Hi friends,
Our work is like turning an enormous ship. It involves a series of course corrections to point ourselves in the right direction. They may not look like much at first.
While the backlash to the call for police reforms and decarceration that followed the murder of George Floyd slowed the bend of the universe toward justice, there are still people deeply engaged in trying to address systemic racism.
Support BLOC, a Milwaukee-based organization that does incredible community-building work.
“Today is about equity; it is about racial justice,” said Anthony Brown, Maryland’s attorney general. “While the order applies to all who meet its criteria, the impact is a triumphant victory for African Americans and other Marylanders of color who were disproportionately arrested, convicted and sentenced for actions yesterday that are lawful today.”
Janeese Lewis George, a Democratic City Councilor in DC, fended off a primary challenge from the center, as did her colleague, Robert White. George has supported progressive community safety measures, increased investments in programs to provide services to victims of crimes, and services for citizens returning to the community to prevent recidivism.
George has also introduced legislation to investigate ties between White supremacist groups and members of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Earlier this year, a survey found that Oklahoma has the highest rates of intimate partner violence and its population of incarcerated women is “almost twice the national average.”
Colleen McCarty, co-founder of the OK Survivor Justice Coalition, said.
“Now, it’s time to reunite domestic abuse survivors with their families and ensure that future survivors are not punished for defending themselves.”
Dr. David McLeod, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, has spent decades compiling research on this area.
“Seventy per cent of the incarcerated women in Oklahoma were in a violent relationship at the time they received the charge that led them to prison,” he said. “The fact that women could not incorporate that reality into their defense was a blatant marker of the institutionalization of patriarchy.”
This is a start in the right direction.
Last week, the Biden administration announced a plan to remove medical debt from credit reports after researchers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that it is not useful information for predicting “a consumer’s creditworthiness.”
The three largest credit agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — said they would stop including some medical debt on credit reports as of last year. The excluded debts included paid-off bills and those less than $500.
Those moves have substantially reduced the number of people with medical debt on their credit reports. But the agencies’ voluntary actions left out many patients with bigger medical bills on their credit reports.
There are still 15 million people who have medical bills on their credit reports, according to the CFPB.
We will be watching for the chance to make public comments on what seems like a good rule.
This morning, I learned about kangaroo words, which carry little synonyms of themselves just as kangaroos carry joeys in their pouches. Regulate is almost a kangaroo word, since it carries the word rule inside it.
And yes, I am going to sing the praises — again — of rule-making as a tool for course correction.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was a global agreement to regulate the production and consumption of nearly 100 chemicals known as ozone depleting substances.
A new study has measured a decline of hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in the atmosphere, confirming the effectiveness of the rules that resulted from the Montreal Protocol.
The findings show for the first time a notable decline in the atmospheric levels of potent ozone-depleting substances (ODS), called hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). These HCFCs are also harmful greenhouse gases, so a reduction should also lessen global warming.
Yay for good rules.
Here’s some good local news on the rules front: The program that uses mounted cameras on MTA buses to ticket drivers who block bus stops is scaling up.
More than 1,000 buses total on 32 routes will be outfitted with the cameras by the end of the year, according to the MTA. For the next 60 days, drivers caught parking or double parking at bus stops will receive warnings, transit officials officials said.
Then, the $50 tickets come; serial offenders will pay $250 tickets, if they are caught five or more times in a year. Mercifully, the automated ticketing program is not affected by the pause on congestion pricing.
Tomorrow is Juneteenth! The celebration of emancipation marks one of many moments in the history of liberation from enslavement.
Check out this wonderful list of ways to celebrate Juneteenth in Brooklyn and beyond.
Emancipation is not complete until we correct the “long history of exclusion from basic labor protections, rooted in the legacy of slavery” that have plagued Black workers and others who do undervalued work.
Care work is essential and still undervalued. Domestic workers have won a bill of rights in 11 states and Washington, DC.
We need a Federal Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. Take quick action with Hand in Hand.
Stay cool and stay hydrated!
with love,
L