tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/dartmouth-college-1720/articlesDartmouth College2023-04-07T12:13:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032262023-04-07T12:13:16Z2023-04-07T12:13:16ZMLB home run counts are rising – and global warming is playing a role<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519633/original/file-20230405-20-qoakrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3000%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another homer off the bat of Aaron Judge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/1afab4defa934a1db3455fc35f5fe688">AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Home runs are exhilarating – those lofting moments when everyone looks skyward, baseball players and fans alike, anxiously awaiting the outcome: run or out, win or loss, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KIAT6saGZA">elation or despair</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past several Major League Baseball seasons, home run numbers have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkeNJqqKX5I">climbed dramatically</a>, including Aaron Judge’s <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-judge-breaks-roger-maris-home-run-record-with-62">record-breaking 62 homers</a> for the New York Yankees in 2022.</p>
<p>Baseball analysts have pointed to many different factors for this surge, from changes in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/sports/baseball/mlb-change-baseball-rawlings.html">baseball construction</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/mlb-launch-angles-story/">advances in game analytics</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0235.1">Our study</a>, published April 7, 2023, offers solid evidence for another cause – rising global temperatures.</p>
<h2>What we learned from 100,000 baseball games</h2>
<p>The physics tell a simple and compelling story: Warm air is less dense than cool air. As air heats up and molecules move faster, the air expands, leaving more space between molecules. As a result, a batted ball should fly farther on a warmer day than it would on a cooler day owing to less air resistance.</p>
<p>This simple physical link has prompted <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-warming-more-baseball-home-runs/">speculation</a> from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/tim-mccarver-may-not-be-crazy-the-home-run-and-global-warming-connection/2012/04/30/gIQA1hI1rT_blog.html">media</a> about the connection between climate change and home runs. </p>
<p>But while scientists like <a href="http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/nathan-papers.html">Alan Nathan</a> have shown that balls <a href="http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/Effect%20of%20Temperature%20on%20Home%20Run%20Production.pdf">go farther in higher temperatures</a>, no formal scientific investigation had been performed to prove that global warming is helping fuel baseball’s home run spree – until now.</p>
<p><iframe id="T7XOY" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/T7XOY/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jpm35hwAAAAJ&hl=en">In</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QrmlrE0AAAAJ&hl=en">our</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0235.1">study</a>, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in collaboration with anthropologists (and baseball fans) <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZGD7vx8AAAAJ&hl=en">Nathaniel J. Dominy</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jkr2M6kAAAAJ&hl=en">Jeremy M. DeSilva</a>, we used data from over 100,000 Major League Baseball games and 200,000 individual batted balls, alongside observed game day temperatures, to show that warming temperatures have, in fact, increased the number of home runs.</p>
<p>Based on data between 1962 – when <a href="https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/mantle-mickey">Mickey Mantle was American League MVP</a> and <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/history/season/_/year/1962">Willie Mays topped the home run chart</a> – and 2019, we found that a game that is 10 degrees Celsius (18 degree Fahrenheit) warmer than the average game would have nearly 20% more home runs than average. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A ball player raises one finger in the air as he runs the bases, with bright stadium lights behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519637/original/file-20230405-26-6emh2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The San Diego Padres’ Ha-Seong Kim celebrates a game-ending home run on April 3, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/1afab4defa934a1db3455fc35f5fe688">AP Photo/Gregory Bull</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, what about everything else that drives home runs? </p>
<p>We can’t run a controlled experiment where we replay each pitch cast since the 1960s and vary only the temperature to assess its effect on home runs. But we can use the trove of data on home runs and temperature to statistically estimate its effect. Whether a game is hotter or cooler than average is not likely to be related to other factors driving home runs, like <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/">ball construction</a>, <a href="https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/rjmorgan/mba211/Steroids%20and%20Major%20League%20Baseball.pdf">steroid abuse</a>, game analytics or <a href="https://sabr.org/journal/article/high-altitude-offense-an-empirical-examination-of-the-relationship-between-runs-scored-and-stadium-elevation/">elevation differences among ballparks</a>. This fact allows us to statistically isolate the <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures">role of temperature</a>. </p>
<p>To verify our game-level model, we use data from <a href="https://technology.mlblogs.com/introducing-statcast-2023-high-frame-rate-bat-and-biomechanics-tracking-3844890264a6">high-speed cameras</a> that ballparks have had since 2015. The cameras provide the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68V-MTm7nUk">launch angle</a> and launch velocity of each hit – 200,000 of them were included in our study. This means we can compare a ball coming off a bat at the same angle and velocity on a warm day and a cool day – near-perfect experimental conditions. </p>
<p>The high-speed camera model nearly exactly replicated the effect of temperature on home runs that we estimated with the game-level data. With this observed relationship between game day temperatures and home runs in hand, we were able to use experiments from climate models to estimate how many home runs have occurred because of climate change so far. </p>
<p>We found that more than 500 home runs since 2010 could be directly linked to reduced air densities driven by human-caused global warming.</p>
<h2>More homers in a warming future</h2>
<p>We can use the same approach to make estimates about home runs in the future. </p>
<p>For example, if the world continues to pump out greenhouse gas emissions <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-high-emissions-rcp8-5-global-warming-scenario/">at a high rate</a>, the temperature will continue to climb, and that could soon yield several hundred additional home runs per year. It could add up to several thousand home runs cumulatively over the 21st century.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519147/original/file-20230403-14-5kqu35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Increase in average number of home runs per year for each U.S. major league ballpark with every 1-degree Celsius (1.8 F) increase in global average temperature. Domed parks control the temperature on the field, so warming is less of a factor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/980110">Christopher W. Callahan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teams have ways to counter the heat. They can shift day games to be played at night, for example, or build domes over ballparks. In Denver, where the air is less dense because of its higher elevation, the Rockies <a href="https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/13057/baseball-proguestus-home-runs-and-humidors-is-there-a-connection/">started storing game balls in a humidor</a> in 2002 to make them “<a href="https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/13057/baseball-proguestus-home-runs-and-humidors-is-there-a-connection/a">mushier</a>,” increasing their weight and giving pitchers more of a sporting chance. </p>
<h2>It’s not all high-fives</h2>
<p>More home runs might sound exciting, but that boost in homers is also a visible sign of the much larger problems facing sports and people worldwide as the planet warms.</p>
<p><iframe id="A7Tnn" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/A7Tnn/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Rising temperatures will <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/">threaten the health and safety</a> of baseball players, fans in ballparks and people around the world. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-climate-solutions-exist-but-humanity-has-to-break-from-the-status-quo-and-embrace-innovation-202134">Without serious efforts</a> to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rising temperatures will transform <a href="https://theconversation.com/transformational-change-is-coming-to-how-people-live-on-earth-un-climate-adaptation-report-warns-which-path-will-humanity-choose-177604">nearly all aspects of society</a>, from cultural touchstones like baseball to basic human well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203226/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists analyzed 100,000 baseball games, from the days of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays to Aaron Judge. Here’s what they learned about the climate’s growing role.Christopher W. Callahan, Ph.D. Student in Climate Science, Dartmouth CollegeJustin S. Mankin, Assistant Professor of Geography, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1985742023-02-01T13:19:30Z2023-02-01T13:19:30ZA Black history primer on African Americans’ fight for equality – 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507391/original/file-20230131-14-13dugc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Barack Obama presents NBA champion and human rights advocate Bill Russell the Medal of Freedom on Feb. 15, 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-barack-obama-presents-basetball-hall-of-fame-news-photo/109136617?phrase=bill%20Russell&adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the father of Black history, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carter-G-Woodson">Carter G. Woodson</a> had a simple goal – to legitimize the study of African American history and culture.</p>
<p>To that end, in 1912, shortly after becoming the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/cawo/learn/carter-g-woodson-biography.htm">second African American</a> after <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/collection.php?cpk=1011">W.E.B. Du Bois</a> to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard, Woodson founded the <a href="https://asalh.org/">Association for the Study of Negro Life and History</a> in 1915.</p>
<p>More than 100 years later, Woodson’s goal and his work detailing the struggle of Black Americans to obtain full citizenship after centuries of systemic racism is still relevant today. </p>
<p>As dozens of <a href="https://theconversation.com/florida-gov-desantis-leads-the-gops-national-charge-against-public-education-that-includes-lessons-on-race-and-sexual-orientation-196369">GOP-controlled state legislatures</a> across the U.S. have either considered or enacted laws restricting how race is taught in public schools, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories over the years exploring the rich terrain of Black history – and the never-ending quest to form what the Founding Fathers called <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution">a more perfect union</a>.</p>
<h2>1. From the Underground Railroad to Civil War battlefields</h2>
<p>Armed with a deep faith, Harriet Tubman is most famous for her successes along the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/hatu/index.htm">Underground Railroad</a>, the interracial network of abolitionists who enabled Black people to escape from slavery along secret routes in the South to freedom in the North and Canada.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of black men and women are posing for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458947/original/file-20220420-15105-eot9se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harriet Tubman, far left, poses with her family, friends and neighbors near her barn in Auburn, N.Y., in the mid-to-late 1880s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-american-abolitionist-harriet-tubman-as-she-news-photo/514885176?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Tubman’s activities as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/02/08/harriet-tubman-spy-civil-war-union/">Civil War spy</a> are less well known. </p>
<p>As historian and Tubman biographer <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/scholars/current.html">Kate Clifford Larson</a> wrote, <a href="https://theconversation.com/harriet-tubman-led-military-raids-during-the-civil-war-as-well-as-her-better-known-slave-rescues-179730">Tubman’s devotion</a> to America’s promise of freedom endured, despite suffering decades of enslavement and second-class citizenship.</p>
<p>“I had reasoned this out in my mind,” <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/harriet/harriet.html">Tubman once said</a>. “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/harriet-tubman-led-military-raids-during-the-civil-war-as-well-as-her-better-known-slave-rescues-179730">Harriet Tubman led military raids during the Civil War as well as her better-known slave rescues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Juneteenth and the myths of emancipation</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/kris-manjapra">a scholar</a> of race and colonialism, Kris Manjapra wrote that Emancipation Days – Juneteenth in Texas – are <a href="https://theconversation.com/juneteenth-celebrates-just-one-of-the-united-states-20-emancipation-days-and-the-history-of-how-emancipated-people-were-kept-unfree-needs-to-be-remembered-too-183311">not what many people think</a>. </p>
<p>“Emancipations did not remove all the shackles that prevented Black people from obtaining full citizenship rights,” Manjapra noted. “Nor did emancipations prevent states from enacting their own laws that prohibited Black people from voting or living in white neighborhoods.”</p>
<p>Between the 1780s and 1930s, over 80 emancipations from slavery occurred, from Pennsylvania in 1780 to Sierra Leone in 1936.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="With a blue sky in the background, a Black woman stands over a crowd of people, raising her fist in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467240/original/file-20220606-26-nw9stq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Black woman raises her fist in the air during a Juneteenth reenactment celebration in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prescylia-mae-raises-her-fist-in-the-air-during-a-news-photo/1233550531?adppopup=true">Mark Felix /AFP/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, there were 20 separate emancipations in the United States alone from 1780 to 1865. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/juneteenth-celebrates-just-one-of-the-united-states-20-emancipation-days-and-the-history-of-how-emancipated-people-were-kept-unfree-needs-to-be-remembered-too-183311">Juneteenth celebrates just one of the United States’ 20 emancipation days – and the history of how emancipated people were kept unfree needs to be remembered, too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. An image of a lynching found in a family photo album</h2>
<p>As director of the Lynching in Texas project, historian <a href="https://www.shsu.edu/academics/history/faculty/jeffrey-l-littlejohn-phd">Jeffrey L. Littlejohn</a>
provided the <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-familys-photo-album-includes-images-of-a-vacation-a-wedding-anniversary-and-the-lynching-of-a-black-man-in-texas-183704">very kind of analysis</a> that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican legislators in Texas want to ban from public schools. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dozens of men wearing hats have their heads down as they look at the site where three black men were burned at the stake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465119/original/file-20220524-26-dcg4yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scene of the burnings of Johnny Cornish, Mose Jones and Snap Curry in Kirvin, Texas, on May 6, 1922.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063130335364">Jeff Littlejohn</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among the many documents and relics Littlejohn has received, one package stood out. Inside was a family album of photographs filled with the usual images of memories – a vacation, a wedding anniversary dinner – but also, one of the lynching of a Black man.</p>
<p>During the Jim Crow era, <a href="https://lynchingintexas.org/tours/show/4">lynchings occurred regularly</a> in Texas – with 16 in 1922 alone.</p>
<p>But in 2021, the GOP-controlled state Legislature in Texas <a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=871&Bill=SB3">enacted a law</a> prohibiting K-12 educators from teaching that “slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from … the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.” </p>
<p>In other words, as Littlejohn wrote, “this interpretation holds that slavery, racism and racism’s deadly manifestation, lynching, did not serve as systemic forces that shaped Texas history but were instead aberrations.”</p>
<p>The photo album serves as a direct challenge to that interpretation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-familys-photo-album-includes-images-of-a-vacation-a-wedding-anniversary-and-the-lynching-of-a-black-man-in-texas-183704">One family's photo album includes images of a vacation, a wedding anniversary and the lynching of a Black man in Texas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Black soldiers fight racism and Nazis during World War II</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624655/half-american-by-matthew-f-delmont/">his book</a> “Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad,” historian <a href="https://history.dartmouth.edu/people/matthew-f-delmont">Matthew Delmont</a> explored <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-story-of-black-soldiers-and-the-red-ball-express-during-world-war-ii-179743">the idea of Black patriotism</a> and how many Black soldiers saw their service as a way to demonstrate the capabilities of their race. </p>
<p>Prompted by the <a href="https://newpittsburghcourier.com/">Pittsburgh Courier</a>, an influential Black newspaper during the 1940s, Delmont wrote that Black Americans rallied behind the Double V campaign during the war – victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black soldiers are seen filling up gasoline tanks for dozens of trucks used to transport military supplies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this October 1944 photograph, Black soldiers are filling up gasoline tanks for the Red Ball Express.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/picture-taken-in-france-in-october-1944-showing-a-supply-news-photo/1172719702?adppopup=true">AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the war, the Red Ball Express, the Allied forces’ transportation unit that delivered supplies to the front lines, was one example of such exceptional performance.</p>
<p>From August through November 1944, the mostly Black force moved more than 400,000 tons of ammunition, gasoline, medical supplies and rations to battlefronts in France, Belgium and Germany.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-story-of-black-soldiers-and-the-red-ball-express-during-world-war-ii-179743">The forgotten story of Black soldiers and the Red Ball Express during World War II</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. An NBA champion’s cerebral fight for equal rights</h2>
<p>In his biography of Bill Russell, “King of the Court,” <a href="https://www.memphis.edu/history/faculty/faculty/aram-goudsouzian.php">Aram Goudsouzian</a> wrote that the NBA champion <a href="https://theconversation.com/bill-russells-legacy-of-nba-championships-and-cerebral-fight-for-equal-rights-188032">sought to find worth</a> in basketball amid the racial tumult of the civil rights movement.</p>
<p>He emerged from that crucible by crafting a persona that one teammate called “a kingly arrogance.”</p>
<p>Russell, who died July, 31, 2022, was the NBA’s first Black superstar, its first Black champion and its first Black coach.</p>
<p>As a civil rights activist, Russell questioned the nonviolence philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. and defended the militant ideas of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. He refused to accept segregated accommodations in the Deep South and recalled instances of police brutality during his childhood in Oakland, California.<br>
“It’s a thing you want to scream,” Russell wrote. “I MUST HAVE MY MANHOOD.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bill-russells-legacy-of-nba-championships-and-cerebral-fight-for-equal-rights-188032">Bill Russell's legacy of NBA championships and cerebral fight for equal rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
America’s complicated history with race can be told through the lives and times of Black Americans, a view that some GOP-controlled state legislatures want to restrict, if not outright ban.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1971562023-01-17T06:07:47Z2023-01-17T06:07:47ZCensus data shows England and Wales are more ethnically diverse – and less segregated – than ever before<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503451/original/file-20230106-24-lihvhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mass-people-walking-through-streets-london-2244048033">4kclips | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>National census data is the best tool – the gold standard – for obtaining the full, detailed picture of how the UK’s population is changing at the local level. In November 2022, publication of 2021 census data on <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/bulletins/ethnicgroupenglandandwales/census2021">ethnic groups</a> presented an unrivalled opportunity to gain insights into the changing ethnic mosaic of England and Wales.</p>
<p>Many media reports on the data focused on the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/29/leicester-and-birmingham-are-uk-first-minority-majority-cities-census-reveals">growth</a> of minority ethnic populations in cities including London, Birmingham, and Leicester. Local authority districts where white people no longer formed a majority of the population – so-called “minority-majority” places – drew special attention.</p>
<p>We have published the first peer-reviewed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12507">analysis</a> of the geographies of ethnic diversity and residential segregation using data from the 2021 census. We also compared the results for 2021 with the three previous censuses from 2011, 2001 and 1991. We found that, increasingly, many places in Britain are most accurately described as highly ethnically diverse.</p>
<p>Our analysis showed that residential separation between people of different ethnic groups is decreasing. This new finding for 2021 confirms the <a href="https://theconversation.com/britain-is-becoming-more-diverse-not-more-segregated-68610">steady decline in segregation</a> noted in all censuses since 1991. </p>
<p>We argue that focusing on diversity and complexity is more helpful than framing the discussion in terms of a white majority and “non-white” minorities. </p>
<p><strong>Population breakdowns by ethnic group for the most ethnically diverse districts outside London in 2021:</strong></p>
<h2>Changing residential patterns</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2021-will-reveal-how-a-year-of-lockdowns-and-furlough-has-transformed-the-uk-157337">2021 census of England and Wales</a>, people were asked to identify their ethnic background. The 2021 census specifies 19 ethnic groups, which we merged in our analysis into 16 to enable comparison over time with previous censuses: white British, white Irish, other white, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, black African, black Caribbean, mixed white and black Caribbean, mixed white and black African, mixed white and Asian, other mixed, other Asian, other black, and any other.</p>
<p>We analysed residential patterns of different ethnic groups at three geographic scales. First, England and Wales as a whole. Then, the 331 districts (or local authorites) of which the two nations are comprised. And finally, the 36 thousand local neighbourhoods into which those local authorities are broken down (specifically, what the Office for National Statistics (ONS) refer to as “<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/ukgeographies/censusgeographies/census2021geographies#lower-layer-super-output-areas-lsoas">lower layer super output areas</a>”). </p>
<p>We found that the smaller the share of a district’s population that is white British, the greater the ethnic diversity of that district. Our research found that those places where white British as a group comprises less than half the population are, in fact, the most diverse places in England and Wales, home to sizeable proportions of people from many ethnic groups.</p>
<p>The most diverse district in England and Wales is the London borough of Newham, where people of Bangladeshi heritage had a 16% share of the population, followed by white British (15%), other white (15%), black African (12%) and Indian (11%). People from other ethnic groups made up the remaining third of Newham’s population. </p>
<p>Districts outside of London, of course, were also ethnically mixed. In Slough (the sixth most diverse district), the top four ethnic groups were white British (24%), Pakistani (22%), Indian (19%) and other white (11%). Further afield, in Manchester, the largest ethnic groups were white British (49%), Pakistani (12%), black African (9%) and other white (6%).</p>
<h2>Ethnic diversity is increasing</h2>
<p>In population studies, to compare levels of ethnic diversity between places and over time, we can use the reciprocal diversity index (RDI), with scores ranging from zero (one ethnic group only in an area) to 100 (equal share of all ethnic groups). Our findings show that ethnic diversity in England and Wales has steadily increased: from 2.02 in 2001, to 3.56 in 2011, to 5.14 in 2021.</p>
<p><strong>Reciprocal diversity index (RDI) scores across neighbourhoods in England and Wales for 2021:</strong></p>
<p>This growth of ethnic diversity at national and district levels is mirrored at the local level. Many neighbourhoods in large cities (such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Leicester) have seen increasing diversity. And beyond metropolitan areas, we found fewer neighbourhoods with low levels of ethnic diversity than ever. </p>
<p>There is a clear expansion of ethnic diversity beyond city boundaries to many formerly non-diverse neighbourhoods in smaller towns and suburban locales. The number of neighbourhoods with very high levels of diversity (RDI of 30 or more) was 2,201 in 2021 (representing 6.2% of neighbourhoods). This is up from 1,578 in 2011 (4.4%), and just 342 (1.0%) in 2001. </p>
<p>Most neighbourhoods do remain majority white British, as do England and Wales as nations. The trend towards diversity, however, is unequivocal. People from many ethnic groups are living side by side not just in the biggest urban centres but in smaller cities, towns and neighbourhoods too.</p>
<p>Misleading narratives from populist politicians have long focused on a white/“non-white” framing of the population. A prime example was Nigel Farage’s <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1597626503432671233">response</a> to the 2021 census data, in which he mistakenly claimed that “London, Birmingham and Manchester are all now minority white cities”. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/63806518">BBC</a> and the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/statementoninaccurateclaimsaboutcountryofbirthstatisticsandthecensus">Office for National Statistics</a> promptly corrected this misstatement. They clarified the nature of the changing populations of these areas by distinguishing between people who identify as “white” (a broad grouping that includes Irish, Gypsy or Irish Traveller, Roma, and “other white”) or white British. The white population of Birmingham is slightly less than half, while for London and Manchester the share remains above 50%. </p>
<p>Amid <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/publications/over-exposed-and-under-protected">discussions</a> around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-is-the-key-to-understanding-ethnic-inequalities-in-covid-19-despite-what-uk-government-says-148838">unequal impacts</a> of the pandemic on people from minoritised ethnic groups, there have been <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpub/PIIS2468-2667(20)30162-6.pdf">calls</a> to no longer use the labels “black and minority ethnic” (BME) or “black, Asian and minority ethnic” (BAME). The reason is that these terms <a href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/writing-about-ethnicity#bame-and-bme">clump together</a> different minority ethnic groups. </p>
<p>The collective that these labels purport to represent only serves to obscure the distinct <a href="https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/display/book/9781447351269/9781447351269.xml">inequalities</a> associated with health, housing, employment, and education that people from individual groups face. </p>
<p>Adopting a binary “white/non-white” perspective on the changing ethnic mosaic of England and Wales is unhelpful. Its simplistic focus stokes anxieties about group differences and misrepresents the complexity of an ever more diverse Britain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gemma Catney and Richard Wright, along with Christopher D. Lloyd, Mark Ellis, Nissa Finney, Stephen Jivraj, and David Manley, co-authored the original paper (published in The Geographical Journal) on which this article is based.
