The Weekly Crunch: Zero-Waste Grocery Stores, Black Women’s Business Boom, Robocops for Cyber-Bullies

Like reading the news while chomping on granola. Here’s what we've been chewing on lately.

Welcome to The Crunch!, our weekly roundup of stories from around the web, hand-picked by YES! staff. This week we’re talking about Darren Wilson’s interview nearly a year after the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, Amy Schumer’s post-feminist dystopia, the rise of black women business owners, and more.

Black women own more businesses than ever

Did you know that black women are the fastest-growing minority group of businesses owners in the country? One new report found that the number of businesses owned by black women has gone up more than 300 percent in less than 20 years! (via US News)

Robots that stop online bullying

We’re intrigued with the use of artificial intelligence to curb online harassment. It could help eliminate racist comments and other social problems.  But it could also become Big Brother. And, it could be misused.  (via The Vital Edge)

France wants to outlaw discrimination against the poor

The stigma and social perceptions surrounding poverty is a complex one, indeed. But France isn’t letting that stop them. The country wants to make it illegal to deny jobs, health care, or housing to those in poverty. As author Frances Ryan writes, it is debunking the myth that “poverty is a personal choice that the individual deserves to be punished for.” (via The Guardian)

A post-feminist dystopia

This review of Trainwreck, a new movie starring Amy Schumer, gives a primer on “the post-feminist dystopia,” its internalized misogyny, and why we should rethink our attitudes toward feminism. (via Buzzfeed)

What does a zero-waste grocery store look like?

Thinking about the amount of trash that comes from food packaging alone can be unsettling. But this grocery store in Berlin aims to make waste a thing of the past by eliminating all forms of plastic and wrapping. An added bonus: no packaging means no brand names. (via City Lab)

The Cop

A 20-page profile of Darren Wilson—the police officer who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a year ago—is eerie and informative and spooky and jaw-dropping all at the same time. A must-read for anyone who has followed the growing civil rights movement in Ferguson, and across the country. (via The New Yorker)

Fixing schools through desegregation

There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to trying to solve the inadequacies of public schooling in the U.S., especially in communities of color. This American Life‘s Ira Glass talks to New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones about an obvious one that works: real desegregation. Listen to her talk about how Missouri’s Normandy School District—which borders Ferguson and contains the high school Mike Brown went to—accidentally launched a desegregation program (yep, accidentally). (via This American Life)

What’s changed since Ferguson?

Before the 2014 killing of Michael Brown, Missouri had a court system that punished minor offenders with revenue-raising fines, backed by the threat of a jail sentence if left unpaid. This article lays out how those practices contributed to an attitude of distrust between the people and the justice system, and how the events of Ferguson catalyzed change. (via The Huffington Post)

All photos from Shutterstock.

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