Commodifying Kahlo
Interested in purchasing Frida Kahlo? For almost $30, you can, along with 18 other historical and contemporary “inspiring women” who have fit into Mattel’s latest “Role Models” Barbie line. Shortly after International Women’s Day on March 8, the multinational, $8.5 billion toy corporation released a...
The Price of Innocence
“Innocent until proven guilty” is woven into our country’s Constitution. But California’s bail system fixes an exorbitant and discriminatory price tag on the right to be treated as innocent. In practice, “innocent until proven guilty, if you have the money,” is more accurate. The bail...
There’s No Bargaining Basic Necessities
Chandra Bozelko spent over six years at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut. During her time at the facility, each cell was given five pads per week to share between two inmates. This allows for only one change a day in an average cycle, instead...
Racism: A Medical Practice
The United States, a leading global economic and military superpower, has the most inferior maternal health care system when compared to every other developed country in the world. Black mothers, more prevalently than any other race, bear the heaviest burden from the country’s poor maternal...
Submission: End the Criminalization of Immigrants
Early in the morning of Feb. 7, ICE agents stopped a couple driving their three children to daycare near Watsonville. The couple thought it was a routine traffic stop, but to their shock, the husband was detained and is now in custody, awaiting deportation proceedings....
Census Has No Place Asking About Immigration Status
The U.S. Census, already riddled with inaccuracy due to undercounting of immigrant, inner-city and houseless communities, stands to have its data further tainted in 2020. A revoltingly partisan directive on the part of the current administration requested that the U.S. Census Bureau add questions about...
Now is the Time to Talk Gun Control
“Thoughts and prayers.” “Thoughts and prayers.” “You have my thoughts and prayers.” Last week, Thom Tillis, U.S. Senator for North Carolina, tweeted “Tragic news out of Florida. Please keep the victims, their families, first responders and the community in your thoughts and prayers.” We want...
SNAP Out of It
Congress is turning 46 million people away from access to healthy food while they sit on their privileged pedestal in D.C. debating legislation that perpetuates stigma around food insecurity. The Trump administration’s projected 2019 fiscal budget proposes a 30 percent funding rollback for the Supplemental...
Left in the Dark
It has been five months since the waves of tropical hurricanes devastated southern states and U.S. territories in the Caribbean Sea. For weeks, push notifications trafficked the cell phones of millions, each carrying bleak updates of death tolls, desperate supply needs and more storms yet...
Lack of Access to Health Care for Farmworkers
In a single day, a farmworker can spend 12 hours bent over, pausing only to lift buckets of produce that weigh up to 40 pounds in the blistering sun, often not making enough money to break through the poverty income threshold. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers...