All posts tagged "Social"

New York (AFP) - Ann McGee, a New Yorker from the borough of Queens, doesn't like the recent sensation she has when entering stores: fear. "It's not normal to be scared" when shopping,  McGee told AFP.  She's behind a recent petition denouncing the insecurity caused by rising retail theft -- sometimes by thieves operating in groups and threatening anyone near them with violence -- in her neighborhood. US retailers across the country have reported a sharp rise in theft in the last few months, alongside a worrying increase in violence.  "You cannot accept the fact that these people can go into s......

Minneapolis (AFP) - It's been nearly three years since a white police officer put his knee on George Floyd's neck, asphyxiating the African-American man and sparking mass protests against racism and police violence. As the anniversary approaches of the May 25, 2020 killing -- which was captured on video and went viral around the world -- AFP came back to ask his aunt, a protester, and one of the leaders of an organization dedicated to his memory to describe what has changed, and what hasn't. Angela HarrelsonFor George Floyd's aunt, among the most notable developments after her nephew's death i......

Montreal (AFP) - Isolated in the vast prairies of west-central Canada, the James Smith Cree Nation -- epicenter of a deadly stabbing rampage -- is a small Indigenous community that is no stranger to drama. Like many other Indigenous communities in North America, it suffers from such problems as overcrowded housing, high unemployment, drug addiction and racial discrimination, researchers say. Small, isolated communityLocated in a territory spanning more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) the community's central village is in a rural area where people live off farming and ranching.  Some 3,400 ......

Chicago (AFP) - For Patricia Horton, a mother of two living in the affluent Chicago neighborhood of Lincoln Park, armed private security patrols are an essential response to worsening violent crime across the United States. Several groups of city residents have banded together to hire security companies, saying that the police are too under-funded and under-staffed to keep people safe. President Joe Biden calls gun deaths an "epidemic" in US society, and public fear has been heightened by recent mass shootings -- including last weekend targeting Black customers and staff at a grocery store in ......

Miami (AFP) - Discontent is afoot at the happiest place on Earth, as Disney employees this week protested the company's reaction to Florida's so-called "Don't say gay" bill, which would prohibit discussing LGBT topics in classrooms.  The proposed law, which critics call discriminatory, has been a headache for Disney since before the southern US state's legislature passed the measure last week, with the entertainment giant employing more than 75,000 people at its theme park in Orlando.  A group of LGBT employees at the company has asked their coworkers to join them in walking out of their workp......

Washington (AFP) - Holiday events have been scrapped in droves, thousands of flights canceled, cruises are now off limits: the Omicron variant has wreaked havoc in the United States, and the new year could see more issues exacerbating the worker shortage and price increases. "We are starting to see some initial signs that Omicron is having an impact on the economy, mainly in the sectors where face to face interactions are most important," in particular service sector businesses like bars and restaurants, Oren Klachkin of Oxford Economics told AFP in an interview. The world's largest economy ha......