Daily Archives: July 25, 2022

Cultural reflections: Art exhibit celebrates Black educators in Wilmington before and after desegregation – Port City Daily

Posted: July 25, 2022 at 2:44 am

Some of the Black educators that artist Alexandria Clay replicated in charcoal portraits as part of Lost In Transition include top to bottom, left to right: Lethia Hankins, William Grady Lowe, Bertha Boykin Todd, Dorothy B. Johnson, Fred J. Rogers, and LS. Williams. (Courtesy Black on Black)

WILMINGTON Theres a difference between integration and desegregation, Michael Williams explained during a phone conversation last week. He was speaking about an upcoming art exhibit, Lost In Transition, hosted by his Black on Black Project.The initiative produces exhibitions, short films and programs to inspire dialogue surrounding equity in Black communities.

Sponsored by the N.C. Museum of Art, Lost In Transition displays portraits of 10 Black educators, illustrated in charcoal on paper by Raleigh artist Alexandria Clay. Most of the images are based on pictures of former teachers that have been published in the Willistonian Williston High Schools yearbook from 1945 to 1966.

Throughout its 150 years, North Carolinas first accredited Black high school has changed names, moved locations, endured a fire, was rebuilt, then closed and reopened. Today, it operates as Williston Middle School of Math, Science and Technology at 401 S. 10th Street.

It also has managed to churn out Black alumni of varying successful professions athletes like basketball player Meadowlark Lemon (Harlem Globetrotters), Wimbledon champion Althea Gibson, and MLB player Sam Bowens, as well as jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath and architect Robert Robinson Taylor, who helped build Booker T. Washingtons Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Williston closed and desegregated in 1968 14 years after the Supreme Court found the Brown v. Board of Educations separating schools by race was unconstitutional. Black students were moved to the white-populated Hoggard and New Hanover highs. Yet, the decision to shutter the school, made by the New Hanover County education board at the time, was one of financial interest more than social justice, Williams explained.

It endured a lawsuit filed by Dr. Hubert Eaton, who wanted his daughter to have the same access to materials and quality facilities. Like many Black schools, Williston was disproportionately underfunded and utilized furniture and books passed down from white schools. The board didnt want to disperse money to upgrade the facility.

In the fall of 1968, for the first time Black and white students began walking halls together; however, many Black educators the students had become accustomed to didnt get transferred with them, Williams explained. In effect, it created a cultural disparity something the curator maintains is just as important as academic curriculum.

Im always cognizant about using desegregation versus integration, Williams said. Desegregation, when you think about it, was more about, Hey, we need access to resources. Thats the purpose of it not to necessarily truly co-mingle with people who maybe dont want to have anything to do with you.

Williams pointed to Jennifer Eberhardts book Biased, one of a dozen he read while preparing for Lost In Transition. The book features a story of a Mississippi student, Bernice Donald, who experienced teasing upon being transferred into a desegregated school. Eberhardt writes the teacher at that time didnt do anything about it.

When you put students in an environment in which their humanity isnt fully seen, theres going to be a lot of stuff that is lost. I think thats the part that maybe we dont want to talk about, Williams said. Everything about these former institutions was supposed to affirm Black humanity, Black intelligence and Black achievement. Lost In Transition aims to remember that.

Williams carefully researched who to feature in the art exhibit by listening to 80 hours of oral histories as documented at Duke Universitys David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library and UNCWs Randall Library. He also watched interviews regarding Wilmingtons former Black educators through archived footage from Cape Fear Museum.

One is Herman Johnson a native Wilmingtonian who graduated from Williston Senior High in 1961 and moved on to teach at Cape Fear Community College.

When the schools desegregated, hed hear white faculty members talking about how Black students didnt want to learn, Williams explained. And hes telling them, No, its not that they dont want to learn its just that this is probably the first time theyve had a significant interaction with white people.

Black institutions of the era were emboldened by community at the root and educational foundation for African Americans dating back to slavery.

Ninety-five percent of Black people were uneducated at the onset of Reconstruction. Those who could read and write which was illegal to teach slaves in North Carolina during the Civil War did so from being self-taught or learning from family members or others on plantations and in clandestine schools.

Once the war ended and slaves were freed, education became imperative in order to achieve financial independence and equality. Schools popped up in churches and were sponsored by philanthropic organizations, or were established by the U.S. Freedmens Bureau, which funded buildings and supplies for African American schools.

In 1866 a year after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed Williston opened on 7th Street. Founded by the abolitionist American Missionary Association, it was intended to serve free slaves 450 pupils in multiple departments: primary, intermediate, advanced, normal and/or industrial education.

It wasnt until 30 years later the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that public schools would be separate but equal for Black and white students, essentially legalizing segregation.

Willistons principal from 1875 to the 1890s was Mary Washington Howe, the inspiration for Williams pursuit of Lost In Transition. Her portrait was shown last year as part of Black on Blacks Continuum of Change exhibit in downtown Wilmington. It centered on business people, politicians, doctors and educators thriving in Wilmington pre-1898, before the Wilmington Massacre thwarted progress.

READ MORE:Portrait project highlights Wilmingtons Black-centric world, pre-1898

Williams said he began thinking about how hard it must have been for educators post Reconstruction, in the Jim Crow era and during civil rights to rise above the fray of political and racial turmoil to continue to teach and influence students.

These Black educators didnt have full citizenship themselves, Williams said. Yet theyre educating students and encouraging students to go after full citizenship, which meant you had to have an education to do that. It is interesting how they were able to navigate the world around them while also teaching future generations to do the same thing.

