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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As ICE Protests Ramp Up, Organizers and Thinkers Share Lessons from the 2020 Uprising for Black Lives
Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images This summer marks five years since the 2020 uprising for Black lives — an anniversary that feels even more resonant right now, as protesters in cities like Minneapolis, Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered by police, stand up against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Trump administration's deportation spree. For days now, protesters in Los Angeles, California have fought back against the mass deportation efforts while Trump sent in the National Guard (just like he did in 2020) and 700 Marines. The fight, and the backlash, have spread to cities across America: footage of a protester with cops kneeling on their neck in Philly; arrests in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta; and thousands upon thousands taking to the streets. ICE is reportedly sending tactical agents to five Democratic-run cities. As we noted in our running series launched last year, United States of Suppression, the mass protests of 2020 also marked the start of an era of increasing criminalization of protesters. Throughout 2024, as police swarmed college campuses and deployed tear gas against students demonstrating against the war in Gaza, I thought of 2020. Yet amid the darkness of that pivotal summer, there were so many things I saw for the first time, made possible because so many people were unified by the structural abandonment of marginalized communities under COVID. People were outside in masks, setting up tents, painting buildings and hosting concerts and handing out supplies. There were tuition strikes to get cops off campuses. Protesters brought down statues of Confederate generals. What officials always told us was demanding too much — was 'impossible' — suddenly became demands they couldn't ignore. It was born of painful necessity, but the possibilities for solidarity that it created seems in part a byproduct of, as author and activist Arundhati Roy put it, the pandemic as portal. How the Backlash to the George Floyd Protests Set the Stage for Another Trump Administration *This op-ed argues that our collective actions are a part of an ongoing struggle and resistance, not a final resting place.* Contributor Olayemi Olurin recently memorialized that time, and the ensuing backlash that brought us to our current moment, for Teen Vogue, writing, 'It's important to reflect, not just on our collective actions, but the state's violent response to them — the consequences and the backlash that always follow.' For this piece, we wanted to remember the lessons of that time that seemed so unprecedented, to practice what Olurin called for: To remember our history, and that we've been here before — so we can learn from the past and keep building towards a different future. So we asked organizers, thinkers, activists, and writers: What lessons do you hold from the 2020 uprising? And how can we learn from it now to make it through the current crisis wrought by the Trump administration? I often think of the title of the first novel by Sarah Thankam Mathews, a founding organizer behind the mutual aid group Bed-Stuy Strong, formed in 2020: All This Could Be Different. The suffering caused by police brutality, white supremacy, transphobia, and infinite losses – Breonna Taylor, Oluwatoyin Salau, Dominique 'Rem'mie' Fells, Tony McDade, and so many others — is a stain on this nation forever. How can we think of ways to make a different world together? I've come away with a renewed sense of appreciation for long term strategic thinking, and for the kinds of organizations that can pursue long term strategies. Among the reasons that even large scale, attention-grabbing protests can fail to move the needle in the protestors' direction is that the powers that be can wait them out — not only for people to leave the streets, but for ongoing news cycles and the regular business of life to move attention away from where the protestors have briefly been able to concentrate it. There's really no substitute for being able to mount a long term political struggle and that means there's no substitute for the kind of organizations that can do this. Alongside that long term thinking is not just the ability to continue to advocate or express political discontent over the long haul — philanthropies and non-profits can manage that just by not rocking the funding boat, after all. But opportunity comes when we pair that with the kinds of organizations that can speak to the powerful on terms they understand: organizations that can withhold labor, rent, utility payments, or any other kind of cooperation the powerful need to get their way. When these kinds of organizations make long term plans, they aren't only planning messaging campaigns — they're planning the full scale of political contest and conflict. One to mention in particular is the resistance from the Service Employees International Union. SEIU California President David Huerta was just attacked and detained by ICE while participating as a community observer as ICE attacked immigrant workers, and plenty of other Angelenos were lined up against ICE on the streets. From the mass layoffs of federal workers, to the dismantling of the National Labor Relations Board, to the attacks on higher education and the regulation of food and water, I think it's fairly clear that the present administration poses a threat to the 99% that we can't combat with awareness. They won't stop unless and until we stop them, and we will need to support the kind of organizing that can do that. Supporting SEIU, federal workers, and other organized centers of popular power is a step in the right direction. When we look at the state of the country