Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Their Unlikely Alliance Began at Whataburger. Can They Reform a Texas Jail?

    July 01, 2020 |

    The Marshall Project |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tyler, Texas

    Dalila Reynoso's local activism blossomed into a full-blown watchdog role when COVID-19 began to spread through the Smith County, Texas, jail. The marriage of criminal justice reform and pandemic safety, vested in one woman, mirrors much larger court watch and jail watch projects in larger cities. For her part, Reynoso became a conduit for complaints about jail conditions. Thanks to her diplomatic skills, and a receptive sheriff's openness to criticism and change, the pair's efforts lowered virus cases from 52 to three within three weeks and lowered the jail population by more than 150 people.

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  • Listening to Silence: Why We Must Protect the World's Quiet Places

    June 30, 2020 |

    Yale Environment 360 |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Ecuador

    The nonprofit Quiet Parks International certifies “quiet parks” after performing a detailed sound analysis. Their work is an effort to raise awareness of and increase public support for preserving these locations.

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  • Northern Ireland's police transformation may hold lessons for the US

    June 26, 2020 |

    The Conversation |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Ireland

    With lessons for American police-reform advocates, the transformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary – a militarized enforcer of inequality hated by the people of Northern Ireland – into an entirely new organization was founded on the necessity of community support. Neither easy nor simple, this 20-year process, following 30 years of conflict, intentionally included recruiting local Catholics in order to win local support. Citizen oversight served as another pillar of the new structure, which still has problems but has won critical political support from Sinn Féin, the leading nationalist political party.

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  • When it comes to police oversight, many watchdogs lack teeth

    June 25, 2020 |

    CNN |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    The most effective civilian oversight agencies that act as watchdogs over police discipline are empowered to conduct independent investigations, impose discipline on individual officers, and influence disciplinary policy. One of the strongest, in Oakland, forced the police chief out of office over police shootings and diversity on the police force. But the lessons to be learned in this field come more often from the many examples of structural flaws that render civilian oversight powerless to counter the wishes of the police, or even to be listened to.

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  • 9 Departments and Multiple Infractions for One New Jersey Police Officer

    June 24, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Woodlynne, New Jersey

    New Jersey’s responses to police misconduct offer stark lessons in how certain failures can allow troubled officers to hop from job to job undetected. The state lacks a central database of police misconduct and remains one of only five states that cannot revoke an officer’s credentials because of performance. In one case, an officer with serial failures at nine departments, involving 16 incidents in which people he arrested got injured, the red flags that should have been raised never were, allowing him to mistreat residents of majority-Black neighborhoods despite a record indicating racism and brutality.

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  • In Seattle, Protests Over Racial Equity Turn to Land Ownership

    June 23, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    Over 1000 community members gathered to demand officials keep a 2016 promise to give a vacant publicly-owned fire station to the Africatown Community Land Trust. The station is in a historically Black and quickly gentrifying neighborhood and the trust wants to turn it into a resource center to develop the next generation of Black entrepreneurs. As citywide protests for racial equality spread, the city abruptly agreed to turn it over. The group also wants more unused properties turned over to Black community ownership and for the city to develop an anti-gentrification land acquisition fund.

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  • Design Hacks Will Dominate the Coronavirus Recovery Landscape

    June 23, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Covid-19 created space for everyday citizens, who are not trained architects, designers, or urban planners, to alter how public spaces are used. Known as tactical urbanism, everyday people are using inexpensive and creative ways to change behaviors and stop the spread of the virus. Examples include homemade signs and makeshift barriers to maintain distance. At a protest in Israel participants maintained social distancing by staying on spray-painted Xs two meters apart. Some homemade design hacks do not inspire confidence, but others may become a part of the long-term landscape of changes caused by the virus.

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  • Mural project brought Black voices to a shuttered State Street

    June 23, 2020 |

    Wisconsin Watch |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Madison, Wisconsin

    A “rapid response” mural project transformed shuttered storefronts with vibrant messages of pride, perseverance, anger, justice, and unity. The project was funded by Arts in Public Places Looking Forward, a new organized formed to support artists impacted by Covid-19. An open call was posted for interested artists, and the project prioritized artists who had been affected by racial violence and injustice. More than 100 commissioned murals, and many more works of graffiti and public art, focused on support for the Black Lives Matter movement or called on an end to police misconduct.

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  • How 12 Teens Who'd Never Met Before Organized Honolulu's Black Lives Matter Protest

    June 22, 2020 |

    Honolulu Civil Beat |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Honolulu, Hawaii

    Twelve Honolulu high school students, who had only ever met online, used social media to organize a Black Lives Matter protest that drew over 10,000 people. The teens used online forums to communicate about their goals for the protest and also to provide details to the public regarding the march's route, reminders to wear masks, remain peaceful, and abide by city laws. The teens also enlisted the support of established organizations to provide volunteers and bring hand sanitizer, water bottles, face masks, and bullhorns. The result was an entirely peaceful and emotionally stirring protest march and rally.

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  • Voter Turnout in New York City Was Cratering; Then Came 2018

    June 20, 2020 |

    Gotham Gazette |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New York, New York

    Record high voter turnout in New York's 2018 primaries was due in part to grassroots groups effectively harnessing voters’ anger towards the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of State Senate Democrats who caucused with Republicans. A coalition of over 45 organizations held protests, ran phone banks, and sent out materials to encourage voters to turn out against the IDC, and it worked. Challengers beat incumbent IDC candidates in several primaries, eventually winning seats in Congress. Despite record-high turnout, it still only averaged 29% in districts where IDC candidates were challenged.

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