Children

The United State’s Bizarre Income Distribution For Children

February 17, 2018 By Matt Bruenig, Peoplespolicyproject.org Educate! Children, Income inequality, New Economy

In the Nordic countries, they have relatively few children in the lower class (and even fewer in the extreme lower class). They also have relatively few children in the upper class. But they have big middle classes. Around 65 percent of children in those countries have incomes that are 150% to 300% of the poverty line, which is equivalent to 75% to 150% of the median income. In the US, on the other hand, there is a big lower class that is even larger than the middle class (so defined). And then there is also a relatively large group of children with incomes well above the US median, i.e. rich kids. While the Nordic distribution looks like a bell curve with the overwhelming majority of kids clustered near the middle, the American distribution is a pyramid. If you want to fix this bizarre distribution, the way forward is pretty simple.

US Capitalism Lets Children And Mothers Die

January 26, 2018 W. T. Whitney, Counterpunch.org Educate! Capitalism, Children, Class Struggle, Mothers, US Imperialism, Women

One of the authors of a recent study of U.S. children’s deaths told an interviewer that, “The U.S. is the most dangerous of wealthy, democratic countries in the world for children … Across all ages and in both sexes, children have been dying more often in the U.S. than in similar countries since the 1980s.” The report was published online January 8 in Health Affairs. Ninety percent of the deaths analyzed there were of infants and older adolescents. According to the authors, “we examined mortality trends for [20] nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for children ages 0–19 from 1961 to 2010 using publicly available data.” They discovered that, “Over the fifty-year study period, the lagging US performance amounted to over 600,000 excess deaths.”

“We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices” Inspiration For Young Activists

January 25, 2018 Staff, Blacknews.com Educate! Activism, Children, Education

New York, NY — Random House Children’s Books will publish WE RISE, WE RESIST, WE RAISE OUR VOICES, an empowering collection of poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works from over 50 diverse, award-winning children’s book authors and artists in collaboration with Just Us Books, a Black-owned publisher committed to exclusively producing Black and multicultural children’s books. Phoebe Yeh, VP/Publisher of Crown Books for Young Readers, acquired world rights for publication from Just Us Books co-founders and anthology compilers Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson. The beautiful, full-color keepsake collection will be available on September 4, 2018.

Cuban Doctors To Help Patients In South Side Chicago

January 22, 2018 Staff, Telesur. Create! Chicago, Children, Cuba, health

With no solution in sight regarding infant mortalities, residents of Chicago's South Side, home to numerous predominantly Black neighborhoods, have resorted to mentors from the Cuban Ministry of Public Health for help. Why? The small socialist island, though it has endured a half-century economic blockade imposed by the United States, has an infant mortality rate (4.3 per 1,000 people) lower than its neighbor to the north (5.7 per 1,000 people), according to the World Health Organization. In fact, Cuba's infant mortality rate is significantly lower than some of the poorest parts of the United States.

Child Mortality Rate 70% Higher In U.S. Than In Other Rich Nations

January 11, 2018 Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org Educate! Children, Quality of Life, United States

American kids are 70 percent more likely to die during childhood compared with children in other wealthy, democratic nations, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday by Health Affairs. "The U.S. is the most dangerous of wealthy, democratic countries in the world for children." "This study should alarm everyone," Dr. Ashish Thakrar, the study's lead author and an internal medicine resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, told CNN. "The U.S. is the most dangerous of wealthy, democratic countries in the world for children," he added. "Across all ages and in both sexes, children have been dying more often in the U.S. than in similar countries since the 1980s." The most common causes of death among children renews concerns about the American healthcare system, access to guns, and vehicle safety.

Cops Killing Kids Has Got To Stop!

December 29, 2017 By Dave Lindorff, Counterpunch.org Resist! Children, Police, police brutality, Racism

Six-year-old Kameron, who was shot in Bexar County outside San Antonio, Texas, wasn’t killed like Tamir Rice in Cleveland, who was mowed down by a police officer within seconds of his arrival on the scene as the boy sat peacefully on a bench in a park pavilion holding a toy gun. Kameron wasn’t deliberately shot. He was just “collateral damage” in America’s militarized police war on the public — killed inadvertently by a deputy’s bullet which had missed its intended target (an unarmed woman), instead penetrating the flimsy wall of the trailer and the soft abdomen of the little kid who was playing peacefully by himself inside. The reason Kameron had his all too short life cut brutally short was because some deputy “feared for his life.”

