Author: TheConversation

Essential Labor: America’s food supply depends on the foreign-born workers marginalized by Trump

By Michael Haedicke, Associate Professor of Sociology, Drake University Many Americans may find bare grocery store shelves the most worrying sign of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their food system. But, for the most part, shortages of shelf-stable items like pasta, canned beans and peanut butter are temporary because the U.S. continues to produce enough food to meet demand – even if it sometimes takes a day or two to catch up. To keep up that pace, the food system depends on several million seasonal agricultural workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other...

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Economically Vulnerable: Rural people with disabilities face detrimental cuts in federal benefits

By Lillie Greiman, Project Director, RTC: Rural, The University of Montana; and Catherine Ipsen, RTC:Rural Director and Director of Employment Research, The University of Montana Changes to the Social Security Disability Insurance program proposed in January by the Trump administration could make it harder for over 8 million Americans with disabilities to maintain federal benefits. That is particularly true for those in rural communities, where we have worked and studied for the past 35 years. Currently, nearly 8.4 million people receive Social Security Disability Benefits, averaging about US$1,200 a month. Individuals receive these benefits if they are unable to...

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Institutional Betrayal: The lasting trauma from playing down the threat of COVID-19 and failing to act

By Anne P. DePrince, Professor of Psychology, University of Denver; and Joan M. Cook, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University U.S. intel agencies issued dire, classified warnings to President Trump in January and February about the dangers posed by the coronavirus, according to revelations reported in The Washington Post. For weeks, U.S. communities coast to coast sounded the alarm. They didn’t have enough tests to diagnose, track and limit the spread of COVID-19. Meantime, federal and some state officials downplayed the need for a coordinated response. There is a name for situations when systems that are supposed to take...

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State National Guard units are taking the lead in the military’s response to the coronavirus

By Dwight Stirling, Lecturer in Law, University of Southern California As a military organization divided into 50 distinct parts that can be commanded by either the president or state governors, the National Guard is perhaps the least understood branch of the U.S. armed forces. Despite its complexity – or perhaps because of it – the National Guard is taking the lead role in the military’s response to the coronavirus outbreak crisis. As many as 10,000 National Guard members have already been activated to help communities around the country, with many more expecting a call-up soon. People may know, from...

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News outlets warned for months about the coronavirus but few listened

By Jacob L. Nelson, Assistant Professor of Digital Audience Engagement, Arizona State University Since the COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan, China, journalists at the biggest U.S. news organizations have diligently reported on the many dangers posed by its rapid spread. Yet even as entire states – like California and New York – shut down, many Americans still don’t believe that the coronavirus is as big a deal as the news media has made it out to be. A poll conducted in mid-March found that only 56% of Americans consider the coronavirus a “real threat,” and that 38% believe that...

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A Lifelike Death: How the embalming of President Abraham Lincoln started the funeral industry

By Brian Walsh, Assistant Professor of Communications, Elon University If you died 200 years ago in America, your family would wash and dress your body and place it in a bed surrounded by candles to dampen the smell of decomposition. Your immediate family and friends would visit your house over the course of the next week, few needing to travel very far, paying their respects at your bedside. Before the body’s putrefaction advanced too far, the local carpenter would make a simple pine casket, and everyone would gather at the cemetery (or your own backyard, if you were a...

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