California Passes First-Ever Bill To Give Poor Families Money For Diapers

Source: ThinkProgress

California lawmakers passed a bill this week that would give families on welfare with children under the age of two a monthly $50 voucher for diapers. It now waits for Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) signature or veto. When the bill was first introduced in 2014, it was estimated that 120,000 children would get the assistance.

Diapers are a huge expense. One infant can require up to 240 of them each month, which can cost $18 a week or nearly $1,000 a year. That’s an enormous share of a family’s budget for those below the poverty line — people in the lowest quintile spend nearly 14 percent of their income on diapers. Cloth diapers are not a viable alternative for many families, as laundromats won’t let people wash them and daycare centers usually require disposable ones.

That leaves families in a difficult bind. Nearly 30 percent of all women have experienced a time when they couldn’t afford diapers for their children. That leads a sizable share to stretch diapers when supply is running low, risking urinary infections and diaper dermatitis. Others have had to turn to family, friends, and charities to afford them.

One California city has already done something to help needy families. At the end of last year, San Francisco began distributing diapers directly to about 1,300 families on welfare.



Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/california-diaper-need-d9abd8c7a3f7?source=latest

Gaming While Black in America

No one should have to experience this kind of fear, let alone over a frakin' video game. :/

https://medium.com/mobile-lifestyle/warning-pokemon-go-is-a-death-sentence-if-you-are-a-black-man-acacb4bdae7f#.2h42utrm8

I spent less than 20 minutes outside. Five of those minutes were spent enjoying the game. One of those minutes I spent trying to look as pleasant and nonthreatening as possible as I walked past a somewhat visibly disturbed white woman on her way to the bus stop. I spent the other 14 minutes being distracted from the game by thoughts of the countless Black Men who have had the police called on them because they looked “suspicious” or wondering what a second amendment exercising individual might do if I walked past their window a 3rd or 4th time in search of a Jigglypuff.

When my brain started combining the complexity of being Black in America with the real world proposal of wandering and exploration that is designed into the gamplay of Pokemon GO, there was only one conclusion. I might die if I keep playing.

The breakdown is simple:

There is a statistically disproportionate chance that someone could call the police to investigate me for walking around in circles in the complex.
There is a statistically disproportionate chance that I would be approached by law enforcement with fear or aggression, even when no laws have been broken.
There is a statistically disproportionate chance that I will be shot while reaching for my identification that I always keep in my back right pocket.
There is a statistically disproportionate chance that more shots will be fired and I will be dead before any medical assistance is available.

The premise of Pokemon GO asks me to put my life in danger if I chose to play it as it is intended and with enthusiasm. Let’s just go ahead and add Pokemon GO to the extremely long list of things white people can do without fear of being killed, while Black people have to realistically be wary.

Honestly, I wish this was a joke post or a satire of some sort. It isn’t.

Something needs to change…like yesterday.