and the world right now, it can seem pretty grim. Authoritarianism is rising and making it more dangerous and difficult to protest and resist. Yet when you understand that the 2020 unrest did not exist in a bubble, that it wasn't just an anomaly but instead a continuation of the fight for Black liberation and anti-capitalism in the face of police violence, we realize there can be hope that another mass movement can happen again. The importance of looking back is to be honest about where there can be growth. For hope to be more than just foolish optimism we must learn the lessons from the waves that came before us: resistance will be followed with harsh repression; and opportunistic interests will try to co-opt the movement and energy. Specifically discussing the former, there were many prosecutions of protesters and rioters whose stories were mostly ignored, as well as anti-protest laws passed in state legislatures that remain understudied. And when it comes to co-optation, the usurping of energy by the Democratic Party, the non-profit industrial complex, corporations and the media turned out to be devastating. All of this was predictable for me, because I experienced and witnessed it happening in previous waves. This is why it's important for people to learn about the Green Scare, Occupy Wall Street, Standing Rock, and Ferguson and other anti-police protests that led up to 2020, as state tactics being used now were built upon by the repression of these movements. Trump's presidency is in part a response to the year 2020, both the protest and the pandemic. There was a naivete that riots had resulted in a cultural revolution, but what we see now is the changes of that moment were fleeting. This is why movement gains must go beyond individual benefits under capitalism like diversity initiatives, which have come and gone since the protests. There needs to be an understanding when these spontaneous uprisings happen that the sense of power that people feel will not last forever. Once the riots began to settle later in summer 2020 and people were still engaged, it would have been a great opportunity to build assemblies either based on locality and/or affinity. This would have created entry points for newcomers and opportunities to build power outside the current political system and away from the Democratic Party. This model would allow broader segments of our communities to be building actual political opposition against Trump and the oligarchy that enables him. When I look back at 2020, some of the most urgent lessons for this moment are about protecting and defending one another. I think about how the Chicago Freedom School sheltered young protesters who had been brutalized and gassed by police, and protected those young people when cops showed up to raid the building. I think about the safety teams led by young Black activists in Chicago, distributing masks, treating wounds, and doing everything they could to keep people safe in the streets. I think about the connection between a mass uprising and a mass mobilization of mutual aid, and what that tells us about what it takes to sustain collective action. There was a time in 2020 when people were deeply invested in one another's well-being. There was so much mutual concern, care work, a growing interest in the lessons of disability justice, and a storm of empathy that cracked something open in us, and in the world around us. The same impulses that led to an explosion of mutual aid propelled a lot of people into the streets. In many ways, we've drifted from that level of connection. But we'll need to find our way back to it. Empathy is essential in any fight against fascist, dehumanizing politics. This moment is about holding onto our humanity, and to do that, we need to reach for and hold onto each other. We need to anchor ourselves to each other. That means remembering how to care, commit, and throw down together, even when we don't like each other. We need to recover the sense of solidarity that a lot of people felt in the early days of the pandemic. There was a lot of fear and panic in that moment, but also a lot of potential. We still have that potential, but we are going to have to bring it back to the surface. I think the lessons are many. One lesson is that cultural work is irresistible — the art, music, dancing and bombastic energy of those uprisings still thrum through my system. Another lesson is that when we let ourselves feel into our hurt and anger, we can harness those righteous emotions into powerful action, even when we have to adapt to conditions like a global pandemic. Our task as movement workers is to support organic moments of popular unrest and uprising, recognizing we can shape these moments but we are not meant to control them. And we have to remember that we are not the beginning or the end of this fight, and we are not always the center of focus — a lot of people showed up in solidarity with us, and I see so many of us showing up in solidarity with other communities. There are way more people than we expect who are frustrated and angry about the brutality and greed of the current systems, who will join in bold, even risky collective action when they see others in the streets. After 2020, the militancy of our movements increased — more people willing to take risks and break rules to stop business as usual. This is visible in the student uprising against genocide in Palestine, and the disruptions of weapons manufacturers, as well as in mobilizations against ecocide [or the destruction of the environment by dangerous human activity]. We need this kind of rule-breaking, bold militancy more than ever now. 2020 saw the mainstreaming of the idea of police abolition — suddenly the concept of defunding the police was being discussed across the country and many city councils made big promises about cutting police budgets that had been steadily rising for