William Grady Lowe is one of the portraits that stands out to Rhode Island School of Design graduate and Lost In Transition featured artist Clay. Lowe graduated from Williston in 1942 and returned to teach social studies at the school in 1951. One of his students, Joseph McNeil, became a prominent North Carolina activist of the Greensboro Four.

In 1960, the group was a catalyst inspiring sit-ins nationwide after nonviolently protesting equal rights for Black people to eat at the counter at F. W. Woolworth department stores. The movement led to the incremental change in the company, which eventually removed its segregated policy in the South.

[Lowe] inspired his students to take action, fighting for what they deserve, even demanding it, Clay said. The impact that he had on Joseph McNeil was clear.

Theres so many anecdotes in these oral histories about how William Grady Lowe helped students understand their rights and encouraged them to understand how government worked, Williams added.

Clay spent several months sketching all 10 figures. Normally, the artist works with subject matter she knows well, such asfamily and friends. But after immersing into each educators story for Lost In Transition, she said she could feel firsthand their indelible imprint.

That feeling is evident on the 24-inch-by-30-inch page.

Alex uses charcoal to create memories that seep into your soul, Williams praised. She uses the heavy contrast of the pigmented black on the white paper to make us feel this lasting impact something that lives in our collective memory.

Clay said one story that resonated with her in particular was of Ernest Swain. He worked in Brunswick and New Hanover County schools and always spoke to his students about dressing for confidence, she described as the role model they wanted to become.

Always looking your best, no matter where youre going, is something that my mother preached often, Clay said. Also, I saw a slight resemblance in Swains picture to my father. I can count on one hand how many Black teachers Ive had in my 16 years of education. Its interesting to think of what it mightve been like to have a plethora of teachers that look like you, or your cousin, or your dad.

Representation is one of the many disparities Williams said was lost during desegregation and continues. Currently, in North Carolina, state data indicates 54%of students are nonwhite, while only 22% of educators are.

Williams said he looked at data from ProPublica and Cape Fear Collective, as well as report card information published by the Department of Public Instruction, to help inform and shape conversations he wants Lost In Transition to impart upon others. He found the modern-day numbers between white and Black third graders in reading proficiency and school suspensions particularly alarming.

White third graders are at a proficient reading level 2.3 times higher than Black third graders, he said. Out of 115 school districts in North Carolina, 97 reported a Black third-grade reading proficiency. And then New Hanover County ranks low in black reading proficiency at 70% out of 97 districts. So that in and of itself is a problem. And a lot of the time we want to blame the kids.

Williams said his mother, also an educator, always frowned upon leaders condemning students. Many times its the adults who arent properly equipped to communicate or relate.

Its not on the children, she would say, Williams recalled. Its about how we are transmitting information and, because of a confluence of circumstances, a lot of kids may not have the greatest support system at home.

Williams added its not uncommon for families to often work two or three jobs just to maintain shelter and food for their children. Even in 2022, there is an imbalance of wage disparity for Black communities in the labor market. According to the Economic Policy Institute, today Black employees earn 24.4% less per hour than the typical white worker a number that has risen from 1979s 16.4%.

Black education during the first 100 years after slavery thrived on a three-point system, a phrase Williams said he heard coined by former student Linda Pearce, while listening to the oral histories. Essentially, people within the Black community watched after one another in church, home and school. The teachers went to the church with the families parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who in turn always had a watchful eye on the kids.

So there was this way that students were educated in a holistic kind of manner, Williams said. And when you look at Alexs portraits of these educators, when theyre in their prime, dealing with the Jim Crow world, but also helping students navigate it, its like this conversation in real-time about What do we do? How do we show you what the Constitution says so you understand your rights now, but also make sure you learn the Middle English of The Canterbury Tales, so when you get to the Ivy League school, you can handle that too.

Williston became the first accredited Black high school in the state and remained that way in New Hanover County for more than 40 years. Despite having deprived resources, it was considered the best performing Black school in North Carolina as well.

In one of the oral histories about Lucille Simon Williams also a featured portrait a student, Bertha Boykin Todd, called the disciplinarian one of the most intimidating teachers but most respected among students. She taught English, Latin and sociology and to pass her class, reading aloud a passage from Chaucers The Canterbury Tales in Middle English was required.

When the school desegregated she was close to retirement, Todd recalled in a film on the Lost In Transition website, also featuring backstories about every educator sketched. She taught at Hoggard one year before she retired. And the students, white and Black, loved her. She was such a fascinating character.

When looking back at the former Black educators, Williams said Todd used one word to describe them: dedicated.

She also loved to say loco parentis, he noted, translating to in place of the parent.

The sentiment is teachers went further than merely providing an education or teaching for statewide mandates and test scores. Sure, they would go by the curriculum handed to them to receive municipal funding, but Williams said they also would bring in texts that resonated with Black communities yet perhaps not recognized by state-level academics.

Theyd have a curriculum on the desk, and if a principal or a superintendent walked in, it would be what was on the desk and what students were engaged in, Williams described something he learned by reading Jarvis Gibbons Fugitive Pedagogy.

But when that administrative figure left, the teacher would have Carter G. Woodson books in their lap, teaching from that so the students can understand, OK this is how this country got to be this way. And this was our Black culture, our contribution to things being this way. And I think thats very important.

In 2022, this idea is being debated between the political divide as cultural race theory, in essence. Yet, showing the successes of the Black educators via an art show, Williams said, felt like a more palatable approach to talking about situations that were and are still very real among Black Americans. There was a fundamental understanding and at-ease communication and comfort Black educators established, which, in and of itself, created trust and a sense of belonging among their students.

Im not saying desegregation was better, Williams clarified. This art show isnt to debate that. But in a Black school setting, there was a familiarity with people who looked like you; educators reflected you and that is important for students. Its not always about race either but students need to see themselves in their teachers.

