Category Archives: Freedom

State Journal Managing Editor Chanda Veno was awarded the second annual Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award for daily newspapers in Kentucky.

The award recognizes her ongoing coverage of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Franklin County Regional Jail Chief Deputy Jailer Kelly Rouse.

The award is presented by the Associated Press and is named for Fleischaker, who is the author of the Open Meetings and Open Record Laws in Kentucky and serves as general counsel to the Kentucky Press Association and numerous other newspapers.

The award recognizes his lifelong commitment to the First Amendment and is presented to one Kentucky journalist in the daily division, weekly division and intercollegiate division for their use of public records to shed light on an important community matter and to effect public policy change.

I am honored to receive the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award, Veno said. But more importantly, I am glad the taxpayers of Franklin County were given the opportunity to view an unredacted copy of the investigation report that cost the county more than $14,000.

Rouse was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May 2018 while an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at the jail was conducted by a Lexington law firm.

The following month, Katherine Coleman and Scott Miller, of Lexington-based Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Maloney, PLLC, released their investigative report and charged the county $14,505.17. On June 30, 2018, then-Jailer Rick Rogers accepted Rouses retirement.

The State Journal filed an open records request with County Attorney Rick Sparks for a copy of the investigation report, which was received more than a month later with heavy redactions. However, parts of the report that werent blacked out concluded that he was found to have participated in misconduct.

The newspaper made an appeal to the Attorney Generals Office for an unredacted copy of the investigation report and was denied. In that August 2019 ruling, the AGs office stated that Sparks did not violate the Open Records Act by redacting the report.

The State Journal, represented by Jeremy S. Rogers of Dinsmore & Shohl law firm of Louisville, appealed that decision and on Sept. 3, 2020, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd sided with the newspaper, ruling he was unable to find any aspect of the investigation report to be exempt from the Open Records Act. Later that day, Sparks forwarded the full report.

The taxpayers paid for this report, Shepherd wrote. They have a right to view it in full.

No criminal charges were brought against Rouse, who retired when the law firm announced its findings and was never disciplined by the county.

On Friday, open meetings and records expert Amye Bensenhaver, who wrote open government opinions for six Kentucky attorneys general and informally advises The State Journal on access issues, congratulated the newspaper.

The State Journal represents the best in local investigative reporting. It is a worthy recipient of the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award for its dogged pursuit of the Kelly Rouse story, its aggressive use of open records laws to expose the truth, and its refusal to stand down when litigation became its only option, she said. "I am honored to work with The State Journals outstanding staff and management.

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SJ's Veno wins Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award - State-Journal.com

Responding to Hong Kongs Education Bureau (EDB) announcing its new guidelines and curriculum in relation to safeguarding national security, Amnesty international Hong Kongs Programme Manager Lam Cho Ming said:

The new measures on school management and national security education, including the establishment of taskforces to monitor student behaviour and activities, would significantly curb freedom of expression on campus in Hong Kong.

Banning expression of political opinion on campus is not a national security issue; it is a sweeping restriction and a blatant human rights violation. National security must not be used to deny students the right to express different political views.

According to the guidelines provided by the Bureau, school governance authorities will be asked to prohibit students and teachers from participating in political activities and expressing political views on campus. Books and teaching materials containing information that may endanger national security are also to be removed. However, the authorities overly broad and vague definition of national security may further silence opposition views on campus.

International human rights law states that governments can only restrict rights in response to specific threats of the use of force that threaten a states existence or territorial integrity; peaceful political discussions and activities on campus are far from that.

The Hong Kong government must not use national security as a pretext to unnecessarily censor freedom of expression on campus.

Background:

The Education Bureau (EDB) issued circulars to schools on Thursday (4 February) to provide guidelines on school administration in relation to safeguarding national security, including details on the implementation of learning and teaching resources for national security education in the school curriculum.

The Bureau required school governance authorities to prevent and stop on-campus political activities, including displaying items advocating independence of Hong Kong, chanting political slogans and forming human chains. It said such activities may be in breach of the Basic Law, the National Security Law and all laws applicable to Hong Kong, for the purpose of enhancing students sense of national security, national identity and law-abiding awareness.

School governance authorities are also required to form specific taskforces overseeing areas of school administration, staff management and student discipline, in order to create a peaceful and orderly school environment and atmosphere.

According to international human rights law, expressions can only be punished on national security grounds if the authorities can demonstrate a clear and imminent threat of violence. In particular, if done peacefully, advocacy for a change in government or government policy, criticism or even insult to a states institutions or its symbols, or exposure of human rights violations, must not be penalized.

Excerpt from:

Hong Kong: New national security guidelines on schools further stifle freedom of expression on campus - Amnesty International

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is among the fund's supporters.

February 5, 2021, 6:35 PM

5 min read

The California Black Freedom Fund has set the goal of raising $100 million over the next five years from various sponsors to directly support "Black-led power-building organizations," it announced this week.

The initiative has received backing from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan's philanthropic organization, and has amassed an initial investment of some $34.2 million.

