truthout--2020-05-22--Chicago Passed Police Torture Reparations 5 Years Ago. Were They Implemented?

This month , the movement against Chicago police violence celebrated the fifth anniversary of the passing of the historic reparations ordinance .
Born out of more than three decades of legal and political struggle waged by an intergenerational and interracial movement comprised of torture survivors , their families and lawyers , activists and their organizations , and a handful of progressive journalists and politicians , the reparations package provided : • $ 100,000 payments to each of the approximately 60 living police torture survivors who had not received compensation from lawsuits ; • A center where victims of police violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • Teaching of the history of police torture to students in the Chicago public schools ; • Job training and free public college education for torture survivors and their families ; • A public memorial dedicated to the survivors of police torture .
Police torture , in the form of electric shock , suffocation with plastic bags and typewriter covers , mock executions , and brutal beatings with rubber hoses and nightsticks , most often to the genitals , accompanied by all manner of racist threats and insults , was brought to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Burge , a police detective , back from a tour as an interrogator in Vietnam .
With a midnight crew of self-anointed “ asskickers , ” Burge terrorized more than 125 Black and Brown suspects with these tactics over the next two decades , obtaining confessions that sent their victims to prison and , in some cases , to death row .
With willing accomplices at the highest levels of the police department , the state ’ s attorneys ’ and mayor ’ s offices ( most prominently Richard M. Daley ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aided by an impenetrable code of silence , this official terrorism remained an open secret while Burge was rewarded with numerous promotions for his good work .
In 1989 , the coverup began to unravel during the civil rights trial of Andrew Wilson , a particularly egregious victim of Burge and his men .
After Wilson was picked up in 1982 for the alleged murder of two white police officers , Burge orchestrated a regimen of torture that included electric shock to Wilson ’ s ears , nose and genitals , burning on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beatings to obtain a confession which sent Wilson to death row .
During the civil rights trial , an anonymous police source , later dubbed “ Deep Badge , ” contacted Wilson ’ s lawyers and detailed the depth and breadth of the systemic and racist torture regime .
Armed with this roadmap , Wilson ’ s lawyers set out on a decades-long campaign to uncover and publicly expose this evidence .
It was then that the concept of reparations was first suggested by one of the anti-torture organizations that had formed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Deep Badge .
However , there were more immediate demands that were taken up by the movements and their lawyers for the next two decades , including the firing of Burge ; new trials , exonerations , pardons and damage awards for some of the torture survivors , including five men previously on death row ; Burge ’ s criminal prosecution ; international recognition of Chicago police torture by the United Nations Committee Against Torture ; and public hearings before the Chicago City Council and the Cook County Board .
During 2006 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ( BPAPT ) and the National Conference of Black Lawyers demanded that Mayor Richard M. Daley apologize to all Chicago police torture survivors and provide financial compensation and psychological services to them , and conducted a series of town hall meetings to discuss these demands .
BPAPT incorporated this relief into a proposed Reparations for Police Torture Victims Act , which called for the establishment of a center that would provide psychological treatment and vocational assistance , as well as community education and political advocacy , and for the appointment of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credible claims of factual innocence from torture victims .
These demands were later reasserted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ( CERD ) , and in 2009 the Illinois Legislature passed the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission Act , which established a commission to review incarcerated survivors ’ claims of torture that arose under Burge ’ s command and to refer meritorious cases to the criminal courts for hearings on those claims .
In June of 2010 , Burge was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice , primarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and in January of 2011 , he was sentenced to federal prison .
Shortly thereafter , a group of artists and educators joined forces with activists and attorney Joey Mogul to form the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials ( CTJM ) .
CTJM called on artists and activists to propose how they could memorialize the torture cases in order “ to honor the survivors of torture , their family members , and the African-American communities affected by the torture.
” The next year , CTJM presented a series of cultural and educative events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Public demands for reparations , including a mayoral apology , were made when several lawsuits brought on behalf of exonerated survivors were settled , and in September of 2013 , Mayor Rahm Emanuel reluctantly apologized to a reporter and said it was time to move on .
CTJM then revised the proposed ordinance to specifically include an official apology , a $ 20 million compensation fund , free education at Chicago City Colleges for all torture survivors and their families , and a center that would provide psychological counseling , health care services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the torture history would be taught in the Chicago Public Schools and the city would sponsor the construction of public torture memorials .
CTJM member Alice Kim then met with Alderman Joe Moreno , and obtained his political sponsorship for the proposed ordinance .
In October of 2013 , Moreno and fellow alderman Howard Brookins introduced CTJM ’ s Ordinance into the Council , and CTJM members subsequently obtained additional aldermanic support .
In April 2014 , the reparations movement was strengthened by the entry of Amnesty International into a coalition led @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rally , march and vigil where participants each carried a black flag , emblazoned with the name of a different one of the 119 known torture survivors .
Each name was read and the corresponding flag was presented , with each flag holder then forming a line facing City Hall .
Later that year , other activist groups , including Project NIA , a grassroots organization devoted to ending the incarceration of children and young adults by promoting restorative and transformative justice practices , and We Charge Genocide , an intergenerational effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the young people most targeted by police violence in Chicago , joined the coalition , adding creative leadership , energetic youth and an infusion of young people of color .
The number of aldermanic sponsors grew as a result of the diligent work of CTJM , and a petition drive was initiated .
Karen Lewis , the iconic president of the Chicago Teachers Union , announced her support .
In October 2014 , outrage boiled up as Burge was released to a halfway house .
At a CTJM sponsored press conference , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finally hold a hearing on the ordinance while contrasting Burge ’ s release with a full pension to that of the survivors who had not received “ one red cent.
” The local NBC TV affiliate and the Chicago Sun-Times editorialized in favor of reparations , while Emanuel was reportedly “ riding the fence ” on the question .
Contemporaneously , CTJM and We Charge Genocide members appeared in Geneva before the UN ’ s Committee Against Torture , where they raised the issue of police torture reparations .
A few weeks later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support the passage of the reparations ordinance .
Torture survivors Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes , joined by Marc Clements , and several mothers of imprisoned torture survivors , continued to be the face of the movement .
In December , the coalition led a five-mile march to City Hall , where the marchers delivered petitions signed by nearly 45,000 people , to the Mayor ’ s office , and then protested in the hall .
As the February 2015 mayoral primary election approached , the effort to raise the profile of reparations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the 50 alderpeople committed as sponsors , and a significant number of other politicians , aldermanic candidates and community organizations had also come aboard , as had progressive mayoral candidate Jesus “ Chuy ” Garcia .
Just before the election , the Reparations Movement held a Valentine ’ s Day rally attended by an overflow crowd .
CTJM distributed a scorecard that recorded which politicians supported the ordinance , and those ( including the mayor ) who did not .
Numerous attendees wore black T-shirts distributed by CTJM which had the Chicago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black in color , added to represent the torture survivors — emblazoned on the front .
Subsequent actions included a light display in front of the mayor ’ s house that spelled out “ Reparations Now , ” teach-ins , a city hall “ sing-in , ” Sunday church presentations , and demonstrations on city trains and outside of mayoral debates .
Soon after , Chicago Corporation Counsel Steve Patton requested a meeting with CTJM at which the city would present its plan for reparations .
CTJM ’ s meeting team met with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and early April , with the main bone of contention being financial compensation .
Ultimately , a compromise was struck so that each of the living survivors would receive $ 100,000 .
On May 6 , 2015 , Alderman Moreno presented the reparations resolution and ordinance to the full City Council .
Fifteen survivors and several mothers were in attendance .
During his presentation , Moreno called out each of the survivors ’ names and each person stood .
All 50 Council members then spontaneously rose , faced the men , and applauded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apology directly at the standing survivors on behalf of the city .
As Darrell Cannon summed it up , torture reparations were “ something that sets a precedent that has never been done in the history of America .
Reparations given to Black men tortured by some white detectives .
It ’ s historic.
” The first order of business was to determine who was entitled to the $ 100,000 stipend .
The city agreed that most of the men on CTJM ’ s proposed list were entitled to compensation , but challenged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hearings before an arbitrator were conducted in those cases , and all but two of the men won their cases .
The money was distributed in early 2016 .
The Chicago Torture Justice Center was opened in Chicago ’ s Englewood neighborhood in 2017 .
Its important work includes providing professional counseling , supporting incarcerated and freed survivors , and doing educative work .