decades. However, we weren't able to hold them to it. The dedicated work that people did to keep the pressure on ended up showing us that our city governments really are owned by cops and Chambers of Commerce, and elected officials backpedal to keep their jobs, or they get replaced. This is an important lesson — that their systems don't work for dismantling what they are designed to build, expand and preserve. This is important, too, because we saw that trying to direct and focus the upsurge into electoral and government-centered reform projects not only doesn't work, but it reifies the widespread liberal misunderstanding that resistance should focus on changing the hearts and minds of elected officials, which is, ultimately, a dead end. Under this administration, this is particularly clear — that direct action and mutual aid are what is needed, not more efforts to convince elites to stop wars, policing, ecocide. It's not about convincing them, it's about stopping them. [Trump's] desires and plans for the current moment are terrifying, but we defeated the Alt-Right and Trump in the streets once and we can do it again. From the Airport Shutdowns to OccupyICE to #MeToo, from the successful no-platforming campaigns, mass marches and education to punching [white supremacist] Richard Spencer (twice!) to vigilantly combating them wherever they appeared, we successfully stymied their ambitions and shattered their movement. Our many anti-fascist victories, which came at great cost, culminated in the historic defeat of Trump at the ballot box in 2020: Biden was the only presidential campaign since the '60s to outnumber the traditional most popular option among eligible voters — abstention. The US working class has gone through over a decade of intense radicalization, organization, street movement and political awakening since 2010, and the state has offered us little more than table scraps. Contra those who see this as evidence that our movements have lost, that we've been unsuccessful, it seems just as likely that the failure to buy us off means that earlier period, dramatic though it was, was merely the prelude to a social and political revolution that utterly transforms this continent and the world. It is up to us to change everything. But, against the doomers, I believe in this moment we may be uniquely poised to do so. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue More great activism coverage from Teen Vogue: 'Young Activist' Label Can Be a Burden for Youth Organizers Economic Disobedience: What Is It and How Does It Work? The Jewish Teens Who Fought Back Against Hitler The 13 Best Protest Songs Of All Time
Miami Herald
03-06-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Gov. Jared Polis signs bill to increase number of young people Colorado can hold in pre-trial detention
DENVER - Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed a bill into law that will increase the number of young people Colorado can hold in pre-trial detention facilities. Current law allows the state to detain up to 215 teens at any one time. House Bill 1146 increases that number to 254 in the next fiscal year. In subsequent years, a formula will determine the maximum bed count, based on the average daily population. The bill also removes the most serious type of felony charges from counting toward the cap, and creates 39 emergency beds that wouldn't count toward the total bed cap. The Colorado District Attorneys' Council spearheaded the bipartisan bill, sponsored by Reps. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, and Dan Woog, R-Frederick, and Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, and Judy Amabile, D-Boulder. The DA group originally wanted to bump the number of detained youth up to 324, a hike that received forceful pushback from juvenile justice advocates. Prosecutors argued the state doesn't have enough beds to house violent youth offenders awaiting trial. Since fiscal year 2021, detained youth admissions with violent charges have increased by 49%, and admissions for homicide or manslaughter have risen by 80%, state figures show. As a result, prosecutors say, authorities have been forced to release teens who might otherwise be deemed a danger to the public to free up spots for someone else. Critics countered that the lack of safety in these facilities - highlighted by The Denver Post in March - proves the state should not be dramatically increasing the bed count. The legislation also includes a body-worn camera pilot program for juvenile detention and commitment staff. The test program in one youth detention facility and one commitment facility requires every staff member who is responsible for the direct supervision of youth to wear a body camera while interacting with them. The program will be implemented from January 2026 through December 2028. The Colorado Department of Human Services will then recommend whether to continue and expand the program, or eliminate it. The body-camera addition comes after a Post investigation found widespread allegations of excessive force by staff in the state's 14 juvenile detention facilities. A year's worth of internal incident reports reviewed by The Post showed teens suffered broken bones, sustained concussions and overdosed on drugs in these secure centers. Colorado's child protection ombudsman, tasked with investigating child safety concerns, has been calling since last year for the state to add body-worn cameras for staff in juvenile detention. Currently, facilities are equipped with video but no audio, making it impossible for investigators to determine whether verbal altercations contributed to excessive force or restraint incidents. -------------- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Miami Herald
02-06-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
The Trump administration is pushing therapy for transgender youth. What does that look like?
