MAPPING THE LITERATURE HURRICANE KATRINA and PUBLIC HEALTH
HURRICANE KATRINA and PUBLIC HEALTH
Excess Mortality in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: A Preliminary Report
By Kevin U. Stephens Sr, MD, JD, David Grew, MSPH, Karen Chin, MSPH, Paul Kadetz, MSN, MPH, P. Gregg Greenough, MD, MPH, Frederick M. Burkle Jr, MD, MPH, DTM, Sandra L. Robinson, MD, MPH and Evangeline R. Franklin, MD, MPH, New Orleans Health Department/AMA 2007
The death rate between January and June 2006 in the greater New Orleans area was nearly 50 percent higher than pre-Hurricane Katrina rates, due in part to a compromised public health infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. This report suggests that a destroyed or poorly recovered public health infrastructure, which normally would be able to identify health problems and protect the health of a population, has contributed to excess mortality. To access the report: http://www.dmphp.org/cgi/reprint/1/1/15.
What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, and the State of the Nation
Edited by South End Press Collective (January 3, 2007)
In August 2005, thousands of New Orleans residents—overwhelmingly poor, largely people of color, the majority Black—were left to face one of the worst "natural" disasters in U.S. history on their own. They were left to die in prisons, in nursing homes, and on the streets. Survivors were criminalized as "looters" for struggling to obtain food, water, diapers, medicine, and other essentials of life that no one else could or would provide. As Katrina's waters receded and the body count soared, an ugly truth (re)surfaced: The lives of those who are poor, who are vulnerable, and who are not White are not valued by the U.S. government. This anthology, featuring such voices as Common Ground, Vandana Shiva, Glen Ford, and Jordan Flaherty, takes readers beyond the Superdome. It explores the complexity of this turning point in U.S. history as representative of the nation's direction and priorities.
Hurricane Katrina: Response and Responsibilities
Edited by John Brown Childs (April 3, 2007)
This book is a compilation of responses to Hurricane Katrina from more than 30 contributors, including community activists, sociologists, writers, and musicians. Some have been displaced by the hurricane and write about what they have lost. Others write from a distance, seeing patterns in the response to the hurricane that reflect a cultural bias of race and class. Together they offer not only critical assessments of what went wrong but also hopeful conjecture about possibilities for the future of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and the United States.
Research Connections
By The Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity (2007)
The Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity (CRGE) is a university-wide initiative promoting research, scholarship, and faculty and graduate student development. CRGE's work explores the intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, and other dimensions of difference as they shape the construction and representation of identities, behavior, and complex social relations. Featured articles: "Hurricane Katrina, Women, and the Process of Multiple Victimizations," by Beverly J. Mason, Ph.D.; "A Call for Community-Based Cooperative Economic Development for Reconstructing New Orleans," by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D. To access the report: http://www.crge.umd.edu/publications/
ResearchConnections2007.pdf.
U.S. and INTERNATIONAL DISCRIMINATION STANDARDS
Periodic Report of the United States of America to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Concerning the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
By U.S. Department of Justice (April 2007)
This resource is a report by the United States to the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on domestic race, ethnic, and civil rights issues. To access the report: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/83517.pdf.
Brief and Initial Analysis of the United States Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
By American Civil Liberties Union (2007)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) submitted an initial shadow report to the United States’ original submittal to the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The ACLU report offers an initial analysis and poses disagreement with some of the information contained in the U.S. Report to the U.N. This report is a precursor to an independent shadow report the ACLU will submit later this year, in coordination with a wide coalition of advocacy, human rights, and grass roots organizations led by the US Human Rights Network. To access the report: http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/
a30079pub20070612.html
HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
Hate Crime in America: The Debate Continues
By Michael Shively, Ph.D., and Carrie F. Mulford, Ph.D.
