It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
As protests grow, Belgium faces its racist colonial past
By RAF CASERT
1 of 17
https://apnews.com/b405027b7232c42b8d9dab407ff87aa1/gallery/5c89763e6f054791a5e3d7f62e636559 In this June 10, 2020, photo, a statue of Belgium's King Leopold II is smeared with paint and graffiti in the center of Brussels. With the protests sweeping the world in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, King Leopold II, who reigned from 1865 to 1909, is now increasingly seen as a stain on the nation. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) WHITE SUPREMACY ARYAN SUPREMACY IS THE CULTURE OF IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM
BLACK LIVES MATTER IS A GLOBAL RESPONSE
TO THE GLOBALIZED RACISM OF IMPERIALISM
TERVUREN, Belgium (AP) — When it comes to ruthless colonialism and racism, few historical figures are more notorious than Leopold II, the Belgian king who held Congo as his personal property and may have been responsible for the deaths of millions of Congolese more than a century ago.
Yet across Belgium, the monarch’s name is still found on streets and tunnels. Cities are dotted with his statues and busts, even as evidence of his misdeeds has piled up over the decades.
Now a reckoning seems to be at hand.
The protests sweeping the world after George Floyd’s death in the U.S. have added fuel to a movement to confront Europe’s role in the slave trade and its colonial past. Leopold is increasingly seen as a stain on the nation over which he reigned from 1865 to 1909. Demonstrators want him removed from public view.
In just the last week, a long-running trickle of dissent that resulted in little more than occasional vandalism has turned into a torrent, with statues of Leopold defaced in a half-dozen cities. In the port town of Antwerp, where much of the Congolese rubber, minerals and other natural riches entered the nation, one statue was burned and had to be removed for repairs. It is unclear whether it will ever come back.
“When you erect a statue, it lauds the actions of who is represented. The Germans would not get it into their head to erect statues of Hitler and cheer them,” said Mireille-Tsheusi Robert, president of the Congolese action group Bamko-Cran, which wants all Leopold statues removed from Belgian cities. “For us, Leopold has committed a genocide.”
On Wednesday, an internet petition to rid the capital, Brussels, of any Leopold statue swept past 70,000 signatures. Also this week, regional education authorities promised history course reforms to better explain the true character of colonialism. And at the University of Mons in southern Belgium, academic authorities removed a bust of the king, saying they wanted to make sure “nobody could be offended by its presence.”
Similar efforts are unfolding in Britain, where at least two statues of prominent figures connected to the slave trade have been taken down by protesters or city officials. London’s mayor has promised a review of all monuments. In the U.S., protesters tore down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis along Richmond, Virginia’s famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday night. The death of Floyd has prompted similar Confederate monument removals around the nation.
In Kinshasa, a replica of the main Leopold statue in Brussels had already been relegated to a museum park ages ago. The equestrian bronze was first erected in 1928, but seven years after independence from Belgium in 1960 it was ordered taken down by then dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. In 2005, authorities put it back up, intending it to serve as a reminder of the horrors of colonial rule — with an updated plaque. Only a day later, though, it was removed following a public outcry. For the last decade, it has sat in a park of colonial monuments.
In this June 9, 2020, photo, the bust of Belgium's King Leopold II is smeared with paint and graffiti on the grounds of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. With the protests sweeping the world in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, King Leopold II, who reigned from 1865 to 1909, is now increasingly seen as a stain on the nation. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Leopold ruled Congo as a fiefdom, forcing many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his personal profit. His early rule, starting in 1885, was famous for its brutality, which some experts say left as many as 10 million dead.
After his ownership of Congo ended in 1908, he handed the central African country over to the Belgian state, which continued to hold sway over an area 75 times its size until the nation became independent in 1960.
Leopold has come to symbolize the racism and inequality citizens of Congolese descent have had to endure. Next to the royal palace stands an equestrian statue with Leopold gazing solemnly toward the horizon. On Wednesday, his hands and eyes were covered with red paint, and expletives were spray-painted on the side of the monument.
Maximilian Christiaens, an architect with a Congolese mother and Belgian father, who came to see the statue after the defacing, realizes the issue is part of his identity. Since Congo achieved independence, Belgium’s Congolese population has swelled to about 230,000 in a nation of 11 million.
“You know, we feel at home here, but seeing symbols like this in the city and all over the country gives us the opposite signal,” Christiaens said. He would like to see them torn down.
A similar struggle is playing out in the majestic woods east of Brussels in Tervuren, where the palatial Royal Museum for Central Africa stands. It was built over a century ago to glorify Leopold’s colonial exploits and to convince Belgium citizens that their country was delivering civilization to the heart of wild Africa.
