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Jul 20, 2020 11 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Our team is following today's BLM labor strike in downtown Manhattan. Follow along for updates from @samkbloch, @tal_moore, and @triciavuongg thecounter.org/strike-for-bla…
@samkbloch @tal_moore @triciavuongg Protesters gather in front of the Federal Reserve (33 Liberty St). They’re all kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. #StrikeForBlackLives Image
Shannon Swift is chair of the racial justice committee at @grassrootsactNY (GANY), which organized today's action.
Maria Ordoñez is the youngest woman running for New York City Council, in District 7 @MariaOrdonezNYC #StrikeForBlackLives
@MariaOrdonezNYC Jeremy Espinal, a line cook at Chipotle, spoke in front of Trump Tower: "If Chipotle cared about black and brown people it would give its workers hazard pay. It would give its workers sick leave for Covid. It would support us through these times and support our families." Image
#StrikeForBlackLives was organized by the SEIU, and supported by other labor unions including the United Farm Workers and United Food and Commercial Workers. Organized labor has long been active in the fight for racial justice, despite its own complicated racist histories. Image
Black people represent one in six essential workers. Nationwide, they've been infected by the coronavirus at significant rates, and are more than twice as likely to die from it as other Americans. Image
In March, Ruben Mendez lost his job cleaning a first-class lounge at Newark airport. "Black and brown people are at the bottom of society," he said at the protest. "They can't quarantine. They don't have equipment to protect themselves at work." Image
Union jobs offer 13 percent higher wages, 18 percent more sick days, and 26 percent more health insurance, according to @EconomicPolicy. The promise of economic security and stability remains appealing to Black Americans, and unions often provide that sense of promise. Image
“My hope is that this action not only wins these workers the demands that they raise, but that it also sees them as intersectional humans that actually deserve care and respect and dignity in all aspects of their lives inside and outside of the workplace," one organizer told us. Image
Read more about the goals and strategies of today's #StrikeForBlackLives in this story by @samkbloch: thecounter.org/strike-for-bla…

(Thanks to @tal_moore, @triciavuongg, and SEIU for all photos and videos of the event!)

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More from @TheCounter

Feb 4, 2022
Why are some foods considered worthy of having their stories shared far and wide, while others are not?

In particular, why do we know so little about the much-beloved plantain? 🧵👇

thecounter.org/plantain-banan…
One of the world’s leading banana experts once hypothesized that the plantain may have been the first-ever (!!) fruit crop on Earth.

Yet there are few—online or in print—easily digestible and accessible global histories that tell the plantain’s tale.

drive.google.com/file/d/1_M-Egr…
Parsing plantain’s origins is tricky.

That’s partly because the history of the plantain is inextricably linked to the history of the banana.

Are plantains a type of banana? Are they genetically related but distinct? Is the truth somewhere in between?
Read 13 tweets
Nov 5, 2021
#THREAD Unions once represented broad swaths of the food-service industry. Now it's one of the least unionized sectors.

Lately, though, there’s been a wave of successful labor activism sweeping through coffee shops, both indie and corporate.

Why now?

thecounter.org/coffeeshops-st…
The issues for coffee shop employees are common across food service: low wages, difficult scheduling, challenging work environment.

(All problems, of course, that have been exacerbated by a pandemic.)

But the reasons for their success are in many cases distinct.
Many coffee shops have realized that making visible the vague idea of “doing good” is crucial to making their brand identities resonate with guests, and good for their bottom lines.
Read 14 tweets
Oct 8, 2021
#THREAD: Nothing has shaped the role of restaurant critic quite so dramatically as the pandemic.

Critics can no longer shy away from inequities in the restaurant industry and food media, writes former critic @piescarcega.

Here’s why.

thecounter.org/covid-19-resta…
Dining critics—used to reporting on the aesthetic and culinary value of restaurants—faced nothing less than an existential quandary when Covid hit.

What is the critic’s role, if any, outside recommending—or panning—specific dishes and restaurants?

thecounter.org/food-writing-i…
It's not a new question.

In fact, it's been debated in food circles for the past two decades, ever since we entered into the age of Yelp and instant-access to crowdsourced opinions on food.

But nothing stymied traditional dining criticism quite like the pandemic did.
Read 16 tweets
Sep 24, 2021
#THREAD: Lab-grown meat startups are raising hundreds of millions of dollars to hack animal protein.

But new research comes to a stark conclusion: From biology to economics, the “meat without slaughter” model may be doomed to fail.

Here’s why.

thecounter.org/lab-grown-cult…
First, there’s nothing new about growing animal cells inside bioreactors. Drug companies have done it for years to make vaccines and therapeutics.

It’s expensive, though.

Lab-grown meat can cost as much as $10,000 a pound to produce, according to @goodfoodinst.
Costs will come down. But according to new analysis, cell culture will likely always struggle to feed people affordably.

An exhaustive new report found that the cost to produce cell-based meat will likely never fall below $17 a pound.

engrxiv.org/795su
Read 13 tweets
Sep 10, 2021
#THREAD: Texas’ aggressive new border security initiative relies on the participation of ranchers and farmers. And that’s causing a push and pull between a need for agriculture workers—and a desire to criminalize undocumented immigrants.
thecounter.org/texas-greg-abb…
Operation Lone Star, which allows law enforcement officers to arrest and jail migrants on state criminal charges—like trespassing—is causing a whole lot of confusion for those on the ground in Texas.
texastribune.org/2021/07/30/tex…
In his sweeping efforts to double down on border security, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed about a quarter of the state’s police force. He has also pulled in members of the National Guard, forcing the closure of an El Paso food bank.
elpasomatters.org/2021/08/24/abb…
Read 14 tweets
Aug 21, 2021
#THREAD: The extreme conditions of Antarctica make it an ideal place to test technology that could allow us to grow food in inhospitable settings like Mars. But plant scientists are testing something else there too: how fresh produce impacts well-being. thecounter.org/indoor-vertica…
At a remote research station perched on Antarctica’s Ekstrom Ice Shelf, the "overwinterers," a 10-person skeleton crew that includes a cook, a doctor, and eight engineers and researchers, didn't see the sun—for almost 64 days. awi.de/en/expedition/…
During June and July, average temps fluctuate between 0 and -24 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds over 100 kilometers per hour pound the station. The isolation researchers face isn't unlike what a long-haul space crew goes through.
Read 13 tweets

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