Category: Social Justice
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Healthcare Advocates Slam Proposed Insurance Rule
The federal Department of Labor is proposing a rule that critics say would allow the sale of what some call “junk” health insurance. Published in the Federal Register last week, the rule would loosen restrictions on Association Health Plans, offered by professional groups or other associations to their members. The Labor Department said the purpose…
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Ai Weiwei: “The Only Conclusion is That There is a Lot of Inhumanity in Us”
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese activist, dissident, artist and exile’s new film “Human Flow” focuses on the people the world would rather forget: refugees. The film spans the globe, following stories from Afghanistan to Greece to Mexico. Interviewer: How did people become scared of refugees? Ai Weiwei: There is no one who willingly leaves their home.…
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Freedom for Francisco and Siham: Kids Protest Against ICE Arrests
The sounds of musical instruments, singing and chanting burst through the cold, silent and stiff air outside the South Bay House of Correction on a Sunday afternoon. A bunch of fifth graders from the Boston Workmen’s Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice Sunday School rallied on Dec. 10 to demand the U.S. Immigration…
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Undocumented Immigrant Francisco Rodriguez Released from ICE for the holidays
Christmas came early for beloved MIT custodial worker and undocumented immigrant Francisco Rodriguez, whose story for months has been at the forefront of the immigration debate in Massachusetts. Rodriguez, who spent months behind bars at the Suffolk County House of Corrections, was released from ICE custody on the Thursday before Christmas to his surprise and…
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Spanish-Speaking Renters in Nashville Unionize After Maintenance Requests Go Ignored, Crime Spikes at Apartment Complex
Los contratos de arrendamiento. “Apartment leases” in Spanish—it’s been the request of hundreds of renters living at the Union on Thompson apartment complex in South Nashville. The language barrier has meant that the Spanish-speaking renters, many of whom only have access to English through their children, have had no knowledge of how to ask for…
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Coalition Pushes for Clean Water and Justice in Massachusetts Prisons
Photo: Beth Prendergast On the morning of Nov. 28, a small group of people gathered in front of the Suffolk County House of Correction at South Bay. With them, a banner depicted a tidal wave rushing toward a line of prison cells. The words “#DeeperThanWater”—the group’s name—occupied the bottom of the banner, painted in prison-uniform…
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Activists to Dorchester Planners: We’re Not For Sale
A City-led community meeting in Dorchester on the ongoing plan to redevelop Glover’s Corner took an unexpected turn on Wednesday night when local anti-gentrification activists interrupted the proceedings. But responses from a key city official and City Councilor Frank Baker following the protest provided some mixed signals in terms of how the group’s demands are…
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Economic Development vs. Climate Action: Rebutting Deniers and Wafflers
President Trump, probably telling President Xi Jinping of China that he was totally kidding about climate change being a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Photo by Thomas Peter, Courtesy of Reuters As negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, to put together a deal to implement the Paris Agreement, John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at…
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Baker Administration Battles Opioid Epidemic With Funding and Legislation
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced significant measures to provide recovery services and increase access to health care for those struggling with opioid addiction in the Bay State. Baker, a member of the Trump administration’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, is providing up to $30 million annually to expand residential recovery…