Clay said her first Black teacher wasnt present until fourth grade a community leader of a local youth group.

Even though my siblings and I didnt attend elementary school at the same time, her impact, care and involvement was felt in the lives of my whole family, Clay said. She was a leader and role model for all of us in the different chapters of our lives.

Clay said part of the joy in creating the portraits came with listening to the students speak so highly of their mentors stories would inevitably overlap.

I loved to hear how each individual received their education and then turned around to inspire more and give back in their communities, Clay said.

Many students often spoke of Willistons sweet cinnamon buns and the Glee Club as high points ingrained in their memories. Beryl Constance ODell, Todd recounted, was Willistons choir director, who led the club around the state to perform. She went on to work as the head of counselors at Hoggard, after receiving her masters. And even after retirement, she oversaw a Williston alumni group to sing at the White House.

Whats great about Wilmington is we have the great Bertha Boykin Todd and Angela Hankins Metts, whose mother was Lethia Sherman Hankins, to hear from firsthand, Williams said. He sat down with both women at Cape Fear Museum to recount memories of the climate of Black education 60-plus years ago. He said Hankins described her mother also featured in the art exhibit as a bridge.

She graduated from Williston High School in 1951 and returned by the end of the decade to teach English and drama. Hankins was an educator for 36 years, served on Wilmington City Council from 2003 to 2007 and was a co-chair of the 1898 Foundation in 2008.

We should ask ourselves today, Who are the members in the community that serve as bridges? Williams asked. There are definitely some and we need to wrap our arms around them in support.

Lost In Transition is a jumping off point to inspire those deeper conversations and make connections to improve, to understand how culture impacts education and how to work toward better relationships in the teacher-student dynamic.

The myth is that the past was always better, Williams said. Its a myth. What is true, though, I believe, is that we can pull from the past to the present, and figure out the recipe to go forward. And I think thats kind of what Im interested in doing in this project.

Black on Black presents Lost In Transition, which opens Thursday night at 210 Princess Street in the former Art in Bloom Gallery space. It will be on display through Sept. 25. The opening exhibition, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on July 21, will include a video featuring theatrical performances by UNCW students who will be re-enacting some of the oral histories of students and educators. The show is open on Thursdays and Fridays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

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Opinion | Theres More Than One Way to Ban a Book – The New York Times

Posted: at 2:43 am

A recent overview in Publishers Weekly about the state of free expression in the industry noted, Many longtime book people have said what makes the present unprecedented is a new impetus to censor and self-censor coming from the left. When the reporter asked a half dozen influential figures at the largest publishing houses to comment, only one would talk and only on condition of anonymity. This is the censorship that, as the phrase goes, dare not speak its name, the reporter wrote.

The caution is born of recent experience. No publisher wants another American Dirt imbroglio, in which a highly anticipated novel was accused of capitalizing on the migrant experience, no matter how well the book sells. No publisher wants the kind of staff walkout that took place in 2020 at Hachette Book Group when the journalist Ronan Farrow protested its plan to publish a memoir by his father, Woody Allen.

It is certainly true that not every book deserves to be published. But those decisions should be based on the quality of a book as judged by editors and publishers, not in response to a threatened, perceived or real political litmus test. The heart of publishing lies in taking risks, not avoiding them.

You can understand why the publishing world gets nervous. Consider what has happened to books that have gotten on the wrong side of illiberal scolds. On Goodreads, for example, vicious campaigns have circulated against authors for inadvertent offenses in novels that havent even been published yet. Sometimes the outcry doesnt take place until after a book is in stores. Last year, a bunny in a childrens picture book got soot on his face by sticking his head into an oven to clean it and the book was deemed racially insensitive by a single blogger. It was reprinted with the illustration redrawn. All this after the book received rave reviews and a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Childrens Book Award.

In another instance, a white academic was denounced for cultural appropriation because trap feminism, the subject of her book Bad and Boujee, lay outside her own racial experience. The publisher subsequently withdrew the book. PEN America rightfully denounced the publishers decision, noting that it detracts from public discourse and feeds into a climate where authors, editors and publishers are disincentivized to take risks.

Books have always contained delicate and challenging material that rubs up against some readers sensitivities or deeply held beliefs. But which material upsets which people changes over time; many stories about interracial cooperation that were once hailed for their progressive values (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help) are now criticized as white savior narratives. Yet these books can still be read, appreciated and debated not only despite but also because of the offending material. Even if only to better understand where we started and how far weve come.

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Big techs secondhand censorship shields conservatives from information at alarming rate, study shows – Fox News

Posted: at 2:43 am

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Media Research Center found that "secondhand censorship" is allowing big tech platforms to shield Americans from content that would otherwise come across on social media.

MRC founder Brent Bozell oversees the organizations Free Speech America CensorTrack database, which tracks the effects of secondhand censorship. It found that seven big tech platforms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Spotify kept information from users a staggering 144,301,713 times during the first quarter of 2022 alone.

The study defined secondhand censorship as "the number of times that users on social media had information kept from them" by big tech. The group "calculated the secondhand censorship effect by adding the number of followers each account had at the time of each censorship case recorded during the quarter," according to Brian Bradley and Gabriela Pariseau of Free Speech America.

GOP LAWMAKERS LAUNCH PROBE OF TIKTOK'S SHARING OF USER DATA WITH CHINESE PARENT COMPANY

TFacebook is among the seven big tech giants accused of secondhand censorship. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Charlie Litchfield)

"The secondhand censorship effect for the first quarter of 2022 includes only the censorship cases we found or were informed about. Because of this, it represents a mere fraction of the total scale of secondhand censorship taking place," Bradley and Pariseau added. "Big Techs lack of transparency means that an incalculable amount of censorship beyond what is shown in this report takes place every day."

