The Petty Police, Unrest in Iraq, Commemorating Katrina

KTF Weekly Newsletter

Hi everybody, 

We’ve put together a list of other writers whose newsletters or podcasts are on the Substack platform (like ours) that we think are really worth your time. It includes several people we have either had on Shake the Dust or recommended in this newsletter. As always, we’ve tried to center and elevate marginalized voices and perspectives in the list, and you will find no shortage of incredible, informative writing from these authors. Give it a look and please reply with anyone you think we should add! 

Now, without further ado, here are this week’s highlights. 

Sy’s recommendations: 

• Since the end of slavery, taxation without providing basic services has been a favored strategy for state governments to extract wealth from Black communities. Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, does not have consistent running water at the moment, and the water that does come is not clean. The government told residents to boil water before using it, and it cannot say when the crisis will be over. There may not be enough water to do mundane but critical things like flushing toilets, or to meet emergencies like fires. State legislators are using porta potties outside their offices. This video from All In with Chris Hayes gives a closer look at the stresses of day-to-day life right now for residents of this overwhelmingly Black city, and crucially contextualizes that story within the history of white flight following desegregation. This article goes further into the history of disinvestment in Jackson, detailing how hostile legislators and underfunded bureaucracies failed to address the water system’s well-known problems. And here is a Twitter thread with ways you can help, both locally and from far away.