thenation--2020-10-08--How the Theatrics of Banning TikTok Enables Repression at Home

China policy analysts and tech regulators have recently tried to make sense of the US threats to ban on TikTok and WeChat .
What do the requirements of such a prohibition imply for tech regulation ?
If the US government is willing to exercise such influence over private cell phone providers , what could this mean for other forms of data ?
Is a whack-a-mole game of app bans really a useful way to enforce data privacy without a broader set of government rules like Europe ’ s General Data Protection Regulation ?
More importantly , what is the meaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without technical evidence—given that “ sanctioned ” surveillance hardware made by Chinese companies continues to be used throughout the United States ?
These are all legitimate questions—if you still believe we are living in a functioning democracy .
The Trump administration ’ s bans on WeChat and TikTok , as well as the “ Clean Network ” campaign , which would exclude Chinese telecom companies , cloud providers , and undersea cables from American Internet infrastructure , should instead be seen as part of its attempt to increase the power of the executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free market are busy worrying about a splintered Internet , they miss the bigger picture : Trump ’ s tech authoritarianism is accelerating the growth of corporate power .
A 2018 study showed that Trump ’ s supporters are motivated by racism , sexism , and anti-Chinese sentiment .
So it makes sense that in a bid for re-election , the Trump administration is cultivating an anti-China stance .
The specter of Beijing helps drive two main fears : a socialist “ big government ” and socialist “ outside influence ” on American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ narrative is racist , but what ’ s more crucial is how that racism is deployed .
With a casual nod and wink , Trump presents China as a threat to “ individual freedom ” —the kind of freedom that allows white domestic terrorists to bandy about guns at state capitals .
The opposition to the socialist left—both real and imagined , in the United States and abroad—is so feverish that some of Trump ’ s supporters are willing to see their fellow Americans die from the coronavirus rather than concede to “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the neoliberal views of Trump ’ s base are not at odds with authoritarian power ; rather , as theorists like Wendy Brown point out , such views purposely disintegrate democracy and society , making “ liberty a pure instrument of power ” Rendering China as a fearsome socialist state ( despite its state capitalist reality ) in order to deepen domestic oppression has historical precedent .
Before the US-China “ Tech Cold War ” was the actual Cold War , during which “ Third World ” countries across Africa , Latin America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the face of European colonizers .
At the time the question for American men in the echelons of power was : Would these emerging nations choose socialism or democracy ?
Much of America ’ s foreign policy at the time was propelled by the domino theory : the idea that if a given country opted for communism , then others around it would do the same .
America ’ s anti-Soviet foreign policy enabled political repression at home and abroad .
Some $ 700 million was sent to South Africa alone to prop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of “ fighting communism.
” During the Cold War , anti-communism became a rallying cry for brutal crackdowns on anti-war protesters , Black leaders , and civil rights activists .
The FBI conducted covert operations and surveillance against virtually anyone who challenged US imperialism and the status quo of a segregated society , wielding “ communist ” as a convenient accusation to justify harassment and disinformation .
Countless activists and community organizers were subjected to government-led smear campaigns led by the likes of Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee .
According @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only targeted dissidents ; they also “ served the interests of policy-makers who sought to roll back the modest achievements of the New Deal and block the further expansion of the liberal welfare state.
” There are parallels to our present moment .
In response to the recent Black Lives Matter uprising , the Trump administration referred to mysterious left-wing agitators and capitalized on narratives of “ outside influence ” and “ antidemocratic ” protests .
In late June , Attorney General William Barr created a task force to pursue “ anti-government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that seemed to encompass activists against police oppression and the carceral state .
According to Barr , “ Although these extremists profess a variety of ideologies , they are united in their position to the core constitutional values of a democratic society governed by law.
” More recently , as federal troops cracked down on protesters in Portland , Ore. , the administration has continued to assert that antifa , in all its leftist glory , is ruining America .
Such narratives conveniently make room for American-style surveillance—whether through predictive policing or the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Predator drones .
In fact , as conversations about defunding and demilitarizing the police spread throughout the United States , it is worth noting that digital surveillance has often replaced more traditional forms of policing , and private government contractors are happy to fill the void .
Why the US-China Rivalry Is Thwarting Transnational Solidarity Democratic and Republican policy-makers point to China ’ s human rights abuses as further reason to take a stand against China .
For example , in 2019 , Congress passed a law banning HikVision and Dahua , two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state violence against Uighurs , from doing work on US government contracts .
There absolutely needs to be retaliatory actions against surveillance tech companies carrying out state violence .
But it should be thoughtful legislation that understands the reality of 21st century surveillance .
HikVision , for instance , makes products labeled as coming from non-Chinese companies like Honeywell and ABUS .
Those are not barred .
The 2019 law also deliberately ignores the fact that HikVision would not exist if not for US-approved venture capital firms like SoftBank and investment funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strictly government affair allows private tech companies to prosper and neglects longer histories of tech-enabled racial capitalism inscribed by the US War on Terror .
Meanwhile , HikVision cameras and temperature sensors—used , for instance , in Times Square—remain readily available to American consumers and private companies for purchase .
Other products from companies banned from US government contracts are also in widespread use .
Amazon warehouses employ temperature-monitoring cameras made by Dahua .
It ’ s telling that as Trump goes on about TikTok ’ s relationship with the Chinese government , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s workings has found that it sends user information to China .
A 2017 Chinese law does require companies with data stored in China to provide information to the government , but TikTok has stated that its data is stored inside the United States .
Unlike Europe , which has the General Data Protection Regulation , the United States does not have explicit rules about data sovereignty—which means we must take TikTok and all other corporations at their word .
The US government ’ s refusal to protect its citizens ’ data reflects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , epitomized in the 2018 Cloud Act , which allows the US government to request data about citizens , no matter where data is geographically stored .
If US politicians were sincerely concerned about Chinese state violence , they would be willing to question and implicate the corporate actors—including Silicon Valley tech companies and their investors—that profit from the surveillance of Uighurs and other groups .
The Trump administration ’ s reluctance to do so points not only to its own corruption , but also to how it ultimately views the plight of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pawns in an election cycle .
To Trump ’ s supporters , China and “ big government ” activists are socialist threats that their president has finally stood up to .
In his appeal for four more years of power , Trump aims to cement the connection between China and leftism and between Chinese corporations and the Chinese government ( but not Chinese corporations and US ones ) .
This type of damage is not just the fear of “ the Other , ” but a continued assault on democratic processes while the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its citizens .
Foreign policy abroad has come to justify a dismantling of democracy at home .
Judges across the United States have since issued injunctions , blocking the executive orders banning WeChat and TikTok , in attempts to uphold legislative processes and because they deem such bans infringements on users ’ First Amendment rights .
This defense of constitutional rights , however , serves the grander Trump narrative , because the administration has made governance and our democracy its enemy , aided by the threat of China .
“ Yellow peril ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in drumming up nationalist support .
Just hours after Trump tested for Covid-19 , his supporters immediately started blaming China , insisting that the United States must hold China accountable—fitting well with Trump ’ s insistence on calling it the “ China virus.
” Holding China “ accountable ” may appeal not just to his staunch supporters but also to those voters who are tired of our socially distanced , masked new normal .
In this election season , we can not discount the ways narratives have been shaped and twisted to appeal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s promise of “ America First ” depended on isolating us in the world , through walls and all kinds of bans .
Yet we must continue to connect the dots , across borders and imaginaries , seeing through narratives for what they are .
Our democracy may depend on it .