Survivors serve on the Center ’ s advisory board and work at the Center on fellowships .
The Center also coordinates a speakers ’ bureau for survivors to speak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 , representatives of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools ( CPS ) , standing together with then police superintendent Eddie Johnson and torture survivors Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes , announced the curriculum for teaching the history of Chicago police torture to CPS ’ s eighth- and tenth-grade classes .
After meeting resistance in some of the predominantly white neighborhoods where many Chicago police families lived , and from the reliably racist Fraternal Order of Police union , the curriculum began to be taught during the spring semester of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ program was and is the personal appearances of torture survivors at many of Chicago ’ s public schools .
Death row exoneree Ronald Kitchen spoke at Lincoln Park High while Darrell Cannon spoke to hundreds of students at Lane Tech .
Students were deeply moved by the presentations , making the connections to the racism and police violence in their own lives , while the survivors and their experiences were validated by the rapt attention of the students and their teachers , and the avalanche of letters that they received after they spoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sometimes I [ am ] at a loss for words when I see a lot of young people actually taking heed to the things that ’ s happening in our neighborhoods.
” A great deal of effort has also gone into the planning and design of a public memorial .
In June of 2019 , Chicago Torture Justice Memorials unveiled its proposed memorial — a round stone monument , created by local artists , that listed the names and dates of those tortured by Burge and officers under his command and also would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gather .
Former Mayor Emanuel did not set aside funds to build the memorial before he left office , and incoming Mayor Lori Lightfoot , despite saying almost a year ago that she “ feels strongly that in order to build a better future for Chicago , we must start by never forgetting its past — including the darkest chapters , ” and that “ we will review any and all proposals that honor the victims and survivors of injustice , ” has yet to commit any funds for the memorial ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to demand that the mayor make good on the city ’ s promise , while fighting against continuing police violence , for real community control of police , and , ultimately , for abolition of oppressive police occupation in communities of color .
Reparations as an Example The Chicago reparations movement offers a shining example to movements across the country , and in the past few years , activists in other cities have pursued their own calls for reparations .
In Little Rock , Arkansas , the family of Eugene Ellison , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together with the largest police violence settlement in Little Rock history , obtained an official apology from the city manager at a ceremony where a memorial bench was dedicated to Ellison .
In New Orleans , the City settled 17 police violence cases that were representative of the official lawlessness that reigned before , during and after Hurricane Katrina .
Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced the $ 13.3 million settlement at a press conference after a prayer meeting with the victims and families .
He hugged the mother of one of the slain victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he wanted to express “ how intensely sorry I am to the members of these families and to the people of the city of New Orleans for the actions that were taken during that fateful time , when these individuals were looking for people to protect and serve , and they got the exact opposite.
” In Greensboro , North Carolina , activists are seeking to place the 1979 Greensboro massacre of anti-Klan demonstrators in the school curriculum , and in Philadelphia , former mayor Wilson Goode has apologized for his ordering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ headquarters and is calling on the current administration to do likewise .
The passage of reparations for Chicago police torture was and is truly historic and will hopefully continue to be an example to activists nationally and around the world , demonstrating , in the words of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton , that if you dare to struggle , you dare to win .

This month, the movement against Chicago police violence celebrated the fifth anniversary of the passing of the historic reparations ordinance. Born out of more than three decades of legal and political struggle waged by an intergenerational and interracial movement comprised of torture survivors, their families and lawyers, activists and their organizations, and a handful of progressive journalists and politicians, the reparations package provided:
A full and public mayoral apology;
$100,000 payments to each of the approximately 60 living police torture survivors who had not received compensation from lawsuits;
A center where victims of police violence could meet and receive professional counseling;
Teaching of the history of police torture to students in the Chicago public schools;
Job training and free public college education for torture survivors and their families;
A public memorial dedicated to the survivors of police torture.
The History
Police torture, in the form of electric shock, suffocation with plastic bags and typewriter covers, mock executions, and brutal beatings with rubber hoses and nightsticks, most often to the genitals, accompanied by all manner of racist threats and insults, was brought to the southside of Chicago in 1972 by Jon Burge, a police detective, back from a tour as an interrogator in Vietnam. With a midnight crew of self-anointed “asskickers,” Burge terrorized more than 125 Black and Brown suspects with these tactics over the next two decades, obtaining confessions that sent their victims to prison and, in some cases, to death row. With willing accomplices at the highest levels of the police department, the state’s attorneys’ and mayor’s offices (most prominently Richard M. Daley), and the Cook County judiciary, and aided by an impenetrable code of silence, this official terrorism remained an open secret while Burge was rewarded with numerous promotions for his good work.
In 1989, the coverup began to unravel during the civil rights trial of Andrew Wilson, a particularly egregious victim of Burge and his men. After Wilson was picked up in 1982 for the alleged murder of two white police officers, Burge orchestrated a regimen of torture that included electric shock to Wilson’s ears, nose and genitals, burning on a hot steam radiator, bagging and beatings to obtain a confession which sent Wilson to death row. During the civil rights trial, an anonymous police source, later dubbed “Deep Badge,” contacted Wilson’s lawyers and detailed the depth and breadth of the systemic and racist torture regime. Armed with this roadmap, Wilson’s lawyers set out on a decades-long campaign to uncover and publicly expose this evidence.
Reparations Imagined
It was then that the concept of reparations was first suggested by one of the anti-torture organizations that had formed in the wake of the revelations made by Deep Badge. However, there were more immediate demands that were taken up by the movements and their lawyers for the next two decades, including the firing of Burge; new trials, exonerations, pardons and damage awards for some of the torture survivors, including five men previously on death row; Burge’s criminal prosecution; international recognition of Chicago police torture by the United Nations Committee Against Torture; and public hearings before the Chicago City Council and the Cook County Board.
Reparations Reimagined
During 2006 and 2007, Black People Against Police Torture, (BPAPT) and the National Conference of Black Lawyers demanded that Mayor Richard M. Daley apologize to all Chicago police torture survivors and provide financial compensation and psychological services to them, and conducted a series of town hall meetings to discuss these demands. BPAPT incorporated this relief into a proposed Reparations for Police Torture Victims Act, which called for the establishment of a center that would provide psychological treatment and vocational assistance, as well as community education and political advocacy, and for the appointment of an Innocence Inquiry Commission to investigate and determine credible claims of factual innocence from torture victims. These demands were later reasserted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and in 2009 the Illinois Legislature passed the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission Act, which established a commission to review incarcerated survivors’ claims of torture that arose under Burge’s command and to refer meritorious cases to the criminal courts for hearings on those claims.
Reparations Won
In June of 2010, Burge was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, primarily on the testimony of several torture survivors, and in January of 2011, he was sentenced to federal prison. Shortly thereafter, a group of artists and educators joined forces with activists and attorney Joey Mogul to form the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM). CTJM called on artists and activists to propose how they could memorialize the torture cases in order “to honor the survivors of torture, their family members, and the African-American communities affected by the torture.”
In June of 2019, Chicago unveiled its proposed memorial [for] those tortured by Burge and officers under his command. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has yet to commit any funds for the memorial’s construction.
The next year, CTJM presented a series of cultural and educative events and drafted the original Reparations Ordinance. Public demands for reparations, including a mayoral apology, were made when several lawsuits brought on behalf of exonerated survivors were settled, and in September of 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel reluctantly apologized to a reporter and said it was time to move on.
CTJM then revised the proposed ordinance to specifically include an official apology, a $20 million compensation fund, free education at Chicago City Colleges for all torture survivors and their families, and a center that would provide psychological counseling, health care services and vocational training. It also provided that the torture history would be taught in the Chicago Public Schools and the city would sponsor the construction of public torture memorials.
CTJM member Alice Kim then met with Alderman Joe Moreno, and obtained his political sponsorship for the proposed ordinance. In October of 2013, Moreno and fellow alderman Howard Brookins introduced CTJM’s Ordinance into the Council, and CTJM members subsequently obtained additional aldermanic support.
In April 2014, the reparations movement was strengthened by the entry of Amnesty International into a coalition led by CTJM. Amnesty helped to organize a rally, march and vigil where participants each carried a black flag, emblazoned with the name of a different one of the 119 known torture survivors. Each name was read and the corresponding flag was presented, with each flag holder then forming a line facing City Hall.
