Items

• 
  2020-12-12

  Anti-mask protesters take to the streets in Calgary to fight COVID-19 restrictions

  This article details one of the numerous ‘freedom marches’ which took place in Calgary Alberta, Canada. These people were protesting in response to the government lockdowns, mask mandates and regulations to help limit the spread of Covid-19. However, what is interesting in this particular article is the reference to the multiplicity of causes behind each protestor; that protestors had different causes, and reasons for showing up. People marched for the obvious ‘anti-mask’ causes, yet others would protest for the ‘Wexit’ movement, which is the desire to establish either an independent Albertan ‘republic’ or join the U.S. as the 51st state. This item is important as it demonstrates how the pandemic sceptic movements of Calgary Alberta were viewed in a negative light; more importantly how these movements often co-opted other fringe movements such as the Albertan separatist movement. Similarly, the vitriol of these protestors is on display, as the Calgary freedom marchers have been notable for their behaviour of spitting, coughing and screaming at passersby, police and local businesses as evident in this particular story. Similarly, many believe these mask-less movements are super spreader events which are contributing to the spread of the virus in several urban centers throughout the province of Alberta, such as Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. This article provides substance to the pandemic sceptics of Alberta, Canada as no different to the anti-maskers of the United States; as uploading this, many of the organizations who attended and organized these events are currently organizing a massive march throughout the province which has been marketed to appear alike the tiki-torch rally of the far right in Charlottesville in 2017. I believe this article would fit best in the social justice collection to demonstrate the public/media response to the pandemic sceptics marching in the streets of Albertan cities.
• 
  2020-06-03

  Black Lives Matter Rally in Calgary Alberta

  This is a photo I took during one of Calgary’s Black Lives Matter marches in the Summer of 2020. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, people took to the streets all over the world, not just America – In Calgary Alberta in particular, the death of George Floyd forced Canadians to critically look at our own law enforcement and state institutions, which were borne out of Canada’s colonial past. Not pictured in this photo would be the flags of numerous Indigenous nations, in particular the Mohawk nation – as in Canada and in America, the Black Lives Matter Movement synthesized itself with the cause of Indigenous sovereignty, as a means to combat white supremacy. During these marches, people who were antagonistic of the BLM movement stated that these marches were a threat to ‘public health’ as they believed protestors were marching mask less, this is not the case as evident in this photo. Organizers and random protestors were handing out masks, hand sanitization stations were set up with food, water and wipes. Signs were provided from the organizers to each marcher, if one did not bring their own. During this event, there was limited police presence as they maintained their distance from the large body of protestors which covered several streets. From what I recall what happened, I went with my friend Quinn, we showed up and found a place in the large crowd and listened to several speakers in the center of body of protestors (You can’t see it in this photo but it is directly center, behind the foliage). After the several speeches which took place, the organizers lead the people through a march downtown, to city hall. To my knowledge, there weren’t any instances of violence or confrontations with police – however I do remember there would be some agitators who would appear every now and then to yell at the protestors, or carry racist signs – I didn’t see this in particular, but saw photos of people doing so. This photograph would be beneficial to the social justice collection as it depicts the black lives matter movement of Calgary Alberta, Canada as fore mostly a window into the unique Canadian experience and similarly to how protests were conducted during a pandemic.
• 
  2020-11-30

