huffpost--2020-06-08--'S.W.A.T' Creator Knows Cop Shows Need To Do Better

Shemar Moore as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson on "S.W.A.T." Jordin Althaus/CBS
Aaron Rahsaan Thomas grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was aware of the complicated relationship between his community and the cops. One day, a police officer would be teaching neighborhood kids how to ride a bike; the next week, a 12-year-old kid would be shot and killed by an officer.
So when it comes to being an executive producer of “S.W.A.T.” ― a police show following Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (Shemar Moore), a Los Angeles S.W.A.T. lieutenant assigned to lead a highly skilled unit in the community where he grew up ― Thomas approaches storytelling differently than his white colleagues.
Advertisement
And that’s what makes his seat in the writers’ room all the more vital.
Within the first few minutes of the pilot episode, a Black teenager is accidentally shot and injured during a police shoot-out. For Thomas, an incident like that is something he thinks about every day. Now, the world ― and Thomas’ co-workers ― have joined him.
“The hope has always been to try to have an entertaining hour of television that can also pose questions ― not provide answers, but pose questions ― that will help some people whose only exposure to Black people might be on our show during that week,” Thomas told HuffPost during a phone call.
“From the beginning, before the latest wave of public police brutality was exposed, it was something that I always knew was already in the ether, something that I wanted to address,” he said, “and it only becomes more timely, unfortunately, with what’s been going on.”
Following the death of George Floyd on May 25 and the ensuing protests against police violence, many have been questioning the cop procedural’s place in the cultural landscape. As Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk writes, “The overwhelming mountain of cop shows amounts to a decades-long cultural education in who deserves attention, and whose perspective counts most. In stories of American crime, TV teaches us that cops are the characters we should care about.”
Advertisement
Even “Law & Order: SVU” showrunner Warren Leight told The Hollywood Reporter that, “collectively,” police officers are portrayed too positively on screen. “Individually am I miscontributing to society?” he added. “I don’t know.”
Last week, actors who’ve portrayed police officers on screen donated parts of their salaries to the National Bail Fund network. The cast of NBC’s fluffy cop comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” followed that charge, donating $100,000 “to support the many people who are protesting police brutality nationally.”
But despite those gestures, HuffPost received few responses from individuals and networks associated with this genre of programming ― leaving many questions unanswered about the role cop shows play in sustaining an indefensible cycle of violence.
The “S.W.A.T.” crew, for one, did release a statement about how they could do better moving forward. It read:
When S.W.A.T. began three years ago on CBS, as writers we examined the intersection of black communities and law enforcement through the eyes of Daniel ‘Hondo’ Harrelson, an African-American cop who has one foot firmly planted in each world. Since then we have continued to tell stories that have explored themes of race and policing in minority communities. We also asked questions about what is required to build trust and bridge these two worlds. We are watching recent events in horror and sadness along with everyone else and will continue to mine the truth about these issues in the writing of our upcoming season as we all work towards a fairer, better system. In the meantime, we encourage protestors to express their frustrations peacefully and implore law enforcement to deescalate conflicts, not exacerbate them, as people work through their understandable anger and grief.
Thomas, who’s written for shows like “Friday Night Lights” and “Southland,” agreed to talk through his own anger and grief with HuffPost and insisted that for cop procedurals to tell more truthful stories, the industry needs “not just white people who have spent time in those communities, but people who actually come from those communities” to be involved in the production process.
Executive producers Shawn Ryan (left), Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (middle) and Justin Lin (right) of 'S.W.A.T.' speak onstage during the CBS portion of the 2017 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 1, 2017 in Los Angeles. Frederick M. Brown via Getty Images
We’re in the middle of a pandemic, but we’re also dealing with some painful realities in our country right now. It’s a difficult time to process. How are you holding up?
Yeah, I mean, if I’m being honest, it’s a new adventure every day, and it feels like there are new fires to start, literally and proverbially. Even this morning, just reading and catching up on some of my news, reading social media way more than I normally do, there seem to be new developments in every city, in every corner, and a lot of them raise more questions. So I’m constantly looking inward to ask myself, ‘Am I doing enough?’ ‘What more can I continue to do?’ Just looking for ways to hopefully improve the conversation. That’s pretty much the status quo.
Advertisement
This is an unprecedented time with so much going on simultaneously. And with writing and television, I have a platform to at least try to add to the conversation, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I want to make sure I’m informed, but also want to make sure that I’m adding something new and also writing something that’s hopefully helpful. There isn’t such a thing as a leisurely read right now.
The “S.W.A.T. team” was one of the only cop shows to release a statement about George Floyd’s death and the protests against police violence toward the Black community happening around our country. Walk me through your and co-creator Shawn Ryan’s decision to speak out.
Shawn had the impetus for wanting to say something, and our entire staff had a desire to not sit on the sidelines. We’re a show that tells a story about an African American SWAT officer in Los Angeles; there’s no way that we can sit silent when Black men are being killed by police, when you have a public that is hungry to do something to change the system; you know, we just felt the responsibility that silence is not an option. Silence makes his own statement, and it can be a very dangerous statement. Certainly, considering our staff, which is a pretty diverse staff, although we can always do better. I want to stress that right, we’re not satisfied with that, we can always do better.
But we have these discussions all the time; we have discussions in our room when we talk about what the point of the show is. Yes, entertainment is definitely key and you have to have an entertaining show that people want to watch, but also, at the same time, we do actually hope we’re putting out a product that will help to improve the situation, meaning the relationship between police and community. So when we see this happen, tragedies like this, and you see that there could be a breakdown in communication, there’s no way that we can just be silent and allow that breakdown to continue to go without any type of response.
And so, independent of anybody, we thought as a group that we needed to say something. This is something that the entire writing room was a part of, and we want to make sure that we’re making a statement that’s about trying to genuinely and sincerely improve things. This was not done, in our case, to try to protect a product. It is not done to try to preserve properties. This was not done to cover our asses. It’s something that we wanted to initiate because we feel very strongly that these are the types of things that we want to do our part in preventing as much as possible.
Advertisement
“The problems right now that have been exposed are not unprecedented, they were just undocumented. This didn’t begin and end with George Floyd. This is something that’s been present for decades, centuries, in this country, and it’s something that I’ve always had on my heart, every day.” - Aaron Rahsaan Thomas
Have you been grappling with moving forward with “S.W.A.T.” and considering storylines you could explore? I’m sure there’s a little bit of fear, too, because you could be touching an audience who might not be as informed as you are.
It’s no secret that we air on CBS, and certainly, there are responsibilities with our audience and with our format that are different, you know, and things that we’re very aware of. I look at it, though, not so much as something to be fearful of but as an opportunity. Our show is an aspirational show and it’s not always easy to be aspirational. What we’re constantly looking out for is to try and avoid offering the easy answers and to instead look at this as an opportunity to try to expand the conversation, and maybe bring points of view to our audience that they maybe never considered.
For me, and I talk to our writers all the time about this, it’s not something that is a fad or a passing hot topic. It’s something that’s on my mind all the time. The problems right now that have been exposed are not unprecedented, they were just undocumented. This didn’t begin and end with George Floyd. This is something that’s been present for decades, centuries, in this country, and it’s something that I’ve always had on my heart, every day. It’s just that now, more people are joining in on the conversation and there’s an opportunity to continue that in an intelligent way.
The risk with social media, a lot of times, is that there can be a tendency to make snap judgments based on images or headlines and to run with that. It’s easy fodder a lot of times. I find meaningful conversations tend to take more nuance, more time and more research to really look into to avoid even the format of our show, which is painting everything as good guys vs. bad guys. The reality is that a lot of people are capable of both, and the question is, ‘How can we maximize the good?’ How can everyone be at least as aware of what the issues are and where they come from and why they arise as opposed to looking for quick and emotionally gratifying solutions?
Advertisement
You’ve previously said that you wanted your iteration of “S.W.A.T.” to take Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter and showcase a discussion around that. As one of the only cop shows featuring a Black officer [actor Shemar Moore] as the lead, what did you hope to accomplish?
My idea for “S.W.A.T.” started off with a character. I grew up in a neighborhood that had a very complicated relationship with police officers ― literally love-hate relationship. You know, I always tell the story of the neighborhood I grew up in is a neighborhood where my next-door neighbor ― a 12-year-old Black kid ― was shot in the head by a police officer, under very suspicious circumstances, and killed. On the other hand, there was a police officer who also lived in our neighborhood who taught people how to ride bikes.
And so, for the African American police officer, I always felt as though it’s a tough dilemma when you have allegiance to who you are, who you grew up with, your family, where you come from, and also allegiance to at least trying to bridge the gap between improving the system for the people you love and the people you love.
In a way, you’re going to receive criticism both ways. For me, that was always a more compelling dilemma than any case or any serial killer or any bad guy ― that the fight is the real-world reality of how you deal with that. And so, with that character, I realized that the most effective way to get it onto the air would probably be to pair it up with the preestablished title.
“S.W.A.T.” seemed to kind of be the perfect prism to tell the story through, mainly because the first SWAT team was created in Los Angeles and the LAPD has probably the most notorious history with the Black and brown community. I felt like if you’re gonna put a cop on SWAT at the heart of the police-community debate, Los Angeles was a great place to tell that story. Then, recognizing the format and the audience we have, the designers had to bring something that’s going to have entertaining aspects to it, action and suspense, but also try to delve into certain hot-button topics that most shows have stayed away from.