Bozell joined "Fox News @ Night" with Shannon Bream on Wednesday to discuss the findings.

"Social media is the communications vehicle of the future whether we like it or not. The censorship of conservatives and Christians, and most especially conservative Christians, by big tech is a huge problem," Bozell said.

"It is enormous because it is affecting the public square in ways that has never happened in American history. So, how important is this? Those of us who have been looking at censorship have been looking at it from the standpoint of the producers. Weve logged, weve verified about 4,000 cases that are confirmed examples of censorship," he continued. "But we havent looked at it from the standpoint of the consumer. Whats the effect of that censorship?"

U.S. MOVINGSOME SAY TOO SLOWLYTO ADDRESS TIKTOK SECURITY RISK

The Media Research Center found that "secondhand censorship" is allowing big tech platforms to shield Americans from content that would otherwise come across on social media. (Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

"For the first three months of this year, we looked at 172 cases, just 172 cases of confirmed, verified censorship, we then looked at how many times that information was withheld from the American people through those 172 acts, 140 million times information didnt reach the American people because of 172 acts of censorship," Bozell said.

Bream then pointed out that many liberals deny censorship is happening, pointing to a poll of Facebooks top performing posts that indicates conservatives are "doing very well" on the platform as evidence liberals could use to make their case. However, Bozell disagreed with the notion.

"In fact, the worst case came from Facebook," he said. "Facebook has over 80 these instances."

TWITTER ALLOWS SOME THREATS AGAINST CONSERVATIVE SCOTUS JUSTICES, PRO-LIFE PREGNANCY CENTERS TO FLOURISH

Media Research Center president Brent Bozell asked, "When was the last time you heard a liberal complain about being censored?"

Bozell then said made it clear that he believes this is a partisan issue.

"When was the last time you heard a liberal complain about being censored? It just doesnt happen. But conservatives across the spectrum are now being censored. Heres the important thing, that number is minuscule, it just scratches the surface," he said. "We only looked at three months we didnt look at people whove already been censored had we looked at cases of censorship before that three-month period, it would have been billons of pieces of information that have never reached the American people because of the censorship."

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Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent tobrian.flood@fox.comand on Twitter: @briansflood.

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Growing opposition to Twitter censorship of Socialist Equality Party (Australia) – WSWS

Posted: at 2:43 am

More than two days since it was first imposed, a lock on the Twitter account of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) remains in place, effectively disabling it. The protracted character of the measure, and the absence of any credible explanation from the social media company, brands its actions as political censorship.

Posts demanding the full reinstatement of the SEP account and an explanation from Twitters page have been shared hundreds of times and have reached thousands of users. Many have drawn a connection between the lock on the SEP account, and a broader campaign to silence those critical of official policies, including militarism, war and the herd immunity COVID policies.

As the WSWS reported previously, the lock was first imposed on Thursday, Australian (AEST) time no later than 10:50am.

Only a couple of minutes earlier, the SEP account had published a video.

It defended Dr David Berger, a well-known general practitioner, under sanction from Australias medical authorities for his consistent opposition to the let it rip COVID policies and advocacy of an elimination strategy aimed at ending the pandemic. The video drew attention to the parallel between the attacks on Berger and other fighters for social and democratic rights, including WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

The video can be viewed below.

When the lock was imposed, that video was removed by Twitter and replaced with a label claiming that it had violated unspecified rules.

The initial lock was to be for 12 hours, gave no information about the supposed infractions of the page, could not be reviewed and provided no means of communication or redress. After the 12 hours had elapsed, the SEP received notification that its account remained locked.

The video supposedly had Violat[ed] our rules against posting or sharing privately produced/distributed intimate media of someone without their express consent. The lock would remain in place until and unless the video was deleted entirely.

On Friday morning, at roughly 9:30am (AEST), the SEP filed an appeal. It noted that the stated grounds for the censorship of the video were bogus. It contained no intimate content. All the images were in the public domain or had been provided to the WSWS by those depicted.

Three hours later, at 12:30pm (AEST), the SEP received confirmation that its appeal had been received. More than 24 hours since then, Twitter has not answered the appeal in any way.

The timeline raises concerning questions:

Was the initial unexplained lock of 12 hours merely to provide administrators with time to concoct a pretext for the censorship?

Why was the SEP account disabled entirely, rather than given some sort of warning? It is associated with a well-known and longstanding political organisation, has more than 2,000 followers and has operated on Twitter since 2010 without any accusations of rule infringements.

Have any human evaluators been involved in the censorship of the SEP account? If so, how could they possibly be under the misapprehension that the video contains intimate images, when it clearly does not? If they were so mistaken, why didnt they contact the SEP to clarify the issue?

If Twitters actions to this point are purely the result of algorithms and automated processes, why did it take three hours for receipt of the SEPs appeal to be acknowledged? This clearly indicates the involvement of human moderators.

If the SEP video was the subject of a false complaint in the few minutes that it was visible, why has this malicious report been taken at face value and acted upon so drastically? Anyone who has been on Twitter for some time knows that such false reports are a common occurrence. Generally they are investigated before any action is taken.

Why has the report, if one were made, seemingly been treated by Twitter as an unchallengeable and semi-official edict?

This raises the obvious question: If there was a false report in relation to the SEP video, did it come from a prominent political figure or any individual associated with government and state agencies?

In regard to the last question, it is notable that Bergers personal Twitter account has repeatedly been subjected to comments from right-wing trolls, defending the government policies of mass infection and death.

