Lead, Caste, TSA

How Companies Make Millions On Lead-Poisoned, Poor Blacks

Terrence McCoy | Washington Post | 25th August 2015 | Metered paywall

Poor black residents of Baltimore have won millions of dollars in structured long-term settlements over lead-painted homes that caused brain damage in children. But finance companies have "bought out" many of these settlements for a third or less of their present value. "We’re trying to bring better value to people," says the CEO of Access Funding, the firm that bought Freddie Gray's $94,000 of settlement money for $18,300 (4,810 words)

Untouchable

Martha Nussbaum | New Rambler | 19th August 2015

Learned review of "Annihilation of Caste" by B.R. Ambedkar, who was born an "untouchable" and went on to write the Indian Constitution. With a nuanced picture of his contrast with Gandhi, a critique of the introductory essay by Arundhati Roy, a discussion of text and authority in religion, and an unexpected comparison of Ambedkar's philosophy to Reform Judaism. Ambedkar eventually converted from Hinduism to Buddhism (3,700 words)

Don’t Fly During Ramadan

Aditya Mukerjee | 22nd August 2013

Jaw-dropping story of flying while non-white in America. "TSA agents are not law enforcement officials. Technically, they don’t even have the right to detain you against your will." So "We’re not detaining you," said the TSA officer to Aditya Mukerjee. "You just can’t leave." Denied food and water during hours of questioning, the story (incredibly) gets many times worse at the end (4,460 words)

Video of the day: Western Spaghetti

What to expect: Surrealist stop-motion animation (1'41")

Thought for the day

All stones are broken stones
James Richardson (http://www.amazon.com/Vectors-Aphorisms-Ten-Second-James-Richardson/dp/0967266890)