Gemma Catney receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the project ‘Geographies of Ethnic Diversity and Inequalities (GEDI)’ (award ES/W012499/1).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Wright receives funding from the ESRC.</span></em></p>Instead of framing discussions about the UK population in terms of a white majority and “non-white” minorities, complexity should be the focus. Britain is increasingly diverse and less segregated.Gemma Catney, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Queen's University BelfastRichard Wright, Professor of Geography, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917742022-10-03T17:27:16Z2022-10-03T17:27:16Z« L’effet Mandela », ou quand notre esprit fabrique de faux souvenirs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487798/original/file-20221003-26-m6zuct.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C13%2C1120%2C759&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nous partageons des faux souvenirs à propos de certaines icônes culturelles. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Imaginez le bonhomme sur la boîte de Monopoly. D’après vous, il porte un monocle, ou pas ?</p>
<p>Si vous imaginez que le personnage du célèbre jeu de société en porte un, vous avez tort. En fait, <a href="https://www.cracked.com/article_24565_hard-truth-time-monopoly-guy-never-had-monocle.html">il n’en a jamais porté</a>.</p>
<p>Il se trouve que de nombreuses personnes partagent les mêmes souvenirs erronés. Ce phénomène se produit pour bien d’autres personnages, logos et citations. Par exemple, on pense souvent que Pikachu, le célèbre Pokémon, a le bout de la queue noir, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/pikachu-black-tail-belief-theory/">alors que ce n’est pas le cas</a>. Et <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/99hv43/fruit_of_the_loom_cornucopia/">beaucoup de gens sont convaincus</a> que le logo de la marque de vêtements Fruit of the Loom comprend une corne d’abondance – alors que non.</p>
<p>Les gens ont tendance à être perplexes lorsqu’ils apprennent qu’ils partagent les mêmes faux souvenirs avec d’autres personnes. Cela s’explique en partie par le fait qu’ils supposent que ce dont ils se souviennent et ce qu’ils oublient devrait être entièrement subjectif et basé sur leurs propres expériences personnelles.</p>
<p>Or, nos recherches montrent que les gens ont tendance à <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2019.02.001">se souvenir et à oublier les mêmes images</a> les uns que les autres, quelle que soit la diversité de leurs expériences individuelles. Récemment, nous avons montré que ces similitudes dans nos <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/nzh3s">souvenirs s’étendent même à nos faux souvenirs</a>.</p>
<p>Nous avons nommé ce phénomène de faux souvenirs partagés pour certaines images « l’effet Mandela visuel ».</p>
<h2>Qu’est-ce que l’effet Mandela ?</h2>
<p>L’expression <a href="https://mandelaeffect.com/nelson-mandela-died-in-prison/">« effet Mandela » a été inventé par Fiona Broome</a>, une « chercheuse en paranormal » qui se décrit elle-même comme telle, pour décrire son faux souvenir de l’ancien président sud-africain Nelson Mandela qu’elle croyait mort en prison dans les années 1980. Elle s’est rendue compte que de nombreuses autres personnes partageaient ce même faux souvenir et a écrit un article à ce propos sur son site web. Le concept de faux souvenirs partagés s’est alors répandu en ligne sur les forums et sur certains sites, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/">comme Reddit</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Plus de 80 000 lecteurs font confiance à la newsletter de The Conversation pour mieux comprendre les grands enjeux du monde</em>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/newsletters/la-newsletter-quotidienne-5?utm_source=inline-70ksignup">Abonnez-vous aujourd'hui</a>]</p>
<p>Depuis lors, des exemples de l’effet Mandela ont été largement partagés sur Internet. Par exemple, beaucoup de gens croient que C-3PO, dans <em>Star Wars</em>, a les deux jambes en dorées <a href="https://screencrush.com/c3po-silver-leg/">alors qu’il a une jambe dorée et une jambe argentée</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Étiquette de T-shirt comportant un logo avec des dessins de fruits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le logo de Fruit of the Loom n’a jamais inclus de corne d’abondance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Fruit_of_the_Loom%2C_t-shirt_label.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>L’effet Mandela est fréquemment utilisé par les conspirationnistes – les faux souvenirs sont si forts et si spécifiques que <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12348">certaines personnes y voient la preuve d’une dimension alternative</a>.</p>
<p>C’est pour cette raison que la recherche scientifique n’a étudié l’effet Mandela que comme un exemple de la façon dont les théories du complot se répandent sur Internet. Il y a eu très peu de recherches sur l’effet Mandela en tant que phénomène lié au fonctionnement de la mémoire.</p>
<p>Mais comprendre pourquoi certains logos ou icônes culturelles déclenchent de faux souvenirs si spécifiques pourrait nous permettre de mieux comprendre comment se forment les faux souvenirs. L’effet Mandela visuel, qui affecte spécifiquement les images, est un moyen parfait d’étudier ce phénomène.</p>
<h2>Un phénomène robuste de fausse mémoire</h2>
<p>Pour vérifier si l’effet visuel Mandela existe réellement, <a href="https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nzh3s">nous avons mené une expérience</a> dans laquelle nous avons présenté à des personnes trois versions de la même image. L’une était correcte et les deux autres étaient modifiées, et nous leur avons demandé de sélectionner la version correcte. Il y avait 40 ensembles d’images, dont le C-3PO de la franchise <em>Star Wars</em>, le logo Fruit of the Loom et le bonhomme Monopoly.</p>
<p>Les résultats, qui ont été publiés dans la revue <em>Psychological Sciences</em>, montrent que les participants ont obtenu de très mauvais résultats pour sept d’entre elles, ne choisissant la bonne image qu’environ ou moins de 33 % du temps. Pour ces sept images, les gens identifiaient systématiquement la même version incorrecte, ne choisissant pas au hasard l’une des deux versions incorrectes. En outre, les participants ont déclaré être très confiants dans leurs choix et avoir une grande familiarité avec ces icônes malgré leurs erreurs.</p>
<p>Tout cela constitue une preuve évidente du phénomène dont les internautes parlent depuis des années : l’effet Mandela visuel est une erreur de mémoire réelle et cohérente.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Un exemple d’ensemble d’images de l’étude, avec trois versions d’un animal jaune de dessin animé" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">La version correcte de Pikachu est celle de gauche. La plupart des participants à l’étude ont non seulement choisi une mauvaise version du populaire personnage de dessin animé, mais ils ont également choisi la même mauvaise version – le Pikachu avec le bout noir sur sa queue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wilma Bainbridge et Deepasri Prasad</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nous avons constaté que cet effet de faux souvenirs était incroyablement fort, et ce même si l’on applique différents protocoles pour tester la mémoire. Même lorsqu’on montrait la version correcte de l’image aux participants, ils choisissaient toujours la « mauvaise » version quelques minutes plus tard.</p>
<p>Et lorsqu’on leur demandait de dessiner librement les images en faisant appel à leur mémoire, ils incluaient encore ces mêmes caractéristiques incorrectes.</p>
<h2>Pas de cause universelle</h2>
<p>Quelle est la cause de cette fausse mémoire partagée pour des images spécifiques ?</p>
<p>Nous avons constaté que les caractéristiques visuelles telles que la couleur et la luminosité ne pouvaient pas expliquer cet effet. Nous avons également suivi les mouvements de la souris des participants pendant qu’ils regardaient les images sur un écran d’ordinateur pour voir s’ils n’avaient tout simplement pas balayé une partie particulière, comme la queue de Pikachu. Mais même lorsque les gens voyaient directement la partie correcte de l’image, ils choisissaient toujours la fausse version immédiatement après. Nous avons également constaté que pour la plupart des icônes, il était peu probable que les personnes aient vu la fausse version au préalable et qu’elles se souviennent simplement de cette version, plutôt que de la version correcte.</p>
<p>Il se peut qu’il n’y ait pas de cause universelle unique à ces erreurs. Des images différentes peuvent susciter l’effet visuel Mandela pour différentes raisons. Certaines pourraient être liées à des attentes préalables à l’égard d’une image, d’autres à une expérience visuelle antérieure avec une image et d’autres encore à quelque chose de totalement différent des images elles-mêmes. Par exemple, nous avons constaté que, dans la plupart des cas, les gens ne voient que le haut du corps de C-3PO dans les médias. Le souvenir erroné de la jambe dorée pourrait être le résultat de l’utilisation de connaissances antérieures – les corps sont généralement d’une seule couleur – pour combler cette lacune.</p>
<p>Mais le fait que nous puissions démontrer des constantes dans les faux souvenirs pour certaines icônes suggère qu’une partie de ce qui motive les faux souvenirs dépend de notre environnement – et est indépendant de nos expériences subjectives du monde.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Apprendre que l’on partage de faux souvenirs avec des inconnus, voilà qui peut rendre perplexe. Mais nos souvenirs ne reposent pas uniquement sur notre expérience personnelle.Deepasri Prasad, Ph.D. Student in Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth CollegeWilma Bainbridge, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1882692022-09-23T12:33:33Z2022-09-23T12:33:33ZNew study seeks to explain the ‘Mandela Effect’ – the bizarre phenomenon of shared false memories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485906/original/file-20220921-24-2f1xe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C3%2C2222%2C1456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When asked to recall the popular children's book series 'The Berenstain Bears,' many people make the same error by spelling it 'The Berenstein Bears.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/lori-carhart-of-agoura-reads-a-book-called-learn-about-news-photo/563565289?adppopup=true">Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine the Monopoly Man.</p>
<p>Is he wearing a monocle or not?</p>
<p>If you pictured the character from the popular board game wearing one, you’d be wrong. In fact, <a href="https://www.cracked.com/article_24565_hard-truth-time-monopoly-guy-never-had-monocle.html">he has never worn one</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re surprised by this, you’re not alone. Many people possess the same false memory of this character. This phenomenon takes place for other characters, logos and quotes, too. For example, Pikachu from Pokémon is often thought to have a black tip on his tail, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/pikachu-black-tail-belief-theory/">which he doesn’t have</a>. And <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/99hv43/fruit_of_the_loom_cornucopia/">many people are convinced</a> that the Fruit of the Loom logo includes a cornucopia. It doesn’t.</p>
<p>We call this phenomenon of shared false memories for certain cultural icons the “visual Mandela Effect.” </p>
<p>People tend to be puzzled when they learn that they share the same false memories with other people. That’s partly because they assume that what they remember and forget ought to be subjective and based on their own personal experiences.</p>
<p>However, research we have conducted shows that people tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2019.02.001">remember and forget the same images</a> as one another, regardless of the diversity of their individual experiences. Recently, we have shown these similarities in our <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/nzh3s">memories even extend to our false memories</a>.</p>
<h2>What is the Mandela Effect?</h2>
<p>The term <a href="https://mandelaeffect.com/nelson-mandela-died-in-prison/">“Mandela Effect” was coined by Fiona Broome</a>, a self-described paranormal researcher, to describe her false memory of former South African president Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s. She realized that many other people also shared this same false memory and wrote an article about her experience on her website. The concept of shared false memories spread to other forums and websites, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/">including Reddit</a>. </p>
<p>Since then, examples of the Mandela Effect have been widely shared on the internet. These include names like “the Berenstain Bears,” a children’s book series that is falsely remembered as spelled “-ein” instead of “-ain,” and characters like Star Wars’ C-3PO, who is falsely remembered with two gold legs <a href="https://screencrush.com/c3po-silver-leg/">instead of one gold and one silver leg</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="T-shirt tag featuring a logo with drawings of fruit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486259/original/file-20220923-8064-7iecsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Fruit of the Loom logo has never had a cornucopia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Fruit_of_the_Loom%2C_t-shirt_label.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Mandela Effect became fodder for conspiracists – the false memories so strong and so specific that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12348">some people see them as evidence of an alternate dimension</a>.</p>
<p>Because of that, scientific research has only studied the Mandela Effect as an example of how conspiracy theories spread on the internet. There has been very little research looking into the Mandela Effect as a memory phenomenon. </p>
<p>But understanding why these icons trigger such specific false memories might give us more insight into how false memories form. The visual Mandela Effect, which affects icons specifically, was a perfect way to study this. </p>
<h2>A robust false memory phenomenon</h2>
<p>To see whether the visual Mandela Effect really exists, <a href="https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nzh3s">we ran an experiment</a> in which we presented people with three versions of the same icon. One was correct and two were manipulated, and we asked them to select the correct one. There were 40 sets of icons, and they included C-3PO from the Star Wars franchise, the Fruit of the Loom logo and the Monopoly Man from the board game. </p>
<p>In the results, which have been accepted for publication in the journal Psychological Sciences, we found that people fared very poorly on seven of them, only choosing the correct one around or less than 33% of the time. For these seven images, people consistently identified the same incorrect version, not just randomly choosing one of the two incorrect versions. In addition, participants reported being very confident in their choices and having high familiarity with these icons despite being wrong. </p>
<p>Put together, it’s clear evidence of the phenomenon that people on the internet have talked about for years: The visual Mandela Effect is a real and consistent memory error.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An example of a set of images shown from the study, with three versions of a yellow cartoon animal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486260/original/file-20220923-19-qehx50.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The correct version of Pikachu is the one on the left. Most participants in the study not only chose a wrong version of the popular cartoon character, but they also chose the same wrong one – the Pikachu with the black tip on its tail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wilma Bainbridge and Deepasri Prasad</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that this false memory effect was incredibly strong, across multiple different ways of testing memory. Even when people saw the correct version of the icon, they still chose the incorrect version just a few minutes later. </p>
<p>And when asked to freely draw the icons from their memory, people also included the same incorrect features.</p>
<h2>No universal cause</h2>
<p>What causes this shared false memory for specific icons? </p>
<p>We found that visual features like color and brightness could not explain the effect. We also tracked participants’ mouse movements as they viewed the images on a computer screen to see if they simply didn’t scan over a particular part, such as Pikachu’s tail. But even when people directly viewed the correct part of the image, they still chose the false version immediately afterward. We also found that for most icons, it was unlikely people had seen the false version beforehand and were just remembering that version, rather than the correct version.</p>
<p>It may be that there is no one universal cause. Different images may elicit the visual Mandela Effect for different reasons. Some could be related to prior expectations for an image, some might be related to prior visual experience with an image and others could have to do with something entirely different than the images themselves. For example, we found that, for the most part, people only see C-3PO’s upper body depicted in media. The falsely remembered gold leg might be a result of them using prior knowledge – bodies are usually only one color – to fill in this gap. </p>
<p>But the fact that we can demonstrate consistencies in false memories for certain icons suggests that part of what drives false memories is dependent on our environment – and independent of our subjective experiences with the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People are puzzled when they learn they share the same false memories with others. That’s partly because they assume that what they remember and forget ought to be based only on personal experience.Deepasri Prasad, Ph.D. Student in Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth CollegeWilma Bainbridge, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880482022-08-01T20:49:11Z2022-08-01T20:49:11ZThe story behind ‘Star Trek’ actress Nichelle Nichols’ iconic interracial kiss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476990/original/file-20220801-73371-j3yn5e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C526%2C371&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The kiss aired one year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned laws banning interracial marriage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nichelle-nichols-as-uhura-and-william-shatner-as-captain-news-photo/156913470?adppopup=true">CBS via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708443/">a 1968 episode</a> of “Star Trek,” Nichelle Nichols, playing Lt. Uhura, locked lips with William Shatner’s Capt. Kirk in what’s widely thought to be first kiss between a Black woman and white man on American television. </p>
<p>The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lt. Uhura and Capt. Kirk to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on. </p>
<p>The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a Black woman kissing a white man was a daring move. The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx">fewer than 20% of Americans approved of such relationships</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tMLTqzcAAAAJ&hl=en">As a historian of civil rights and media</a>, I’ve been fascinated by the woman at the center of this landmark television moment. Casting Nichols, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/obituaries/nichelle-nichols-dead.html">who died</a> on July 30, 2022, created possibilities for more creative and socially relevant <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&authuser=2&gmla=AJsN-F5Tq3S07JaTym4ggipQ2ywifKwXWexcK4OKzMurZJvHMSp4Ay3a-7D2FrPLHlppsoEw7gbBOO8SRsu2uxvQ50GkEDmajw&user=tMLTqzcAAAAJ">“Star Trek” storylines</a>.</p>
<p>But just as significant is Nichols’ off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek” to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.</p>
<h2>‘A triumph of modern-day TV’</h2>
<p>In 1966, “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichols to play Lt. Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first Black woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.</p>
<p>The Black press was quick to heap praise on Nichols’ pioneering role. </p>
<p>The Norfolk Journal and Guide hoped that it would “broaden her race’s foothold on the tube.” </p>
<p>The magazine Ebony featured Nichols <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6iZkedjSfZoC&lpg=PA70&vq=%2522Nichelle%2520Nichols%2522&dq=%2522Nichelle%20Nichols%2522&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false">on its January 1967 cover</a> and described Uhura as “the first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.”</p>
<p>Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk almost never happened.</p>
<p>After the first season of “Star Trek” concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and always dreamed of returning to the Big Apple. </p>
<p>But at an NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.</p>
<p>Nichols would later recount their interaction. </p>
<p>“You must not leave,” <a href="https://youtu.be/pSq_UIuxba8">King told her</a>. “You have opened a door that must not be allowed to close … you changed the face of television forever. … For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.” </p>
<p>King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/gene-roddenberry-son-star-trek_n_1119119.html">she was</a> a “hero” to his children.</p>
<p>With King’s encouragement, Nichols stayed on “Star Trek” for the original series’ full three-year run. </p>
<p>Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season. Nichols <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKKkGhEDoU">recalled</a> that NBC executives closely monitored the filming because they were nervous about how Southern television stations and viewers would react.</p>
<p>After the episode aired, the network did receive an outpouring of letters from viewers – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRfRXcP1Gsg">and the majority were positive</a>. </p>
<p>In 1982, Nichols would tell the Baltimore Afro-American that she was amused by the amount of attention the kiss generated, especially because her own heritage was “a blend of races that includes Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and a ‘blond blue-eyed ancestor or two.’”</p>
<h2>Space crusader</h2>
<p>But Nichols’ legacy would be defined by far more than a kiss.</p>
<p>After NBC canceled Star Trek in 1969, Nichols took minor acting roles on two television series, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053510/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Insight</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066645/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The D.A.</a>” She would also play a madam in the 1974 blaxploitation film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Truck Turner</a>.” </p>
<p>She also started to dabble in activism and education. In 1975, Nichols established Women in Motion Inc. and won several government contracts to produce educational programs related to space and science. By 1977, she had been appointed to the board of directors of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Space_Institute">National Space Institute</a>, a civil space advocacy organization.</p>
<p>That year she gave a speech at the institute’s annual meeting. In it, she critiqued the lack of women and minorities in the astronaut corps, <a href="https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/30908/201302SH.pdf">challenging NASA</a> to “come down from your ivory tower of intellectual pursuit, because the next Einstein might have a Black face – and she’s female.”</p>
<p>Several of NASA’s top administrators were in the audience. They invited her to lead an astronaut recruitment program for the new space shuttle program. Soon, she packed her bags and began traveling the country, visiting high schools and colleges, speaking with professional organizations and legislators, and appearing on national television programs such as “Good Morning America.”</p>
<p>“The aim was to find qualified people among women and minorities, then to convince them that the opportunity was real and that it also was a duty, because this was historic,” Nichols told the Baltimore Afro-American in 1979. “I really had this sense of purpose about it myself.” </p>
<p>In her 1994 autobiography, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AbtNPgAACAAJ&dq=Beyond+Uhura&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiatNz-xpDdAhXCTN8KHdQ2AdwQ6AEIJzAA">Beyond Uhura</a>,” Nichols recalled that in the seven months before the recruitment program began, “NASA had received only 1,600 applications, including fewer than 100 from women and 35 from minority candidates.” But by the end of June 1977, “just four months after we assumed our task, 8,400 applications were in, including 1,649 from women (a fifteen-fold increase) and an astounding 1,000 from minorities.” </p>
<p>Nichols’ campaign recruited several trailblazing astronauts, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Guion Bluford, the first African American in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nichelle Nichols speaks after the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday in September 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Space-Shuttle-Last-Stop/f4c443def09a428c91ddcc7d6e228dde/1/0">AP Photo/Reed Saxon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Relentless advocacy for inclusion</h2>
<p>Her advocacy for inclusion and diversity wasn’t limited to the space program.</p>
