBC Arts: Exhibitionists Reflection and Resistance hosted by broadcaster and writer Amanda Parris, dedicated to Black artists who are trying to create in the midst of an uprising.

Starting at7 p.m. ET (7:30 NT) on the first night, investigative journalist Asha Tomlinson will present a special hour including theCBC News special, Being Black in Canada, with exclusive new interviews and insights with Hill and the creators and cast of the miniseries.

CBC will also launch a new website called Being Black in Canada, which features the stories and experiences of Black Canadians, on July 26.

The Being Black in Canada website will showcase profiles, opinion pieces, video, audio and a range of work from across the CBC, including news, documentaries and arts.

CBC Arts will partnerwith Torontoactress, writer, director and producer Ngozi Paul and Emancipation Arts to present FREE UP!, the annual youth-led celebration of Emancipation Day featuring music, theatre, spoken word and dance.

Also in the entertainment lineup is Emmy Award-winning documentary series, Jackie Robinson, which tells the story of famed baseball player Jack Roosevelt Robinson, the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.

The series will air Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. ET (8:30 NT) on CBCTV and CBC Gem.

The Book of Negroes and Jackie Robinson are featured on the Black Stories Collection, a recently launched page on CBC Gem showcasing Black creators and stories from Canada and around the world.

Read the rest here:

CBC announces The Book of Negroes encore presentation and special programming to mark Emancipation Day - CBC.ca

Former RCMP officers reflect on how to fix policing in the North – CBC.ca

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Since the RCMP's earliest days, it has relied on Indigenous people for survival.

In the North, Canada's project of extending sovereignty over vast northern territories was made possible by the work of the RCMP and its Indigenous "special constables," who acted as guides and interpreters.

"Our special constables turned a lot of those RCMP members into men," said Gerry Kisoun, who joined the RCMP in 1971 as one of the last special constables, and served as a regular officer for more than 20 years.

But that shared history has not resulted in better treatment of Indigenous people.

In the North, critics say, members run out the clock on two-year stints isolated from the communities they serve, policing according to a model that has resulted in a large number of Indigenous people dying at their hands.

Increasingly, top officials, from the RCMP's commissioner to the prime minister, are recognizing the systemic racism that pervades the force.

Now, in the light of nationwide protests for police reform and abolition, pressure is mounting on the RCMP to devolve community safety to Indigenous communities, and reckon with their troubled history in the North.

"The policing [model] in the RCMP and the policing model in our Indigenous communities are diametrically opposed," said Gina Nagano, a Tr'ondk Hwch'in First Nation member who served with the RCMP from 1985 to 2006.

"Indigenous communities across Canada are waking up and saying ... 'We have a choice, and we're going to push back."

In the North, the RCMP has been both a source of pride and an agent of oppression.

As a child, Kisoun remembers hearing stories of RCMP officers' daring exploits on the land of the Mackenzie Delta, enabled by the work of the Indigenous guides who inspired him to first join the force. But he remembers darker stories too.

"Some of the other stories we heard was, you gotta listen to what the RCMP say, because they'll come into your house and scare the living daylights out of you," he said. "That if you don't send your kids to school, the RCMP are going to come along and throw you in jail."

Both Kisoun and Nagano said their own experience with the RCMP, growing up, was largely positive. RCMP officers were either locals, or well-integrated into the community, they said.

"We had great police officers in Dawson City that were posted there, and always participated in community events," said Nagano. "They were great role models."

But the view from inside the force was quite different.

"I grew up in a community where most of my friends were non-[Indigenous]," she said, "and I never really saw discrimination until I joined the RCMP."

"I was surprised to see it internally, and to have it that prevalent."

Nagano's experience was not unique. Margorie Hudson, an Ojibwe officer from Manitoba, has launched a class-action suit against the RCMP, alleging 31 years of discrimination by her colleagues.

Kisoun acknowledged he too experienced discrimination while on the job, but said "right now, that's neither here nor there."

But he did say the organization's history is a factor in the routine mistreatment of Indigenous officers and civilians.

"We're Indigenous, and we're going into something that was brought in by the Europeans," said Kisoun. "And sometimes, it's not an easy transition to go from where we are, to where they are.

