Daily Archives: April 11, 2020

2020-04-11: News Headlines

Nozomi Hayase (2020-04-11). Assange's Extradition: Incarceration in the Time of Covid-19 Threatens His Life. commondreams.org Demonstrators protest outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London on October 21, 2019. (Photo: Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Jon Gold (2020-04-10). A Failed Model: Why Adam Schiff Must Stand Down on a "9/11-Style" COVID-19 Commission. mintpressnews.com Many members of the Trump administration deserve to be arrested and tried in a court of law. They should not, however, have the luxury of escaping truth and justice by way of a "9/11-style Commission."

Staff (2020-04-08). Albert Woodfox: COVID-19 Offers Public a "Small Window" into What Prisoners Face in Solitary Confinement. democracynow.org As millions shelter in place around the world, we speak with Albert Woodfox, who served the longest time in solitary confinement of any prisoner in the United States. Known as one of the Angola Three, along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, Woodfox was held in isolation for nearly 44 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. He was convicted of killing a guard in jail, but always maintained his innocence. He says he was targeted for co-founding the first Black Panther chapter in Angola. He was released in 2016 and is now 73 years old. His memoir is "Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solit…

Staff (2020-04-08). "A Systematic Issue of Disparity": Black People in Louisiana Account for 70% of COVID-19 Deaths. democracynow.org Louisiana faces one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the United States. New data shows black people account for 70% of all the state's coronavirus deaths, though they comprise just 32% of the state's population. Louisiana also has the highest incarceration rate in the country, and more than 65% of the people in its jails and prisons are black. At least 28 people are infected, and 22 corrections staff have tested positive. State corrections officials are sending infected prisoners to the Louisiana State Penitentiary — known as Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States [mdas…

ReNika Moore (2020-04-08). If COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate, Then Why Are Black People Dying at Higher Rates? aclu.org COVID-19 is ravaging many parts of the United States, but nowhere more than in Black communities. Early data from the

Ashoka Mukpo (2020-04-08). "They Don't Care if You Die": Immigrants in ICE Detention Fear the Spread of COVID-19. aclu.org Mario Rodas, Sr. first found out there was a deadly virus spreading through the country while he was watching television at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. In early March, Rodas had been pulled over and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while driving to the supermarket with his wife, a legal resident and the mother of his three U.S. citizen children. Since then, he'd been in the custody of ICE, mostly at Plymouth. | The more Rodas heard about the disease, the more fearful the 59-year-old became. | "I was scared for my health," he told the ACLU. "I was worr…

Staff (2020-04-07). Deaths of Inequality: AOC on Black and Latinx Communities at Epicenter of Epicenter of the Pandemic. democracynow.org As COVID-19 deaths spike in African-American and immigrant communities, almost a third of New York City's infections are in Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world, and many in the hardest-hit neighborhoods are undocumented and working-class. We speak with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, about how the Trump administration's response to the pandemic is causing "deaths of incompetence," "deaths of science denial" and "deaths of inequality."

Staff (2020-04-06). "Leaving Us in Here to Die": Prisoners Plea for Release, Protection Amid Skyrocketing Infections. democracynow.org U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued an emergency order Friday calling for the release of vulnerable federal prisoners into home confinement amid the coronavirus crisis. This news comes as at least 16 states have also released prisoners. We look at the treatment of incarcerated people in New York state, where Governor Andrew Cuomo has yet to grant anyone freedom despite at least 24 confirmed cases among state prisoners. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he'll release about 300 people from Rikers Island and other city jails, but advocates are calling for far more to be freed. We speak to…

Ebony Miranda (2020-04-06). Everyone Must be Counted in the 2020 Census. aclu.org Every 10 years, the federal government conducts a census to count everyone living in the United States. For people of color, especially Black people, the census has traditionally been exclusionary and deeply flawed. | Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution was intentionally designed to protect the institution of slavery by immorally reducing those enslaved to three-fifths of a human being. It remains the only reference to slavery in the Constitution and was the law when the first census was completed in 1790 and for 75 years thereafter until the 14th Amendment was passed. Two hundred thirty years later, Bla…

2020-04-11: Social Media Postees

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Assange's Extradition: Incarceration in the Time of Covid-19 Threatens His Life
Nozomi Hayase | commondreams.org | 2020-04-11
Demonstrators protest outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London on October 21, 2019. (Photo: Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/views/2020/04/11/assang…

