Note: I'm catching up on back articles, so the following post is in reference to an article from Dec. 2020. ​

A few things stuck out to me about this story -- apart from the overwhelming success of the fundraiser. 1) Some of the Soledad prisoners were mentoring Syon -- then a prep-school student -- at the prison itself. 2) His parents "put in an incredible amount of... gratitude and... trust in us to help mentor their son," according to Jason Bryant, one of the inmates. And 3) it was a reading group which these men/felons/prisoners were all members of, including Syon.

I love this!

However, prisoners are used as a resource and a market for private goods and services i.e. commissary and voice calls. They're also tapped as:
​

• A sizable population for reapportionment in host rural communities
• A major source for jobs in the same community
• Subjects for investigational drugs
• A source for detectives to solve cases (An extreme example is the "Torso Killer," who implicated himself last year in the last two cases connected to him.)
• A free-labor force for assembling goods and assisting in public works (For instance, inmates elsewhere in California helped firefighters with a controlled burn around the time those at Soledad presented Syon with a $30,000 scholarship.)

Under reasonable supervision, will prisons themselves permit eligible and re-integrable inmates to mentor incarcerated or unincarcerated youth? Or share their stories with students and the public at schools/colleges/libraries? Asked another way, what will prisons themselves permit eligible and re-integrable inmates to give back to the community and public life that some [might] someday rejoin?

An extended comment on "California Prisoners raises [sic] ​$30K for High School in Need" (D. Givens)

Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You can find her writings and commentaries, including the one on "California Prisoners raises [sic] $30K for High School in Need" by D. Givens, at landturn.com/blog.

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Much thanks to Mr. Marrion and Business Insider! A couple of weeks ago, I began to consider a container home as an affordable alternative to the "residential matchbox" -- as I sometimes refer to a fire-prone home in the City of Harrisburg.

​Some of the single-family homes here appear thin and reedy, and it dawned on me then that regions of the U.S. with seemingly fewer outbreaks of non-arson, residential fires have stone-based or concrete constructions. Apart from human error, [I] attributed the age of whatever the material as one cause of its combustibility.

The video is not about residential structures necessarily, but I assume the point about roofing materials apply to homes as well. In reference to the video, the cavernous or lack of firewall in these historic buildings was a learning point as well.

A comment on "A fire expert explains why historic building like Notre-Dame Cathedral burn so easily" (BUSINESS INSIDER)

Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You can find her writings and commentaries, including the one on "A fire expert explains why historic building like Notre-Dame Cathedral burn so easily" by Business Insider, at landturn.com/blog.

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Note: I'm catching up on back articles, so the following post is in reference to a June 2021 article. A dedication to Glen Ford follows. He died a month after the publication he co-founded distributed it.

Over the years I've come across references and copies of Walter Rodney's work, particularly How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. I wasn't a student of his work; nor was I familiar with the circumstances surrounding his death. 

Rodney's native Guyana was preparing to officialize his death an assassination at the time of the linked report below. I can only imagine the pain and financial strain placed on his widow when benefits from his life insurance were never honored for her and their three children, who were only infants in 1980. I once heard an interview of  Betty Shabazz recounting the financial strain on her household of five following Malcolm X's assassination.

In regard to Rodney, I was surprised at the extent of Guyana's attempt to redeem his name, legacy, and works. It comes more than 40 years after his death, but I hope it provides his family some sense of validation and resolution.

​However, I believe it's only gloss if Guyana approves the following motions absent an acknowledgement of the findings from the Walter Rodney Commission on Inquiry. The Commission attributes Sgt. Gregory Smith, an electronics expert, with delivering a lethal bomb to Rodney by way of his unknowing brother. The officer, a member of Guyana's military, fled to a country with protection from potential extradition. The Commission alleges that he acted as a state agent.

Pleeease provide an update on these motions when available and, ideally, a response from the Rodney family.

Motions will include:

• Amending Rodney's cause of death from "misadventure" to "assassination" 
• Amending his profession from unemployed to professor
• Archiving in Guyana and a U.S. university the 2014 Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry
• Nationalizing his grave site and monument
• Incorporating some of his works into the school curricula
• Reinstating the Walter Rodney Chair at the University of Guyana

A comment on "Walter Rodney’s Death Records to be Amended and Children’s Books Placed in Schools" (D. Chabrol)

Dedication

Glen Ford was the co-founder of Black Agenda Report, which republished the article my above post is based on. He died from lung cancer a month later.

​The Green Party shared a Facebook post from The Black Alliance for Peace on July 28, 2021. It was then that I found out about the death of the journalist and activist. "Wow. Was just on Black Agenda Report yesterday," I wrote. "Most familiar with Ford from BAR (and the Black is Back Coalition) over the last 10 years. My condolences. Will miss his words and wisdom."

​Weeks before, I found an old .mp3 player with BAR podcasts from my 2012 commutes home from work. It was prior to Black Agenda Report, however, that I first came across Ford's name and work with The Black Commentator. (Their editorial cartoons were classic, by the way). It turns out Ford was its co-publisher until 2006.

BAR can go from a series that alleges ethnic instigations by Paul Kagame prior to the Rwandan genocide, to critiques on AFRICOM and U.S. foreign policy. It is international affairs and U.S. foreign policy that I've found little coverage in Black print media since I began reading it at age 18.

BAR also introduced me to the concept of neoliberalism (which I'm still trying to grasp) and some of the most-fire columns from whom would turn out to be Danny Haiphong.

In 2014, the publication allowed me to follow the Renisha McBride murder trial by running original coverage from Thandisizwe Chimurenga. And though I didn't follow Jill Stein's presidential campaigns. I did recognize Ajamu Baraka, her 2016 running mate, from BAR columns. 
​
Glen Ford was 71.

Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You can find her writings and commentaries, including "Public Intellectuals in Politics, II," at landturn.com/blog.

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Wasn't aware that the U.S. is the world's largest beef producer; I thought Brazil was. Perhaps it's grass-fed beef of which the BRICS nation is the largest producer (and exporter). Other than that, it seems cheapest to ship U.S. meat products to domestic markets by region. For example, is it not the supply (or availability) of seasonal produce (i.e. kiwis and brussel sprouts during the winter here in the Northern Hemisphere) that seasonal produce is cheaper than that out-of-season?

Apparently, it's only a few dominant U.S. meat processors that keep domestic meat prices -- as the video notes -- among the world's lowest. In addition to automation, I wonder if these major U.S. meat processors will contract some of that processing to regional processors to prevent wide-scale euthanization again.

A comment on the video "Why 1 Million Pigs May be Euthanized due to COVID-19-related supply chain issues" (A. Narishkin, S. Cameron, and V. Barranco)

Jubalyn ExWilliams lives in Pennsylvania (United States). You can find her writings and commentaries, including the one on "Why 1 Million Pigs May be Euthanized due to COVID-19-related suppy chain issues" by Narishkin et. al, at landturn.com/blog.

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