It is believed by outreach workers that by the time any members of the Providence Police Department arrived at the two unhoused encampments cruelly evicted by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, the encampments were empty. All that remained was the trash that Mayor Smiley refused to provide receptacles for, and whatever possessions those being evicted were […]
Despite months of student protest to demand divestment of the Brown University endowment from the Israeli military, the administration has tried to squash student activism through use of the criminal justice system. On February 12 and 14, 41 students were arraigned at the state courts in response to conducting a sit-in months earlier. Though the […]
Last summer, a statue of a bronze man sitting alone on a bench appeared in PVD’s Market Square. Although he can’t introduce himself, his bench bears his name: Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901). If you aren’t familiar with Bannister, you likely know the Providence Art Club, which he helped found. During his life, Bannister was considered […]
Since October 7, I have been glued to my phone watching video after video depicting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Doctors are operating with sewing needles and without anesthetic, babies are dying because there is no electricity to run incubators. Journalists covering Gaza have been targeted and killed, and civilians are being bombed with white […]
In 1937, the federal government entered the world of public housing when FDR signed the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act into law. The law established the US Housing Authority, which created a federally funded public housing program that provided $500 million in loans for low-cost housing projects across the US to help house America’s most financially poor. […]
“The more normal something appears to be, the more ideological it is.” – Angela Davis quoting Wahneema Lubiano in the Black Women Radicals, “Black Feminist Writers and Palestine” webinar (via seedaschool.substack.com) The clocks have turned back, plunging us into darkness before 5pm. The air is getting colder. Seemingly, the hearts of those in power have […]
There is a new piece of public art a couple of blocks from my house, in the playground across the street from the Peace Dale Library. It is a fourteen foot tall, vaguely bunny shaped, abstract sculpture by an artist named Peter Diepenbrock. It was recently installed as part of the celebration of South Kingstown’s […]
[Follow-up from “Opinion — When Hamas seeks martyrdom” by Michael Bilow on October 7th, 2023.] Note: This was published two days before Israel began its ground offensive in Gaza on Oct 27. Significance The situation in the Middle East has the United States itself on the brink of war. One critical aspect of World War […]
[Follow-up to “Opinion – Has the Hamas attack on Israel started World War III? We’ll soon find out” by Michael Bilow on October 25th, 2023.] The situation in Israel is chaotic and unclear, as a surprise attack by Hamas terrorists infiltrating across the border from Gaza has been reported to have killed at least 150 […]
When given the opportunity to cover this year’s PVDFest, I jumped on it – what better way to get involved in the action? But first, one major disclaimer: the last time I attended PVDFest was over seven years ago. I had very little frame of reference for this year’s event. Whether this was good or […]