In this Feb. 25, 2016, file photo, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of the social media platform Facebook, and his wife Pricilla Chan pose for a photo before an event in Berlin.

The fund aims to provide Black-led community organizing efforts in the Golden State with the "sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism," according to a statement released Thursday.

"Building a better future for everyone starts with centering those who have been politically, socially, and economically marginalized," Chan, a co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, said in a statement. "We support the California Black Freedom Fund and its work to ensure that Black-led organizations and movements have the power, resources, and recognition to continue their missions and make racial equity a reality in California."

The initiative comes after a year marked by protests over police brutality against Black Americans that sparked a nationwide reckoning over longstanding systemic racism.

In this June 2, 2020, file photo, protestors gather in front of a row of LAPD officers during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in Hollywood, Calif.

It also comes as the coronavirus pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on Black communities, further exposing racial inequities in the U.S.

"To make racial justice and equity real in California, philanthropy needs to elevate its investments in Black organizers that are focused on advocacy, organizing and holding our institutions accountable -- something that we call power-building," Lateefah Simon, a supporter of the initiative and the president of the Oakland-based racial justice organization the Akonadi Foundation, said in a statement.

"The vision of the California Black Freedom Fund is to bring justice to our communities by making sure Black-led organizations are sufficiently supported and strong, and their leaders are galvanized," Simon added.

Fellow supporter of the fund Cathy Cha, the CEO of the charitable grant foundation the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, added, "Over the past year, we've seen Black communities across the country step up boldly as the conscience of our nation to challenge the status quo."

She stated the new fund represents an "opportunity to build on that momentum and support Black-led organizations and a movement that can keep racial justice front and center and reimagine a better future for all of us."

The California Black Freedom Fund will begin by investing $6 million in three groups: the Black Census and Redistricting Hub (an organization that aims to maximize census participation in Black communities), the Black Equity Collective (a group that supports the long-term infrastructure of Black-led social justice organizations), and PICO California's Live Free/Bring the H.E.A.T. (a collective advocating for overhauls to the current policing system).

The freedom fund has already garnered a slew of private sector supporters, including JPMorgan Chase, and aims to reach its $100 million goal through further corporate and individual donations.

See the rest here:

California Black Freedom Fund launches $100 million initiative to support 'Black-led organizing' - ABC News

Father Charles BoberFaith Forum

There is a lot of talk today about freedom. I know that there is a political side to that, but it is still an important part of our American way of life. Why is the Catholic Church not more out in front of all this and strongly supporting our freedoms?

Freedom is a rather complex term these days that means many different things to different people. The Catholic Church is not at all afraid to speak about the importance of freedom. But it does so from a unique perspective that transcends any national conversation, and is rooted in a reality about which the Church has a great deal to offer.

The Catholic Church believes that human freedom is an essential component of human identity. It is not something benevolently bestowed by any government but something that comes from the Creator.

But it is not enough to promote freedom without considering the responsibilities that come with it. Some people see it as freedom from something but not freedom for. Why do we feel comfortable talking about our freedom to have no restraints, but speak so little about our freedom to do the good, the just and the uplifting? So often, we find that discussion of ones freedom is limited to the ability to do what I want. Freedom can never be viewed in isolation.

Within Catholic teaching there is never limitless freedom. Our personal freedom must be seen within the context of the rights of others and the common good. My freedom only extends as far as another persons rights. That was seen clearly in the long public debate about the freedom to smoke cigarettes anywhere one wants. That freedom became curtailed by concern for the health of others, similar to the current debate about choosing not to wear a face covering during this pandemic and risking the physical health and lives of others.

The Church benefits from the experience of centuries.It is skeptical of the exaltation of freedom without attention to the responsibilities and the common good. The Church has watched and suffered under freedoms that were applied to only a few, or that led to anarchy. In some cases freedom was denied to many in favor of the powerful, rich or the members of a single race, religion or culture.

Freedom can be taken to extremes that actually imprison. This is true of those who find themselves making bad decisions in the name of freedom. People spend a lifetime recovering the freedom that they gave away.

The Catholic Church understands freedom as an essential element of our human life. But it does so in the context of responsibility and the rights of others. Freedom seen as totally subjective or isolated can lead to personal suffering and communal chaos.

Photo credit: Dena Koenig Photography

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Freedom, and restraint - Pittsburgh Catholic

The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history, originated, in part, from George Washingtons desperation.

In late 1777 during the American Revolution, the Continental Army, led by General Washington, faced severe troop shortages in its war with the British. No less than 2,898 men now in camp [are] unfit because they are barefoot and otherwise naked, Washington wrote to Congress, begging for material support. Disease claimed nearly 2,000 soldiers during the armys winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When enough white men couldnt be persuaded to enlist in the depleting army with bounties of land and money, Congress resorted to the draft. Its mandate: Each state must fill a quota of militias, based on its population.

Rhode Island, the smallest state with a population under 60,000 on the eve of the Revolution, needed to fill two battalions. When the state couldnt recruit enough white men, its leaders appealed to Washington to allow both free and enslaved Black men to enlist.

