Category Archives: Racism

Thousands Evacuated After Chemical Leak and Massive Fire at ‘Cancer Alley’ Oil Refinery

“Such events are an all-too-common and exceptionally dangerous reality for those living within fossil fuel and petrochemical ‘sacrifice zones,'” observed one researcher.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-25-2023 by Common Dreams

A massive plume of smoke—visible from outer space—billows from a burning storage tank at Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville, Louisiana refinery on August 25, 2023. (Photo: Mike Friloux/Facebook)

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for thousands of people living within a two-mile radius of a Marathon Petroleum refinery in Louisiana’s so-called “Cancer Alley” after a chemical leak and massive fire broke out at a storage tank there on Friday.

The temporary evacuation order, which Marathon Petroleum called “precautionary,” followed a leak of naphtha—a hazardous and highly flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture—and blaze at the refinery in Garyville in St. John the Baptist Parish, located about 45 miles upriver from New Orleans.

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Arkansas Schools Will Teach AP African American Studies, Defying GOP Law

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Educators will teach the course despite the fact that the law also weakens rules protecting them against unjust dismissals.

By Julia Conley. Published 8-17-2023 by Common Dreams

Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

Despite a threat this week by the Arkansas Department of Education that it would not allow students to receive credit for Advanced Placement African American Studies, every public high school in Arkansas that previously offered the course announced that it will remain on their schedules for the coming school year.

The Arkansas Education Association, which represents unionized teachers across the state, applauded the Little Rock School District’s decision on Wednesday to continue offering the AP course in defiance of Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature law banning so-called “indoctrination” in public schools.

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‘Blood on His Hands’: Abbott Under Fire for Busing Migrants to Chicago After 3-Year-Old Dies

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“Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott’s watch for us to treat what’s happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be,” said one journalist.

By Jessica Corbett Published 8-12-2023 by Common Dreams

Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Photo: Public domain

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced fresh criticism on Friday after officials confirmed a young child died during a bus trip from the border city of Brownsville to Chicago, Illinois—part of the Republican’s monthslong stunt of transporting migrants to communities with Democratic leaders.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health said the child was 3 years old and died Thursday in Marion County, in the southern part of that state,” according to The Associated Press.

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‘Openly Murderous’: DeSantis Outlines Border Proposal Modeled on War Zones

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By admitting border agents would have to make their own “judgements” to determine whether to shoot a migrant, said one critic, the Florida governor signaled he would embrace “the large-scale murder of innocent people.”

By Julia Conley. Published 8=8-2023 by Common Dreams

Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference near the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas on June 26, 2023.. Photo; Ron DeSantis/Twitter

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday night expanded on his proposed border policy, which he has said would include the use of “deadly force” against anyone suspected of drug trafficking—explaining to NBC News that border agents would use the same “rules of engagement” as U.S. forces in Iraq or police officers to determine when they should fire a weapon at someone.

DeSantis first proposed his border policy in June, saying he would “stop the invasion” by deputizing state and local police officers to arrest and deport migrants and detain unaccompanied children who cross the border, ending birthright citizenship, and empowering agents to use deadly force against people suspected of carrying drugs across the border—despite the fact that the vast majority of drug trafficking is carried out with commercial vehicles that travel through official ports of entry rather than people traveling on foot.

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Federal Court Strikes Down Mississippi’s ‘Jim Crow’ Felon Disenfranchisement Law

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“Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear national trend in our nation against permanent disenfranchisement.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-4-2023 by Common Dreams

A U.S. federal appellate court on Friday ruled that a Jim Crow-era Mississippi law permanently disenfranchising people with certain felony convictions is unconstitutional.

In a decision that can be appealed to the full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel of the tribunal ruled 2-1 that Section 241 of Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution “violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.”