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, federal policy has shifted to promote psychological therapy as the only treatment for transgender youth in distress. A report issued last month by the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services on care for transgender and nonbinary people analyzed 17 studies out of more than 3,400 looking into gender-affirming care - an umbrella term that can include talk therapy, puberty blockers, hormone treatments and surgeries. They included only analyses of other studies that didn't include any patients older than 26. Those that examined mental health generally found improvements from gender-affirming care, though with low certainty, because they didn't include a large enough group, the effects were small, or other factors. The report had more sweeping conclusions, however, stating that people under 19 with gender dysphoria should receive only psychological therapy, rather than being able to choose puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Gender dysphoria refers to distress when someone's gender identity and their sex, or the way others see them, don't match. Major medical groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have endorsed offering the full range of affirming care to appropriate patients, and experts interviewed by The Denver Post agreed that while some patients only need therapy, others benefit from gender-affirming medical care. The new report comes as the administration ordered providers to stop offering puberty blockers and hormone therapy to anyone under 19, threatening to take away federal funding from hospitals that didn't comply. A federal judge blocked Trump's executive order while a legal challenge plays out from four states, including Colorado. The Trump administration also forbade transgender people from serving in the military, threatened federal funding for schools if they promote "gender ideology," removed references to LGBTQ health disparities from health websites, ordered the Justice Department to take action to stop trans girls from playing on sports teams with cisgender girls, forbade the issuing of passports displaying the gender trans people identify with, and moved inmates who are trans women into men's prisons. Dr. Rae Narr, a nonbinary psychologist in Denver, said the administration's actions targeting transgender people suggest the government is going to push therapy that attempts to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity. But, done right, therapy can also be affirming, they said. "On their face, what they are suggesting is therapy and support for these youth," Narr said. "When you really look at what they're suggesting, it's conversion therapy." Conversion therapy, as typically practiced today, looks for a pathological root for someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, Narr said. For example, the practitioner might argue that another condition, such as autism, caused someone to think that they were transgender, or that they wanted to change their gender because of shame about being gay or a history of sexual trauma, they said. Mainstream medical groups condemn the practice and Colorado banned conversion therapy for minors, though the law faces a challenge at the Supreme Court. Affirming therapy, in contrast, starts from the position that no identity is right or wrong, Narr said. The goal isn't to encourage young people to transition, but to help them sort through what would make them comfortable in their bodies and lives, they said. That can involve talking about how they imagine their adult lives and practical exercises, such as trying on different clothes, Narr said. They also discuss where the young person would feel physically and emotionally safe exploring. For example, someone might go to the next town over to try out going to a store dressed differently, they said. "I talk to kids a lot about what does it mean to you when you imagine being a boy, or a girl, or something else," they said. 'We listen to them' In 2024, 46% of transgender or nonbinary young people reported seriously considering suicide, and 14% attempted it, according to the LGBTQ nonprofit The Trevor Project. Those who reported they'd experienced bullying or physical harm because of their gender identity were more likely to report thoughts of suicide, as were those who said their schools didn't support them. But the odds of suicide drop when youth report that people in their lives accept them, such as by calling them by their chosen name and pronouns, Narr said. Dr. Casey Wolf, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at WellPower in Denver, said the field hasn't agreed to a protocol for treating gender dysphoria, but does have evidence-based therapies for the depression, anxiety or trauma that typically push people to seek help. Sometimes, those symptoms stem from gender dysphoria or from mistreatment based on someone's gender identity, but not always, she said. "We listen to them. We try to understand what their symptoms are," Wolf said. While the public is talking about gender identity more than in the past, Wolf said she hasn't seen an increase in young people experiencing gender dysphoria. Despite the perception that being transgender is trendy, people don't take on marginalized identities like they change their hairstyles, she said. Not all trans people experience gender dysphoria, and not everyone who has gender dysphoria decides to transition, said John Mikovits, an assistant professor of nursing who studies care for LGBTQ people at Moravian University in Pennsylvania. Some people may only need emotional support at some points in their life, but may decide to socially or medically transition later, he said. What the therapist helps the patient work on may also change, Mikovits said. For example, a person who opts to transition may feel relief from gender dysphoria, but needs to learn skills to cope with increased discrimination, he said. "The treatment is not about curing someone's transgender or misaligned identity, it's about affirming that identity and improving their quality of life," he said. 