  Premier blames South Asian community for spike in Covid cases

  This article was made in response to comments made by the premier of Alberta, Jason Kenny towards the South Asian community of Calgary. In particular, Kenny had attributed the social gatherings and “tradition” of the South Asian community being the cause for a spike in Covid cases throughout the province. His comments were viewed as an extension of rising anti-Asian racism throughout the province, which can largely be attributed to the rhetoric of U.S. president Donald Trump as a means to escape liability for mismanaging the pandemic response. The community he blamed in particular is traditionally working class, who are employed in much of the city’s service and logistical jobs which are essential to the province as a whole. From food vendors, taxi drivers, cleaners, city employees – the frontline workers, those who are exposed most to the virus. Even more so, Jason Kenny’s comments caused further anger as he was somehow unable to assign the same blame to the swaths of mask-less protestors who marched in large groups throughout the province in defiance of government mandates in the following week. I believe this artifact would prove useful to the collection of Social Justice, mainly it is another Canadian experience based in the growing racialization/politicization of the covid-19 pandemic, and the ways in which conservative governments have attempted to scape-goat their own failings onto vulnerable communities. As throughout the pandemic, especially in the Western World, there has been an unnerving attempt to racialize the pandemic. Such as placing the blame on Chinese people, then Asian people as a whole; similarly this extends to working-class communities who man the frontlines to keep society functioning as normal. These communities (in regards to Calgary) are primarily composed of new immigrants who were not born in Canada, by Jason Kenny blaming these people for the upsurge in cases, he is exemplifying a racist generalization towards the entirety of the South Asian community of Calgary. In regards to Canada, this item matters to display that our pandemic experience was no different in that it illustrated the stark racial divides throughout the province, once compared to the primarily white ‘freedom’ marchers (who were also in the company of fascist/white-supremacist organizations such as the Proud Boys, Sons of Odin) walked proudly through our cities mask-less with little to no government comments as similar to Kenny’s on the SA community. I want to add these to the collection of Social Justice, as articles like these were first spurned on by anti-racist activists who initially heard Kenny’s remarks. What followed shortly after was a provincial outcry directed towards the premier for his questionable history in regards to racism. Situations like these prove that there is systemic racism at work within the government of Alberta, as the government racialized the issue of Covid-19, while looking away from the predominantly white mask less marchers.
• 
  2020-12-07

  Utilizing American History to Understand Present Day Events

  For my HIS 103 final project, I wrote an essay about how Americans utilize media platforms to draw connections between American history and current events. The similarities that contemporary Americans create reveal that while much has changed legally, our country continues to remain divided on the same topics.
• 
  2020-10-06

  VOTE! or else.

  With the virtue of our country’s future president dependent on Pennsylvania the infamous swing state, street art like this is more than typical on the walls throughout Philly. It is powerful. I cannot stress enough how many times my Mom signed me up with election campaigns, poll ballot services, and volunteers from the State House. I believe we will look back on this election in the midst of a global pandemic and be able to reflect on it like no other. From outbursts of protests, riots, and looting’s, to the BLM movement, to lockdowns, all of these factors heavily affected Philadelphia, essentially influencing the outcome of the 2020 election. I believe through political murals like this reassure our 1st amendment during times like these. Given all the things the pandemic has abruptly stripped us of, it has provided us with the beauty of proactiveness and opportunity in political art.
• 
  2020-06-25

  White Woman Seen Coughing On Baby After Mother Spoke Spanish in California

  A search was on for the white woman who coughed on a baby because his mother was speaking Spanish in a yogurt shop.
• 
  2020-06-27

  Aurora PD in riot gear, gassing & beating protesters

  From original live post: Aurora PD in riot gear, gassing & beating protestors, in the minutes leading up to this magical standoff: https://www.facebook.com/brittneybuckley/videos/786032587995/?d=n “Dream On” by the same musicians a few minutes later: https://www.facebook.com/76400369/posts/786080332315/?d=n Violinist on the truck bed, who stopped the madness with his magic: Jeff “Maestro” Hughes Violinist accompanying him (who also played in the park as the riot cops approached): Josh Lee
• 
  2020-05-28

  Edgar the Lyft driver showed how to perfectly respond to an unhinged, racist customer

  A Lyft driver handles a racist rant from customer in video. He is refered to as "boy" and "wetback" for asking the customer to wear a mask because he believes Covid-19 is real.
• 2020-06-29

  So this happened in Aurora

  Peaceful protest for victim of police brutality Elijah Mclain was interrupted by heavily armed militarized police as violinists played on.
• 
  2020-06-05