In many cases, hate may be seen or perceived by the victims, their families, witnesses, and even law enforcement to be the motivation for a crime, but perpetrators may not be charged with a hate crime for a variety of reasons—many of the same reasons that the debate on hate-crime laws continues in this country. Legislators, law enforcement officials, prosecutors—and the American public—continue to grapple with fundamental questions in the hate-crime debate such as: How do we define—and identify—hate crime and how do we prosecute, punish, and, ultimately, prevent hate crime? In this study funded by the National Institute of Justice, the authors conducted a comprehensive analysis of the literature and statutes on hate crime to determine how Federal and State legislation and programs are wrestling with these issues. To read the full article: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/jr000257c.pdf
Comparisons of Hate Crime Rates Across Protected and Unprotected Groups
By The Williams Institute (June 2007)
Sexual orientation and gender identity are not currently covered by federal hate crime laws. This analysis compares victimization rates for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals with groups already covered by hate crime laws. Results indicate that the hate crime rate against lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals is comparable to the rate of hate crimes against already protected groups. While the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports an average of 213 hate crimes per year, the federal government has no system in place for documenting or collecting these statistics. This discrepancy indicates a need for including gender identity in hate crime tracking laws, and extending legislative protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. To access the report: http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/
Comparison%20of%20Hate%20Crime%20Formatted.pdf.
RE-ENTRY AND FELON RIGHTS
Challenges to Felony Disenfranchisement Laws: Past, Present, and Future
By The Sentencing Project (May 2007)
There have been a number of landmark challenges to felony disenfranchisement policies across the country in recent years and a common theme among the cases has been the racially disparate impact of the practice. In this article, Liles provides a concise history of disenfranchisement in the United States, from its roots in Europe through Reconstruction and into the modern era. Lessons learned from past Equal Protection and Voting Rights Act challenges are analyzed and future litigation strategies are presented.
To read the full article: http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/
Documents/publications/fd_research_liles.pdf.
Barriers to Democracy: A Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a Thematic Hearing on Felony Disenfranchisement Practices in the United States and the Americas
By The Sentencing Project, the International Human Rights Law Clinic, Washington College of Law, and American University (May 2007)
This report examines the practice of felony disenfranchisement in the United States and the nations of the Americas, and finds that the United States is far out of line with evolving international norms in this regard. The report concludes that “the time is long overdue for the United States to follow the lead of its hemispheric neighbors and the broader international community, uphold treaties to which the United States is obligated, and take steps toward universal suffrage by reforming its criminal disenfranchisement policies.
To access this report: http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/
publications/fd_PETITION%20TO%20IACHR_final_formatted.pdf.
U.S. Rates of Incarceration: A Global Perspective (Fact Sheet)
By Christopher Hartney, National Council on Crime and Delinquency (November 2006)
The causes for the over reliance on imprisonment in the United States are multifold. Crime rates, occasional spikes in certain types of crime (both actual and perceived), media coverage of the worst cases, public perceptions, political opportunism, and misdirected laws, policies, and practices certainly play roles. The findings reported in this fact sheet from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency provide side-by-side comparisons of the most reliable and current statistics from around the world to illuminate
the extreme use of incarceration in the United States. The data underscores that it is time for a serious review of U.S. incarceration policies and practices. To access this fact sheet: http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2006nov_factsheet_incarceration.pdf.
