thenation--2020-06-01--America Never Valued Care Workers. Then a Pandemic Hit.

Carmella Salinas tried to keep her preschool in New Mexico open for as long as she could .
When the novel coronavirus started to spread through the United States , she began to take everyone ’ s temperature each morning and required staff to wear masks .
Parents told their children not to give hugs .
But it became untenable .
“ We ’ re constantly in contact with kids , their fluids , ” she said .
Salinas has chronic asthma and was worried what would happen if she got the virus .
She decided to close .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for our community , but at the same time , we have to look out for ourselves , too .
It really is a difficult , difficult choice to make to leave your classroom.
” She and her staff have been doing what they can to help the kids and their parents , offering them FaceTime sessions and filming YouTube videos of yoga or story time .
One of her coworkers kept having to rerecord hers because she kept crying.1 It didn ’ t get any easier when Salinas got an e-mail from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay open .
New Mexico deemed child care providers essential businesses , alongside health care providers and grocery stores .
The silver lining , though , was the new honorific .
“ For us to finally be called essential workers…I ’ ve known it all along , ” she said .
But now her governor knows it , too .
And parents are realizing just how hard it is to do what she does now that they have to do it at home every day .
“ I think this is honestly going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nation sees us.
” 2 Care work—the in-person , direct services that keep people safe , healthy , and educated—has always been the underpinning of the rest of the economy .
Child care allows parents to hold down jobs .
Health care ensures that employees are healthy enough to go to work .
Teachers nurture the next workforce .
Elder care providers take care of our aging parents while we ’ re on the clock .
This has “ always been important , ” said Paula England , a sociology professor at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis “ really dramatizes the importance of the work.
” It ’ s forcing us to reconsider how we value this work and the people who perform it .
And workers are trying to turn that into lasting change.3 Care work , said Purdue University history professor Tithi Bhattacharya , is “ life making and life sustaining.
” Yet it “ receives the least amount of respect from capitalism.
” England , University of Massachusetts Amherst economist Nancy Folbre , and fellow UMass Amherst sociologist Michelle Budig have found that even when they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience levels , those who are in care jobs are paid less than those in other lines of work .
Experts say one reason for that pay penalty is that care work is closely associated with women .
“ It ’ s seen as something that is part of what women are good at and what they naturally do , ” explained Ariane Hegewisch , the program director for employment and earnings at the Institute for Women ’ s Policy Research .
It ’ s been undervalued both because it was historically done @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and also because it ’ s seen as something women just want to do and don ’ t need to be compensated for .
“ We kind of take it for granted , the same way we took for granted our mother ’ s love , ” England said.4 New Beginnings : Time to Think Big !
Will Covid-19 Be a Turning Point in the Fight Against Racial Disparities in Health Care ?
More in this series When performed outside the home , care work has often been done by black women .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wealthy white households , and some provided child care .
Later , domestic workers , who were overwhelmingly black , performed similar functions .
Even today , people of color make up more than half of home health aides and about 40 percent of child care providers .
The potent mix of the country ’ s “ patriarchy and white supremacy , ” as Melissa Boteach , the vice president for income security and child care at the National Women ’ s Law Center , put it , meant care work was consistently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers have long been excluded from protections that applied to most other workers.5 When American women moved into paid work in droves during the 1960s and ’ 70s—a significant share of black women had long been in the paid work force , but the percentage increased over that period , too—and tasks such as caring for children and the elderly became paid jobs , the country was swept up in culture wars over the roles of working women and motherhood .
Instead of instituting a national universal child care system in the ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idea as destructive to the family .
The country recoiled from the idea that the government should play a role in providing and funding care that mothers were “ supposed ” to do , leaving a private , patchwork system that can ’ t adequately compensate workers for the vital services they provide.6 Some care workers have been folded into traditional employment relationships .
Many nurses and teachers belong to unions and get benefits from their employers .
Those employers—state governments , large hospital systems—have the resources to pay them more , even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Others still operate outside the structures of traditional employment .
But none of this work fits neatly into a capitalist system , which makes it difficult for workers to assert their bargaining power .
“ In a traditional market exchange , economists assume people are just self-interested , ” Folbre noted .
“ But care work almost always requires some level of concern.
” That means “ you have women over a barrel , ” Hegewisch said .
Going on strike is fraught , because it can leave students or patients without the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sector certainly go on strike , as nurses and teachers have in recent years , but it often requires the buy-in and support of the people they serve to be successful .
The wave of teacher strikes over the past few years worked , in part , because parents and students stood with their teachers.7 Demanding better pay is also challenging because the benefits created by a job well-done don ’ t always create profits .
What ’ s the monetary value of singing an engaging children ’ s song or taking the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The people who benefit from care work are not just those who consume it but all of us .
And yet the people who directly pay for care often can ’ t afford to spend lots of money on it .
The only way to adequately account for the collective benefit is to collectively pay for it.8 Salinas has been working with young children for 18 years .
It ’ s a tough job even under normal circumstances .
She makes $ 20 an hour , and she knows that makes her lucky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 12 an hour at the median .
“ You really have to love what you do , ” she said .
“ You go home , and you don ’ t ever stop thinking about the kids .
You wake up in the night , think about…better ways to educate them , to make them empathetic little people.
” 9 Salinas doesn ’ t have health insurance or retirement benefits , and she ’ s become an activist to demand what she deserves .
Every year she travels to her state capitol @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care providers and early childhood educators .
“ I ’ m telling senators and representatives we deserve to make more money because of all of the work we do , ” she said .
“ A lot of the time we get , ‘ OK , yeah , you ’ re a babysitter… .
You can ’ t get paid that much.
’ ” 10 “ I feel awesome being called an essential worker , ” she added .
Now when she goes back to the legislature to ask for more funding , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to .
“ Now there ’ s proof , ” she said .
And that is “ creating a window for us , ” noted Wendoly Marte , the director of economic justice at Community Change Action.11 Nearly all care workers—nurses , child care providers , home health aides , nursing home employees—have been deemed part of the essential workforce .
Health care workers get the added privilege of a round of applause every night and thank-you signs hung in people ’ s windows .
Those things matter .
“ They ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
With schools and day cares closed and nurses in short supply , people “ are understanding that care work allows the rest of the economy to function , ” said Boteach .
“ Sometimes it ’ s so invisible that you don ’ t see it until it ’ s gone.
” 12 In a recent poll conducted by Caring Across Generations , huge majorities said they placed a greater value on the work of nursing home attendants , home health aides , and child care providers since the coronavirus hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of interdependence that ’ s at the heart of the devaluation of care work , ” Folbre said .
And the current crisis has made it painfully obvious just how interdependent we are.13 But just because we ’ re finally calling care workers heroes doesn ’ t mean we ’ re willing to pay them more .
“ The Hallmark card TV commercial [ saying ] let ’ s thank a caregiver—that ’ s insufficient in this moment .
That ’ s not going to change the power structure , ” said David @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 512 , which represents home health aides .
“ The way we talk about them has changed , but what those in power are doing hasn ’ t changed.
” Governors may acknowledge that , for example , child care is key to ensuring essential workers can go to work , but not all of them have offered more funding to help providers stay open .
“ This is a pregnant moment , ” agreed Jean Ross , a copresident of National Nurses United .
But “ it ’ s not magic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on its own.
” 14 Workers see the opportunity .
There ’ s been a surge of interest in organizing , unionizing , and even striking .
Nursing home employees at 64 facilities across Illinois voted to strike in May to demand better pay and treatment .
“ We are just tired of being mistreated and disrespected and not being appreciated , ” said Laverne Johnson , a nursing home employee in the state .
“ If the strike is what we have to do to make a point to them , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , then that ’ s what we ’ re going to have to do.
” The strike was averted when management agreed to more protective gear and higher wages.15 The Men Pushing to Open the Economy Clearly Don ’ t Need Child Care The Heartbreaking Choices Faced by Child Care Providers on the Front Lines A year ago , said SEIU president Mary Kay Henry , the union ran a Facebook ad to organize workers in Denver and got about 100 responses .
It just put out a similar ad and got six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the level of interest that working people have in joining together is at an all-time high , ” she said .
Ross , Broder , and Marte have experienced similar things .
Broder ’ s union saw more growth in April than in any other month in its history .
“ There ’ s a hunger to be really engaged and be part of the fight in this moment , ” Marte said.16 The constituencies ready to fight for a revaluation of care work may have broadened .
Finding quality child care , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parents ’ individual struggle .
Now it ’ s been laid bare that all parents deal with the same problem and are more or less affected the same way when it ’ s not available .
Reha Sterbin , a mother in New York City , has noticed a change in the conversations in her parenting groups : People are talking much more about how to be good employers for their nannies , not just how to get by paying as little as possible .
“ We ’ re all suddenly home with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we are really missing having child care , ” she noted .
“ Those conversations are coming up a lot more than they used to.
” 17 Sterbin has employed nannies since her now kindergartner was a baby , and she joined Hand in Hand , a national network of people who employ domestic workers , in 2017 to protest the Trump administration ’ s family separation policy .
But then the coronavirus hit .
She realized that her nanny ’ s financial stability depended entirely on Sterbin ’ s good graces .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that our society values the work that I do way more than it values the work that she does , [ but ] caring for my children is just as important a job , if not more , ” she said .
“ My anger at that is what ’ s driving me.
” She ’ s now speaking at webinars for fellow employers and is planning to call her elected officials to press for better protections.18 With schools closed , the desperate need for care is hitting families with older children , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have little bandwidth to organize to demand better child care ; now they may be joined by parents of older children .
“ It ’ s a unique opening in the organizing space for people to [ demand ] that this whole system be rebuilt on a more solid foundation , ” Boteach said.19 One way to improve conditions for at least some care workers would be to “ bring more into the formal economy , ” Hegewisch said .
Ai-jen Poo , executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance , noted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home care providers don ’ t typically have paid sick days or other kinds of paid leave , so they were left with few protections when the pandemic hit .
“ Everyone who is working , playing a role in keeping us safe and…keeping the economy moving deserves a baseline , ” she said.20 Meanwhile , home health aides and child care providers have been fighting to unionize .
Henry wants to see sectoral bargaining , or the creation of statewide tables that bring all home care or child care employers together so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at once .
She noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom recently extended protections and benefits to all food chain workers , unionized or not .
“ We ’ d love to see that happen in the care sector , ” she said , “ so we can make a permanent change to finally valuing this work once and for all.
” 21 Care workers have already secured some tangible victories .
The Minnesota legislature passed $ 30 million in grants for child care providers at the end of March—the most Marte and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for child care in the state .
In Virginia , when Governor Ralph Northam froze all new spending in the state budget in reaction to the crisis , he protected a previously approved increase in pay rates for home care workers.22 They ’ re also thinking big .
“ This is the moment for us to call for bold solutions , ” Marte said .
Her organization has called for $ 100 billion in federal investment in child care—not just to help see it through the current crisis but also so that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future .
Broder ’ s members recently lobbied successfully in favor of a bill that would gradually phase in a $ 15 minimum hourly wage and benefit many of the low-paid home health aides he represents .
While that figure used to feel “ aspirational , ” he said , aspirations have changed .
“ If we ’ re essential , then don ’ t talk to me about $ 15 in six years , ” he said .
“ Talk to me about $ 20 today.
” 23 It ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made its way into the halls of power .
In its first round of stimulus to address the pandemic , Congress included just $ 3.5 billion for child care .
Some Democratic senators have called for a $ 50 billion investment , but when the House passed another round of stimulus , it included just $ 7 billion more in funding for a sector that needs $ 9.6 billion a month merely to stay afloat during this crisis.24 The pandemic has also led to increasing solidarity among different kinds of care workers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ very clear who else is in this situation , ” Broder said .
Nurses are commuting to work on buses and subways alongside child care providers .
Organizing together could be key to whether care workers can capitalize on this moment .
“ That should always have been happening , ” Poo said , but now her organization is working with the SEIU , teachers ’ unions , and other worker groups.25 It may be the right time to press for large-scale change .
“ I would hope that what will happen is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but a revaluation of the whole care delivery system , ” Folbre said .
Single-payer health care would improve the health delivery system and could allow for better pay for providers .
Universal child care would ensure parents can get the help they need while guaranteeing that providers earn decent wages.26 The pandemic has made this change more urgent .
But nothing is inevitable .
The cratered economy is battering state budgets , making the prospect of more public spending appear dim .
And yet the need is only going to increase .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to return to work and get the economy moving again .
“ There ’ s definitely a window of opportunity .
There ’ s an opening , ” Marte said .
“ But we have to make sure that the organizing is happening.
” Bhattacharya sees the green shoots of mass movements in the ongoing wave of strikes that workers have staged during the crisis .
“ Just like the [ 1930s ] , it ’ s going to take massive movements , social movements from below , to force governments to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are always going to be people who very clearly want to take advantage ” of care workers ’ passion to serve , Folbre said .
“ You got to fight for it.
” 28