  Waking Up to White Privilege

  As a white person I have struggled with how to express myself in this difficult, historic time. Ultimately what I say doesn't matter as much as any Person of Color in this moment, because when I think I understand, i can't possibly. The only thing I think I can contribute that is my place to say, is to express some thoughts to other white people in this moment about what this moment means. It's no longer enough to not be racist. A lot of us have hung our hats on "not seeing color" or treating people equally regardless of their race. Weve been making those steps for 60 years as a nation, and the slow March of forward progress has only made actual racists hide behind more obscure symbolism and made white people feel better about themselves. Every white person who wants to consider themselves "good" in this moment, now has a responsibility to attack and drive out racism. And every white person who tries to say racism isnt that bad or isnt the real problem now, needs to be confronted with the fact they are making it worse. You cant compare police killing statistics to black on black crime. Doing so ignores the fact that a deep distrust of the police born from centuries of abuse and persecution has made minority communities vulnerable to criminal influence as good people are afraid to call the cops because the cops might be worse than criminals they need protecting from. You cant say all lives matter. Because, 1) no shit. And 2) people are trying to lift up the most abused segment of our population, and doing so will raise the tide for all people. Sure there is that incident where a white person was beaten or killed by cops. That's why BLM and other movements are asking for things like independent review of all complaints and incidents not just those affecting minorities. There are a million reasons why AllLivesMatter is not appropriate and diminishes the moment. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss this, but that conversation distracts the conversation from constructive discourse to have to have in public. You can't say protesting is causing division in this country. Black people are asking to be seen and heard, they are asking you to better understand their experience, their fear and their pain. If you are refusing to acknowledge that experience, or somehow invalidate it because you have never seen it, you are the one causing division. Citing the looting or rioting as causing this "division" is a whole separate issue. For this point I will just say, you can't equate protesting with the looting and rioting, they are different things. You can condemn looting. But instead of just using it as a reason to dismiss or act against protestors, you have to look at what is actually going on. There are multiple different types of looting and rioting going on. Some is a response to police meeting peaceful protest with more violence and oppression. This is the anger and the burning. Like when one child hits another and the second child bites in response. Neither is ok, you don't excuse the first child hitting because the response may have been worse. Violence begets violence, and places where curfews have been rolled back and protestors have not been met with police, protests have remained peaceful and people have danced in the streets. The other type of looting is what happened in Fairfield and Vallejo, with looting without protest, the stealing. This is horrible, and criminal, but also a clear sign the system has been ineffective at improving or protecting our communities and has created safe spaces for criminal elements created by their community fearing Police brutality more than the criminal elements also terrorizing them. Protestors arent saying that looting is ok, and looting shouldn't in any way diminish their message. Looting should be condemned, but also think about what the looting means and how it serves as proof the protestors are right. People loot when teams and cities win or lose sports championships every year, there are unsavory elements that will take advantage every chance they get. If anything protestors want to improve their communities so looting doesnt happen again. Looting is horrible and absolutely should be condemned, but it a symptom of the underlying problem far more than a product of protests, and is being used as an excuse to set curfews in place to justify breaking up protests unlawfully. You cant joke about Covid. People protesting during a pandemic doesnt mean they dont take it seriously or it isnt a problem. It means the moment is so big, people are willing to take on another layer of danger in unrest because they dont know when they will have this moment again. You need to demand more of your police. A good cop is no longer one that doesnt beat or abuse people, it's one who reports or acts against the abuses by others. Sadly cops who do that are driven out of forces and departments. If we want to talk about places like Camden, NJ, where they disbanded their Police department and rebuilt it with all local officers, officer involvement in the community, and they are actually seeing reductions in crime as well as Public approval of the police department, thats a good conversation to have, and something worth praising and commending. Dont post pictures of officers kneeling, 2 days ago Buffalo, NY officers kneeled, and 24 hours later in the same location, the same officers nearly killed a peaceful 75 year old man. Officers kneeling with protestors has been compared to an abusive boyfriend apologizing before beating you again 2 weeks later. We need change not gestures. A reform of our police system benefits the good cops as much as the victims of the bad cops, as they will be able to protect and serve their community the way they wanted to when they became cops, instead of fearing reprisal for speaking up or stopping abusive officers. You need to educate yourself on what protestors are facing. The police brutality in these times in coming in overwhelming waves. This brutally is causing protests to escalate into panic or riots, which then creates the safe space for the criminal element to loot. I suggest if you can stomach unsettling images you check out the Twitter thread I'm going to link. It started with a lawyer documenting 10 instances of unjustified police brutality or abuses of rights in the first day and a half of protests, 6 days in it's over 300 videos. https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1266751520055459847?s=19 You need to understand the basics of what is being asked for. There is so much hurt and anger,and a lot of people only see hashtags like #defundthepolice or #abolishthepolice and think it's ridiculous we need cops. Some of it is exaggeration, some of it is just more nuanced. The basic things people want come down to. 1) Independent review. Instances of police brutality and killings are investigated and determined lawful or not by District Attorneys who work with the same officers on a daily basis and are dependent on their cooperation to do their job, as well as seek re election. This is the definition of conflict of interest, an independent office of some sort needs to do this work. 2) police funding needs to change. Police budgets are insanely large portions of local government spending, with ridiculous amounts spent on military grade equipment and way too little spent on things like social workers and drug counseling. Our communities are better served trying to better them than to punish them. Both in efficiency and quality of life. 3) elimination of qualified immunity. When a cop violates someone's civil rights and isnt even charged, the city often still loses a civil lawsuit (because civil rights were violated) the city or municipality ends up liable for the damages, not the police department or the offending officer. This further depletes resources for the community at large and is a further part of the plea to "hold police accountable". If doctors are liable for their own mistakes, why arent police departments? Why does seeking restitution for crimes against you make your community's schools, social programs or arts suffer, and not the actual entity that committed the crime? You need to see how it's working. The state of Colorado, the city of Portland, and the city of Minneapolis are making massive changes to their police programs. The LAPD budget is under review with hundreds of millions of dollars potentially being diverted to other community improvement. The officers were all arrested and charged, that happened because people werent satisfied each step along the way. And that doesnt mean the final goal is accomplished, there are hundreds of other civil rights violations and abuses new and old that have not seen justice. These protests will get stronger and stronger until that wave of change spreads, and as certain government parties respond with more force, more people will be outraged and join the protests. There is a lot there, and so much more I havent even touched. If anyone wants to discuss these points privately, without judgement, feel free to message me. My biggest regret right now is all my life I have tried to be a good friend to the people of color in my life, but I have failed because I have not done enough to be a good Ally, what they actually deserved. But this moment isn't about me or any other white persons guilt, it is about what we will do now to step up and fix an obviously broken system.
• 
  2020-06-03

