Household Workers Unite!
Premilla Nadasen, Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement (Boston: Beacon Press, 2015) Within a short period of time, Premilla Nadasen has [...]
When it Comes to Poverty Reduction, Budget 2016 Earns Failing Grade
Another provincial budget, another Liberal betrayal of Ontarians living in poverty. Despite past promises, the provincial government’s Budget 2016 does not prioritize poverty reduction. While the [...]
“We the North” and the Marketing of Blackness
In my latest sports column for Canadian Dimension, I deconstruct the rebranding of the Toronto Raptors–with a big shout out to Gamel Abdel-Shehid. The Raptors are hot. Toronto’s [...]
Ontario NDP losing its voice on minimum wage
“When it came to issues affecting the most marginalized in our society, including the working poor, the NDP was once a prophetic voice in Ontario politics. Sadly, that voice now speaks in [...]
How Martin Luther King’s legacy speaks to our Canadian reality
My op-ed for The Toronto Star on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead while standing on the balcony of the [...]
The Meaning of Hillsborough
On April 15th 1989, Liverpool Football Club and Nottingham Forest met at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, in the semi-final of English soccer’s oldest and most prestigious competition, the FA [...]
Poverty, Protest and Power from Below
A friend recently sent me a cartoon depicting two workers in conversation: One says to the other, “Remember when nurses, teachers, municipal workers and poor people crashed the economy and took [...]
The way forward for Ontario’s anti-poverty movement
A version of this article was published in The Toronto Star as “Ontario Anti-Poverty Movement Needs a Dose of Street Heat”. Last week, Frances Lankin and Munir Sheikh, heads of the [...]
A People’s History of the Yonge Street ‘Riot’
May 4th 1992. Los Angeles was burning and Public Enemy’s Shut ‘Em Down sat atop the rap singles chart, its opening lyrics delivered in Chuck D’s booming baritone: “I testified/my mama [...]
Ontario’s Poor Can’t Wait
In my latest op-ed for The Toronto Star, I discuss how quiet acceptance of austerity is not a realistic option for those living on the economic edge. During the last two weeks in Ontario [...]