Tuesday, December 10, 2024
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A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.
Good evening. Today, we’re covering the exploitation behind the United States’ rising demand for electric vehicles and smartphones, the latest on lawmakers’ potential TikTok ban, the story of one woman forging a connection between migrant aid and basketball, and more. 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: Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images
The costs of America’s EV dreams: President Joe Biden visited Angola this week, becoming the first U.S. President to do so. The visit is a good sign for relations between the nations — yet it also marks a doubling down on investments that exploit workers in the region.During his visit, Biden announced that the U.S. will be bankrolling a new rail project to transport precious minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola in just 40 hours, down from 45 days. These minerals, primarily cobalt, are the key ingredient in many of the technologies taken for granted in the West, from cell phones to laptops to electric car batteries, writes Adam Mahoney, climate and environment reporter at Capital B.About 75% of the world’s cobalt lies underground in the DRC, and millions of pounds will be needed for the EV and clean energy transition the Biden Administration envisions as part of its legacy. However, the same powerful mineral that makes its way into new EV models is extracted at the expense of Black workers throughout the supply chain, from the mines to American warehouses. War, disease, and famine have already destabilized the DRC in recent decades. The increased demand on mines, where workers — many of whom are children — risk their lives while earning a fraction of what an EV battery is eventually sold for, isn’t helping. Full story in Capital B →Plus: Black women are leading the fight against polluters in Louisiana — and they’re winning (Capital B)
Court rules U.S. can ban TikTok, so what happens next?: U.S. lawmakers have been threatening to ban the social media platform TikTok, citing concerns over user data and national security due to the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance. Now, those lawmakers have proved their case in a federal court, and the U.S. ban is legally possible. It’s slated to begin on January 19 — for now. While ByteDance was unable to prove that the ban would violate the First Amendment, the company is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. That would delay the ban well into the term of President-elect Donald Trump, who has stated he would not support the law, AsAmNews reports.Meanwhile, the futures of the platform, companies and content providers that depend upon it, and users who enjoy it hang in the balance.More from AsAmNews →
Her nephew died crossing the border. She plays basketball to save others like him: In Corona, Queens, there is
. Through team entry fees and donations, the organizers support Capellanes del Desierto, a group of volunteers who search for migrants in the Sonoran Desert. It’s a harsh trek that many do not survive; the group tries to save people when they can, and locate remains for families when they can’t, Documented explains. The founder of the basketball tournament is Roberta Tapia, who also captains one of the teams. She created the league after her nephew tried to cross the Sonoran Desert and did not make it. The Capellanes found him, and Tapia named her team after them: The Capellanas del Desierto — the “female chaplains of the desert.”
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Learn Geraldine Pointer’s name — and help her set history straight: Geraldine Pointer, formerly Geraldine Robinson, made history as one of the first Black woman political prisoners of the 1960s. Do you know her? There’s a campaign to set the record straight and clear her name. Pointer worked at the Afro-Asian Book Shop in Buffalo, N.Y., owned by Martin Sostre during the city’s uprisings in 1967. When the FBI raided the store following months of surveillance, Sostre was framed and incarcerated. Pointer was also imprisoned for two years away from her five children, PushBlack explains.Once released, she continued to be a focal organizer, campaigning for Sostre’s release and running the bookstore, which was “both a refuge and a site of politicization for the young Buffalonians,” according to the Justice for Geraldine and Martin webpage. Sostre has died, but Pointer, at 80 years old, is still fighting to vacate their charges and restore their legacy.“After all of these years, all of this is so unbelievable,” she said, “because I had figured people had forgotten about my role.”More from PushBlack →
What it’s like to be an immigration lawyer right now (Epicenter NYC)
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