<p>As one of the first Black women in a major television role, Nichols understood the importance of opening doors for minorities and women in entertainment. </p>
<p>Nichols continued to push for African Americans to have more power in film and television. </p>
<p>“Until we Blacks and minorities become not only the producers, writers and directors, but the buyers and distributors, we’re not going to change anything,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7dgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA150&ots=wbTFv3IH98&dq=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&pg=PA154#v=onepage&q=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&f=false">she told Ebony in 1985</a>. “Until we become industry, until we control media or at least have enough say, we will always be the chauffeurs and tap dancers.”</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated from <a href="https://theconversation.com/tvs-first-interracial-kiss-launched-a-lifelong-career-in-activism-101721">the original version</a> published on April 15, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188048/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Delmont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20% of Americans approved of interracial marriage.Matthew Delmont, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1875912022-07-28T09:16:06Z2022-07-28T09:16:06ZPakar Menjawab: Benarkah tidak ada pelarangan aborsi dalam Al-Quran, Alkitab, dan teks suci agama-agama lain?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476232/original/file-20220727-481-upbs0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C5734%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Agama memiliki pandangan bervariasi tentang aborsi</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/teenage-girl-with-praying-peace-hope-dreams-concept_4351526.htm#query=religion%20faith&position=11&from_view=search">Freepik</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sejak <a href="https://theconversation.com/berkaca-dari-roe-vs-wade-di-as-apakah-kebijakan-aborsi-di-indonesia-sudah-menjamin-perlindungan-terhadap-hak-hak-perempuan-atas-tubuhnya-185887">Mahkamah Agung (MA) Amerika Serikat (AS) menganulir</a> hak aborsi secara federal di negara tersebut, perdebatan pro kontra praktik aborsi mencuat di berbagai belahan negara.</p>
<p>Di Indonesia, tindakan aborsi masih banyak mengundang kontroversi. Narasi yang paling kuat adalah mengategorikan aborsi sebagai pembunuhan dan, oleh karena itu, <a href="https://islam.nu.or.id/syariah/hukum-aborsi-dalam-islam-ex63H">dilarang atas nama agama</a>. Perwakilan tokoh dari <a href="https://www.gramedia.com/literasi/agama-yang-diakui-di-indonesia/">enam agama</a> yang diakui secara hukum di Indonesia – Islam, Protestan, Katolik, Hindu, Buddha, dan Konghucu – yang tergabung dalam Majelis Keagamaan pernah membuat <a href="https://www.republika.co.id/berita/82137/semua-agama-di-indonesia-tolak-aborsi">pernyataan sikap bersama</a> yang dengan tegas menolak praktik aborsi karena bertentangan dengan ajaran agama masing-masing.</p>
<p>Faktanya, para ahli hukum keagamaan Islam dan Kristen – dua agama yang paling banyak dianut di Indonesia – mengatakan sumber-sumber tulisan keagamaan, seperti Al-Quran, Hadis, dan Alkitab, tidak pernah mengatur bahkan tidak menyatakan apapun tentang aborsi.</p>
<h2>Apa kata Al-Quran tentang aborsi?</h2>
<p>Zahra Ayubi, Associate Professor bidang keagamaan yang juga pakar etika Islam dari Dartmouth College, AS, <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-one-islamic-interpretation-on-ethics-of-abortion-but-the-belief-in-gods-mercy-and-compassion-is-a-crucial-part-of-any-consideration-184534">menegaskan</a> bahwa yang disebutkan dalam ayat-ayat Al-Quran dan hadis (perkataan dan perbuatan Nabi Muhammad) bukanlah membahas tentang aborsi itu sendiri, bukan juga tentang apakah aborsi sama dengan membunuh, namun tentang bagaimana melihat proses yang terjadi di dalam rahim sebagai bagian dari rahmat dan kasih sayang Tuhan.</p>
<p>Jadi, <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-one-islamic-interpretation-on-ethics-of-abortion-but-the-belief-in-gods-mercy-and-compassion-is-a-crucial-part-of-any-consideration-184534">bicara tentang aborsi</a>, jawabannya tergantung dari keyakinan dan kepercayaan individual tentang belas kasihan Tuhan dan keadaan mereka ketika memutuskan untuk melakukan aborsi.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Muslim woman reads the Quran." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ayat tertentu dalam Al-Quran mendeskripsikan tentang tahap kehamilan dan perkembangan janin di dalam kandungan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/sign-in?ReturnUrl=%2Fdetail%2Fphoto%2Freading-the-quran-royalty-free-image%2F567311385%3Fadppopup%3Dtrue">Marvin del Cid/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Terkait perdebatan usia kehamilan yang diperbolehkan untuk dilakukannya aborsi, Zahra mengatakan bahwa para ahli hukum Islam dan bioetika Muslim merujuk pada ayat-ayat tertentu dalam Al-Quran dan hadis yang mendeskripsikan tahap kehamilan manusia.</p>
<p>Ayat yang paling sering dikutip adalah surat <a href="https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=23&verse=11">Al-Mumimun ayat 12-14 (23:12-14)</a> yang menyebutkan:</p>
<p>“<em>Dan sesungguhnya Kami telah menciptakan manusia dari tanah liat. Kemudian Kami Tempatkan dia sebagai setetes mani di tempat peristirahatan yang kokoh, kemudian Kami ciptakan setetes mani itu menjadi zat yang menempel, kemudian Kami ciptakan zat yang menempel itu menjadi gumpalan embrio, kemudian Kami ciptakan dari tulang-tulang gumpalan embrio, kemudian Kami pakaiankan tulang-tulang itu dengan daging, kemudian Kami ciptakan sebagai makhluk yang lain. Maka Maha Suci Allah, sebaik-baik pencipta</em>.”</p>
<p>Ada juga <a href="https://hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari/sahih-bukhari-book-54-beginning-of-creation/sahih-bukhari-volume-004-book-054-hadith-number-430">hadis Bukhari: 430</a> menyebutkan tentang bagaimana Nabi Muhammad menggambarkan apa yang terjadi di dalam rahim:</p>
<p>“<em>Manusia dipertemukan dalam rahim ibu selama empat puluh hari dalam bentuk setetes cairan, dan kemudian menjadi segumpal darah kental untuk jangka waktu yang sama, dan kemudian sepotong daging untuk periode yang sama… Kemudian jiwa ditiupkan ke dalam dirinya…</em>”</p>
<p>Berdasarkan rujukan-rujukan tertulis, Islam membagi garis waktu kehamilan menjadi 3 tahap, yang berlangsung selama 120 hari (40 hari x 3 tahap). Inilah saat ketika janin diberikan ruh atau ketika Tuhan meniupkan kehidupan ke dalam janin tersebut.</p>
<p>Tahap ini diyakini sebagai titik di mana janin menjadi satu entitas hidup sepenuhnya dan sudah memiliki hak-hak kehidupan. Janin tersebut sudah memiliki hak waris; ia dapat mewariskan kepada saudara-saudaranya atau kerabatnya yang lain jika ia meninggal.</p>
<p>Pada masa itu, menurut Zahra, deskripsi tentang tahap kehamilan ini lebih bertujuan untuk menentukan hukum waris yang berlaku jika terjadi kematian janin, bukan untuk menjawab pertanyaan seputar aborsi.</p>
<h2>Alkitab tidak pernah menyebut tentang aborsi</h2>
<p>Melanie A. Howard, Associate Professor bidang studi Biblika dan Teologi dari Fresno Pacific University, AS, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-bible-actually-says-about-abortion-may-surprise-you-186983">mengatakan</a> bahwa banyak argumen berbasis keimanan yang digunakan umat Kristen untuk mendukung pandangan mereka tentang aborsi. Padahal teks berusia 2.000 tahun itu tidak pernah menyebutkan apa pun tentang aborsi.</p>
<p>Aborsi, menurut Melanie, sudah <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674168763">dikenal dan dipraktikkan</a> sejak zaman penulisan Alkitab, meskipun metodenya sangat berbeda dari metode yang digunakan di zaman modern kini.</p>
<p>Contohnya adalah <a href="https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/n870zr06z">Soranus</a>, seorang dokter Yunani, yang pernah merekomendasikan cara untuk mengakhiri kehamilan seperti dengan puasa, <em>bloodletting</em> (melukai pasien dan membiarkan darah pasien keluar sedikit demi sedikit), melompat-lompat, dan membawa beban berat.</p>
<p>Melanie mengungkapkan bahwa padanan kata “aborsi” dalam bahasa Ibrani dan Yunani tidak muncul baik dalam Perjanjian Lama maupun Perjanjian Baru. Artinya, topik tersebut tidak disebutkan secara langsung.</p>
<p>Meski demikian, tetap saja kelompok pendukung maupun penentang hak aborsi berusaha berlindung pada Alkitab untuk mendukung argumentasi dan membenarkan posisi mereka.</p>
<p>Kubu penentang hak aborsi merujuk ke beberapa teks yang menunjukkan bahwa kehidupan manusia memiliki nilai sebelum kelahiran. Misalnya, Alkitab dibuka dengan menggambarkan penciptaan manusia “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen+1%3A27&version=NRSVUE">menurut gambar Tuhan</a>”: cara untuk menjelaskan nilai kehidupan manusia, bahkan mungkin sebelum manusia dilahirkan.</p>
<p>Dalam Alkitab juga disebut beberapa tokoh penting, termasuk para nabi, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah+1%3A5&version=NRSVUE">Yeremia</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isa+49%3A1&version=NRSVUE">Yesaya</a> dan <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal+1%3A15&version=NRSVUE">Rasul Paulus</a>, yang sudah ditakdirkan mengemban tugas-tugas suci sejak mereka masih di dalam rahim. Sementara itu, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+139&version=NRSVUE">Mazmur 139</a> menegaskan bahwa Tuhan “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+139%3A13-15&version=NRSVUE">merajutku di dalam rahim ibuku</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A painting shows God's hand reaching out to touch Adam, the first human in the Bible's story of creation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474400/original/file-20220716-16-uee3tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lukisan ‘Penciptaan Adam’ di langit-langit Kapel Sistina di Vatikan, dilukis oleh Michelangelo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-creation-of-adam-from-the-sistine-chapel-ceiling-by-news-photo/566419839?adppopup=true">GraphicaArtis/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Di sisi lain, kubu pendukung hak aborsi juga bisa menggunakan teks Alkitab yang dapat mendukung argumentasi mereka.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sabda.org/sabdaweb/bible/chapter/?b=2&c=21&lang=english">Keluaran 21</a>, misalnya, yang menyebutkan:</p>
<p>“<em>Apabila ada orang berkelahi dan seorang dari mereka tertumbuk kepada seorang perempuan yang sedang mengandung, sehingga keguguran kandungan, tetapi tidak mendapat kecelakaan yang membawa maut, maka pastilah ia didenda sebanyak yang dikenakan oleh suami perempuan itu kepadanya, dan ia harus membayarnya menurut putusan hakim. Tetapi jika perempuan itu mendapat kecelakaan yang membawa maut, maka engkau harus memberikan nyawa ganti nyawa</em>.”</p>
<p>Teks tersebut kerap ditafsirkan bahwa nyawa ibu lebih diprioritaskan daripada kehidupan janin.</p>
<h2>Agama Hindu dan Buddha juga tidak melarang</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-one-religious-view-on-abortion-a-scholar-of-religion-gender-and-sexuality-explains-184532">Menurut</a> Samira Mehta, Assistant Professor bidang studi Gender, Perempuan dan Yahudi dari University of Colorado Boulder, AS, sebagian besar umat Hindu meyakini adanya <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zmgny4j/revision/3">reinkarnasi</a>, yang berarti bahwa fisik manusia hadir melalui kelahiran dan pergi melalui kematian. Akan tetapi, kehidupan sendiri tidak memiliki awal atau akhir. Setiap momen dalam tubuh manusia dilihat sebagai bagian dari siklus kehidupan yang tak berkesudahan.</p>
<p>Para ahli bioetika melihat bahwa Hinduisme pada dasarnya <a href="http://mr.crossref.org/iPage?doi=10.18502%2Fjmehm.v12i9.1340">pro-kehidupan</a>, sehingga memperbolehkan aborsi hanya jika untuk menyelamatkan nyawa ibu. Namun, jika melihat praktiknya, alih-alih merujuk pada teks-teks kuno yang dianggap suci, umat Hindu cenderung lebih mengikuti apa yang dilakukan para pendahulunya. Di India, yang mayoritas masyarakatnya adalah pemeluk Hindu, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(17)30453-9/fulltext">aborsi adalah hal biasa</a> terutama pada <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/dec/27/families-want-a-son-at-any-cost-the-women-forced-to-abort-female-foetuses-in-india">janin perempuan</a>.</p>
<p>Di AS, para komunitas Hindu imigran, komunitas Hindu Asia Amerika, dan penduduk asli yang telah memeluk agama Hindu memberikan keragaman pandangan dan pendekatan terhadap aborsi. Secara keseluruhan, 68% dari mereka <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/hindu/views-about-abortion/">meyakini</a> bahwa aborsi harus legal, terlepas apa pun alasannya.</p>
<p>Sementara itu, umat Buddha juga memiliki pandangan yang bervariasi tentang aborsi. <a href="https://rcrc.org/buddhist/">Religius Coalition for Reproductive Choice</a> – organisasi pejuang hak aborsi asal AS – menyatakan bahwa:</p>
<p>“<em>Buddhisme, seperti agama-agama lain di dunia, menghadapi kenyataan bahwa aborsi terkadang menjadi keputusan terbaik dan pilihan yang justru benar-benar bermoral. Hal ini tidak berarti tidak ada masalah sama sekali terkait praktik aborsi, tetapi ini artinya umat Buddha dapat memahami bahwa keputusan reproduksi adalah bagian dari kompleksitas moral kehidupan</em>.”</p>
<p>Pendekatan Buddha terhadap aborsi menekankan bahwa aborsi adalah keputusan moral yang kompleks yang harus dibuat dengan tujuan <a href="https://rcrc.org/buddhist/">belas kasih</a>.</p>
<h2>Misinterpretasi demi kepentingan pribadi</h2>
<p>Zahra mengatakan banyak individu yang menganggap Islam sebagai agama penindas gender dan represif terhadap hak-hak perempuan dibandingkan dengan agama lain.</p>
<p>Di AS, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/abortion-bans-religion-17259119.php">banyak yang menyebut</a> putusan MA yang menganulir Roe v. Wade sebagai “Syariat Kristen”. Ini karena mereka menganggap putusan tersebut merefleksikan pandangan Islam sembari juga sepenuhnya mengakui bahwa MA AS cenderung didominasi oleh pandangan Kristen.</p>
<p>Padahal, nyatanya, negara-negara yang banyak diyakini sebagai negara Islam konservatif, seperti Arab Saudi dan Iran, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(06)29279-6">menerapkan undang-undang tentang aborsi yang jauh lebih liberal</a> daripada di negara-negara bagian di AS yang melarang aborsi.</p>
<p>Zahra menekankan bahwa terlepas dari berbagai perbedaan pandangan Islam tentang aborsi, tetap ada satu kesamaan yang diyakini, yakni konsep Islam tentang rahmat dan kasih sayang Tuhan.</p>
<p>Sementara itu, Melanie mengatakan bahwa tentu saja umat Kristen dapat mengembangkan argumen berbasis iman mereka sendiri terkait masalah politik modern saat ini. Namun, ia mengingatkan bahwa meskipun Alkitab ditulis pada masa ketika praktik aborsi kerap dilakukan, buku suci tersebut tidak pernah secara langsung membahas masalah ini.</p>
<p>Menurutnya, jika ada yang mengklaim bahwa Alkitab secara khusus menentang atau pun mendukung aborsi, artinya mereka memelintir teks tersebut demi melindungi kepentingan mereka pribadi.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Bicara tentang aborsi, jawabannya tergantung dari keyakinan dan kepercayaan individual tentang belas kasihan Tuhan dan keadaan mereka ketika memutuskan untuk melakukan aborsi.Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation IndonesiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790622022-07-11T12:30:32Z2022-07-11T12:30:32ZGifted-student screenings often miss poor students who should qualify<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468296/original/file-20220610-28923-w6iof2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C81%2C5973%2C3919&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some students aren't identified as gifted but should qualify.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/school-children-teacher-having-class-outside-with-royalty-free-image/1049275916">Klaus Vedfelt/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>High-achieving students from low-income backgrounds are half as likely to be placed in a gifted program as their more affluent peers, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01623532211063936">a study we published in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>Arkansas, like all the other states, has a unique process for identifying gifted kids. We wondered whether <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412455052">academically advanced</a> students – the top 5% of scorers in math and literacy, who are ready for greater academic challenges – would be placed as gifted irrespective of their socioeconomic background. We examined test scores of third grade students from 2014 to 2019. </p>
<p>We found that of the 4,330 students who made up the top 5%, 1,310 – about 30% – were left out of gifted programming. This rate of identification was about equal across various racial backgrounds, but economic differences mattered. Among low-income students, about 37% were missed, a greater proportion than the overall number.</p>
<p>Once we statistically controlled for variation in district enrollment, location, region and differences in gifted selection or school policies, being from a low-income family was associated with a 50% lower likelihood of being identified as gifted relative to similar peers from higher-income backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>States have <a href="https://www.nagc.org/gifted-state">different gifted identification policies</a>. In Arkansas, students are first <a href="https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/20201223145241_2009_GT_Revised_Program_Approval_Standards.pdf">nominated</a> by parents, school personnel or community members. Next they are evaluated on multiple measures, including a creativity test. Finally, a team of educators uses all the information to make the placement decision.</p>
<p>Nationally, students from disadvantaged communities, such as low-income communities and communities of color, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001698620605000103">underrepresented</a> and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986216656256">less likely to be nominated</a> for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415622175">gifted programs</a> than other students. </p>
<p>Other research has found that when nomination is a first step, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986216656256">some gifted students are missed</a>, particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2332858415622175">those from low-income backgrounds</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605043113">screening all students</a> significantly improves the chances that a disadvantaged student who is gifted will be identified for gifted programs.</p>
<p>We suggest using state standardized tests as universal screeners to increase the number of low-income and other disadvantaged students in gifted programs. These tests are already given to all students, so districts could use the tests without added expense.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We do not know what specific measures were taken into account when students were placed into their school’s gifted programs or not. </p>
<p>We examined gifted identification rates of students scoring in the top 5% in both math and literacy in Arkansas. We do not know why so many high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds were not identified as gifted, but we hypothesize the difference may be the result of inconsistent identification practices. </p>
<p>Wealthy parents may be more active in seeking and providing services for their children. And low-income families may lack information, available programs or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986219833738">access</a> to testing services to identify gifted students.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Future research can provide insight into why academically advanced students from economically struggling backgrounds are left out of gifted programs. We would like to know more about how decisions are being made and what criteria are being used to identify students for gifted programs. In addition, ensuring programming matches student needs might lead to serving more students who are ready to learn something new each day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Wai receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Institute for Education Sciences for projects related to gifted education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:scmcken@uark.edu">scmcken@uark.edu</a> receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bich Thi Ngoc Tran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Common methods for identifying gifted students often miss students from lower-income families who should qualify for gifted programs.Bich Thi Ngoc Tran, Research Associate, The Dartmouth Institute, Dartmouth CollegeJonathan Wai, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and Endowed Chair, University of ArkansasSarah McKenzie, Executive Director of the Office for Education Policy, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1845342022-07-08T12:13:48Z2022-07-08T12:13:48ZThere is no one Islamic interpretation on ethics of abortion, but the belief in God’s mercy and compassion is a crucial part of any consideration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472623/original/file-20220705-24-eq6ujs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2121%2C1403&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Islamic ethics allow for many views on abortion, depending on what kind of scriptural sources are considered and by whom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pregnant-woman-talks-seriously-with-ob-gyn-royalty-free-image/1023744316?adppopup=true">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/zahra-ayubi">As a scholar of Islamic ethics</a>, I’m often asked, “What does Islam say about abortion?” – a question that has become even more salient since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-revolutionary-ruling-and-not-just-for-abortion-a-supreme-court-scholar-explains-the-impact-of-dobbs-185823">U.S. Supreme Court reversed</a> 50 years of constitutional protection for the right to get an abortion in the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</a> ruling on June 24, 2022. </p>
<p>This question really needs to be reframed, because it implies a singular view. Islam isn’t monolithic, and there is no single Islamic attitude about abortion. The answer to the question depends on what kinds of Islamic sources, scriptural, legal or ethical, are applied to this contemporary issue by people of varying levels of authority, expertise or religious observance. </p>
<p>Muslims have had a long-standing, rich relationship with science, and specifically, the practice of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Piety-and-Patienthood-in-Medieval-Islam/Ragab/p/book/9780367591038">medicine</a>. This has yielded multiple interpretations of right and wrong when it comes to the body, including <a href="https://sunypress.edu/Books/C/Conceiving-Identities">ideas about and practices surrounding pregnancy</a>.</p>
<h2>Islamic frameworks for thinking about abortion</h2>
<p>The typical framing of the question of whether abortion ought to be legal hinges upon <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-beliefs-give-strength-to-the-anti-abortion-movement-but-not-all-religions-agree-182500">American Christian debates about when life begins</a>. Muslims who get abortions don’t always ask “when does life begin?” to ascertain Islamic positions on the matter. Rather, as my research in the <a href="https://abortionandreligion.com/">Abortion and Religion</a> project and forthcoming book “Women as Humans” has found, Muslims who get abortions generally consider under what circumstances abortion would be permitted in the Islamic tradition. </p>
<p>Further, the Quranic verses and hadith – recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad – are not about abortion per se, nor the moment when life begins or whether abortion is akin to taking a life. Instead, they are descriptions for people to reflect on God’s miracle of what happens in the womb, or rahm in Arabic, which is part of God’s mercy and compassion.</p>
<p>It is often a deeply theological discussion about human actions in context of God’s will, omnipotence and omniscience when it comes to life and death. The dialogue often yields answers that are specific to the person’s cosmic and religious beliefs about God’s nature and mercy and their circumstances in the abortion decision-making process.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Muslim woman reads the Quran." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472622/original/file-20220705-16-2q7txr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Specific verses in the Quran have descriptions of the stages of gestation of the fetus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/sign-in?ReturnUrl=%2Fdetail%2Fphoto%2Freading-the-quran-royalty-free-image%2F567311385%3Fadppopup%3Dtrue">Marvin del Cid/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many contemporary Muslim jurists and bioethicists point to specific verses in the Quran as well as hadiths with descriptions of the stages of human gestation that are mapped onto the pregnancy timeline in the contemporary abortion debate. The often-cited Quranic verses are <a href="https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=23&verse=11">23:12-14</a>: “And indeed We created humankind from an essence of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a resting place firm; then We created the sperm-drop into a clinging substance, then We created the clinging substance into an embryonic lump, then We created from the embryonic lump bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We produced it as another creation. So blessed is God, the best of creators.”</p>