Later that year, other activist groups, including Project NIA, a grassroots organization devoted to ending the incarceration of children and young adults by promoting restorative and transformative justice practices, and We Charge Genocide, an intergenerational effort dedicated to centering the voices and experiences of the young people most targeted by police violence in Chicago, joined the coalition, adding creative leadership, energetic youth and an infusion of young people of color. The number of aldermanic sponsors grew as a result of the diligent work of CTJM, and a petition drive was initiated. Karen Lewis, the iconic president of the Chicago Teachers Union, announced her support.
In October 2014, outrage boiled up as Burge was released to a halfway house. At a CTJM sponsored press conference, participants called for the city council to finally hold a hearing on the ordinance while contrasting Burge’s release with a full pension to that of the survivors who had not received “one red cent.” The local NBC TV affiliate and the Chicago Sun-Times editorialized in favor of reparations, while Emanuel was reportedly “riding the fence” on the question.
The Chicago reparations movement offers a shining example to movements across the country, and in the past few years, activists in other cities have pursued their own calls for reparations.
Contemporaneously, CTJM and We Charge Genocide members appeared in Geneva before the UN’s Committee Against Torture, where they raised the issue of police torture reparations. A few weeks later, the committee recommended that the U.S. support the passage of the reparations ordinance.
Torture survivors Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes, joined by Marc Clements, and several mothers of imprisoned torture survivors, continued to be the face of the movement. In December, the coalition led a five-mile march to City Hall, where the marchers delivered petitions signed by nearly 45,000 people, to the Mayor’s office, and then protested in the hall.
As the February 2015 mayoral primary election approached, the effort to raise the profile of reparations intensified. CTJM now had a majority of the 50 alderpeople committed as sponsors, and a significant number of other politicians, aldermanic candidates and community organizations had also come aboard, as had progressive mayoral candidate Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Just before the election, the Reparations Movement held a Valentine’s Day rally attended by an overflow crowd. CTJM distributed a scorecard that recorded which politicians supported the ordinance, and those (including the mayor) who did not. Numerous attendees wore black T-shirts distributed by CTJM which had the Chicago flag — with a fifth star, black in color, added to represent the torture survivors — emblazoned on the front. Subsequent actions included a light display in front of the mayor’s house that spelled out “Reparations Now,” teach-ins, a city hall “sing-in,” Sunday church presentations, and demonstrations on city trains and outside of mayoral debates.
Soon after, Chicago Corporation Counsel Steve Patton requested a meeting with CTJM at which the city would present its plan for reparations. CTJM’s meeting team met with the city on several occasions throughout March and early April, with the main bone of contention being financial compensation. Ultimately, a compromise was struck so that each of the living survivors would receive $100,000.
On May 6, 2015, Alderman Moreno presented the reparations resolution and ordinance to the full City Council. Fifteen survivors and several mothers were in attendance. During his presentation, Moreno called out each of the survivors’ names and each person stood. All 50 Council members then spontaneously rose, faced the men, and applauded. Emanuel then delivered a powerful official apology directly at the standing survivors on behalf of the city.
As Darrell Cannon summed it up, torture reparations were “something that sets a precedent that has never been done in the history of America. Reparations given to Black men tortured by some white detectives. It’s historic.”
Implementation of the Ordinance
The first order of business was to determine who was entitled to the $100,000 stipend. The city agreed that most of the men on CTJM’s proposed list were entitled to compensation, but challenged a small number of them. Mini hearings before an arbitrator were conducted in those cases, and all but two of the men won their cases. The money was distributed in early 2016.
The Chicago Torture Justice Center was opened in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood in 2017. Its important work includes providing professional counseling, supporting incarcerated and freed survivors, and doing educative work. Survivors serve on the Center’s advisory board and work at the Center on fellowships. The Center also coordinates a speakers’ bureau for survivors to speak about their experiences.
In September of 2017, representatives of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), standing together with then police superintendent Eddie Johnson and torture survivors Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes, announced the curriculum for teaching the history of Chicago police torture to CPS’s eighth- and tenth-grade classes. After meeting resistance in some of the predominantly white neighborhoods where many Chicago police families lived, and from the reliably racist Fraternal Order of Police union, the curriculum began to be taught during the spring semester of 2018. A compelling feature of the program was and is the personal appearances of torture survivors at many of Chicago’s public schools. Death row exoneree Ronald Kitchen spoke at Lincoln Park High while Darrell Cannon spoke to hundreds of students at Lane Tech. Students were deeply moved by the presentations, making the connections to the racism and police violence in their own lives, while the survivors and their experiences were validated by the rapt attention of the students and their teachers, and the avalanche of letters that they received after they spoke. As Kitchen put it, “Sometimes I [am] at a loss for words when I see a lot of young people actually taking heed to the things that’s happening in our neighborhoods.”
A great deal of effort has also gone into the planning and design of a public memorial. In June of 2019, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials unveiled its proposed memorial — a round stone monument, created by local artists, that listed the names and dates of those tortured by Burge and officers under his command and also would provide a public space where people could gather. Former Mayor Emanuel did not set aside funds to build the memorial before he left office, and incoming Mayor Lori Lightfoot, despite saying almost a year ago that she “feels strongly that in order to build a better future for Chicago, we must start by never forgetting its past — including the darkest chapters,” and that “we will review any and all proposals that honor the victims and survivors of injustice,” has yet to commit any funds for the memorial’s construction.
Meanwhile, Chicago activists continue to demand that the mayor make good on the city’s promise, while fighting against continuing police violence, for real community control of police, and, ultimately, for abolition of oppressive police occupation in communities of color.
Reparations as an Example
The Chicago reparations movement offers a shining example to movements across the country, and in the past few years, activists in other cities have pursued their own calls for reparations. In Little Rock, Arkansas, the family of Eugene Ellison, a man fatally shot by the police, together with the largest police violence settlement in Little Rock history, obtained an official apology from the city manager at a ceremony where a memorial bench was dedicated to Ellison. In New Orleans, the City settled 17 police violence cases that were representative of the official lawlessness that reigned before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced the $13.3 million settlement at a press conference after a prayer meeting with the victims and families. He hugged the mother of one of the slain victims and issued an emotional apology, saying that he wanted to express “how intensely sorry I am to the members of these families and to the people of the city of New Orleans for the actions that were taken during that fateful time, when these individuals were looking for people to protect and serve, and they got the exact opposite.” In Greensboro, North Carolina, activists are seeking to place the 1979 Greensboro massacre of anti-Klan demonstrators in the school curriculum, and in Philadelphia, former mayor Wilson Goode has apologized for his ordering of the deadly 1985 bombing of MOVE headquarters and is calling on the current administration to do likewise.
The passage of reparations for Chicago police torture was and is truly historic and will hopefully continue to be an example to activists nationally and around the world, demonstrating, in the words of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton, that if you dare to struggle, you dare to win.
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truthout--2020-05-22--We Can’t Afford to Be Bystanders During a Pandemic, Says Activist Linda Sarsour

Linda Sarsour has become one of the most celebrated intersectional movement leaders to disrupt the economic , political and racist paradigms in the United States .
Her memoir , released in March 2020 , profiles how a young Palestinian American Brooklynite would later become the co-chair of the 2017 Women ’ s March on Washington and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York .
In this interview , Sarsour draws on lessons learned from a post-9/11 era that unjustly targeted Muslim American individuals and families , and reimagines organizing and collective social action in a global pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our society .
Laura Flanders : Your community has been in virtual lockdown before … [ in ] the period right after 9/11 .
Is this moment triggering stuff for people where you are ?
Linda Sarsour : Absolutely .
I mean , as a New Yorker , the sirens and being part of a community that not only was directly impacted by 9/11 as any other New Yorkers were , we then had to feel the aftermath of becoming the suspect community , somehow being connected to something that had nothing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same ominous darkness that I felt immediately after the horrific attacks of 9/11 — and for many Muslims , as you know , Muslim women decided not to go out , to go to the grocery store .
Many of them would not even take their children to school for the first maybe week or two after 9/11 because the bottom line was , it wasn ’ t safe for many of us , and many , particularly immigrant women in our community who did not feel safe wearing hijab and going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of sense because going out to the grocery store for essential items , I ’ m covering my face and it ’ s interesting , as you know , around the world there have been policies targeting Muslim women in particular who wear niqabs , who cover their face [ who are talked about as ] security threats , and now we ’ re in a global pandemic and we ’ re encouraging people to cover their faces and so it ’ s just the irony , it ’ s all really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moments that crystallized some truths for you .