Child Detained By Border Agents After Surgery Reunited With Family

November 6, 2017 Staff, aclu.org Resist! Children, Detention Centers, Immigration, Undocumented

By Staff of ACLU - SAN ANTONIO — The federal government has released 10-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez. The American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit seeking to release her from government custody and reunite her with her family. “Rosa Maria is finally free. We’re thrilled that she can go home to heal surrounded by her family's love and support,” said Michael Tan, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “Despite our relief, Border Patrol’s decision to target a young girl at a children’s hospital remains unconscionable. No child should go through this trauma and we are working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Rosa Maria, who has cerebral palsy, was en route to gallbladder surgery from her home in Laredo, Texas, to Corpus Christi, when she was stopped at an immigration checkpoint. U.S. Border Patrol followed her to the hospital and camped outside her room until she was discharged. Agents then immediately seized Rosa Maria — who was still recovering in her hospital bed — and jailed her 150 miles away in a facility for children, alone and without her parents. They had no warrant. Rosa Maria had never been separated from her parents, and her medical condition requires constant attention. She has lived in her parents’ care in the United States since she was 3 months old.

The Public Good: Reports From The Front Lines

October 27, 2017 David Morris, www.ilsr.org Create! Children, Food and Agriculture, health, Schools

By David Morris for ILSR - In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, a law championed by first lady Michelle Obama. Among other provisions, the law offers universal federally subsidized lunch and breakfasts for schools with a significant proportion of low-income students. Eligible schools must have at least 40 percent of the student body automatically qualify for free lunch because they’re homeless, or in foster care, enrolled in Head Start, or live in households which receive food stamps. About 21.5 million students in the U.S. receive free or reduced-price school lunch on any given school day. About 12.1 million receive free or reduced-price school breakfasts. The new program was created to overcome a significant shortcoming in the existing means-tested program. Many students don’t take advantage of the program because of the social stigma attached. In New York City, for example, 75 percent of public school students are eligible for free or reduced prices but one in three skips lunch. In 2016, Brooklyn high school senior Aminata Abdouramane explained why in Chalkbeat, “The free and reduced-price lunch program creates a social class system that is reinforced daily by the school lunch line. Some students get lunch for free, some get it for a reduced price, and some pay the whole cost. Imagine you’re on the lunch line and another student sees you getting free lunch and takes advantage of this.

From The Old Left To The New: Progressive Parenting

October 22, 2017 Steve Early, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Activism, Children

By Steve Early. As a left-wing labor activist and father of two (now adult) daughters, I once grappled with the challenges of “progressive parenting.” It was hard enough, I soon discovered, to avoid screwing up the basics of old fashioned child rearing (ie keeping kids safe, healthy, reasonably happy and well-adjusted). Insuring conformity with parental views and values was an additional heavy lift—and an effort that could easily backfire. I tried to learn from the experience of lefty parents who made their own politics a mandatory (rather than elective) subject, turning any related praxis into a grim family duty. Dragging kids to meetings, lectures, rallies, and picket lines, against their will—and telling them what to think—has been known to produce offspring who are resentful, apolitical, and even conservative in their views.

How Long Do Our Children Have To Face Racism?

October 13, 2017 Levi Rickert, www.nativenewsonline.net Educate! Children, Indigenous Peoples, Racism

By Levi Rickert for Native News Online - EAGLE BUTTE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Cheyenne River Sioiux Tribe Chairman Harold Fraizer asked on Thursday: “How may times do we have to send our school children to our sacred Black Hills only to be verbally and physically abused with racism and bigotry by those who occupy such a sacred place?” Fraizer’s question was part of his reaction to the racist incident directed towards American Indians by Sturgis Brown High School students who posted photographs on social media of taking a sledehammer to a car with the words “Go back to the Rez” sprayed painted on it. The incident was part of a tradition at Sturgis Brown High School during their football homecoming week. A local business donates a vehicle so the students can deface it using their homecoming opponents as fooder. After the incident became widely known via social media, school officials said the school system would no longer sponsor the annual ritual. The Meade School Board of Education canceled this year’s homecoming game scheduled tonight against Pine Ridge High School. With the cancellation, Sturgis Brown High School forfeits the game to Pine Ridge High.

Study: State That Restrict Abortion Have Laws That Hurt Women And Children

August 2, 2017 Staff, www.reproductiverights.org Educate! Abortion, Children, Legislation, Women

By Staff of Center for Reproductive RIghts - The report—titled Evaluating Priorities: Measuring Women and Children’s Health and Well-being against Abortion Restrictions in the States, Volume II—provides an update to the inaugural version of the report, originally published in 2014. As in 2014, the updated version challenges the claims of politicians who have passed abortion restrictions under the guise of protecting women’s health and safety. Indeed, the report finds that many of the states that have the highest number of restrictions included in the research—including Texas (11 restrictions), Louisiana (13 restrictions), and Arkansas (13 restrictions) —have dramatically fewer policies that would truly address the challenges women and their families face. Shareable infographics that illustrate the report’s findings are available on Ibis Reproductive Health’s website. The worst offenders—states that have passed ten or more of the restrictions included in analyses—account for a disproportionately large number of the nearly 400 abortion restrictions politicians have passed since 2010. And the trend continues; in the last three weeks the Texas legislature has introduced almost 20 new anti-abortion restrictions in a Special Legislative Session, convened after the end of the official session.