Advertisement
The hope has always been to try to have an entertaining hour of television that can also pose questions ― not provide answers, but pose questions ― that will help some people whose only exposure to Black people might be on our show during that week. From the beginning, before the latest wave of public police brutality was exposed, it was something that I always knew was already in the ether, something that I wanted to address and it only becomes more timely, unfortunately, with what’s been going on, especially, in the last couple years and in the last few weeks.
“Procedurals are kind of perceived as a space to talk about justice, to talk about how law is interpreted and enforced. And the sociological aspects, the impacts on communities, are often left behind or rarely explored.”
In the first few minutes of the pilot episode of “S.W.A.T.,” we see a white cop accidentally shoot and injure a Black teen. It leads to a debate over the cop’s position and, accident or not, Shemar Moore’s character Hondo says “there’s too much bad history there for a lot of these folks.” When your team was crafting that episode, it must have spoken very differently to you than it did to some of your colleagues in the writers’ room.
From the beginning, what I explained to my collaborators, Shawn Ryan ― who created “The Shield,” one of the best cop shows of all time ― and our director for the pilot, Justin Lin, is this is a personal story for me. I don’t see it as simply entertainment. When talking about the issues we’re tackling, I make no bones about it ― there’s no TV show that’s going to even start to begin to change systemic racism, but if our viewers are able to take away a perspective, be exposed to a question that they hadn’t pondered before, you’re hoping you can nudge the conversation even just a centimeter.
I realize how much of an impact media has worldwide. I travel a lot and I see that American pop culture, I think, is the most effective export that we have. So I realized that a lot of the stuff that we make here may be seen by people across the world. And it takes a lot to shift government narrative and policy, and those are larger conversations, but within that conversation, I do think we play a role regarding the images that we put out.
Advertisement
On any given day, anyone watching our pilot and seeing, for instance, Hondo referencing that people in his community have a history with LAPD ― a history that hasn’t been the most positive ― the hope is that someone who maybe never thought about that or chose to ignore it will look to try to expose themselves to what exactly has that history been. And then, within that exploration, within that research, look to see for themselves the truth of what’s actually gone down in these communities.
There is never one incident that leads up to unrest; it’s always a history and then a history before that. And all of that is built one on top of another. Even the police-community conflict is something that, looking back historically, you can trace back to the origins of the police in this country. Who were the first police officers? Who were they created to suppress? And why was suppression the approach? These are all interesting questions and things that, in order to have a more nuanced conversation, are required to be asked.
“S.W.A.T.” does, like most series in the genre, favor the cops or, at least, paints them in a good light. As “Law & Order: SVU” showrunner Warren Leight said, “collectively,” cops are too positively represented on screen. Do you agree?
Historically correct. Traditionally, in the world of police procedurals, many shows tend to paint good guys vs. bad guys, and the good guys tend to be a square-jawed army of straight white men. That has been the history of it, and the history has also reflected its share of people of color either being criminalized or being portrayed as one-dimensional characters ― even, at best, with their sidekicks or friends or colleagues or bosses.
Certainly, I think there’s been more of an awareness lately of that, and the hope is that we can expand on the types of police procedurals that we see. There’s the anti-hero version of it on cable, but even in that realm, for the most part, you’re talking about the same type of character as far as background is concerned, and you don’t often hear from people of color, whether they are victims, colleagues or bosses. You want to hear more of their point of view, the concentrated point of view. And I think there’s room for that.
Advertisement
It’s tricky when you get into positive vs. negative portrayals because there’s also kind of a mindset that can go the opposite way where we also don’t want to portray police officers in a completely negative light. I don’t think that that’s accurate either, just like with anything else. There’s just more of a gray area to explore: What are the pros and cons of being a police officer? What are the pros and cons of interactions with Black and minority communities, with people of color? Now with peak TV and the desire to increase content, I think there’s room to tell different types of stories, even in the realm of police procedural.
Frustrated, angry, but determined to do better. Onscreen and off. https://t.co/TAMRh7R1pb — Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (@ARThomasTV) June 2, 2020
In your eyes, do you think there are enough diverse storytellers in the business right now who can truly portray the Black experience and police brutality?
Uh, no. Hell no. Hollywood has never been the most diverse place, especially when it comes to the creators and the producers. In particular, the world of the police procedural has been a pretty aggressively conservative white male space. I think there’s a lot of room to expand how those stories are told, whose perspective they’re told from and the way we approach those stories.
Procedurals are kind of perceived as a space to talk about justice, to talk about how law is interpreted and enforced. And the sociological aspects, the impacts on communities, are often left behind or rarely explored. In order to tap into that type of storytelling, then you need points of views that understand those communities. And not just white people who have spent time in those communities, but people who actually come from those communities.
Advertisement
That’s something that’s sorely lacking. I would say, in a laughable way, but I don’t think it’s a funny matter. Certainly, I think Hollywood storytelling, in general — and in particular, storytelling about police and procedurals — would benefit from that. There are great stories to be had if we’re willing to look at expanding the breadth of who the storytellers are.
You mentioned a bit of your experience growing up, and as a writer on shows like “Friday Night Lights,” as well as “Numb3rs,” “CSI: NY,” “Southland” and “S.W.A.T.” Is that what made you want to delve into the cop genre ― to be that voice that was lacking?
That’s a good question. [Pause] As a Black writer, I never really think of myself writing in comparison to white writers. I don’t think of myself as a voice to have to bring truth to a white establishment or the mainstream, I just look at myself, as I want to tell the best stories I possibly can and to try to always tell stories that hadn’t been told before. And I looked at it as an advantage in a way ― what I could bring to the world of, say, “Friday Night Lights” or FBI investigations with “Numb3rs” or forensic investigations with “CSI: NY,” will always be different from anything that came before me, purely because of my own background, my own individual views of the world in creating shows.
Again, I look at a space where there have not been many people that fit my description, and part of that is definitely frustrating, but part of that is an opportunity to try to hopefully make enough of an impact so that it’s no longer the case. Even within my own description of African-American male drama writer, there are a billion different possibilities to tell stories.
The hope is to just expand the way stories are told, expand the types of characters that we would see, expand the different ways to get into different genres. It always stems from trying to tell the most original, fresh stories, and wherever there’s an opportunity to do that, you bring your own life experience to it. But you’re always hoping that you’re doing it in a way that hasn’t been done before, and you continue to try to do it as long as possible and as long as opportunities are there.
Advertisement
This has been an interesting time, considering productions are shut down in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Are you finding yourself kind of sitting with stories that maybe you had couched a while ago, or, since you’re reading and ingesting more on social media, new ideas are sparking up? Is this a time where creativity is flowing or at a halt because of everything that’s going on?
I feel like there’s opportunities to tell certain stories that maybe a few years ago might have somehow seen out of time. You know, I was talking about an idea that I had regarding the ’92 uprisings with Rodney King that a few years ago might have been seen as, again, outdated — but now, as everyone sees, is actually more relevant than ever.
I think, in many ways, creativity just shifts, it never leaves. But there are times where you want to be a black box recorder and you want to really soak in the moment. Creators, when you get into your brainstorming sessions, you can kind of start to pigeonhole the projects that you’re working on. This is a time where I think you want to open up your mind and be cognizant of what’s going on around you. This is history working in real time.
So I’m trying to do both ― I’m trying to keep my eye on projects that I’ve always wanted to do, generate ideas, but also I’m definitely being affected and I’m confused by everything that’s going on and I want to be mindful, as it’s happening, of how we’re responding. In a way, I think a lot of ideas are being born right now ― as we live, all of this.
You mentioned hope a lot. And I think everyone hopes this is not another “hot topic,” this is not something that just disappears with the latest wave of news. How do you think these conversations on race and police brutality can continue and how can real change happen?
Advertisement
I think shining a light on how much progress we still have to make is a good conversation-starter. Moving from here, there are definitely bureaucratic and judicial changes and reforms that would be necessary in order to help the real-world situation.
On the Hollywood side of things, having more awareness of who’s telling our stories, why and how. The hope is that that leads to not just diversity of thought, which is a very popular phrase right now, but diversity of life experience, diversity of ethnicity, a diversity of real-world experience, and more of an empathy for people that are not like you that may not always come from your same background.


huffpost--2020-06-08--Push To Reform U.S. Police Intensifies Ahead Of George Floyd Funeral

WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS ( Reuters ) - Pressure for sweeping reforms to policing intensified in the United States on Monday after two weeks of protests over the death of African American George Floyd , as the white officer accused of killing him prepared for his first court appearance .
Demonstrators ’ anger over the May 25 death of Floyd , 46 , is giving way to a growing determination to make his case a turning point in race relations and a lightning rod for change to the criminal justice system .
Floyd died after Derek Chauvin , the officer , knelt on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A bystander ’ s cellphone captured the scene as Floyd pleaded with the officer , choking out the words “ I can ’ t breathe.
” Three other officers involved in the incident have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter .
All four officers have been fired .
In Houston , thousands of people were expected to attend a visitation for Floyd on Monday .
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden plans to meet with Floyd ’ s family later in the day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was violence in the early days , the protests have lately been overwhelmingly peaceful .