Have you had any recently ?
[ Has ] this pandemic been a moment of any “ this is it ” kind of moments ?
Absolutely .
I mean , as you know , during the pandemic [ and ] the suspension of the Bernie Sanders campaign , people are not accessing hospitals because they ’ re worried about their health care bills that will come after .
The crystallization for me has become to be even more unapologetic and to fight harder than I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ All .
No more negotiating , no more working within the system , no more trying to be rational and appeasing those that are in power .
How are you thinking about this contact tracing , plotting who people have contacted , perhaps using technology in the name of public health ?
Knowing that my community ( in particular ) and even Black people and those who are not Black Muslims know from COINTELPRO and know from other times in our history of government tracking , surveillance and technological surveillance that it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We have to figure out a way with some of the champions in places like Congress and allies and those , even libertarians and others , how we ’ re going to band together to say we can support elements that are going to address this pandemic directly .
But what happens to the information that has absolutely nothing to do with the pandemic ?
Is that expunged ?
Where is that stored ?
Where is it not stored ?
And so , we have to , as the American people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and you know this , Laura , from history — the American people don ’ t ask questions .
They watched the internment of the Japanese ; they have watched the exclusion of the Chinese .
They have watched us build up policies and they take the government ’ s word for it .
And I want you to know that I ’ m part of a generation that will not take the government ’ s word for it , that we are going [ to ] ask questions and demand accountability .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the Women ’ s March because I want to talk about the demands of the Women ’ s March and what might have been different about our moment now had those demands been paid as much attention to as the controversies that followed the march .
I think for me , Laura , as a Muslim American and for Tamika [ Mallory ] as an African American woman , we found ourselves at the highest platform in this country on that 2017 Women ’ s March .
And we were very powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political capital .
The bottom line is our opposition was not going to let us just fly by .
They were going to find ways to try to discredit us , to invalidate the work that we were doing .
And as you know , historically — particularly to Muslim Americans and to Palestinian Americans — accusations of anti-Semitism or the weaponization of anti-Semitism has been used quite often and it had been used against me in the past , so I was not surprised .
And I think the addition of Tamika @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Day , which is as you know , an annual event of the Nation of Islam , refueled that and reinforced the accusations that many were labeling us with .
And what I say to people is that every community has different experiences , and the Women ’ s March and our leadership at the time immediately rejected the anti-Semitism and homophobia and misogyny that comes from the minister Louis Farrakhan .
But we also had to recognize and teach white women in particular that the relationship that Black people have with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same relationship that white people have to them .
And so , what we learned is that there has to be a lot more learning to do , that we can not organize in this country , we can not build a movement in this country without understanding where we come from , who our , quote , people are .
And unfortunately , people try to impose on us [ who ] our people should be and who our people should not .
And so , the lesson learned is not that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think that there just needs to be more conversation and more courageous conversation .
And one of the things I did learn , and I ’ ve been teaching white women in particular across the country , is that unity is not uniformity .
I ’ m not trying to be part of a movement where we are all the same and we ’ re all [ believing ] the same things , because it ’ s not possible .
Talk about your mentor Basemah Atweh , your “ second mom , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legendary community organizer .
What would she be doing in this moment when it ’ s hard to do community organizing in the way that she did it ?
How do we do it ?
How are you doing it ?
Basemah taught me always ; she said , “ You can not go to bed knowing that your neighbors are hungry .
You can not go to bed knowing that there ’ s someone in your midst that needs you and you are able to offer a service and you are not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this time , that ’ s the kind of organizing and the limited organizing that I ’ ve been able to do .
Just to make sure that I still have that spirit inside of me , that that flame inside of me doesn ’ t go away .
And that means building those relationships and telling somebody , “ I got you .
Here ’ s my number .
Whatever you need , I ’ m here for you.
” And I do that in my neighborhood .
I wrote little notes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because there ’ s a lot of old people on my block , here in Bay Ridge , and I said to them , “ I ’ m your neighbor , here ’ s where I live , this is my number .
If you need anything , just let me know.
” And that ’ s how simple organizing is .
It ’ s just letting somebody know that I got your back and I ’ m here for you .
Basemah Atweh , may she rest in peace .
She passed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mentioned grandmothers .
Yours lived in your family ’ s Palestinian village in Al-Bireh .
What do you carry with you from that village and how do you carry Palestine [ and ] foreign policy in your heart ?
Absolutely .
I mean , that ’ s one of the major reasons why I ’ ve been a target of the right wing and particularly right-wing Zionists — because I do carry Palestine with me everywhere I go .
It ’ s who I am and I do it for my grandmothers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Palestine.… I am a manifestation of their story and my grandmothers were born before the creation of the state of Israel .
There was a story before the state of Israel , and I ’ m able to tell that story because I am a descendant of people who lived and co-existed with Christians and Jews before there was ever a state .
And so I tell that story and I ’ m able to challenge Zionism .
I ’ m able to challenge the longstanding foreign policy of the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Medicare for All , Laura , what I tell people is , “ Here you are fighting for health care .
Just this idea that health care is a human right and you ’ re fighting for that in America in the land of abundance.
” Well , we have trillions of dollars that we send the state of Israel in military aid that is used to occupy the Palestinian people who are me .
And so our allies in the movement , they look at me and they say , “ Well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s not right.
” When I look , when I work on issues of policing — we know that the U.S. police forces across the country go to Israel to be trained .
They are getting their training from Israeli state police and so I get to make the connections between the type of stop-and-frisk policies that we see that are implemented against the people of Palestine .
When I would talk about the prison-industrial complex , and you think about corporations like G4S — which not only imprisons Black and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in America , they also imprison people in Palestine and are profiting there .
So I am able to show up in the movement as an intersectional leader that basically teaches people that our liberation as Americans and our domestic policies intertwine with people all over the world , including in Palestine .
And that is the threat to the opposition .
To shift the status quo is going to require a lot of people taking a lot of unpopular stands .
What can you teach us about dealing with people ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of experience .
I have been in a position , a very unique position as an organizer .
I ’ ve received the wrath of everyone from the right all the way to the left and everybody in between .
And my thing is this : I have convictions , I have values , I have principles and I stick to them .
I do not cower to whoever likes me and whoever doesn ’ t like me .
And if you don ’ t have enemies in this work , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it right .
And that ’ s how I know .
When everybody ’ s pleased with me , I have to go back and reflect because I ’ m doing something wrong .
So I ’ m prepared for the opposition , all types of opposition , and I hope others are , because really , our lives depend on it .
Linda , thank you so very much .
This interview has been edited for clarity and length .

Linda Sarsour has become one of the most celebrated intersectional movement leaders to disrupt the economic, political and racist paradigms in the United States. Her memoir, released in March 2020, profiles how a young Palestinian American Brooklynite would later become the co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.
In this interview, Sarsour draws on lessons learned from a post-9/11 era that unjustly targeted Muslim American individuals and families, and reimagines organizing and collective social action in a global pandemic that is reshaping the very nature of our society.
Laura Flanders: Your community has been in virtual lockdown before … [in] the period right after 9/11. Is this moment triggering stuff for people where you are?
Linda Sarsour: Absolutely. I mean, as a New Yorker, the sirens and being part of a community that not only was directly impacted by 9/11 as any other New Yorkers were, we then had to feel the aftermath of becoming the suspect community, somehow being connected to something that had nothing to do with us. So I feel the same ominous darkness that I felt immediately after the horrific attacks of 9/11 — and for many Muslims, as you know, Muslim women decided not to go out, to go to the grocery store. Many of them would not even take their children to school for the first maybe week or two after 9/11 because the bottom line was, it wasn’t safe for many of us, and many, particularly immigrant women in our community who did not feel safe wearing hijab and going out.
Now I feel a different kind of sense because going out to the grocery store for essential items, I’m covering my face and it’s interesting, as you know, around the world there have been policies targeting Muslim women in particular who wear niqabs, who cover their face [who are talked about as] security threats, and now we’re in a global pandemic and we’re encouraging people to cover their faces and so it’s just the irony, it’s all really confusing.
Your book is packed with moments that crystallized some truths for you. Have you had any recently? [Has] this pandemic been a moment of any “this is it” kind of moments?
