By Justin Steil and Somala Diby (click here for the pdf) The literary scholar Saidiya Hartman asked in a recent essay, “Is abolition a synonym for love?” Analyzing W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1920 short story “The Comet,” which is narrated from the perspective of a Black survivor of the near-total extraterrestrial destruction of New York, Hartman notes that it is “as if the enclosure … [Read more...] about “Disaster, Abolition and Repair” by Justin Steil and Somala Diby (Nov/Dec 2020 P&R Issue)
“An Opening: Advocating for Equity in a Polarized America” by Olatunde Johnson (Nov – Dec 2020 P&R Issue)
See the full pdf of this issue of Poverty & Race Journal here. American society is facing a daunting array of political and social challenges. The ascendance of Trump reflects deep political fissures that seem to have calcified over the last four years. Blatant racist appeals have become part of ordinary politics and our core democratic foundations have been shaken by the … [Read more...] about “An Opening: Advocating for Equity in a Polarized America” by Olatunde Johnson (Nov – Dec 2020 P&R Issue)
“Under One Roof: Building an Abolitionist Approach to Housing Justice” by Sophie House and Krystle Okafor (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
By Sophie House and Krystle Okafor (Click here to view the entire PDF) I. Introduction This essay invites housing scholars and policymakers to consider how we can learn from the ongoing project of abolition. Abolition here refers to the body of scholarship and advocacy--beginning with the abolition of slavery and extending through contemporary movements for the abolition … [Read more...] about “Under One Roof: Building an Abolitionist Approach to Housing Justice” by Sophie House and Krystle Okafor (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
“From Grenfell to Granby: Challenging Spatial Injustice through Collective Alternatives to Public Housing” by Matthew Thompson (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
By Matthew Thompson (Click here to view the entire PDF) In June 2017, a catastrophic fire in London’s Grenfell Tower killed 72 of its inhabitants and made many more homeless. This 24-storey tower block, like many managed by borough councils across the capital, was home to the largely black and brown urban working class, people on low wages often servicing the lifestyles of … [Read more...] about “From Grenfell to Granby: Challenging Spatial Injustice through Collective Alternatives to Public Housing” by Matthew Thompson (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
“Looking to the Future and Learning from the Past: New Deal Housing Policy and COVID-19” by Hillary Botein (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
By Hilary Botein (Click here to view the entire PDF) This short essay focuses on the development of U.S. housing policies in the 1930s and 1940s, and how those discussions can inform a reimagining of housing policies in 2020. As Peter Marcuse and others have described, the “myth of the benevolent state” leads us to believe that the state acts to protect its citizens, when in … [Read more...] about “Looking to the Future and Learning from the Past: New Deal Housing Policy and COVID-19” by Hillary Botein (Sept/Oct 2020 P&R Issue)
