CNN
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About 10,000 people from all over the world gathered last week in Poland for the annual March of the Living, a 3-kilometer walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, where the Nazis killed more than a million civilians, mostly Jews, during World War II.

One of the most famous marchers was Meek Mill, a 35-year-old African-American rapper from Philadelphia with nothing to do with the atrocities that took place there.

But at a time of rising anti-Semitism in the US, his presence spoke volumes, and it made sense.

“I’ve always stood for anything that condemns racism, but now that I’ve been educated, I’ll be sure to tell people in my culture about what I saw and felt today in that concentration camp,” Mill told CNN. during the march.

Mill is a friend of New England Patriots owner and philanthropist Robert Kraft, whose Anti-Semitism Foundation runs a $25 million national #StandUpToJewishHate campaign. The effort, represented by a blue square emoji, includes a paid television ad that highlights alarming numbers of anti-Semitic incidents in the US.

Anti-Defamation League data traces a surge in recent incidents against Jews due to repeated hate comments by rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, who makes no apologies for his pro-Hitler, anti-Jewish language.

“We are two different artists. We represent two different things,” Mill said.

Mill said that he “wasn’t educated to even tell right from wrong” when Ye made his remarks.

“But I know a lot of what he said was wrong because it sounded like hate,” Mill said. “Now that I’m a bit educated, because I’m at the starting point, just, you know, spreading the word about humanity. push things.”

Kraft met Mill during the rap artist’s 12-year legal battle over his arrest on gun and drug charges when he was 19.

According to a Kraft spokesperson, they were introduced by a mutual friend, and Mick occasionally turned to the Patriots owner for friendly advice. When Mick was put in jail, Kraft visited him in jail and they stayed in touch and remained friends.

The Mill case spurred the activism of many prominent figures, including Kraft, on the issue of criminal justice.

“It is important for me to study the history of mankind,” Mill said. “But I think it’s also important for me to support Robert, all my Jewish friends, everyone who has always supported me. Robert supported me at a very high level. As I went through what I was going through, he recognized my lifestyle. He got to know my culture, where I come from, my past.”

Mill said he went to Auschwitz to “see it for yourself and learn about it for yourself”, describing what he saw there as “horror, pain, something you can’t explain”.

“He’s a very caring person and it’s very important to him to build bridges between people of Jewish faith and people of color in America,” Kraft said of Mill.

“He is a sensitive person who went through several difficult situations where he was treated unfairly. And I think that for him you need to understand the culture of our people, what we went through and how many experiences are similar – when people just stand up and hate for no good reason, ”Kraft added.

Mill not only visited Auschwitz and took part in the March of the Living, but also participated in events marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland. The popular artist has almost 25 million followers on Instagram and said he now intends to use his bullhorn to make sure his fans understand that all hate — be it anti-black racism or anti-Semitism — is rooted in the same ignorance and cannot be tolerated.

“In my music, I always use my platforms. I come from the ghettos of America – from the streets. I started talking about it because it was my lifestyle,” Mill said.

“But through education, more knowledge and more vision, I think I can convey some of the things that will touch those moments and be able to express and tell the story of what I have witnessed and what I have seen.”

On Thursday, the Biden administration announced more than $80 million in funding to make more solar panels in the US, make solar power available to more people, and find superior alternatives to the ubiquitous shiny panels made from silicon.

The Energy Department announced the investment in the morning, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm plans to visit a local solar site in Washington in the afternoon. Public solar refers to a variety of mechanisms whereby tenants and people who do not control their rooftops can still receive electricity from solar energy. Two weeks ago, Vice President Kamala Harris announced what the administration says is the largest public solar efforts ever in the United States.

Now he’s set to spend $52 million on 19 solar projects in a dozen states, including $10 million on infrastructure legislation, and $30 million on technology to help integrate solar power into the grid.

The Department of Energy also selected 25 teams to compete in a $10 million competition designed to accelerate the efforts of solar energy developers working on public solar projects.

The Inflation Reduction Act already offers incentives for the construction of large solar energy projects, such as tax credits for renewables. But Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser, said the new money is aimed at meeting the country’s climate goals in a way that benefits more communities.

“It lifts our workers and our communities. And that, I think, is what really excites us in this work,” Zaidi said. “This is a chance not only to tackle the climate crisis, but to bring economic opportunity to every zip code in America.”

The investment will help people save on their energy bills and make the grid more reliable, safer and more resilient to climate change, said Becca Jones-Albertus, director of the Energy Department’s Solar Energy Technology Division.

Jones-Albertus said she is particularly excited about the support for public solar projects because half of Americans don’t live in a situation where they can buy their own solar power and install it on their rooftops.

Michael Jung, Executive Director of the ICF Climate Center, agreed. “Public solar power can help address equity concerns as most of today’s rooftop solar panels benefit single-family home owners,” he said.

In typical community solar projects, households may invest in or subscribe to part of a larger off-site solar array. “What we are doing here is an attempt to unlock the public market for solar energy,” Jones-Albertus said.

According to the latest estimates, there are currently 5.3 gigawatts of total solar installed in the US. By 2025, five million households will have access to it, about three times as many as today, saving $1 billion on energy bills, Jones-Albertus said.

The new funding also highlights investments in next-generation solar technologies designed to generate more electricity from the same number of solar panels. Currently, only about 20% of solar energy is converted into electricity in the crystalline silicon solar cells that make up most solar panels. There has long been a hope for higher efficiency, and today’s announcement will funnel some money into the development of two alternatives: perovskite and cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells. Zaidi said this would allow the US to become “an innovation engine that can tackle the climate crisis.”

Joshua Rhodes, a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, said investing in perovskites is good news. They can be produced cheaper than silicon and are much more resistant to defects, he says. They can also be built into textured and curved surfaces, opening up more options than traditional rigid panels. Rhodes noted that most of the silicon is produced in China and Russia.

Solar cadmium telluride can be made quickly and at low cost, but further research is needed to improve the material’s efficiency at converting sunlight into electrons.

Cadmium is also toxic and people should not be exposed to it. Jones-Albertus said that in cadmium telluride solar technology, the compound is stable and encapsulated in glass and additional protective layers.

The new funds will also help recycle solar panels and reuse rare earth elements and materials. “One of the most important ways to ensure that CdTe remains in a safe compound form is to ensure that all U.S.-made solar panels can be reused or recycled at the end of their life cycle,” Jones-Albertus explained.

Solar panel recycling also reduces solar energy waste and can provide materials for new panels. Eight of the projects announced Thursday focus on improving solar panel recycling, totaling about $10 million.

According to the administration, clean energy is suitable for every state in the country. A solar project in Shungnak, Alaska, has eliminated the need to continue generating electricity by burning diesel, a method sometimes used in remote communities that is harmful to human health and contributes to climate change.

“Alaska is not a place that people often think of when they think of solar energy, but this energy can be a cost-effective and accessible resource in all parts of the country,” Jones-Albertus said.