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China policy analysts and tech regulators have recently tried to make sense of the US threats to ban on TikTok and WeChat. What do the requirements of such a prohibition imply for tech regulation? If the US government is willing to exercise such influence over private cell phone providers, what could this mean for other forms of data? Is a whack-a-mole game of app bans really a useful way to enforce data privacy without a broader set of government rules like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation? More importantly, what is the meaning of a blanket ban—on surveillance grounds but without technical evidence—given that “sanctioned” surveillance hardware made by Chinese companies continues to be used throughout the United States?
These are all legitimate questions—if you still believe we are living in a functioning democracy. The Trump administration’s bans on WeChat and TikTok, as well as the “Clean Network” campaign, which would exclude Chinese telecom companies, cloud providers, and undersea cables from American Internet infrastructure, should instead be seen as part of its attempt to increase the power of the executive branch. While proponents of the global free market are busy worrying about a splintered Internet, they miss the bigger picture: Trump’s tech authoritarianism is accelerating the growth of corporate power.
A 2018 study showed that Trump’s supporters are motivated by racism, sexism, and anti-Chinese sentiment. So it makes sense that in a bid for re-election, the Trump administration is cultivating an anti-China stance. The specter of Beijing helps drive two main fears: a socialist “big government” and socialist “outside influence” on American politics. The “yellow peril” narrative is racist, but what’s more crucial is how that racism is deployed. With a casual nod and wink, Trump presents China as a threat to “individual freedom”—the kind of freedom that allows white domestic terrorists to bandy about guns at state capitals.
The opposition to the socialist left—both real and imagined, in the United States and abroad—is so feverish that some of Trump’s supporters are willing to see their fellow Americans die from the coronavirus rather than concede to “big government.” In other words, the neoliberal views of Trump’s base are not at odds with authoritarian power; rather, as theorists like Wendy Brown point out, such views purposely disintegrate democracy and society, making “liberty a pure instrument of power . ”
Rendering China as a fearsome socialist state (despite its state capitalist reality) in order to deepen domestic oppression has historical precedent. Before the US-China “Tech Cold War” was the actual Cold War, during which “Third World” countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia reasserted their agency in the face of European colonizers. At the time the question for American men in the echelons of power was: Would these emerging nations choose socialism or democracy? 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
Much of America’s foreign policy at the time was propelled by the domino theory: the idea that if a given country opted for communism, then others around it would do the same. America’s anti-Soviet foreign policy enabled political repression at home and abroad. Some $700 million was sent to South Africa alone to prop up an apartheid government under the guise of “fighting communism.” During the Cold War, anti-communism became a rallying cry for brutal crackdowns on anti-war protesters, Black leaders, and civil rights activists. The FBI conducted covert operations and surveillance against virtually anyone who challenged US imperialism and the status quo of a segregated society, wielding “communist” as a convenient accusation to justify harassment and disinformation. Countless activists and community organizers were subjected to government-led smear campaigns led by the likes of Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee.
According to historian Clarence Lang, anti-communist efforts not only targeted dissidents; they also “served the interests of policy-makers who sought to roll back the modest achievements of the New Deal and block the further expansion of the liberal welfare state.” Current Issue View our current issue
There are parallels to our present moment. In response to the recent Black Lives Matter uprising, the Trump administration referred to mysterious left-wing agitators and capitalized on narratives of “outside influence” and “antidemocratic” protests. In late June, Attorney General William Barr created a task force to pursue “anti-government extremists,” a purposefully nebulous category that seemed to encompass activists against police oppression and the carceral state. According to Barr, “Although these extremists profess a variety of ideologies, they are united in their position to the core constitutional values of a democratic society governed by law.” More recently, as federal troops cracked down on protesters in Portland, Ore., the administration has continued to assert that antifa, in all its leftist glory, is ruining America.
Such narratives conveniently make room for American-style surveillance—whether through predictive policing or the monitoring of protesters using social media or Predator drones. In fact, as conversations about defunding and demilitarizing the police spread throughout the United States, it is worth noting that digital surveillance has often replaced more traditional forms of policing, and private government contractors are happy to fill the void. Related Article Why the US-China Rivalry Is Thwarting Transnational Solidarity Jessie Lau
Democratic and Republican policy-makers point to China’s human rights abuses as further reason to take a stand against China. For example, in 2019, Congress passed a law banning HikVision and Dahua, two surveillance tech companies with proven ties to the state violence against Uighurs, from doing work on US government contracts. There absolutely needs to be retaliatory actions against surveillance tech companies carrying out state violence. But it should be thoughtful legislation that understands the reality of 21st century surveillance. HikVision, for instance, makes products labeled as coming from non-Chinese companies like Honeywell and ABUS. Those are not barred. The 2019 law also deliberately ignores the fact that HikVision would not exist if not for US-approved venture capital firms like SoftBank and investment funds like Fidelity. Reducing surveillance to a strictly government affair allows private tech companies to prosper and neglects longer histories of tech-enabled racial capitalism inscribed by the US War on Terror. Meanwhile, HikVision cameras and temperature sensors—used, for instance, in Times Square—remain readily available to American consumers and private companies for purchase. Other products from companies banned from US government contracts are also in widespread use. Amazon warehouses employ temperature-monitoring cameras made by Dahua.
It’s telling that as Trump goes on about TikTok’s relationship with the Chinese government, no technical investigation into the app’s workings has found that it sends user information to China. A 2017 Chinese law does require companies with data stored in China to provide information to the government, but TikTok has stated that its data is stored inside the United States. Unlike Europe, which has the General Data Protection Regulation, the United States does not have explicit rules about data sovereignty—which means we must take TikTok and all other corporations at their word. The US government’s refusal to protect its citizens’ data reflects its own desire to monitor its population, epitomized in the 2018 Cloud Act, which allows the US government to request data about citizens, no matter where data is geographically stored.
If US politicians were sincerely concerned about Chinese state violence, they would be willing to question and implicate the corporate actors—including Silicon Valley tech companies and their investors—that profit from the surveillance of Uighurs and other groups. The Trump administration’s reluctance to do so points not only to its own corruption, but also to how it ultimately views the plight of oppressed peoples outside the United States as pawns in an election cycle.
To Trump’s supporters, China and “big government” activists are socialist threats that their president has finally stood up to. In his appeal for four more years of power, Trump aims to cement the connection between China and leftism and between Chinese corporations and the Chinese government (but not Chinese corporations and US ones). This type of damage is not just the fear of “the Other,” but a continued assault on democratic processes while the US government absolves itself of actually protecting its citizens. Foreign policy abroad has come to justify a dismantling of democracy at home.
Judges across the United States have since issued injunctions, blocking the executive orders banning WeChat and TikTok, in attempts to uphold legislative processes and because they deem such bans infringements on users’ First Amendment rights. This defense of constitutional rights, however, serves the grander Trump narrative, because the administration has made governance and our democracy its enemy, aided by the threat of China. “Yellow peril” is a lazy but enormously effective narrative in drumming up nationalist support. Just hours after Trump tested for Covid-19, his supporters immediately started blaming China, insisting that the United States must hold China accountable—fitting well with Trump’s insistence on calling it the “China virus.” Holding China “accountable” may appeal not just to his staunch supporters but also to those voters who are tired of our socially distanced, masked new normal. In this election season, we cannot discount the ways narratives have been shaped and twisted to appeal to a multitude of fears. Trump’s promise of “America First” depended on isolating us in the world, through walls and all kinds of bans. Yet we must continue to connect the dots, across borders and imaginaries, seeing through narratives for what they are. Our democracy may depend on it.