They have deepened a political crisis for President Donald Trump , who repeatedly threatened to order active duty troops onto the streets .
Huge weekend crowds gathered across the country and in Europe .
The high-spirited atmosphere was marred late on Sunday when a man drove a car into a rally in Seattle and then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him .
Democrats in Congress on Monday unveiled legislation that would make lynching a hate crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families to sue police for damages in civil court , ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity .
It is unclear if the proposal would receive support from Republicans , who control the U.S. Senate .
Their support and that of the Republican Trump would be needed for the measure to become law .
A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity , refined over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court , has made it easier for police to kill or injure civilians with impunity .
Minneapolis City Council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was an acknowledgement the system was not working for many residents and that council members want to stop investing in what she described as a “ militarized police force ” and focus instead on funding stable housing and healthcare access .
Bender acknowledged such a process would take time and that “ the idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term.
” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey , who ran a gauntlet of jeering protesters over the weekend after telling them he opposed their demands for defunding the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Monday he was opposed to abolishing the police .
In New York , Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a series of reforms he said are designed to build trust between residents and the police , telling reporters he would shift an unspecified amount of money out of the police budget and reallocate it to youth and social services in communities of color .
He said he would also take enforcement of rules on street vending out of the hands of police , who have been accused of using the regulations to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for racial equality are breaking out across the country as the United States reopens after weeks of unprecedented lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic and just five months before the Nov. 3 presidential election .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Pressure for sweeping reforms to policing intensified in the United States on Monday after two weeks of protests over the death of African American George Floyd, as the white officer accused of killing him prepared for his first court appearance.
Demonstrators’ anger over the May 25 death of Floyd, 46, is giving way to a growing determination to make his case a turning point in race relations and a lightning rod for change to the criminal justice system.
Advertisement
Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, the officer, knelt on his neck for nine minutes in Minneapolis. A bystander’s cellphone captured the scene as Floyd pleaded with the officer, choking out the words “I can’t breathe.”
Chauvin, due to appear in a Minneapolis court on Monday, has been charged with second-degree and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter.
Three other officers involved in the incident have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. All four officers have been fired.
In Houston, thousands of people were expected to attend a visitation for Floyd on Monday. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden plans to meet with Floyd’s family later in the day, according to his aides.
Advertisement
Floyd, who grew up in Houston, will be buried on Tuesday. Reverend Al Sharpton, a black civil rights leader, is expected to give the eulogy.
Though there was violence in the early days, the protests have lately been overwhelmingly peaceful. They have deepened a political crisis for President Donald Trump, who repeatedly threatened to order active duty troops onto the streets.
Huge weekend crowds gathered across the country and in Europe. The high-spirited atmosphere was marred late on Sunday when a man drove a car into a rally in Seattle and then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him.
Democrats in Congress on Monday unveiled legislation that would make lynching a hate crime and allow victims of misconduct and their families to sue police for damages in civil court, ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity.
The legislation also was expected to ban police chokeholds and racial profiling, require nationwide use of body cameras, and subject police to civilian review boards, according to congressional sources.
Advertisement
It is unclear if the proposal would receive support from Republicans, who control the U.S. Senate. Their support and that of the Republican Trump would be needed for the measure to become law.
A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity, refined over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court, has made it easier for police to kill or injure civilians with impunity.
People gather around a makeshift memorial for George Floyd, Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) ASSOCIATED PRESS
POLICE REFORM
In Minneapolis, a majority of city council members have pledged to abolish the police department in favor of a community-led safety model, a step that would have seemed unthinkable before Floyd’s death.
Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender told CNN the action was an acknowledgement the system was not working for many residents and that council members want to stop investing in what she described as a “militarized police force” and focus instead on funding stable housing and healthcare access.
Advertisement
Bender acknowledged such a process would take time and that “the idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who ran a gauntlet of jeering protesters over the weekend after telling them he opposed their demands for defunding the city’s police department, told CNN on Monday he was opposed to abolishing the police.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a series of reforms he said are designed to build trust between residents and the police, telling reporters he would shift an unspecified amount of money out of the police budget and reallocate it to youth and social services in communities of color.
He said he would also take enforcement of rules on street vending out of the hands of police, who have been accused of using the regulations to harass minority communities.
The renewed calls for racial equality are breaking out across the country as the United States reopens after weeks of unprecedented lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic and just five months before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Advertisement
U.S. Democrats have largely embraced the activists packing into streets to decry the killings of black men and women by law enforcement, but have so far expressed wariness at protesters’ calls to defund the police.


huffpost--2020-06-08--Why The U.S. Needs To Do Reparations Now

In her 2017 book “ The Color of Money , ” Baradaran lays out how , over centuries , policymakers wrote Black Americans out of the economic system — and how policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages , land and credit created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day .
In her book , Baradaran says that after slavery was abolished , Black Americans held just .5 % of all the wealth in the U.S. Today , the number is barely higher , at about 1 % .
When you break a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve broken the contract with Black America .
We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times , and we violated it each time .
Mehrsa Baradaran , author and law professor at the University of California , Irvine Let me give an example of something that has worked in this area .
The Congressional Budget Office runs this cost-benefit analysis .
Every agency action , every regulation , every statute , every bill has to filter through this analysis of how much does it add to the debt ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time I work on legislation with anyone , they ’ re like , “ Well , how would you score this ?
”

Photo Illustration: HuffPost Visuals; Photo: Getty
Defunding the police is just part of the structural reform needed to root out racism in the U.S., says Mehrsa Baradaran, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies the economic inequities between Black and white Americans.
What’s truly needed is a big-picture rethink of U.S. policy at every level, she told HuffPost in an interview by phone and in follow-ups over email this week.
Advertisement
In her 2017 book “The Color of Money,” Baradaran lays out how, over centuries, policymakers wrote Black Americans out of the economic system — and how policies blocking Black people from obtaining mortgages, land and credit created an immense wealth gap between Black and white Americans that persists to this day. In her book, Baradaran says that after slavery was abolished, Black Americans held just .5% of all the wealth in the U.S. Today, the number is barely higher, at about 1%.
Baradaran’s work resonates now as millions protest around the U.S. ― speaking out not only against police brutality against Black Americans, but the systemic racism that pervades America’s institutions. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the devastating effects of this inequality, as Black Americans disproportionately bear the brunt of fatalities from the virus and its economic fallout.
Baradaran worked with a few 2020 Democratic presidential contenders ― Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg ― on their policy proposals for addressing the racial wealth gap.
HuffPost spoke with Baradaran by phone about how her research applies to the social unrest gripping the country right now.
Advertisement
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
On Twitter, a reporter from The Washington Post asked what public policy would do the most to address the anger expressed around the country right now. You said: “Reparations.”
The [killing] of George Floyd ignited the protests, but the underlying issues are longstanding. When we talk about remedies, we really have to go back and look at this problem holistically, historically and at the roots. It is a structural issue: hundreds of years of racist policies ― economic, housing, criminal, education.
I teach contract law. When you break a contract, you pay damages. We’ve broken the contract with Black America. We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times, and we violated it each time.
After the Civil War, the freedmen were freed, theoretically. The Southern police system and the sharecropping system re-enslaved them. Jim Crow. There wasn’t a remedy.
Then the New Deal. Another big structural moment. We create the white suburbs with federally funded, subsidized credit. It rewrote our economy from scratch. Blacks were completely left out. [You can read more about racist New Deal policy in “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s groundbreaking 2014 essay in The Atlantic.]
Advertisement
Then, there’s racially explicit contracts that say you cannot sell this house to a Black person. These are all embedded in law.
Then, we say those laws are illegal [with civil rights legislation in the 1960s] but don’t do anything to fix the long-lasting effects of all of those racist policies.
“When you break a contract, you pay damages. We’ve broken the contract with Black America. We promised equal protection and equal rights and equality several times, and we violated it each time.” - Mehrsa Baradaran, author and law professor at the University of California, Irvine
In your book, you write about race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in the 19th century, for example. These are instances where white people violently force Black people out of their homes, businesses and entire cities.
Black families had the common experiences of moving into white neighborhoods and getting bombed, shot at, threatened with guns and violence.
Advertisement
The state institutionalized that violence. Instead of bombing the houses and having a race riot outside of a Black person’s house, which happened all the time, you instead put it into a contract. Saying you can’t give this house to a Black person, we’ll take you to court.
The lawyers came in and did the work of the mobs. The Federal Housing Authority was that. The government bureaucrats did the work of what race riots achieved.
We embedded racism into policy. And how do you get that out? How do you fix that? I think reparations is the only answer.
And I think a process of reparations should involve truth and reconciliation. Let’s sit and talk about it. Have experts. Here are the witnesses. Here is the data. Here is what happened. Lay it all out.
We all know what the process is like to do something wrong and make up for it. You learn it in Sunday school, yoga, whatever is your spiritual practice. Making amends is part of that.
Advertisement
What else would reparations involve?
Reparations are giving the Black community what they’ve always deserved. Giving them exactly what was given to whites.
How was wealth extracted from Black communities? It was through laws and policies and institutions that worked for whites and not Blacks. Every institution that benefited from these harms would account for them and make them up.
