John Clarke: “The cutting edge of his argument, however, was the undeniable fact that he is a white person who has been very seriously targeted by the cops over years of his life. So, we had the police brutality equivalent of a conversation about whether or not you can be said to enjoy white privilege if you are poor.”
Warren (Gus) Reed: My present complaint against the Human Rights Commission and the ministries of health, environment and justice goes to the heart of government indifference to the needs of people with disabilities. Being disabled in Nova Scotia is no cakewalk. There is discrimination at every turn. Employment, health, income, education, transportation – you name it – people with disabilities face discrimination.
Tari Ajadi on the difficult and messy task of health promotion in the middle of a pandemic, ensuring that enhanced police surveillance and harassment does not become another indignity that Black communities face.
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” (Martin Luther King).
Brandon Doucet on the need for universal access to dental care. Communities where people work low wage jobs and racialized communities are more likely to struggle accessing dental care. With the current economic recession, many working class people who used to access dental care will no longer be able to. When the pain gets too much to handle, people will be forced to use their credit card to pay for it.
“When will the various places the poor depend on, not only for meals but also for getting out and socializing, reopen?”
Kendall Worth on all the super important things poor people relied on that disappeared when COVID-19 started,
Press release: Some part-time workers who were laid off from their jobs are seeing a bigger paycheque than before the COVID-19 Pandemic. If you are an employer who had casual part-time workers, you need to ask yourself why your employees would rather be on CERB? Then ask yourself, as a small business owner, why should the big corporation be allowed to get tax dollars when many of them pay fewer taxes in Canada then you do? The system must change and workers deserve higher wages and full-time work with benefits.
“We’d all benefit from living in a city that was less racist, that was less unjust, that was less oppressive, that was less centered on displacement in the interest of white supremacy and profit.” An interview with professor Ted Rutland about urban planning as a misguided strategy to reduce crime and poverty and pave the way for gentrification of the historic Halifax North End.
Sheri Lecker, executive director of Adsum for Women and Children, on the obstacles poor people encounter when dealing with isolation in the days of COVID-19. “One answer is simple and affordable: give everyone on income assistance a phone and an internet connection. There need be no ‘medical proof’ for justification. Loneliness and isolation are reason enough.”
Proper housing is a human right, and everybody who is homeless deserves the relative safety and dignity provided by a hotel room, if not a home. This is always the case, not just during a pandemic, but now more than ever. It is time for the province to do its share.
Of course we all should follow any orders to prevent the virus from spreading arising out of medical evidence, says Halifax lawyer Asaf Rashid. But it’s equally important that we’re vigilant about state overreach, like when we are no longer allowed in public spaces such as parks and trails.