Bench Ansfield

What a list! An honor to be included. Happy to zoom in

A librarian snub if I’ve ever heard one

Temple student arrested for anti-ICE protest at Minnesota church in case involving journalist Don Lemon Jerome Richardson, 21, a senior at Temple who is a native of St. Paul, turned himself in Monday morning to federal authorities in Philadelphia.

They arrested at 21 year old too along with Don Lemon and Georgia Fort - share.inquirer.com/ebzCYi [gift link]

Go Fund Me about the young person arrested on Monday in MN along with Lemon and Fort.

Tonight!

Minneapolis, MN -

A view from the inside entrance to the lobby of the hotel where the noise demonstration against ICE is happening.

I've read most of the scholarship about US policing since the early 20th century. What you learn from this is that violence is inherent. You cannot "separate" out violence from policing. Police in the U.S. are violence workers.

What are the most hopeful stories you know about US history? The ones that make you feel like another world is possible. Teaching 10th graders the truth about this country’s past + present is heavy, and I need to give my students (and myself) more reasons to stay hopeful.

Independent article from 1/21 with headline: “ICE is rumored to be heading for Philadelphia. Everyone js saying the same thing”

Philly about to show its true colors

Baltimore! Join the great Nathan Connolly and me at @redemmas.org on January 29th!!

Very grateful for this smart and far-reaching review of Born in Flames by @david-helps.bsky.social in @dissentmag.bsky.social
dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

What's Going On: The State of Our Schools, Our Students, and Our Selves I’ve been listening to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album on repeat lately—not just because it’s the best album ever made, but also because the question of what’s going on has been ever on my mind, e...

Excited to offer this teachers writing workshop for educators to come together (virtually) to reflect, learn, and write about what’s going on—and to work toward producing a piece for publication. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

One reason I favor impeaching Noem is because it's a political process for a political problem. No, this will not stop ICE enforcement action but YES it would be an opportunity to educate the public about DHS & perhaps begin to lay a foundation for dismantling it.

The feeling is mutual!

I’m grateful you shared this 💜

I am impeaching Secretary Kristi Noem, who is an incompetent leader and a disgrace to our democracy.

She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.

The Fire Next Time Almost 60 years ago, Joan Didion wrote that “the city burning is Los Angeles’s deepest image of itself.” Since then, insurance companies and developers have prioritized short-term profits over housing...

Thinking about LA today, 1 year from the #LAfires. As a colleague and I wrote shortly afterwards, "only in the aftermath of these fires that their true toll will emerge..."
jacobin.com/2025/01/la-f...

Before ICE Shooting, Immigration Agents Repeatedly Used Deadly Force The killing of a Minneapolis woman is latest by ICE and Border Patrol officers in recent months. Others have been wounded or threatened with guns.

Larger context on the ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota:

Fed. officers have fatally shot at least 3 other people in the last 5 months & wounded or threatened others. We describe a few of the recent incidents and patterns we've noticed here.

www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/07/i...

YouTube video by cassandra gillig Don't let the fascists speak - Pat Parker

everyday is a good day to hear Pat Parker <3

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuoZ...

Best of 2025: Born in Flames w/ Bench Ansfield | The Death Panel Get more from The Death Panel on Patreon

3/ @realLandsEnd & @city.bsky.social spoke to Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social about “riot prone areas,” moral hazard, how landlords burned the Bronx in the 1970s, and their new book Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City
www.patreon.com/posts/best-o...

Thanks @mosh.bsky.social !

I'm 9 pages into @benchansfield.bsky.social's Born Into Flames and already mesmerized by the storytelling. Who knew a book about property insurance could be so captivating!

PS All hail @littlefreelibrary.bsky.social, which brought this gem to my hands.

Huge! Congrats Quinn

Bench Ansfield (@benchansfield.bsky.social, Temple) then introduced an exciting new project on catastrophe bonds, climate change, and the politics of risk

Weekly Roundup: Dec 12 A call to join the ranks of the Association for Law and Political Economy, an interview with Bench Ansfield about the business of arson, and a new entry by Amna Akbar in our symposium on Free Gifts.

The week in review: a call to join the ranks of the @a-lpe.bsky.social, an interview with @benchansfield.bsky.social about the business of arson, and a new entry by Amna Akbar in our symposium on Free Gifts.

Plus, the best of Law and Political Economy from around the web 👇🧵

FIREstorm — History & Political Economy Project Bench Ansfield in conversation with Andrew Anastasi

"[P]ublic housing was the only type of housing spared by the inferno… What would it mean to take that finding seriously?" @benchansfield.bsky.social on implications of the 1970s arson wave for the housing justice movement today: www.hpeproject.org/blog/firestorm

Thanks Quinn! Really looking forward to the conference

New interview! Andrew Anastasi and I discuss the emotional logic of insurance and how racial capitalism is being misconstrued in the present -- as made manifest in some reviews of my book. Grateful for this partnership between @hpe-project.bsky.social and @lpeblog.bsky.social!

New interview! Andrew Anastasi and I discuss the emotional logic of insurance and how racial capitalism is being misconstrued in the present -- as made manifest in some reviews of my book. Grateful for this partnership between @hpe-project.bsky.social and @lpeblog.bsky.social!

☂️