There is also an ecosystem of anti-Assange accounts, which feed off and promote the decade-long campaign of the intelligence apparatuses to destroy the courageous journalist. One of the most persistent of those accounts has repeatedly gloated about the SEP Twitter lock.

Twitters silence is all the more striking, given the substantial support that has been voiced for the full reinstatement of the SEP account.

On Thursday afternoon, SEP National Secretary Cheryl Crisp posted a Tweet reporting the lock. As of this writing, Crisps post has been retweeted, or shared, more than 240 times and liked by almost 500. It has received over 35,000 impressions, a measure of how many times the post appeared in Twitter feeds of unique individual users.

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Many others have posted strong comments. Chris Turnbull, an independent journalist, retweeted Crisps post, with the comment: The attack on Dr Berger continues: now extended to those who defend him: Twitter suspending groups who are not in violation of their own rules.

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Another user wrote: It is unconscionable but unsurprising to find Twitter solidarizing itself with the state in suppressing a major physician-journalist like Dr David Berger from telling the truth about the pandemic.

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A longstanding supporter of Assange wrote: . @TwitterSupport unlock the @SEP_Australia acct - reinstate it fully! @Twitter users need reliable accts! SEP reports on & defends workers around the world! For yrs they have defended #JulianAssange bringing light to a blacked-out story. 7 articles on #AssangeCase in July alone!

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One user cut to the heart of the issue, posting: Irony? Someone tweets about the free speech of *others* on *various* topics. Twitter responds by removing their tweet and locking their account?! The tweet was maliciously reported as [containing intimate] content @TwitterSupport

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The SEP will continue to demand the complete reinstatement of its account and a full explanation of how and why the censorship was imposed. This is critical to defeating a precedent for further attacks on anti-war, left-wing and socialist posts on the platform.

We urge all other Twitter users committed to democratic rights to aid this campaign. Tweet your opposition to the lock, direct it to @TwitterSupport and include the hashtag #OpposeSEPTwitterLock.

Join the SEP campaign against anti-democratic electoral laws!

The working class must have a political voice, which the Australian ruling class is seeking to stifle with this legislation.

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Some Wins, Some Losses in Fight to Keep Books on the Shelves | Censorship Roundup – School Library Journal

Posted: at 2:43 am

A look at the latest in censorship attempts around the country spotlights actions in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Missouri.

District Attorney Ben David of New Hanover and Pender Counties (NC) found no criminality in having nine books in libraries at the countys middle and high schools. The titles, which were challenged by parents and investigated by members of the New Hanover County (NHC) Sheriffs Office, will remain available in the libraries, according to WHQR Public Media.

NHC Sheriffs Office officers met with David in May, providing him with the list of offensive books, which schools made the titles available, and which passages they deemed offensive. They asked David to investigate if the books violated any criminal laws. David found that the law protected the schools and teachers for making these books available, adding that the obscenity test is high in order to protect First Amendment rights, according to the story.

The books were: All Boys Arent Blue by George M. Johnson, Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Prez, The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons, Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper, Melissa (formerly George) by Alex Gino, Stamped byIbram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds, A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Rame, The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, and Queer, There and Everywhere by Sarah Prager.

The Miami-Dade (FL) School Board voted 5-4 to remove two textbooks on sex educationComprehensive Health Skills for Middle School and Comprehensive Health Skills for High Schoolfrom middle and high school curricula, according to Local10.

The board previously voted 5-4 in favor of keeping the books when objections were raised. A subsequent hearing was held to evaluate them. Age-appropriateness and references to sensitive subjects such as abortion, emergency contraception, gender identity, and sexual orientation were cited as reasons to remove them.

A local chapter of Moms for Liberty in Fauquier County (VA) formally requested the removal of 50 books from public school libraries during a school board meeting, according to FauquierNow. A member of the group is quoted as claiming that access to these books causes long-term sex-related behavioral problems. Parents from the community spoke up in opposition to removing the books, including the recently retired supervisor of Library and Media Services for Fauquier County Public Schools, who noted that there is a formal reconsideration process that should be followed.

While a specific list of books to be censored was not given, FauquierNow compiled a list after reviewing parent comments and found that titles include A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas,Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens, and Ace of Spades by Faridah bk-ymd.

Independence School District (MO) Board of Education voted 6-1 to remove the book Cats vs. Robots Volume 1: This is War by Margaret Stohl from elementary school libraries because of nonbinary character and references to gender identity, according to KCUR and the Kansas City Star.

One member of the nine-person committee convened to review the book cited concerns that the title and cover do not indicate that gender identity is mentioned in the book, as well as examples of young characters being skeptical of and mistrusting adults, which he said was not appropriate and deeply concerning. Parents and students came to a school board meeting to object to the removal and explain the importance of having books with LGBTQIA+ characters.

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Ohio’s divisive subjects bill is rooted in denial and avoidance – Canton Repository

Posted: at 2:43 am

As is the case with most solutions in search of a problem,Ohio House Bill 327currently winding its way through the legislative process is an attempt to control the teaching of what its authors considers "divisive" subjects.

If approved, the Promoting Education, Not Indoctrination Act (which initselfis propaganda)would "Prohibit teaching, advocating, or promoting divisive concepts."

The billoffers such examples as:

Teachers are already juggling with knives. Who has time to court this kind of trouble?

The proposed law would permit:

How does one conveyobjectivityregarding such clear moralwrongs as slavery,Native American genocide,or why mostwomen couldn't vote until 1920?

Who gets to selectthe textbooks and materials which would offer theseimpartial lessons?

More Charita Goshay: Book banning is an old, dangerous trick

In March, bill cosponsor state Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, offeredWEWS(Channel 5) an example of how teaching about the Holocaust could offer both sides of the storyby including, say, a perspective from a German soldier.