thenation--2020-10-08--Kendrick Lamar’s Poetic Awakening

Kendrick Lamar’s Poetic Awakening

When Kendrick Lamar was 5 , he saw a teenage drug dealer gunned down in front of his apartment building .
“ A guy was out there serving his narcotics and somebody rolled up with a shotgun and blew his chest out , ” he once told NPR .
“ It [ did ] something to me right then and there .
It let me know that this is not only something that I ’ m looking at , but it ’ s something that maybe I have to get used to.
” Then , at the age of 8 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ E. McNair Elementary School , past the Tam ’ s Burgers on Rosecrans Avenue , when he saw a man get shot and killed in the drive-through as he ordered his food .
As a child , he toed a fine line between morality and street shit .
Too many wrong moves , and Kendrick—the same guy whose music has traveled the globe several times over—would not have made it out of his hometown of Compton , Calif .
Although one could say in retrospect that Kendrick ’ s ascension was ordained , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ton of goodwill , and a lot of support from family and friends to pull through .
Kendrick needed a friend like Matt Jeezy , whom he met in the third or fourth grade as a fellow student at McNair Elementary .
They lived in the same neighborhood and played basketball with other young kids .
Eventually , some of those same friends would kill each other due to their respective gang affiliations .
But Jeezy and Kendrick weren ’ t thinking red or blue ; they simply wanted to have fun playing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t gangsters at all , just naturally affable children who knew everyone around the way .
“ Me and Kendrick used to get picked on because we weren ’ t big bad gangstas , ” Jeezy recalls .
“ We hung out with them , we associated ourselves with them , but they knew we weren ’ t gangbanging or anything like that .
The girls would pick on us , the fellas would pick on us , but that was part of the territory of living in Compton and growing up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excerpt adapted from The Butterfly Effect : How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America ( Atria Books ) In places like Compton ( and most inner cities , for that matter ) , civil rights leaders don ’ t live beyond the pages of old history books .
They ’ re contained to paper and speeches on YouTube , making it tough to see the impact they made all those years ago .
We see the names Malcolm and Martin scribbled on chalkboards , but most Black children don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kendrick knew the people in their community ; they saw them every day , and gang culture was the most visible sign of power in the neighborhood .
It was a different kind of influence , equally based in fear and admiration .
Gangbangers had unwavering respect , and to make it in Compton was to somehow navigate the culture without being entranced by it .
Kendrick ’ s parents did their best to protect him from the streets ; his father was a gang member in Chicago .
That kept him pure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ express his innermost convictions .
Kendrick was introduced to creative writing as a seventh-grader at Vanguard Learning Center , where he met Regis Inge , an English teacher who brought poetry into the curriculum .
Tensions were especially high in the school : A gang war had broken out between Blacks and Latinos in a county jail , and those ill feelings made their way to the streets of Compton , then to the Unified School District .
The friction seemed to intensify overnight ; one day , the students were cordial with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t interacting at all .
Inge introduced poetry as a way to deescalate the intensity .
As he saw it , if the kids wrote their frustration , they wouldn ’ t need to express it through physical violence .
They were dealing with heavy issues at home , not just gang tension .
Some of them were food insecure or had problems with self-esteem .
Others trekked to school just minutes after law enforcement stampeded their homes and arrested family members .
“ Poetry was a way for them to write their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come to school so angry , ” Inge recalls .
“ They ’ d be ready to fight at 7:30 in the morning.
” Still , the poetry lesson wasn ’ t an easy sell for the neighborhood boys , who assumed the balladry was all about fluttering hearts and red roses .
They weren ’ t comfortable expressing feelings of love , so Inge connected poetry with hip-hop and let the students know that it isn ’ t always so cloying , that their favorite rappers were simply talking about their lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids had a breakthrough : Black , brown , red , and blue no longer mattered in the classroom ; they started seeing each other as humans and not just rivals .
“ It broke the color lines down , ” Inge says .
“ Hearing poetry from a person of another race helped the students realize that they aren ’ t so different.
” These weren ’ t just poetry lessons ; they taught students how to survive the turbulence of their lives .
The class had a profound impact on Kendrick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shy with a noticeable stutter that arose when he got excited .
Kendrick was a solid student who earned good grades and put his all into creative writing .
Finally , he had an avenue to unpack his feelings—and Inge would play a major role in his intellectual growth .
Kendrick had to work hard to perfect his craft , and Inge wasn ’ t easy on him .
When Kendrick submitted his work , Inge would often send it back with visible prompts for the budding poet to dig deeper .
Prosaic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the young man needed to strengthen his lexicon before his prose could truly shine .
“ I would always circle something and say , ‘ Kendrick , change this , move this right here , ’ ” Inge says .
Not one to be defeated by hard work , Kendrick took it as motivation to improve .
He didn ’ t just want to get by ; he wanted to be the best , and that meant tapping into a level of focus he hadn ’ t before .
It meant pouring everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he could to protect it .
If he forgot to do his poetry assignment at home , he ’ d get to school early and finish it there .
Kendrick became obsessed with the written word , scribbling rap lyrics on notebook paper instead of finishing assignments for other classes .
The lyrics were profane—all “ ‘ eff you ’ and ‘ d-i-c-k , ’ ” his mother reportedly said—but that was Kendrick mining the seedy aspects of his upbringing to arrive at something more positive .
“ He was rapping about things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about , ” Jeezy says .
“ He was rapping about what he knew at the time—and that was drugs , gangbanging , and the streets .
As we got older and started maturing , I saw him take the craft more seriously.
” The poems Kendrick wrote about the changes he went through as an adolescent helped him navigate the social dynamics of his neighborhood .
His understanding of the world grew exponentially as he began to study other cultures—those within and outside Compton—and compare their experiences with his own to strengthen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make others feel comfortable ; instead , he chose to elevate his thinking and make people catch up to him .
By the time Kendrick was in high school , his career path was set .
He was going to be a rapper , and nothing could make him veer off the course .
On one day in particular , Jeezy and Kendrick were walking home from Centennial High School when the budding MC just couldn ’ t stop rapping .
He started coming up with rhymes off the top of his head @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until four or five blocks later , when he and Jeezy were close to their respective homes .
“ It was about twenty minutes ’ worth of rapping , ” Jeezy remembers .
At that moment , his friend knew that Kendrick had what it took to be a star .
All he needed to do was stay away from the pitfalls of street life .
“ I was like , ‘ Damn , Kendrick , bro , if you just stay out of jail and stay alive , you ’ re gon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ literally came out of my mouth were ‘ Don ’ t go to jail .
Don ’ t die.
’ ” And it wasn ’ t as if Kendrick didn ’ t grapple with his own challenges : At age 16 , he started running with the wrong crowd—partying and drinking .
It was really just kid shit , the same thing teenagers had done for generations .
But given Kendrick ’ s neighborhood and family history , his behavior foreshadowed a possible life of crime and gang affiliation .
His father , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; he ’ d come too far to watch his son fall victim to the same habits .
“ My father said , ‘ I don ’ t want you to be like me , ’ ” Kendrick told Spin in 2012 .
“ He said , ‘ Things I have done , mistakes I ’ ve made , I never want you to make those mistakes .
You can wind up out on the corner.
’ He knew by the company I [ kept ] what I was gettin ’ into .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ gathered myself together.
” Kendrick adored his father and his caring , no-nonsense attitude ; the two shared a love of Tupac and gangsta rap .
Kenny let him experience triumph and tragedy and was there with real talk when Kendrick lost his way .
He playfully coined his dad ’ s advice as “ intelligent ignorance.
” Of course , Kenny wasn ’ t impeccable—he was a flawed human like the rest of us—but he had a good heart and truly wanted to do right by people .
Having supporters like Kenny @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helped Kendrick .
They saw a light in the young man and helped him nurture it , even if it took the young poet a little while to fully embrace his truth .
“ Thinking back to when we were walking home from Centennial that one day , ” Jeezy wistfully recalls .
“ Look at him now , man .
Look at him now .
”

