Published on Mar 8, 2013
Despite platitudes about living in a race-blind society, a new study from Brandeis University shows that the wealth gap between Whites and Blacks tripled in the last 25 years. The study surveyed 1,700 households of working age between 1984 and 2009. There’s no better to see how wealth and race meet face-to-face than Washington, DC. RT producer Gavino Garay sits down with Maurice Jackson, Professor of African American Studies at Georgetown University, to understand why, after so many years of racial ‘equality,’ Blacks are nowhere near the same socioeconomic status as Whites.
LYRICS
Everythin’ to know about me
Is written on this page
A number you can reach me
My social and my age
Yes, I served in the army
It’s where I learned to shoot
Eighteen months in the desert
Pourin’ sand out of my boots
No, I’ve never been convicted of a crime
I could start this job at any time
I got a strong back, steel toes
I rarely call in sick, a good truck
What I don’t know I catch on real quick
I work weekends, if I have to, nights and holidays
Give you forty and then some
Whatever it takes
Three dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin’s high and goin’ up
I put Robert down as a reference
He’s known me all my life
We attend the same church
He introduced me to my wife
I gave my last job everythin’
Before it headed south
Took the shoes off of my children’s feet
Food out of their mouths
Yesterday my folks offered to help
But they’re barely gettin’ by themselves
I got a strong back, steel toes
I rarely call in sick, a good truck
What I don’t know I catch on real quick
I work weekends, if I have to, nights and holidays
Give you forty and then some
Whatever it takes
Three dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin’s high and goin’ up
I’m sure a hundred others have applied
But rumor has it you’re only takin’ five
I got a strong back, steel toes
I’m handy with a wrench
There’s nothin’ I can’t drive
There’s nothin’ I can’t fix
I work sunup to sundown
Ain’t too proud to sweep the floors
The bank has started callin’
And the wolves are at my door
Three dollars and change at the pump
The cost of livin’s high and goin’ up
Published on Dec 2, 2012 by Euronews http://www.euronews.com/ It has been the turn of thousands of disabled Spaniards to rally through the Madrid streets in defiance of the latest round of austerity measures.
More than 300 buses brought in protesters and their families from all over the country.
Campaigners warn that the rights and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable in Spanish society are under threat.
Paralympic athlete Roger Puigbo said “They now want to take away welfare support that took a long time to fight for. So we are here to defend it.”
More than 4 million people in Spain have some sort of disability.
They’ve been first to feel the effects of 60 billion euros in cuts since the centre-right government took office last year.
“We four million need more support to ensure we’re not the last ones. We are willing to endure the cuts but not to the point they are reaching,” said one protester.
As well as a lack of cash to pay for home help, many public facilities for the disabled are under threat of closure.
One campaigner said the cuts were condemning many people to a life of social exclusion.
Mexico: From “Drug-Fueled War Zone” to “Well-Traveled International Tourist Destination” – This video has no official description. It’s a PR firm describing their campaign to reinvigorate Mexican tourism.
Uploaded by HDNetWorldReport on Sep 16, 2011
Many tourists no longer want to visit Mexico because of drug violence. It might be time to cross another nearby country (Guatemala) off the list, because Mexicoapos;s ruthless cartels are going international.
Published on Sep 10, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
Northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon is considered one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. But the site also right in the middle of Mexico’s drug-growing heartland, so it is struggling to attract tourists.
Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney travelled to the canyon in the state of Chihuahua to see what it offers for those prepared to make the trip.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Jul 12, 2011
Mexico’s once buoyant tourism industry is being weighed downby the country’s ongoing drug war. Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney reports from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Uploaded by CBS on Feb 21, 2011
As the deadly drug war in Mexico continues, new violence is spreading towards popular tourist areas. Terry McCarthy reports on conditions in Acapulco, a new battleground between rival drug cartels.
Uploaded by ANewsVanIsland on Jan 20, 2011
OAK BAY – The phones are ringing at Oak Bay’s Athlone Travel – the first few weeks of 2011 have been busy. But bookings to Mexico are down, and clients are asking questions. “They’re Concerned about the violence, if they go to Mexico are they in any danger” says Manager Liz Smith.
And you can see where skittish travellers may be getting that idea.
On Monday, 69-year-old Mike Di Lorenzo of Penticton was hit in the leg by gunfire meant for someone else in Mazatlan. He needed surgery and two blood transfusions, and likely saved his wife’s life by diving on top of her.
Earlier this month, a Montreal police officer got separated from his friends at a bar in Cancun and was severely beaten. A woman from Ontario claims was gang-raped by police in Playa del Carmen on New Year’s eve.
And in November, 33-year-old Nanaimo Realtor, father, and newlywed Malcolm Johnson was killed in a freak gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Hotel along with four other Canadians.
Royal Roads University “Human Security” expert Kenneth Christie just returned from Mexico, where he says a drug war has taken more than 30,000 lives over the past four years. But most of the violence is taking place far from your favourite all-inclusive resort. “I think tourists should be careful when they go to Mexico, stay away obviously from where the drug war is taking place, but in most of the resorts they’re pretty safe” says Christie.
