I’m standing in front of the Black Lives Matter banner at the protest for Regis on Saturday when my phone starts ringing insistently. It’s the jail. I walk away from the crowd and answer. A young Black man is calling from segregation at Burnside. Along with other prisoners, he filed a habeas application challenging their […]
Letter from Black community to Premier and Chief Medical Officer has been vandalized with racist comments
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Organizers of an open letter from the Black community to Premier McNeil and Chief Medical Officer Robert Strang say that the letter has been vandalized with racist comments. The letter, which collected over 250 signatures in two days, calls for an apology for the […]
It’s not a war, it’s an education
Morning File, Tuesday, April 7, 2020
News 1. Graphed: COVID-19 in Nova Scotia The latest charts are here, and they include the 31 new cases announced yesterday. I really like these charts, showing total and daily breakdowns of new cases, hospitalizations, total tests, and so on. They provide an easy visualization to help understand how things are changing, day-by-day. They also […]
War is the wrong metaphor for the collective struggle against COVID-19
Morning File, Monday, April 6, 2020
News 1. War is the wrong metaphor Over the weekend, 55 new cases of COVID-19 were found in Nova Scotia, bringing the total caseload to 236. The Examiner tracks the spread of COVID-19 graphically daily, and reports on the daily briefings given by Premier Stephen McNeil and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang. […]
Victoria Park arrest was example of increased surveillance of Black people during COVID-19, says Dal prof
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. On Saturday afternoon Dalhousie University professor OmiSoore Dryden took to Twitter to call out police and the bystanders who called them: Those actions led not only to the arrest of a young black man, but also led to what Dryden believes was an unnecessary absence […]
We face a public health emergency, and criminalizing the marginalized can worsen the crisis
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Nova Scotia has just declared a State of Emergency. Measures taken include a ban on gatherings over five people, the ability of the police to fine individuals and businesses breaking social isolation, the ability of the police to enter property, and the seizure of vehicles […]
Racist tropes about COVID-19 echo the long history of anti-Asian stereotyping
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. For the past week, as criticism of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has intensified, Trump has deliberately emphasized calling the disease the “Chinese Virus.” Trump’s strategy deliberately racializes the disease, and singles out and scapegoats Chinese people. The tactic stokes fear and hatred […]