Israel Violating International Law With Arrests Of Children

June 27, 2017 Staff, www.addameer.org Educate! Children, International Law, Israel, Prison

By Staff of Addameer - Currently, an estimated 75 Palestinian children from East Jerusalem are being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Based on Addameer’s monitoring of 9 recent and current cases of Palestinian children from Jerusalem from the onset of 2017 who were arrested and, as well as exhaustive Addameer statistics and data from several years of monitoring and legal representation in Jerusalem, this factsheet will explore the effects of arrest and house arrest on a child’s education and development. The factsheet relies on information obtained through visit questionnaires, field visits, and court protocols. The trends and data are based on 2015-2016 affidavits taken from Palestinian children from Jerusalem who experienced arrest by Israeli forces and were taken to Beit Alyaho Police Center, Oz police center, Salah Al-Din police station, and Qishleh police center, as well as Al-Moscobiyeh. Interrogation within these centers focused on confessions obtained through coercive methods, including physical violence, in the absence of their parents and attorneys.

Fighting Climate Change Can Be A Lonely In Oil Country, Especially For A Kid

June 14, 2017 Neela Banerjee and Zahra Hirji, www.insideclimatenews.org Resist! Children, Climate Change, Lawsuit, Louisiana, Youth, Youth Activism

By Neela Banerjee and Zahra Hirji for Inside Climate News - RAYNE, Louisiana—As far back as Jayden Foytlin can remember, her cousin Madison came over to celebrate her birthday. The girls had been best friends since they were toddlers and spent nearly every weekend together, playing video games and basketball in their driveways. This year, things were different. In the weeks before Jayden's 14th birthday, Madison's mother stopped arranging get-togethers. She didn't answer texts inviting Madison to Jayden's birthday party. "We thought that maybe she was out of town with her family," Jayden said. "Or I thought that maybe Madison had a sleepover the same day as my birthday." The text that cleared matters up came on the afternoon of Jayden's birthday, as she and her family piled into their hybrid SUV to go roller skating. Madison's mother wrote that her daughter wasn't allowed to see Jayden anymore. She was keeping Madison away because Jayden is one of 21 young plaintiffs suing the federal government over its alleged failure to curtail fossil fuel development and address climate change.

Visiting South Orange Students Refuse Photo With Speaker Ryan

May 31, 2017 Mary Mann, www.villagegreennj.com Resist! Children, Politics, Students

By Mary Mann for The Village Green - About half the students in a group of South Orange Middle School 8th graders touring the Capitol in D.C. this past week refused a photo with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to students on the field trip. (Some SOMS students on the trip were still en route to the Capitol on buses.) Elissa Malespina, a school librarian who is also the parent of a SOMS eighth grader, reported that her son was among the students who declined to pose with Ryan for a photo. “I am so proud of my son,” Malespina wrote on Facebook. The kids gave reasoned opinions for their choice — and said they were not fueled by partisanship. “I think that taking the picture represents that you agree with the same political views and I don’t agree with his political views so I chose not to be in it,” said Wendy Weeks, an 8th grade SOMS student. “I can’t take a picture with someone who supports a budget that would destroy public education and would leave 23 million people without healthcare,” said 8th grade SOMS student Matthew Malespina. “I didn’t want to be in [the picture] because he believes in most of what Trump believes in,” said another SOMS 8th grader, Louisa Maynard-Parisi.

Seeking The True Path

November 25, 2016 Robert J. Burrowes, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Children, Nonviolence

By Robert J. Burrowes. One of the more subtle manifestations of the intimate link between (unconscious) human emotions and behaviour is illustrated by the simple concept of choice and how this is so often reduced to a dichotomy between two bad options. In such circumstances, most people choose whatever they consider to be ‘the lesser evil’. But how often are there only two options, even if they appear ‘good’ and ‘bad’? Frankly, I cannot think of one circumstance in which my choices are limited to two, however good or bad they appear to be. Why does this belief in just two options arise? When we are born, our evolutionary inheritance includes a phenomenally powerful capacity to feel a complex range of emotions.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources