Research Notes #17
Connecting Dots
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For this issue, I wanted to revisit some of the right-wing rhetoric that we have seen, just since I began writing the newsletter. The turn-around time on the backlash has been staggeringly quick and the legislation being floated in state governments across the U.S., around things such as education reform and voting rights, has been swift.
I have discussed many of these topics in detail, so I will be linking back to several of the Research Notes newsletters for context. COVID-19 has shone a brighter light on all the structural issues in our society. It has given us a lens to see how people will behave, what they will believe, and ways in which they will work against their own interests in support of the white patriarchal power they crave but will never inherit.
Underscoring this are the conspiracy theories that have already been floating around for years, that support a system of inequality, leading to disaffection and alienation of groups. Outcomes of this structural inequality inform the continued rhetoric of the right-wing, which attempts to purposely confuse and alienate individuals from one another.
As humans, we enjoy communicating knowledge, but if we continue to share disinformation in both online and offline forums, we support a system of confusion that the right-wing feeds on to further their agenda. The United States should be the land of the free for everyone, but as long as the right-wing continues its stranglehold on our politics we will never have true freedom for all.
On a positive note
Before we begin, I would like to share a positive note from this week. Although the right-wing media and its supporters have been denigrating Simone Biles, after she made the decision to pause her participation in the team and individual medal rounds in order to take care of her mental health, we salute her for her bravery and wisdom. Pushing through at the detriment of your health and well-being is never heroic and we need to stop expecting athletes to persevere, at great risk, just to entertain us. Especially Black women athletes. Naomi Osaka and Sha-Carri Richardson also demonstrated self-care in the face of great pressure and I salute them as well. No medal is worth losing your sanity or, in the case of the ‘twisties’, potentially your life over. Three cheers for these athletes standing up and putting themselves first. Huzzah!
Read: All the Black women in us are tired by Lisa Respers France (cnn.com)
Watch: Adam Rippon on Simone Biles (@adaripp on instagram)
Future: King Richard Official Trailer (youtube.com)
Select Committee
This week the testimony began for the inquiry into the 6th of January terrorist attack at the US Capitol building. In a previous newsletter (#4) I detailed many of the ways in which the rhetoric of then-President Trump fed the insurrection. Although much of that information was presented during President Trump’s second impeachment trial (npr.org), seeing the Capitol Officers speak on behalf of their experiences on the day in question was harrowing.
I am not sure where this inquiry will lead, but I do hope that people will begin to take what they saw with their own eyes on the 6th of January, more seriously. I hope that hearing from the officers who were there will change some hearts and minds. It is abundantly clear that there are elected officials in Washington who, even though they were victims of the attack on the Capitol, are going against their best interests to save their positions in government. These are the Senators and Representatives we need to vote to replace in the next election cycle. Otherwise, their brand of re-writing history will become the absolute norm.
Stay informed: Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (january6th.house.gov)
Voting Rights Attacked
Since January, Republicans in 49 states have been working to enact legislation that will restrict voting rights for their constituents. Rather than broadening the right to vote, these legislators are working on taking that right away through bills that limit mail-in and early voting, increase voter ID requirements, limit hours for polling locations, restrict the number of polling locations available during the election period, and generally make it difficult or impossible for voters to cast their ballots. Short of poll tests and taxes, these legislators are doing everything they can to bring back the pre-voting rights act era.
This was all made possible by the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v Holder (supremecourt.gov), which held that “jurisdictions identified by the coverage formula in Section 4(b) no longer need to seek preclearance for the new voting changes unless they are covered by a separate court order entered under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act” (justice.gov). This means that states which were formerly required to seek the approval of the Federal government before making changes to laws that govern voting rights in their states no longer need to do so - hence the onslaught of nearly 400 pieces of legislation across 49 states, 18 of which have been signed into law.
Meanwhile, at the Federal level, there are 2 acts available to be voted on in the Senate that could stave off this state-wide onslaught. The For the People Act (brennancenter.org) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (leahy.senate.gov) would both strengthen voting rights and stop states from attempting to enact these voter suppression laws. The acts would also allow for the overturning laws that have been put in place since January as they would no longer be deemed enforceable.
Unfortunately, these bills require a 60/40 majority to pass and since the Democrats seem to be the only people in the Senate who actually want to see ALL eligible voters in America have the chance to vote, these bills are still waiting for approval. Just like the Electoral College needs to be thrown out, as I mentioned in an earlier newsletter (#2), so too does the Filibuster. They are both remnants of our racist past, alive and jamming up the forward motion of our democracy.
Stay informed: Voting Laws Roundup from the Brennan Center (brennancenter.org)
Eviction Moratorium Set to Expire
In March of this year, the newsletter talked a bit about our first year of COVID (#8), but at the time I did not discuss the huge economic cost that would likely be shouldered by middle and low-income Americans as we try to come back from this devastating pandemic. This past week the eviction moratorium, which was put into place in November 2020 in order to stave off mass evictions across the country, was set to expire.
This, after a 1-month extension was granted by the Supreme Court, giving the White House and Congress until 31 July to act. On Friday, President Biden asked Congress to take up the cause and Congress replied by going on summer break. A few concerned Representatives, like Cori Bush MO-01, have spoken up for the 7 million Americans who could find themselves unhoused in the coming weeks if Congress does not act.
There are already over 580,000 unhoused humans in the United States (endhomelessness.org) and the COVID pandemic could cause that number to soar over the Great Depression estimated number of 2 million in the 1930s. In the short term, we need another extension, longer than just one month, of the eviction moratorium and FULL distribution of funds from the American Rescue Plan. As of this week, only 6% ($3B) of the $47 billion dollars allocated to rental assistance have been distributed (newsweek.com). COVID is not gone and the recovery has been slow. Evictions would compound the problem that already exists for the unhoused in this country.
Long term, there could be help for unhoused people in the form of a resolution presented by Representative Bush, on 28 July 2021. The Unhoused Bill of Rights “calls on the federal government to declare the [unhoused] crisis a life-threatening public health emergency, and provides a comprehensive list of more than 30 recommendations to guarantee housing, health care and livable wages for unhoused people” (bush.house.gov). This resolution, coupled with a raise in the minimum wage to a living wage (Research Notes #10), would boost our economy in a positive way, putting money in the hands of those who need it.
Stay informed: Eviction Freeze Set to Lapse as Biden Housing Aid Effort Lags by Glenn Thrush, Matthew Goldstein, and Connor Dougherty (nytimes.com)
Read: Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World by Annie Lowrey (penguinrandomhouse.com)
Further Links
Right-Wingers Are Taking Over Library Boards to Remove Books on Racism by Lauren Walker (truthout.org)
The Green New Deal for Public Schools Goes Way Beyond Classrooms by Diana Budds (curbed.com)
The “For the People Act” Would Make the U.S. a Democracy by Jon Schwarz (theintercept.com)
Unhoused Bill of Rights One-Pager (bush.house.gov)
Support the National Alliance to End Homelessness (endhomelessness.org)
Support the National Coalition for the Homeless (nationalhomeless.org)
Thank you for reading the Research Notes Newsletter! Now it’s YOUR turn. Please share your thoughts along with any other questions or suggestions for future research, in the comments. I look forward to lively discourse.