Image: Trump’s reset & the coming battle over AI
NPR Celebrates Activist Whose Data Center Campaign had Ties to China-Linked Socialist Group
A look at urban environmental hero, Taylor Frazier McCollum, billionaire Marxist Neville Roy Singham, and how 40 American data center projects were rejected by voters.
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Back in June, I reported on lawmakers’ warnings that China may be fueling opposition to American data centers, which is a serious concern worth keeping in mind as the backlash spreads.
Now NPR offers a sympathetic profile of Taylor Frazier McCollum, whose organizing helped put a $5 billion Maryland data center project on hold, even as the surrounding county struggles with a budget deficit and the region is struggling economically.
Frazier McCollum is one of a number of Americans whose political awakening was triggered by data center development. Across the country, community members have taken to local council hearings to voice their opposition. They’ve prompted — though estimates vary — about 500 moratoriums on data centers nationwide.
Unlike a lot of land-use activists trying to protect their homes from threats in their backyards, Frazier McCollum does not own a home. In 2024, she and her young daughter were evicted from their apartment. She was working at a waxing center that cut wages, and she could no longer cover her rent.
“It was difficult,” Frazier McCollum recalled. “Because I created the ideal life paying for us to live in this apartment and have our own space … and then to have it taken away … It felt like something that wasn’t ever going to end.”
How did this plucky lady become an urban environmental hero? I’m glad you asked.
JUST IN: Maryland activist helps block a $5B AI data center planned for the site of an abandoned shopping mall that closed 24 years ago, after gathering over 25,000 signatures.