In this May 6, 1961, file photo, the bust of former Belgian King Leopold II (1835-1909) lies on the ground on the Avenue General De Gaulle in Stanleyville, Congo. With the protests sweeping the world in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, King Leopold II, who reigned from 1865 to 1909, is now increasingly seen as a stain on the nation. (AP Photo/File)
In this June 9, 2020, photo, the bust of Belgium's King Leopold II is smeared with red paint and graffiti on the grounds of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. With the protests sweeping the world in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, King Leopold II, who reigned from 1865 to 1909, is now increasingly seen as a stain on the nation. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Museum Director Guido Gryseels fully understands the challenges and the sensitivities, especially after a Leopold statue was defaced in the gardens outside the museum last week. He has sought to shift the museum’s views on colonialism into a contemporary reassessment of a flawed past. This week, the Black Lives Matter logo was displayed on digital screens at the museum entrance.
In this June 9, 2020, photo, a sculpture of an elephant and its riders stands outside the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. The present museum was completely renovated in 2018. One of the biggest challenges they faced was presenting a contemporary vision of Africa in a building which had been originally designed as a colonial museum. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
In this photo taken on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, a man stands at the ticket kiosk as a message is displayed on a screen above his head at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. The present museum was completely renovated in 2018. One of the biggest challenges they faced was presenting a contemporary vision of Africa in a building which had been originally designed as a colonial museum. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
As part of a major renovation he oversaw, Gryseels consigned the racist statues of Congolese and the glorifying busts of the Belgian military to the “depot” of outdated sculptures in the museum’s cellars.
“We wanted to keep them somewhere so that the visitors could still see, so that we could explain: ‘This is how we looked at Africa before,’” Gryseels said.
Upstairs, in the grand rooms, the only bust of Leopold on display is made of ivory and aims to explain how the plunder of the country extended to the wholesale slaughter of elephants.
As a listed architectural treasure, Leopold’s royal double L monogram is still plastered all over the building. But Congolese artists have been asked to make a counterpoint, and in the main hall now stands a sculpture of a skull of a Congolese chief who was beheaded by a Belgian. In front of statues that could not be moved because they were protected, there are now transparent drapes with images criticizing Belgian actions in Congo.
In this June 9, 2020, file image from ATV video, a statue of Belgium's King Leopold II is removed from its pedestal, in Antwerp, Belgium. Authorities in Antwerp removed the statue of the country's former monarch Leopold II for repairs on Tuesday after it was damaged during anti-racism protests. (ATV via AP, File)
“It would have been impossible 30 years ago, but there is a step forward,” Robert said. Still, she said the changes do not go far enough and the museum needs to better embrace Congolese in its management structure. Just about everybody acknowledges that Belgian society needs to take a hard look at its past. The Catholic church, the dominant force in education during much of Belgium’s existence, was at worst an active participant in colonialism, at best a passive bystander. And since many Belgians had family members who went to Congo to seek their fortunes, there is a sense of unease in confronting the history of racism and exploitation.
“The amnesia is linked to the money the Belgians made in Congo,” Robert said. For many years, Belgian colonial authorities peddled the idea that the king went to Congo to stop the slave trade, Gryseels said, when it was really “a pretext to make big economic gains.”
Jefferson Davis statue torn down in Richmond, Virginia Associated Press 1 of 6 In this photo provided by @thicketoftrash, police stand near the toppled statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis along Monument Drive, Wednesday night, June 10, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (@thicketoftrash via AP)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Protesters pulled down a more than century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the former capital of the Confederacy, adding it to the list of rebel monuments damaged as demonstrations continued following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
The bronze statue, which stood before a colonnade along Richmond’s fame Monument Avenue, lay on its back with dark paint on its face and an arm outstretched after demonstrators pulled it down late Wednesday.
Police were on the scene and videos on social media showed a crowd cheering as the statue, installed by a Confederate heritage group during the days of legalized segregation in the South, was towed away.
The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is splattered with paint after it was toppled Wednesday night, June 10, 2020, along Monument Drive in Richmond, Va. (Dylan Garner/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
The Davis likeness, located a few blocks away from a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the state is trying to remove, wasn’t the only Confederate memorial to come down within a few hours in Virginia.
About 80 miles (130 kilometers) away, protesters in Portsmouth beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument, according to news outlets.
Efforts to tear one of the statues down began around 8:20 p.m., but the rope they were using snapped, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
In this photo provided by @thicketoftrash, a police officer looks toward the toppled statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis along Monument Drive, Wednesday night, June 10, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (@thicketoftrash via AP)
The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Council’s decision to put off moving the monument. They switched to throwing bricks from the post that held the plaque they had pulled down as they initially worked to bring down the statue.
The Pilot reported that they then started to dismantle the monument one piece at a time as a brass band played in the streets and other protesters danced.
