A War on Resistance: Police Repression and Criminalization of Land Defense Movements

Statement of Purpose: In this paper, I examine the roles and functions of policing in the United States in relation to environmental justice movements and protest. Building upon analyses of the history of policing and their role in enforcing and maintaining racial capitalism, I explore how the police enable and protect the destruction of land and environments. To demonstrate the intersections of policing, racial capitalism, and environmental crises I use three case studies: the protests at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, the movement to Stop Line 3, and the movement to Stop Cop City. I found my way to this paper primarily from my own involvement in the movement to Stop Line 3 here in Minnesota, which I became increasingly involved with as the uprisings following the murder of George Floyd were unfolding across the country. Seeing firsthand the police violence that land and water protectors were met with as we took action to stop the construction of a tar sands oil pipeline on treaty land, opened my eyes to the mechanisms that the police state uses to support the interests of private corporations and the resulting destruction of land, and to criminalize those who resist these projects. In this paper, I seek to be in conversation with abolitionist scholars who are using their scholarship and activism to liberate communities everywhere

Family planning needs of young adults with sickle cell disease

Abstract Sexual and reproductive healthcare standards for adolescents and young adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) are not established. A total of 50 young adults entering adult SCD care completed a Family Planning Survey assessing sexual and reproductive health needs from March 2019 to July 2020. Clinical data were abstracted from respondents’ electronic medical records. Linear and logistic regression was applied to explore associations between clinical characteristics and survey results. Few respondents (8%) wished to be pregnant in the coming year, and 46% answered yes to at least one of four needs assessment questions. Those who were not employed full time were more likely to endorse needing help with getting sickle cell trait testing for a partner (ORadj = 9.59, p‐value = 0.05). Contraceptive use was associated with having an obstetrician–gynecologist (OR = 6.8, p‐value = 0.01). Young adults with SCD entering adult care have diverse reproductive health needs, highlighting opportunities to provide multidisciplinary, SCD‐specific reproductive healthcare