We have the funds. We saw this with the coronavirus. Over a weekend, the Fed infused trillions of dollars into the repo markets and into the economy. We don’t have limits of resources. We have limits of empathy and imagination.
The aftermath of the destruction by white mobs that attacked Black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921. Bettmann via Getty Images
In practice, does that mean Black Americans are getting checks from different institutions?
It would depend. What does the institution do? Within each organization, target the places where the pain is.
Advertisement
If it’s the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], what white people got was a guaranteed mortgage by the federal government that was really low-interest. So it would be down payment assistance, or you could do grants of houses.
I wrote the 21st century Homestead Act, which would take a formerly redlined Black community with a lot of abandoned properties; one of the hubs of poverty. The cities would take these properties, redevelop and give them through a grant to Black residents. [More detail on Baradaran’s housing proposal here.]
At the Department of Education, you could cancel Black student debt. Cancel all debt. Cancel debt for students at historically Black universities.
The IRS: We do this big mortgage interest rate deduction, which is a regressive tax. You end that. End that and you figure out how to make taxing progressive.
If you talk to any agency, they know where the bodies are hidden. The point of this would be to shift the thinking and figure out ways to reverse these problems.
Advertisement
Hard to imagine that happening.
Let me give an example of something that has worked in this area. The Congressional Budget Office runs this cost-benefit analysis. Every agency action, every regulation, every statute, every bill has to filter through this analysis of how much does it add to the debt? It constrains all regulatory action. Every time I work on legislation with anyone, they’re like, “Well, how would you score this?”
I’m proposing something like that. Just score it as what are its effects on the racial wealth gap?
What do police reparations look like in this framework? Would “defund the police” make sense when it comes to structural reform?
The system of policing in America is deeply racist. W.E.B. Du Bois pointed out that policing basically began in the South as a way to criminalize Black freedom and enforce Black labor laws. Policing in other countries is just vastly different from ours, and so is punishment for crime.
Policing has always been more targeted toward Black and Brown communities. From top to bottom ― sentencing, arrests, criminal codes ― from the way they are written to the way they are enforced. It’s embedded. So you have to dismantle that whole system to achieve justice.
"We embedded racism into policy. And how do you get that out? How do you fix that? I think reparations is the only answer," says Mehrsa Baradaran. Ian Mcfarlane
Advertisement
There is such a skewed funding structure ― police vs. every other agency. So yes, defund police and put those funds in education, public parks, etc. I mean, look at police funding in white suburban neighborhoods vs. funds for public places and work toward equality there.
Police killings are just the tip of the iceberg ― they are the part of the injustice that we can see and be horrified by.
But I want to be clear about this: We as a society are paying for this system of policing. Those people in the suburbs who are horrified [by social unrest] are complicit in the system that keeps their neighborhoods “safe” and the “bad neighborhoods” under constant surveillance.
So while we should definitely reform police and hold them accountable, that is just the bare minimum ― it’s like treating the system that comes to the surface, putting a Band-Aid on it, and letting the cancer continue on.
Unless we treat the cancer, we can’t stop these police killings. And the police should not be carrying the entire burden of our racist history.
Advertisement
I know you’ve worked on a few Democratic campaigns. Where do you see policymakers on this?
The window has shifted on reparations. I think people understand it is on the table at least. And look, I don’t care what you call it. I think the theory for me is just fixing the damage. Justice.
I hope a Biden administration considers the scale of the problem and has a large-scale solution to match.


Why I Protest

Protesters across the country and the world are not going home until their message is heard. The death of George Floyd, the issue of police brutality and the fight against racism have inspired people from all backgrounds, faiths and ages to take to the streets to demand justice.
HuffPost collected more than 100 responses from participants across the country — from Boston to Kansas to Oregon to Ohio to North Carolina and everywhere in between. We also received responses from protesters in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and the Netherlands.
Advertisement
HuffPost asked each of the respondents about their experiences at protests. Some were first-time protesters, others took their children, and all said they wanted to see change. We asked protesters to tell us why they protested. Here are some of the stories.
These interviews were condensed and edited for clarity.
Joseph Williams, 52, Retired Police Detective, New Jersey
A former police detective, Army combat veteran and social science teacher, Williams has seen firsthand what it means to witness and fight injustice ― and when justice is denied.
After the Camden, New Jersey, police department was dismantled and taken over by the county, Williams became increasingly concerned with the new department’s policing tactics, which he called problematic and aggressive. So he retired earlier than planned and went into teaching.
Last week, Williams attended a protest at Philadelphia’s City Hall with his 20-year-old daughter. He chanted, marched and kneeled.
Advertisement
After the protest, Williams said he “felt a sense of relief. I had to scream. I had to yell. I had to get the words out. I was proud of what I did and my daughter did. I was proud to see so many different people come together,” he said.
“I protest because I care. I care about my future. I care about the future of this country. I protest because I am an African American man who has seen too many violent things done.”
The Rev. Dana Patterson Nelson (second from right) Photo provided by the Rev. Dana Nelson
Dana Nelson, 48, Educator and Minister, Kansas
Dana Nelson and her husband are veteran protesters. The couple often discusses their many experiences: nearly being arrested after the HIV/AIDS awareness protests in the 1980s, protesting the Rodney King acquittal, dodging tear gas and demonstrating during college days in 1990s, marching during the civil rights and Million Man March as clergy. Just last year, they protested against family separations at the border.
“I always would teach my students that they’re the right reasons to go to jail. And if it’s civil disobedience or because you’re objecting to something that you don’t like in the government, you have the right to protest and to assemble,” Nelson said.
Advertisement
It was natural that they wanted to model their beliefs for their children. Last Sunday, Nelson took her children — who were hesitant at first — to their local protest. Now, she said, they are ready to go to the next one and are constantly asking more questions about their rights.
“I protest because I’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m an educator, a minister and a person who cares about the future of humanity,” she said.
Cara Fratianni Photo provided by Cara Fratianni
Cara Fratianni, 29, Registered Nurse, California
Cara Fratianni wanted to protest but also to contribute her skills. She is an advanced practice registered nurse specializing in emergency medicine and critical care. She painted her white coat with “Black Lives Matter” and volunteered medical relief to injured protesters. During a San Diego protest, she brought sterile gauze, Band-Aids and spray bottles mixed with milk of magnesia to help with tear gas.
“I protest because I want the world to be a better place if I have children,” she said. “I don’t want them to grow up like this, and for the kids growing up right now, I want the world to be better for them.”
Advertisement
Fred Chavis Photo provided by Fred Chavis
Fred Chavis, 29, Teacher, Maryland
When Fred Chavis protested in Maryland and in Washington, all he could think about was his middle school students. He knew if he wanted to see change happen, it had to start in his own community, and it had to be for his students.
“For my kids, I just wanted to show them what it is I do and what they mean to me,” he said. “I don’t want them to think that I only do this in the classroom, but I do this in the community. I’m always there for my kids.”
As a Black man, Chavis knows firsthand what it means to be judged.
“They don’t know that I’m a teacher, they don’t know that I’m a coach. They don’t know anything about me, other than their own personal bias,” Chavis told HuffPost. “That’s what I want to dismantle this belief that Black men are dangerous or that we’re violent. “
“That’s why I was out there. So my kids can know that this is what a Black man can accomplish, and this is what we have to do to make things safe.”
Advertisement
Gabriel Smith Photo provided by Gabriel Smith
Gabriel Smith, 29, Social Justice Educator, Georgia
Gabriel Smith was arrested with 40 to 50 other protesters on June 1 during an Atlanta protest, despite trying his best to follow police orders.
“Once I was arrested, I didn’t really feel any fear, because I knew that what I was there for was the right thing,” Smith told HuffPost.
He was issued a pedestrian in roadway ticket and released after curfew, a move he argued was strategic by the police as they knew he could get arrested again. Since he wasn’t able to access his belongings — including his wallet, phone and house keys — until the office opened the next morning, he was forced to sleep outside that night.
Smith called the entire experience extraordinarily frustrating.
“I protest because something needs to change. Society needs to change,” he said. “We keep going through the same, you know, rut of police violence and outreach in the community, and then nothing happens. And it repeats over and over again. So something needs to change.”
Advertisement
Barghav Sivaguru Photo provided by Barghav Sivaguru
Barghav Sivaguru, 22, Recent Graduate, Illinois
It was important to Barghav Sivaguru as an Indian American to talk to his parents about the racism faced by the Black community — not just because they faced racism themselves, but because he knew that in order to be an ally he had to recognize that he also had the privilege as a person of color.
“It’s easy for us to sit on the sidelines and act like these things don’t affect us when Black people are disproportionately targeted by the police and are subjected to police brutality,” he said.
“For me, it was important to say, ‘I recognize the difference. I recognize my privilege, and I want to go out and do something about it. I want to stand up and speak out for the people in this country that are the most targeted and the most oppressed,’” he added.
Sivaguru’s parents — who defied their castes in India to marry — had a basic understanding of the effects of inequality. Last week, Sivaguru’s mother joined him on the frontlines of their local protest in central Illinois.
Advertisement
“I protest because it’s not only my right, it’s my duty to speak out in every way that I can when I see injustice. Right now is a moment where we all can,” he said.
Ross Helart Photo provided by Ross Helart
Ross Helart, 28, Nonprofit Director, New York
Ross Helart grew up in a conservative Republican family and has multiple family members who work for the police. For the longest time, he largely avoided politics and controversial topics with them.