<p>Then there is the <a href="https://hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari/sahih-bukhari-book-54-beginning-of-creation/sahih-bukhari-volume-004-book-054-hadith-number-430">hadith</a> in which Prophet Muhammad describes what happens in the womb: “The human being is brought together in the mother’s womb for forty days in the form of a drop of fluid, and then becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. … Then the soul is breathed into him. …”</p>
<p>These scriptural traditions divide the pregnancy timeline into stages. Muslim jurists consider the 120-day mark of ensoulment (40 days x 3 stages), when God is believed to blow life into the fetus, as the point at which the fetus becomes a legal entity with financial rights. The fetus is believed to have inheritance rights; it can leave an inheritance to its siblings or other kin if it dies, or provide its parents with blood money in the event of a violent action against the mother.</p>
<p>While reference to the scriptural tradition might be enough for many Muslims, some might look to the Muslim legal tradition for precedence. Premodern jurists’ inquiries into stage of pregnancy were mainly to settle questions such as what inheritance laws might come into effect in the event of fetal death. They weren’t asking when life begins to settle abortion questions. And even as they touched on the question of legal personhood of a fetus, <a href="https://uscpress.com/Islamic-Ethics-of-Life">they ruled on a case-by-case basis</a> <a href="https://uscpress.com/Islamic-Ethics-of-Life">rather than through blanket pronouncements</a>.</p>
<h2>Contemporary jurisprudence</h2>
<p>Most Muslim jurists and bioethicists today argue that abortion before 120 days of pregnancy is permissible on certain grounds and after this term in cases of mortal danger to the mother. When it comes to abortion, the Islamic legal principle of preservation of life is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.12350">universally interpreted to mean the mother’s life</a>. Other grounds for abortion vary depending on school of thought but include health concerns for mother or fetus and sometimes include unintended pregnancy, depending on the circumstances of how the pregnancy came about.</p>
<p>Since maternal health can be a nebulous category, acceptance of mental health reasons for abortion may depend on whether people take mental health itself seriously. Concerns might include the mental capacity of a mother to care for herself or a child, or potential suicidal thoughts that put the mother’s life at risk.</p>
<p>Financial affordability is generally frowned upon as a reason for <a href="https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=17&verse=31">abortion because God is seen as provider</a>, but still accepted in some schools of thought, as the tradition generally promotes mercy above else. </p>
<p>Regardless of contemporary jurists’ positions on the subject, however, Muslims who pursue abortion often do so <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.12350">based on their broad Islamic understanding of God’s compassion</a> rather than in consultation with religious authorities who might act as gatekeepers.</p>
<h2>American Muslims post-Dobbs</h2>
<p>Part of Islamic discourse’s nuance about abortion is the result of a long relationship between medicine and Islamic thought. For American Muslims, that history is overshadowed by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the heavy dominance and influence of one Christian view as the only American view on abortion.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A 13th century folio showing a man with a beard and a turban giving herb to a person seated in front of him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472646/original/file-20220705-20-g1jvzs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Folio from an Arabic manuscript of the Greek doctor Dioscorides, De materia medica, 1229.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arabischer_Maler_des_Kr%C3%A4uterbuchs_des_Dioskurides_004.jpg">The Yorck Project (2002), distributed by Directmedia Publishing GmbH via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is often a global assumption, which is held by many Muslims as well, that Muslim rules about gender and women’s rights are stricter than dominant Christian American ones. There have been many <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/abortion-bans-religion-17259119.php">problematic comparisons of the Dobbs decision and Sharia</a>. Some have called it “Christian Sharia” to characterize the ruling and abortion bans nationwide as religious, yet in doing so <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/please-stop-using-islam-to-critique-the-abortion-ban-it-simply-excuses-the-very-christian-very-white-roots-of-anti-choice-movements/">they draw on anti-Muslim sentiment</a> and stereotypes of Islam as uniquely gender oppressive. </p>
<p>When American Muslims themselves mirror evangelical Christian views on abortion, however, it may be a form of virtue signaling or out of ignorance of Muslims’ rich historical relationship with medicine.</p>
<p>Even in so-called religiously conservative Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(06)29279-6">laws on abortion are much more liberal</a> than in U.S. states banning abortion. Legally, not only is the life of the mother always prioritized, but because the idea that ensoulment occurs at 120 days is taken seriously, abortion before that point may, and often does, take place in a variety of circumstances such as rape, serial births, mental health issues, untimeliness of pregnancy, etc.</p>
<p>Many American Muslims are speaking in support of the right to abortion. Organizations such as the <a href="https://www.ambalegal.org/">American Muslim Bar Association</a>, <a href="https://hearttogrow.org/">Heart to Grow</a> and <a href="https://muslimadvocates.org/">Muslim Advocates</a> have issued <a href="https://www.ambalegal.org/ambainthenews/the-islamic-principle-of-rahma-a-call-for-reproductive-justice">statements</a> about abortion in Islam and published information on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/muslims-are-finding-their-place-in-americas-abortion-debate/2022/06/17/bae7fc12-ee8a-11ec-9f90-79df1fb28296_story.html">American Muslims’ rights to abortion</a>. The one prevailing commonality among these and diverging Islamic views on abortion is the Islamic concept of God’s mercy and compassion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zahra Ayubi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Islamic views on abortion are based on diverse interpretations of what’s right and wrong when it comes to the body.Zahra Ayubi, Associate Professor of Religion, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797432022-04-07T12:26:09Z2022-04-07T12:26:09ZThe forgotten story of Black soldiers and the Red Ball Express during World War II<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455071/original/file-20220329-3198-1iglba1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=332%2C35%2C2663%2C2007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shown here in May 1945, these black soldiers were attached to the 666th Quartermaster Truck Company that was part of the Red Ball Express.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/535533/content/arcmedia/media/images/43/1/43-0066a.gif">National Archives</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had a problem. In June 1944, Allied forces had <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/d-day-allies-invade-europe">landed on Normandy Beach</a> in France and were moving east toward Nazi Germany at a clip of sometimes 75 miles (121 kilometers) per day. </p>
<p>With most of the French rail system in ruins, the Allies had to find a way to <a href="https://www.historynet.com/red-ball-express/">transport supplies</a> to the advancing soldiers.</p>
<p>“Our spearheads … were moving swiftly,” Eisenhower later recalled. “The supply service had to catch these with loaded trucks. Every mile doubled the difficulty because the supply truck had always to make a two-way run to the beaches and back, in order to deliver another load to the marching troops.”</p>
<p>The solution to this logistics problem was the creation of <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/red-ball-express">the Red Ball Express</a>, a massive fleet of nearly 6,000 2½-ton General Motors cargo trucks. The term <a href="https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/battle-of-normandy/supply/red-ball-express">Red Ball</a> came from a railway tradition whereby railmen marked priority cars with a red dot. </p>
<p>From August through November 1944, 23,000 American truck drivers and cargo loaders – 70% of whom were Black – moved more than 400,000 tons of ammunition, gasoline, medical supplies and rations to battlefronts in France, Belgium and Germany. </p>
<p>These Red Ball Express trucks and the Black men who drove and loaded them made <a href="http://www.nww2m.com/2014/08/red-ball-express-created/">the U.S. Army</a> the most mobile and mechanized force in the war. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black soldiers are seen filling up gasoline tanks for dozens of trucks used to transport military supplies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455085/original/file-20220329-13-5bfjqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this October 1944 photograph, Black soldiers are filling up gasoline tanks for the Red Ball Express.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/picture-taken-in-france-in-october-1944-showing-a-supply-news-photo/1172719702?adppopup=true">AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>They also demonstrated what military planners have long understood – logistics shape what is possible on the fields of battle. </p>
<p>That’s a point well known in today’s war in Ukraine: As the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-combat.html">Russian invasion</a> stretches into its second year, logistics have been an important factor.</p>
<h2>Supplying the front lines</h2>
<p>The Red Ball Express gave the Allies a strategic advantage over the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-nazis-really-lose-world-war-ii">German infantry divisions</a>, which were overly reliant on rail, wagon trains and horses to move troops and supplies. </p>
<p>A typical German division during the same period had nearly 10 times as many horses as motor vehicles and ran on oats just as much as oil. This limited <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-german-lightning-war-strategy-of-the-second-world-war">the range of the vaunted Blitzkrieg</a>, or lightning attacks, because German tanks and motorized units could not move far ahead of their infantry divisions and supplies.<br>
Driving day and night, the <a href="https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/March-April-2021/Carey-Red-Ball-Express/">Red Ball truckers</a> earned a reputation as tireless and fearless troops. They steered their loud, rough-driving trucks down pitch-black country roads and through narrow lanes in French towns. They drove fast and adopted the French phrase “tout de suite” – immediately, right now – as their motto. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Smith-Patton">Gen. George S. Patton</a> “wanted us to eat, sleep, and drive, but mostly drive,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kI24AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62&lpg=PT62&dq=%22wanted+us+to+eat,+sleep,+and+drive,+but+mostly+drive%22+patton&source=bl&ots=zseNVzi359&sig=ACfU3U2quUUC7lczGlwgi823l8Fl9t6XLw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKj_Pejuz2AhXNjIkEHQq4CxkQ6AF6BAgSEAM#v=onepage&q=%22wanted%20us%20to%20eat%2C%20sleep%2C%20and%20drive%2C%20but%20mostly%20drive%22%20patton&f=false">one trucker recalled</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A convoy of trucks carrying military supplies is seen on a narrow road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455079/original/file-20220329-3198-6a35yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A convoy of U.S. trucks heads toward the front lines loaded with military supplies from the Belgian port of Antwerp in spring 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/farm-wagon-pulls-to-side-of-the-road-to-make-room-for-a-news-photo/152246065?adppopup=true">Photo12/UIG/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2009/09/wwii_driver_recalls_the_red_ba.html">James Rookard</a>, a 19-year-old truck driver from Maple Heights, Ohio, saw trucks get blown up and feared for his life. </p>
<p>“There were dead bodies and dead horses on the highways after bombs dropped,” he said. “I was scared, but I did my job, hoping for the best. Being young and about 4,000 miles away from home, anybody would be scared.” </p>
<p>Patton concluded that “the 2½ truck is our most valuable weapon,” and <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-red-ball-express-supplied-american-troops-fighting-the-nazis-part-4">Col. John D. Eisenhower</a>, the supreme commander’s son, argued that without the Red Ball truck drivers, “the advance across France could not have been made.” </p>
<h2>Fighting Nazis and racism</h2>
<p>The Red Ball Express was a microcosm of the larger Black American experience during World War II. Prompted by the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/courier.html">Pittsburgh Courier</a>, an influential Black newspaper at the time, Black Americans rallied behind the <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/double-victory">Double V campaign</a> during the war, which aimed to secure victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home. </p>
<p><a href="https://cnx.org/contents/uNYBYcWi@4/%F0%9F%94%8E-Double-V-for-Victory-The-Effort-to-Integrate-the-U-S-Military">Many soldiers</a> saw their service as a way to demonstrate the capabilities of their race.</p>
<p>The Army assigned Black troops almost exclusively to service and supply roles, because <a href="https://armyhistory.org/fighting-for-respect-african-american-soldiers-in-wwi/">military leaders</a> believed they lacked the intelligence, courage and skill needed to fight in combat units. </p>
<p>Despite the racism they encountered during training and deployment, <a href="https://www.army.mil/blackamericans/timeline.html#:%7E:text=Thousands%20of%20Black%20Soldiers%2C%20both,war%2C%20mostly%20in%20integrated%20units.">Black troops</a> served bravely in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-was-black-americas-double-war/">every theater</a> of World War II. Many saw patriotism and a willingness to fight as two characteristics by which manhood and citizenship were defined. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black solider stands near a sign that says Red Ball Highway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455074/original/file-20220329-28-13dric5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Sept. 5, 1944, photograph, Cpl. Charles H. Johnson of the 783rd Military Police Battalion waves on a Red Ball Express convoy near Alenon, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/531220">National Archives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The boundaries between combat roles and service roles also blurred in war zones. Black truck drivers often had to fight their way through enemy pockets and sometimes required armored escorts to get valuable cargo to the front. </p>
<p>Many of the white American soldiers who relied on supplies delivered by the Red Ball Express recognized the drivers’ valor at the time. </p>
<p>An armored division commander credited the <a href="https://www.fdmuseum.org/collection/online-exhibits/red-ball-express/">Red Ball drivers</a> with allowing tankers to refuel and rearm while fighting. The Black drivers “delivered gas under constant fire,” he said. “Damned if I’d want their job. They have what it takes.” </p>
<p>A 5th Armored Division <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kI24AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70&lpg=PT70&dq=%22if+it+wasn%E2%80%99t+for+the+Red+Ball+we+couldn%E2%80%99t+have+moved.%22&source=bl&ots=zseNVzi4c8&sig=ACfU3U0yGpsuJewkJamDARptJQTCnsCdJQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1_ruvj-z2AhUUj4kEHS-6DXwQ6AF6BAgEEAM#v=onepage&q=%22if%20it%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20for%20the%20Red%20Ball%20we%20couldn%E2%80%99t%20have%20moved.%22&f=false">tank driver</a> said, “If it wasn’t for the Red Ball we couldn’t have moved. They all were Black drivers and they delivered in the heat of combat. We’d be in our tanks praying for them to come up.” </p>
<h2>Logistics in Ukraine</h2>
<p>Days into the war, Ukraine’s armed forces <a href="https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2022/02/26/railway-between-ukraine-and-russia-completely-destroyed/">destroyed all railway links</a> between Ukraine and Russia to thwart the transport of Russian military equipment and tanks. </p>
<p>Relying on trucks and road networks, <a href="https://www.scmglobe.com/russian-logistics-for-the-invasion-of-ukraine/">Russian convoys</a> encountered fuel shortages and counterattacks from Ukrainian military and civilians. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dozens of trucks with Russian military supplies are seen on a highway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455082/original/file-20220329-27-nwipod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A convoy of Russian military vehicles moves toward the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on Feb. 23, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/convoy-of-russian-military-vehicles-is-seen-as-the-vehicles-news-photo/1238710804?adppopup=true">Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Russian military’s ability to move supplies across extended distances – as well as Ukraine’s ability to disrupt those supply lines – is still pivotal in determining the future of the war.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Delmont receives funding from National Endowment for the Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.</span></em></p>Comprised mostly of Black soldiers, the Red Ball Express transported supplies day and night and is given credit for providing a strategic advantage over the Nazi military.Matthew Delmont, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1765142022-02-07T16:01:12Z2022-02-07T16:01:12ZMountain glaciers may hold less ice than previously thought – here’s what that means for 2 billion downstream water users and sea level rise<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444660/original/file-20220206-27-1x4umu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=106%2C44%2C3628%2C2323&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mountain glaciers are under threat from global warming.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-taken-on-may-17-mountaineers-make-their-way-news-photo/962297762">Phunjo Lama/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Mountain glaciers are essential water sources for nearly a quarter of the global population. But figuring out just how much ice they hold – and how much water will be available as glaciers shrink in a warming world – has been notoriously difficult.</em></p>
<p><em>In a new study, scientists mapped the speed of over 200,000 glaciers to get closer to an answer. They discovered that widely used estimates of glacier ice volume <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">may be off by about 20%</a> in terms of how much Earth’s glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could contribute to sea level rise.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/mathieu-morlighem">Mathieu Morlighem</a>, a leader in ice sheet modeling and a coauthor of the study, explains why <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">the new results</a> hold a warning for regions that rely on glaciers’ seasonal meltwater, but barely register in the big picture of rising seas.</em> </p>
<h2>1) If mountain glaciers hold less ice than previously believed, what does that mean for people who depend on glaciers for water?</h2>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-mountain-water-towers-are-melting-putting-1-9-billion-people-at-risk-128501">almost 2 billion people</a> rely on mountain glaciers and snowpack as their main source of drinking water. Many also rely on glacier water for hydropower generation or agriculture, particularly in the dry season. But the vast majority of glaciers around the world are losing more mass than they gain during the year as the climate warms, and they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03436-z">are slowly disappearing</a>. That will <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-2/">profoundly affect these populations</a>.</p>
<p>These communities need to know how long their glaciers will continue to provide water and what to expect as the glaciers disappear so they can prepare.</p>
<p>In most places, we found significantly lower total ice volumes than previous estimates indicated.</p>
<p>In the tropical Andes, from Venezuela to northern Chile, for example, we found that the glaciers have about 23% less ice than previously believed. This means downstream populations have less time to adjust to climate change than they may have planned for. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herder moves sheep down a road next to a large water pipe with mountains in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A herder walks beside a water pipe near La Paz, Bolivia. A glacier long relied on for water there is nearly gone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/local-indigenous-sheep-herder-walks-past-a-water-pipe-at-news-photo/523905156">Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Even in the Alps, where scientists have a lot of direct ice thickness measurements, we found that the glaciers may have 8% less than previously thought.</p>
<p>The big exception is the Himalayas. We calculated that there may be 37% more ice in these remote mountains than previously estimated. This buys some time for communities that rely on these glaciers, but it does not change the fact that these glaciers are melting with global warming.</p>
<p>Policymakers should look at these new estimates to revise their plans. We do not provide new predictions of the future in this study, but we do provide <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">a better description</a> of what the glaciers and their water supplies look like today.</p>
<p><iframe id="0Qk4G" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0Qk4G/13/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2) How do these finding affect estimates of future sea level rise?</h2>
<p>First, it’s important to understand that melting glaciers are only one contributor to sea level rise as the climate warms. About one-third of today’s sea level rise is due to <a href="https://sealevel.nasa.gov/understanding-sea-level/global-sea-level/thermal-expansion">thermal expansion</a> of the ocean – as the ocean warms, water expands and takes up more space. The other two-thirds come from <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level">shrinking mountain glaciers and ice sheets</a>. </p>
<p>We found that if all the glaciers, not including the big ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, were to melt entirely, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">sea level would rise by about 10 inches</a> instead of 13 inches. This may sound like a large difference, considering the size of the ocean, but you have to put things in perspective. A complete disintegration of the Antarctic ice sheet would contribute <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2749/ramp-up-in-antarctic-ice-loss-speeds-sea-level-rise/">190 feet</a> to sea level and the Greenland ice sheet would contribute <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-greenland-mission-completes-six-years-of-mapping-unknown-terrain">24 feet</a>.</p>
<p>The 3 inches that we are talking about in this study do not call into question current projections of sea level rise.</p>
<h2>3) Why has it been so hard to figure out the ice volume of glaciers, and what did your study do differently?</h2>
<p>You might be surprised by how much is still unknown about some of the basic characteristics of remote mountain glaciers.</p>
<p>Satellites have transformed our understanding of glaciers since the 1970s, and they provide an increasingly clear picture of <a href="https://www.glims.org/RGI/">glacier locations and surface area</a>. But satellites cannot see “through” the ice. In fact, for 99% of the world’s glaciers, there is no direct measurement of ice thickness. Scientists have spent more time mapping the <a href="https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and-climate/estimating-glacier-contribution-to-sea-level-rise/">Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets</a> and the terrain below, and we have much more detailed volume measurements there. NASA, for example, dedicated an entire airborne mission, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/mission/index.html">Operation IceBridge</a>, to collect ice thickness measurements in Greenland and Antarctica.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new mapping techniques are more precise, as a comparison of Iceland’s Vatnajökull ice cap shows. The image on the left is the new map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00885-z">R. Millan et al., 2022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists have come up with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0300-3">various techniques</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2014RG000470">determine the volume</a> of glaciers, but the uncertainty for remote mountain glaciers has been pretty high.</p>
