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1. Embed this notice
   mekka okereke :verified: (mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 04:13:17 JST mekka okereke :verified:

   • James Gleick

   @gleick

   I do blame Biden.

   Because he made specific policy choices that resulted in this outcome, despite millions of Black people 🙋🏿♂️ telling him not to do those things, and telling him exactly what the outcome would be.

   Black folk are only 12% of the population, but +30% of the homeless. Overall homelessness rose 12% in 2023, and 18% in 2024. Not typos. 

   https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-homelessness-rose-18-percent-in-2024-continuing-multi-year-upward-trend

   Many of them were first time homeless, from climate disasters like Maui and Carr fires, or from Covid after effects, who could have used some of that *checks notes* $52 billion in American Rescue Plan Covid relief, that was instead transferred to other uses, half of which went to cops. Not a typo.

   https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/09/07/how-federal-covid-relief-flows-to-the-criminal-justice-system

   It was transferred specifically at Biden's demand.

   https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-urge-cities-spend-covid-relief-money-police-crime-prevention-rcna28656

   Biden bragged about being more pro-increase in police spending than Trump.

   It's tone deaf to look at the greatest rise in homelessness since the great depression, and say "👴🏻Dude, Tesla stock was 

   ~$30 when I became president and it's ~$300 now. Don't you get it?! Economy is booming! "

   Homeless people typically don't worry about the price of Tesla shares.

   • Embed this notice
     Robert Burgholzer (rburghol@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 09:48:14 JST Robert Burgholzer

     in reply to

     • James Gleick

     @mekkaokereke I think you need to show your math on this one. You might believe this to be tryue, but an increase of 100K homeless is a small fraction of immigration inflows, and since the flooding victims are counted too I think you're making a stretch. @gleick

   • Embed this notice
     mekka okereke :verified: (mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 09:48:14 JST mekka okereke :verified:

     in reply to

     • Robert Burgholzer
     • James Gleick

     @rburghol @gleick

     That is a very Mastodon response.

     The only math I need to show, is right here:

     1) During the height of a pandemic that was decimating Black communities, following the George Floyd protests where Black people begged for help avoiding the criminal justice hell that Biden himself had helped create with his crime bill and pushing for harsher local enforcement... Biden gave $52 billion to local governments, and even used the State of the Union address and other forums to compel cities and states to spend that relief money on cops and jails.

     https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/09/07/how-federal-covid-relief-flows-to-the-criminal-justice-system

     2) There is no part 2. Read 1) again. Do math on those numbers.

     It's 2025, and people are really still wondering why fewer Black people were going to vote for Biden than any Dem candidate in modern history. People are talking about "The economy," because it's less painful than confronting this. People love to talk *about* Black men Dem voters, but no one likes to talk *to* Black men Dem voters. It's easier to pretend that millions of Black men turned to Trump (they didn't), than to confront the reality that millions of Black men said "I'm not going to stand in line for hours to vote for Biden, if he's just going to do this to me, while white Dem voters aren't even going to pretend to care."

   • Embed this notice
     Robert Burgholzer (rburghol@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 11:23:07 JST Robert Burgholzer

     in reply to

     • James Gleick

     @mekkaokereke @gleick I totally dig what you do on here, but 56.2B to police is a wildly off number. And bad numbers impair decision making.

   • Embed this notice
     mekka okereke :verified: (mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 11:23:07 JST mekka okereke :verified:

     in reply to

     • Robert Burgholzer
     • James Gleick

     @rburghol @gleick

     "$52 billion in American Rescue Plan Covid relief, that was instead transferred to other uses, half of which went to cops. Not a typo."

     That's what I said verbatim. I linked to the Marshall Project report, that uses the mandatory Treasury department reporting as a source.

     https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/09/07/how-federal-covid-relief-flows-to-the-criminal-justice-system

     If you want to argue with the Marshall Project's methodology, or question the efficacy of the professors of Columbia University's data journalism program beyond "I don't believe them!" feel free! 👍🏿

     And that's not me being facetious. I'm being sincere. If you find an error in either their methodology or in the underlying Treasury department mandatory reporting data, I will boost your findings.

   • Embed this notice
     Robert Burgholzer (rburghol@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 11:34:14 JST Robert Burgholzer

     in reply to

     • James Gleick

     @mekkaokereke @gleick
     @mekkaokereke ok, here's the math. From your article 52.6B went to *revenue replacement*, and *half* the projects "mentioned" police. So, roughly 26.3B to police! But no, they go on to say "It’s challenging to parse out exactly how much money was spent solely on criminal justice nationwide, especially because the project descriptions .. can be as vague as “government service expenses” .. [or] as broad as “salaries and burden for the provision of core government services".

   • Embed this notice
     mekka okereke :verified: (mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 13-Jan-2025 11:34:14 JST mekka okereke :verified:

     in reply to

     • Robert Burgholzer
     • James Gleick

     @rburghol @gleick

     Again, which is why I said half, and linked to the source.

     https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113818663885439030

     I'll reiterate, this is a very Mastodon response.

     None of that money should have gone to cops, cops' salaries, jails, tasers, budget shortfalls or anything other than helping the Black people suffering disproportionately from Covid. None of it.

     Maybe you think that the way the money was spent was fine. Which is OK to disagree! But my point is that most Black men absolutely do not think this is fine, and this is why Black men don't like Biden.

     And don't confuse "90% of those that voted, voted for Biden," with "Black men like Biden." Giving this money to cops, during the pandemic, after the George Floyd protests, is trash behavior. Black people are not going to vote for this in sufficient numbers to win an election.