"It takes a lot of work."

Both Kisoun and Nagano said that work is not any easier today, as the force has grown more disconnected from the northern communities it serves.

"The posting is two years," said Nagano. "It makes it really challenging for the RCMP officer to want to step out again and engage with the community."

"But vice-versa is, the citizens are seeing that all the time," she said. "They're seeing the change [and] inconsistency."

That affects trust, she said, and forces officers into "reactive policing" the kind of work where violent incidents are more common.

"If you break those barriers down, become part of the community, get to know the citizens. everything becomes proactive because the community wants to work with you."

Kisoun said it's not enough to have better community engagement at the end of the day, more northerners need to join the ranks.

"We have to have our own people involved as well," said Kisoun. "We have to see them out in those RCMP cruisers, doing the work in the community, keeping the peace."

Given several days, none of the northern RCMP detachments provided statistics on how many Indigenous people they employed.

To Nagano, the solution lies outside the RCMP. After leaving the force in 2006, she worked to establish Indigenous-run community safety programs at the Kwanlin Dn and Selkirk First Nations in Yukon.

The programs employ local First Nation members to conduct patrols and intervene in situations where police would normally be called. She said it made a big difference to interactions with police.

"Most of the time, when the community safety officers engaged with an individual, they knew who they were ahead of time," she explained. "They knew what family they belonged to, what clan they belonged to, and they had the ... understanding to approach it differently."

If someone requires intervention, she said, "we don't go to the probation officers. We go to grandma. We go to that elder in the community that will make that person accountable for their actions."

"It's not just a model for First Nations communities, it's a model that can work in any community. Who better to police the community than the citizens themselves?"

Nagano has a vision for rolling out this model across the country, but the barrier is a familiar one funding, and a lack of "political will" to make it happen.

"I think they see it as a threat," said Nagano. "They have already had something for 100 years. It's a challenge for them to see someone coming in with an alternative."

For his part, Kisoun is not holding his breath.

"There's lots of talk in regards to self-government and having your own policing," said Kisoun, "but that might take some time."

"As far as I'm concerned," he said, "I think that the RCMP will be here for a long, long, long time."

Excerpt from:

Former RCMP officers reflect on how to fix policing in the North - CBC.ca

Former officers from Canadian police reflect on how to fix policing in the North – Eye on the Arctic

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Gerry Kisoun was one of the last special constables in the North, and served 20 years as a regular officer. He said RCMP officers need not be northerners, but must become part of the community. (Kate Kyle/CBC)Since the RCMPs earliest days, it has relied on Indigenous people for survival.

In the North, Canadas project of extending sovereignty over vast northern territories was made possible by the work of the RCMP and its Indigenous special constables, who acted as guides and interpreters.

Our special constables turned a lot of those RCMP members into men, said Gerry Kisoun, who joined the RCMP in 1971 as one of the last special constables, and served as a regular officer for more than 20 years.

But that shared history has not resulted in better treatment of Indigenous people.

In the North, critics say, members run out the clock on two-year stints isolated from the communities they serve, policing according to a model that has resulted in alarge number of Indigenous people dying at their hands.

Increasingly, top officials, fromthe RCMPs commissionertothe prime minister, are recognizing the systemic racism that pervades the force.

The policing [model] in the RCMP and the policing model in our Indigenous communities are diametrically opposed, said Gina Nagano, a Trondk Hwchin First Nation member who served with the RCMP from 1985 to 2006.

Indigenous communities across Canada are waking up and saying We have a choice, and were going to push back.Gina Nagano, former RCMP oficer

In the North, the RCMP has been both a source of pride and an agent of oppression.

As a child, Kisoun remembers hearing stories of RCMP officers daring exploits on the land of the Mackenzie Delta, enabled by the work of the Indigenous guides who inspired him to first join the force. But he remembers darker stories too.

Some of the other stories we heard was, you gotta listen to what the RCMP say, because theyll come into your house and scare the living daylights out of you, he said. That if you dont send your kids to school, the RCMP are going to come along and throw you in jail.

Both Kisoun and Nagano said their own experience with the RCMP, growing up, was largely positive. RCMP officers were either locals, or well-integrated into the community, they said.