A Failed Model: Why Adam Schiff Must Stand Down on a "9/11-Style" COVID-19 Commission
Jon Gold | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-10
Many members of the Trump administration deserve to be arrested and tried in a court of law. They should not, however, have the luxury of escaping truth and justice by way of a "9/11-style Commission."
mintpressnews.com/failed-model-why-adam-…

"A Systematic Issue of Disparity": Black People in Louisiana Account for 70% of COVID-19 Deaths
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-08
Louisiana faces one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the United States. New data shows black people account for 70% of all the state's coronavirus deaths, though they comprise just 32% of the state's population. Louisiana also has the highest incarceration rate in the country, and more than 65% of the people in its jails and prisons are black. At least 28 people are infected, and 22 corrections staff have tested positive. State corrections officials are sending infected prisoners to the Louisiana State Penitentiary

If COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate, Then Why Are Black People Dying at Higher Rates?
ReNika Moore | aclu.org | 2020-04-08
COVID-19 is ravaging many parts of the United States, but nowhere more than in Black communities. Early data from the Midwest and the South reveal that Black people are contracting and dying from the virus at far higher rates than whites. Louisiana just released data which shows that African Americans account for 70 percent of all deaths in the state. In Milwaukee…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/if-covid-19…

Albert Woodfox: COVID-19 Offers Public a "Small Window" into What Prisoners Face in Solitary Confinement
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-08
As millions shelter in place around the world, we speak with Albert Woodfox, who served the longest time in solitary confinement of any prisoner in the United States. Known as one of the Angola Three, along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, Woodfox was held in isolation for nearly 44 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. He was convicted of killing a guard in jail, but always maintained his innocence. He says he was targeted for co-founding the first Black Panther chapter in Angola. He was released in 2016 and is now 73 years old. His memoir is "Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solit…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/8/albert_woo…

"They Don't Care if You Die": Immigrants in ICE Detention Fear the Spread of COVID-19
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2020-04-08
Mario Rodas, Sr. first found out there was a deadly virus spreading through the country while he was watching television at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. In early March, Rodas had been pulled over and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while driving to the supermarket with his wife, a legal resident and the mother of his three U.S. citizen children. Since then, he'd been in the custody of ICE, mostly at Plymouth. | The more Rodas heard about the disease, the more fearful the 59-year-old became. | "I was scared for my health," he told the ACLU. "I was worr…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/they-don…

Louisiana's Suspension of Due Process Could Be a COVID-19 Catastrophe in Jails and Prisons
Alanah Odoms Hebert | aclu.org | 2020-04-07
, Louisiana has emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot, with among the highest contraction and growth rates in the nation. The state also has the highest prison and pretrial incarceration rates in the world. Those two facts might not seem related, but they are already interacting in a tragic way: Conditions in jails and prisons make them highly vulnerable to COVID-19, allowing the virus to spread like wildfire. The potential impact could…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/louisi…

Deaths of Inequality: AOC on Black and Latinx Communities at Epicenter of Epicenter of the Pandemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-07
As COVID-19 deaths spike in African-American and immigrant communities, almost a third of New York City's infections are in Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world, and many in the hardest-hit neighborhoods are undocumented and working-class. We speak with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, about how the Trump administration's response to the pandemic is causing "deaths of incompetence," "deaths of science denial" and "deaths of inequality."
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/7/aoc_corona…

Everyone Must be Counted in the 2020 Census
Ebony Miranda | aclu.org | 2020-04-06
Every 10 years, the federal government conducts a census to count everyone living in the United States. For people of color, especially Black people, the census has traditionally been exclusionary and deeply flawed. | Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution was intentionally designed to protect the institution of slavery by immorally reducing those enslaved to three-fifths of a human being. It remains the only reference to slavery in the Constitution and was the law when the first census was completed in 1790 and for 75 years thereafter until the 14th Amendment was passed. Two hundred thirty years later, Bla…
aclu.org/news/voting-rights/everyone-mus…

"Leaving Us in Here to Die": Prisoners Plea for Release, Protection Amid Skyrocketing Infections
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-06
U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued an emergency order Friday calling for the release of vulnerable federal prisoners into home confinement amid the coronavirus crisis. This news comes as at least 16 states have also released prisoners. We look at the treatment of incarcerated people in New York state, where Governor Andrew Cuomo has yet to grant anyone freedom despite at least 24 confirmed cases among state prisoners. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he'll release about 300 people from Rikers Island and other city jails, but advocates are calling for far more to be freed. We speak to…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/6/covid_19_i…