This article appears in the June 15/22, 2020 issue.
Carmella Salinas tried to keep her preschool in New Mexico open for as long as she could. When the novel coronavirus started to spread through the United States, she began to take everyone’s temperature each morning and required staff to wear masks. Parents told their children not to give hugs. But it became untenable. “We’re constantly in contact with kids, their fluids,” she said. Salinas has chronic asthma and was worried what would happen if she got the virus. She decided to close. “We want to do whatever we can for our community, but at the same time, we have to look out for ourselves, too. It really is a difficult, difficult choice to make to leave your classroom.” She and her staff have been doing what they can to help the kids and their parents, offering them FaceTime sessions and filming YouTube videos of yoga or story time. One of her coworkers kept having to rerecord hers because she kept crying.1
It didn’t get any easier when Salinas got an e-mail from the state encouraging providers like her to stay open. New Mexico deemed child care providers essential businesses, alongside health care providers and grocery stores. The silver lining, though, was the new honorific. “For us to finally be called essential workers…I’ve known it all along,” she said. But now her governor knows it, too. And parents are realizing just how hard it is to do what she does now that they have to do it at home every day. “I think this is honestly going to change a lot of the way the nation sees us.”2
Care work—the in-person, direct services that keep people safe, healthy, and educated—has always been the underpinning of the rest of the economy. Child care allows parents to hold down jobs. Health care ensures that employees are healthy enough to go to work. Teachers nurture the next workforce. Elder care providers take care of our aging parents while we’re on the clock. This has “always been important,” said Paula England, a sociology professor at New York University. But the coronavirus crisis “really dramatizes the importance of the work.” It’s forcing us to reconsider how we value this work and the people who perform it. And workers are trying to turn that into lasting change.3
Care work, said Purdue University history professor Tithi Bhattacharya, is “life making and life sustaining.” Yet it “receives the least amount of respect from capitalism.” England, University of Massachusetts Amherst economist Nancy Folbre, and fellow UMass Amherst sociologist Michelle Budig have found that even when they compare workers with the same education and experience levels, those who are in care jobs are paid less than those in other lines of work. Experts say one reason for that pay penalty is that care work is closely associated with women. “It’s seen as something that is part of what women are good at and what they naturally do,” explained Ariane Hegewisch, the program director for employment and earnings at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. It’s been undervalued both because it was historically done inside people’s homes for free and also because it’s seen as something women just want to do and don’t need to be compensated for. “We kind of take it for granted, the same way we took for granted our mother’s love,” England said.4 Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Time to Think Big Amid Partisan Politicking, Revelations on a Covid Origins Article Jimmy Tobias It’s Not “Unreasonable” to Want to Change Our Rotten Health Care System Gregg Gonsalves Covid Has Left Deep Wounds in America’s Rural Communities Anne N. Sosin
When performed outside the home, care work has often been done by black women. First, slaves cooked and cleaned in wealthy white households, and some provided child care. Later, domestic workers, who were overwhelmingly black, performed similar functions. Even today, people of color make up more than half of home health aides and about 40 percent of child care providers. The potent mix of the country’s “patriarchy and white supremacy,” as Melissa Boteach, the vice president for income security and child care at the National Women’s Law Center, put it, meant care work was consistently sidelined as a labor issue. Domestic workers have long been excluded from protections that applied to most other workers.5
When American women moved into paid work in droves during the 1960s and ’70s—a significant share of black women had long been in the paid work force, but the percentage increased over that period, too—and tasks such as caring for children and the elderly became paid jobs, the country was swept up in culture wars over the roles of working women and motherhood. Instead of instituting a national universal child care system in the ’70s, President Richard Nixon cast the idea as destructive to the family. The country recoiled from the idea that the government should play a role in providing and funding care that mothers were “supposed” to do, leaving a private, patchwork system that can’t adequately compensate workers for the vital services they provide.6 Current Issue View our current issue
Some care workers have been folded into traditional employment relationships. Many nurses and teachers belong to unions and get benefits from their employers. Those employers—state governments, large hospital systems—have the resources to pay them more, even if they often devalue their employees. Others still operate outside the structures of traditional employment. But none of this work fits neatly into a capitalist system, which makes it difficult for workers to assert their bargaining power. “In a traditional market exchange, economists assume people are just self-interested,” Folbre noted. “But care work almost always requires some level of concern.” That means “you have women over a barrel,” Hegewisch said. Going on strike is fraught, because it can leave students or patients without the services they need. Workers in this sector certainly go on strike, as nurses and teachers have in recent years, but it often requires the buy-in and support of the people they serve to be successful. The wave of teacher strikes over the past few years worked, in part, because parents and students stood with their teachers.7
Demanding better pay is also challenging because the benefits created by a job well-done don’t always create profits. What’s the monetary value of singing an engaging children’s song or taking the time to speak to a patient? The people who benefit from care work are not just those who consume it but all of us. And yet the people who directly pay for care often can’t afford to spend lots of money on it. The only way to adequately account for the collective benefit is to collectively pay for it.8
New lesson plans: Educators, such as first-grade teacher Leanne Francis, and students have had to adapt to virtual instruction. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Salinas has been working with young children for 18 years. It’s a tough job even under normal circumstances. She makes $20 an hour, and she knows that makes her lucky; child care workers make less than $12 an hour at the median. “You really have to love what you do,” she said. “You go home, and you don’t ever stop thinking about the kids. You wake up in the night, think about…better ways to educate them, to make them empathetic little people.”9
Salinas doesn’t have health insurance or retirement benefits, and she’s become an activist to demand what she deserves. Every year she travels to her state capitol to lobby for more funding for child care providers and early childhood educators. “I’m telling senators and representatives we deserve to make more money because of all of the work we do,” she said. “A lot of the time we get, ‘OK, yeah, you’re a babysitter…. You can’t get paid that much.’”10
“I feel awesome being called an essential worker,” she added. Now when she goes back to the legislature to ask for more funding, she’ll have something to point to. “Now there’s proof,” she said. And that is “creating a window for us,” noted Wendoly Marte, the director of economic justice at Community Change Action.11
Nearly all care workers—nurses, child care providers, home health aides, nursing home employees—have been deemed part of the essential workforce. Health care workers get the added privilege of a round of applause every night and thank-you signs hung in people’s windows. Those things matter. “They’re our heroes and heroines,” Hegewisch said. With schools and day cares closed and nurses in short supply, people “are understanding that care work allows the rest of the economy to function,” said Boteach. “Sometimes it’s so invisible that you don’t see it until it’s gone.”12
In a recent poll conducted by Caring Across Generations, huge majorities said they placed a greater value on the work of nursing home attendants, home health aides, and child care providers since the coronavirus hit. ”It’s the denial of interdependence that’s at the heart of the devaluation of care work,” Folbre said. And the current crisis has made it painfully obvious just how interdependent we are.13