Eleven million innocent civilians,including 6 million Jews,1 million children, people with physical andintellectualdisabilities, gays,and outspoken Christians, were systematically murdered by the Nazis in concentration camps spread across Europe.

There are lines in history which are clear. There is no counterargumentforwhy the Nazis and the Axis powers did what they did none.

Now, no serious scholarwould be opposed to an examination of the Third Reich'smasterful misuse of racism,lies and propaganda;how Adolf Hitler was able to seduce an entire nation into abandoning its ownhumanity,replacingit with a depravitythe likes of which the modern world had never seen.

But there is no, "Yeah, but ..."

The billalso would allow parents, students and colleagues to report schools and personnel suspected of violating the standards, which could result in a loss of fundingor individual punishment, such as a teacher losing his or her license.

Schools and teachers are already underconstant scrutiny. What ifa complaint is baseless? It has all the elements of Fascism 101.

It strips away opportunities for critical thinking and writing. Without such skills, education simply becomes regurgitation.

It undercuts the local control people claim they want.Either we trust local school boards, or we do not.

It goes without saying that school libraries wouldbe subject to even more scrutiny and censorship.

It's clear that some in Columbus are taking their cues from other state legislatures who have already waded into thewater; among themTexas and Florida.

A strongnation canbearthe truthabout itself. America's storyis unique, one of freedom, ingenuityand limitless promise. It's also a tale ofinjustice,materialismand hubris.

As it stands, Americansavoid history like it wasthe Ebola virus. We don'tneedskewedinformation, which will only deepen thedeficit.

Wemusthave more faith in our children,whohave a right to learn the full story of who we are, where we've been, and where we may be headed.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach herat 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

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South Carolina Bill Would Censor Abortion Information Online – PCMag

Posted: at 2:43 am

South Carolina lawmakers have proposed a bill called the Equal Protection at ConceptionNo ExceptionsAct that would prevent websites from publishing abortion-related information.

The state made abortion illegal after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. This new bill(Opens in a new window) also seeks to prohibit "hosting or maintaining an internet website, providing access to an internet website, or providing an internet service purposefully directed to a pregnant woman who is a resident of this State that provides information on how to obtain an abortion, knowing that the information will be used, or is reasonably likely to be used for an abortion."

The bill also prohibits "providing information to a pregnant woman, or someone seeking information on behalf of a pregnant woman, by telephone, internet, or any other mode of communication regarding self-administered abortions or the means to obtain an abortion, knowing that the information will be used, or is reasonably likely to be used, for an abortion" as well as providing info about abortion doula services or referring visitors to abortion providers.

The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has demonstrated how abortion rights are intertwined with privacy rightswhich President Joe Biden acknowledged with the Executive Order Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Servicesacross the US. Ars Technica notes(Opens in a new window) that this bill (and others like it) show that states' efforts to limit access to information about obtaining or performing abortions could also threaten the First Amendment right to free speech.

On a practical level, even if the bill is passed, it's unlikely to prevent someone from accessing information related to abortion. Location-based restrictions are relatively easy to bypass. The problem is accessing that information without leaving evidence that could later be used by prosecutors. It seems more likely that the Equal Protection at ConceptionNo ExceptionsAct will be punitive rather than preventative.

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Op-Ed: Why inappropriate books are the best kind – Los Angeles Times

Posted: at 2:43 am

The house where I was raised had an open shelf rule. This meant my brother and I were allowed to read anything, no matter how inappropriate or beyond our years. We never had to ask.

I spent hours of my childhood perusing the volumes on my fathers bookcases at will, trial and error. Histories, thrillers, science fiction, books on politics and culture all of it was available to me.

I keep thinking about this as more and more school districts participate in what is shaping up to look like an open war against reading. According to Banned in the USA, a report issued by the writers organization PEN America in April, nearly 1,600 individual books were banned in 26 states between July 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.

Among the titles challenged or removed are Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, Elizabeth Acevedos The Poet X, Roxane Gays Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body and Robin Benways Far From the Tree. All are works of abiding literary merit that address issues of identity and race and family in other words, exactly the kinds of books students should be reading now.

Although the challenging of books and curriculum is hardly new in the United States, what were facing now is somewhat different. Of the current bans, PEN notes, 41% (644 individual bans) are tied to directives from state officials or elected lawmakers to investigate or remove books in schools. It is not parents or even school boards driving many of these challenges. It is the power of the state.

That represents, says PEN, an unprecedented shift.

I take it for granted that books are good for us. Countless studies have reinforced what many recognize from experience: Literature encourages compassion. As Jane Smiley wrote a decade ago in the New York Times: Reading fiction is and always was practice in empathy learning to see the world through often quite alien perspectives, learning to understand how other peoples points of view reflect their experiences.

At the same time, theres more to reading than learning to be a better person. Books are not vegetables, after all. We dont read them for the same reasons we take vitamins, or eat healthy meals. Part of the joy of reading its essential fiber, if you will is the way it can disturb us, disrupting our preconceptions and easy pieties. Part of what books do is to show us who we are or might become.

I know this from my open-shelf experiences. Often, the more inappropriate or beyond me a book was, the more intensely I was drawn to it. I count myself lucky that I was surrounded by adults willing to let me find my own level not just at home but also at school. In third grade, the school librarian, who already knew me as a precocious reader, didnt stop me from taking out War and Peace, which I kept for a week before I returned it, unread.

It was not only the reading, in other words, that was important but also the permission to do it widely, indiscriminately. That freedom left me feeling respected, affirmed. And it led me, by my early teens, to inappropriate writers that in the end couldnt have been more appropriate: among them, Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller, Sam Greenlee and Philip Roth.

