Community leaders call for steps to end racism targeting Asian Americans
By Ester Wells Medill Reports Some Asian Americans are risking death from COVID-19 rather than turning to medical care where they fear health care professionals won’t understand their language and often don’t respect their medical requests, said Chhaya Chhoum, framing the larger Asian experience in the crisis through the challenges confronted by one family her […]
African American medical professionals promote vaccines, wellness to combat COVID-19 pandemic
Leonna McAfee Medill Reports Medical professionals in Evanston encourages the Black community and the general public to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated for COVID-19 as a key step in putting the pandemic behind us. Doctors and other medical professionals partnered with the Second Baptist Church and AMITA Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston […]
Bar association group links environmental racism to higher pandemic rates, lead poisoning, and lasting tolls for tribal nations and communities of color
By Leonna McAfee Medill Reports The civil rights arm of the American Bar Association is calling for legal reforms to prevent pollution threats and other environmental injustices linking tribal communities and communities of color to everything from higher COVID-19 contagion to increased lead poisoning. The ABA’s Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice held a […]
Riders at risk of massive service cuts as MTA billions in debt amid COVID crisis
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the largest transportation network in North America, is at a crossroads, operating on a $12 billion deficit through 2024. While foregoing an immediate fare hike, the MTA has threatened mass layoffs and service cuts of up to 50% as it faces the “the worst financial crisis in agency history.”
Yemeni activists and supporters demand end to ‘War on Yemen’ on global day of action following a teach-in by CDSA
By Leonna McAfee Medill Reports Dozens of activists from the women’s peace group CODEPINK, Chicago Area Peace Action, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, and Chicago Committee against War and Racism rallied in downtown Chicago at Federal Plaza on Monday evening, demanding the Biden administration move forward with policies that will end the war in Yemen […]
Education in isolation: Create community over curriculum, educators say
The transition to remote learning has been rapid and demanding for parents, teachers and students alike. Over the past year, educators have reinvented and sometimes thrown out their traditional curricula in favor of new ones workable in a virtual space. Parents juggle work, home and school life simultaneously and under one roof. Students are adapting to a new educational landscape that requires more discipline, self-reliance and flexibility than many are used to in the classroom.
2020 warming trend may intensify infectious diseases, scientists say
Global warming may make infectious diseases such as COVID-19 more widespread, warn health and climate experts. They say increasing temperatures are changing disease progression and interaction among people in ways that make it hard to predict and prepare for future public health crises.
Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing
By Kelly Milan Medill Reports Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic. “This is a life-or-death issue,” said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization […]
Revised COVID-19 eviction ban draws ire of Chicago housing activists
By Courtney Kueppers Medill Reports When the coronavirus pandemic first began, Ivy Abid felt like she had to find a way to help people. So the 35-year-old high school teacher started answering calls on a hotline set up by Chicago housing activists for tenants in need. In the spring, Abid and other Chicago Tenants Movement volunteers […]
Amidst pandemic, rural New York teachers struggle to access high-speed internet
By Sidnee King and Emine Yücel Medill Reports On a snowy day in mid-March, Sandra Wilkins had a meltdown in the parking lot of the Saranac Lake Free Library. Bundled in hats and mittens and cramped in a grey 2009 Honda Accord, Wilkins and her two children were racing to finish the day’s work while […]