Child care for some: As American women entered the workforce in droves in the 1960s and ’70s, an adequate child care system was never established. (Los Angeles Examiner / USC Libraries / Corbis via Getty Images)
But just because we’re finally calling care workers heroes doesn’t mean we’re willing to pay them more. “The Hallmark card TV commercial [saying] let’s thank a caregiver—that’s insufficient in this moment. That’s not going to change the power structure,” said David Broder, the president of SEIU Virginia 512, which represents home health aides. “The way we talk about them has changed, but what those in power are doing hasn’t changed.” Governors may acknowledge that, for example, child care is key to ensuring essential workers can go to work, but not all of them have offered more funding to help providers stay open. “This is a pregnant moment,” agreed Jean Ross, a copresident of National Nurses United. But “it’s not magic. It’s not going to happen on its own.”14
Workers see the opportunity. There’s been a surge of interest in organizing, unionizing, and even striking. Nursing home employees at 64 facilities across Illinois voted to strike in May to demand better pay and treatment. “We are just tired of being mistreated and disrespected and not being appreciated,” said Laverne Johnson, a nursing home employee in the state. “If the strike is what we have to do to make a point to them, to let them know that we mean business, then that’s what we’re going to have to do.” The strike was averted when management agreed to more protective gear and higher wages.15 The Child Care Crisis The Men Pushing to Open the Economy Clearly Don’t Need Child Care Elie Mystal The Heartbreaking Choices Faced by Child Care Providers on the Front Lines Bryce Covert
A year ago, said SEIU president Mary Kay Henry, the union ran a Facebook ad to organize workers in Denver and got about 100 responses. It just put out a similar ad and got six times the response. “I think the level of interest that working people have in joining together is at an all-time high,” she said. Ross, Broder, and Marte have experienced similar things. Broder’s union saw more growth in April than in any other month in its history. “There’s a hunger to be really engaged and be part of the fight in this moment,” Marte said.16
The constituencies ready to fight for a revaluation of care work may have broadened. Finding quality child care, for example, is usually seen as parents’ individual struggle. Now it’s been laid bare that all parents deal with the same problem and are more or less affected the same way when it’s not available. Reha Sterbin, a mother in New York City, has noticed a change in the conversations in her parenting groups: People are talking much more about how to be good employers for their nannies, not just how to get by paying as little as possible. “We’re all suddenly home with our children all of the time; we are really missing having child care,” she noted. “Those conversations are coming up a lot more than they used to.”17
Sterbin has employed nannies since her now kindergartner was a baby, and she joined Hand in Hand, a national network of people who employ domestic workers, in 2017 to protest the Trump administration’s family separation policy. But then the coronavirus hit. She realized that her nanny’s financial stability depended entirely on Sterbin’s good graces. “It’s become increasingly clear that our society values the work that I do way more than it values the work that she does, [but] caring for my children is just as important a job, if not more,” she said. “My anger at that is what’s driving me.” She’s now speaking at webinars for fellow employers and is planning to call her elected officials to press for better protections.18
With schools closed, the desperate need for care is hitting families with older children, too. Parents of babies and toddlers have little bandwidth to organize to demand better child care; now they may be joined by parents of older children. “It’s a unique opening in the organizing space for people to [demand] that this whole system be rebuilt on a more solid foundation,” Boteach said.19
One way to improve conditions for at least some care workers would be to “bring more into the formal economy,” Hegewisch said. Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, noted that house cleaners, nannies, and home care providers don’t typically have paid sick days or other kinds of paid leave, so they were left with few protections when the pandemic hit. “Everyone who is working, playing a role in keeping us safe and…keeping the economy moving deserves a baseline,” she said.20
Meanwhile, home health aides and child care providers have been fighting to unionize. Henry wants to see sectoral bargaining, or the creation of statewide tables that bring all home care or child care employers together so workers can bargain with all of them at once. She noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom recently extended protections and benefits to all food chain workers, unionized or not. “We’d love to see that happen in the care sector,” she said, “so we can make a permanent change to finally valuing this work once and for all.”21
Among the most vulnerable: A nursing home resident in Paterson, N.J., is tested for Covid-19. Nursing homes have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, and workers have fought for protective gear and hazard pay. (Seth Wenig / AP)
Care workers have already secured some tangible victories. The Minnesota legislature passed $30 million in grants for child care providers at the end of March—the most Marte and other advocates have ever been able to secure for child care in the state. In Virginia, when Governor Ralph Northam froze all new spending in the state budget in reaction to the crisis, he protected a previously approved increase in pay rates for home care workers.22
They’re also thinking big. “This is the moment for us to call for bold solutions,” Marte said. Her organization has called for $100 billion in federal investment in child care—not just to help see it through the current crisis but also so that the sector is more stable well into the future. Broder’s members recently lobbied successfully in favor of a bill that would gradually phase in a $15 minimum hourly wage and benefit many of the low-paid home health aides he represents. While that figure used to feel “aspirational,” he said, aspirations have changed. “If we’re essential, then don’t talk to me about $15 in six years,” he said. “Talk to me about $20 today.”23
It’s not clear if that kind of thinking has made its way into the halls of power. In its first round of stimulus to address the pandemic, Congress included just $3.5 billion for child care. Some Democratic senators have called for a $50 billion investment, but when the House passed another round of stimulus, it included just $7 billion more in funding for a sector that needs $9.6 billion a month merely to stay afloat during this crisis.24
The pandemic has also led to increasing solidarity among different kinds of care workers. The crisis is “making it visually very clear who else is in this situation,” Broder said. Nurses are commuting to work on buses and subways alongside child care providers. Organizing together could be key to whether care workers can capitalize on this moment. “That should always have been happening,” Poo said, but now her organization is working with the SEIU, teachers’ unions, and other worker groups.25
It may be the right time to press for large-scale change. “I would hope that what will happen is not just a revaluation of care workers but a revaluation of the whole care delivery system,” Folbre said. Single-payer health care would improve the health delivery system and could allow for better pay for providers. Universal child care would ensure parents can get the help they need while guaranteeing that providers earn decent wages.26
The pandemic has made this change more urgent. But nothing is inevitable. The cratered economy is battering state budgets, making the prospect of more public spending appear dim. And yet the need is only going to increase. Parents need child care and schools in order to return to work and get the economy moving again. “There’s definitely a window of opportunity. There’s an opening,” Marte said. “But we have to make sure that the organizing is happening.” Bhattacharya sees the green shoots of mass movements in the ongoing wave of strikes that workers have staged during the crisis. “Just like the [1930s], it’s going to take massive movements, social movements from below, to force governments to change direction,” she said.27
“There are always going to be people who very clearly want to take advantage” of care workers’ passion to serve, Folbre said. “You got to fight for it.”28


thenation--2020-06-01--Transit Is a Social Justice Issue in the 2020 Election

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is running in a Maryland Democratic congressional primary next Tuesday .
She ’ s speaking powerfully and poignantly about a range of economic , social , and racial justice issues facing the city of Baltimore , the state of Maryland , and the United States : “ deep levels of inequality , ” “ untold grief and mental anguish on the part of African Americans ” over police brutality , and “ the undermining of democratic norms ” by Donald Trump .
And she is talking about transit .
“ Transit is absolutely a social justice issue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Maryland Democratic Party , who has to a far greater extent than most candidates running this year put time and energy into speaking about mass transportation issues in the way they should be discussed .
“ When people have to take two , three , four buses to get to the places they need to get to—to work , to school , to care for a family member—that undermines their prospects .
There needs to be more people in Congress who understand why we have to have reliable public transportation.
” She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so frequently neglected by so many candidates that the innovative urban policy website CityLab asked just before the 2018 election , “ Why Do Candidates Ignore Mass Transit ?
” There are plenty of reasons , but there ’ s one bottom-line reality : “ American politicians rarely make public transportation a core issue of their election campaigns .
That ’ s a problem for cities.
” It ’ s also a problem for rural areas , where mass transportation options that once existed have disappeared .
It ’ s a problem for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cars can ’ t get to jobs that have often been moved to suburban warehouses or the exurban “ campuses ” of employers that have fled major cities .
And it ’ s a problem for the climate , because , out of necessity , tens of millions of Americans who would be better served by clean and green mass transit are forced to rely on gas-guzzling automobiles .
Keith Ellison on Police Brutality : ‘ We Need a Vision That Says There ’ s Going to Be Accountability ’ Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Low He ’ ll Go to Win Anti-War Groups Push Biden and the Democrats to Rethink Foreign Policy In the 2020 presidential race , the issue has been largely sidelined—rarely mentioned in debates , barely touched on by most candidates .
“ On the campaign trail , 2020 presidential candidates are talking about how making major changes to the way Americans get around can improve the economy , reduce carbon pollution , and make jobs and schools more accessible , ” noted a savvy assessment of positions taken by the campaigns assembled for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many of the candidates have released dedicated housing and climate plans , few have specific plans around transportation and infrastructure.
” “ For most of 2019 , Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ s climate plan was the only one to address transportation comprehensively—yet it still relies heavily on private electric vehicle adoption , ” observed the online review .
“ High-speed rail , freight , and public transit are all accounted for , and one-fifth of the $ 16 trillion budget is earmarked for grants , incentives , and other programs for Americans to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senator Elizabeth Warren ’ s campaign got some high marks , as did the brief candidacy of former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg .
But , for the most part , candidates fell short when it came to offering comprehensive plans .
The same goes for most candidates in this year ’ s congressional , state , and local contests .
Even now , as critical funding for state and local governments and agencies to keep public transit running amid the Covid-19 crisis has stalled in the Senate , few contenders are displaying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues .
But Cummings is .
She speaks of the focus on these issues as part of “ Elijah ’ s legacy.
” Her late husband , Representative Elijah Cummings , was arguably the most outspoken advocate for mass transportation and transit workers in Congress .
Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union still remember the epic “ bus ” speech he delivered at their 1998 convention , with its stirring praise for the role transit systems in general , and bus drivers in particular , play in the lives of working-class Americans .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ race that Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is running on Tuesday in Maryland ’ s 7th congressional district is a challenging one .
The special election to fill the seat after Elijah Cummings ’ s death last fall was won by former US representative Kweisi Mfume on April 28 , after Mfume swept an earlier Democratic contest in which the late congressman ’ s widow finished second .
Now , as the pair face each other again in a multicandidate primary to choose the Democratic nominee for a full term , candidates and election officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizing elections during the coronavirus pandemic .
But Cummings , a former congressional staffer who holds a PhD in political science with an emphasis on public policy , is seizing every opportunity to talk about a big , bold agenda that includes support for single-payer health care , universal family care , raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour , and getting federal funds for revitalizing transit systems across the country .
“ We ’ ve neglected our infrastructure for the past half century , ” she says .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a investment in the future , this is it .
”