Vonnegut taught me the universe was absurd; Heller, that authority deserved to be ridiculed. Greenlee, in his novel The Spook Who Sat By the Door, revealed the hypocrisy of race in America. And Roth well, perhaps the best way to explain it is to say that, in Portnoys Complaint, he portrayed male adolescence, which I was then experiencing, in the most visceral and outrageous terms.

Writers like these represented a gateway to other authors and narratives. Vonnegut led me to Samuel Beckett, Greenlee to James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka. From Heller, I moved on to Terry Southern and William Burroughs. And Portnoy prepared me for the magnificent Fear of Flying by Erica Jong.

Reading such books as I found them helped me to reckon with the complexities and contradictions of the adult world. More important, by thinking alongside their authors, I began to think for myself.

This, of course, is what the book banners object to, that readers might be influenced by ideas that legislators, parents, the neighbors down the block dont like.

PEN sees the issue through the lens of the 1st Amendment, which is valid, especially given the actions of so many lawmakers and the effects on so many constituencies. But I dont want to overlook that other lens of curiosity, self-knowledge, possibility, inquiry. Literature gives us language by which to know ourselves.

But in order to do that, it has to be available. It has to remain on the shelves. Where would we be without inappropriate reading? Ask any reader and theyll tell you: We would be lost.

David L. Ulin is a contributing writer to Opinion.

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City of Detroit, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, join the Black Theatre Network (BTN) to host Broadway Comes Home to Detroit, a…

Posted: at 2:42 am

City of Detroit, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, join the Black Theatre Network (BTN) to host Broadway Comes Home to Detroit, a celebration of Detroit Tony Award winners and nominees

DETROIT - Detroits Broadway stars are coming home on July 24 when the City of Detroit, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Black Theatre Network host a press conference and homecoming reception to celebrate one of the best Broadway seasons for Detroit and black thespians ever.

Mayor Mike Duggan will honor Michael R. Jackson, Dominique Morisseau, Ron Simons, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Marilyn McCormick, Chante Adams, and theatre legend Woodie King, Jr. at the 3PM press conference in the Rotunda of The Wright. The mayor will unveil a bust of King that will live at the Wright. The press event, which will be live-streamed, will be followed by the public reception.

The celebration opens the 36th annual convention of the Black Theatre Network, the national organization dedicated to the exploration and preservation of the theatrical visions of the African Diaspora. The organization plans to open an office in Detroit to cement a partnership with the Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship to elevate Black theatre in the city.

The reception will be followed by a BTN presentation in the General Motors Theatre on the history of Black theatre in Detroit. The conversation will feature King, Wayne State Professor, historian, and playwright Bill Harris and Detroit native Michael Dinwiddie, an associate professor of dramatic writing at New York University. The conversation will be moderated by Rochelle Riley, the Citys Director of Arts and Culture. Detroits theatre history is so rich, so heralded and so hidden, Riley said. Diahann Carroll became the first African American to win a Tony Award in a play that first premiered at the Fisher Theatre here.

Reception: bit.ly/broadwaytodetroit

BTN conversation: https://DetroitStar.eventbrite.com

BTNs annual conference, Scripting the Flip: Black Theatre ACT III, will bring more than 100 theatre professionals to offer training and theatrical events to Detroiters for four days. Among highlights are:

The full schedule of classes and workshops can be found at http://www.blacktheatrenetwork.org and theatre professionals across southeast Michigan are encouraged to become members.

About the Black Theatre NetworkThe Black Theatre Networks primary function is to expose the beauty and complexity of the inherited theatre work of our African American ancestors and to take this work to a higher level through the 21st century and beyond. We seem to unite those who share this rich inheritance to ensure that we all work TOGETHER.

About Detroit ACEThe Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship oversees the Citys investments in arts, culture and history. It develops opportunities for residents to experience music and art in neighborhoods across the city and offers support for one of the nations greatest creative workforces.

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The U.S. wants to spend $52 billion to become a chips powerhouse. Experts say that hundreds of billionsand decadesis needed to crack its reliance on…

Posted: at 2:40 am

The threat of China looms so large that it has united Washington into advancing discussions on funding an unprecedented package of subsidies for the U.S. semiconductor sector.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 64-34 to advance debate on the CHIPS Act, a bill that earmarks $52 billion in incentives for chipmakers to build plants in the U.S.viewed by many in Washington as critical to shoring up American supply chains and the U.S.'s ability to counter China in the global tech arms race. Tuesdays procedural vote prepares the Senate and House of Representatives for a vote on the legislation by the end of next week.

The CHIPS Act is "about national security, [which] we can't put a price on," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told PBS on Tuesday. We need to make more of these [chips] on our shores [to] protect our people, Raimondo said. CHIPS advocates say the funding will lessen Americas reliance on Asian chip suppliersa crucial vulnerability that China could exploitand rebuild its once-powerful chips manufacturing sector.

Theres one catch, though. The tens of billions in subsidies to build chip plants on U.S. soil is unlikely to reduce its dependence on Asia, especially in the short-run, let alone transform it into a semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse. The U.S. likely needs hundreds of billions more in funding, and decades, to secure its chips supply and catch-up with Asian chipmakers in any meaningful way, some experts say, prompting the question of whether onshoring chip manufacturing is the best way to achieve its goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the need for countries to secure their supply chains. The pandemic run on semiconductor chipswhich are used in everything from phones, computers, cars and kitchen appliances to military equipmentdelayed goods shipments, inflated prices, and led to billions in losses alone for companies like Apple, and over $200 billion in losses for the global automotive industry.