<p>We did something different compared to previous studies. We used satellite imagery to map the glaciers’ speed. Glacier ice, when it is thick enough, behaves like thick syrup. We can measure how far the ice is moving using two satellite images and map its speed, which goes from a few feet to about 1 mile per year. Mapping the displacement of more than 200,000 glaciers was no easy task, but that created a data set nobody had seen before.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Images show the velocity of glacier ice in regions around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00885-z">R. Millan et al., 2022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We used this new information of ice speed and simple principles of ice deformation to determine the thickness of the ice at each pixel of these satellite images. In short, the ice speed we observe from space is due to the ice sliding on its bed and also its internal deformation. The internal deformation depends on its surface slope and ice thickness, and the slipperiness of its bed depends on the temperature of the ice at its base, the presence or absence of liquid water, and the nature of the sediments or rocks underneath. Once we could calibrate a relationship between ice speed and sliding, we could calculate ice thickness.</p>
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<p>To map the flow speed of all of these glaciers, we analyzed 800,000 pairs of images collected by satellites from the European Space Agency and NASA.</p>
<p>Of course, as with any indirect method, they are not perfect estimates and they will be further improved as we collect more data. But we have made a lot of progress in reducing the overall uncertainty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathieu Morlighem receives funding from NASA, NASA and the Heising-Simons Foundation.</span></em></p>Glaciers in North America, Europe and the Andes, in particular, have significantly less ice than people realized.Mathieu Morlighem, Professor of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1722702022-01-25T13:26:19Z2022-01-25T13:26:19ZThe 13th Amendment’s fatal flaw created modern-day convict slavery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440748/original/file-20220113-17-1rnzs6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=440%2C217%2C1862%2C1720&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this rare photograph taken in 2000, prisoners at the Ferguson Unit in Texas are seen working in the prison's cotton fields. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prisoners-at-the-ferguson-unit-a-large-prison-along-the-news-photo/539605780?adppopup=true">Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 13th Amendment is having a moment of reckoning. Considered one of the crowning achievements of American democracy, the Civil War-era <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false&page=transcript&doc=40&title=Transcript+of+13th+Amendment+to+the+U.S.+Constitution%3A+Abolition+of+Slavery+%281865%29">constitutional amendment</a> set “free” an estimated 4 million enslaved people and seemed to demonstrate American claims to equality and freedom. But the amendment did not apply to those convicted of a crime.</p>
<p>And one group of people are disproportionately, though not solely, criminalized – descendants of formerly enslaved people. </p>
<p>“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,” the amendment reads, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”</p>
<p>In other words, slavery still exists in America, but the only people whose labor can be enslaved are those convicted of a crime.</p>
<p>To some lawmakers and human rights advocates, that exception is a blight on democracy and the very idea of freedom – even for those convicted of a crime. As scholars of slavery and the histories of African America, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cklySWMAAAAJ&hl=en">our</a> research shows the 13th Amendment’s exception clause reinvented slave labor and involuntary servitude behind prison walls.</p>
<h2>Free labor</h2>
<p>Since the late 1700s, U.S. states have used the labor of convicts, a predominantly white institution that came to include people of African ancestry. Convict slavery and chattel slavery co-existed. In Virginia, the state that had the largest number of enslaved Africans, inmates were declared “civilly dead” and “<a href="https://www.aaihs.org/slavery-the-13th-amendment-and-mass-incarceration-a-response-to-patrick-rael/">slaves of the State</a>.” </p>
<p>It wasn’t until the early 1900s that states ended <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2021/06/convict-leasing-system/">convict-leasing</a>, the practice whereby wealthy farms or industrial business owners paid state prisons to use inmates to work on railroads and highways and in coal mines. In Georgia, for example, the <a href="https://georgia-exhibits.galileo.usg.edu/spotlight/convict-labor/feature/end-of-the-convict-lease-system">end of convict-leasing</a> in 1907 caused severe economic blows to several industries, including brick and mining companies and coal mines. Without access to cheap labor, many collapsed or suffered severe losses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="African American convicts working in the fields" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440728/original/file-20220113-19-k6ysuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">African American convicts working in the fields in a chain gang, 1903.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/african-american-convicts-working-in-the-fields-in-a-chain-news-photo/871633942?adppopup=true">Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Today, the United States has the <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/">largest prison population</a> in the world, with an estimated 2.2 million incarcerated people. For many of them, the 13th amendment’s exception has become a rule of forced labor. Over 20 states still include the exception clause in their own <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawmakers-anti-slavery-amendment-6e13df5702725fc18c889eb6762771c3">state constitutions</a>. Thirty-eight states have programs in which for-profit companies have <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/taking-freedom-modern-day-slavery">factories in their prisons</a>. Prisoners perform everything from <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/13th-amendment-slavery-prison-labor-angola-louisiana/">picking cotton</a> to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/prison-slavery-who-benefits-cheap-inmate-labor-1093729">manufacturing goods</a> to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/07/california-inmate-firefighters/619567/">fighting forest fires</a>.</p>
<p>In a 2015 story, “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/">American Slavery, Reinvented</a>,” The Atlantic magazine described the consequences of refusing to work. “With few exceptions,” wrote the story’s author, Whitney Benns, “inmates are required to work if cleared by medical professionals at the prison. Punishments for refusing to do so include solitary confinement, loss of earned good time, and revocation of family visitation.” </p>
<p>In some cases, inmates are <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/wage_policies.html">paid less than</a> a penny an hour. And many who served their sentences leave prison in <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/news/economy/prison-fees-inmates-debt/index.html">debt</a>, having worked without the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act. </p>
<p>In Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Texas, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2034915">penal plantations</a> exist where predominantly Black men pick cotton and other crops under the watchful eyes of typically armed white men on horseback. Some of the largest cotton production prisons are in Arkansas, helping to make the United States “<a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/cotton-wool/cotton-sector-at-a-glance/">the third-largest producer of cotton globally</a>,” behind China and India. </p>
<p>Ironically, many of the prisons, like Louisiana State Penitentiary, or “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/">Angola</a>,” are located on former <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/">slave plantations</a>.</p>
<h2>Modern-day convict slavery</h2>
<p>Late in 2021, on the 156th anniversary of ratification of the 13th Amendment of Dec. 6, 1865, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, introduced a bill to eliminate the exception. Known as the <a href="https://www.merkley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/21.06.17%20Abolition%20Amendment.pdf">Abolition Amendment</a>, the resolution would “prohibit the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime.” </p>
<p>“America was founded on beautiful principles of equality and justice and horrific realities of slavery and white supremacy,” Merkley said in a statement, “and if we are ever going to fully deliver on the principles, we have to directly confront the realities.”</p>
<p>Based on our research, those realities are steeped in the mythology that America is a “land of the free.” While many believe it is <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-11-29/these-are-the-freest-countries-in-the-world">the freest country in the world</a>, the nation ranks 23rd among countries that uphold personal, civil and economic freedoms, according the <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/new-human-freedom-index-us-15-new-zealand-switzerland-freest">Human Freedom Index</a>, co-published by the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>For U.S. analysts who examine the nation’s constitutional pledges and its actions, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-11-29/these-are-the-freest-countries-in-the-world">the country is less free</a> than often assumed.</p>
<p>Over time, those realities demonstrate a conflict in U.S. history, illustrated by the 13th Amendment. Some states approved the amendment in 1865. Others, like Delaware, Mississippi and New Jersey, rejected it. Free labor was at stake. America embraced the idea of freedom, but it was economically powered by slave labor. Today, the net result is that America is a nation with “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/prison-industrial-complex-slavery-racism.html">4 percent of the planet’s population but 22 percent of its imprisoned</a>,” according to Bryan Stevenson writing in The New York Times Magazine.</p>
<p>Some readers might be puzzled by our discussion of “slavery” in modern life. The <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-3&chapter=18&clang=_en#2">Slavery Convention</a> was an international treaty created in 1926, and it defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership is exercised.” The “right of ownership” includes buying, selling, using, profiting, transferring or destroying that person. This legal definition of slavery has been <a href="https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/allain_-_contemporary_slavery_and_its_definition_in_law_proofs.pdf">upheld by international courts since 1926</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. government ratified this treaty in 1929. But in doing so it opposed “forced or compulsory labour except as punishment for crime of which the person concerned has been duly convicted,” according to the treaty. The wording of the U.S. government’s opposition is the same as the 13th Amendment. Sixty-four years after passing that amendment, the U.S. government affirmed the use of prisons for forced labor or convict slavery.</p>
<p>It is, then, unlikely the <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/sjres81/summary">Abolition Amendment</a> will become law despite the authority to do so granted by the second section of the 13th Amendment. A constitutional amendment would have to pass both the House and Senate by a two-thirds majority, then be ratified by three-quarters (or 38) of the 50 state legislatures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Inmates fighting a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440768/original/file-20220113-2253-d3tyn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inmate firefighters prepare to put out flames in Simi Valley, California, on October 30, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/inmate-firefighters-prepare-to-put-out-flames-on-the-road-news-photo/1179075943?adppopup=true">Photo by Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Interest by lawmakers in abolishing modern-day slavery is nothing new. </p>
<p>Back in 2015, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation to <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/05/presidential-proclamation-150th-anniversary-13th-amendment">commemorate the 150th anniversary</a> of the 13th Amendment’s passage. He praised the amendment for “the protections it restored and the lives it liberated,” but then conceded work still needed to be done to fully abolish all forms of slavery.</p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/or-state-wire-race-and-ethnicity-lifestyle-juneteenth-963c58a1a19ba501f5677343b9c786e0">The interest</a> in the 13th Amendment has also been widespread throughout popular culture. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/10/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix/503075/">Films</a>, <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/douglas-blackmon">books</a>, activists and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/08/21/inmates-across-us-are-staging-prison-strike-over-modern-day-slavery/">prisoners</a> across the United States have for some time linked that amendment to what legal scholar Andrea Armstrong calls “prison-created slavery.”</p>
<p>But given the political realities and economic imperatives at play, free prison labor will persist in America for the foreseeable future, leaving in serious doubt the idea of American freedom – and abundant evidence of modern-day convict slavery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 13th Amendment is given credit for freeing an estimated 4 million enslaved people during the Civil War era. It also enabled a prison system of free labor and involuntary servitude.Kwasi Konadu, Professor in Africana & Latin American Studies, Colgate UniversityClifford C. Campbell, Visiting Lecturer, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626512021-11-17T13:17:28Z2021-11-17T13:17:28ZHow to make voting districts fair to voters, not parties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430367/original/file-20211104-21-vr9zcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Representatives say the Pledge of Allegiance at the State Capitol in Austin. Texas is one of many states that redrew their political maps in 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/texas-state-representatives-recite-the-pledge-of-allegiance-news-photo/1235386812?adppopup=true">Tamir Kalifa via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should fairness to political parties be the standard for evaluating legislative redistricting?</p>
<p>Across the nation, state lawmakers are jockeying to advantage their party – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-redistricting-andrew-cuomo-wrestling-elections-f13d214732a948d88418b005dd9131de">be it Republican or Democratic</a> – while drawing boundaries for legislative and congressional districts. </p>
<p>If the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2747">Freedom to Vote Act</a> currently before Congress passes, many state maps that favor one party will become illegal.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C_ndvd4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a geographer who studies boundaries</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=LL+Fowler&btnG=">a political scientist who studies Congress</a>, we are interested in how spatial distributions of voters affect election outcomes.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.paredistricting.com/Display/SiteFiles/448/OtherDocuments/2021/FowlerTestimonytoPAHouseStateGovernmentCommittee7_22_21.pdf">research on Pennsylvania</a> demonstrates that fairness to parties in drawing legislative districts is an unworkable goal. However, reforming other rules that govern how districts are drawn and votes are counted could make more contests competitive and enhance legislators’ accountability to the public.</p>
<h2>The case of Pennsylvania</h2>
<p>The conventional standard for assessing the partisan fairness of district maps is the seat/vote ratio. This measure reflects a party’s control of seats after an election in proportion to its share of the aggregate state vote.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Voters wait in line" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430373/original/file-20211104-15-2hx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Voters wait to cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania, where new congressional maps were drawn to prevent biased districting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/voters-wait-in-line-at-the-oakmont-united-methodist-church-news-photo/1229435640">Jeff Swensen via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Take Pennsylvania, for example. Republicans held 72% of the state’s 18 U.S. House seats at the start of the 115th Congress in 2017, while winning only 54% of <a href="https://electionreturns.pa.gov/General/OfficeResults?OfficeID=11&amp;ElectionID=54&amp;ElectionType=G&amp;IsActive=0">the aggregate vote</a>. That’s a seat/vote ratio of 72/54. The state Supreme Court viewed the outcome as evidence of biased districting and <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/LWV_v_PA_Order-Regarding-Petition-for-Review_1.22.18.pdf">ordered new congressional maps</a>. The result was a 50-50 partisan split in seats for 2018 and 2020, which proved consistent with Biden’s win of 50% of the votes in the 2020 presidential election. </p>
<p>Beneath this seemingly equitable result, however, were disturbing patterns. In two-thirds of the Pennsylvania races, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Pennsylvania,_2020">the winner captured 60% or more of the vote against a weak opponent</a>. In other words, fairness to parties meant that large numbers of citizens in Pennsylvania lived in safe districts where their vote had little meaning. Certain seats, in effect, belonged to one party or the other.</p>
<p>To understand the factors distorting election outcomes in Pennsylvania, we used a computer algorithm to simulate thousands of congressional maps. Without significantly manipulating district boundaries – a process you could describe as reverse gerrymandering – we could generate very few districts where candidates from either party could win. Our work confirmed what <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/opinion/sunday/its-the-geography-stupid.html">others have also found</a>: that the traditional requirement for compactness – meaning districts <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Compactness">resemble squares and have straight borders</a> – increased the likelihood that a plan would be <a href="http://www.paredistricting.com/Display/SiteFiles/448/OtherDocuments/2021/FowlerTestimonytoPAHouseStateGovernmentCommittee7_22_21.pdf">biased in favor of Republicans</a>.</p>
<h2>Choices voters make</h2>
<p>Housing patterns turned out to be the reason behind this dearth of competitive contests. </p>
<p>Voters in Pennsylvania cluster into homogeneous communities according to socioeconomic status, race and partisan affiliation, a phenomenon known as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2018.44">residential sorting</a>.” Once a dominant group emerges in a district, potential challengers lack a viable path to office and decide not to run. Incumbents become accountable solely to primary voters, while large numbers of citizens sink permanently into political irrelevance.</p>
<p>Across the nation, similar patterns prevail. Typically, only 10% to 12% of the 435 House districts have closely fought contests, and <a href="https://www.governing.com/now/legislative-turnover-at-lowest-level-seen-since-1920s.html">few state legislatures experience shifts in party control</a>. For example, the Maryland state Legislature has been in Democratic hands for <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Party_control_of_Maryland_state_government">at least 30 years, despite having had two Republican governors</a>.</p>
<p>One might justify fairness to parties as a criterion for redistricting by arguing that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Party-Politics-in-America/Hershey/p/book/9780367472573">voters rely on party labels to evaluate candidates</a>. But public approval of both the Democratic and Republican parties has <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/24655/party-images.aspx">averaged well below 50% since 2010</a>, and a July 2021 Gallup Poll showed independents as the <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx">single largest group of voters, at 43%</a>. Among young voters, 43% affiliate with Democrats, but <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/spring-2021-harvard-youth-poll">only 22% connect to Republicans</a>. </p>
<p>Both parties lack coherent platforms, having lost control over their nomination processes and split internally into factions. Large majorities of Republican and Democratic voters consistently agree with the statement that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1669/general-mood-country.aspx">the country is moving in the wrong direction</a>. Given these trends, privileging fairness to parties and the seat/vote ratio hardly seems a recipe for effective representation in state and federal legislatures. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four demonstrators hold signs opposed to gerrymandering with the Supreme Court building in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430379/original/file-20211104-22364-8l4vm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Congress is now considering legislation to end gerrymandering, which would make many legislative and congressional state maps illegal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-protest-against-gerrymandering-at-a-rally-at-news-photo/1227675803?adppopup=true">Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Strategies that reach beyond the concept of partisan fairness to enhance competition would give voters a stronger political voice. Here are two of the better ideas.</p>
<h2>Multimember districts</h2>
<p>Many election experts tout multimember districts as <a href="https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/report/section/6">a means of reducing the number of safe seats</a> – a view <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/heres-different-way-fix-gerrymandering/">we share</a>. The approach combines several single districts into one larger unit that elects several representatives.</p>
<p>The basic idea is that bigger geographic units generate competition because they contain voters with more varied political interests. With greater diversity, the number of viable electoral coalitions increases. Strong challengers are more likely to run, and neglected communities of interest become more relevant. A clear majority would always capture at least one seat, but any sizable minority would play a significant role in determining the remaining winners.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.paredistricting.com/Display/SiteFiles/448/OtherDocuments/2021/FowlerTestimonytoPAHouseStateGovernmentCommittee7_22_21.pdf">our research on Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts</a>, a plan with three members in each of six districts generates the greatest number of diverse constituencies. Overall, the probability that a district would be competitive improved, although the scale of residential sorting in and around Philadelphia, particularly for Black Americans, would likely produce at least one politically homogeneous district. </p>
<p>In this system, the number of multimember districts and the members per district would vary by state depending upon its population size, but the number of voters per elected representative would remain constant across the nation.</p>
<h2>Ranked-choice voting</h2>
<p>To make multimember districts viable we also need to change how winners are declared.</p>
<p>Currently elections in the U.S. are decided by plurality, meaning the winner needs only one vote more than the closest rival to win. A majority of votes isn’t needed. Particularly in multicandidate contests, the current plurality system awards victory to candidates with intense, but narrow, appeal. </p>
<p>Ranked-choice voting, however, allows voters to express their preferences for the candidates who are not their first choice. Under such a system, candidates have incentives to broaden their messages to capture votes from citizens who rank them second or third. Most <a href="https://www.fairvote.org/rcvbenefits">analysts think</a> that ranked-choice voting makes it less likely for candidates with extreme views to win compared with candidates with broader appeal. The Democratic primary for New York City mayor in 2021 followed this pattern, selecting <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/the-nyc-mayors-race-and-the-joys-of-ranked-choice-voting.html">Eric Adams, who was acceptable to multiple groups</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>One group that may oppose multimember districts is Black voters. Eliminating single-member districts could interfere with the design of districts with a majority of African American voters – districts that have fostered <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/nyregion/ranked-choice-lawsuit-voting.html">the election of Black legislators since the 1960s</a>. </p>
<p>When we studied <a href="http://www.paredistricting.com/Display/SiteFiles/448/OtherDocuments/2021/FowlerTestimonytoPAHouseStateGovernmentCommittee7_22_21.pdf">the districts that elected Black members to Congress</a>, however, we learned that those containing at least 37% African Americans selected a Black candidate in most cases. And <a href="https://mggg.org/rcv">research done at the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University</a> indicates that Black and Latino citizens may benefit from multimember districts if they are adopted in combination with ranked-choice voting. </p>
