Human Rights
Even when a person has health insurance, healthcare in the U.S. is largely inaccessible. Copays and deductibles are enough to put people in thousands of dollars of debt. Investopedia cited an NPR poll that found, “27 percent of respondents struggled to cover food, utilities, and housing expenses because of medical bills.” In fact, due to the impact medical bills have, “Medicare for all” has become a popular political conversation, as more Americans are unable to afford healthcare and begin to compare our healthcare system with that of other countries.
Although the attack on reproductive rights has vamped up in previous months, the last week has been especially exhausting, with some of the most restrictive abortion bans being considered and passed since Roe V. Wade, the landmark United States Supreme Court decision which guaranteed access to abortion as a constitutional right.
Here is a list of recent legislation passed or being considered around various parts of the country:
Ohio is full of vibrant and progressive communities, and it is a proud state to be from. But we are in the middle of an opioid crisis that is hurting people who are struggling with addiction all across the state, and their friends and families as well. Right now, many people who use drugs are being incarcerated for drug-related charges, and when they are released they come back to their communities. But they don’t always get the the help that they need to stay away from drugs. This crisis is hurting the whole country, but the National Institute on Drug Abuse recognizes that it’s hitting Appalachian states the hardest, and Ohio is in the top five states for opioid-related overdose deaths.
Some people think that if a person can’t stay in treatment after being released from prison, it’s because they made a choice not to. But we have to remember that it’s hard to reenter society after being in prison, and it’s hard to recover from drug addiction, so it’s very difficult to do both. In fact, many common ideas about reentry and drug recovery are not helping people as much as we think they are.
A Coalition to #FreeMasonique is calling for a National Week of Action to draw attention to Masonique Saunders and has begun a calling campaign to Ron O’Brien asking him to drop the charges against her.Masonique has been sitting in Columbus’ juvenile jail since December, after being charged with aggravated robbery and felony murder, and is awaiting a May 9 court date. She spent her 17th birthday, March 18, in jail. Masonique’s mother is struggling to help her and to pay legal bills.
In December 2018, a Columbus police officer shot and killed Julius Tate Jr., a 16-year-old Black boy, during a sting operation, claiming he had a gun. The police then pinned their murder on Masonique Saunders, Tate’s girlfriend, on the premise she was party to a felony happening during the murder. Read more in the Free Press May article by Sarah Mamo: “A sting, a police murder and a cover-up.”
While modern warfare may consist of a hefty dose of drone strikes and off-site technology, it doesn’t change the fact that post-traumatic stress disorder has been and continues to be a genuine threat to veterans returning from the battlefield.
Many solutions to PTSD involve medical treatment. However, over time an interesting element has crept back into the treatment conversation: the fact that people with PTSD are human beings. PTSD is a profound mental struggle that can’t simply be “turned off” with a pill. It’s a challenge that requires a complicated response, something that music is uniquely equipped to deliver.
Veterans in the U.S.According to the University of Nevada, Reno, there are nearly 20 million veterans in the United States. That’s a significant portion of a population that, as of 2016, consisted of around 330 million people. To put it another way, on average, just over one in every 16 people you meet is a veteran.
Cleveland, OH – Ohio Immigrant Alliance welcomes the introduction of the NO BAN Act in Congress. The legislation, authored by Senator Christopher Coons and Representative Judy Chu, would put an end to President Trump’s discriminatory Muslim Ban, and make it impossible for future leaders to enact similar, prejudiced policies. The NO BAN Act also ends restrictions on asylum and refugees that the Trump administration put in place despite the generosity of Americans, who believe we should be an open nation that welcomes people fleeing violence and persecution. Read a summary of the legislation here.
Monopoly Media
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one," said American journalist A. J. Liebling. Who owns the press in America? The class who owns the rest of America: the capitalist class. Today 90% of the media are dominated by just six corporations: GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS. The World Wide Web is no better. Our search for information is filtered by the powerful duopoly of Google and Facebook. You don't have to be a Noam Chomsky or an Edward Herman to figure out that corporate media are not inclined to give fair representation of governments or movements that challenge the interests of capitalists. They would rather exclude them altogether or portray them as villains to be defeated.
Voices of Chavistas in Venezuela, Solidarity Activists in the United States
Last fall the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) put prisoner-rights activist Siddique Abdullah Hasan on severe communication restrictions in a Serious Misconduct Panel (SMP) hearing that included a number of clear irregularities and violations of due process.
Hasan filed appeals of the decision, and attorneys Staughton and Alice Lynd and other supporters tried to rouse the Inspector General to review the decision and process. Neither the ODRC nor the Inspector General (who is tasked with “investigat[ing] the management and operation of state agencies”) have replied to these appeals or requests.
The SMP recommendation suspended Hasan from phone and Jpay (email) access for one year, from August 14, 2018 to August 13, 2019. The warden at Ohio State Penitentiary, where Hasan has been held since it opened in 1996, has the authority to reduce this suspension every 3 months after a review of good behavior and no further rule violations. No such review has occurred.