When Kendrick Lamar was 5, he saw a teenage drug dealer gunned down in front of his apartment building. “A guy was out there serving his narcotics and somebody rolled up with a shotgun and blew his chest out,” he once told NPR. “It [did] something to me right then and there. It let me know that this is not only something that I’m looking at, but it’s something that maybe I have to get used to.” Then, at the age of 8, Kendrick was walking home from Ronald E. McNair Elementary School, past the Tam’s Burgers on Rosecrans Avenue, when he saw a man get shot and killed in the drive-through as he ordered his food. As a child, he toed a fine line between morality and street shit. Too many wrong moves, and Kendrick—the same guy whose music has traveled the globe several times over—would not have made it out of his hometown of Compton, Calif. Although one could say in retrospect that Kendrick’s ascension was ordained, he also needed some luck, a ton of goodwill, and a lot of support from family and friends to pull through.
Kendrick needed a friend like Matt Jeezy, whom he met in the third or fourth grade as a fellow student at McNair Elementary. They lived in the same neighborhood and played basketball with other young kids. Eventually, some of those same friends would kill each other due to their respective gang affiliations. But Jeezy and Kendrick weren’t thinking red or blue; they simply wanted to have fun playing games they both loved. They weren’t gangsters at all, just naturally affable children who knew everyone around the way. “Me and Kendrick used to get picked on because we weren’t big bad gangstas,” Jeezy recalls. “We hung out with them, we associated ourselves with them, but they knew we weren’t gangbanging or anything like that. The girls would pick on us, the fellas would pick on us, but that was part of the territory of living in Compton and growing up around gang culture.” This is an excerpt adapted from The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America (Atria Books)
In places like Compton (and most inner cities, for that matter), civil rights leaders don’t live beyond the pages of old history books. They’re contained to paper and speeches on YouTube, making it tough to see the impact they made all those years ago. We see the names Malcolm and Martin scribbled on chalkboards, but most Black children don’t grow up knowing them. Jeezy and Kendrick knew the people in their community; they saw them every day, and gang culture was the most visible sign of power in the neighborhood. It was a different kind of influence, equally based in fear and admiration. Gangbangers had unwavering respect, and to make it in Compton was to somehow navigate the culture without being entranced by it. Kendrick’s parents did their best to protect him from the streets; his father was a gang member in Chicago. That kept him pure, but he needed another outlet to express his innermost convictions.
Kendrick was introduced to creative writing as a seventh-grader at Vanguard Learning Center, where he met Regis Inge, an English teacher who brought poetry into the curriculum. Tensions were especially high in the school: A gang war had broken out between Blacks and Latinos in a county jail, and those ill feelings made their way to the streets of Compton, then to the Unified School District. The friction seemed to intensify overnight; one day, the students were cordial with one another, then they weren’t interacting at all.
Inge introduced poetry as a way to deescalate the intensity. As he saw it, if the kids wrote their frustration, they wouldn’t need to express it through physical violence. They were dealing with heavy issues at home, not just gang tension. Some of them were food insecure or had problems with self-esteem. Others trekked to school just minutes after law enforcement stampeded their homes and arrested family members. “Poetry was a way for them to write their emotions down so they wouldn’t come to school so angry,” Inge recalls. “They’d be ready to fight at 7:30 in the morning.” 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
Still, the poetry lesson wasn’t an easy sell for the neighborhood boys, who assumed the balladry was all about fluttering hearts and red roses. They weren’t comfortable expressing feelings of love, so Inge connected poetry with hip-hop and let the students know that it isn’t always so cloying, that their favorite rappers were simply talking about their lives by putting poetry to music. The kids had a breakthrough: Black, brown, red, and blue no longer mattered in the classroom; they started seeing each other as humans and not just rivals. “It broke the color lines down,” Inge says. “Hearing poetry from a person of another race helped the students realize that they aren’t so different.” These weren’t just poetry lessons; they taught students how to survive the turbulence of their lives. The class had a profound impact on Kendrick, who in middle school was incredibly shy with a noticeable stutter that arose when he got excited.
Kendrick was a solid student who earned good grades and put his all into creative writing. Finally, he had an avenue to unpack his feelings—and Inge would play a major role in his intellectual growth. Kendrick had to work hard to perfect his craft, and Inge wasn’t easy on him. When Kendrick submitted his work, Inge would often send it back with visible prompts for the budding poet to dig deeper. Prosaic language wouldn’t cut it; the young man needed to strengthen his lexicon before his prose could truly shine. “I would always circle something and say, ‘Kendrick, change this, move this right here,’” Inge says.
Not one to be defeated by hard work, Kendrick took it as motivation to improve. He didn’t just want to get by; he wanted to be the best, and that meant tapping into a level of focus he hadn’t before. It meant pouring everything into his creative being and doing what he could to protect it. If he forgot to do his poetry assignment at home, he’d get to school early and finish it there. Kendrick became obsessed with the written word, scribbling rap lyrics on notebook paper instead of finishing assignments for other classes. The lyrics were profane—all “‘eff you’ and ‘d-i-c-k,’” his mother reportedly said—but that was Kendrick mining the seedy aspects of his upbringing to arrive at something more positive. “He was rapping about things he wasn’t supposed to rap about,” Jeezy says. “He was rapping about what he knew at the time—and that was drugs, gangbanging, and the streets. As we got older and started maturing, I saw him take the craft more seriously.” Related Article Moses Sumney’s Songs of Freedom Stephen Kearse
The poems Kendrick wrote about the changes he went through as an adolescent helped him navigate the social dynamics of his neighborhood. His understanding of the world grew exponentially as he began to study other cultures—those within and outside Compton—and compare their experiences with his own to strengthen his art. Kendrick stopped writing to make others feel comfortable; instead, he chose to elevate his thinking and make people catch up to him.
By the time Kendrick was in high school, his career path was set. He was going to be a rapper, and nothing could make him veer off the course. On one day in particular, Jeezy and Kendrick were walking home from Centennial High School when the budding MC just couldn’t stop rapping. He started coming up with rhymes off the top of his head, and he didn’t stop until four or five blocks later, when he and Jeezy were close to their respective homes. “It was about twenty minutes’ worth of rapping,” Jeezy remembers. At that moment, his friend knew that Kendrick had what it took to be a star. All he needed to do was stay away from the pitfalls of street life. “I was like, ‘Damn, Kendrick, bro, if you just stay out of jail and stay alive, you’re gonna make it.’ The words that literally came out of my mouth were ‘Don’t go to jail. Don’t die.’”
And it wasn’t as if Kendrick didn’t grapple with his own challenges: At age 16, he started running with the wrong crowd—partying and drinking. It was really just kid shit, the same thing teenagers had done for generations. But given Kendrick’s neighborhood and family history, his behavior foreshadowed a possible life of crime and gang affiliation. His father, Kenny, wasn’t having it; he’d come too far to watch his son fall victim to the same habits. “My father said, ‘I don’t want you to be like me,’” Kendrick told Spin in 2012. “He said, ‘Things I have done, mistakes I’ve made, I never want you to make those mistakes. You can wind up out on the corner.’ He knew by the company I [kept] what I was gettin’ into. Out of respect, I really just gathered myself together.” Kendrick adored his father and his caring, no-nonsense attitude; the two shared a love of Tupac and gangsta rap. Kenny let him experience triumph and tragedy and was there with real talk when Kendrick lost his way. He playfully coined his dad’s advice as “intelligent ignorance.” Of course, Kenny wasn’t impeccable—he was a flawed human like the rest of us—but he had a good heart and truly wanted to do right by people.
Having supporters like Kenny, Matt Jeezy, and Regis Inge helped Kendrick. They saw a light in the young man and helped him nurture it, even if it took the young poet a little while to fully embrace his truth. “Thinking back to when we were walking home from Centennial that one day,” Jeezy wistfully recalls. “Look at him now, man. Look at him now.”


