By Pierre Clavel This is the story of Richmond, CA, a city of 107,000 just north of Berkeley and Oakland – for decades under the thumb of Chevron’s large petroleum refinery – and how a small band of activists got the city, at least partly, out from under that and on the road to significant reform. The beginning of the story is modest enough. The refinery employed a lot … [Read more...] about BOOK REVIEW OF REFINERY TOWN: BIG OIL, BIG MONEY, AND THE REMAKING OF AN AMERICAN CITY BY STEVE EARL
TRUMP TRIGGERS MIXED “SANCTUARY CITY” WAVE IN CANADA
By Matthew Brett This article originally appeared on riverleft.org and rabble.ca. The racist and exclusionary policies being implemented by the Trump administration have triggered a slow wave of interest in “sanctuary city” status across Canada. Grassroots migrant justice organizers are raising concerns and seeking to centre migrant voices and actions in … [Read more...] about TRUMP TRIGGERS MIXED “SANCTUARY CITY” WAVE IN CANADA
ZONE, AND ZONE OUT
By Javier Arbona On November 15, 2011, Michael Bloomberg’s urban planning commissioner, Amanda Burden, co-chaired the Zoning the City conference. It was the morning after police evicted the Occupy Wall Street encampment. The mayor was scheduled to open the day, but spent most of his morning dealing with the media and legal issues brought on by the violent … [Read more...] about ZONE, AND ZONE OUT
“NEGRO REMOVAL” REVISITED: URBAN PLANNING AND THE NEW JIM CROW IN KANSAS CITY
By Jacob Wagner Academic men [sic] are inclined to ascribe an importance to knowledge all out of proportion to its actual role in human conduct. This is particularly true when they talk of race relations. Men [sic] do not wait until the latest findings of science are in before they begin to feel, think, or act on matters that concern race; and even when new scientific … [Read more...] about “NEGRO REMOVAL” REVISITED: URBAN PLANNING AND THE NEW JIM CROW IN KANSAS CITY
THE DRUG WAR, PRISONS, AND POLICE KILLINGS OF BLACK MEN
By William Goldsmith Early on New Year's Day 2009, a transit officer shot and killed Oscar Grant at BART's Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California. Oakland suffered 45 police shootings from 2004 through 2008. Thirty-seven victims were black and none was white, according to the NAACP. In February 2012, a neighborhood watch coordinator shot and killed Travon Martin in a … [Read more...] about THE DRUG WAR, PRISONS, AND POLICE KILLINGS OF BLACK MEN