‘Yes, the Panama Canal was built at a dear price — paid in Black lives’
Joan Flores-Villalobos at the Los Angeles Times
The “histories for the most part ignore that the great majority of the workers” at the Panama Canal “were Black migrants from the Caribbean,” says Joan Flores-Villalobos. Rather than a “shining beacon of American progress, the canal construction was if anything one of the most glaring examples of Jim Crow exported abroad.” The “construction also cost Panama decades of sovereignty.” President Donald Trump “wants to ignore America’s inconvenient legacy of Jim Crow and colonialism.”
‘Better gun storage can prevent tragedies’
Danielle N. Poole at The Progressive
New “national policies regarding secure gun storage could save children’s lives,” says Danielle N. Poole. Ensuring “all gun-owning households secure their firearms from unauthorized users — including children — could immediately decrease school shootings.” Making “firearm owners prevent unauthorized access to firearms would have direct impacts on the safety of the nation’s 50 million school-age children.” We “need a prevention plan we can implement today, and we can’t afford to ignore the data we have in hand.”
‘The Tulsi Gabbard I know is perfect for DNI’
Jake Mercier at The American Conservative
Tulsi Gabbard is “not only supremely qualified to serve as our nation’s eighth director of national Intelligence — she’s the best possible choice for the job,” says Jake Mercier. Gabbard “believes in open dialogue and negotiation — even with our enemies.” She has been a “consistent, clear voice against unnecessary American intervention.” Gabbard has “never wavered in her commitment to our First Amendment rights: to speak and worship freely without fear of political retribution.”
‘The Los Angeles fires expose the problem with American conservation policy’
Jonathan K. Williams at Time
Conservation practices are” central to the ongoing battle between humans and nature in Southern California,” says Jonathan K. Williams, and it’s “crucial to understanding the destruction of the fires — and crafting policies to prevent future disasters.” Conservation has “always been about economic growth and development in the public interest, and the environmental impact only became part of its focus in recent decades.” The “top priority of conservation programs needs to be safeguarding the environment.”