thenation--2020-10-08--Kamala Harris Called Out Covid Lies and Guilty Men

Mike Pence spent time preparing for the last vice presidential debate of his miserable political career and came up with what he thought was a strategy .
The chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force set out to deflect attention from the Trump administration ’ s failure to respond to a pandemic that has cost more than 210,000 American lives by claiming that any reference to that failure should be seen as “ a great disservice to the sacrifices the American people have made ” over seven wrenching months of sickness , death , and economic devastation .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a cut-rate host from Indiana who parlayed his right-wing litmus-test results into a subservient vice presidency .
Pence somehow imagined those tired tricks would work in a debate with a former prosecutor and state attorney general , with a senator who had mastered the politics of the largest state in the nation , with a woman who had mounted a serious presidential campaign in which her debate skills were her strongest suit .
Pence has miscalculated frequently in his long political career .
He tried to make a name for himself as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffered from personality-deficit disorder .
He lost elections .
He aligned himself with political charlatans , including one Donald John Trump .
But he has rarely misjudged a circumstance so badly as he did Wednesday night , when he faced Senator Kamala Harris on the debate stage in Salt Lake City .
Joe Biden ’ s running mate shredded the vice president ’ s strategy by looking into the camera and speaking to the American people not as a Rush Limbaugh wannabe but as a leader who is prepared to level with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lies it has been told by Trump and Pence .
Biden Needs to Stop Talking Down Bernie Sanders and Medicare for All Hillary Clinton Warned Us We Had to Get Serious About the Supreme Court “ Let ’ s talk about respecting the American people , ” she said .
“ You respect the American people when you tell them the truth .
You respect the American people when you have the courage to be a leader , speaking of those things you may not want people to hear , but they need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Then the Democratic nominee for vice president delivered the knock-out blow .
Speaking of workers who “ didn ’ t have enough money saved up ” when mass unemployment hit and ended up “ standing in a food line , ” Harris said , “ They ’ ve had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration.
” Debating on a day when Donald Trump is still being treated for his own case of Covid-19 and still sending all the wrong signals about how to avoid spreading the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ battleground states that will decide the November 3 election , Harris came prepared to discuss the issue that has defined this year ’ s campaign .
The former prosecutor employed facts , figures , and a timeline that upended Pence ’ s strategy—and , in doing so , derailed Republican hopes that the vice presidential debate would renew the flagging fortunes of the Trump-Pence reelection campaign .
In the opening minutes of a debate that took place on a stage where the candidates were separated by plexiglass dividers , Harris explained that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country .
And here are the facts : 210,000 dead people in our country in just the last several months , over 7 million people who have contracted this disease .
One in five businesses closed .
We ’ re looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers .
We are looking at 30 million people who , in the last several months , had to file for unemployment .
Then she pointed the finger of blame , referencing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which President Trump acknowledged that he had deliberately deceived the American people about a deadly pandemic .
“ And here ’ s the thing , on January 28 , the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic , ” said Harris .
“ They were informed that it is lethal in consequence , that it is airborne , that it will affect young people , and that it would be contracted because it is airborne .
And they knew what was happening , and they didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said , “ and they covered it up.
” More than an hour remained in the debate .
But it was already over .
Mike Pence thought he could keep deceiving the American people about a pandemic and the devastation it has caused .
Kamala Harris knew that the time had come to call out the lies , and to identify the guilty men .

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Mike Pence spent time preparing for the last vice presidential debate of his miserable political career and came up with what he thought was a strategy. The chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force set out to deflect attention from the Trump administration’s failure to respond to a pandemic that has cost more than 210,000 American lives by claiming that any reference to that failure should be seen as “a great disservice to the sacrifices the American people have made” over seven wrenching months of sickness, death, and economic devastation.
It was an old talk-radio trick trotted out by a cut-rate host from Indiana who parlayed his right-wing litmus-test results into a subservient vice presidency. Pence somehow imagined those tired tricks would work in a debate with a former prosecutor and state attorney general, with a senator who had mastered the politics of the largest state in the nation, with a woman who had mounted a serious presidential campaign in which her debate skills were her strongest suit.
Pence has miscalculated frequently in his long political career. He tried to make a name for himself as a “radio personality” when he suffered from personality-deficit disorder. He lost elections. He aligned himself with political charlatans, including one Donald John Trump. But he has rarely misjudged a circumstance so badly as he did Wednesday night, when he faced Senator Kamala Harris on the debate stage in Salt Lake City.
Joe Biden’s running mate shredded the vice president’s strategy by looking into the camera and speaking to the American people not as a Rush Limbaugh wannabe but as a leader who is prepared to level with a nation that is literally sick of the lies it has been told by Trump and Pence. 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
“Let’s talk about respecting the American people,” she said. “You respect the American people when you tell them the truth. You respect the American people when you have the courage to be a leader, speaking of those things you may not want people to hear, but they need to hear so they can protect themselves.”
Then the Democratic nominee for vice president delivered the knock-out blow. Speaking of workers who “didn’t have enough money saved up” when mass unemployment hit and ended up “standing in a food line,” Harris said, “They’ve had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration.”
Debating on a day when Donald Trump is still being treated for his own case of Covid-19 and still sending all the wrong signals about how to avoid spreading the virus that is again surging in the battleground states that will decide the November 3 election, Harris came prepared to discuss the issue that has defined this year’s campaign.
The former prosecutor employed facts, figures, and a timeline that upended Pence’s strategy—and, in doing so, derailed Republican hopes that the vice presidential debate would renew the flagging fortunes of the Trump-Pence reelection campaign.
In the opening minutes of a debate that took place on a stage where the candidates were separated by plexiglass dividers, Harris explained that
the American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. And here are the facts: 210,000 dead people in our country in just the last several months, over 7 million people who have contracted this disease. One in five businesses closed. We’re looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers. We are looking at 30 million people who, in the last several months, had to file for unemployment.
Then she pointed the finger of blame, referencing recordings made by journalist Bob Woodward in which President Trump acknowledged that he had deliberately deceived the American people about a deadly pandemic.
“And here’s the thing, on January 28, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic,” said Harris. “They were informed that it is lethal in consequence, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted because it is airborne. And they knew what was happening, and they didn’t tell you.”
“They knew,” she said, “and they covered it up.”
More than an hour remained in the debate. But it was already over. Mike Pence thought he could keep deceiving the American people about a pandemic and the devastation it has caused. Kamala Harris knew that the time had come to call out the lies, and to identify the guilty men.


thenation--2020-10-08--Pence Looks Normal Only in Comparison to Trump

Wednesday night ’ s debate between Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence took place in the shadow of a much more consequential debate , the disastrous encounter between Joe Biden and Donald Trump two weeks ago .
The debate between the presidential contenders was one of the most dismaying staged events in modern American politics , with a seething Trump constantly and rudely interrupting Biden , often with crude insults .
That debate was painful to watch , although it did have the salutary effect of making Trump even more unpopular .
The gap between Biden and Trump has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 9 percent , in part , polling maven Nate Silver suggests , because of the debate .
Pence had the difficult job of advancing a Trumpian agenda but without displaying the Trumpian bullying that seems to be turning voters off .
It was a difficult line to walk , because he had to still maintain the stance of dominance that the Republican base admires .
What we saw in the debate was Pence presenting himself as a normal avatar of Trump , a Republican politician who firmly holds to all his party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be openly cruel and give vent to ugly emotions .
As New York Times reporter Nick Confessore noted , “ It is unexpectedly weird to hear a politician try to do the Trump politics with a conventional , normcore politician ’ s manner and cadence.
” Michael Brendan Dougherty , a thoughtful conservative writer at National Review , made a similar point , saying , “ Mike Pence ’ s political skill really is just ‘ high conscientiousness.
’ Hitting the briefing books hard , practicing , and not letting his temper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But if Pence seemed refreshingly normal , it was only because Trump is part of the spectrum .
On its own terms , Pence ’ s performance was unsettling .
He constantly interrupted Harris and the moderator , journalist Susan Page .
True , he did it less rudely than Trump , but it was a persistent pattern of disrespect , which got so bad that Page had to point out that he was talking much more than Harris .
Clara Jeffery , editor in chief of Mother Jones , observed , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris are of a piece with the Pence/Graham rule , never being alone with any woman not his wife .
This is a profoundly sexist and damaging position for anyone who works for Pence.
” Harris , for her part , fended off Pence ’ s abrasiveness well , often with spirited mockery .
But still , she was constrained by the difficulty that Pence , like Trump , is a shameless liar .
It ’ s difficult to fact-check either Trump or Pence in real time because the lies come so fast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who works for a President who is a serial liar and who trades in gross misinformation , accused Harris of being untruthful when she told voters that if they had a pre-existing health condition ‘ they are coming for you.
’ ” Pence also claimed that “ President Trump and I have a plan to improve health care and to protect preexisting conditions for every American.
” “ This is false , ” CNN reminded us .
“ The Trump administration , along with Republicans in Congress , have long promised a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that they would also protect people with pre-existing conditions .
However , the President has yet to put forth a concrete plan that will provide the same strong provisions that currently exist under the ACA.
” This is one of many Trumpian lies Pence told .
Harris couldn ’ t challenge him on all of them because it wasn ’ t in her political interest to make the debate too contentious .
“ The most excruciating thing about that debate , ” commented journalist Lindsay Beyerstein , “ was watching Harris decide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be too ‘ mean ’ and VP debates aren ’ t that important anyway.
” Near the end of the debate , Pence was asked what he would do if the Republicans lost the presidential election but Trump wouldn ’ t accept a peaceful transfer of power .
He refused to answer the question and said they expected to win .
MSNBC ’ s Joe Scarborough tweeted , “ Mike Pence refuses to say what he will do if Donald Trump refuses to respect the results of the election and the democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extraordinarily disturbing times.
” Mike Pence proved he ’ s a more presentable version of Trump , but he ’ s still a Trumpian through and through .
He only appeared acceptable in comparison to Trump .
In normal terms , he ’ s a dangerous far-right politician .