Absolutely. I mean, as you know, during the pandemic [and] the suspension of the Bernie Sanders campaign, people are not accessing hospitals because they’re worried about their health care bills that will come after. The crystallization for me has become to be even more unapologetic and to fight harder than I ever have for things like Medicare for All. No more negotiating, no more working within the system, no more trying to be rational and appeasing those that are in power.
How are you thinking about this contact tracing, plotting who people have contacted, perhaps using technology in the name of public health?
Knowing that my community (in particular) and even Black people and those who are not Black Muslims know from COINTELPRO and know from other times in our history of government tracking, surveillance and technological surveillance that it is going to infringe on our civil liberties. We have to figure out a way with some of the champions in places like Congress and allies and those, even libertarians and others, how we’re going to band together to say we can support elements that are going to address this pandemic directly.
I’m part of a generation that will not take the government’s word for it, that we are going [to] ask questions and demand accountability.
But what happens to the information that has absolutely nothing to do with the pandemic? Is that expunged? Where is that stored? Where is it not stored? And so, we have to, as the American people, ask these questions. And oftentimes — and you know this, Laura, from history — the American people don’t ask questions. They watched the internment of the Japanese; they have watched the exclusion of the Chinese. They have watched us build up policies and they take the government’s word for it. And I want you to know that I’m part of a generation that will not take the government’s word for it, that we are going [to] ask questions and demand accountability.
Let’s talk for a minute about the Women’s March because I want to talk about the demands of the Women’s March and what might have been different about our moment now had those demands been paid as much attention to as the controversies that followed the march.
I think for me, Laura, as a Muslim American and for Tamika [Mallory] as an African American woman, we found ourselves at the highest platform in this country on that 2017 Women’s March. And we were very powerful, we had amassed a lot of political capital. The bottom line is our opposition was not going to let us just fly by. They were going to find ways to try to discredit us, to invalidate the work that we were doing. And as you know, historically — particularly to Muslim Americans and to Palestinian Americans — accusations of anti-Semitism or the weaponization of anti-Semitism has been used quite often and it had been used against me in the past, so I was not surprised.
And I think the addition of Tamika Mallory’s presence at our Saviours’ Day, which is as you know, an annual event of the Nation of Islam, refueled that and reinforced the accusations that many were labeling us with. And what I say to people is that every community has different experiences, and the Women’s March and our leadership at the time immediately rejected the anti-Semitism and homophobia and misogyny that comes from the minister Louis Farrakhan. But we also had to recognize and teach white women in particular that the relationship that Black people have with the nation of Islam is not the same relationship that white people have to them.
And so, what we learned is that there has to be a lot more learning to do, that we cannot organize in this country, we cannot build a movement in this country without understanding where we come from, who our, quote, people are. And unfortunately, people try to impose on us [who] our people should be and who our people should not. And so, the lesson learned is not that there’s any regret; I think that there just needs to be more conversation and more courageous conversation. And one of the things I did learn, and I’ve been teaching white women in particular across the country, is that unity is not uniformity. I’m not trying to be part of a movement where we are all the same and we’re all [believing] the same things, because it’s not possible.
Talk about your mentor Basemah Atweh, your “second mom,” I think you call her, a legendary community organizer. What would she be doing in this moment when it’s hard to do community organizing in the way that she did it? How do we do it? How are you doing it?
Basemah taught me always; she said, “You cannot go to bed knowing that your neighbors are hungry. You cannot go to bed knowing that there’s someone in your midst that needs you and you are able to offer a service and you are not doing that.” And so, in this time, that’s the kind of organizing and the limited organizing that I’ve been able to do. Just to make sure that I still have that spirit inside of me, that that flame inside of me doesn’t go away.
We cannot organize in this country, we cannot build a movement in this country without understanding where we come from.
And that means building those relationships and telling somebody, “I got you. Here’s my number. Whatever you need, I’m here for you.” And I do that in my neighborhood. I wrote little notes and I set them in the mailboxes because there’s a lot of old people on my block, here in Bay Ridge, and I said to them, “I’m your neighbor, here’s where I live, this is my number. If you need anything, just let me know.” And that’s how simple organizing is. It’s just letting somebody know that I got your back and I’m here for you. Basemah Atweh, may she rest in peace. She passed away May 6, 2005.
You mentioned grandmothers. Yours lived in your family’s Palestinian village in Al-Bireh. What do you carry with you from that village and how do you carry Palestine [and] foreign policy in your heart?
Absolutely. I mean, that’s one of the major reasons why I’ve been a target of the right wing and particularly right-wing Zionists — because I do carry Palestine with me everywhere I go. It’s who I am and I do it for my grandmothers and my great, great, great grandmothers in Palestine.… I am a manifestation of their story and my grandmothers were born before the creation of the state of Israel. There was a story before the state of Israel, and I’m able to tell that story because I am a descendant of people who lived and co-existed with Christians and Jews before there was ever a state.
And so I tell that story and I’m able to challenge Zionism. I’m able to challenge the longstanding foreign policy of the United States of America. When I fight for Medicare for All, Laura, what I tell people is, “Here you are fighting for health care. Just this idea that health care is a human right and you’re fighting for that in America in the land of abundance.” Well, we have trillions of dollars that we send the state of Israel in military aid that is used to occupy the Palestinian people who are me. And so our allies in the movement, they look at me and they say, “Well, that’s not okay. That’s not right.” When I look, when I work on issues of policing — we know that the U.S. police forces across the country go to Israel to be trained.
If you don’t have enemies in this work, then you’re just not doing it right.
They are getting their training from Israeli state police and so I get to make the connections between the type of stop-and-frisk policies that we see that are implemented against the people of Palestine. When I would talk about the prison-industrial complex, and you think about corporations like G4S — which not only imprisons Black and Brown people and profits off of them in America, they also imprison people in Palestine and are profiting there.
So I am able to show up in the movement as an intersectional leader that basically teaches people that our liberation as Americans and our domestic policies intertwine with people all over the world, including in Palestine. And that is the threat to the opposition.
To shift the status quo is going to require a lot of people taking a lot of unpopular stands. What can you teach us about dealing with people’s attacks? Because you’ve got a lot of experience.
I have been in a position, a very unique position as an organizer. I’ve received the wrath of everyone from the right all the way to the left and everybody in between. And my thing is this: I have convictions, I have values, I have principles and I stick to them. I do not cower to whoever likes me and whoever doesn’t like me. And if you don’t have enemies in this work, then you’re just not doing it right. And that’s how I know. When everybody’s pleased with me, I have to go back and reflect because I’m doing something wrong. So I’m prepared for the opposition, all types of opposition, and I hope others are, because really, our lives depend on it.
Linda, thank you so very much.
Thank you.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-05-23--Homelessness Could Rise 45 Percent in One Year Due to Unemployment Crisis

The rash of layoffs sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and statewide lockdowns are expected to increase homelessness by up to 45 % , according to a new analysis by an economist at Columbia University .
The analysis estimates that about 250,000 people could be left homeless as a result of skyrocketing unemployment .
The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were 568,000 homeless people in the country in January , before the outbreak .
Dr. Brendan O ’ Flaherty , a professor of economics who has studied homelessness for decades and conducted the analysis , said the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ No one living has seen an increase of 10 % of unemployment in a month , ” he said .
O ’ Flaherty ’ s model relied on homelessness data in an earlier study published by the Journal of Housing Economics in 2017 , which found that every 1 % increase to the unemployment rate corresponded with the homelessness rate rising by 0.65 per 10,000 people .
The analysis used unemployment projections from the Economic Policy Institute , which predicted a 15.6 % rate by July , and the Congressional Budget Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment rate by the summer .
“ If the projections of unemployment being made now turn out to be accurate , and the relationship between unemployment and homelessness follows the historical pattern , and no other major changes occur , that ’ s what we can expect to happen , ” O ’ Flaherty said .
But the unemployment rate could be far worse than those projections predict .
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate hit 14.7 % in April , a level unseen since the Great Depression .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as another 2.4 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims this week — suggesting that the economic shock caused by the virus is far from over .
More than 38 million people have now filed for unemployment since the lockdowns began in March , representing nearly a quarter of the nation ’ s entire workforce .
In California , which already has the largest homeless population in the United States , Gov .
Gavin Newsom said the state projects the unemployment rate to hit 24.5 % this year .
The job losses have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well below the national average .