<p>Elections should hold public officials accountable by rewarding or sanctioning legislators’ performance. Outlawing gerrymandering addresses one piece of the problem of safe seats that impedes representation. But without other reforms, fairness to parties will have limited impact as long as residential sorting of citizens into homogeneous communities stifles electoral competition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Fowler is affiliated with Draw the lines PA, a non-partisan organization seeking to increase public participation and transparency in the congressional redistricting process in Pennsylvania. He is also an appointed member of Governor Wolf's Redistricting Advisory Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Fowler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cracking down on gerrymandering isn’t enough to make elections more competitive.Linda Fowler, Professor of Government, Dartmouth CollegeChris Fowler, Associate Professor of Geography and Demography, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1703322021-10-21T12:44:36Z2021-10-21T12:44:36ZBolsonaro faces ‘crimes against humanity’ charge over COVID-19 mishandling: 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427628/original/file-20211020-18921-1915pjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C91%2C5551%2C3609&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reckless policies are to blame for Brazil's high death toll.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-gestures-during-the-news-photo/1235980576?adppopup=true">Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Brazilian <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-crime-pandemics-homicide-covid-19-pandemic-1a1f8bf555e837c16dcfeaec111a7d3e">congressional panel has recommended</a> that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity” over his alleged bungling of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-covid-19-brazil.html">near-1,200 page report</a>, formally presented on Oct. 20, 2021, holds Bolsonaro culpable for worsening a crisis that has to date killed some 600,000 Brazilians, outlining how his <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-senator-says-bolsonaro-never-wanted-covid-19-vaccines-preferred-herd-2021-05-22/">failed policies</a> allowed the virus to spread among the population. The president denies any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>An earlier draft had called for Bolsonaro to be indicted for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-covid-19-brazil.html">homicide and genocide</a> as well, given how the ravages of the coronavirus have <a href="https://theconversation.com/judge-orders-brazil-to-protect-indigenous-people-from-ravages-of-covid-19-142356">disproportionately hit Brazil’s Indigenous groups</a>. But those charges were dropped from the final report.</p>
<p>Since the beginning of the pandemic, The Conversation’s authors have been chronicling the crisis in Brazil – and Bolsonaro’s role in letting it happen.</p>
<h2>1. In bad company</h2>
<p>Bolsonaro certainly doesn’t stand alone among world leaders when it comes to mishandling a health crisis that has now lasted more than 18 months. But he is one of the worst, according to a panel of scholars who put together <a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-worst-pandemic-leaders-5-presidents-and-prime-ministers-who-badly-mishandled-covid-19-159787">a rogues gallery of presidents and prime ministers</a> who stand accused of letting down their population.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://eaesp.fgv.br/en/faculty/elize-massard-fonseca">Elize Massard da Fonseca</a>, at Fundação Getulio Vargas, and <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/greer-scott.html">Scott L. Greer</a>, at University of Michigan, explained, the Brazilian president didn’t just fail to respond, he actively worsened the crisis.</p>
<p>“Bolsonaro used his <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11927713.29">constitutional powers to interfere in</a> the Health Ministry’s administrative matters, such as clinical protocols, data disclosure and vaccine procurement. He <a href="https://www.nexojornal.com.br/expresso/2020/08/04/Quais-os-vetos-de-Bolsonaro-a-medidas-de-combate-%C3%A0-pandemia">vetoed legislation</a> that would have both mandated the use of masks in religious sites and compensated health professionals permanently harmed by the pandemic, for example. And he obstructed state government efforts to promote social distancing and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-idUSKBN22N308">used his decree power to allow many businesses to remain open as ‘essential,’</a> including spas and gyms,” Massard da Fonseca and Greer write. But it doesn’t end there: “Bolsonaro also aggressively <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/world/americas/virus-brazil-bolsonaro-chloroquine.html">promoted unproven medicines</a>, notably hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-19 patients.”</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-worst-pandemic-leaders-5-presidents-and-prime-ministers-who-badly-mishandled-covid-19-159787">World's worst pandemic leaders: 5 presidents and prime ministers who badly mishandled COVID-19</a>
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<h2>2. Testing positive</h2>
<p>Bolsonaro backed up his disdain for masks and social distancing with personal action. While the virus spread throughout the early months of the pandemic, he could be seen pressing the flesh with supporters and campaigning without a face covering. He duly got COVID-19 in July 2020. As <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/anthony-pereira">Anthony Pereira</a>, at King’s College London, <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-jair-bolsonaro-has-coronavirus-what-it-could-mean-for-him-politically-142232">wrote</a>: “The most surprising thing about Jair Bolsonaro’s positive test for coronavirus … was how long it took to happen.”</p>
<p>It could have been a pivotal moment; Bolsonaro could have used his personal experience to stress the risks of catching the virus and doubled down on efforts to contain the spread. He didn’t. Instead, he took hydroxychloroquine – an anti-malarial drug that has been found to have <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or">no beneficial effects</a> in combating COVID-19 and which health experts warn could instead cause harm.</p>
<p>Worse, he “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/world/americas/virus-brazil-bolsonaro-chloroquine.html">tried to push the drug</a> on state health services, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/chloroquine-and-hydroxychloroquine-no-proof-these-anti-malarial-drugs-prevent-novel-coronavirus-in-humans-134703">concerns over its uses</a>.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-jair-bolsonaro-has-coronavirus-what-it-could-mean-for-him-politically-142232">Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro has coronavirus – what it could mean for him politically</a>
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<h2>3. Accused of genocide</h2>
<p>Of course, Bolsonaro had the benefit of having access to the best health care available in Brazil. Many, many others were not so fortunate.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/lacas/people/profile.html?id=nadia.rubaii">Nadia Rubaii</a>, co-director of the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention and a professor at Binghamton University, and <a href="https://www.jota.info/autor/julio-jose-araujo-junior">Julio José Araujo Junior</a>
of Rio de Janeiro State University, <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-bolsonaro-has-covid-19-and-so-do-thousands-of-indigenous-people-who-live-days-from-the-nearest-hospital-141506">note</a>: “Most of Brazil’s roughly <a href="http://www.funai.gov.br/index.php/indios-no-brasil/o-brasil-indigena-ibge">896,000 Indigenous people live in the Amazon region</a>, where the nearest hospital may be days away by boat and offer <a href="https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1809-43412019000100204">limited care</a>.”</p>
<p>Indigenous Brazilians also suffer from <a href="https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2014000400855">higher rates of malnutrition, anemia and obesity</a> – all of which puts them at a higher risk of death from COVID-19.</p>
<p>And in prescient words, given the discussion of charges against Bolsonaro, Rubaii and Araujo Junior lay out the argument that the right-wing leader’s policies – which had led to deforestation and the curtailment of Native land rights – had already amounted to “inciting genocide” against Indigenous Brazilians. </p>
<p>“While genocide often involves explicit killing, it can also include causing serious harm to a population and destroying their way of life,” the scholars write. There were already <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Confronting-Evil-Engaging-Responsibility-Genocide/dp/0199300704">warning signs</a> that this process was underway. COVID-19 “could be the final straw.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-bolsonaro-has-covid-19-and-so-do-thousands-of-indigenous-people-who-live-days-from-the-nearest-hospital-141506">Brazil's Bolsonaro has COVID-19 – and so do thousands of Indigenous people who live days from the nearest hospital</a>
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<h2>4. Poor, Black and vulnerable</h2>
<p>That the COVID-19 pandemic should hit minority groups should not come as too much of a surprise – it is a dynamic repeated the world over, including <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/racial-ethnic-disparities/index.html">in the United States</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://aaad.unc.edu/faculty-staff/kia-caldwell/">Kia Lilly Caldwell</a> at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Edna-Araujo-3">Edna Maria de Araújo</a> of State University of Feira de Santana in Brazil explain how, just as in the U.S., <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-is-deadlier-for-black-brazilians-a-legacy-of-structural-racism-that-dates-back-to-slavery-139430">this is a result of structural racism</a> that stretches back to the days of slavery. It has resulted in economic and health disparities in Brazil that heightened the risk of the country’s Black population getting COVID-19 and suffering worse from the virus.</p>
<p>Caldwell and de Araújo noted that while Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak originated in wealthy neighborhoods, it quickly spread to poorer, densely populated urban locations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-is-deadlier-for-black-brazilians-a-legacy-of-structural-racism-that-dates-back-to-slavery-139430">COVID-19 is deadlier for black Brazilians, a legacy of structural racism that dates back to slavery</a>
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<h2>5. Spread from rich to poor</h2>
<p>A quirk of the early coronavirus outbreak in Brazil was that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-rio/a-brazilian-woman-caught-coronavirus-on-vacation-her-maid-is-now-dead-idUSKBN21B1HT">many victims were maids</a> who were infected by their employer.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.springer.com/br/book/9783030332952">Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira</a>, a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College, explains how this contributed to the spread of the virus among Brazil’s poorer, Black population.</p>
<p>He <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-brazils-raging-pandemic-domestic-workers-fear-for-their-lives-and-their-jobs-138163">explains that after the abolition of slavery</a> in 1888, Black women were largely forced into taking menial jobs, many as domestic workers. Today, Black women still make up <a href="https://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/TDs/td_2528.pdf">almost two-thirds</a> of Brazil’s “domésticas.” Most have only limited access to quality health care and have to commute long distances from the richer neighborhoods they serve to the poorer ones in which they live, and through which COVID-19 spread rapidly.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-brazils-raging-pandemic-domestic-workers-fear-for-their-lives-and-their-jobs-138163">In Brazil's raging pandemic, domestic workers fear for their lives – and their jobs</a>
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<p>While COVID-19 spread among the population with devastating effect – especially for Brazil’s poor, Black and Indigenous people – Bolsonaro, it is alleged, ignored the growing evidence on masks, vaccines and other measures that would have slowed infections. Indeed, according to the report released Oct. 20, 2021, his policies can essentially be blamed for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-covid-19-brazil.html">more than half of Brazil’s total COVID-19 death toll</a> – some 300,000 people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
More than 600,000 Brazilians have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. A new report says the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro are responsible for around half.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625862021-06-11T16:40:46Z2021-06-11T16:40:46ZWhat’s the G-7? An international economist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405979/original/file-20210611-19-d8b8xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C11%2C1913%2C1265&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two members of the G-7 exchange an elbow bump.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainG7/0cc9d55b5d4447a890ac835b822b6909/photo?Query=g7&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4310&currentItemNo=38">Phil Noble, Pool via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/g7.asp">The Group of 7</a> is an informal group of seven powerful democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The presidents of the European Commission and European Council also attend G-7 meetings because several of Europe’s largest countries are also members. </p>
<p>Membership, which is decided internally, hasn’t changed much since the group’s founding in 1975. At the time, it included only six countries, all of which still belong. Canada joined a year later. Russia joined as an eighth member in 1998, temporarily changing the group’s moniker to the G-8, but Russia <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/politics/obama-europe-trip/index.html">was ousted after it annexed</a> Crimea in 2014. </p>
<p>Together, these seven wealthy nations form the foundation of the modern global economy and the cooperative rules-based system on which it is built. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Leaders of the seven current nations in the G7 as well as of the European Commission and European Council stand and pose for a picture in Cornwall, England" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=92%2C133%2C5487%2C3563&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405948/original/file-20210611-23-x7771g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">G-7 heads of state and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council pose for pictures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/G7Biden/a2e82343e3bc44018543dba7e5dcce45/photo?Query=g7&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4310&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why the G-7 matters</h2>
<p>The G-7 countries <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/06/09/who-gets-to-be-in-the-g7">make up about 40% of the world economy</a>, down from nearly 70% a few decades ago. </p>
<p>Despite the decline, the economic might of G-7 nations remains undeniable, not least due to their collective position as countries at the forefront of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-18/germany-breaks-korea-s-six-year-streak-as-most-innovative-nation">technological innovation and industrial know-how</a>. Moreover, G-7 economies are inextricably interwoven with global supply chains, which means that a policy change or economic shock in one G-7 country will, for better or worse, have ripple effects across the globe.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the G-7 may be the best hope for quick, decisive and meaningful policy action on pressing global problems.</p>
<p>While the G-7 doesn’t have the institutional clout of the United Nations, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-and-the-world-still-need-the-wto-to-keep-trade-and-the-global-economy-humming-113440">World Trade Organization</a> or NATO, it also doesn’t have their institutional red tape or bureaucracy. </p>
<p>And although the G-7 is a subset of the <a href="https://www.g20.org">ascendant G20</a> – which also includes rising economic powerhouses China, India and Brazil – the G-7 has another advantage: it’s much easier to achieve consensus in an intimate group of similar nations than it is to find common ground among diverse nations with very different economic and political priorities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Leaders of the U.S., U.K., France, West Germany, Japan and Italy pose for a picture during a meeting of the then-G-6 in 1975." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C54%2C2973%2C1962&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405787/original/file-20210610-24-1l0bytd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Back in 1975, when what is now known as the G-7 was formed, only six nations belonged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/G7SummitWhatsTheG7/7ad2d9593abf4d86801d34184ab4b5ed/photo?Query=g7%201975&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What the G-7 does</h2>
<p>The world is facing profound challenges, from the devastation of the <a href="https://covid19.who.int">COVID-19 pandemic</a> and <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/">climate change</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/autocracies-that-look-like-democracies-are-a-threat-across-the-globe-110957">authoritarianism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/search?q=attacks+on+democracy">attacks on democracy</a>.</p>
<p>None of these issues colors neatly within the lines of national borders. Countries need to cooperate to find solutions that do not simply kick the can to their neighbors.</p>
<p>An example of meaningful action by the G-7 is its June 5, 2021, announcement of an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/what-now-g7-tax-deal-multinationals-2021-06-07/">agreement on global minimum corporate tax rates</a>, which marked a watershed moment in international taxation. If successful, the agreement could mean the end of <a href="https://theconversation.com/g7-deal-uk-is-badly-conflicted-between-offshore-tax-havens-and-bidens-global-tax-drive-162190">tax havens</a> and a dramatic shift in how companies record their profits around the world.</p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. publishes short, accessible explanations of newsworthy subjects by academics in their areas of expertise.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily J. Blanchard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The G-7 nations, which include the US and UK, form the foundation of the modern global economy.Emily J. Blanchard, Associate Professor of Economics, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613332021-05-26T18:50:50Z2021-05-26T18:50:50ZWith COVID-19 cases surging, Nepal asks global community for urgent vaccine help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402673/original/file-20210525-15-1v55oas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=142%2C30%2C2660%2C1884&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A nurse treats a patient inside a COVID-19 ward of a government run hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 12, 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nepal, the landlocked Himalayan country, currently has one of the highest COVID-19 viral reproduction rates in the world. <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/05/red-cross-sounds-alarm-over-nepals-covid-19-crisis">The situation is dire: reports indicate</a> Nepal has a consistently higher number of COVID-19 cases per million than India. By mid-July, new case numbers could reach 800,000, among a population of 30 million, with a <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/nepal?view=cumulative-deaths&tab=compare">predicted death toll of 40,000</a>. </p>
<p>Last month, Nepal’s Ministry of Health said: “<a href="https://kathmandupost.com/health/2021/04/30/nepal-health-ministry-says-situation-unmanageable-as-hospitals-run-out-beds">Since coronavirus cases have spiked beyond the capacity of the health system and hospitals have run out of beds, the situation is unmanageable</a>.” The ministry also said <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/25/covid-argentina-nepal-and-others-see-cases-rising-rapidly-like-india.html">it had no more vaccines</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/nepal">Only two per cent of Nepal’s population is fully vaccinated</a>. Nearly two million Nepalis have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, with the halt of exports of vaccines from India, most have not had access to a second dose. This shortage of vaccines in Nepal has <a href="https://covid19.mohp.gov.np/covid/englishSituationReport/60927cd76c1a9_SitRep451_COVID-19_5-05-2021_EN.pdf?fbclid=IwAR131MzmfWyZQ_JSTYd9zkFtxjpnkCRmcOrpCRcugPM6iCvSOez5yRrGS54">global epidemiological implications,</a> such as the possibility of virus mutations that could readily spread regionally and beyond.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A chart shows the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases in Nepal in May 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402660/original/file-20210525-17-1odkp67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nepal vs. India The share of daily COVID-19 tests that are positive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/17gzUO_aSf1Svq5o5ma-_qrvXJGg8B4dC/view">Our World in Data</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As social scientists and public health practitioners familiar with Nepal’s health-care delivery and emergency response systems, we recognize that ultimately, the capacity to care for people suffering from COVID-19 in Nepal is <a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/nepal-documents/novel-coronavirus/health-sector-emergency-response-plan-covid-19-endorsed-may-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=ef831f44_2">severely limited</a>, with roughly 1,500 intensive care beds and just over 800 ventilators in the country. The mountainous terrain throughout much of the country, along with a lack of infrastructure, political marginalization and poverty compound the impacts of infectious disease.</p>
<p>However, we are also familiar with Nepal’s unique grassroots public health capacities, including the ability to quickly and effectively distribute vaccines to its people. Distributing vaccines to Nepal should help mitigate the country’s exigent crisis and help to flatten the curve in South Asia. </p>
<h2>Inequalities mount</h2>
<p>As North America and Europe return to semblances of normal life, the danger of creating and maintaining a “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/7870131/world-has-entered-stage-of-vaccine-apartheid-who-head-says/">vaccine apartheid</a>” is very real.</p>
<p>Vaccine apartheid refers to the idea that wealthy nations or groups get vaccines, while others do not. As World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says: “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/7870131/world-has-entered-stage-of-vaccine-apartheid-who-head-says/">The solution is more sharing</a>.”</p>
<p>Last week, in a positive step towards moving the needle on vaccine apartheid, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007766776/covid-vaccine-global-doses-biden.html">U.S. President Joe Biden pledged an additional 20 million vaccine doses to share with the rest of the world</a>. This is welcome news. However, Nepal has not been identified as a priority. </p>
<p>In 1816, during the global <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/smallpox-politics-and-power-in-kathmandu/">smallpox pandemic</a>, Nepal’s King, Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah, succumbed to the disease. Although at the time, Nepal, with assistance from India and Great Britain, was at the cutting-edge of global vaccine efforts, access to vaccines to protect its citizens remained elusive. </p>
<p>Today, as then, structural inequalities are exacerbated by the pandemic. Today, as then, Nepal is at the mercy of powerful global actors and faces a desperate humanitarian catastrophe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Paramedics in white hazmat suits roll a hospital gurney with a body covered in white sheet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402671/original/file-20210525-13-9e8d3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paramedics get ready to load dead bodies of COVID-19 victims onto an ambulance for cremation at a government run hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 12.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As in India, Nepal has experienced a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/hopeless-situation-oxygen-shortage-fuels-nepal-covid-crisis">shortage of oxygen</a> supplies for those who fall severely ill. The tolls of the virus roll down steep slopes of inequality impacted by <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02898100">social-structural factors</a> like ethnicity, class, caste, geography and gender that co-mingle with public health policies. Nepal acutely illustrates how these differences exacerbated by a pandemic can lead to synergistic epidemics, or “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-214401">syndemics</a>.” </p>
<p>While aid in the form of cash, oxygen supply chain assistance and essential supplies for healthcare facilities are helpful, access to vaccines is paramount to stopping sickness and death.</p>
<h2>Systems ready to distribute vaccines</h2>
<p>Nepal is uniquely suited for vaccine aid. The country has demonstrated the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taab027">successful implementation</a> of a multi-sectoral COVID-19 vaccination program, in even some of its most remote regions. </p>