But all of that changed when he saw the footage of George Floyd’s death. Last weekend, Helart attended his first protest. He knew some of his family members would disagree with his participation.
But as a queer person, Helart knew that he could no longer be silent.
“If you cannot have compassion and think about how mad and angry you would be if there was an injustice happening to your family — and you can’t understand why people are as outraged as they are today — then you need to take a good look in the mirror and figure out what’s going on,” Helart said.
Advertisement
Cyntelia Abrams Photo provided by Cyntelia Abrams
Cyntelia Abrams, 37, Digital Strategist, Georgia
It was important for Cyntelia Abrams to take her 8- and 6-year-old children with her to protests. She wanted to counter the images they saw on television of Black men and women being killed. On June 1, the family joined a peaceful protest, and her children picked up the chants with full conviction: “No justice. No peace!” When they stopped outside of a jail building, Abrams made sure her children heard their chants, too.
“I didn’t want them to grow up and be afraid to protest,” Abrams said. “I also wanted to show them that you can protest with passion and with power, and you can use your voice and use your presence to impact change, and you don’t have to have to hurt anybody in the process.”
“I protest because there’s still work to be done. I protest for my ancestors, who have been protesting for decades. I protest for the future,” Abrams said.
Adriana Allen, 27, Paralegal, New York
Adriana Allen has been struggling to find the words to describe how she feels. She’s grieving and hurting for her community. She said attending a protest was the only cathartic way to express emotions that have been overwhelming her.
Advertisement
“I protest because I feel like I’ve been protesting my whole life. I feel like I have had to fight for every space that I take up, make it known that I deserve a seat at the table,” Allen said.
“I deserve to be here, my voice matters my thoughts matter my opinion matter. They mean something. This protest is a way for me to finally get my voice out to finally tell the world that I’m here that this matters,” Allen said.
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg Photo provided by Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg
Yohanna Kinberg, 47, Rabbi, Washington
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg knew exactly how she was going to spend her Sabbath. She put on her prayer shawl and went to the local protest, knowing it was important she show up as a Jewish woman. She thought about her congregation, which included Black men, and knew that if she proclaimed herself a leader in her community, she had to prove it on the ground.
“I protest because I want to be a manifestation of God’s love in this world and the biblical injunction to love my neighbor as myself,” Kinberg said.
Advertisement
Yng-Ru Chen's husband and daughter Photo provided by Yng-Ru Chen
Yng-Ru Chen, 41, Arts Strategist, Boston
Growing up in the Taiwanese diaspora, Yng-Ru Chen learned about oppression, colonialism, and political bullying at a very young age. Her country is always fighting for freedom.
Those lessons are why she and her husband took their two children to a Boston protest. But the conversation about racism didn’t end there. She said that it’s important for her to talk to her children about anti-racism every day and that the work isn’t just about a protest. It’s always about standing up for people who do not have the rights they are supposed to have. It’s about long-term work.
“I protest because it’s the right thing to do,” Chen said.
Noel Williams in London Alan Mills
Noel Williams, 29, Policy And Campaign Manager, London
As a Black man in London, Noel Williams doesn’t need to be an American to understand the racism against Black individuals.
Advertisement
“The link between British imperialism and Black slavery and colonization and oppression has been there for so long, I guess, America was just a catalyst,” Williams said. “The similarities and the solidarity we have comes from the way the world was built after slavery and colonization.”
Williams said he is heartened to see the vast turnout by people from all backgrounds all over the world. He urges those same people to take that energy back home and use it at work and at home. In order to seek justice for George Floyd, the movement is about justice for Black communities beyond the U.S.
“It’s not just about the Black people that are out protesting,” he said. “But Black people feel empowered that other people are protesting with us, too. … We are all people fighting to push the agenda for Black people, and I think that’s what I take absolute pride in worldwide.”
Kaitlyn Devereaux Photo provided by Kaitlyn Deveraux
Kaitlyn Devereaux, 27, Retail Management, California
Kaitlyn Devereaux cried the day after hearing about George Floyd and immediately thought about the Black men in her family, including her father and brother. She said that her family is trying to keep it together and that the latest murder of a Black man at the hands of police has taken a mental toll on them all.
Advertisement
“Every human on this planet has the inherent need to feel safe. It’s in our biology. And that’s it, and that’s a concept that should not be that hard to understand,” she said. “We want to feel safe in our communities. We want to feel understood by our communities. We want to feel protected, and we want to feel loved, and we want to be able to exist.”
Devereaux emphasized that fighting for safety isn’t a political issue, and those who don’t agree with the protesters fail to understand that.
“I protest because Black men and women have a right to take up space,” she said. “We are allowed to exist. We are allowed to live. We are allowed to breed. We have a human inherent right to exist. We have to fight through that, and it’s horrific that we even have to fight for that right to exist and to feel safe.”
Desire Taylor Madelyne Tinsley Photograph
Desire Taylor, 24, Actress, Ohio
Desire Taylor knew it was important to join the peaceful protests and to stand up for anti-racism. She didn’t expect to be tear-gassed six times by police. She was temporarily blinded while shots went off in the background. She was worried she was going to get trampled by the crowd.
Advertisement
Thankfully, she made it out all right and took a few days off. But she knew she had to go back. The fight for justice was bigger than her injuries, she said.
“I protest because I don’t have a choice. I need to make sure that me and everyone that looks like me deserves to have a chance to live, deserves protection. I need to show that we matter. That’s why I protest,” Taylor said.
Juliana Jung Photo provided by Juliana Jung
Juliana Jung, 28, Nanny, Pennsylvania
Juliana Jung drove more than an hour to the nearest protest last week. She was worried about contracting the coronavirus in a large gathering, but she also knew it was incredibly important to attend.
As an Asian American woman, Jung said that it was personal for her as a person of color to attend in order to send a message that racism affects all marginalized communities and that for Black individuals, it can kill.
Advertisement
She brought her mask and a sign and didn’t look back. She hopes more people will join her.
“We all need to be kind and come from a place of wanting to understand and start a dialogue, not get angry and defensive,” Jung said. “I protest because I just can’t not.”
Ashley Gantt (from left), Iman Abid, Stanley Martin and Stevie Vargas Matt Weidenbach
Iman Abid, Ashley Gantt, Stanley Martin, Stevie Vargas, Nonprofit Organizers, New York
Four friends, all women of color, hosted a protest of their own in Rochester, New York, where nearly 2,000 people showed up. Change starts at home, they said, which is why they started a protest instead of simply attending one.
“I protest because I don’t have a choice,” Gantt said. “We have a generation of Black and brown bodies coming behind us, and I don’t necessarily think that we’re going to break the chains of white supremacy in our generation, but I want to at least loosen that up. So when the generation behind us comes it’ll be a little bit easier.”
“I protest because if I choose to remain silent, then I’m a part of the problem, and I continue to perpetuate racism…so I need to speak up,” Abid said.
Advertisement
“I protest because I want to work towards normalizing standing up against the state, I want to normalize fighting back,” said Martin. “I want to normalize being able to speak out and have people know that anyone at all who wants to take a stand can do it.”
“I protest because it’s my duty,” said Vargas. “I can’t go to sleep and be ignorant to the issues that are happening in my community. I can’t go to sleep and know that people in my community are being harmed and not stand up and speak out against it and actively work every day to call it out and demand change.”
Adriana Alvarez's daughter hoists a sign through their car's sunroof. Photo provided by Adriana Alvarez
Adriana Alvarez, 45, Paralegal, New York
A Latina woman who fled communist Cuba, Adriana Alvarez said she didn’t immigrate to the U.S. in 2005 just to watch injustices occur here. She hopped in a car and drove to a protest while her daughter held up a sign through the sunroof. She wanted to send a message.
“We hear them, and we understand [the Black community’s] pain and want to let the world know that it’s not OK to kill Black people and that police brutality is not OK and that injustice is not OK and that Black Lives Matter,” Alvarez said.
Advertisement
Anita McCullough, 42, Hospital Worker, Georgia
Each time Anita McCullough logged onto Facebook, she became angrier and angrier, reminded of the death of George Floyd and the inequality faced by Black people as a whole.
She was also upset by the lack of people over age 35 among the hundreds of young people she saw protesting.
“I wanted to put my body on the line, representative of my generation, and not just let it be the young people out there for tear gas fodder,” McCullough said.
She was motivated to go out and represent her age group and live out the ideals of her profession that calls her to serve those in need every day.
“I believe in social justice,” she said.“It also means action. If I don’t participate or engage in social justice in some way — meaning writing letters, protesting, being a therapist for those people that are in pain, putting my body on the line in some kind of way — then I don’t feel like I can call myself a social worker. That’s why I got into this profession.”
Advertisement


huffpost--2020-04-13--12 Of The Most Clever Work-From-Home Spaces Created In Quarantine So Far

“ I ’ ve been working at home since March 16 .
I stand at my work office and was missing that , so had to get creative .
It has been wonderful to stand .
I ’ ve got big windows in front of me and can see outside ( no windows at work ) .
I have a bench close by for seating as necessary.
” ― Jessica Chaloux Hill , human resources professional based in Vermont “ My job is to track incoming donations [ for my food bank ] , which I am lucky enough to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but most of my co-workers are on the front lines and handing out food to people in our area who are in need .