Domestic Violence and Prisoner Reentry: Experiences of African-American Women and Men
By Creasie Finney Hairston and William Oliver (December 2006)
This report recommends ways to address domestic violence when African-American women are in intimate relationships with African-American men who are in prison or on parole. The report draws on discussion groups of men and women dealing with re-entry who were asked how similarly situated people experience and manage conflict with their partners. Through these discussions, Safe Return found that some women believe the experience of imprisonment negatively influences some men's behavior as husbands and fathers after release; men reported that some similarly situated men try to control their intimate partners while inside prison or consider violence to be an appropriate response to infidelity or perceived slights. The recommendations include emphasizing cultural competence in programming and providing institutional support to intimate partners and their children who are preparing for an incarcerated person's return, whether or not they choose to re-unify with returning prisoners. To read more, visit:
http://www.vera.org/publication_pdf/367_660.pdf
Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime
By Don Stemen, Center on Sentencing and Corrections (January 2007)
Little empirical study had been done to confirm or refute the effectiveness of incarceration in reducing crime rates when America began its historic reliance on prisons in the 1970s. Today, conversely, policymakers are faced with a large, complex, and sometimes contradictory body of research. This paper seeks to help officials make sense of this information and offers an up-to-date understanding of what works best. It also examines research on several of the other factors that might be developed as part of an expanded notion of public safety. Informed by this more inclusive understanding of current research, it suggests that effective public safety strategies should move away from an exclusive focus on incarceration to embrace other factors associated with low crime rates in a more comprehensive policy framework for safeguarding citizens. To read more, visit: http://www.vera.org/publication_pdf/379_727.pdf
Reentry Net
Reentry Net is a project of The Bronx Defenders and Pro Bono Net. It is a collaborative education and resource center for individuals and organizations in New York State that advocate for people with criminal records and their families—collectively, the Re-entry Community. Reentry Net also hosts a growing National Re-entry Research Clearinghouse that includes academic research, evaluations of programs and initiatives, and policy reports on the full range of issues that affect the re-entry community.
http://www.reentry.net
Habilitation or Harm: Project Greenlight
By National Institute of Justice (2007)
This report recounts the practices, results, and shortcomings of Project Greenlight, a short-term, prison-based re-entry demonstration program. Project Greenlight was jointly operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services and the New York State Division of Parole and administered by program developers from the Vera Institute of Justice. This publication is an evaluation of the program sponsored by the National Institute of Justice. The findings are controversial, with the inmates who participated in Project Greenlight having higher re-incarceration rates than those inmates who did not. The report addresses the failures of rehabilitation programs, hate crimes in the United States, and other issues facing the United States' prison facilities and law enforcement. To read the full report, visit:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/jr000257.pdf
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND ADVOCACY
Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
By Allison Fine (September 2006)
Fine outlines strategies for "connected activism" in this idealistic, lucidly written account about using the Internet to build up networks among activists who can pool information and other resources to help create lasting solutions that address the roots of social problems. Citing organizations such as the advocacy group MoveOn.org and MeetUp.com, which promotes off-line gatherings like those that propelled the Dean for President campaign, Fine emphasizes a mindset of self-determination among citizens and two-way rather than top-down communication from organizations.
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
By Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom (October 2006)
Brafman and Beckstrom, both of whom hold M.B.A. degrees from Stanford, have applied their business know-how to promoting peace and economic development through decentralized networking. They offer a breezy and entertaining look at how decentralization is changing many organizations. The title metaphor conveys the core concept: though a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different—a decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single, amputated leg. In the same way, decentralized organizations, like the Internet, the Apache Indian tribe, and Alcoholics Anonymous, are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them.
YOUTH VOTING
Young Voter Strategies
Young Voter Strategies is a leader in the movement to make young voters a more permanent part of the electorate. In the 2006 election cycle, Young Voter Strategies coordinated the election cycle’s largest nonpartisan effort to register young voters; the 15-partner effort registered more than 500,000 18–30 year olds and helped contribute to young voters' 24 percent turnout increase in 2006, when two million more young adults voted than in 2002. www.youngvoterstrategies.org
Generation Engage
Generation Engage is a nonpartisan, youth civic engagement initiative that connects young Americans to political leaders, other civic organizations, and meaningful debate about the future they will inherit. www.generationengage.com.
Advomatic
Advomatic currently serves the progressive political, grassroots and arts communities. They work to build a better Internet infrastructure to aid in the advancement of good causes, and to give grassroots organizations the tools they need to effectively communicate with each other and their constituents. By utilizing and contributing to open source solutions, Advomatic offers the advanced tools that most organizations often lack to aid them in the promotion and participation of their activities. www.advomatic.com.
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