Morning Belz, May 11
Outdoor masks, Confederate memory and the price of a home in Brooklyn.
Hey CDC, stop pretending outdoor transmission is a thing — NYT
# of detained migrant children doubled in past 2 months — AP
Clint Smith on Confederate memory — Atlantic
Chloe Valdary versus critical race theory — Newsweek*
LONG history of Internet atheism/feminism/anti-racism — Astral Codex
2 mayoral hopefuls with no idea what a Brooklyn home costs — Twitter**
24 people killed, including 9 children, in Israeli strikes on Gaza — AP
The last night at a roller rink in St. Louis Park, MN — Star Tribune
*this piece includes an interesting thesis about North vs South, that segregated Black communities in the South were able to build wealth and social capital in ways that Black communities in the North never were. I do not think this is an attempt by Valdary to justify or airbrush slavery or segregation, in any way: “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights establishment found it more difficult to organize black Americans in the North than in the South. In fact, after the Civil Rights act and the Voting Rights Act were passed in 1964 and 1965, the movement completely disintegrated in the North. Why did the South provide more fertile grounds for black organizing? In cities like Chicago, impoverished and demoralized black Americans simply could not support a movement...A spirit of enterprise, combined with the moral vision of the church, imbued Southern black Americans with a sense of inherent dignity and self-worth that was missing in many communities in the North. As a result, the spiritual doctrine against resentment and vengeance as embodied by nonviolent agitation against segregation in the South fell on deaf ears in the North…”
Newest video, on guns, freedom and responsibility, is here. Check it out!
Quote
Mara Gay: What is the median price for a home in Brooklyn?
Andrew Yang: Oh, my gosh. Brooklyn! Such a diverse place.
Mara Gay: You’re the math guy.
Andrew Yang: I know. I am the math guy. But this is, like, a median. This is, like, blowing my mind, this question. So median home — could be any size, right? So some of them would be very substantial. But you’re looking at the median, so you have to, like, whittle down. I would just say that the median — it’s going to be something, like, much higher than it should be. So the number that popped into my mind is $900,000.
Mara Gay: That’s exactly right.
(NYT — **this whole price of a home in Brooklyn thing is fascinating. Brings to mind the Colombian finance minister’s miss on the price of eggs. I have no dog in this hunt but you gotta imagine Yang’s answer here makes him look really good to *some* New Yorkers.)
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