“ I have two little boys , ages 5 and 7 , who are home right now .
My only quiet options were the unfinished basement or the bathroom !
I went with the bathroom because it has the most natural light .
I have been making phone calls from my closet so it doesn ’ t sound like I ’ m making calls from a bathroom !
My @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eggs to grocery stores , so I have to share the bathroom with him when he gets home from work each day .
It ’ s a little crazy but I ’ m so thankful to be working right now and we ’ re doing the best we can.
” ― Angela Small , gift processor at New Hope Ministries food bank in Pennsylvania 4 .
A dining table becomes an ergonomic office with the help of a wrist rest made from rice and socks .
“ Most people were told to work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t have a home office or anywhere to put one .
I set this up on my dining room table in order to have a little more ergonomic setup so my neck and back pain and eye strain wouldn ’ t be quite so bad .
It seems to be helping !
″ ― Angie Wilbur , supervisory supply systems analyst for the defense logistics agency Disposition Services based out of Battle Creek , Michigan “ I feel like I am working in the middle of a messy toy store , since I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pile of over 100 stuffed animals .
Although it does have benefits , like when I am getting overwhelmed with poor speed due to remotely accessing my work computer , I have many tins of my daughter ’ s putty I can take my aggression out on.
” ― Marie Moreau , senior graphic designer for a memorialization company based in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania “ My husband [ who works as a sales manager ] has been using our son ’ s tool bench , [ and ] he has to ask him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the next day .
With two toddlers and an 8-month old , child-free tables are limited.
” ― Kacey S. , associate director at Boston nonprofit 7 .
Parents get creative with managing their new young co-workers .
“ The toddler mattress addition was just circumstance and rolling with the punches .
My 2-year-old loves dragging that thing around the house ; she fell asleep on my lap while I was working , the mattress was behind my chair so I laid her down on it to nap while I finished up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 6-foot folding table a week-and-a-half into simultaneously working from home and my school-aged children ’ s e-learning .
I had been using a small sofa table as a writing desk and needed more space.
” ― Molly Lisenko , accounting clerk for a tire and wheel distributor based in South Bend , Indiana “ My husband is working out of our home office , so I had to set up an office in my son ’ s nursery .
I work for the City of Palmetto as an accountant in Palmetto , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office are typically 9 to 5 , but as you can imagine , working with a 9-month-old in the house feels like a 24-hour work schedule.
” ― Catherine Dublin , accountant based in Palmetto , Florida “ Kids and/or husband walking in while I ’ m having video calls and constant interruptions of house life has been an adjustment .
However , given the current environment , I ’ m ever grateful that I still have a job , the ability to work from home and that I ’ m healthy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But once this is over , I will hop , skip and jump back to the office as I do miss the separation and being able to compartmentalize my life.
” ― Saskia de Groot , independent contractor for a hotel company

LOADING ERROR LOADING
As the coronavirus pandemic causes offices across North America to shut down, professionals who can work remotely have made the abrupt transition to doing their jobs from their homes.
And they’re getting creative with making it work ― with or without their ergonomic chairs, second monitors and cubicles.
Advertisement
Here are some of the most adaptive, creative home office arrangements HuffPost has seen.
Quotes were condensed for clarity and length.
1. Ironing boards become height-adjustable desks.
Debbie Pedersen “My home work space is an ergonomic sit-stand option offered by my normally seldom-used ironing board," said insurance professional Debbie Pedersen.
“Without a desk at home and being fairly short in stature at 5 feet tall, my kitchen table is way too high to work at comfortably. My ironing board can be set quite low to suit my height, or to stand throughout the day.” ― Debbie Pedersen, insurance worker based in Edmonton, Canada
Jessica Chaloux Hill Human resource professional Jessica Chaloux Hill told HuffPost that her ironing board desk should be height-adjustable, but she hasn't yet "dared to try it."
“I’ve been working at home since March 16. I stand at my work office and was missing that, so had to get creative. It has been wonderful to stand. I’ve got big windows in front of me and can see outside (no windows at work). I have a bench close by for seating as necessary.” ― Jessica Chaloux Hill, human resources professional based in Vermont
Advertisement
2. A master bathroom becomes an office.
Angela Small Food bank worker Angela Small transformed her master bathroom into a home office.
“My job is to track incoming donations [for my food bank], which I am lucky enough to be able to do at home, but most of my co-workers are on the front lines and handing out food to people in our area who are in need.
“I have two little boys, ages 5 and 7, who are home right now. My only quiet options were the unfinished basement or the bathroom! I went with the bathroom because it has the most natural light. I have been making phone calls from my closet so it doesn’t sound like I’m making calls from a bathroom! My husband is a truck driver who delivers eggs to grocery stores, so I have to share the bathroom with him when he gets home from work each day. It’s a little crazy but I’m so thankful to be working right now and we’re doing the best we can.” ― Angela Small, gift processor at New Hope Ministries food bank in Pennsylvania
3. Kitchens become all-in-one office spaces.
Rachel Cresci High school teacher Rachel Cresci transformed her kitchen area into her home office.
“My cooking/emptying-the-dishwasher/refilling-my-coffee-cup game has been on point.” ― Rachel Cresci, high school science teacher based in Reno, Nevada
Advertisement
Elizabeth Goecke Billing analyst Elizabeth Goecke created a standing desk with three plastic storage boxes on her kitchen counter, and made a padded mat using two bath rugs folded in half.
“I started at my little desk, then the dining table, then the dinette and they all were terribly uncomfortable for the length of time I needed to sit and work. I remembered our company president’s standing desk and thought I’d give that a try.” ― Elizabeth Goecke, billing analyst based in Tampa, Florida
4. A dining table becomes an ergonomic office with the help of a wrist rest made from rice and socks.
Angie Wilbur To make her new office more ergonomic, systems analyst Angie Wilbur used an old shampoo box for a monitor riser and a wrist rest made from socks and rice on her dining room table.
“Most people were told to work from home, but I don’t have a home office or anywhere to put one. I set this up on my dining room table in order to have a little more ergonomic setup so my neck and back pain and eye strain wouldn’t be quite so bad. It seems to be helping!″ ― Angie Wilbur, supervisory supply systems analyst for the defense logistics agency Disposition Services based out of Battle Creek, Michigan
Advertisement
5. Child-sized desks become adult-sized desks.
Marie Moreau Graphic designer Marie Moreau is using her daughter's bedroom and her pink desk, a box of Legos and other small toys to raise the tiny monitor.
Marie Moreau Moreau shared a photo of her nearly 9-year-old daughter at the computer, for size comparison.
“I feel like I am working in the middle of a messy toy store, since I’m sitting next to a huge pile of over 100 stuffed animals. Although it does have benefits, like when I am getting overwhelmed with poor speed due to remotely accessing my work computer, I have many tins of my daughter’s putty I can take my aggression out on.” ― Marie Moreau, senior graphic designer for a memorialization company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Kacey S. With work space limited, one family got creative with desks out of necessity.
“My husband [who works as a sales manager] has been using our son’s tool bench, [and] he has to ask him at night if he can use it for the next day. With two toddlers and an 8-month old, child-free tables are limited.” ― Kacey S., associate director at Boston nonprofit
Advertisement
6. A homemade fort becomes a workplace oasis from distractions.
Kayla Morin-Riordan Librarian Kayla Morin-Riordan created her own homemade barrier to lessen workplace distractions.
“I used my nephews’ fort kit to cordon off my ‘office’ so I can’t get distracted when I see how messy the rest of the house is. Stole the cushions off the couch, grabbed a camp lantern and we’re good to go!” ― Kayla Morin-Riordan, children’s librarian based in New Hampshire
7. Parents get creative with managing their new young co-workers.
Molly Lisenko Accounting clerk Molly Lisenko brought in a six-foot folding table to accommodate her new work and schooling situation.
“The toddler mattress addition was just circumstance and rolling with the punches. My 2-year-old loves dragging that thing around the house; she fell asleep on my lap while I was working, the mattress was behind my chair so I laid her down on it to nap while I finished up my work day. I brought in the 6-foot folding table a week-and-a-half into simultaneously working from home and my school-aged children’s e-learning. I had been using a small sofa table as a writing desk and needed more space.” ― Molly Lisenko, accounting clerk for a tire and wheel distributor based in South Bend, Indiana
Catherine Dublin Accountant Catherine Dublin captioned her photo, "Lord help me."
Advertisement
“My husband is working out of our home office, so I had to set up an office in my son’s nursery. I work for the City of Palmetto as an accountant in Palmetto, Florida. My work hours in the office are typically 9 to 5, but as you can imagine, working with a 9-month-old in the house feels like a 24-hour work schedule.” ― Catherine Dublin, accountant based in Palmetto, Florida
Saskia de Groot Hospitality worker Saskia de Groot shared a photo of her new co-workers.
“My husband and I both work in the hospitality industry, based in Miami, Florida. I have a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old that have been out of school since March 16. Once we were mandated to work from home, we outfitted our tiny guest room into a makeshift office.
