Tuesday, January 16, 2023
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A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from the URL Media network.
Protestors in Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York, in the summer of 2020. Credit: Eliana Perozo
Black Lives Matter protesters have a week left to file for their $13M settlement: Nearly 1,400 Black Lives Matter demonstrators who protested from May 28, 2020 to June 4, 2020 and were subject to police misconduct, are eligible to receive $9,950 in a historic class action lawsuit against New York City’s police force, the NYPD. But at the time this Epicenter-NYC article was published, about 40% of eligible protestors still hadn't applied. “I want these young people to be operating from a position of knowledge and to be able to choose whether or not they want to file a claim,” said activist Savitri D., who is a plaintiff in this lawsuit. “This settlement shows we matter and hopefully reinforces the need for control on the police.”
Epicenter-NYC reports that the city initially gave eligible protestors until December 22, 2023 to file their claims, but has extended it to Jan. 22, leaving plaintiffs with less than a week to get their share. Read more here.
No rescue: Palestine, representation, and global capitalism: The powers that be prevent many countries and individuals from intervening on behalf of the Palestinian people in its ongoing war with Israel, writes William C. Anderson in this stream of consciousness for Prism. Despite global liberation movements and the push for a free Palestine, nations often refrain from intervening for fear of weakening or severing ties forged through industry, corporations, and strategic alliances. Anderson also cautions against relying on the powers that be to advance political campaigns.
"If we need a recent reference point, we don’t have to look much further than the George Floyd uprisings of 2020. At a moment’s notice, abolition and calls to “defund the police” were swept into an election cycle and became “issues” on the ballot. When it was all said and done, protests died down, and the police got more funding under the auspices of COVID-19 relief and a newly elected democratic administration." Read the full piece here.
More: Lessons of the global fight for liberation (URL Media)
Democrats invest $35M in targeting voters of color, to counteract voter suppression ahead of presidential election: You may soon see political advertisements in languages such as Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, reports AsAmNews via Axios. That's because the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently announced it will invest $35M in an outreach initiative targeting Latino, Black, Asian American, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian voters called "P.O.W.E.R. The People," exceeding costs spent on similar efforts during the 2022 election year. Read more here.Plus: Democrats allocate $35M for outreach but overlook Black press in bid for diverse voter support (The Washington Informer)
N.J. announces extension of partnership providing free, 24/7 virtual mental health services to college students statewide: New Jersey has undertaken extensive initiatives to address the mental health crisis among college students, including its partnership with mental health platform Uwill. Since last May, the partnership has helped unlock free 24/7 teletherapy, crisis connection, and wellness services for 7,600 students from 44 colleges in the state. Brian Bridges, the state's secretary of higher education, recently announced that the partnership will continue due to an extension of $10M from the American Rescue Plan until spring 2025. Trenton Journal has more here.
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