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Wednesday night’s debate between Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence took place in the shadow of a much more consequential debate, the disastrous encounter between Joe Biden and Donald Trump two weeks ago. The debate between the presidential contenders was one of the most dismaying staged events in modern American politics, with a seething Trump constantly and rudely interrupting Biden, often with crude insults. That debate was painful to watch, although it did have the salutary effect of making Trump even more unpopular. The gap between Biden and Trump has gone from roughly 7 percent to more than 9 percent, in part, polling maven Nate Silver suggests, because of the debate.
Pence had the difficult job of advancing a Trumpian agenda but without displaying the Trumpian bullying that seems to be turning voters off. It was a difficult line to walk, because he had to still maintain the stance of dominance that the Republican base admires.
What we saw in the debate was Pence presenting himself as a normal avatar of Trump, a Republican politician who firmly holds to all his party’s talking points but won’t be openly cruel and give vent to ugly emotions. As New York Times reporter Nick Confessore noted, “It is unexpectedly weird to hear a politician try to do the Trump politics with a conventional, normcore politician’s manner and cadence.” Michael Brendan Dougherty, a thoughtful conservative writer at National Review, made a similar point, saying, “Mike Pence’s political skill really is just ‘high conscientiousness.’ Hitting the briefing books hard, practicing, and not letting his temper go. That’s it.”
But if Pence seemed refreshingly normal, it was only because Trump is part of the spectrum. On its own terms, Pence’s performance was unsettling. He constantly interrupted Harris and the moderator, journalist Susan Page. True, he did it less rudely than Trump, but it was a persistent pattern of disrespect, which got so bad that Page had to point out that he was talking much more than Harris. Clara Jeffery, editor in chief of Mother Jones, observed, “Pence’s condescension and interruptions of Harris are of a piece with the Pence/Graham rule, never being alone with any woman not his wife. This is a profoundly sexist and damaging position for anyone who works for Pence.”
Harris, for her part, fended off Pence’s abrasiveness well, often with spirited mockery. But still, she was constrained by the difficulty that Pence, like Trump, is a shameless liar. It’s difficult to fact-check either Trump or Pence in real time because the lies come so fast. As CNN remarked, “Pence, who works for a President who is a serial liar and who trades in gross misinformation, accused Harris of being untruthful when she told voters that if they had a pre-existing health condition ‘they are coming for you.’”
Pence also claimed that “President Trump and I have a plan to improve health care and to protect preexisting conditions for every American.”
“This is false,” CNN reminded us. “The Trump administration, along with Republicans in Congress, have long promised a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act and that they would also protect people with pre-existing conditions. However, the President has yet to put forth a concrete plan that will provide the same strong provisions that currently exist under the ACA.” Current Issue View our current issue
This is one of many Trumpian lies Pence told. Harris couldn’t challenge him on all of them because it wasn’t in her political interest to make the debate too contentious. “The most excruciating thing about that debate,” commented journalist Lindsay Beyerstein, “was watching Harris decide not to take Pence apart because that would be too ‘mean’ and VP debates aren’t that important anyway.”
Near the end of the debate, Pence was asked what he would do if the Republicans lost the presidential election but Trump wouldn’t accept a peaceful transfer of power. He refused to answer the question and said they expected to win. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough tweeted, “Mike Pence refuses to say what he will do if Donald Trump refuses to respect the results of the election and the democratic will of the people. These are extraordinarily disturbing times.”
Mike Pence proved he’s a more presentable version of Trump, but he’s still a Trumpian through and through. He only appeared acceptable in comparison to Trump. In normal terms, he’s a dangerous far-right politician.


thenation--2020-10-08--We’re Living in a Simulation

We’re Living in a Simulation

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thenation--2020-10-08--The Prisoners Who Were Convicted by Hung Juries