“Kids and/or husband walking in while I’m having video calls and constant interruptions of house life has been an adjustment. However, given the current environment, I’m ever grateful that I still have a job, the ability to work from home and that I’m healthy and that my family is healthy and happy. But once this is over, I will hop, skip and jump back to the office as I do miss the separation and being able to compartmentalize my life.” ― Saskia de Groot, independent contractor for a hotel company


huffpost--2020-04-01--Coronavirus Live Updates: Read The Latest About The COVID-19 Outbreak

President Donald Trump confirmed at his Thursday briefing that he granted Cuomo ’ s request to convert the 2,500-bed alternate care facility into a hospital that would take in coronavirus patients .
The facility is being run by the U.S. Army .
“ The federal government is doing a lot of things it wasn ’ t anticipating it would do , ” Trump said at the briefing .
FDA Approves First Coronavirus Antibodies Test In U.S. — 4/2/20 , 5:56 p.m .
ET The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first test for coronavirus antibodies in the U.S. , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus tests that search for fragments of viral genes that would indicate an ongoing infection , the antibody test can detect whether a patient has ever had exposure to the coronavirus , which would potentially give that person some immunity .
Experts expect the test will help them identify people who ’ ve caught the virus but didn ’ t experience any of its telltale signs .
“ If we don ’ t know the asymptomatic or mild cases , we won ’ t know if it ’ s killing a sizable fraction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or only people who have underlying conditions or are very unlucky , ” Dr. Carl Bergstrom , an infectious diseases expert at the University of Washington in Seattle , told The New York Times .
70,000 Californians Have Volunteered For Health Care Work — 4/2/20 , 3:39 p.m .
ET California Gov .
Gavin Newsom ( D ) said Thursday that the state has received more than 70,000 job applications from Californians equipped to work in the state ’ s health care system .
“ Today , we have over 70,000 applications , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It ’ s just extraordinary.
” The applications came through a new program he announced Tuesday called Health Corps , which allows a variety of eligible health care employees — people who ’ ve retired or are in the process of getting their licenses — to sign up to work now .
The call went out to vocations across the industry , from doctors , nurses and pharmacists to administrators and technicians .
“ It just gives you a sense of this civic moment and how people are doing this extraordinary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it head on , ” Newsom said .
COVID-19 Has Now Killed More Than 50,000 Worldwide — 4/2/20 , 2:10 p.m .
ET COVID-19 ’ s worldwide death toll surpassed 50,000 as the number of confirmed cases neared 1 million globally , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .
Italy has reported the most coronavirus-related deaths of any country at more than 13,500 .
The U.S. has reported the most confirmed cases with over 226,000 ― nearly double the number of confirmed cases in Italy , which has the second most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the virus in December .
There have been more than 82,000 confirmed cases of the virus in China since then and at least 3,300 deaths , though the country has reported very few new local infections in recent weeks likely due to the monthslong draconian social distancing measures imposed by the government in some areas .
Louisiana recorded a 42 % jump in confirmed cases on Thursday as a testing backlog began to clear up , according to state officials .
About 9,150 people across the state have tested positive for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2,700 confirmed cases from a day earlier , according to data released by the Louisiana Department of Health .
There have been at least 310 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state .
“ While extremely upsetting , this increase in COVID-19 cases appears to be less a sign of new exponential growth and more a sign of a logjam from commercial labs , ” Gov .
John Bel Edwards ( D ) tweeted .
“ I am pleased to see a ramp-up in testing across the state .
We need this energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many of the newly confirmed cases are people who were tested days ago and do not require hospital care .
As of Thursday afternoon , Louisiana had the fifth-highest number of confirmed cases in the country .
New York has the most known infections of any state with over 92,000 .
A nursing home in Washington state faces a fine of more than $ 611,000 for a series of deficiencies that led to the country ’ s first major known outbreak of the novel coronavirus , The Washington Post and The New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kirkland , which has been linked to at least 37 coronavirus-related deaths , failed to report an outbreak of respiratory illness to local authorities for two weeks as required by law , gave inadequate care to its residents during the outbreak and failed to provide 24-hour emergency doctor services , federal authorities told the Post .
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reportedly told the nursing home that it will no longer be able to participate in the Medicaid/Medicare program if it does not return to full compliance by Sept. 16 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out 100,000 tests a day for coronavirus by the end of April amid rising criticism the government has been slow to ramp up its testing regime .
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street , Health Secretary Matt Hancock , himself returning to work after recovering from COVID-19 , said testing would be handed to front-line health workers first .
Britain recorded a further 569 deaths over 24 hours , bringing the total to 2,921 ― an increase of 24 % in total deaths over the count of 2,352 reported the previous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ET on Thursday , 33,718 people in the U.K. had tested positive for the virus .
FDA Revises Blood Donation Guidelines For Men Who Have Sex With Men — 4/2/20 , 1 p.m .
ET Amid a drop in blood drives due to the coronavirus pandemic and following pressure from LGBTQ advocacy groups and lawmakers , the Food and Drug Administration has changed its guidelines for blood donors , lowering the deferral period to donate blood for men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months from their last sexual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change , but also called the revised guidelines “ imperfect.
” “ We will keep fighting until the deferral period is lifted and gay and bi men , and all LGBTQ people , are treated equal to others , ” GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement .
Read more on HuffPost U.S. Michigan Joins Growing Number Of States Canceling School For Rest Of Semester — 4/2/20 , 12 p.m .
ET Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday that public schools across the state will remain closed for the rest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1.5 million students and their families .
Whitmer ’ s executive order also outlines guidelines for remote learning , which has not begun across much of the state since schools shuttered March 16 .
Teachers and staff will still be paid , but it remains unclear whether high school seniors will be able to hold any sort of graduation ceremony .
Officials in other states including California , Georgia , New Jersey , North Carolina and Pennsylvania have all ordered school closures to continue for the foreseeable future .
Fauci Suggests Need For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 11:46 a.m .
ET As nearly 40 U.S. states have now issued some form of a stay-at-home order , Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested the need for a national lockdown , given the varying degrees of restrictions and enforceability of the orders .
Some states have been slower than others to implement the orders , which generally have mandated closures of “ nonessential ” businesses and encouraged people to stay at home except for essential needs .
Some orders have exempted certain businesses and gatherings , while some businesses have tried to skirt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ essential.
” In an interview , NBC “ Today ” show host Savannah Guthrie asked Fauci if a national lockdown would be more effective “ than this hodgepodge , piecemeal method.
” Fauci , the country ’ s top infectious diseases official and a major fixture in the United States ’ coronavirus response , agreed , while acknowledging that he does not have the authority to order one .
To slow the spread of the virus , several countries — including China , Italy , Spain , France and India — have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
U.S. President Donald Trump , who has repeatedly praised his own disastrous response by trying to erase his earlier attempts to downplay the pandemic , has yet to issue a national stay-at-home order , despite calls from public health experts to do .
Pelosi Announces New Committee To Oversee Coronavirus Aid — 4/2/20 , 11:30 a.m .
ET House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) announced Thursday that she ’ s forming a new House select committee to oversee how the coronavirus aid allocated in the newly adopted $ 2 trillion stimulus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Majority Whip James Clyburn ( D-S.C ) will lead the panel , which will be comprised of both Democrats and Republicans , Pelosi said in a conference call with reporters .
“ We face a deadly virus and a battered economy with millions of Americans suddenly out of work , ” Pelosi said .
“ Congress has taken an important step in leading this crisis by passing three bills with over $ 2 trillion in emergency relief .
We need to ensure those dollars are spent carefully and effectively.
” University of California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 10:40 a.m .
ET The University of California is dropping its requirement that students applying for fall 2021 admission take the SAT and ACT tests , since the coronavirus crisis has made it impossible for many students to sit for the exams .
The groups that govern each test announced last month that spring testing dates would be postponed entirely .
Students may also submit pass/fail as a substitute for letter grades for their spring classes , since some schools have switched to a binary grading system .
The university , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serves some 280,000 students , will work with them through the summer to boost their financial aid packages if their families ’ financial situations have been shaken by the crisis .
Record 6.6 Million Americans Applied For Unemployment Benefits Last Week — 4/2/20 , 8:49 a.m .
ET For the second consecutive week , U.S. unemployment claims reached a record high .
More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week , double the record reported the week before , a sign that more people are being laid off as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Associated Press .
Fauci Says Florida Gov .
Needs To Release All Passengers Aboard Stranded Cruise Ships — 4/2/20 , 8:15 a.m .
ET Dr. Anthony Fauci said all of the passengers aboard two stranded cruise ships near southern Florida should be able to disembark to receive treatment , after the state ’ s governor said he would only allow passengers who are residents of the state to do so .
“ You have to take care of the people who are ill , ” Fauci said on “ CBS This Morning.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do that .
And as quickly as possible.
” On Wednesday , Florida Gov .
Ron DeSantis ( R ) had said he would only be willing to release any residents of Florida aboard the two Holland America ships .
About 300 passengers are aboard the ships .
At least 8 have tested positive for COVID-19 , and hundreds have reported symptoms .
“ My concern is that we have worked so hard to make sure we have adequate hospital space in the event of a COVID-19 surge , we wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken because of the cruise ship ( s ) , ” DeSantis said .
UK Doctors Face Agonizing Choices Over Life-Saving Treatment — 4/2/20 , 6:10 a.m .
