Civics 1/14

Tuesday, January 14, 2024

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News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.

Good evening. Today we are covering the destruction of generational Black family homes in the Los Angeles wildfires, the legacy and next steps for the founder of The Haitian Times as he steps down, Meta’s controversial decision to remove fact-checking from the platform, and more. We also hope you will join us tomorrow, Jan. 15, 2025, from noon to 5 p.m. ET at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., for "Covering a Divided Nation: Lessons from Black and Brown Media," an invite-only summit with journalists, media executives and community media owners focused on finding practical approaches to drastically improving news coverage for all communities. RSVPs are now closed. Plus, we’re bringing you the latest updates at url-media.com as events unfold. Have a question? Write to us at [email protected]. 

Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP

Generational Black homes in LA reduced to ash amid growing wildfires: The multiple wildfires that continue to rampage through Los Angeles have burned many homes to the ground over the past week, including in some of the region's oldest Black neighborhoods. Generational homes — some of which had been in families since the first Black Southerners arrived in the city — as well as Black churches and restaurants, have been lost to the flames, according to Capital B.  The Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, both largely uncontained, have also highlighted the stark difference neighborhood divisions make when homes are burning. The Pacific Palisades, near Malibu, is home to many multimillion-dollar mansions and celebrities, and it has received much of the media spotlight. Meanwhile, the Eaton fire has devastated historically Black and latino neighborhoods, such as the Altadena suburb. Victor Shaw, a 66-year-old Black Altadena resident, was the first identified victim of the fires. He was found holding a garden hose, likely trying to quell the flames as they engulfed his family home of 55 years. The disparity of impact from the fires will not stop once the flames are put out, either. The health impacts of wildfire smoke will hit marginalized communities the hardest and compound issues already present in dense urban areas, from asthma and respiratory illness to mental health and employment challenges, Capital B reports.Plus, many property insurers have stopped covering parts of the L.A. metro area in recent years, including Altadena. At the same time, older homeowners have struggled to keep up with rising property taxes. This has resulted in an influx to the state-run insurance plan, which has said that a major disaster would likely drain its funding. Get the full story → Plus: ‘We Need Everyone’: How Two Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Building a Movement (Capital B)

Garry Pierre-Pierre steps aside as publisher of The Haitian Times: Online news organization The Haitian Times, a URL Media partner, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. The publication’s founder Garry Pierre-Pierre has stood at the helm for all of those years. Now, he is turning the page and handing over the reins to longtime partner Vania Andre, Pierre-Pierre announced in an editorial on Monday.“At times, it feels as though it were just 25 days ago that I launched this publication to serve the Haitian community. Other times, it feels like 250 years,” Pierre-Pierre wrote. “This baby—my baby—has grown into a quarter-century-old institution.”Under his leadership, The Haitian Times became an essential and trusted voice for Haitians and the global diaspora, especially when it came to non-partisan coverage of politics in the United States. For example, as President-elect Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance repeatedly spread lies on the campaign trail about Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Pierre-Pierre and The Haitian Times debunked the claims over and over with steadfast coverage. Plus, they did so despite receiving hateful messages and threats. One editor, Macollvie Neel, was even “swatted,” a form of cyber harassment.   “We’re taking the precautions that are necessary,” Pierre-Pierre told the L.A. Times around the time of the incidents. “But our first duty is to tell the truth without fear or favor, and we have no fear.”As for Pierre-Pierre's next steps, he still plans to be involved as a special advisor to the outlet, focusing on coverage expansion, financial resources, writing a weekly column, and creating a training center for Haitian journalists. More from The Haitian Times →

Meta’s collapse on fact-checking and what it means for civic life: It’s official: tech giant Meta will be slashing its fact-checking resources, effectively opening the floodgates on all types of speech, including hateful or untrue rhetoric, Felipe De La Hoz writes in Epicenter NYC. Mark Zuckerberg has characterized the move as a way to remove “bias” and “censorship” from his platform. However, given the outsize influence of Meta’s content and algorithms on elections, social movements, and public information, the removal of fact-checking also poses a serious risk to American civic life, De La Hoz explains. Plus, the move is notably political, not a noble defense of free speech, as spun by Zuckerberg. For one, the new content moderation policy leaves openings for users to target speech based on race and ethnicity, as well as question the mental health of LGBTQ+ people based on their identity. More from Epicenter NYC → Plus: No More Fact-Checking For Meta. How Will This Change Media — And The Pursuit Of Truth? (India Currents)

The Women's March gears up for "The People's March" in Washington, D.C.: From the creators of The Women’s March — which first brought people to the streets after President-elect Donald Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 — comes “The People’s March,” set to take place in Washington D.C. this Saturday, Luz Media reports.According to organizers, the goal of the event is to form a space where a wide collective of people can voice their commitment to civil rights, equality, and democracy, in an effort to inspire and sustain a transformative road ahead. The timing is particularly significant, as the fights for women’s rights, immigrant justice, LGBTQ+ equality, racial equity, and climate action, are expected to intensify upon Trump’s arrival in the White House. "We want to push against this notion of hopelessness, this sort of fear that we see people leaning into demobilization and demoralization.” Tamika Middleton, Managing Director of Women’s March, told Time Magazine.“The People’s March is about collective power,” said Emiliana Guereca, Co-Chair of the Women’s March Foundation, in a press release. “We are not just here to resist; we are here to lead. The policies and attacks coming our way will be cruel, but our resolve is stronger.” More from Luz Media → 

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