Remaking New York City in the wake of climate change
New York City, US – On the evening of October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy reached the inlet between Long Island and New Jersey and funnelled the Atlantic storm surge into the heart of New York City, inundating lower Manhattan with water and wreaking havoc on the surrounding boroughs. “It was like an atomic explosion,” recalls Dennis Diaz of the moment the rising waters reached the Con-Edison substation near the Lower East Side (LES) housing projects in south Manhattan.
Inside America’s atomic state
Seventy years ago last August, a B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay released its 4,000kg load over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the sudden loss of weight jolting the US aircraft violently upwards as the pilot banked hard to escape the imminent blast. “My God, what have we done,” wrote Enola Gay co-pilot Robert Lewis, recalling in his journal the morning of August 6, 1945, when he witnessed the atomic bomb, code-named Little Boy, successfully detonate 1,800 feet above Hiroshima.
Race in the US: America’s most persecuted?
A day after graduating from high school, Renea Gray left the Inyabito Chapter of the Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico and headed west to Las Vegas, Nevada. “It was an exhilarating experience,” says the 34-year-old Navajo transgender woman, describing the 400 mile drive through the heart of Navajo country in Arizona and her arrival in the bright, sprawling desert city. “There were other transgender people around me living a glamorous lifestyle.
Albuquerque PD: a case study of police brutality
Albuquerque, New Mexico – In January 1972, Rito Canales and Antonio Cordova, members of the Chicano youth organisation known as the Black Berets, were killed in a barrage of gunfire by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and New Mexico State Police. “It was an assassination, pure and simple,” says Black Beret co-founder Richard Moore.
Tensions ratchet up in US immigration battle
New York City – Like many children of undocumented immigrants, Lupe Martinez has lived a precarious life.
Lupe’s parents migrated to the United States by way of Oaxaca, Mexico, living without the legal status that their daughter attained at birth having been born in New York. In 2002, following a car accident on the way to work, Lupe’s father was detained for driving without a license or insurance, setting in motion a string of events that led to his deportation.
Debate swirls over budding marijuana business
New York City, United States – Standing in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, Frank Mills puffs on a thinly rolled marijuana cigarette, exhaling a long thin stream of smoke towards downtown Manhattan.
Native Americans rolling the dice on casinos
Flagstaff, United States – On the southwestern corner of the Navajo reservation, Twin Arrows Casino Resort towers over the empty Arizona desert, its lurid neon lights drawing travellers from the historic Route 66 highway to its bright Las Vegas-style gaming floors.
Crossing through the arid plains of western Texas into New Mexico and Arizona, the path of the famous US roadway is punctuated by Native American-operated casinos.
Massive Climate March Puts Leaders on Hold
New York City, United States – More than 300,000 people converged on New York City to attend what organisers called the largest single climate change march in history.
Tens of thousands of others joined the demonstration globally on Sunday. Participants said they hoped to raise awareness on the issue of global warming, as world leaders descend on New York City on Monday to attend a United Nation’s summit on climate change.
Palestinians forced to demolish own homes
Occupied East Jerusalem – For the past two months, Hamzah Abu Terr has slept on the floor of his home. He gave his bed to his three small children whose room he was forced to destroy earlier this year, to avoid large demolition fines issued by the Israeli municipality. “I had no choice,” said Hamzah, sitting on the couch at his home in East Jerusalem next to his eldest daughter.
Teenage Palestinian amputees top Kilimanjaro
In 2006, Mutussam Abu Karsh was playing soccer in the northern Gaza Strip when an Israeli tank shell exploded, ripping his leg and part of his hand from his body. He was eight years old. A few years earlier, three-year-old Yasmeen Najjar was playing outside her family’s house near Nablus in the West Bank when she was struck by an Israeli army vehicle. Her right leg was later amputated above the knee.