A protester in his 30s was hit in the head as the monument fell, causing him to lose consciousness, Portsmouth NAACP Vice President Louie Gibbs told the newspaper. The crowd quieted as the man was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately clear. Full Coverage: Death of George Floyd
A flag tied to the monument was lit on fire, and the flames burned briefly at the base of one of the statues. In this image from video, police stand near a toppled statue of Jefferson Davis on Wednesday night, June 10, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Protesters tore down the statue of Confederate President Davis along Monument Avenue. The statue in the former capital of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m., news outlets reported. (WWBT-TV via AP) Demonstrators have been removing monuments they see as symbols of the United States’ ingrained racism since naitonal protests began over the death of Floyd, who died after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed down on his neck with a leg for nearly 9 minutes.
While some people say such monuments are important reminders of history, opponents contend the tributes inappropriately glorify people who led a rebellion that sought to uphold slavery. A statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmond was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake on Tuesday. News outlets reported the Columbus statue was toppled less than two hours after protesters gathered in the city’s Byrd Park chanting for the statue to be taken down.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which is four blocks away from where the Davis statue stood. A judge on Monday issued an injunction preventing officials from removing the monuments for the next 10 days
The coronavirus spread around the world Confirmed global cases, deaths and recoveries
Thousands sick from COVID-19 in homes for the disabled
FEATURE LONG READ
HOLBROOK MOHR, MITCH WEISS and REESE DUNKLIN 1 of 9 https://apnews.com/bdc1a68bcf73a79e0b6e96f7085ddd34/gallery/5370155263624dddabb9b92265e292bf This 2019 photo provided by the family shows Joe Sullivan, right, of the Chicago-area, with his brother, Neil. When COVID-19 began spreading across the country, Neil prayed it wouldn’t hit Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center _ where 346 people live in 40 ranch-style homes spread across a campus that resembles an apartment complex. If it did, he knew his brother and others there would be in danger. (Family photo via AP)
Neil Sullivan was angry, frustrated and crushed with guilt. His brother Joe had been rushed by ambulance from his home for the developmentally disabled to the emergency room with a possible case of the coronavirus. Neil had known the people at the Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center near Chicago were at risk. Regulators had flagged the facility over the years for violations such as neglect of residents and not keeping restrooms stocked with soap and paper towels. And now, in the middle of a pandemic, a staffer told Neil they were still short of life-saving equipment like surgical masks, gowns, hand sanitizers and even wipes.
He watched helplessly as COVID-19 tore through Ludeman, infecting 220 residents — more than half the people living there — and 125 workers. Six residents and four staff members would die. Neil was overcome with dread that his 52-year-old brother would be among them.
“You start thinking to yourself, is there something I should have done better?” he said. The outbreak in Ludeman shows the threat of the pandemic to a highly vulnerable population that is flying almost completely under the radar: The developmentally and intellectually disabled. While nursing homes have come under the spotlight, little attention has gone toward facilities nationwide that experts have estimated house more than 275,000 people with conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism. Many residents have severe underlying medical issues that leave them vulnerable to the coronavirus.
FOR PROFIT PRIVATIZED CARE
At least 5,800 residents in such facilities nationwide have already contracted COVID-19, and more than 680 have died, The Associated Press found in a survey of every state. The true number is almost certainly much higher because about a dozen states did not respond or disclose comprehensive information, including two of the biggest, California and Texas.
Many of these places have been at risk for infectious diseases for years, AP found. EVEN WHEN THEY ARE PUBLICLY FUNDED THEY SUFFER FROM AUSTERITY
CUTS TO PAY FOR TAX BREAKS FOR THE 1% AND INCREASED FUNDING TO POLICE TO PROTECT THE 1% FROM THE REST OF US
Perhaps the best-known government-funded homes for the disabled are called Intermediate Care Facilities, which range from large state-run institutions to homes for a handful of people. Before the coronavirus hit, regulators concluded that about 40 percent of these facilities — at least 2,300 — had failed to meet safety standards for preventing and controlling the spread of infections and communicable diseases, according to inspection reports obtained by AP. The failures, from 2013 to early 2019, ranged from not taking precautionary steps to limit the spread of infections to unsanitary conditions and missed signs that illnesses were passing between residents and employees
No such data exists for thousands of other group homes for the disabled because they are less regulated. But AP found those homes have also been hit hard by the virus.
“These people are marginalized across the spectrum,” said Christopher Rodriguez, executive director at Disability Rights Louisiana, which monitors the state’s homes for the disabled. “If you have developmental disabilities, you are seen as less than human. You can see it in education, civil rights, employment. And now, you can see it by how they are being treated during the pandemic.
Advocates are urging the federal government to do more to protect the disabled in congregate settings. They noted that as the virus spread, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ordered states to provide information to the federal government about COVID-19 infections and deaths in nursing homes. CMS also increased fines and made data about infections in nursing homes available to the public.
But the requirements did not extend to homes for the developmentally disabled, where the overall population is smaller but the virus is still taking a heavy toll.“The lives of people with disabilities in these settings are equally as at risk — and equally as worth protecting — as people in nursing homes,” the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities said in a May 5 letter to Alex Azar, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS.