“ Among people who were working in February , almost 40 % of those in households making less than $ 40,000 a year had lost a job in March , ” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week , citing a Fed survey .
“ This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words , as lives are upended amid great uncertainty about the future.
” A rising homelessness rate will exacerbate the health crisis , since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which to isolate .
“ We ’ re supposed to shelter at home .
We ’ re supposed to wash our hands , ” O ’ Flaherty told the Los Angeles Times .
“ We ’ re supposed to do all these things the homeless people can ’ t do .
It ’ s not only a tragedy for the people involved .
It ’ s a way of feeding the COVID fire a little bit more.
” O ’ Flaherty ’ s analysis dovetails with what homelessness advocates are already seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re going to see a huge rise in displacement , homelessness , evictions — people who are already on the border , who are going to be stretched to the limit , ” Andrea Henson , the lead organizer of the homeless outreach group Where do we go ?
Berkeley , told the San Jose Mercury News .
Congress has spent billions to boost unemployment benefits and help small businesses continue to pay their employees through the Paycheck Protection Program .
But many small businesses , and the vast majority of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aid .
Many laid-off workers have had difficulty navigating state unemployment systems that have been overwhelmed by claims .
Republican lawmakers are already planning to cut off federal unemployment benefits when they expire in July — even though the latest unemployment claims show that the problem has not gone away even as all 50 states move to reopen .
House Democrats approved a $ 3 trillion bill last week that would extend the unemployment benefits , boost funding for minority-owned businesses , and provide $ 100 billion in emergency rental assistance .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to homelessness prevention programs and $ 75 billion to help homeowners pay off mortgages .
Republicans said they are not interested in discussing another phase of relief until well into June and said the Democrats ’ bill was “ dead on arrival ” in the Senate .
States like New York and cities like Los Angeles have announced eviction moratoriums but these are expected to expire within months .
“ There will be a day of accounting , ” Dan Flaming , the head of the Economic Roundtable , a Los Angeles-based nonprofit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ When someone has three or four months rent due , what happens then ?
” Flaming said there is clearly a “ powerful connection between unemployment and homelessness ” but the full effect won ’ t be felt for some time .
“ People do everything in their power to hang on to shelter and complete destitution is a lagging outcome , ” he said .
“ Recovery from complete destitution lags even more , so the increases in homelessness that we see are likely to be with us for a while.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Columbia University analysis projects , it could have devastating results in the fall , when researchers expect a second wave of coronavirus infections to hit .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the coronavirus spread aggressively through homeless shelters in major cities , especially those with severe outbreaks , according to a report published last month .
Researchers found that homeless shelters that reported as little as two coronavirus cases in the preceding two weeks saw up to 66 % of residents and 30 % of staff infected .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in shelters is similar to those in nursing homes or prisons , ” Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes , chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women ’ s Hospital in Boston , told Reuters .
“ The findings are … another example of how the epidemic has highlighted our shortcomings in terms of being able to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens .
”

A new study estimates that about 250,000 people could be left homeless as a result of layoffs in the wake of COVID-19.
The rash of layoffs sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and statewide lockdowns are expected to increase homelessness by up to 45%, according to a new analysis by an economist at Columbia University.
The analysis estimates that about 250,000 people could be left homeless as a result of skyrocketing unemployment. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were 568,000 homeless people in the country in January, before the outbreak.
Dr. Brendan O’Flaherty, a professor of economics who has studied homelessness for decades and conducted the analysis, said the projected rise would be “unprecedented.”
“No one living has seen an increase of 10% of unemployment in a month,” he said.
O’Flaherty’s model relied on homelessness data in an earlier study published by the Journal of Housing Economics in 2017, which found that every 1% increase to the unemployment rate corresponded with the homelessness rate rising by 0.65 per 10,000 people. The analysis used unemployment projections from the Economic Policy Institute, which predicted a 15.6% rate by July, and the Congressional Budget Office, which similarly projected a 16% unemployment rate by the summer.
“If the projections of unemployment being made now turn out to be accurate, and the relationship between unemployment and homelessness follows the historical pattern, and no other major changes occur, that’s what we can expect to happen,” O’Flaherty said.
But the unemployment rate could be far worse than those projections predict. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, a level unseen since the Great Depression. That number hardly tells the whole story, as another 2.4 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims this week — suggesting that the economic shock caused by the virus is far from over.
More than 38 million people have now filed for unemployment since the lockdowns began in March, representing nearly a quarter of the nation’s entire workforce.
In California, which already has the largest homeless population in the United States, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state projects the unemployment rate to hit 24.5% this year.
The job losses have been worst among workers who already earned well below the national average.
“Among people who were working in February, almost 40% of those in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week, citing a Fed survey. “This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words, as lives are upended amid great uncertainty about the future.”
A rising homelessness rate will exacerbate the health crisis, since many will be left without a home in which to isolate.
“We’re supposed to shelter at home. We’re supposed to wash our hands,” O’Flaherty told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re supposed to do all these things the homeless people can’t do. It’s not only a tragedy for the people involved. It’s a way of feeding the COVID fire a little bit more.”
O’Flaherty’s analysis dovetails with what homelessness advocates are already seeing on the ground.
“I think we’re going to see a huge rise in displacement, homelessness, evictions — people who are already on the border, who are going to be stretched to the limit,” Andrea Henson, the lead organizer of the homeless outreach group Where do we go? Berkeley, told the San Jose Mercury News.
Congress has spent billions to boost unemployment benefits and help small businesses continue to pay their employees through the Paycheck Protection Program. But many small businesses, and the vast majority of minority-owned businesses, have been left without aid. Many laid-off workers have had difficulty navigating state unemployment systems that have been overwhelmed by claims. Republican lawmakers are already planning to cut off federal unemployment benefits when they expire in July — even though the latest unemployment claims show that the problem has not gone away even as all 50 states move to reopen.
House Democrats approved a $3 trillion bill last week that would extend the unemployment benefits, boost funding for minority-owned businesses, and provide $100 billion in emergency rental assistance. The bill would also allocate $11.5 billion to homelessness prevention programs and $75 billion to help homeowners pay off mortgages.
Republicans said they are not interested in discussing another phase of relief until well into June and said the Democrats’ bill was “dead on arrival” in the Senate.
States like New York and cities like Los Angeles have announced eviction moratoriums but these are expected to expire within months.
“There will be a day of accounting,” Dan Flaming, the head of the Economic Roundtable, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, told the Los Angeles Times. “When someone has three or four months rent due, what happens then?”
Flaming said there is clearly a “powerful connection between unemployment and homelessness” but the full effect won’t be felt for some time.
“People do everything in their power to hang on to shelter and complete destitution is a lagging outcome,” he said. “Recovery from complete destitution lags even more, so the increases in homelessness that we see are likely to be with us for a while.”
If homelessness skyrockets by mid-summer as the Columbia University analysis projects, it could have devastating results in the fall, when researchers expect a second wave of coronavirus infections to hit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the coronavirus spread aggressively through homeless shelters in major cities, especially those with severe outbreaks, according to a report published last month. Researchers found that homeless shelters that reported as little as two coronavirus cases in the preceding two weeks saw up to 66% of residents and 30% of staff infected.
“In some respects, the issue in shelters is similar to those in nursing homes or prisons,” Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Reuters. “The findings are … another example of how the epidemic has highlighted our shortcomings in terms of being able to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-05-23--Cuomo Denounced for Order Sending Thousands of COVID Patients to Nursing Homes

New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo is facing new criticism after the Associated Press reported Friday that a state directive led to over 4,300 still recovering coronavirus patients being sent to New York ’ s “ already vulnerable nursing homes.
” “ It was a death sentence , ” tweeted Daniel Choi , a doctor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell .
He called the directive a “ horrendous idea ” and “ definitely not something any doctor taking care of nursing home patients would have signed off on.
” The state health department directive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homes from requiring patients deemed “ medically stable ” from being tested for COVID-19 prior to admission .
Cuomo , a Democrat , rescinded the order May 10 , but not before thousands of infected patients likely entered nursing homes and contributed to the coronavirus ’ s spread .
The estimated number tallied by the AP amounts to what would have been a “ big and indefensible problem for facilities , ” the outlet reported .
“ It was the single dumbest decision anyone could make if they wanted to kill people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which prompted him to pull his 88-year-old father out of a Brooklyn nursing home where more than 50 people have died .
His father later died of Covid-19 at home .