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Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is running in a Maryland Democratic congressional primary Tuesday. She’s speaking powerfully and poignantly about a range of economic, social, and racial justice issues facing the city of Baltimore, the state of Maryland, and the United States: “deep levels of inequality,” “untold grief and mental anguish on the part of African Americans” over police brutality, and “the undermining of democratic norms” by Donald Trump. And she is talking about transit.
“Transit is absolutely a social justice issue,” says the former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, who has to a far greater extent than most candidates running this year put time and energy into speaking about mass transportation issues in the way they should be discussed. “When people have to take two, three, four buses to get to the places they need to get to—to work, to school, to care for a family member—that undermines their prospects. There needs to be more people in Congress who understand why we have to have reliable public transportation.”
She’s right. Transportation policy is so frequently neglected by so many candidates that the innovative urban policy website CityLab asked just before the 2018 election, “Why Do Candidates Ignore Mass Transit?” There are plenty of reasons, but there’s one bottom-line reality: “American politicians rarely make public transportation a core issue of their election campaigns. That’s a problem for cities.”
It’s also a problem for rural areas, where mass transportation options that once existed have disappeared. It’s a problem for the economy, because workers who lack cars can’t get to jobs that have often been moved to suburban warehouses or the exurban “campuses” of employers that have fled major cities. And it’s a problem for the climate, because, out of necessity, tens of millions of Americans who would be better served by clean and green mass transit are forced to rely on gas-guzzling automobiles. More From John Nichols A GOP Debate Without Trump Is the Definition of Pointlessness August 11, 2023 A Win for Abortion Rights, a Win for Democracy: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 August 9, 2023 The Biggest Threat to Donald Trump Could Be the Constitution Itself August 4, 2023
In the 2020 presidential race, the issue has been largely sidelined—rarely mentioned in debates, barely touched on by most candidates. “On the campaign trail, 2020 presidential candidates are talking about how making major changes to the way Americans get around can improve the economy, reduce carbon pollution, and make jobs and schools more accessible,” noted a savvy assessment of positions taken by the campaigns assembled for the website Curbed. “But while many of the candidates have released dedicated housing and climate plans, few have specific plans around transportation and infrastructure.”
“For most of 2019, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s climate plan was the only one to address transportation comprehensively—yet it still relies heavily on private electric vehicle adoption,” observed the online review. “High-speed rail, freight, and public transit are all accounted for, and one-fifth of the $16 trillion budget is earmarked for grants, incentives, and other programs for Americans to acquire and charge electric vehicles.” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign got some high marks, as did the brief candidacy of former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. But, for the most part, candidates fell short when it came to offering comprehensive plans.
The same goes for most candidates in this year’s congressional, state, and local contests. Even now, as critical funding for state and local governments and agencies to keep public transit running amid the Covid-19 crisis has stalled in the Senate, few contenders are displaying a proper sense of urgency about transportation issues. But Cummings is. She speaks of the focus on these issues as part of “Elijah’s legacy.” Her late husband, Representative Elijah Cummings, was arguably the most outspoken advocate for mass transportation and transit workers in Congress. Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union still remember the epic “bus” speech he delivered at their 1998 convention, with its stirring praise for the role transit systems in general, and bus drivers in particular, play in the lives of working-class Americans. Related Article Elijah Cummings Took On the Powerful John Nichols
The race that Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is running on Tuesday in Maryland’s 7th congressional district is a challenging one. The special election to fill the seat after Elijah Cummings’s death last fall was won by former US representative Kweisi Mfume on April 28, after Mfume swept an earlier Democratic contest in which the late congressman’s widow finished second. Now, as the pair face each other again in a multicandidate primary to choose the Democratic nominee for a full term, candidates and election officials are wrestling with all the challenges of organizing elections during the coronavirus pandemic.
But Cummings, a former congressional staffer who holds a PhD in political science with an emphasis on public policy, is seizing every opportunity to talk about a big, bold agenda that includes support for single-payer health care, universal family care, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and getting federal funds for revitalizing transit systems across the country. “We’ve neglected our infrastructure for the past half century,” she says. “If ever there was a time for a investment in the future, this is it.”


thenation--2020-06-01--The Border Patrol Praises Stonewall While Deploying Officers to Suppress Protests

Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) chief Mark Morgan today commemorated the 1969 Stonewall Riots in an agency-wide e-mail honoring LGBT Pride month .
The e-mail comes one day after Morgan took to Twitter to say that the current “ ‘ protests ’ ” —which he put in scare quotes— “ are anything but peaceful.
” “ To the violent rioters , you are not representing justice—you are committing crimes like arson , assault , looting & destruction of property , ” Morgan tweeted later .
Morgan sent out the e-mail commemorating the Stonewall riots just before noon .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ LGBT Pride month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan protesting persecution of the LGBT community .
The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst , propelling the LGBT rights movement in the United States.
” The e-mail was provided to The Nation by a Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) contractor on condition of anonymity to avoid professional reprisal .
The e-mail appears to be part of CBP ’ s effort to commemorate Pride Month , led by the agency ’ s various Diversity and Inclusion Program Committees under the Privacy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pride in embracing an inclusive workforce… .
During the month of June , we celebrate Lesbian , Gay , Bisexual and Transgender ( LGBT ) Pride month with the theme , ‘ # StillWe , ’ ” the e-mail begins .
“ Considering how Acting Commissioner Morgan was deploying officers and agency resources for the riots over the weekend , to turn around and send this e-mail is the height of absurdity and hypocrisy , ” the DHS employee told The Nation .
“ Stonewall was a fight for justice , and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ George Floyd.
” Last week , Morgan said that CBP was deploying officers , agents , and “ aviation assets ” —CBP ’ s Air and Marine operations possesses around 240 aircraft , including helicopters and military drones—to confront what he described as “ the lawless actions of rioters , ” noting that CBP legally operates nationwide and not just at the borders .
Morgan is correct that CBP does not just operate close at the border ; it is legally authorized to operate within 100 miles of any “ external boundary ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an area where about 200 million Americans—or around two-thirds of the US population—lives .
It also encompasses nine of the 10 largest US metropolitan areas and almost the entire territories of 11 states , including New York and Florida .
Last week , on May 29 , CBP touched off controversy following reports that it was operating a predator drone over Minneapolis .
Notably , Minneapolis is not within 100 miles of any US border .
The drone was first spotted by Jason Paladino using open-source flight data .
Paladino , who works @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posted the data on Twitter that showed the drone circling around Minneapolis in a hexagonal pattern before flying directly over the city and leaving .
CBP reportedly said that it had deployed the drone at the request of federal law enforcement to provide video for “ situational awareness , ” but beyond that , it is unclear what role exactly it played .
According to CBP , it routinely provides support to local law enforcement when requested , but it did not disclose which agency had asked for the drone ’ s assistance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the drone ’ s deployment , Shortly thereafter , CBP recalled the drone to its home base in North Dakota .

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Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting chief Mark Morgan today commemorated the 1969 Stonewall Riots in an agencywide e-mail honoring LGBT Pride Month. The e-mail comes one day after he tweeted that the current “‘protests’”—which he put in scare quotes—“are anything but peaceful.”
“To the violent rioters, you are not representing justice—you are committing crimes like arson, assault, looting & destruction of property,” Morgan wrote later.
He sent out the e-mail commemorating the Stonewall riots just before noon. It states, “The designation of LGBT Pride month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan protesting persecution of the LGBT community. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst, propelling the LGBT rights movement in the United States.” The e-mail was provided to The Nation by a Department of Homeland Security contractor on condition of anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.
The e-mail appears to be part of CBP’s effort to commemorate Pride Month, led by the agency’s various Diversity and Inclusion Program Committees under the Privacy and Diversity Office.
“CBP takes immense pride in embracing an inclusive workforce…. During the month of June, we celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month with the theme, ‘#StillWe,’” the e-mail begins.
“Considering how Acting Commissioner Morgan was deploying officers and agency resources for the riots over the weekend, to turn around and send this e-mail is the height of absurdity and hypocrisy,” the DHS employee told The Nation. “Stonewall was a fight for justice, and so are the protests in the name of George Floyd.”
Last week, Morgan said that CBP was deploying officers, agents, and “aviation assets”—its Air and Marine Operations has about 240 aircraft, including helicopters and military drones—to confront what he described as “the lawless actions of rioters,” noting that CBP legally operates nationwide and not just at the borders. Current Issue View our current issue
He is correct that CBP operates not just close to the border; it is legally authorized to operate within 100 miles of any external boundary of the United States. This covers an area where about 200 million Americans—around two-thirds of the US population—live. It encompasses nine of the 10 largest US metropolitan areas and almost the entire territories of 11 states, including New York and Florida.
On May 29, CBP touched off controversy after reports that it was operating a predator drone over Minneapolis. Notably, Minneapolis is not within 100 miles of any US border. The drone was first spotted by Jason Paladino using an open-source flight tracker. Paladino, who works for the Project on Government Oversight, posted data on Twitter that showed the drone flying around Minneapolis in a hexagonal pattern before heading directly over the city and leaving.
CBP reportedly said that it had deployed the drone at the request of federal law enforcement to provide video for “situational awareness,” but beyond that, it is unclear exactly what role it played. According to CBP, it routinely provides support to local law enforcement when requested, but it did not disclose which agency had asked for the drone assistance. CBP said it had notified Congress of the drone’s deployment,
Shortly thereafter, CBP recalled the drone to its home base in North Dakota.