ET

President Donald Trump confirmed at his Thursday briefing that he granted Cuomo’s request to convert the 2,500-bed alternate care facility into a hospital that would take in coronavirus patients. The facility is being run by the U.S. Army.
“The federal government is doing a lot of things it wasn’t anticipating it would do,” Trump said at the briefing.
― Sanjana Karanth
FDA Approves First Coronavirus Antibodies Test In U.S. — 4/2/20, 5:56 p.m. ET
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first test for coronavirus antibodies in the U.S., the agency announced Thursday.
Unlike other coronavirus tests that search for fragments of viral genes that would indicate an ongoing infection, the antibody test can detect whether a patient has ever had exposure to the coronavirus, which would potentially give that person some immunity. Experts expect the test will help them identify people who’ve caught the virus but didn’t experience any of its telltale signs.
“If we don’t know the asymptomatic or mild cases, we won’t know if it’s killing a sizable fraction of the people who have it, or only people who have underlying conditions or are very unlucky,” Dr. Carl Bergstrom, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, told The New York Times.
— Lydia O’Connor
70,000 Californians Have Volunteered For Health Care Work — 4/2/20, 3:39 p.m. ET
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday that the state has received more than 70,000 job applications from Californians equipped to work in the state’s health care system.
“Today, we have over 70,000 applications,” Newsom said at a press briefing. “It’s just extraordinary.”
The applications came through a new program he announced Tuesday called Health Corps, which allows a variety of eligible health care employees — people who’ve retired or are in the process of getting their licenses — to sign up to work now. The call went out to vocations across the industry, from doctors, nurses and pharmacists to administrators and technicians.
“It just gives you a sense of this civic moment and how people are doing this extraordinary amount to try to participate in meeting it head on,” Newsom said.
— Lydia O’Connor
COVID-19 Has Now Killed More Than 50,000 Worldwide — 4/2/20, 2:10 p.m. ET
COVID-19’s worldwide death toll surpassed 50,000 as the number of confirmed cases neared 1 million globally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy has reported the most coronavirus-related deaths of any country at more than 13,500. The U.S. has reported the most confirmed cases with over 226,000 ― nearly double the number of confirmed cases in Italy, which has the second most.
China recorded the first documented case of the virus in December. There have been more than 82,000 confirmed cases of the virus in China since then and at least 3,300 deaths, though the country has reported very few new local infections in recent weeks likely due to the monthslong draconian social distancing measures imposed by the government in some areas.
― Hayley Miller
Louisiana Sees 42% Surge In Cases Amid Testing Backlog — 4/2/20, 2 p.m. ET
Louisiana recorded a 42% jump in confirmed cases on Thursday as a testing backlog began to clear up, according to state officials.
About 9,150 people across the state have tested positive for the virus ― an increase of more than 2,700 confirmed cases from a day earlier, according to data released by the Louisiana Department of Health. There have been at least 310 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state.
“While extremely upsetting, this increase in COVID-19 cases appears to be less a sign of new exponential growth and more a sign of a logjam from commercial labs,” Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) tweeted. “I am pleased to see a ramp-up in testing across the state. We need this energy and commitment to continue.”
Edwards said many of the newly confirmed cases are people who were tested days ago and do not require hospital care. As of Thursday afternoon, Louisiana had the fifth-highest number of confirmed cases in the country. New York has the most known infections of any state with over 92,000.
― Hayley Miller
Washington Nursing Home Faces $611,000 Fine Over COVID-19 Response: Reports — 4/2/20, 1:15 p.m. ET
A nursing home in Washington state faces a fine of more than $611,000 for a series of deficiencies that led to the country’s first major known outbreak of the novel coronavirus, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported.
Life Care Center of Kirkland, which has been linked to at least 37 coronavirus-related deaths, failed to report an outbreak of respiratory illness to local authorities for two weeks as required by law, gave inadequate care to its residents during the outbreak and failed to provide 24-hour emergency doctor services, federal authorities told the Post.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reportedly told the nursing home that it will no longer be able to participate in the Medicaid/Medicare program if it does not return to full compliance by Sept. 16, 2020.
― Hayley Miller
Britain Sets Target Of 100,000 Tests A Day — 4/2/20, 1:10 p.m. ET
The U.K. pledged to carry out 100,000 tests a day for coronavirus by the end of April amid rising criticism the government has been slow to ramp up its testing regime.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, himself returning to work after recovering from COVID-19, said testing would be handed to front-line health workers first.
Britain recorded a further 569 deaths over 24 hours, bringing the total to 2,921 ― an increase of 24% in total deaths over the count of 2,352 reported the previous day. As of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, 33,718 people in the U.K. had tested positive for the virus.
Read more on HuffPost U.K.
— James Martin
FDA Revises Blood Donation Guidelines For Men Who Have Sex With Men — 4/2/20, 1 p.m. ET
Amid a drop in blood drives due to the coronavirus pandemic and following pressure from LGBTQ advocacy groups and lawmakers, the Food and Drug Administration has changed its guidelines for blood donors, lowering the deferral period to donate blood for men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months from their last sexual contact.
Advocacy group GLAAD celebrated the change, but also called the revised guidelines “imperfect.”
“We will keep fighting until the deferral period is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others,” GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.
Read more on HuffPost U.S.
— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
Michigan Joins Growing Number Of States Canceling School For Rest Of Semester — 4/2/20, 12 p.m. ET
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday that public schools across the state will remain closed for the rest of the school year, affecting some 1.5 million students and their families. Whitmer’s executive order also outlines guidelines for remote learning, which has not begun across much of the state since schools shuttered March 16.
Teachers and staff will still be paid, but it remains unclear whether high school seniors will be able to hold any sort of graduation ceremony. Officials in other states including California, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have all ordered school closures to continue for the foreseeable future.
— Sara Boboltz
Fauci Suggests Need For National Lockdown In The U.S. — 4/2/20, 11:46 a.m. ET
As nearly 40 U.S. states have now issued some form of a stay-at-home order, Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested the need for a national lockdown, given the varying degrees of restrictions and enforceability of the orders.
Some states have been slower than others to implement the orders, which generally have mandated closures of “nonessential” businesses and encouraged people to stay at home except for essential needs. Some orders have exempted certain businesses and gatherings, while some businesses have tried to skirt the orders by claiming their workers are “essential.”
In an interview, NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie asked Fauci if a national lockdown would be more effective “than this hodgepodge, piecemeal method.” Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases official and a major fixture in the United States’ coronavirus response, agreed, while acknowledging that he does not have the authority to order one.
To slow the spread of the virus, several countries — including China, Italy, Spain, France and India — have implemented some form of a national lockdown.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised his own disastrous response by trying to erase his earlier attempts to downplay the pandemic, has yet to issue a national stay-at-home order, despite calls from public health experts to do.
Read more here.
— Marina Fang
Pelosi Announces New Committee To Oversee Coronavirus Aid — 4/2/20, 11:30 a.m. ET
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that she’s forming a new House select committee to oversee how the coronavirus aid allocated in the newly adopted $2 trillion stimulus bill is managed and spent.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C) will lead the panel, which will be comprised of both Democrats and Republicans, Pelosi said in a conference call with reporters.
“We face a deadly virus and a battered economy with millions of Americans suddenly out of work,” Pelosi said. “Congress has taken an important step in leading this crisis by passing three bills with over $2 trillion in emergency relief. We need to ensure those dollars are spent carefully and effectively.”
— Hayley Miller
University of California Suspends ACT/SAT Requirement For Applicants — 4/2/20, 10:40 a.m. ET
The University of California is dropping its requirement that students applying for fall 2021 admission take the SAT and ACT tests, since the coronavirus crisis has made it impossible for many students to sit for the exams. The groups that govern each test announced last month that spring testing dates would be postponed entirely.
Students may also submit pass/fail as a substitute for letter grades for their spring classes, since some schools have switched to a binary grading system.
The university, which includes nine campuses across the state and serves some 280,000 students, will work with them through the summer to boost their financial aid packages if their families’ financial situations have been shaken by the crisis.
— Sara Boboltz
Record 6.6 Million Americans Applied For Unemployment Benefits Last Week — 4/2/20, 8:49 a.m. ET
For the second consecutive week, U.S. unemployment claims reached a record high. More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, double the record reported the week before, a sign that more people are being laid off as the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
Read more from the Associated Press.
— Marina Fang
Fauci Says Florida Gov. Needs To Release All Passengers Aboard Stranded Cruise Ships — 4/2/20, 8:15 a.m. ET
Dr. Anthony Fauci said all of the passengers aboard two stranded cruise ships near southern Florida should be able to disembark to receive treatment, after the state’s governor said he would only allow passengers who are residents of the state to do so.
“You have to take care of the people who are ill,” Fauci said on “CBS This Morning.” “You just have an obligation to do that. And as quickly as possible.”
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) had said he would only be willing to release any residents of Florida aboard the two Holland America ships. About 300 passengers are aboard the ships. At least 8 have tested positive for COVID-19, and hundreds have reported symptoms.
“My concern is that we have worked so hard to make sure we have adequate hospital space in the event of a COVID-19 surge, we wouldn’t want those valuable beds to be taken because of the cruise ship(s),” DeSantis said.
— Marina Fang
UK Doctors Face Agonizing Choices Over Life-Saving Treatment — 4/2/20, 6:10 a.m. ET