  Letter to the Community from Vacaville School District About Recent Racism by School Athletes

  Recently a group of teenagers posted racist rants on social media. The teens were all athletes. The school district wrote a public letter of condemnation. They also speak on Covid-19 and the stress it has caused. They also list actions the school district will take in order to ensure they are honoring diversity within their educational programs.
• 
  2020-06-18

  PROTESTAS EN PLENO COVID-19 -19

  En la ciudad de Arequipa Policías reprimieron a comerciantes de la plataforma Andres Avelino Cáceres el cual abastecía a la ciudad de verduras, frutas , carnes y demás alimentos así mismo allí trabajaban ambulantes, carretilleros, personal de limpieza entre otros. Ellos piden trabajar, luego de que el centro de abastos esté cerrado más de un mes y nadie puede tener acceso. Muchos no tienen de qué más vivir ya que no todos son mayoristas y algunos viven del trabajo diario.
• 
  2020-04-24

  Arkansas prisoner gets compassionate release due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Since the covid pandemic reached the United States a discussion began relating to the nation's prison inmates. With the inability to protect oneself from the virus in a prison environment the question has become, should nonviolent and other inmates receive an early release to protect them from the possibility of dying from covid. This question has resulted in a deeper discussion regarding the humanity of inmates and if a prison sentence should be allowed to turn into a death sentence. This news story covers the early release of Felix Walls. ASU, HST580