'The most basic and easiest thing to do' Acting as a liaison between kids and parents can also be part of the job. Young people often struggle to tell their parents what they're feeling, so the news they're questioning their gender can feel like it comes out of nowhere, Narr said. Parents also don't always do the best job explaining their feelings, so confusion or fear for their child's future can come off as rejection, they said. "Even if the parents are supportive, it's reasonable to have some fear and grief" for the life they imagined for their child, they said. While discussion about affirming care focuses on puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries, just using the right pronouns for someone can be important affirmation, Mikovits said. "It's the most basic and easiest thing to do, to refer to people the way they want to be referred to," he said. Everyone wants others to see them the way they see themselves, and if that isn't happening, it can bring shame and hopelessness, Wolf said. When someone says they aren't wrong or sick because of how they see themselves, that can bring back some hope that the problem is their environment, and they may be able to change it, she said. "That's the beginning," she said. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
NBC Sports
28-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Von Miller plans on playing in 2025
The Bills cut edge rusher Von Miller on March 9, and he has remained a free agent since. Miller, though, said he plans to play in 2025. He doesn't yet know where that will be, but Miller knows it won't be back in Denver. 'I haven't heard anything,' Miller said when asked if the Broncos have reached out, via video from Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post. 'But, I mean, really, if you look at it, this year, it really doesn't make sense. They've got two really, really good rushers that are best in the league [caliber]. With Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto, they are incredible rushers -- and the guys underneath them, they come in and produce sacks, too. And they play special teams. 'I'm not playing special teams. That decision kind of makes itself, I think at 36 years old, I can say that I probably won't be doing that. But yeah, this year, probably not [a reunion with the Broncos], but the year after that -- next year -- we'll see what happens.' The Bills saved $8.4 million in salary cap space by cutting Miller, who signed a six-year, $120 million deal before the 2022 season. In three seasons, Miller played 36 of a possible 50 games and totaled 14 sacks, 41 tackles and 23 quarterback hits. Miller is an eight-time Pro Bowler and a two-time Super Bowl champion.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New report reveals why home insurance rates are skyrocketing — here's what you need to know
With the recent increase in wildfires and other extreme weather events, many homeowners are finding that their insurance companies are raising rates. Colorado has the fourth-most-expensive insurance rates in the United States, and with more increases on the way, homeowners are left scrambling. Due to increasing extreme weather events, particularly wildfires and hail in Colorado, home insurance premiums have steadily increased in recent years. In the Centennial State, insurance rates have risen 76.6% in just the last six years. According to The Denver Post, an Insurify report estimated Colorado homeowners will see an 11% increase in premiums in 2025, which could increase the average premium cost to over $6,000. Considering that approximately 300,000 homes in the state are at risk from wildfires, it's not surprising that insurance companies find that insuring these homes is riskier. However, the increased rates are making it more challenging for homeowners in Colorado to afford home insurance. Already, about 10% of Colorado homes are uninsured despite the likelihood of damage from wildfires and hail. Higher home insurance premiums will leave more homeowners having to choose whether paying the premium is more affordable than trying to repair damage caused by extreme weather events themselves, which could lead to an increase in uninsured homeowners. Higher premiums could also lead to fewer homeowners, as some may find that weather risks make renting preferable to purchasing a house. Furthermore, in some regions, insurance companies are pulling out entirely, leaving people without coverage and at risk of financial burden. As more insurance companies become averse to insuring homes in risky areas, more people may begin migrating to states with fewer extreme weather events or cheaper premiums, which could increase home and insurance rates in those states. If we continue to rely on dirty energy, supercharged extreme weather events — such as wildfires — would likely increase even more as heat-trapping gases continue to accumulate in our atmosphere, worsening the home insurance situation and causing further damage to our communities. This is just one reason why many governments and companies are adopting clean-energy solutions. Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Colorado is trying to lower the cost of insurance via a 1% policy fee. This fee would fund programs in the state to address risks and damages caused by extreme weather, hopefully keeping insurers from abandoning the state. Though this fee would cause a slight increase in rates, it would be far less than what premiums are now. The Colorado legislature is also working to pass two bills related to home insurance. House Bill 1182 would rein in the use of risk assessment models by insurance companies, while House Bill 1302 would fund reinsurance and grant programs related to keeping homes safe from wildfires and hail. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