“ This isn ’ t rocket science , ” Arbeeny said .
“ We knew the most vulnerable—the elderly and compromised—are in nursing homes and rehab centers.
” CBS New York reported Friday that the conoravirus has taken the lives of almost 5 % of nursing home residents in the state , and this week the Cuomo tried to deflect blame @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes ?
” asked Cuomo .
“ It ’ s because the state followed President Trump ’ s CDC guidelines .
So they should ask President Trump.
” In an op-ed at the Guardian on Wednesday questioning the recent accolades heaped on the New York governor — including suggestions that Cuomo run for president—journalists Lyta Gold and Nathan Robinson of Current Affairs magazine write that “ Cuomo should be one of the most loathed officials in America right now .
“ Gold and Robinson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s high death toll from the virus should sit largely with Cuomo .
“ Federal failures played a role , of course , but this tragedy was absolutely due , in part , to decisions by the governor , ” they wrote , citing as examples his failure to take swift action , delays in imposing social distancing measures , Medicaid cuts both before and after the start of the pandemic , and his partnership with Silicon Valley billionaires to “ reimagine education.
” “ This is the problem : for too long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ whether they are better than Republicans , ’ wrote Gold and Robinson .
“ This sets the bar very low indeed , and means that Democrats end up settling for incompetent and amoral leaders who betray progressive values again and again .
”

Republicans and the Trump administration are not the only ones to blame for unnecessary deaths during the pandemic.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing new criticism after the Associated Press reported Friday that a state directive led to over 4,300 still recovering coronavirus patients being sent to New York’s “already vulnerable nursing homes.”
“It was a death sentence,” tweeted Daniel Choi, a doctor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He called the directive a “horrendous idea” and “definitely not something any doctor taking care of nursing home patients would have signed off on.”
The state health department directive, issued March 25, barred nursing homes from requiring patients deemed “medically stable” from being tested for COVID-19 prior to admission. Cuomo, a Democrat, rescinded the order May 10, but not before thousands of infected patients likely entered nursing homes and contributed to the coronavirus’s spread.
The estimated number tallied by the AP amounts to what would have been a “big and indefensible problem for facilities,” the outlet reported.
From the AP:
“It was the single dumbest decision anyone could make if they wanted to kill people,” Daniel Arbeeny said of the directive, which prompted him to pull his 88-year-old father out of a Brooklyn nursing home where more than 50 people have died. His father later died of Covid-19 at home. “This isn’t rocket science,” Arbeeny said. “We knew the most vulnerable—the elderly and compromised—are in nursing homes and rehab centers.”
CBS New York reported Friday that the conoravirus has taken the lives of almost 5% of nursing home residents in the state, and this week the Cuomo tried to deflect blame for the directive.
“Why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes?” asked Cuomo. “It’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC guidelines. So they should ask President Trump.”
In an op-ed at the Guardian on Wednesday questioning the recent accolades heaped on the New York governor — including suggestions that Cuomo run for president—journalists Lyta Gold and Nathan Robinson of Current Affairs magazine write that “Cuomo should be one of the most loathed officials in America right now. “
Gold and Robinson argue that blame for New York’s high death toll from the virus should sit largely with Cuomo.
“Federal failures played a role, of course, but this tragedy was absolutely due, in part, to decisions by the governor,” they wrote, citing as examples his failure to take swift action, delays in imposing social distancing measures, Medicaid cuts both before and after the start of the pandemic, and his partnership with Silicon Valley billionaires to “reimagine education.”
“This is the problem: for too long, Democrats have measured their politicians by ‘whether they are better than Republicans,’ wrote Gold and Robinson. “This sets the bar very low indeed, and means that Democrats end up settling for incompetent and amoral leaders who betray progressive values again and again.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
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truthout--2020-05-23--Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing

A shadowy right-wing nonprofit is helping coordinate coronavirus response strategy and promoting the lockdown protests .
Working alongside close allies that have helped coordinate the protests , including Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks , Council for National Policy Action ( CNP Action ) has been hosting conference calls and publishing action memos around reopening states ’ economies .
CNP Action is the 501 ( c ) ( 4 ) nonprofit affiliate of the Council for National Policy ( CNP ) , a coalition of far-right political advocacy and think tank figures that has worked largely behind the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNP ’ s membership includes conservative Republicans and right-wing extremists who work together to shape policy .
Trump allies , including senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and former chief adviser Steve Bannon , were CNP members as of 2014 .
Trump ’ s lawyer Jay Sekulow has also been a member , according to a recently published book by Anne Nelson .
Since last month , CNP Action has hosted weekly conference calls to coordinate coronavirus response tactics .
The first call featured Moore , who founded the Committee to Unleash Prosperity , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Al Regnery , chairman of CNP ’ s Conservative Action Project and the cousin of prominent white nationalist William Regnery .
Moore has called the lockdown protesters “ the modern-day Rosa Parks ” for “ protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties.
” The email announcing the second call , which featured ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson and State Policy Network CEO Tracie Sharp , links to information about an April 21 car protest at the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery , organized by the anti-LGBTQ group Eagle Forum .
The forum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Schlafly , was a CNP member , and several current staffers are part of the CNP-connected “ Save Our Country Task Force.
” The announcement directed readers to the private Facebook page of the group ReOpen PA , which was one of three groups that organized an April 20 lockdown protest at the Pennsylvania state capitol .
The other two groups ’ Facebook pages have been deactivated .
In an announcement of the third call , CNP Action directs allies to send links to op-eds , articles , and social media posts to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the group is involved in CNP ’ s organizing efforts .
“ The Save Our Country Task Force will send it out for others in the coalition to share and cross-promote for a multiplying effect , ” the announcement says .
“ We need to share the stories of people who have been affected by the lockdowns , to show that we must be concerned with both sides of this crisis , ” states the Tea Party Patriots Action website .
The Save Our Country Task Force is an overlapping group , tied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaired by Trump economic adviser Art Laffer and includes Moore and CNP ’ s president Bill Walton , a trustee of the Heritage Foundation , in its leadership .
Laffer sits on ALEC ’ s Board of Scholars and co-authors ALEC ’ s annual “ Rich States , Poor States ” publication with Moore .
Last year , Trump gave Laffer , a former Ronald Reagan adviser and a supply-side economics evangelist , a Presidential Medal of Freedom .
On the May 4 call , Robert Alt of the Charles Koch-funded Buckeye Institute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online .
An announcement for the fourth weekly CNP Action call links to the ReOpen PA Facebook page as well as to a “ Zoom Grassroots Briefing on # ReOpenAmerica with Steve Moore and [ conservative pollster ] Scott Rasmussen.
” Moore and FreedomWorks have been helping coordinate on-the-ground lockdown protests .
The announcement links to the Open the States website , a project of Convention of States Action , which has also helped coordinate protests .
“ Check out the Open the States online community to connect with other Americans concerned about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities and liberties , ” it states .
The call took place on May 11 and featured Mercedes Schlapp , a lobbyist and senior advisor to Donald Trump ’ s campaign , and her husband , Matt Schlapp , a lobbyist and the head of the American Conservative Union .
No one mentioned the protests , but the speakers disputed the severity of the coronavirus .
In one exchange , Walton and the Schlapps tried to downplay the risks of the deadly virus .
WALTON , introducing a caller ’ s question : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the science rolls out , that there are tens of millions more people infected with this virus than previously imagined… .
It ’ s decidedly reduced the lethality of it .
MERCEDES SCHLAPP : …I think that the reality is , is that when they looked at the modeling…it depends what assumptions you put into the modeling to see , and so I think the thing is , let ’ s go from millions of deaths to having more like , if you can get it down to not millions of deaths we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SCHLAPP : …Even if you ’ re in some of these really , really serious demographic categories , the survival rate is so high , so we should feel optimistic about it instead of pessimistic .
The call largely revolved around what the Trump campaign is doing to win the election in the face of the current crisis .
CNP did not respond to a request for comment .
Extremists at the Center for National Policy The Southern Poverty Law Center published a leaked full roster of CNP from 2014 , which identified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprising , not so much for the conservatives who dominate it , ” wrote Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok , “ but for the many real extremists who are included.
” At the time , populating CNP ’ s executive committee , board of directors , board of governors , and general membership were a number of extremists from hate groups such as the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and Liberty Counsel ; the neo-Confederate League of the South ; and the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy .