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Report Details ‘Shocking Pattern’ of Abuse by US Agents at Mexico Border

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“The lack of accountability is so widespread that it helps cement in place a culture that enables human rights violations. The abuses keep coming because impunity is so likely.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-2-2023 by Common Dreams

A report published Wednesday by a pair of advocacy groups details rampant human rights abuses against migrants and some American citizens allegedly perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security personnel at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years under both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The report—entitled Abuses at the U.S.- Mexico Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights—was published by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and reveals “frequent and severe alleged abuses” of migrants by members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including Border Patrol agents.

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More Proof of FBI Abuse Sparks Calls for Congress to Stop Warrantless Spying

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“Government self-policing will never be an adequate substitute for the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement,” said one expert as U.S. lawmakers consider whether to reauthorize or reform Section 702.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-22-2023 by Common Dreams

FBI Director Christopher Wray discusses the importance of lawful access during an October 4, 2019 summit on the issue at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Photo: FBI

Privacy advocates renewed calls for swift congressional action to rein in warrantless spying on Americans following the Friday release of documents showing U.S. law enforcement’s further misuse of a powerful surveillance tool.

“These disturbing new revelations show how Section 702 surveillance, a spy program the government claims is focused on foreign adversaries, is routinely used against Americans, immigrants, and people who are not accused of any wrongdoing,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a statement.

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Voting Rights Groups Raise Alarm About House GOP Introducing ‘Big Lie Bill’

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One critic warned the legislation would “increase the influence of billionaires, corporations, and secret money in our elections while putting up barriers for eligible voters to vote.”

By Jessica Corbett Published 7-10-2023 by Common Dreams

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.). Photo: Congressman Bryan Steil/Facebook

Voting rights advocates across the United States on Monday responded with alarm to Republicans introducing what its backers called “the most conservative election integrity bill to be seriously considered” in the U.S. House of Representatives in decades.

Dubbed the “Big Lie Bill” by critics, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act is spearheaded by Committee on House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and includes nearly 50 standalone bills from the chamber’s GOP members.

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On Eve of July 4th, Bishop William Barber Unveils ‘Moral Declaration for America’

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“It is time for people with a moral conscience to wield every ounce of influence and power they have towards justice and to force this nation to be true to what it said on paper.”

By Jake Johnson. Published 7-3-2023 by Common Dreams

Bishop William J. Barber II at the Democracy Awakening rally at U.S. Capitol on April 17, 2016. Photo: Becker1999/flickr/CC

Bishop William Barber, founding director of Yale’s Center for Public Theology and Public Policy, penned an open letter on Monday decrying recent decisions by far-right Supreme Court justices and the complicity of political leaders who have “watched our democracy being slowly chipped away.”

Addressed to President Joe Biden, Congress, and the U.S. public, Barber’s “Moral Declaration for America” was released on the eve of July 4, which marks 247 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

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Human Rights Defenders Appalled by DeSantis Call for ‘Deadly Force’ on U.S.-Mexico Border

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The 2024 GOP presidential candidate’s proposals “wouldn’t advance any real solutions for our broken immigration system,” said one advocate. “Instead, they are all just ugly and unworkable anti-immigrant red meat to keep the MAGA base inflamed.”

By Kenny Stancil. Published 6-27-2023 by Common Dreams

The xenophobic immigration plan that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled Monday as part of his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination was quickly condemned as “dangerous” and “irresponsible” by human rights defenders.

Central to DeSantis’ plan, said America’s Voice, is “white nationalist messaging” that has already proven deadly. Last week, teasing the first formal policy rollout of DeSantis’ 2024 campaign, a spokesperson said, “He will stop the invasion and secure the border once and for all, and there will be no excuses.” Over the weekend, DeSantis’ campaign shared a fear-mongering video and stated that he will “secure the border,” “stop the cartels,” “build the wall,” and “stop the invasion.”

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Category Archives: Racism

Human Rights Defenders Appalled by DeSantis Call for ‘Deadly Force’ on U.S.-Mexico Border

The 2024 GOP presidential candidate’s proposals “wouldn’t advance any real solutions for our broken immigration system,” said one advocate. “Instead, they are all just ugly and unworkable anti-immigrant red meat to keep the MAGA base inflamed.”