In February 2022, a 31-year-old woman named Mary Yehudah arrived at the Rose M. Singer Center, the women’s facility at one of the nation’s most notorious jail complexes, Rikers Island. Located in the East River, between the New York City boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, Rikers houses thousands of detainees on any given day, the majority of whom are awaiting trial and presumed innocent. Source Source / Read More: Decarceration Advocates Call for Rikers to Be Transformed Into Green Energy Hub
New York City
Instead of More Support, Schools Have Upped Demands on Teachers During Pandemic
In June 2020, when schools across the U.S. remained closed due to the pandemic, Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive, noted how much became possible when the system was forced to prioritize the lives of students, teachers and families. Laptops were distributed and internet access was provided. High-stakes, standardized tests were canceled. In many cases, grades were removed. She quoted a letter from a superintendent in Georgia who told teachers, “We want compassion over compliance.” Now, Love concluded, “We have to say that we’re not going back. The managing of inequalities, we’re not going back.”…
Ocasio-Cortez Slams NYC Mayor Eric Adams for Disparaging “Low-Skilled Workers”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) has condemned comments by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who disparaged people he considers “low-skilled workers” in a recent press conference. On Tuesday, the newly-inaugurated mayor referred to frontline workers as “low-skilled” and said that they wouldn’t be able to do white-collar jobs, perpetuating an age-old stereotype employed by the ruling class. “My low-skilled workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe-shine people, those who work at Dunkin’ Donuts – they don’t have the academic skills to sit in a corner office,” he said. A clip from the press conference, which amassed…
NYC Taxi Drivers Win Debt Relief After 2-Week Hunger Strike
After a two-week hunger strike and two months of sit-ins, dozens of taxi drivers in New York City hosted a long-awaited celebration outside City Hall on November 10. On November 3, New York City reached an agreement with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), the union fighting to relieve drivers of thousands of dollars in debt they owe for medallions, the physical permits to operate taxis. According to the NYTWA, the average debt owed on medallions by taxi drivers is $600,000. “Today marks a new dawn, a new beginning for a workforce that has struggled through so much crisis…