On the board of governors was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ board of League of the South and appeared on a white nationalist radio show .
Also involved with CNP were Liberty Council ’ s Mat Staver , who has tried to re-criminalize gay sex ; Alan Sears of the anti-LGTBQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom ; Tim Wildmon , president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association ; and conspiracy theorists Jerome Corsi , who was investigated in the Trump-Russia probe , and Joseph Farah .
The recent CNP Action announcements link to a Liberty Counsel initiative led by Mat Staver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ founders include multiple members of the conspiracist John Birch Society and Paul Weyrich , co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and ALEC .
As of 2018 , the most recent tax year on record for CNP , the board of directors included Tony Perkins , who was president at the time , and Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council .
The current board of governors and general membership rosters are unknown .
In 2018 , CNP Action had a small budget , having spent $ 127,000 and received only $ 95,000 in contributions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Blackwell , Adam Brandon–the president of FreedomWorks–and Perkins were directors .
CNP is a much larger operation , having spent $ 2.9 million and taken in a total of over $ 3.2 million in 2018 .
Richard DeVos , the father-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos , is a former president of CNP , and his family foundation has funded the group .
DeVos ’ s parents ’ family charity , the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation , are regular donors , having given money in the 2018 fiscal year , the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Robert Mercer gave $ 75,000 to CNP from 2013-14 .
Another right-wing political megadonor , Foster Friess , has been part of CNP and likely funded the organization .
Tim Phillips , a Tea Party organizer and president of Koch ’ s Americans for Prosperity , was listed as a member of CNP ’ s Board of Governors in 2014 .
The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation , which is now defunct but was run by the Koch family , donated $ 75,000 to CNP from 2011-12 .
Institutional donors include the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Judicial Watch , as well as from the donor-advised fund sponsors the National Christian Foundation and National Philanthropic Trust .
Correction : This article originally stated that Mike Pence has been a CNP member .
Pence ’ s membership is not proven , but he has spoken at CNP events .

A shadowy right-wing nonprofit is helping coordinate coronavirus response strategy and promoting the lockdown protests.
Working alongside close allies that have helped coordinate the protests, including Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks, Council for National Policy Action (CNP Action) has been hosting conference calls and publishing action memos around reopening states’ economies.
CNP Action is the 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliate of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a coalition of far-right political advocacy and think tank figures that has worked largely behind the scenes since its founding in 1981. CNP’s membership includes conservative Republicans and right-wing extremists who work together to shape policy. Trump allies, including senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and former chief adviser Steve Bannon, were CNP members as of 2014. Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow has also been a member, according to a recently published book by Anne Nelson.
Since last month, CNP Action has hosted weekly conference calls to coordinate coronavirus response tactics. The first call featured Moore, who founded the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation’s Ed Meese, and Al Regnery, chairman of CNP’s Conservative Action Project and the cousin of prominent white nationalist William Regnery.
Moore has called the lockdown protesters “the modern-day Rosa Parks” for “protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties.”
The email announcing the second call, which featured ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson and State Policy Network CEO Tracie Sharp, links to information about an April 21 car protest at the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery, organized by the anti-LGBTQ group Eagle Forum. The forum’s founder, the late Phyllis Schlafly, was a CNP member, and several current staffers are part of the CNP-connected “Save Our Country Task Force.”
The announcement directed readers to the private Facebook page of the group ReOpen PA, which was one of three groups that organized an April 20 lockdown protest at the Pennsylvania state capitol. The other two groups’ Facebook pages have been deactivated.
In an announcement of the third call, CNP Action directs allies to send links to op-eds, articles, and social media posts to a TeaPartyPatriots.org email address, indicating that the group is involved in CNP’s organizing efforts. “The Save Our Country Task Force will send it out for others in the coalition to share and cross-promote for a multiplying effect,” the announcement says.
“We need to share the stories of people who have been affected by the lockdowns, to show that we must be concerned with both sides of this crisis,” states the Tea Party Patriots Action website.
The Save Our Country Task Force is an overlapping group, tied closely to ALEC, that’s chaired by Trump economic adviser Art Laffer and includes Moore and CNP’s president Bill Walton, a trustee of the Heritage Foundation, in its leadership. Laffer sits on ALEC’s Board of Scholars and co-authors ALEC’s annual “Rich States, Poor States” publication with Moore. Last year, Trump gave Laffer, a former Ronald Reagan adviser and a supply-side economics evangelist, a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On the May 4 call, Robert Alt of the Charles Koch-funded Buckeye Institute spoke, and his remarks were posted online.
An announcement for the fourth weekly CNP Action call links to the ReOpen PA Facebook page as well as to a “Zoom Grassroots Briefing on #ReOpenAmerica with Steve Moore and [conservative pollster] Scott Rasmussen.” Moore and FreedomWorks have been helping coordinate on-the-ground lockdown protests.
The announcement links to the Open the States website, a project of Convention of States Action, which has also helped coordinate protests. “Check out the Open the States online community to connect with other Americans concerned about how the COVID-19 response is affecting our communities and liberties,” it states.
The call took place on May 11 and featured Mercedes Schlapp, a lobbyist and senior advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, and her husband, Matt Schlapp, a lobbyist and the head of the American Conservative Union. No one mentioned the protests, but the speakers disputed the severity of the coronavirus. In one exchange, Walton and the Schlapps tried to downplay the risks of the deadly virus.
WALTON, introducing a caller’s question: We’re now discovering, as the science rolls out, that there are tens of millions more people infected with this virus than previously imagined…. It’s decidedly reduced the lethality of it. MERCEDES SCHLAPP: …I think that the reality is, is that when they looked at the modeling…it depends what assumptions you put into the modeling to see, and so I think the thing is, let’s go from millions of deaths to having more like, if you can get it down to not millions of deaths we’re in better position. MATT SCHLAPP: …Even if you’re in some of these really, really serious demographic categories, the survival rate is so high, so we should feel optimistic about it instead of pessimistic.
The call largely revolved around what the Trump campaign is doing to win the election in the face of the current crisis.
CNP did not respond to a request for comment.
Extremists at the Center for National Policy
The Southern Poverty Law Center published a leaked full roster of CNP from 2014, which identified 413 members. “The list is surprising, not so much for the conservatives who dominate it,” wrote Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok, “but for the many real extremists who are included.”
At the time, populating CNP’s executive committee, board of directors, board of governors, and general membership were a number of extremists from hate groups such as the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and Liberty Counsel; the neo-Confederate League of the South; and the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy.
On the board of governors was Michael Peroutka, who was on the board of League of the South and appeared on a white nationalist radio show. Also involved with CNP were Liberty Council’s Mat Staver, who has tried to re-criminalize gay sex; Alan Sears of the anti-LGTBQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom; Tim Wildmon, president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association; and conspiracy theorists Jerome Corsi, who was investigated in the Trump-Russia probe, and Joseph Farah.
The recent CNP Action announcements link to a Liberty Counsel initiative led by Mat Staver called ReOpen Church.
CNP’s founders include multiple members of the conspiracist John Birch Society and Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and ALEC.
As of 2018, the most recent tax year on record for CNP, the board of directors included Tony Perkins, who was president at the time, and Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council. The current board of governors and general membership rosters are unknown.
Billionaire Funding
In 2018, CNP Action had a small budget, having spent $127,000 and received only $95,000 in contributions. Bill Walton was chairman, and Blackwell, Adam Brandon–the president of FreedomWorks–and Perkins were directors.
CNP is a much larger operation, having spent $2.9 million and taken in a total of over $3.2 million in 2018.
Richard DeVos, the father-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is a former president of CNP, and his family foundation has funded the group. DeVos’s parents’ family charity, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, are regular donors, having given money in the 2018 fiscal year, the most recent on record.
The family foundation of Robert Mercer gave $75,000 to CNP from 2013-14. Another right-wing political megadonor, Foster Friess, has been part of CNP and likely funded the organization.
Tim Phillips, a Tea Party organizer and president of Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, was listed as a member of CNP’s Board of Governors in 2014. The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is now defunct but was run by the Koch family, donated $75,000 to CNP from 2011-12.
Institutional donors include the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, and Judicial Watch, as well as from the donor-advised fund sponsors the National Christian Foundation and National Philanthropic Trust.
Correction: This article originally stated that Mike Pence has been a CNP member. Pence’s membership is not proven, but he has spoken at CNP events.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.