In the April 14 debate, Senator Bernie Sanders sparred with Hillary Clinton on the fight for 15. Continue reading On The #FightFor15, #HillaryClinton Stands For States’ Rights, Leaving Her Firewall Behind | #MinimumWage on Blog#42
Tag Archives: Minorities
Engineering in #Preschool? | Education
I recently listened to a KPCC story about a new kind of preschool. I didn’t know it at the time, but my daughter was listening to the story with me and, as it turns out, was as bothered by it as I was, not because the toddlers in the story were learning about engineering, but because their preschool experience was only about it. Continue reading Engineering in #Preschool? | Education
Election 2014: Lessons for progressives
It was my hope, a week after the election, that I would hear and read meaningful analyses on the cause, consequences and long-term outlook for Democrats after their losses this midterm election. Very little of what I read this week was “filling,” until I came across William Greider’s “How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul” in The Nation. Greider concludes:
The tattered authenticity of the party matters more now because both the country and the world face dangers and disorders that demand a fundamental reordering of the global economic system. This requires bold action, at a time when neither party is confronting the threatening situation. The Republicans are a wholly owned subsidiary of the business-finance machine; the Democrats are rented.
These seven charts explain how Ferguson—and many other US cities—wring revenue from black people and the poor – Quartz
“Offender-funded”
In its violent crackdowns on demonstrations since a white police officer shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in early August, Ferguson police revealed a fresh proclivity for abusing its citizens. However, the city’s finances suggest the St. Louis suburb’s criminal justice system has been stealthily exploiting residents—particularly those who are black or poor—for years. Ferguson’s economy steadily withered over the last decade, as did its population. Yet even as the number of adult residents fell 11% between 2010 and 2013, fines collected by the city’s court system surged 85%, hitting $2.6 million last year.
KPCC: Invisible Dropouts: Thousands of California Kids Don’t Get Past Middle School | 89.3 KPCC
Sarah Butrymowicz
Devon Sanford’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was in the eighth grade. After barely finishing at Henry Clay Middle School in South Los Angeles, he never enrolled in high school. He spent what should have been his freshman year caring for his mother and waiting for police to show up asking why he wasn’t in school.
No one ever came. Continue reading KPCC: Invisible Dropouts: Thousands of California Kids Don’t Get Past Middle School | 89.3 KPCC
By the Numbers: US Poverty | BillMoyersHQ
US poverty (less than $19,090 for a family of three): 46.5 million people, 15 percent
Children in poverty: 16.4 million, 23 percent of all children, including 39.6 percent of African-American children and 33.7 percent of Latino children. Children are the poorest age group in the US