<p>If the Biden administration and its allies prioritize Nepal for emergency COVID-19 vaccines, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002550">there is evidence</a> that Nepal could deliver them efficiently and effectively. The country has a track record of national vaccination initiatives and a grassroots public health infrastructure capable of reaching its population, not only for infectious disease but also for <a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1745-6215-12-136.pdf?site=trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com">preventative care</a> and the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35799">management of noncommunicable disease</a>. </p>
<p>This infrastructure is neither confined to cities nor dependent on complex technologies; rather, it is anchored by people and rooted in places, cultures and languages in ways that can alleviate vaccine hesitancy and spread accurate public health knowledge. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women pictured outside in front of mountains." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402680/original/file-20210525-23-1kugmpq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two Female Community Health Volunteers outside of Ringmo, Nepal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Ayers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, Nepal’s renowned 50,000-plus strong network of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19/">Female Community Health Volunteers</a> is ready to travel the breadth of the country’s seven provinces, helping to reach every household in both urban and remote settings.</p>
<p>With coolers of AstraZeneca doses slung over their shoulders, well-worn sneakers and a will to serve their communities, Female Community Health Volunteers have delivered what vaccine supplies they had to the elderly and vulnerable. </p>
<p>Female Community Health Volunteers have been at the forefront of recent successful vaccine campaigns, achieving high rates of BCG, DPT, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70324-9">oral polio vaccine</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7995-3">measles-rubella</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1179/2046905512Y.0000000037">vitamin A supplementation</a> coverage.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly man holds up a vaccine card." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402681/original/file-20210525-21-181zsql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A senior proudly displays his vaccine card.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Ayers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Physical distancing recommendations, isolation and sweeping lockdown measures <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.599280">are inapplicable</a> in countries like Nepal, where many people live in close proximity and must leave the house for work and food. </p>
<p>Mobilizing, and supporting, Nepal’s community health workers to deliver vaccines, prioritizing the most heavily affected areas and moving out from there, demonstrates <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nepal/stories/getting-immunization-back-track">the need for localized approaches to pandemic control</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/without-community-health-workers-global-covid-19-response-could-fail">extraordinary network of Female Community Health Volunteers</a> is one example of the unique capacity in Nepal to deploy a well co-ordinated, robust, decentralized health-care system in service of its citizens. This type of nuanced, culturally appropriate, data-driven approach is needed if public health measures are to benefit the most vulnerable. </p>
<p>The crisis unfolding in Nepal and South Asia presents an imperative to the global community to deliver vaccine aid. It is also a call to recognize the work of grassroots, public health infrastructures in places like Nepal. This recognition can be critical to ending global health apartheid.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 cases are surging in Nepal, potentially surpassing India’s reproduction rate, but the country is out of vaccines. Global aid could help with one of the worst health crises in South Asia.Katharine Rankin, Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Geography and Planning, University of TorontoDavid Citrin, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Departments of Global Health and Anthropology, University of WashingtonGalen Murton, Assistant Professor of Geographic Science, James Madison University Sienna Craig, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1538532021-02-04T13:10:59Z2021-02-04T13:10:59ZWhat a squeezed rubber ducky suggests about the lingering effects of vaccine misinformation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381426/original/file-20210129-19857-uvkluf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4885%2C3623&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Believe it or not, this little guy has inspired new scientific thought about the COVID-19 vaccine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/individual-yellow-rubber-duck-royalty-free-image/1163891584?adppopup=true">Peter Dazeley via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The mutations in the coronavirus indicate that the virus is working hard to survive, with transmissible COVID-19 variants <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7003e2.htm?s_cid=mm7003e2_w">being detected around the world</a>. These mutations have increased the urgency of vaccinating hundreds of millions of people within a matter of months. While that work has been stymied by governmental missteps, <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-reaches-42-among-nyc-residents-poll-reveals/2847065/">vaccine resistance</a> could ultimately be the biggest hurdle to reaching herd immunity. </p>
<p>And yet, we find hope in a rubber duck – or at least in the way a squeezed duck returns to its normal state. We have found that changing people’s beliefs about vaccines is going to take time, the way a deflated rubber duck springs back slowly after being squeezed. However much we’d love to cast Harry Potter’s “Reparo” charm and make vaccine hesitancy flick away instantly, we need to work hard at it. </p>
<p>Our research in the<a href="https://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Efengfu/"> Fu lab at Dartmouth College</a> focuses on the principles that govern dynamics of evolving systems across different domains and at different scales. Our current research combines game theory models of vaccination behavior with an epidemiological process to provide insight into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/health/virus-vaccine-game-theory.html">the vaccination compliance problem</a>. We have found that the same effect that causes the delayed recovery of a squeezed rubber duck – the hysteresis effect – can appear as an unforeseen roadblock for the recovery of vaccination rates. While vaccination has long met resistance, some experts point to a <a href="https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/new-media-old-messages-themes-history-vaccine-hesitancy-and-refusal/2012-01">1982 television documentary about vaccination for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus</a> that led to the deep skepticism about vaccines today. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YLd8zLQQrD4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Many materials display hysteresis, a “lagging behind” in returning to an original state.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How a physical property can also apply to social factors</h2>
<p>The term “hysteresis” is derived from <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BD%91%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%82">ὑστέρησις</a>, an ancient Greek word meaning “lagging behind.” It was coined by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Ewing">Sir James Alfred Ewing</a> to describe the behavior of magnetic materials. Iron maintains some magnetization after it has been exposed to and removed from a magnetic field.</p>
<p>The phenomenon also occurs in other systems that have memory. In economics, it refers to economic events that persist into the future, even after the triggers have been removed. It is why unemployment rates may continue to climb despite a recovering economy following a recession.</p>
<p>Such history dependence can be caused by the physical properties of an object or the biological functions of an organism, and in other cases it is due to social or psychological factors.</p>
<p>A more endearing example is the rubber duck. When a child squeezes a rubber duck, it will change shape. Even after the child releases the duck, it will not spring back quickly. </p>
<p>Whether in the science lab, business hub or bathtub, the effects of hysteresis are easy to see. And it is the same force coming into play around vaccination campaigns.</p>
<h2>Hysteresis in public health</h2>
<p>We discovered for the first time the hysteresis effect and the existence of a hysteresis loop in the context of public health and vaccine behavior in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2406">a 2019 research paper</a>. The hysteresis loop can be caused by concerns related to the effectiveness and perceived risk of vaccines. Negative experiences or perceptions related to vaccination affect the trend of uptake and cause the “vaccination trajectory” to get stuck in a hysteresis loop. </p>
<p>Imagine, again, our squeezed rubber duck. Mistrust in vaccines – no matter how unfounded – <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-scientists-and-public-health-officials-need-to-address-vaccine-mistrust-instead-of-dismissing-it-146955">causes an increase in the perceived risk</a> of vaccination. This hinders the growth of the vaccine uptake rate – as the duck is deformed. People may still resist vaccination even after misinformation has been corrected. The rubber duck will not spring back instantly, no matter how demanding the child.</p>
<p>The result is clear: Not only are vaccination rates impaired by rumors in the immediate term, but recovering public confidence takes an extended time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cars lined up at a vaccination center." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381783/original/file-20210201-13-68ihct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cars line up at a vaccination center in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 30.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-drive-their-cars-to-medical-tents-at-a-mass-covid-19-news-photo/1230878462?adppopup=true">Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Vaccine compliance</h2>
<p>Our results have practical implications for improving vaccine compliance by overcoming the hysteresis effect. </p>
<p><a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> shows that over 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed in the U.S., whereas merely 6 million people have completed the vaccination process.</p>
<p>Although not the only reason for the sluggish vaccination drive, mistrust is slowing the process. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html">Questions about mRNA vaccines</a> make people skeptical of getting them. Some <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-health-care-worker-reluctance/">health care personnel</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-05/only-60-percent-lapd-employees-want-covid-vaccine-internal-survey">front-line essential workers</a> themselves are declining to be vaccinated.</p>
<p>Indecision and hesitancy are the tight fist that squeezes the rubber duck. Publicizing vaccine knowledge and accelerating the distribution process is more vital than ever if we want to loosen the grip that is complicating vaccination efforts.</p>
<p>For fact-checked information on the COVID-19 vaccines, public health officials should continue to promote reliable sources including the website of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html">CDC</a> and <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines">the World Health Organization</a>. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/vaccination-toolkit.html">Social media-ready vaccine content</a>, too, is being leveraged to effectively communicate with the audience and combat misinformation across platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p>For residents waiting anxiously for their turn, <a href="https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/watch-live-chicago-announces-online-portal-for-covid-19-vaccine-appointments/">a user-friendly registration portal</a> and <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/mass-covid-19-vaccine-appointment-call-center-to-launch-this-week/35408933">an easy appointment</a> are needed to accelerate the distribution process. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/28/oregon-snowstorm-vaccine-traffic-covid/">A leftover dose should be given to anyone who wants it</a>, regardless of his or her priority, to prevent vaccines from expiring and going wasted.</p>
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<h2>Herd immunity and altruistic behavior</h2>
<p>Vaccination hesitance is just one example of human cooperation problems in the real world. To avoid the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tragedy-of-the-commons.asp">tragedy of the commons</a>, which says, essentially, that people pursue their own needs at the expense of others’, the U.S. needs cooperative and collective action. An individual’s vaccination contributes to <a href="https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/achieving-herd-immunity-with-covid19.html">herd immunity</a>, where people who are not immune are indirectly protected if most of the population is immune to an infectious disease.</p>
<p>To improve vaccine compliance and achieve herd immunity with COVID-19 expeditiously, the U.S. should overcome the hysteresis effect by reducing the resistance to vaccination. In particular, vaccination campaigns should promote vaccination as an altruistic behavior that has tremendous societal benefit. By getting vaccinated, we protect not only family members, friends and colleagues, but also strangers, including those who cannot be vaccinated, like newborns. </p>
<p>To embrace a quick “back to normal,” the U.S. cannot help but rely on a prompt and effective mass vaccination before it is too late to control new virus variants. It has already taken a herculean effort to develop, distribute and administer the vaccines. Now it is time to help the rubber duck return to form.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Feng Fu receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Gates Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xingru Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Vaccine hesitancy will not go away fast. In fact, there are parallels in the physical world to how quickly or slowly an object returns to its normal state.Xingru Chen, Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Mathematics, Dartmouth CollegeFeng Fu, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1486162020-10-23T12:25:24Z2020-10-23T12:25:24ZIn two political battlegrounds, thousands of mail-in ballots are on the verge of being rejected<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365079/original/file-20201022-22-18v3yde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=200%2C29%2C4732%2C3118&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Boxes of illegal and legal vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department ahead of Florida's Aug. 18 primary election.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020FloridaMail-In-Ballots/8b27e406c6a748d0b11857f82ee0b35c/photo?Query=ballot%20signature%20florida&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=6&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tens of millions of Americans have already cast their ballots for the 2020 election by mail, building on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/21/us/trump-biden-election/40-million-americans-have-already-voted-with-the-key-state-of-wisconsin-seeing-a-big-early-vote">a historic shift</a> in voting methods that started with primary elections held during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>Mail-in ballots, however, aren’t automatically accepted as in-person ballots are. Rather, they can be rejected if they have signature defects on their return envelopes. Unless cured by voters – which means that voters fix the signature errors on them – these submitted ballots will be rejected. </p>
<p>Thanks to ongoing reporting of voter turnout in two battleground states, <a href="https://countyballotfiles.floridados.gov/VoteByMailEarlyVotingReports/EarlyVotingHome">Florida</a> and <a href="https://dl.ncsbe.gov/?prefix=ENRS/2020_11_03/">North Carolina</a>, we can identify the number of mail-in ballots at risk of being rejected. So far, we can tell that there are thousands of ballots flagged for rejection in these two states. In addition, racial minorities and Democrats are disproportionately more likely to have cast mail ballots this election that face rejection.</p>
<h2>The signature issue with mail ballots</h2>
<p>Above, we use the word “risk” when describing ballots in Florida and North Carolina that have been flagged for rejection. While these ballots have signature defects, they have not yet been formally rejected.</p>
<p>Not all states have the same requirements for mail-in voting, but ballots usually face rejection if they’re missing a voter’s signature. Another source of defects is an ostensibly mismatched signature. This happens when an elections official concludes that a voter’s signature on a return envelope doesn’t match the voter’s signature on file. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person signs their name." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365081/original/file-20201022-15-7cjezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A missing signature is one of the most common reasons for a rejected ballot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/signing-name-to-vote-by-mail-person-filling-out-royalty-free-image/1279280689?adppopup=true">Bill Oxford via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some states, like <a href="https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-mail/faqs-voting-mail-north-carolina-2020#how-many-witnesses-do-i-need-for-my-absentee-ballot">North Carolina</a>, require witness signatures on ballot return envelopes, with the lack of such a signature considered a defect.</p>
<h2>Enough ballots face rejection to sway an election</h2>
<p>Our counts of mail ballots facing rejection in Florida and North Carolina are conservative. When calculating them using official data, we assume that any inconsistencies we find in the data are resolved in favor of ballot acceptance.</p>
<p>That said, here is what we know as of Oct. 22. </p>
<p>In Florida, 3,210,873 voters have cast mail ballots, and of these, 15,003 ballots face rejection, corresponding to a potential ballot rejection rate of 0.47%. This rate is not an estimate. It is based on counts drawn from official statewide data.</p>
<p>These thousands of mail ballots currently in limbo can make a difference. Consider the 2018 midterm election. In his successful United States Senate bid in this contest, Republican Rick Scott beat incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/us/florida-recount-senate-rick-scott-bill-nelson.html">by only 10,033 votes</a>. </p>
<p>Over 2 million Floridians have yet to return the mail ballots sent to them by county election officials, so the number of mail ballots subject to rejection in Florida could grow well beyond 15,000.</p>
<p>In North Carolina, an even greater percentage of mail ballots face rejection. In that state, 8,228 of 701,425 mail ballots fall into this category, yielding a potential rejection rate of 1.2%.</p>
<p>As in Florida, North Carolina’s elections can be extremely close. In the state’s 2016 gubernatorial race, <a href="https://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=11/08/2016&county_id=0&office=COS&contest=0">a mere 10,277 votes</a> out of roughly 4.6 million cast separated the winner, Democrat Roy Cooper, from incumbent Republican Pat McCrory. The number of ballots at risk in North Carolina – 8,228 – remains smaller than this margin but could grow as more ballots are returned.</p>
<h2>Partisan and race-based ballot rejection rates</h2>
<p>The risks of mail ballot rejection are not spread uniformly across voters, and rejected mail ballots are not politically neutral. </p>
<p>We can see from our Florida and North Carolina election data that registered Democrats have greater rejection rates than Republicans. The partisan differences in potential ballot rejection rates – Democratic rate minus Republican rate – are approximately 0.07% and 0.16% in Florida and in North Carolina, respectively.</p>
<p>In addition, Democrats have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-supporters-more-likely-than-trumps-to-vote-by-mail-poll-shows-11597683600">expressed</a> a greater willingness to vote by mail than Republicans – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-election-2020-joe-biden-elections-philadelphia-1533934325b5d1b650898d5c734f0c1f">though this might be changing</a>. This will compound any biases caused by differing ballot rejection rates across Democratic and Republican voters.</p>
<p>Official election data in Florida and North Carolina also reveal a clear racial pattern among mail ballots facing rejection: Black and Hispanic voters are much more likely to have their ballots flagged for missing signatures or other discrepancies than are white voters.</p>
<p>In Florida, ballots cast by Hispanic voters face a rejection risk 2.6 times that of white voters. In North Carolina, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/NC">where the two most common racial groups are Black and white</a>, the risk of ballot rejection for Black voters is three times that of white voters. White voters thus have lower ballot rejection rates than minority voters, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/06/02/in-changing-u-s-electorate-race-and-education-remain-stark-dividing-lines/">who tend to support Democratic candidates over Republican ones</a>. </p>
<h2>Ballots can still be ‘cured’</h2>
<p>In both Florida and North Carolina, voters who have submitted mail ballots with signature defects can still cure them. </p>
<p>Florida voters have the opportunity to <a href="https://dos.myflorida.com/media/700479/dsde139.pdf">fix their mail ballots</a> through Thursday, Nov. 5. This can be done via <a href="https://dos.myflorida.com/media/700479/dsde139.pdf">affidavit</a>. Details about ballot curing in North Carolina were until recently <a href="https://www.wral.com/state-just-hold-on-to-problem-absentee-ballots-as-courts-contemplate-rules/19315332/">tied up</a> in court. But voters in the state can now, in some cases, <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/sboe/numbermemo/2020/Numbered%20Memo%202020-19_Absentee%20Deficiencies.pdf">fix ballots with defects</a>. However, ballots in North Carolina missing witness signatures cannot be cured, and voters in the state who cast these types of ballots must request new ballots if they want their votes to count.</p>
<p>Curing a ballot with a signature defect requires knowing that it is facing rejection. But not all states send out notices informing voters of ballot defects.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-15-states-that-permit-voters-to-correct-signature-discrepancies.aspx">In some states</a>, voters who cast mail-in ballots <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-track-your-mail-in-ballot-148503">can check on the status of their ballots</a> with local officials or using web resources provided by the secretary of state, which voters can do in <a href="https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/voting-absentee-heres-how-to-track-your-ballot-in-new-mexico-/5900466/">New Mexico</a> and <a href="https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections/voters/toolkit/ballot-tracking/">Ohio</a>.</p>
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<p>However, other states, such as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjoztay3sjsAhWriOAKHcPiC7cQFjAAegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maine.gov%2Fsos%2Fcec%2Felec%2Ftemp%2F2020%2Fcuremail4.docx&usg=AOvVaw3tTzS40kEeR_lYEQqM6I-r">Maine</a> and <a href="https://sos.nh.gov/media/xbjbenys/partial-processing-absentee-ballots.pdf">New Hampshire</a>, don’t have laws mandating that voters get the opportunity to cure mail ballots of deficiencies. For this election, though, officials in these two New England states have developed procedures to allow voters to fix ballots with defects.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Given the surge of mail-in ballots in this election cycle, there’s likely to be confusion over rejected ballots and cures. In the future, it’ll be important for states to provide voters with transparent processes for fixing defective ballots so they can ensure they’ll be able to exercise the right to vote.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Herron submitted an expert report on behalf of plaintiffs in the matter of North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans et al. v. North Carolina State Board of Elections et al. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel A. Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Florida and North Carolina, mail ballots cast by minority voters and Democrats are disproportionately likely to face rejection.Michael Herron, William Clinton Story Remsen '43 Professor of Government, Dartmouth CollegeDaniel A. Smith, Professor and Chair of Political Science, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1402022020-06-11T17:16:05Z2020-06-11T17:16:05ZAu Brésil, la double peine des employées de maison face à la pandémie<p>Avec des centaines de milliers de cas, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/americas/brazil-coronavirus-cases.html">touchant toutes les classes sociales</a>, le Brésil est devenu au cours des dernières semaines <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/americas/499460-brazil-has-worlds-highest-coronavirus-death-toll-for-first-time">l’un des pays les plus durement frappés par la crise du coronavirus</a>. Mais dans les premières semaines de la pandémie, la maladie a tout particulièrement touché un profil de personnes spécifique : les employés domestiques (des femmes pour la plupart), infectés par leur employeur.</p>