He says the BC man injured this week was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Mazatlan’s been a very safe place for Canadian tourists to go.”
Liz Smith at Athlone Travel agrees, suggesting you stick to the familiar resort destinations to stay safe. “It’s like all the people that go on airplanes every day, millions of people around the world travel by air, and when there’s an accident, everyone stops to think about it, and I think that’s what’s happening here.”
For some Canadians, it appears the issue of whether or not Mexico is safe isn’t an issue at all. One viewer comments online: “Please don’t go to Mexico, way too dangerous. In fact, don’t go anywhere. Just stay home and hide under your bed, where it’s safe.”
He does make a good point – there are risks involved in doing just about anything.
Uploaded by AssociatedPress on Nov 4, 2010
In another grisly turn in Mexico’s drug war, police have recovered 18 bodies from a mass grave announced in a YouTube posting, a video saying the victims were from a tourist group kidnapped in Acapulco a month ago.
Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Sep 15, 2010
A drop in tourism and manufacturing has left the Mexican state Baja, California, with a struggling economy. Jose Luis Sierra of New America Media reports on how the drug war and recession have played a role.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Sep 1, 2010
At least eight people have been killed in a fire bomb attack on a bar in the Mexican tourist town of Cancun.
Local reports said the attack was carried out by a drug cartel which was trying to extort protection money from the bar owner.
It has heightened fears that drug-related violence is spreading to tourist towns.
Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from Cancun.
Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on May 5, 2010
Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute on how the country’s drug problems are impacting tourism.
Uploaded by worldfocusonline on Mar 5, 2009
In Tijuana, a once-thriving city just across the border from San Diego, the increasingly deadly drug war has touched almost every part of life.
Americans used to flock to the city, but now largely avoid it. In 2005, a banner year for tourism, some four million people visited Tijuana. Last year, the number dropped to around 400,000. Residents, too, are fleeing in fear.
Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano explore Tijuana, beginning in a hospital that not only treats the victims of drug violence, but that operates in fear that its own people will get caught in the battle.
Published on Nov 11, 2012 by deutschewelleenglish
It’s tough times in the EU. In the face of stunning austerity, separatist movements are blossoming all across the Union. They believe, they would do better on their own. Is this the end of unity? It’s tough times in the EU. In the face of stunning austerity, separatist movements are blossoming all across the Union. They believe, they would do better on their own. Is this the end of unity?
Published on Nov 3, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
Many countries are condemned in the West for organised religion and its effect on peoples lives. Societies throw their arms up in horror if countries like Iran or Afghanistan deny women basic rights. They tend, however, not to mention Ireland. In Ireland, a woman cannot have an abortion if she has been raped. She cannot have an abortion if the man who made her pregnant is beating her. She cannot have an abortion if the baby will die outside her body. She cannot even have an abortion if the fact of being pregnant is in some way threatening to her life. The absolute ban on abortion in Ireland creates some very stark choices for women. The choice has traditionally been for women to travel, often alone, to England for a termination. There is just one small organisation which exists to help women who want an abortion but cannot afford it, but it is in England. Requests for financial help have tripled in three years, mirroring Ireland’s financial crisis, as women discover they are pregnant with a baby they cannot support and with no recourse to help where they live. Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee reports from Dublin.
Quotes sociology professor Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
Published on Sep 12, 2012 by VOAvideo
September 17 marks one year since the “Occupy Wall Street” movement emerged in New York City – with a long series of demands, but no specific program to realize any of them. VOA correspondent Peter Fedynsky examines the first year of this leaderless movement.
The Greek economic crisis has inevitably affected the country’s commercial art sales. Yet as Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from Athens, times of social turmoil can also fuel creative industries.
I find this unreasonably fun to play in class (especially my 150-200 student auditoriums). It takes 20-30 minutes as long as I keep it fast-paced. I start off as if I’m excited (celebrate when I pass the typing test), and after a few choices the class starts to act like a game show studio audience. After it’s over, I sometimes ask them to write their reaction to the game and then summarize the game in one sentence. They have fun, then the written exercise cements the big-picture point.
…designed to help people understand the challenges and trade-offs faced by low-income people with insecure employment. The “game” begins when you’ve been unemployed, have only $1,000 left in your bank account, and need to get a low wage job.
Many Greeks are considering emigration because of the severe economic crisis at home. More and more of them are deciding to leave for Turkey.In the past, Greeks who emigrated abroad most often went to the United States, Germany, France and Britain. But now that the economy in Istanbul is moving full speed ahead, that’s changed. Greek academics are taking positions at Turkish universities, and Greek pilots are working for Turkish airlines. Given the economic crisis at home, pragmatism is winning out over old prejudices. Turkey is nearby and is booming economically, and the lifestyle there is similar to that in Greece.
In the current economic downturn, many American schools are adding a new subject to the curriculum – financial literacy. One program in Virginia even gets students out of the classroom for a day to learn how far their money will go in the real world.