Some states had outdated plans and policies to face a pandemic, said Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network. In Georgia, for example, he said the state’s policy provided for protective equipment for nursing homes, but not homes for the disabled. He said staffing levels and training were already “a crisis” across the country even before the coronavirus. “It was clearly a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
CMS did not respond to the AP’s questions within two weeks and did not say why requirements are different for nursing homes. For days, the agency said it was working on a statement, but did not provide one.
_______________
As the outbreak spread through Ludeman, Neil felt as helpless as on the day his family dropped Joe off at the facility decades ago.
His parents believed they couldn’t have children, so they adopted Joe. But shortly after, his mother discovered she was pregnant with Neil.
As children, Neil and Joe shared the same room. When Joe developed severe behavioral problems, their parents turned to Ludeman.
To this day, the images of leaving his brother behind at the institution are seared into Neil’s memory. He looked back and glimpsed his brother, staring out a window, wailing.
“It was the most desperate cry you could ever imagine,” he said. “It was a child that knows it’s being left behind by its parents.”
Over the years, Neil looked out for his brother. As his parents got older, he became Joe’s legal guardian, driven by “survivor’s guilt” from that day so long ago when they left Joe behind.
When COVID-19 began spreading across the country, Neil prayed it wouldn’t hit Ludeman — where some 340 people live in 40 ranch-style homes spread across a campus that resembles an apartment complex.
About 66,000 people nationwide live in Intermediate Care Facilities like Ludeman. Even more people live in other types of group homes, which operate under less scrutiny. Nobody, not even the federal government, seems to know exactly how many people live in these homes, which advocates say is another sign of a highly marginalized population.
More than 2,100 homes for the disabled have seen COVID-19 infections among residents or staff, according to the AP survey — an undercount because not all states provided specific information.
The virus poses an especially big risk for the disabled. Some are bedridden or prone to seizures. Others have visual or hearing impairments and are non-verbal, so they can’t articulate when they don’t feel well. And social distancing — one of the key preventive measures for COVID-19 — is nearly impossible because many residents have roommates, share common living areas and need full-time assistance for basic tasks like brushing their teeth.
“You’re dealing with a community that needs constant 24-hour, one-on-one supervision,” said Joe Montemayor, whose union represents employees at homes for the disabled in Texas. “Their reasoning isn’t quite there, so you do your best to teach them about the spread of germs and things like that.”
It’s gotten so bad that some staffers are afraid to report to work, Montemayor said.
Advocates also worry that the special needs and fragile medical condition of the developmentally and intellectually disabled will make them a low priority if hospitals — especially in rural areas — are overrun with COVID-19 patients. Disability rights groups have filed federal civil rights complaints against several states to stop ventilator-rationing proposals, fearing that the disabled will end up last in the line because they may not be able to adhere to protocols after an operation or procedure.
“People with disabilities have just the same right to extend their lives for as long as possible as any other human,” said Elizabeth Priaulx, a legal specialist with the National Disability Rights Network.
For the families, the fear of the virus is compounded by the fact that they can’t visit their loved ones.
Stephanie Kirby’s voice breaks when she talks about her son Petre, who has lived in the Denton State Supported Living Center in Texas for three years. More than 60 of the 443 residents at the large, state-run ICF contracted the virus, according to the local health department. AP found the facility has been flagged seven times for poor infection control practices since 2013.
Petre is 28, but functions on the level of a 4-year-old. Kirby hasn’t seen him since March, when the governor banned visitors to prevent the spread of the disease. It’s the longest they’ve been apart since she adopted Petre from a Romanian orphanage.
Now, Kirby worries not only about Petre’s health, but about the emotional impact the separation might have on him. She doesn’t want him to feel like she has abandoned him — like his family did in Romania. But she fears it’s too late.
Kirby said she’s asked Texas officials all the way up to the governor’s office why they won’t allow her to see her son, and she’s gotten the runaround. On Mother’s Day, Kirby drove to Denton, parked her car outside the front gate and sat there for three hours, crying.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” she said.
Christine Mann, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said the agency is working closely with the facility to prevent the spread of disease. Mann said that infection control violations were “minor incidences” immediately corrected, and that the facility has increased video conferencing and added phone lines to help families.
But for Kirby, that’s not enough. “When will a mom be considered an essential person in the life and health and well-being of her children?” she asked. ________
For Neil, the coronavirus is only the latest of a string of challenges with Joe at Ludeman.
Many staff members have been kind, and Neil praised those who have worked with his brother in recent years. But some of Joe’s teeth were knocked out in the 1990s with no good explanation, Neil said. At other times, Neil suspected Joe didn’t receive the attention he needs.
“There were people there, especially in the past, that really treated them like zoo animals,” Neil said.
Neil tried to move his brother into another institution with more activities, but Joe was turned down because that facility considered him too aggressive. For people like Joe, options are scarce.
Ludeman has been cited dozens of times since 2013, most often for safety violations but also for more serious issues, including mistreatment of residents. While Ludeman was not cited specifically in the infection control category, inspectors noted that staff didn’t always encourage practices like proper hand washing.
Meghan Powers, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, which oversees the facility, said the high numbers are driven in part by the fact that all residents have been tested.
“It is also sometimes challenging for our residents to adhere to all of the protective measures we are taking,” Powers said.
The agency implemented “many new protocols” at Ludeman and other facilities across the state on March 12 that included creating an infectious disease team, restricting visitors and checking the temperatures for all staff and residents at shift changes, Powers said. She acknowledged that Ludeman had challenges in the past with maintaining soap and paper towels, but she said that problem was solved by improving its supply distribution. And while shortages of personal protection equipment were an issue across the state, staff working directly with sick residents “have never run out or been severely short to date,” Powers said.
Like Ludeman, many other homes for the disabled have struggled to contain outbreaks, AP found.
Nearly half of the 2,300 Intermediate Care Facilities with past problems controlling infections were cited multiple times — some chronically so, over the course of multiple inspections. In dozens of instances, the problems weren’t corrected by the time regulators showed up for a follow-up visit. At least seven times, the safety lapses were so serious that they placed residents’ health in “immediate jeopardy,” a finding that requires make prompt corrections under the threat of a losing government funding.
Inspection reports show that regulators repeatedly found examples of:
_Staff not washing hands while caring for multiple residents or re-using protective gear like gloves and masks.
_Unclean environments, such as soiled diapers or linens left out, insect infestations, dried body fluids and feces on surfaces of common areas.
_Outbreaks of influenza, staph/MRSA and scabies in a small number of cases.
Other types of group homes aren’t included in the data, but it’s clear that many were also poorly prepared to stop the spread of the virus, the AP found. For example, hundreds of group homes in Massachusetts reported positive cases, as well as the state’s two Intermediate Care Facilities, according to the AP and advocacy groups. Advocates say low pay and difficult working conditions have led to high staff turnover and inadequate training, exacerbated by the pandemic.
The outbreak at Ludeman was so bad that the National Guard was called in to help. A family association asking for supplies said Chicago’s Major League Baseball teams donated 2,200 rain ponchos that the staff could use “until disposable gowns are available.”
When Neil got the call that his brother was infected with COVID-19, all the years of frustration spilled over.
“It was just rage,” he said. “I was so upset that I was afraid to talk because I didn’t know what was going to come out of my mouth.”
It didn’t help that he was on his own. His father has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home fighting its own outbreak; his mother has chronic lung disease.
After finding out his brother was being rushed to the emergency room. Neil called Ludeman’s staff and talked to other families. He was told that the facility was running low on critical items like protective masks, gowns, disinfectant — even anti-bacterial soap.
So he began a drive to collect goods, calling friends and family and reaching out to people on social media. After he had enough supplies, he decided to make a trip to Ludeman. He didn’t even know if they’d let him onto the campus — the facility was on lockdown. But he was going to try.
As he pulled up to the red and brown brick building with white trim, he didn’t know what to expect.
No one stopped him. He jumped out of the car and began unloading the goods. And then he got a surprise. There he was, Joe, sitting in a room with a staff member. Sullivan’s heart raced. He smiled, then waved to his brother through the window.
“I can tell you it made a world of difference because I really, genuinely believed he was going to die until I saw him,” he said. “Once I put my eyes on him, he still didn’t look good. But I believed he was going to pull through.”
In the end, Joe would beat the virus. Others wouldn’t be so fortunate.
Companies touting Black Lives Matter face workforce scrutiny By SALLY HO In this Wednesday, June 10, 2020, photo, Sharon Chuter poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. After hitting the streets to protest racial injustices last week, Chuter was disillusioned by the number of corporate brands posting “glossy” messages spouting support for black lives. The 33-year-old founder of Uoma Beauty, a cosmetics company that caters to black women, launched the #pulluporshutup campaign on Instagram to push brands to reveal the racial makeup of their corporate workforce and executives, and the hashtag has since gone viral. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
SEATTLE (AP) — After hitting the streets to protest racial injustices, Sharon Chuter was disillusioned by the number of corporate brands posting “glossy” messages spouting support for black lives.
The 33-year-old founder of Uoma Beauty, a cosmetics company that caters to black women, came up with a social media challenge to test the sincerity of the companies: She launched the #pulluporshutup campaign on Instagram to push brands to reveal the racial makeup of their corporate workforce and executives
The hashtag has since gone viral, amassing nearly 100,000 Instagram followers in a week. Chuter said it’s a wake-up call for many businesses who couldn’t see or didn’t take seriously enough the silent racism and prejudices that hold black people back in their own workplaces.
“Reflection is painful,” Chuter said. “The truth hurts and I just felt like brands didn’t want to do it.”
As protests over police brutality have erupted across the country over the past two weeks, The Associated Press reviewed the diversity reports of some of the biggest companies pledging solidarity with their black employees as well as the black community, and found that their efforts to recruit, maintain and promote minorities within their own ranks have fallen short.
Microsoft has been posting powerful quotes on Twitter from black employees describing how systemic racism takes a toll on their lives. One employee, Phil Terrill, talked about the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes, sparking protests around the globe.
“It should not take the death of Black people at this magnitude to inspire everyone to be an ally,” Terrill is quoted as saying.
Only 4.4% of Microsoft’s global workforce across all brands, including retail and warehouse workers, identify as black, and less than 3% of its U.S. executives, directors and managers are black, according to the company’s 2019 diversity and inclusion report.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addressed the issue in an email to employees, saying the company “must change first” if it wants to help change the world, and that it’s investing in its talent pipeline by expanding connections with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
″In order to be successful as a business in empowering everyone on the planet, we need to reflect the world we serve,” Nadella said.
Amazon is prominently displaying “Black lives matter” on its platforms and its CEO Jeff Bezos has been posting on Instagram racist emails he’s received from consumers who are unhappy with the company for taking a stance.
But the company itself has been accused of hypocrisy for the troubling conditions reported by warehouse workers during the coronavirus pandemic. An AP analysis found that more than 60% of warehouse and delivery workers in most cities are people of color. Amazon’s 2019 workforce data shows about 8% of its managers in the U.S. are black, compared to nearly the 60% of managers who are white. Courtenay Brown, 29, who sorts packages at the Amazon fulfillment center in Avenel, New Jersey, said she feels that Amazon’s messages supporting justice and equal opportunity for blacks are not genuine. She said that most of the employees she works with at the center are people of color, but the higher-ups are white.
“As a black woman, I feel like it is empty words,” she said. “They don’t help our struggles. Everyone wants to join in and profit from us.”
In the U.S., black people account for 12% of the overall workforce, but only 8% of management jobs, said University of Virginia professor Laura Morgan Roberts. The number of black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies peaked in 2002 with 12. Today there are just four.
Roberts’ research looking at the careers of Harvard business school graduates found black alums got fewer prime opportunities, such as global assignments, than white graduates with the same degree.
“They’re saying, ‘We’ve got the qualifications but we can’t get into the inner circle,’” Roberts said.
Adidas, which responded to Floyd’s death and subsequent protests by crossing out the word “Racism” on an Instagram post, acknowledged its own shortcomings after a growing group of employees called out the company for its lack of diversity.
On Tuesday Adidas unveiled several moves to fight racial inequality, including a pledge to fill at least 30% of all new positions in the U.S. at Adidas and Reebok with black and Latino people. It said it will also be announcing a goal aimed at increasing representation of black and Latino people within its workforce in North America.
“The events of the past two weeks have caused all of us to reflect on what we can do to confront the cultural and systemic forces that sustain racism,” said Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted in a statement. “We have had to look inward to ourselves as individuals and our organization and reflect on systems that disadvantage and silence black individuals and communities.”
The Germany-based company didn’t provide a breakdown on the race or ethnicity of its workforce.
Nike has long been viewed as an “insider” brand among black consumers because of its lucrative and high-profile sponsorship deals with prominent African American athletes.
The Portland, Oregon-area company famously took on the racial injustice issue head-on with its ad campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Last week, it revealed a new video ad in response to the protests that bore the words: “For once, don’t do it.” The ad, a twist on its “Do it” motto, urged viewers not to “pretend there’s not a problem in America.”
Yet a look at who is leading the corporate business shows a disconnect between what the brand projects and how it actually operates.
Though whites make up less than half — 43% — of its total U.S. workforce, 77% of its high-ranking vice presidents company-wide are white, according to Nike’s 2019 numbers on representation in its leadership. Meanwhile, just under 10% of vice presidents are black. But that is still a nearly 2% improvement from the previous year.
CEO John Donahoe acknowledged that such progress wasn’t enough, saying in a memo to employees that its “most important priority is to get our own house in order.”
AP writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed from New York.
USA CAPITALISM IS CRISIS
1.5 million more laid-off workers seek unemployment benefits In this photo taken Thursday, June 4, 2020, a pedestrian wearing a mask walks past reader board advertising a job opening for a remodeling company, in Seattle. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 13.3% in May, and 2.5 million jobs were added — a surprisingly positive reading in the midst of a recession that has paralyzed the economy and depressed the job market in the wake of the viral pandemic. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening.
The latest figure from the Labor Department marked the 10th straight weekly decline in applications for jobless aid since they peaked in mid-March when the coronavirus hit hard. Still, the pace of layoffs remains historically high.
