Tasty Morning Bytes — Mall of America Profiling, Poor Whites and Farmer’s Markets
Hey there, DCentric readers. Apologies for being a little late on the links today.
Mall Counterterrorism Files ID Mostly Minorities Non-whites at the Mall of America are much more likely to be reported to police as “suspicious.” One man tells NPR that he was stopped as a suspected terrorist after “I used the bathroom, it looked like I was walking fast with my father and I was using my cellphone a lot.” (NPR)
D.C. Asks Area Employers to Each Hire One City Resident Through New Initiative Unemployment in D.C. is higher than the national average, and now the city is offering wage subsidies and tax incentives to businesses that hire District residents. (Politic365)
Washington vs. D.C. The debate continues as to whether there really are two Washingtons. Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that Wards 7 and 8 — which are mostly black — have the highest unemployment rates in the country. He writes, “I’ve always thought that too many of our wonks live in Washington and Manhattan–places where ‘white and poor’ is an extinct species.”(The Atlantic)
AFL-CIO Goes To Bat For Undocumented Workers The nation’s largest trade union takes issue with a federal ruling that makes it harder for undocumented workers to get the backpay employers owe them. “Despite the political divisiveness of the immigration issue, some labor leaders have come to view undocumented workers as the workers most in need of collective bargaining to negotiate over pay and working conditions.” (Huffington Post)
Third Farmers’ Market Opens East of the River A new farmer’s market operating near the Minnesota Avenue Metro offers produce to residents living in a food desert. The market accepts WIC and volunteer chefs conduct cooking demonstrations. (DCist)