thenation--2020-06-01--Minneapolis: The Rise of the ‘Thumpers’

Minneapolis: The Rise of the ‘Thumpers’

Minneapolis .
Most of the time , this is a remarkably orderly and well-kept city .
In 1980 , while experts warned that other cities were becoming obsolete , Minneapolis remained a beacon of hope , a place that , said National Geographic , “ can still nurture the human species.
” However , citizens ’ scant patience for interrupting this idyll meant that the city tolerated a police department riddled with violent , bigoted officers .
The current unrest , sparked in Minneapolis and spreading across the country , offers a chance to examine how this city went from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than any other state , embodies the failures of liberal efforts to achieve equitable dignity through public safety .
As the writer David Lawrence Grant states , “ The hard truth is that police departments deal with communities of color in exactly the way that American society , Minnesota society , has asked them to.
” The city ’ s liberal reputation was solidified by the election of Donald M. Fraser in 1980 after a campaign dominated by his pledge to professionalize the police department .
Fraser picked the progressive cop Tony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brutality , corruption , and politicization .
The day before Bouza ’ s swearing in , officers raided a gay bathhouse to make it clear that they would not be tamed .
Bouza pushed forward , instituting a multitude of improvements and reaching out to racial and sexual minorities .
For all the genuine progress Bouza made , he was unable to rein in the “ thumpers.
” Of the 227 complaints of excessive force by MPD officers from 1983 to 1987 , none were upheld by the City .
The police union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acknowledged that he could not fire those officers who were “ demonstrably unfit ” or “ oftentimes even criminal ” because of the “ paralyzing strictures of civil service.
” Police brutality here was disproportionately directed toward the city ’ s black , Native American , and gay populations .
Minneapolis was emerging as a cosmopolitan place policed by many officers who despised the city .
When urbanites asked police about crime , a common retort was , “ Why don ’ t you move into the suburbs where you can feel safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1989 because of two contradictory impulses reflecting the city ’ s desire for order : The chief was blamed both for not reining in the “ thumpers ” and for not doing enough to crack down on the city ’ s expanding drug trade .
Residents resented sluggish police response times and the MPD ’ s inability to stop open-air drug dealing .
Many African Americans felt they were getting “ the cold shoulder ” from the police department , a black city council member complained .
He demanded that “ every means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegal activities .
Fraser and Bouza were skeptical about street-level narcotics enforcement , but their hesitations were overwhelmed by citizen demands to “ do something.
” The city ’ s response unleashed the “ thumpers ” in militarized drug raids .
After blowing open doors , cops screamed , “ Police !
Get your fucking asses down , down , you fuckers !
Get the fuck down now !
I want to see your hands behind your back , now , now , now !
” After securing the inhabitants , the hunt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and food canisters emptied , garbage bags ripped open , furniture destroyed .
An estimated 90 percent of the raids targeted African Americans , and officers poured salt into racial wounds , turning radios from rap to country stations and taunting suspects .
The MPD ’ s war on its own citizens had devastating consequences .
“ Wrong house raids ” incited anger , especially after two elderly African Americans were killed in January 1989 by a fire started by a flash-bang grenade .
The following month , “ thumpers ” instigated a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a downtown hotel .
Black leaders charged that the MPD had moved from harassment to “ a conscious move towards organized violence against our community.
” The Border Patrol Praises Stonewall While Deploying Officers to Suppress Protests Bill de Blasio Has Failed the Test of This Moment More in this series Activists rallied to bring an out-of-control police force to heel .
It didn ’ t happen .
The diverse segments of the population—gays , blacks , American Indians , white progressives—could not agree on a unified agenda .
Meanwhile , Minneapolis officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make the most committed socialist jealous .
When officer Dan May shot Tycel Nelson , a black youth , in 1990 , messages on squad car computers read , “ Dan May for Chief ” and “ Dan May for Pope.
” Police critics struggled to devise alternatives and the usual liberal reformism—better and more policing—stepped into the breach .
No ambitious police leader seeking to make chief could admit that the force could not prevent crime , so the department engaged in a litany of “ innovative ” community policing programs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug war allowed police to maraud across the city , declaring victories for “ real people ” over “ assholes.
” By the mid-1990s , the toxic stew of prohibition and illegitimate law enforcement contributed to a skyrocketing homicide rate , making the once-placid city “ Murderapolis.
” In Minneapolis , as in so many cities , the tactics of warrior cops became a part of everyday life .
The killing of George Floyd is another flashpoint .
As in 1989 , Minneapolis can chart a new course on public safety that will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It won ’ t be easy .
Just last year , a strong majority of city residents surveyed—including 65 percent of racial minorities—supported adding 250 cops to the force .
Those seeking to diminish the role of the police will have to be ready for backlash not only from law-and-order obsessives and the 911 addicts but downtown business interests as well—particularly the sports and entertainment complexes grown dependent on the corporate welfare of an ever-larger publicly funded security force .
All communities in this polyglot city—gay , black , immigrant , Native @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard questions about what they expect the police to accomplish .
This is bigger than police accountability or procedural justice .
It gets to the heart of reconsidering our reliance on the criminal justice system to address social issues and of finally producing a humane vision of public safety .

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Minneapolis. Most of the time, this is a remarkably orderly and well-kept city. In 1980, while experts warned that other cities were becoming obsolete, Minneapolis remained a beacon of hope, a place that, said National Geographic, “can still nurture the human species.” However, citizens’ scant patience for interrupting this idyll meant that the city tolerated a police department riddled with violent, bigoted officers. The current unrest, sparked in Minneapolis and spreading across the country, offers a chance to examine how this city went from beacon to burning. Minnesota, perhaps more than any other state, embodies the failures of liberal efforts to achieve equitable dignity through public safety. As the writer David Lawrence Grant states, “The hard truth is that police departments deal with communities of color in exactly the way that American society, Minnesota society, has asked them to.”
The city’s liberal reputation was solidified by the election of Donald M. Fraser in 1980 after a campaign dominated by his pledge to professionalize the police department. Fraser picked the progressive cop Tony Bouza to overhaul a force defined by brutality, corruption, and politicization. The day before Bouza’s swearing in, officers raided a gay bathhouse to make it clear that they would not be tamed. Bouza pushed forward, instituting a multitude of improvements and reaching out to racial and sexual minorities.
For all the genuine progress Bouza made, he was unable to rein in the “thumpers.” Of the 227 complaints of excessive force by MPD officers from 1983 to 1987, none were upheld by the City. The police union objected to disciplinary measures, and Bouza acknowledged that he could not fire those officers who were “demonstrably unfit” or “oftentimes even criminal” because of the “paralyzing strictures of civil service.”
Police brutality here was disproportionately directed toward the city’s black, Native American, and gay populations. Minneapolis was emerging as a cosmopolitan place policed by many officers who despised the city. When urbanites asked police about crime, a common retort was, “Why don’t you move into the suburbs where you can feel safe?”
Bouza was pushed out in 1989 because of two contradictory impulses reflecting the city’s desire for order: The chief was blamed both for not reining in the “thumpers” and for not doing enough to crack down on the city’s expanding drug trade. Residents resented sluggish police response times and the MPD’s inability to stop open-air drug dealing. Many African Americans felt they were getting “the cold shoulder” from the police department, a black city council member complained. He demanded that “every means possible” be used to eradicate these illegal activities.
Fraser and Bouza were skeptical about street-level narcotics enforcement, but their hesitations were overwhelmed by citizen demands to “do something.” The city’s response unleashed the “thumpers” in militarized drug raids. After blowing open doors, cops screamed, “Police! Get your fucking asses down, down, you fuckers! Get the fuck down now! I want to see your hands behind your back, now, now, now!” After securing the inhabitants, the hunt for the spoils was on: freezers and food canisters emptied, garbage bags ripped open, furniture destroyed. An estimated 90 percent of the raids targeted African Americans, and officers poured salt into racial wounds, turning radios from rap to country stations and taunting suspects. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
The MPD’s war on its own citizens had devastating consequences. “Wrong house raids” incited anger, especially after two elderly African Americans were killed in January 1989 by a fire started by a flash-bang grenade. The following month, “thumpers” instigated a police riot against black college students at a downtown hotel. Black leaders charged that the MPD had moved from harassment to “a conscious move towards organized violence against our community.” Police Brutality Meet the Ex-Prosecutor Behind the Legal Effort to Stop Atlanta’s “Cop City” Ryan Zickgraf Police Are Spreading Authoritarianism Under the Guise of Counterterrorism Michael Gould-Wartofsky France Has a Deep History of Racist Policing—Even if It Won’t Admit It Amit Prakash
Activists rallied to bring an out-of-control police force to heel. It didn’t happen. The diverse segments of the population—gays, blacks, American Indians, white progressives—could not agree on a unified agenda. Meanwhile, Minneapolis officers demonstrated the kind of solidarity that would make the most committed socialist jealous. When officer Dan May shot Tycel Nelson, a black youth, in 1990, messages on squad car computers read, “Dan May for Chief” and “Dan May for Pope.”
Police critics struggled to devise alternatives and the usual liberal reformism—better and more policing—stepped into the breach. No ambitious police leader seeking to make chief could admit that the force could not prevent crime, so the department engaged in a litany of “innovative” community policing programs. Meanwhile, broad public support for the drug war allowed police to maraud across the city, declaring victories for “real people” over “assholes.” By the mid-1990s, the toxic stew of prohibition and illegitimate law enforcement contributed to a skyrocketing homicide rate, making the once-placid city “Murderapolis.” In Minneapolis, as in so many cities, the tactics of warrior cops became a part of everyday life.
The killing of George Floyd is another flashpoint. As in 1989, Minneapolis can chart a new course on public safety that will impress voters and not just graduate students. It won’t be easy. Just last year, a strong majority of city residents surveyed—including 65 percent of racial minorities—supported adding 250 cops to the force. Those seeking to diminish the role of the police will have to be ready for backlash not only from law-and-order obsessives and the 911 addicts but downtown business interests as well—particularly the sports and entertainment complexes grown dependent on the corporate welfare of an ever-larger publicly funded security force.
All communities in this polyglot city—gay, black, immigrant, Native American, and white—will have to ask hard questions about what they expect the police to accomplish. This is bigger than police accountability or procedural justice. It gets to the heart of reconsidering our reliance on the criminal justice system to address social issues and of finally producing a humane vision of public safety.