The total number of people who are receiving unemployment aid fell slightly, a sign that some people who were laid off when restaurants, retail chains and small businesses suddenly shut down have been recalled to work.
Last week’s jobs report showed that employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, an unexpected increase that suggested that the job market has bottomed out.
But the recovery has begun slowly. Though the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined from 14.7%, it is still a high 13.3%. And even with the May hiring gain, just one in nine jobs that were lost in March and April have returned. Nearly 21 million people are officially classified as unemployed.
But that doesn’t capture the full scope of the damage to the job market. Including those the government said were erroneously categorized as employed in the May jobs report and those who lost jobs but didn’t search for new ones, 32.5 million people are out of work, economists estimate.
Thursday’s report also shows that an additional 706,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week under a new program for self-employed and gig workers that made them eligible for aid for the first time. These figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesn’t include them in the official count.
In February, the economy fell into a deep recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the association of economists that is the official arbiter of recessions. The Federal Reserve estimated Wednesday that the economy will shrink 6.5% this year. That would be, by far, the deepest annual contraction on records dating to World War II.
Even as restaurants, bars and gyms reopen, they are doing so at lower capacity. And consumer spending on such services remains far below what it was before the viral outbreak. Unemployment benefits are providing significant support for jobless Americans, with total payments having reached $94 billion in May — six times the previous record set in 2010 just after the previous recession. This time, the benefits include an additional $600 a week from the federal government. THE INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS MEANS AMERICAN WORKERS ARE BETTER OFF NOT WORKING WHICH MEANS THEIR BOSSES NEED TO INCREASE WAGES AND BENEFITS NOT CUTTING BACK ON THESE BENEFITS
But that extra benefit is set to end July 31, and the Trump administration opposes extending it. Its opposition has set up a possible clash with House Democrats, who have approved legislation to extend the $600-a-week in federal benefits for an additional six months.
Republicans in Congress argue that the extra $600, which comes on top of state benefits that average about $375 nationwide, means many of the unemployed are receiving more money from jobless benefits than they earned at their old jobs. Republicans argue that this discourages people from returning to work.
Studies suggest that roughly two-thirds of the recipients are receiving total unemployment aid that exceeds their previous paychecks. But many workers are also wary about returning to their old jobs for fear of contracting the virus. And recipients who receive aid can lose their benefits if they turn down job offers.
Karin Jensen of Concord, California, has been out of work since being laid off from a managerial position with Men’s Wearhouse in late March. Jensen, 27, says she plans to return to her job whenever she is called back and is grateful that her company is continuing employee health care in the meantime.
Jensen acknowledged that receiving the extra $600 has made her less eager to return to work because she is among recipients whose total benefits exceed their former income. But she’s also worried about returning to retail work.
“I’d be in close contact with people,” Jensen said. “We have to measure customers, actually touch them. There’s no way we could do any minimum social distancing if we were to return to business as usual. I’m more than a little uneasy about it.”
Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab released from Bahrain prison
Photo courtesy of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom/Website
BAHRAIN IS A PROVINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA THAT THEY SEIZED FROM IRAN THE MAJORITY IS SHIA MUSLIMS LIKE IRAN, RULING CLASS ARE THE ELITE COUSINS OF THEIR FAMILIES IN SAUDI ARABIA WHO ARE SUNNI MUSLIMS
June 10 (UPI) -- Bahrain has released human rights activist Nabeel Rajab after nearly four years in prison on charges of criticizing the government online, his organization confirmed.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said its president, Rajab, was released from jail due to health concerns days before the fourth anniversary of his arrest and will serve his remaining three years as a non-custodial sentence
"Rajab was released in what is known as alternative sentences," the center said in a statement on Tuesday. "In a message from one of his siblings, it was written that the health condition of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was deplorable. He was released due to his weak immunity and poor health.
Rajab was sentenced to five years in prison by a Bahraini criminal court on Feb. 21, 2018, over tweets he made in 2015 concerning alleged torture occurring in the country's infamous Jaw Prison and the alleged killings of civilians in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
His detention attracted widespread condemnation, prompting a U.N. panel on arbitrary detention and nearly 130 rights groups to call for his release in August 2018.
Rajab's release on Tuesday was cheered by the United States, which said it is an indication that the Middle Eastern kingdom was moving to improve its human rights record.
"This is a step in the right direction and should be followed by additional releases of political and religious prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic," U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Vice Chair Gayle Manchin said in a statement.
In March, Bahrain released nearly 1,500 prisoners due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
A statement from Bahrain's Ministry of Health says as of Tuesday the kingdom has recorded more than 16,000 confirmed cases and 29 deaths to the deadly and infectious coronavirus.
Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East research director, said it was "a relief" to know that Rajab has been reunited with his family but that the government needs to now nullify his charges.