In 2005 , Ricky Davis , a Black Louisianian from New Orleans , was staying at a motel in Baton Rouge after his house was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina .
On the night of October 29 , according to court records , he got into an altercation with a white man who drove his car at him .
Davis shot him , and a jury convicted him of second-degree murder with a life sentence in the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola .
But it was a jury verdict with a difference .
It wasn ’ t unanimous .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 thought that he was guilty .
Had Davis been in almost any other state , it would have been a mistrial .
Davis is not alone .
One thousand one hundred and one inmates currently serving prison terms in the state of Louisiana were convicted by nonunanimous juries and have finished their direct appeals , according to the Promise of Justice Initiative , a legal nonprofit in New Orleans .
Davis ’ s story was complicated .
On the night of the crime , according to court records , a woman told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who had raped her was in the motel parking lot .
Using Davis ’ s phone , she called 911 , while he went down to investigate .
The witness testified at trial that as Davis tried to get the man ’ s license plate , he “ had to kind of jump out of the way because the truck was headed right toward him.
” As the man drove towards him , Davis shot in the direction of the truck .
The man subsequently died of a gun wound to his chest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had never been charged with a crime .
He had a job working as a disaster relief inspector , helping with the aftermaths of hurricanes , and spent his free time with his family .
When he was arrested , Davis was first charged with manslaughter , which was later changed to second-degree murder .
He stayed on house arrest for nearly three years awaiting trial .
He never violated the terms of his arrest , and called his family every night to make sure they were home safe , according to his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s trial , the defense unsuccessfully argued that he had acted in self-defense , according to court records .
The 10 jurors ruled that the police investigation and witness testimony could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did not have the “ specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm.
” The charge was then changed to second-degree murder .
According to Davis ’ s post-conviction relief application , the jury took only one hour and 11 minutes to deliberate .
Ricky Davis was sentenced to prison for life at hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and sent to Angola .
In April , Davis got a burst of hope in his cell at Angola .
He heard other inmates talking about a US Supreme Court decision that had ruled nonunanimous verdicts unconstitutional .
This meant that future cases would require unanimous juries for conviction , and that inmates on direct appeal would have the right to a new trial .
But none of these changes applied to Davis .
Despite the abolition of this Jim Crow–era law , which for over a century has disproportionately affected Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He and the other inmates convicted by nonunanimous juries currently serving sentences in Louisiana would not get a second chance .
“ When they changed this law and accepted that it was racist , it should have been retroactive automatically , ” says Davis , adding , “ This is what this nonunanimous jury thing is all about , keeping people like us inside.
” Davis described his situation over multiple phone conversations and letters since March .
Well before the Ramos decision , inmates were campaigning for a change in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Angola , spent years discussing the law with the inmate council , reaching out to family and friends on the outside to advocate the change , and writing articles from prison detailing the need for it .
As he followed the legislative debates on TV , he knew that the decision would not be retroactive , and would not apply to his case , but he kept pushing for the change anyway .
“ We knew that it wasn ’ t going to apply to us , but we cheered it on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he says .
Meanwhile , lawyers at the Promise of Justice Initiative had started poring over cases in search of 10-2 or 11-1 jury verdicts .
They sent hundreds of letters to incarcerated convicts .
Soon , the letters started coming back , and the number of people in need of representation kept increasing .
“ There is this group of people who are the folks who everyday still continue to carry the weight of this Jim Crow law , ” says Jamila Johnson , the managing attorney for the Jim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Justice Initiative .
Nonunanimous juries were expressly designed to weaken the vote of Black jurors .
According to the Ramos v. Louisiana decision , the law can be traced back to an 1898 constitutional convention that had as its purpose to “ establish the supremacy of the white race , ” and “ to ensure that African-American juror service would be meaningless.
” It concludes that “ the State wanted to diminish the influence of Black jurors , who had won the right to serve on juries through the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Louisiana was until recently one of the last two US states that allowed nonunanimous jury convictions .
( The other was Oregon . )
Two years ago , activists won a statewide amendment on the nonunanimous jury law , with 64 percent of Louisiana voters supporting a measure to strike it down .
The Ramos decision expanded the constitutional amendment to anyone on direct appeal at the time of the decision—not just those cases following the amendment ’ s passage .
But Justice Neil Gorsuch , who wrote the court ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a separate non-retroactivity doctrine ” would apply .
“ Under the Court ’ s precedents , new constitutional rules apply on direct review , but generally do not apply retroactively on habeas corpus review , ” his decision reads .
Justice Brett Kavanaugh , who joined the majority , emphasized that the rule should not apply retroactively on the federal level .
The Supreme Court will rule on the question of retroactivity as it affects 1,601 older sentences in a case to be argued in the court ’ s current term .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been effective in taking power away from Black jurors , who tend to be in the minority .
According to a study from the Equal Justice Initiative , in 80 percent of criminal cases in Louisiana , only the votes of white jurors are necessary to return a guilty verdict .
The study also found that all-white juries tend to spend less time making a decision , make more errors and consider less-diverse perspectives .
“ The whole design of the nonunanimous juries system in the first place is to really nullify the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Will Snowden , the director of Vera Institute for Justice ’ s NOLA office and the founder of the Juror Project .
The problem starts as early as the jury selection process , says Snowden .
The questions asked during selection are skewed to exclude Black jurors .
The selection process will usually disqualify jurors if they have had a negative experience with the police , or have an incarcerated relative , two factors that disproportionately impact Black people , in a state where 52 percent of the jail population is Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that 27 percent of prospective Black jurors have a chance of being disqualified from serving on a jury , compared to 11 percent of white jurors .
According to the same study , Black jurors are 2.5 times more likely than white jurors to dissent in split decisions .
Nonunanimous jury verdicts also leave more room for error , because the dissenting minority votes are ignored .
“ That means that the prosecutors were not meeting their burden of proving their case beyond all reasonable doubts , ” Snowden says .
The Innocence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help wrongfully convicted inmates argue their case in court , found that 13 of the 56 cases of wrongful conviction in the state of Louisiana were decided by nonunanimous juries .
Of these 13 cases , seven took less than a day to be decided .
The case of Curtis Ray Davis II ( no relation ) is another one .
Curtis Davis was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 , and spent 23 years in prison .
He devoted his two decades in prison to reading everything he could get his hands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jury verdicts .
He always maintained his innocence , and finally took a plea deal to a lesser offense to get out of prison .
As an ex-convict , he is limited by the 1266 collateral consequences laws that constrain the lives of convicted felons in Louisiana .
Curtis Ray Davis had met Ricky in an Islamic inmates group , and knew him as a quiet man , who stayed out of trouble and mostly kept to himself .
One day Ricky approached him asking for help , knowing of Curtis ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Curtis to take a look at his case , and help him appeal .
Curtis wrote an article about Ricky ’ s story for the San Francisco Bay View , but didn ’ t have the resources to offer further assistance .
Without retroactivity , the chances of Ricky ’ s getting another trial were slim .
“ The criminal machine in Louisiana is a weapon against Black people , ” says Curtis Davis .
In prison , Ricky Davis has been beset by health problems .
When he had to have back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the prison in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle , he had to lie on his stomach on the front seat of a van .
This caused some staples in his back to stretch open .
Back at Angola , he was forced to continue cleaning showers , washing pots and pans , and carrying heavy buckets , which caused the pain to increase , according to a class action lawsuit filed in 2015 that Davis was part of .
During the Covid pandemic , several in his dormitory tested positive for the virus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ thought that a more healthy diet might help protect him from the virus .
He spent the little money his family sent to buy tuna , peanut butter , and other items he considered better than what is served at the prison .
Now , the anguish of spending the rest of his life in this infamous prison has caused Davis ’ s mental health to worsen .
He has started to get panic attacks .
Most nights , he can ’ t sleep .
“ Every time I lay down it feels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he says .
Jeanique Angelain worries about him .
“ I am happy for the people in the future , but it breaks my heart for Ricky to not have this opportunity , ” says Angelain , adding , “ We have to go back and help people whose rights were taken away.
” The last hope for prisoners like Ricky Davis is the upcoming Thedrick Edwards case , which the Supreme Court agreed to hear in May 2020 .
Edwards was convicted of armed robbery , attempted robbery , aggravated kidnapping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to life in prison at hard labor , working in the fields of the former plantation of the Angola prison .
The verdict came from a nonunanimous jury of 11-1 , with the sole Black juror voting to acquit him .
His case will be the first to determine the retroactivity of the Ramos decision .
Hillar Moore , the district attorney for East Baton Rouge who prosecuted Davis , has since come out in support of the abolition of the nonunanimous juries law .
In an interview with The Advocate , Moore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roots .
“ Changing the verdict scheme hopefully will restore some trust and legitimacy in our system and take away some of the criticism of our current jury system , ” he said .
Moore did not respond to a request for comment on whether unanimity should apply retroactively .
Davis is impatiently waiting for the Edwards decision , hoping that he will finally have access to a fair trial .
“ We will know if Black lives matter in the state of Louisiana when they make a decision on nonunanimous juries and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ negative effect on Black people , ” he says .