thenation--2020-06-01--Bill de Blasio Has Failed the Test of This Moment

Protests over the murder of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor , and decades of racist police violence are raging across the country—and in city after city .
In response , cops are destroying property .
Cops are beating citizens .
Cops are driving their cop cars into crowds of people and shooting at and arresting members of the media .
Cops , the people in this situation with training and guns , are finding ways to escalate the tension they ’ re supposed to be trying to quell .
Some states , notably Minnesota , have called in the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cops and accomplices who committed murder on camera is too easy .
But in most of the country , local governments are still in charge .
Policing is among the most basic functions of local government .
Our president , last seen hiding in a bunker and trying to start a race war on Twitter , is not the civilian in charge of the cops .
Our mayors are .
And for the most part , our mayors are failing .
Our police commissioners are failing .
When a protester ( or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a business , that ’ s a crime against property .
When a police officer opens his car door to whack a protester as the car speeds by , that ’ s state-sponsored terrorism .
When you see a mayor or local official bemoan the damage to the business but ignore the attempted vehicular homicide , what you are seeing is a failure .
It ’ s a failure of government at its most basic level .
All mayors want two things : peace and control .
They look to the police to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ones who show up if somebody shoots at you or steals from you or accuses you of playing your music too loud .
Police are the option of first resort for crime , accidents , or mere annoyances of daily life .
If something is burning , you can call the fire department ; if somebody is dying , you can call an ambulance .
But if almost anything else is happening , you have to call the cops or deal with it yourself .
That ’ s a bad situation even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But what happens when the cops are the ones who are out of control ?
What happens when the cops are the ones who are disturbing the peace ?
What happens when the cops are the violent aggressors and they ’ ve got the armor and munitions to invade Poland ?
Who do you call then ?
It is in these moments that mayors are supposed to stand up—and tell the police to stand down .
These are the times when the civilian leadership is supposed to put a stop to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Most mayors are not doing that .
It turns out that putting mayors in charge of the police is like putting rodeo clowns in charge of a bull : They ’ re not trying to ride the bull ; they ’ re trying to hang on for dear life and avoid being trampled to death .
And nobody looks more like a clown right now than New York Mayor Bill de Blasio .
Most mayors in this country fail to control their police , but de Blasio is unique .
He explicitly campaigned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the police and holding them to account for their violence .
Now that he ’ s actually in power , he has turned into a shill and apologist for police brutality .
What adds insult to injury is that he used his son , who happens to be black , to close the deal on his election .
De Blasio put his son in campaign ads .
These ads are credited with fueling de Blasio ’ s surprising landslide victory in his first mayoral election in 2013 .
He used his son again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president .
Bill de Blasio put his son up as collateral to get a credibility loan from black people in New York .
But now that the payment is due , now that he ’ s supposed to pay out on his promise to stop police brutality , he is out there literally blaming protesters for making police cars drive into them .
At a press conference Sunday , de Blasio said that footage of a police car driving into a crowd of protesters was “ upsetting ” and that he wished the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But he continued , “ But I also understood that they didn ’ t start this situation .
The situation was started by a group of protesters converging on a police vehicle , attacking that vehicle.
” I don ’ t know when de Blasio started outsourcing his press releases to Donald Trump , but I ’ m sure the statement sounded better in the original Queensian .
De Blasio blamed protesters for not getting out of the way of a cop car early on Sunday .
But late Sunday his daughter was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ) refusing to clear a roadway and throwing objects at the police .
The Sergeants Benevolent Association leaked her arrest report ( before the tweet was deleted ) in an apparent attempt to embarrass de Blasio ( and , in the process , putting his daughter at real risk ) .
I wouldn ’ t put it past the NYPD to arrest the mayor ’ s daughter just to embarrass him , so I ’ m not going to assume she did anything that warranted arrest .
I am going to assume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was proud of his daughter , won ’ t stop the police from engaging in behaviors that put his own children ’ s lives at risk , the rest of us are screwed .
This is the kind of betrayal of principles de Blasio has engaged in throughout his time in office .
He endorsed “ broken windows ” policing , which directly leads to racial profiling .
He added 1,300 cops to the force in 2015 , instead of doing anything to scale back the overpolicing of the city .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rid of Daniel Pantaleo , the officer who choked Eric Garner to death in Staten Island .
De Blasio said he learned his lesson and would act more quickly in the future .
But it ’ s been a month since video emerged of officer Francisco Garcia sitting on the head of a man who allegedly violated social distancing guidelines in the East Village—a move not dissimilar from the tactics that killed Floyd , but Garcia has not been fired , much less arrested .
De Blasio can not and will not control @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police will get more brutal as these protests continue .
The unmitigated failure of his leadership highlights the weakness of mayors generally and their inability to control the small armies now under their command .
Mayors often come to power with no training in policing and no tactical understanding of the use of force .
Most mayors have no military training .
They are not experts in urban deployment strategies .
And yet they control paramilitary forces that employ counterinsurgency tactics every time a crowd of black people shows up with a megaphone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least slogans—about better , more equal policing , but they quickly become overly reliant on their police commissioners , most of whom are more worried about protecting the police than protecting citizens from the police .
Politically , mayors are beholden to police unions , whose support is thought to be critical to their electoral chances .
The result is that we don ’ t have effective civilian control over our police forces .
Nobody is in charge .
The police are able to act like police , with all the brutality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only people holding them accountable are other police officers or elected officials who are themselves afraid of the police .
People Can Only Bear So Much Injustice Before Lashing Out There ’ s Only One Possible Conclusion : White America Likes Its Killer Cops Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black Ineffectual civilian control of police power has always been a problem , but those problems have been accelerated by the militarization of police .
Within the lifetimes of most millennials , the police have completed a transformation from club-wielding marauders to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personnel carriers .
Our mayors , generally , are not enlightened enough , not experienced enough , and not trustworthy enough to harness the power now wielded by our local police .
The only real solution is disarmament .
We can start in New York City .
It is looking at a $ 10 billion budgetary shortfall , thanks to Covid-19 and the attendant measures to stop its spread .
The annual budget for the New York Police Department is $ 6 billion .
De Blasio has proposed cutting that budget hardly at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less important to him , like the Department of Education .
The mayor has that entirely backward .
It is the militarized , violent police who need to have some of their toys taken away , while schoolchildren should get to keep all of theirs—or , hell , maybe even get some new ones , like language programs or art classes or fresh math textbooks .
And when it comes time to elect a new mayor , New Yorkers shouldn ’ t vote for the one who promises to control the police .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about that .
We already understand why mayors can ’ t really get control of the cops .
We need to find a mayor who is humble enough to admit that he or she can not control the police—and instead commits to defunding them and reducing their power .