<p>Le premier cas de Covid-19 confirmé dans l’État de Bahia, au nord-est du Brésil, était une femme récemment rentrée d’Italie. Elle a alors transmis le virus à sa domestique, qui a à son tour infecté <a href="https://www.correio24horas.com.br/noticia/nid/mae-de-domestica-infectada-e-terceiro-caso-confirmado-de-coronavirus-na-bahia/">sa propre mère de 68 ans</a>.</p>
<p>Le 17 mars, une <a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-51982465">« doméstica » de 62 ans est décédée</a> du Covid-19 à Rio de Janeiro. Son employeur, positif au coronavirus, avait lui aussi voyagé en Italie.</p>
<p>Les employées de maison constituent une <a href="https://brazilian.report/society/2020/02/17/economy-minister-paulo-guedes-domestic-worker-brazil/">figure centrale au Brésil</a>, une main-d’œuvre qui dans l’ombre fait fonctionner la société. La majorité des foyers brésiliens de classe moyenne et supérieur, ainsi que beaucoup de foyers de classes moyennes et populaires, emploient une « empregada doméstica ». Le Brésil compte ainsi 209 millions d’habitants et 6 millions d’employées domestiques, <a href="https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/trabalho/9171-pesquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios-continua-mensal.html">selon le gouvernement</a>.</p>
<p>La crise sanitaire braque les projecteurs sur cette énorme force de travail, habituellement invisible.</p>
<h2>Très exposées et sans filet de sécurité</h2>
<p>Les « maids » brésiliennes gagnent en moyenne 113 euros par mois – moins que le salaire minimum –, bien que le <a href="https://www.estadao.com.br/blogs/jt-seu-bolso/2012/03/23/baixa-renda-gasta-mais-com-empregada/">salaire</a> et les conditions de travail varient beaucoup selon la classe sociale.</p>
<p>Certaines d’entre elles habitent chez leurs employeurs, et travaillent généralement toute leur vie pour une même famille. D’autres sont payées au mois, et se déplacent quotidiennement pour venir travailler. Il existe également des employées à la journée qui servent plusieurs foyers, à l’image des femmes (et hommes) de ménage en France.</p>
<p>La tradition de l’aide-domestique remonte à l’abolition de l’esclavage en 1888, comme je l’ai analysé dans une <a href="https://www.springer.com/br/book/9783030332952">étude récente sur l’évolution des employées de maison brésiliennes et leur rôle dans la société</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raimunda, employée de maison à Rio de Janeiro, compte sur l’aide du gouvernement pour s’en sortir le temps de la pandémie.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/raimunda-a-self-employed-housekeeper-poses-for-a-photo-at-news-photo/1215149757?adppopup=true">Bruna Prado/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>À l’abolition de l’esclavage au Brésil, le gouvernement livra à eux-mêmes un million de Noirs, condamnés à s’en sortir par leurs propres moyens alors qu’ils n’avaient jusqu’ici pas de ressources propres. 99 % des Afro-Brésiliens étaient illettrés, selon le <a href="https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=225487">recensement national de 1890</a>. La plupart d’entre eux ont donc pris des emplois subalternes, et les femmes noires ont été largement reléguées aux travaux domestiques, essentiellement dans des foyers blancs.</p>
<p>Aujourd’hui, les femmes noires <a href="https://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/TDs/td_2528.pdf">constituent encore la majorité des « domésticas » du Brésil</a> – 63 % en 2018. Cette forme de travail est si explicitement racialisée au Brésil qu’en 1994, le futur président brésilien Fernando Henrique Cardoso <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1994/5/31/brasil/18.html">déclara à des journalistes</a> qu’il avait « un pied dans la cuisine » pour signaler ses origines métisses.</p>
<p>Ces jours-ci, avoir les deux pieds dans la cuisine implique d’être exposé à un risque de Covid-19 disproportionné.</p>
<p>En avril, le <a href="https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2020/04/11/coronavrus-mais-letal-entre-negros-no-brasil-apontam-dados-da-sade.ghtml">ministre de la Santé rapportait</a> que les Afro-Brésiliens représentaient un quart des personnes hospitalisées pour une forme grave de la maladie causée par le coronavirus et environ un tiers des décès dus au Covid-19 (alors qu’ils ne constituent que 7 à 8 % de la population totale). À São Paulo, l’épicentre de la pandémie au Brésil, les autorités ont récemment fait savoir que les habitants noirs avaient <a href="https://saude.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,em-sp-risco-de-morte-de-negros-por-covid-19-e-62-maior-em-relacao-aos-brancos,70003291431">62 % de risques de mourir du Covid-19 de plus</a> que l’ensemble de la population.</p>
<p>Les employées de maison brésiliennes, quelle que soit leur couleur de peau, sont tout particulièrement vulnérables à la crise. Elles ne disposent généralement d’aucune garantie d’emploi, parcourent de longues distances pour aller travailler <a href="https://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/covid-19-mais-letal-em-regioes-de-periferia-no-brasil-1-24407520">et perçoivent des revenus très faibles</a> ; elles ont donc un accès limité à une protection de santé de qualité.</p>
<p>Tous les lits de réanimation des hôpitaux publics de <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2020/05/doze-capitais-tem-mais-de-80-de-leitos-publicos-de-uti-ocupados.shtml">5 des 26 États du pays</a> – Pará, Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco et Ceará – sont occupés ou le seront prochainement, selon les autorités locales. Tandis que les patients atteints du Covid-19 les plus aisés peuvent payer pour être <a href="https://epoca.globo.com/sociedade/coronavirus-ricos-de-belem-escapam-em-uti-aerea-de-colapso-nos-hospitais-da-cidade-1-24412850">transportés dans des hôpitaux privés, à São Paulo ou à l’étranger</a>, les Brésiliens plus pauvres ne peuvent compter que sur un système de santé public déjà surchargé.</p>
<h2>Catastrophe économique</h2>
<p>Outre les exposer physiquement à la pandémie, la crise rend les travailleurs domestiques brésiliens très vulnérables sur le plan économique.</p>
<p>Environ 4,3 millions des 6 millions de « domésticas » brésiliennes sont employées de <a href="https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/trabalho/9171-pesquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios-continua-mensal.html">façon informelle</a>, ce qui signifie qu’elles ne sont pas enregistrées auprès du gouvernement. Elles ne bénéficient pas par conséquent du droit du travail, qui garantit un salaire mensuel minimum de 157 euros et 30 jours de congés payés.</p>
<p>Depuis début mars, <a href="https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/bbc/2020/04/22/conoravirus-no-brasil-39-dos-patroes-dispensaram-diaristas-sem-pagamento-durante-pandemia-aponta-pesquisa.htm">39 % d’entre elles</a> ont été congédiées. Elles font partie des <a href="https://exame.com/economia/taxa-de-desemprego-no-brasil-pode-dobrar-por-covid-19-diz-salim-mattar/">15 à 20 millions de Brésiliens qui seront</a> au chômage d’ici à juillet, selon <a href="https://valorinveste.globo.com/mercados/brasil-e-politica/noticia/2020/03/27/desemprego-vai-explodir-no-brasil-com-coronavirus-a-duvida-e-o-tamanho-da-bomba.ghtml">différentes projections</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Les Brésiliens font la queue devant une banque à Rio de Janeiro pour obtenir une aide gouvernementale du fait de la pandémie, le 18 mai 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-wearing-protective-masks-wait-in-line-while-news-photo/1213500787?adppopup=true">Bruna Prado/AFP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bien que le <a href="https://mpt.mp.br/pgt/noticias/nota-tecnica-no-4-coronavirus-1.pdf">Bureau du procureur fédéral du travail</a> recommande officiellement de garantir aux employées domestiques un congé payé pour rester chez elles pendant la pandémie, seules 39 % des travailleuses régulières et 48 % des travailleuses journalières en ont effectivement bénéficié, selon l’<a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52375292">institut de sondage Locomotiva</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bol.uol.com.br/noticias/2020/05/07/apos-criticas-governo-do-para-limita-servico-domestico-durante-lockdown.htm">Certains</a> États du Brésil ont <a href="https://fenatrad.org.br/2020/05/13/fenatrad-e-sindomestico-ma-solicitam-a-revisao-do-decreto-que-coloca-o-servico-domestico-como-essencial-no-maranhao/">inclus l’emploi domestique</a> dans la liste des services essentiels, permettant aux employées de maison de continuer à travailler – en supposant que leurs <a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52375292">employeurs continuent à les rémunérer</a>.</p>
<h2>Réseaux de solidarité</h2>
<p>La détresse des travailleurs domestiques est l’une des nombreuses inégalités brésiliennes mises en lumière par la pandémie.</p>
<p>Le Congrès a voté en mars une aide autorisant un revenu de base d’urgence de 90 euros par mois pour les personnes nouvellement sans emploi, y compris les travailleurs informels. Jusqu’ici, toutefois, un peu moins de la moitié des <a href="https://caixanoticias.caixa.gov.br/noticia/20795/auxilio-emergencial-clique-aqui-para-ver-os-ultimos-numeros">55 millions de personnes qui l’ont sollicitée</a> l’ont reçue, en raison d’une mauvaise mise en œuvre et de retards bureaucratiques. L’absence d’accès Internet couplée à d’autres facteurs liés à la pauvreté pourraient par ailleurs <a href="https://redepesquisasolidaria.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/boletim5.pdf">empêcher plusieurs millions de personnes de solliciter cette aide</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Un hôpital de campagne pour les patients du Covid-19 installé à Manaus, au Brésil, était à pleine capacité le 21 mai 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nursers-work-at-the-intensive-treatment-unit-at-the-news-photo/1214464053?adppopup=true">Andre Coelho/AFP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ces employées brésiliennes souffrent de la pandémie, mais pas en silence. <a href="https://fenatrad.org.br">Fenatrad</a>, une fédération qui unit les travailleuses domestiques, se bat contre les décrets d’État qui intègrent les domestiques aux services essentiels, en insistant plutôt pour que cette population à haut risque bénéficie d’un congé payé.</p>
<p>Début mai, la Cour suprême brésilienne <a href="https://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/judiciario/stf-reconhece-covid-19-como-doenca-ocupacional-e-permite-autuacao-de-empresas/">a demandé</a> que le Covid-19 soit qualifié de maladie professionnelle afin de permettre aux travailleurs d’obtenir une compensation. La décision s’applique aux employées de maison.</p>
<p>Les communautés ont également créé leurs propres initiatives de base pour soutenir les travailleurs domestiques. Une campagne de dons <a href="https://www.esolidar.com/en/crowdfunding/detail/6-adote-uma-diarista-durante-o-coronavirus-covid19?lang=br">« Adoptez une femme de ménage quotidienne »</a> est en cours dans la favela de Paraisópolis à São Paulo – un bidonville qui jouxte un quartier de classe supérieure – pour inciter les personnes qui en ont les moyens à soutenir les femmes de ménage de la région.</p>
<p>Et signe de la remarquable mobilité sociale du Brésil <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-brazil-tilts-rightward-lulas-leftist-legacy-of-lifting-the-poor-is-at-risk-65939">encouragée dans les années fastes du début du XXIᵉ siècle</a>, la première génération d’enfants de domestiques ayant fait des études universitaires <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/05/for-the-lives-of-our-mothers-covid-19-sparks-fight-for-maids-rights-in-brazil-coronavirus">a lancé une pétition Change.org</a> demandant aux employeurs d’accorder à leurs mères des congés payés, de leur verser une avance sur leurs vacances et d’isoler les employées résidentes qui présenteraient un risque élevé de Covid-19. Ils ont également ajouté une option de dons <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pelavidadenossasmaes/">pour soutenir les domestiques vulnérables</a>.</p>
<p>« Les domestiques font partie d’un groupe de travailleurs qui représente le Brésil », peut-on lire dans la pétition, qui invite toutes les personnes élevées par des « domésticas » à se joindre à leur cause. À ce jour, plus de 90 000 personnes ont signé la pétition, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cartamanifesto/posts/103226661321138 :0 ?__tn__=K-R">« pour la vie de toutes nos mères »</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Les employées domestiques comptent parmi les premières victimes du Covid-19 au Brésil. Bon nombre d’entre elles se retrouvent aujourd’hui sans emploi, parfois sans aucune ressource.Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira, Visiting Scholar, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1381632020-06-03T12:13:21Z2020-06-03T12:13:21ZIn Brazil’s raging pandemic, domestic workers fear for their lives – and their jobs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338058/original/file-20200527-20264-5pu5ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C344%2C4767%2C3058&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ladijane Sofia da Concecão, one of millions of unemployed housekeepers in Brazil, accepts a food donation from a friend in São Paulo, May 7, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nilson-garrido-shares-part-of-the-donations-he-received-news-photo/1212731072?adppopup=true">Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Brazil has emerged as one of the <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/americas/499460-brazil-has-worlds-highest-coronavirus-death-toll-for-first-time">worst-hit countries in the coronavirus crisis</a>, with hundreds of thousands of cases <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/americas/brazil-coronavirus-cases.html">affecting people from all backgrounds</a>. But in the early weeks of the pandemic, in March, many victims of the disease had a similar profile: a maid infected by her employer.</p>
<p>The first confirmed COVID-19 patient in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state was a woman recently returned from Italy. She infected her maid, who then infected her <a href="https://www.correio24horas.com.br/noticia/nid/mae-de-domestica-infectada-e-terceiro-caso-confirmado-de-coronavirus-na-bahia/">own 68-year-old mother</a>.</p>
<p>On March 17, a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-51982465">62-year-old live-in maid died</a> from the novel coronavirus in Rio de Janeiro. Her COVID-19 positive employer had also traveled to Italy.</p>
<p>Domestic workers are <a href="https://brazilian.report/society/2020/02/17/economy-minister-paulo-guedes-domestic-worker-brazil/">central figures in Brazil</a>, a hidden workforce that keeps society running. Most upper- and middle-class Brazilian households – and even many lower-middle class homes – employ an “empregada doméstica,” or domestic employee. Brazil, with 209 million people, has 6 million maids, according to <a href="https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/trabalho/9171-pesquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios-continua-mensal.html?edicao=27527&t=quadro-sintetico">the government</a>. </p>
<p>COVID-19 is bringing this enormous, often invisible workforce into sharp focus. </p>
<h2>High risk, no safety net</h2>
<p>Brazilian domestic workers earn US$128 a month on average – less than minimum wage – though <a href="https://www.estadao.com.br/blogs/jt-seu-bolso/2012/03/23/baixa-renda-gasta-mais-com-empregada/">salary</a> and working conditions vary greatly across social strata. </p>
<p>Some domestic employees are live-in maids, who usually work their entire adult lives for one family. Others are paid monthly, and commute daily to work. Then there are daily maids who serve multiple households, akin to U.S. house cleaners. </p>
<p>The tradition of domestic help can be traced back to the abolition of slavery in 1888, as I analyzed in <a href="https://www.springer.com/br/book/9783030332952">my recent study on the evolution of Brazilian maids and their role in society</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338062/original/file-20200527-20237-1jb6wf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raimunda, a day maid from Rio de Janeiro, is relying on government aid to get through the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/raimunda-a-self-employed-housekeeper-poses-for-a-photo-at-news-photo/1215149757?adppopup=true">Bruna Prado/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After slavery ended in Brazil, the government left an estimated 1 million newly freed black people to survive with their own resources, which were usually none. Ninety-nine percent of black Brazilians were illiterate, according to <a href="https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=225487">Brazil’s 1890 census</a>. Most took menial jobs, with black women largely relegated to live-in domestic work serving mostly white homes. </p>
<p>Black women <a href="https://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/TDs/td_2528.pdf">still make up the majority of Brazil’s “domésticas”</a> – 63% in 2018. Domestic work is so explicitly racialized in Brazil that, in 1994, soon-to-be Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1994/5/31/brasil/18.html">told reporters</a> he “had one foot in the kitchen” to signal his mixed-race heritage.</p>
<p>These days, having two feet in the kitchen signals a disproportionate COVID-19 risk. </p>
<p>In April, the <a href="https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2020/04/11/coronavrus-mais-letal-entre-negros-no-brasil-apontam-dados-da-sade.ghtml">Health Ministry reported</a> that black Brazilians made up a quarter of those hospitalized with severe COVID-19 but about a third of COVID-19 fatalities. And officials in São Paulo, the epicenter of the pandemic in Brazil, recently reported that black residents were <a href="https://saude.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,em-sp-risco-de-morte-de-negros-por-covid-19-e-62-maior-em-relacao-aos-brancos,70003291431">62% more likely to die of COVID-19</a> than the general population.</p>
<p>But Brazilian maids of all races are vulnerable in this crisis because most generally lack employment safeguards, commute long distances <a href="https://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/covid-19-mais-letal-em-regioes-de-periferia-no-brasil-1-24407520">and are poor</a>, with limited access to quality health care. </p>
<p>All intensive care beds in public hospitals from <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2020/05/doze-capitais-tem-mais-de-80-de-leitos-publicos-de-uti-ocupados.shtml">five states</a> – Pará, Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Ceará – are either occupied or soon will be, according to states reports. While wealthy COVID-19 patients can pay to be <a href="https://epoca.globo.com/sociedade/coronavirus-ricos-de-belem-escapam-em-uti-aerea-de-colapso-nos-hospitais-da-cidade-1-24412850">transported to top private hospitals in São Paulo or abroad</a>, poorer Brazilians rely on the overwhelmed public health system. </p>
<h2>Economic devastation</h2>
<p>Brazilian domestic workers’ exposure to the pandemic is economic as well as physical.</p>
<p>Approximately 4.3 million of Brazil’s 6 million maids are <a href="https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/trabalho/9171-pesquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios-continua-mensal.html?edicao=27527&t=quadro-sintetico">employed informally</a>, meaning they aren’t registered with the government. As such, labor rights – which include the $178 national minimum monthly wage and 30-day paid vacations – do not apply. </p>
<p>Since early March, <a href="https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/bbc/2020/04/22/conoravirus-no-brasil-39-dos-patroes-dispensaram-diaristas-sem-pagamento-durante-pandemia-aponta-pesquisa.htm">39% of daily maids in Brazil</a> have been let go. They are among the estimated <a href="https://exame.com/economia/taxa-de-desemprego-no-brasil-pode-dobrar-por-covid-19-diz-salim-mattar/">15 to 20 million Brazilians expected to be</a> unemployed by July, according to <a href="https://valorinveste.globo.com/mercados/brasil-e-politica/noticia/2020/03/27/desemprego-vai-explodir-no-brasil-com-coronavirus-a-duvida-e-o-tamanho-da-bomba.ghtml">several projections</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338059/original/file-20200527-20260-17fx0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brazilians line up for government pandemic aid outside a bank in Rio de Janeiro, May 18, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-wearing-protective-masks-wait-in-line-while-news-photo/1213500787?adppopup=true">Bruna Prado/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Though the <a href="https://mpt.mp.br/pgt/noticias/nota-tecnica-no-4-coronavirus-1.pdf">Office of the Federal Labor Attorney</a> officially recommends that maids receive paid leave to stay at home during the pandemic, only 39% of regular maids and 48% of daily maids have been given that benefit, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52375292">pollster Locomotiva</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bol.uol.com.br/noticias/2020/05/07/apos-criticas-governo-do-para-limita-servico-domestico-durante-lockdown.htm">Some</a> <a href="https://fenatrad.org.br/2020/05/13/fenatrad-e-sindomestico-ma-solicitam-a-revisao-do-decreto-que-coloca-o-servico-domestico-como-essencial-no-maranhao/">states</a> in Brazil have listed domestic work as an essential service, allowing them to continue working – assuming their <a href="https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-52375292">employers will still pay them</a>. </p>
<h2>Solidarity networks</h2>
<p>The plight of domestic workers is one of many ways the pandemic is shining a hard light on inequality in Brazil. </p>
<p>Brazil’s Congress in March passed an aid bill authorizing a monthly $102 “emergency basic income” payment to the newly unemployed, including informal workers. So far, however, little more than half of the <a href="https://caixanoticias.caixa.gov.br/noticia/20795/auxilio-emergencial-clique-aqui-para-ver-os-ultimos-numeros">55 million people who’ve applied</a> have received funds, due to faulty execution and bureaucratic delays. Lack of internet access and other poverty-related factors may <a href="https://redepesquisasolidaria.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/boletim5.pdf">prevent many millions more from even applying</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338060/original/file-20200527-20229-1ao3r7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A field hospital for COVID-19 patients in Manaus, Brazil, was at capacity on May 21, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nursers-work-at-the-intensive-treatment-unit-at-the-news-photo/1214464053?adppopup=true">Andre Coelho/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Brazilian maids are suffering in this pandemic, but not in silence. A federation of domestic workers unions called <a href="https://fenatrad.org.br">Fenatrad</a> is challenging the state decrees that established domestic workers as essential service providers, pushing instead for this high-risk population to receive paid leave. </p>
<p>In early May, the Brazilian Supreme Court <a href="https://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/judiciario/stf-reconhece-covid-19-como-doenca-ocupacional-e-permite-autuacao-de-empresas/">ruled</a> that COVID-19 qualifies as an occupational illness for the purposes of workers’ compensation. This decision applies to maids. </p>
<p>Communities have created their own grassroots initiatives to support domestic workers, too. An “<a href="https://www.esolidar.com/en/crowdfunding/detail/6-adote-uma-diarista-durante-o-coronavirus-covid19?lang=br">Adopt a Daily Maid</a>” donation campaign is underway in São Paulo’s Paraisópolis “favela” – a slum settlement that abuts an upper-class district – urging people with means to support house cleaners in the area.</p>
<p>And in a sign of the remarkable social mobility Brazil <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-brazil-tilts-rightward-lulas-leftist-legacy-of-lifting-the-poor-is-at-risk-65939">fostered in the boom years of the early 21st century</a>, the first-generation college-educated children of maids <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/05/for-the-lives-of-our-mothers-covid-19-sparks-fight-for-maids-rights-in-brazil-coronavirus">started a Change.org petition</a> asking employers to give domestic workers paid leave, advance vacation pay and isolate live-in maids who are at high COVID-19 risk. They latter added a donations option <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pelavidadenossasmaes/">to support vulnerable maids</a>.</p>
<p>“Maids belong to a group of workers that represents Brazil,” reads the petition, which urges everyone raised by domestic workers to join their cause. So far, more than 90,000 people have signed on, “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cartamanifesto/posts/103226661321138:0?__tn__=K-R">for the lives of all our mothers</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Maids were among Brazil’s earliest COVID-19 victims, infected by employers who had been to Italy. Now 39% of Brazilian ‘domésticas’ have been let go, most without severance or sick leave.Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira, Visiting Scholar, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.