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In 2005, Ricky Davis, a Black Louisianian from New Orleans, was staying at a motel in Baton Rouge after his house was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. On the night of October 29, according to court records, he got into an altercation with a white man who drove his car at him. Davis shot him, and a jury convicted him of second-degree murder with a life sentence in the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola.
But it was a jury verdict with a difference. It wasn’t unanimous. Out of the 12 jurors, only 10 thought that he was guilty. Had Davis been in almost any other state, it would have been a mistrial. Davis is not alone. One thousand six hundred and one inmates currently serving prison terms in the state of Louisiana were convicted by nonunanimous juries and have finished their direct appeals, according to the Promise of Justice Initiative, a legal nonprofit in New Orleans.
Davis’s story was complicated. On the night of the crime, according to court records, a woman told Davis and a witness that a man who had raped her was in the motel parking lot. Using Davis’s phone, she called 911, while he went down to investigate. The witness testified at trial that as Davis tried to get the man’s license plate, he “had to kind of jump out of the way because the truck was headed right toward him.” As the man drove towards him, Davis shot in the direction of the truck. The man subsequently died of a gun wound to his chest.
Up until that day, Davis had never been charged with a crime. He had a job working as a disaster relief inspector, helping with the aftermaths of hurricanes, and spent his free time with his family. When he was arrested, Davis was first charged with manslaughter, which was later changed to second-degree murder. He stayed on house arrest for nearly three years awaiting trial. He never violated the terms of his arrest, and called his family every night to make sure they were home safe, according to his daughter-in-law Jeanique Angelain.
During Davis’s trial, the defense unsuccessfully argued that he had acted in self-defense, according to court records. The 10 jurors ruled that the police investigation and witness testimony could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did not have the “specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm.” The charge was then changed to second-degree murder. According to Davis’s post-conviction relief application, the jury took only one hour and 11 minutes to deliberate. Ricky Davis was sentenced to prison for life at hard labor, without the opportunity for parole, and sent to Angola.
Ricky Davis. (Photo: Jeanique Angelain)
In April, Davis got a burst of hope in his cell at Angola. He heard other inmates talking about a US Supreme Court decision that had ruled nonunanimous verdicts unconstitutional. This meant that future cases would require unanimous juries for conviction, and that inmates on direct appeal would have the right to a new trial. 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
But none of these changes applied to Davis. Despite the abolition of this Jim Crow–era law, which for over a century has disproportionately affected Black men, the change was not retroactive. He and the other inmates convicted by nonunanimous juries currently serving sentences in Louisiana would not get a second chance. Current Issue View our current issue
“When they changed this law and accepted that it was racist, it should have been retroactive automatically,” says Davis, adding, “This is what this nonunanimous jury thing is all about, keeping people like us inside.” Davis described his situation over multiple phone conversations and letters since March.
Well before the Ramos decision, inmates were campaigning for a change in the law. Anthony Boult, another inmate at Angola, spent years discussing the law with the inmate council, reaching out to family and friends on the outside to advocate the change, and writing articles from prison detailing the need for it. As he followed the legislative debates on TV, he knew that the decision would not be retroactive, and would not apply to his case, but he kept pushing for the change anyway.
“We knew that it wasn’t going to apply to us, but we cheered it on either way for the people after us,” he says.
Meanwhile, lawyers at the Promise of Justice Initiative had started poring over cases in search of 10-2 or 11-1 jury verdicts. They sent hundreds of letters to incarcerated convicts. Soon, the letters started coming back, and the number of people in need of representation kept increasing.
“There is this group of people who are the folks who everyday still continue to carry the weight of this Jim Crow law,” says Jamila Johnson, the managing attorney for the Jim Crow Juries project at the Promise of Justice Initiative. Nonunanimous juries were expressly designed to weaken the vote of Black jurors. According to the Ramos v. Louisiana decision, the law can be traced back to an 1898 constitutional convention that had as its purpose to “establish the supremacy of the white race,” and “to ensure that African-American juror service would be meaningless.” It concludes that “the State wanted to diminish the influence of Black jurors, who had won the right to serve on juries through the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875.”
Louisiana was until recently one of the last two US states that allowed nonunanimous jury convictions. (The other was Oregon.) Two years ago, activists won a statewide amendment on the nonunanimous jury law, with 64 percent of Louisiana voters supporting a measure to strike it down. The Ramos decision expanded the constitutional amendment to anyone on direct appeal at the time of the decision—not just those cases following the amendment’s passage.
But Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the court’s decision in Ramos, claimed that “a separate non-retroactivity doctrine” would apply. “Under the Court’s precedents, new constitutional rules apply on direct review, but generally do not apply retroactively on habeas corpus review,” his decision reads. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the majority, emphasized that the rule should not apply retroactively on the federal level.
The Supreme Court will rule on the question of retroactivity as it affects 1,601 older sentences in a case to be argued in the court’s current term.
For decades, the nonunanimous jury law has been effective in taking power away from Black jurors, who tend to be in the minority. According to a study from the Equal Justice Initiative, in 80 percent of criminal cases in Louisiana, only the votes of white jurors are necessary to return a guilty verdict. The study also found that all-white juries tend to spend less time making a decision, make more errors and consider less-diverse perspectives.
“The whole design of the nonunanimous juries system in the first place is to really nullify the Black vote on the juries,” says Will Snowden, the director of Vera Institute for Justice’s NOLA office and the founder of the Juror Project.
The problem starts as early as the jury selection process, says Snowden. The questions asked during selection are skewed to exclude Black jurors. The selection process will usually disqualify jurors if they have had a negative experience with the police, or have an incarcerated relative, two factors that disproportionately impact Black people, in a state where 52 percent of the jail population is Black.
Extensive research from The Advocate showed that 27 percent of prospective Black jurors have a chance of being disqualified from serving on a jury, compared to 11 percent of white jurors. According to the same study, Black jurors are 2.5 times more likely than white jurors to dissent in split decisions.
Nonunanimous jury verdicts also leave more room for error, because the dissenting minority votes are ignored. “That means that the prosecutors were not meeting their burden of proving their case beyond all reasonable doubts,” Snowden says.
The Innocence Project and Amici, nonprofit organizations that help wrongfully convicted inmates argue their case in court, found that 13 of the 56 cases of wrongful conviction in the state of Louisiana were decided by nonunanimous juries. Of these 13 cases, seven took less than a day to be decided.
The case of Curtis Ray Davis II (no relation) is another one. Curtis Davis was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992, and spent 23 years in prison. He devoted his two decades in prison to reading everything he could get his hands on about criminal justice, and nonunanimous jury verdicts. He always maintained his innocence, and finally took a plea deal to a lesser offense to get out of prison. As an ex-convict, he is limited by the 1266 collateral consequences laws that constrain the lives of convicted felons in Louisiana.
Curtis Ray Davis had met Ricky in an Islamic inmates group, and knew him as a quiet man, who stayed out of trouble and mostly kept to himself. One day Ricky approached him asking for help, knowing of Curtis’s research into law. He pleaded with Curtis to take a look at his case, and help him appeal. Curtis wrote an article about Ricky’s story for the San Francisco Bay View, but didn’t have the resources to offer further assistance. Without retroactivity, the chances of Ricky’s getting another trial were slim.
“The criminal machine in Louisiana is a weapon against Black people,” says Curtis Davis.
In prison, Ricky Davis has been beset by health problems. When he had to have back surgery, instead of being transported back to the prison in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, he had to lie on his stomach on the front seat of a van. This caused some staples in his back to stretch open. Back at Angola, he was forced to continue cleaning showers, washing pots and pans, and carrying heavy buckets, which caused the pain to increase, according to a class action lawsuit filed in 2015 that Davis was part of.
During the Covid pandemic, several in his dormitory tested positive for the virus. Without access to proper information, he thought that a more healthy diet might help protect him from the virus. He spent the little money his family sent to buy tuna, peanut butter, and other items he considered better than what is served at the prison.
Now, the anguish of spending the rest of his life in this infamous prison has caused Davis’s mental health to worsen. He has started to get panic attacks. Most nights, he can’t sleep. “Every time I lay down it feels like I can’t breathe,” he says.
Jeanique Angelain worries about him. “I am happy for the people in the future, but it breaks my heart for Ricky to not have this opportunity,” says Angelain, adding, “We have to go back and help people whose rights were taken away.”
The last hope for prisoners like Ricky Davis is the upcoming Thedrick Edwards case, which the Supreme Court agreed to hear in May 2020. Edwards was convicted of armed robbery, attempted robbery, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape, and sentenced to life in prison at hard labor, working in the fields of the former plantation of the Angola prison. The verdict came from a nonunanimous jury of 11-1, with the sole Black juror voting to acquit him. His case will be the first to determine the retroactivity of the Ramos decision.
Hillar Moore, the district attorney for East Baton Rouge who prosecuted Davis, has since come out in support of the abolition of the nonunanimous juries law. In an interview with The Advocate, Moore referred to the law’s racist roots. “Changing the verdict scheme hopefully will restore some trust and legitimacy in our system and take away some of the criticism of our current jury system,” he said. Moore did not respond to a request for comment on whether unanimity should apply retroactively.
Davis is impatiently waiting for the Edwards decision, hoping that he will finally have access to a fair trial. “We will know if Black lives matter in the state of Louisiana when they make a decision on nonunanimous juries and stop a system that has had a negative effect on Black people,” he says.