"Nabeel's release must now be accompanied by the quashing of his conviction and sentence, the dropping of any outstanding charges brought against him in relation to his expression of peaceful opinion and an end to the injustice he has been put through," Maalouf said in a statement. "Instead of releasing him on a non-custodial sentence, the authorities must quash all sentences brought against him and ensure his access to remedy for the violations he has suffered during this time."
Husain Abdulla, executive director at Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, called for the release of all political activists behind bars in Bahrain, many of whom are elderly and suffer from pre-existing health conditions.
"Bahrain's prisons remain crowded with peaceful human rights defenders and opposition leaders, whose lives are threatened by the government's inadequate response to COVID-19," he said in a statement. "Nabeel Rajab's release must be extended to all political leaders and opposition who remain unjustly incarcerated in Bahrain."
New outlook projects worst global recession in almost 100 years
June 10 (UPI) -- The economic fallout of the coronavirus could cause the world's gross domestic product to sink 7.6 percent this year, an international economic organization warned Wednesday.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its latest economic outlook that the COVID-19 pandemic has created "the most severe recession in nearly a century" through governments implementing lockdowns that shuttered businesses the world over.
Though many countries have moved to ease lockdown restrictions, the OECD warned that the economic outlook remains "highly uncertain" and a second wave of cases could force the global GDP to dive nearly 8 percent this year.
"If a second outbreak occurs, triggering a return to lockdowns, world economic output is forecast to plummet 7.6 percent this year before climbing back 2.8 percent in 2021," the outlook said in a summary of the report. "At its peak, unemployment in the OECD economies would be more than double the rate prior to the outbreaks, with little recovery in jobs next year."
Even if there isn't a second wave, global GDP is expected to fall 6 percent with unemployment in wealthy countries to reach 9.2 percent from 5.4 percent last year, it said.
"Living standards fall less sharply than with a second wave, but five years of income growth is lost across the economy by 2021," the report said.
The outlook said Europe's GDP hit is "particularly harsh," plunging some 11.5 percent if a second wave hits and 9 percent if the sole peak is all that happens this year.
In the United States, GDP is forecast to fall 8.5 percent in the second-wave scenario and 7.3 percent in the single-wave case, it said.
Meanwhile, in China, where the virus emerged last year before spreading around the world, the GPD will be relatively less affected, taking a 3.7 percent hit or a 2.6 percent drop, depending on if there is one or two waves of infections.
"How governments act today will shape the post-COVID world for years to come," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said in a statement. "This is true not only domestically, where the right policies can foster a resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery, but also in terms of how countries cooperate to tackle global challenges together."
International cooperation has been "a weak point" so far in terms of a policy response to the pandemic, but it can create confidence and have important knock-on effects, he said.
To weather the economic impacts of the pandemic, the organization is calling for supply chains to be more resilient by maintaining larger holdings of stock and diversify their sources both locally and internationally, along with fostering stronger international cooperation.
"Governments must seize this opportunity to build a fairer economy, making competition and regulation smarter, modernizing taxes, government spending and social protection," OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone said. "Prosperity comes from dialogue and cooperation. This holds true at the national and global level."
EU diplomat: U.S. claim to role in Iran nuke deal invalid since it left
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters Tuesday that the United States cannot invoke the JCPOA because it's withdrawn from it. Photo by Kenzo Tribouillard/ EPA-EFE June 9 (UPI) -- The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said Tuesday that the United States claim to a role in the nuclear arms deal is no longer a valid negotiating chip since it left the deal.
The EU foreign policy chief told reporters Tuesday after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, that the United States cannot use its former membership in the 2015 nuclear agreement, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to extend an arms embargo on Iran. The U.N. embargo expires in October.
"The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement," Borrell said.
Borrell also said Tuesday that the European Union does not seek confrontation with China.
In late April, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he plans to use the country's former membership in the Iran nuclear deal to extend an arms embargo on Iran after U.N. sanctions expire in October.
The arms embargo has been in place since 2006 through a U.N. Security Council resolution, and in 2015, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution endorsing the JCPOA. The nuclear agreement lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear program.
The United States unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018 with President Donald Trump calling it "defective at its core," and reimposed sanctions against Iran. In response, Iran restarted nuclear activities banned under the agreement with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
The United States has recently launched a campaign to renew the arms ban through a resolution at the Security Council.
To pass, the resolution needs not only the approval of nine Security Council members, but also Russia and China not to veto it, Mehr News Agency reported.
With the possibility that Russia and China could veto it, the United States has said it could circumvent their veto by arguing it remains in the nuclear pact as a "participant state."
EU officials have maintained the JCPOA is critical in maintaining regional and international security.
Similar to Borrell, Tehran says that the United States lost its right to use its membership in the nuclear deal to push for an extension of arms embargo since it pulled out of the deal.
Russian's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agrees that the United States lost its right to have a say in the agreement when it withdrew from the deal.