We had great police officers in Dawson City that were posted there, and always participated in community events, said Nagano. They were great role models.

But the view from inside the force was quite different.

I grew up in a community where most of my friends were non-[Indigenous], and I never really saw discrimination until I joined the RCMP.Gina Nagano

I was surprised to see it internally, and to have it that prevalent.

Naganos experience was not unique. Margorie Hudson, an Ojibwe officer from Manitoba, haslaunched a class-action suit against the RCMP, alleging 31 years of discrimination by her colleagues.

Kisoun acknowledged he too experienced discrimination while on the job, but said right now, thats neither here nor there.

But he did say the organizations history is a factor in the routine mistreatment of Indigenous officers and civilians.

Were Indigenous, and were going into something that was brought in by the Europeans, said Kisoun. And sometimes, its not an easy transition to go from where we are, to where they are.

It takes a lot of work.

Both Kisoun and Nagano said that work is not any easier today, as the force has grown more disconnected from the northern communities it serves.

The posting is two years, said Nagano. It makes it really challenging for the RCMP officer to want to step out again and engage with the community.

But vice-versa is, the citizens are seeing that all the time, she said. Theyre seeing the change [and] inconsistency.

That affects trust, she said, and forces officers into reactive policing the kind of work where violent incidents are more common.

If you break those barriers down, become part of the community, get to know the citizens. everything becomes proactive because the community wants to work with you.

Kisoun said its not enough to have better community engagement at the end of the day, more northerners need to join the ranks.

We have to have our own people involved as well. We have to see them out in those RCMP cruisers, doing the work in the community, keeping the peace.Gerry Kisoun

Given several days, none of the northern RCMP detachments provided statistics on how many Indigenous people they employed.

To Nagano, the solution lies outside the RCMP. After leaving the force in 2006,she worked to establish Indigenous-run community safety programsat the Kwanlin Dn and Selkirk First Nations in Yukon.

The programs employ local First Nation members to conduct patrols and intervene in situations where police would normally be called. She said it made a big difference to interactions with police.

Most of the time, when the community safety officers engaged with an individual, they knew who they were ahead of time, she explained. They knew what family they belonged to, what clan they belonged to, and they had the understanding to approach it differently.

If someone requires intervention, she said, we dont go to the probation officers. We go to grandma. We go to that elder in the community that will make that person accountable for their actions.

Its not just a model for First Nations communities, its a model that can work in any community. Who better to police the community than the citizens themselves?Gina Nagano

Nagano has a vision for rolling out this model across the country, but the barrier is a familiar one funding, and a lack of political will to make it happen.

I think they see it as a threat, said Nagano. They have already had something for 100 years. Its a challenge for them to see someone coming in with an alternative.

For his part, Kisoun is not holding his breath.

Theres lots of talk in regards to self-government and having your own policing, said Kisoun, but that might take some time.

As far as Im concerned, he said, I think that the RCMP will be here for a long, long, long time.

Canada: Quebec Inuit org. calls lack of police, justice reform ticking catastrophe in modern times, Eye on the Arctic

Finland:Police response times up to an hour slower in Arctic Finland, Yle News

Sweden:Film exploring racism against Sami wins big at Swedish film awards, Radio Sweden

United States:Lack of village police leads to hiring cops with criminal records in Alaska: Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Public Media

See more here:

Former officers from Canadian police reflect on how to fix policing in the North - Eye on the Arctic

My Family Escaped Socialism: Here’s Why You Should Be Concerned – The Cornell Review

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel to invade the fledgling democratic south. Amidst changing borders, victories, and defeats, hundreds of thousands of Koreans from the North escaped to the South in the hopes of finding freedom. Two of these refugees were my grandfathers.

My maternal grandfather grew up in Pyongyang (the modern-day capital of North Korea), during its occupation by Imperial Japan. In his early years, he attended a high school founded by Christian missionaries. At the outbreak of the Korean War, my grandfather and his siblings were forced to flee, leaving their parents behind. During his perilous journey to the South, my maternal grandfather lost contact with his siblings, most of whom he never saw again. Near the end of his life, he was reunited with his sister, from whom he was separated for more than forty years. He was never reunited with any other members of his immediate family. When asked about why he escaped to the South, my grandfather would reply, I wanted to be free to worship God.