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Protests over the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and decades of racist police violence are raging across the country—and in city after city. In response, cops are destroying property. Cops are beating citizens. Cops are driving their cop cars into crowds of people and shooting at and arresting members of the media. Cops, the people in this situation with training and guns, are finding ways to escalate the tension they’re supposed to be trying to quell.
Some states, notably Minnesota, have called in the National Guard, I guess because simply arresting the cops and accomplices who committed murder on camera is too easy. But in most of the country, local governments are still in charge. Policing is among the most basic functions of local government. Our president, last seen hiding in a bunker and trying to start a race war on Twitter, is not the civilian in charge of the cops. Our mayors are.
And for the most part, our mayors are failing. Our police commissioners are failing. When a protester (or white nationalist infiltrator) sets fire to a business, that’s a crime against property. When a police officer opens his car door to whack a protester as the car speeds by, that’s state-sponsored terrorism. When you see a mayor or local official bemoan the damage to the business but ignore the attempted vehicular homicide, what you are seeing is a failure. It’s a failure of government at its most basic level.
All mayors want two things: peace and control. They look to the police to give them both. The police are the ones who show up if somebody shoots at you or steals from you or accuses you of playing your music too loud. Police are the option of first resort for crime, accidents, or mere annoyances of daily life. If something is burning, you can call the fire department; if somebody is dying, you can call an ambulance. But if almost anything else is happening, you have to call the cops or deal with it yourself.
That’s a bad situation even when cops are in a good mood. But what happens when the cops are the ones who are out of control? What happens when the cops are the ones who are disturbing the peace? What happens when the cops are the violent aggressors and they’ve got the armor and munitions to invade Poland? Who do you call then? Current Issue View our current issue
It is in these moments that mayors are supposed to stand up—and tell the police to stand down. These are the times when the civilian leadership is supposed to put a stop to the violent excesses of their paramilitary forces.
Most mayors are not doing that. It turns out that putting mayors in charge of the police is like putting rodeo clowns in charge of a bull: They’re not trying to ride the bull; they’re trying to hang on for dear life and avoid being trampled to death.
And nobody looks more like a clown right now than New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Most mayors in this country fail to control their police, but de Blasio is unique. He explicitly campaigned on his commitment to standing up to the police and holding them to account for their violence. Now that he’s actually in power, he has turned into a shill and apologist for police brutality. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
What adds insult to injury is that he used his son, who happens to be black, to close the deal on his election. De Blasio put his son in campaign ads. These ads are credited with fueling de Blasio’s surprising landslide victory in his first mayoral election in 2013. He used his son again in ads during his brief run for president. Bill de Blasio put his son up as collateral to get a credibility loan from black people in New York. But now that the payment is due, now that he’s supposed to pay out on his promise to stop police brutality, he is out there literally blaming protesters for making police cars drive into them.
At a press conference Sunday, de Blasio said that footage of a police car driving into a crowd of protesters was “upsetting” and that he wished the officers hadn’t done that. But he continued, “But I also understood that they didn’t start this situation. The situation was started by a group of protesters converging on a police vehicle, attacking that vehicle.” I don’t know when de Blasio started outsourcing his press releases to Donald Trump, but I’m sure the statement sounded better in the original Queensian.
De Blasio blamed protesters for not getting out of the way of a cop car early on Sunday. But late Sunday his daughter was arrested, allegedly for (wait for it) refusing to clear a roadway and throwing objects at the police. The Sergeants Benevolent Association leaked her arrest report (before the tweet was deleted) in an apparent attempt to embarrass de Blasio (and, in the process, putting his daughter at real risk). I wouldn’t put it past the NYPD to arrest the mayor’s daughter just to embarrass him, so I’m not going to assume she did anything that warranted arrest. I am going to assume that if de Blasio, who said he was proud of his daughter, won’t stop the police from engaging in behaviors that put his own children’s lives at risk, the rest of us are screwed.
This is the kind of betrayal of principles de Blasio has engaged in throughout his time in office. He endorsed “broken windows” policing, which directly leads to racial profiling. He added 1,300 cops to the force in 2015, instead of doing anything to scale back the overpolicing of the city. It took the city five years to get rid of Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who choked Eric Garner to death in Staten Island. De Blasio said he learned his lesson and would act more quickly in the future. But it’s been a month since video emerged of officer Francisco Garcia sitting on the head of a man who allegedly violated social distancing guidelines in the East Village—a move not dissimilar from the tactics that killed Floyd, but Garcia has not been fired, much less arrested.
De Blasio cannot and will not control the cops. And that means the police will get more brutal as these protests continue. The unmitigated failure of his leadership highlights the weakness of mayors generally and their inability to control the small armies now under their command. Mayors often come to power with no training in policing and no tactical understanding of the use of force. Most mayors have no military training. They are not experts in urban deployment strategies. And yet they control paramilitary forces that employ counterinsurgency tactics every time a crowd of black people shows up with a megaphone.
Newly elected mayors may have ideas—or at least slogans—about better, more equal policing, but they quickly become overly reliant on their police commissioners, most of whom are more worried about protecting the police than protecting citizens from the police. Politically, mayors are beholden to police unions, whose support is thought to be critical to their electoral chances.
The result is that we don’t have effective civilian control over our police forces. Nobody is in charge. The police are able to act like police, with all the brutality and bias that entails, and the only people holding them accountable are other police officers or elected officials who are themselves afraid of the police. More from Mystal People Can Only Bear So Much Injustice Before Lashing Out Elie Mystal There’s Only One Possible Conclusion: White America Likes Its Killer Cops Elie Mystal Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black Elie Mystal
Ineffectual civilian control of police power has always been a problem, but those problems have been accelerated by the militarization of police. Within the lifetimes of most millennials, the police have completed a transformation from club-wielding marauders to paramilitary troopers zooming around town in armored personnel carriers. Our mayors, generally, are not enlightened enough, not experienced enough, and not trustworthy enough to harness the power now wielded by our local police.
The only real solution is disarmament.
We can start in New York City. It is looking at a $10 billion budgetary shortfall, thanks to Covid-19 and the attendant measures to stop its spread. The annual budget for the New York Police Department is $6 billion. De Blasio has proposed cutting that budget hardly at all while proposing massive cuts to things less important to him, like the Department of Education.
The mayor has that entirely backward. It is the militarized, violent police who need to have some of their toys taken away, while schoolchildren should get to keep all of theirs—or, hell, maybe even get some new ones, like language programs or art classes or fresh math textbooks.
And when it comes time to elect a new mayor, New Yorkers shouldn’t vote for the one who promises to control the police. We’ve already been lied to about that. We already understand why mayors can’t really get control of the cops. We need to find a mayor who is humble enough to admit that he or she cannot control the police—and instead commits to defunding them and reducing their power.