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The pandemic-led chips shortage exposed the U.S.'s own supply chain vulnerabilities. "The reason we're really in this mess is because for a long time, we haven't invested. We took our eye off the ball," Raimondo told CNN.

The CHIPS Act allocates $39 billion for chipmakers to build plants, known as fabrication facilities (fabs), on U.S. soil. It offers another $11.2 billion for semiconductor research and development.

Yet the tens of billions on the line isn't nearly enough to shift global production dynamics, experts say. The U.S. "isn't the most attractive place for chipmakers, periodotherwise companies would've moved their production a long time ago," rather than wait for the subsidies to kick in, says Shay Luo, principal at consultancy Kearney. The high costs of labor and production limits American manufacturing, she says. Asian nations like Taiwan, China, and South Korea, lead the world's chip production because it's 25% to 40% cheaper to make chips in those countries. The U.S.'s semiconductor manufacturing share has plunged to 12% from 40% three decades ago.

The CHIPS Acts one-off package, to be divvied up into piecemeal allocationsprivate firms and public institutions can apply for federal grants of up to $3 billion to build or expand plantsis insufficient to incentivize chipmakers to shift their supply chains in a major way, Rakesh Kumar, professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told Fortune. Constant state subsidies of at least hundreds of billions is likely required to onshore chip production on a mass scale, he says.He points to Taiwan's TSMC, the world's biggest chips manufacturer, that plans to invest $100 billion over the next three years to maintain its global dominance. The U.S., meanwhile, has fallen behind Asian chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung in advanced chip technology. Intel and other chipmakers heavily rely on TSMC for 5-nanometer chipsthe worlds most efficient and most advancedas the Taiwanese firm accounts for 92% of the globes supply, according to Capital Economics. Itd have to "spend much more, with no guarantee of success, just to get even in terms of technology," Kumar says. Intel has said its building new fab plants across Europe, Israel, and the U.S. at a cost of $44 billion to try to catch up.

"This is what makes me nervous. Once you're on this path, you have to commit billions... every year to have even a small chance at succeeding, which the [public] may not have the appetite for, Kumar says.

Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, a current professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good, argues that the CHIPS funding is akin to "extortion"an act that'll subsidize already-rich chipmakers like Intel, with little assurance that they'll actually boost the U.S.'s chip supply. Chip companies are loyal to their shareholders, and will "sell their chips to the highest bidders around the world, regardless of where the chips are produced," he told Fortune.

Chipmakers like Intel, Micron, and GlobalWafers have warned lawmakers that theyll move their fabs to other countries if the CHIPS Act doesnt pass. Intel recently delayed the groundbreaking ceremony of its $20 billion new Ohio plant because Congress hasnt yet passed the bill. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger cautioned that without the CHIPS funding, the company would end up investing a lot more in Europe as a result. This February, $7.3 billion of the EUs $46 billion European Chip Act was directed at subsidizing Intels new fab in Germany.

Yet even an uptick in production on U.S. soil wont make the country less dependent on Asia, Ling Chen, assistant professor of political economy at John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), told Fortune. The U.S.s lack of manufacturing capacity means its pressuring Asian chipmakers to set-up their plants in the U.S., she says.The tens of thousands of jobs that could be created in the next decade from CHIPS will also be dependent on foreign nations since the U.S. doesnt have the skilled labor to fill these positions. If the U.S. builds 20 new plants and creates 70,000 to 90,000 new jobs, it needs to increase its current workforce by 50% to fill the roles, according to an estimate from Eightfold.AI. One Georgetown University analysis calls for establishing skilled work visa programs for thousands of Taiwanese and South Korean workers to come to the U.S. Simply "supplying capital for setting up plants isn't enough for the U.S. to become less dependent on Asian economies, Chen says. A better approach might see the U.S. strengthening its allies manufacturing, while investing in advanced chip technology at home to ensure future market dominance, Kumar says.

Still, others argue that Congress must pass the CHIPS Actor risk widening the already-large gap between the U.S.s chipmaking abilities and Asian economies, which would make it even more vulnerable to foreign dependence and Chinese coercion. If we fail to reorient our supply chains, it will continue to [pose] a serious risk to U.S. security, Dan Katz, co-founder of investment management firm Amberwave Partners and former senior adviser at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Building fabs in the U.S. doesnt make sense cost-wise, Luo says. The funding is more about a service-level play than a cost-play, meaning that foundries like Intel will be able to shorten their supply chains and obtain critical components and chips closer to home, thereby reducing the U.S.s vulnerability to disruptions, she notes.

The U.S. has more reason to pass the CHIPS Act than to reject it, Paul Hong, professor of operations management and Asian studies at The University of Toledo, told Fortune. Without the CHIPS funding, Asian chipmakers could postpone, or cancel their plans to build plants in the U.S., while America will continue to struggle with semiconductor shortages along with the rest of the world, keeping prices high, he says. Even if the bulk of the CHIPS subsidies is passed to Taiwanese and South Korean firms, the fact that their plants will be built and operated in the U.S. and hire mostly American workers means that theyre creating a vital supply chain artery that helps other U.S. suppliers develop and expand, Hong says.

Ultimately if the U.S. subsidizes chipmakers, the government should demand that companies prioritize U.S.-based customers that "use the chips in products that are made in the U.S., by American workers," Reich says. Congress must demand that companies produce the highest value-added chipmaking in the U.S.[from] design, to design engineering and high-precision manufacturing, so [that] Americans [also] gain that technological expertise," Reich says.

The CHIPS Act is not perfect, nor is it ideal, Hong says. But the U.S. needs to advance decisions thatll help it secure its supply chain in strategic areas, and mitigating chip shortages is one of the highest priorities at this time, he says.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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