My paternal grandfather was an industrious man. Born in the Jeolla province during the Japanese occupation, he traveled to Manchuria to seek work and support his family. After working in manufacturing, he migrated to Russia, Japan, and, eventually, what is now North Korea. During this time, he taught himself to be proficient in Korean, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and English. Just before the war broke out, he worked in a fertilizer factory in the city of Hamhung, which is still in operation today. Having heard that communist troops were approaching, he joined other refugees to escape to South Korea. When asked why he chose to escape, he said, The communists wanted to shut down factories and businesses. I want to live in a capitalist society.

Growing up, I heard my grandfathers escape stories from my parents and grandmothers. My maternal grandfather recounted one time when he was fleeing North Korean troops and heard a voice telling him, Leave the group! Come behind the bushes! Grabbing one of his family members, he ran behind the bush and hid, listening to the shrieks of innocent civilians being slaughtered by communist forces. Another time, my maternal grandfathers life was saved by the thick, family Bible he was carrying. Similar stories of violence and brutality are shared by other refugees, who said that communist soldiers would single out Christians and publicly humiliate, torture, and kill them. These experiences are captured in the 2010 South Korean film, One Step Forward. Even today, according to the non-profit group, OpenDoorsUSA, If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot.

The effects of the proletarian revolution were not limited to the Korean peninsula. Some of Karl Marxs stated goals for the socialist revolution outlined in The Communist Manifesto were to abolish property in land, abolish rights of inheritance, and confiscate the property of rebels or counter-revolutionaries. To realize this massive forced transfer of wealth, socialist revolutionaries often resorted to compulsory re-education and mass executions. In Maoist China, 200,000 to 800,000 farmers were systematically executed, while millions were sent to labor camps, according to Frederic Teiwess book Establishment of the New Regime. In Vietnam, 13,500 farmers were executed from 1954-1956. The number of those executed by the vanguard of the socialist revolution does not even include the 3.2 million people who starved to death during the Ukrainian famine, the 45 million people who died in the famines during Maos Great Leap Forward, and countless millions who perished due to the failure of socialist state policies.

Disturbingly, despite the plethora of historical examples of socialist brutality, similar behaviors and ideologies are emerging in Americas left. Many of our leaders, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), are calling for an unprecedented redistribution of wealth. Others, like media pundit Chris Cuomo, are justifying the immoral theft and anarchic destruction of private property in the name of racial justice. Meanwhile, minority business owners like Lucy Hosley, who worked their whole lives to honestly achieve the American Dream, bear the costs. This past Saturday, Lilith Sinclair, the leader of Portland Black Lives Matter, stated the group was organizing not only for the abolition of the militarized police state but also the abolition of the United States of America as we know it. These Marxists not only demand the abolition of the police whom minorities want to protect their communities, but also wish to erode the protection of private property, freedom of thought, and religious liberty. For centuries, these core values have motivated millions of people to come to America and gave them the security to innovate, work, and prosper.

It is not easy to succeed in a capitalist society. The experiences of my grandfathers demonstrate that, while difficult, achieving this success was possible through determination and ingenuity. After the Korean War, my maternal grandfather started a small business, as a craftsman and mechanic, manufacturing water valves and even making furniture for the Korea University Law School. He also served as an elder at YoungAhm Presbyterian Church. My paternal grandfather took on all sorts of jobs to ensure his family was taken care of. He owned a bicycle shop, made Western clothing as a tailor, and tended his land as a farmer. Neither of my grandfathers retired. Both of them worked hard each day, knowing that capitalism would allow their children and grandchildren to pursue greater ambitions.

There are clear challenges and problems our nation must deal with. And of course, we will have to work to ensure that all Americans have the opportunities to succeed. However, socialism is not the solution. Socialist revolutions have deprived millions of people of their basic freedoms and opportunities to succeed. Capitalism, on the other hand, has allowed me, the grandson of two war refugees, to immigrate to this country, attend Cornell University, and tell the story of two remarkable men who fled murderous oppression in pursuit of freedom.

Read this article:

My Family Escaped Socialism: Here's Why You Should Be Concerned - The Cornell Review

Select Page ::