As both a slaveowner and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from its formation in 1775, Washington had long opposed the use of Black soldiers, fearing that armed Black men would incite a rebellion among enslaved people and alienate Southern slaveholders. But over time, the harsh realities of a failing war effort called for Americas founding fathers to make some pragmatic decisions to preserve their nations future.

The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely recognized as the Americas first Black military regiment, didnt start out that way. From its inception in 1775 as a part of the Rhode Island Army of Observation to its reorganization as the 1st Rhode Island in 1777 and its recruitment of Black soldiers to their own unit starting in February 1778, the regiment was one of the few in the Continental Army to serve all seven years of war. The unit distinguished itself in battles from the Siege of Boston to the Battle of Rhode Island and beyond to Yorktown.

READ MORE: 7 Black Heroes of the American Revolution

For the Continental Army, the use of Black soldiers had proved one of the wars most controversial issues. Lord Dunmore, Britains colonial governor of Virginia, infuriated that states slaveholding class when in 1775 he declared martial law and promised freedom to any enslaved person who abandoned his owner and joined the British forces. Owners encouraged their enslaved workers to resist the temptation to ruin your selves and promised pardons to those who returned within 10 days of their flight. Still, the promise of freedom inspired an estimated 20,000 enslaved men to flee and enlist with British forces. One of Washingtons enslaved workers, Henry Washington, escaped Mount Vernon to join Dunmores Ethiopian Regiment, a group of 300 escaped Black men who were the first to respond to the proclamation.

General Washington feared Lord Dunmores work and wanted his efforts crushed. Otherwise, like a snow ball in rolling, [Dunmores] army will get size, the future first president wrote tohis aide-de-camp, Joseph Reed. So shortly after Lord Dunmores bold appeal, Washington asked Congress to allow free Black men to enlist in the Continental Army. Lord Dunmores Proclamation changed Washingtons thinking about employing African Americans in the Continental Army, according to Philip Morgan, professor of early American historian at Johns Hopkins University. Clearly Washingtons reversal on Black troops had much to do with his fears of what Dunmore might achieve, he wrote. Henceforth Washington commanded a racially integrated force.

READ MORE: The Ex-Slaves Who Fought With the British

Soldiers of the American Revolution: (L-R) African American of the First Rhode Island Regiment; New England militiaman; frontier rifleman wearing a Virginia hunting shirt; French officer in a blue coat with red facing.

Everett Collection

General James Mitchell Varnum, an attorney and one of Washingtons most trusted officers, became the most ardent supporter of forming a Black regiment in Rhode Island. One of his most radical proposals to Washington was to counter the shortfall of white recruits with enslaved men, along with free Black and Indian men. It is imagined that a battalion of Negroes can easily be raised there, Varnum wrote to Washington, who forwarded the proposalwithout tacit approval or disapprovalto the Rhode Island General Assembly, where it was given the go-ahead.

The Slave Enlistment Act, passed in February 1778, stipulated that any enslaved person accepted to the 1st Rhode Island be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free, as though he had never been encumbered without any kind of servitude or slavery. It also mandated financial compensation for owners who lost their enslaved workers to the new regimentup to $400 each in colonial dollars. More than 130 enslaved men from all over the state joined the Black regiment in the first several months after the act went into effect. They did so despite propaganda spread by disgruntled slaveholders who, in trying to quell an exodus of enslaved men, asserted that Black soldiers would be placed in the most frequent front-line danger, and, if captured, would be sold into bondage in the West Indies.

READ MORE: Black Heroes Throughout US Military History

Led by all-white officers, the Black regiment saw its first combat experience at the Battle of Rhode Island. On August 29, 1778, the regiment was on assignment at Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay near Newport, where they had been tasked with guarding a defensive position anchoring the Continental Armys right wing. Over the course of the battle, the regiment drove back three Hessian (German) regiments of the British army. It was in driving back these furious attacks that our Black regiment distinguished itself with deeds of great valor, remembered a regiment member. Yes, this was a regiment of Negroes, fighting for our liberty and independence. Major General John Sullivan spoke for Washingtons satisfaction at the regiments performance when he said, by the best information the commander-in-chief thinks that the regiment will be entitled to a proper share of the honors of the day.

Watch 'Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution' on HISTORY Vault.

The 1st Rhode Island's courageous performance at the Battle of Rhode Island led to more African Americans being enlisted to the Continental Army, but the Slave Enlistment Act was repealed by the Rhode Island legislature less than half a year later, meaning that most subsequent volunteers to the regiment came from the ranks of white or freed Black men.

According to Cameron Boutin, a scholar of the regiment, Congress and the military leadership never fully embraced the recruitment of enslaved people. Permitting enslaved African Americans to serve as soldiers in return for their freedom in units similar to the 1st Rhode Island would have alleviated the American forces manpower shortages, increasing their operational abilities and boosting their efficiency, especially in combat, he wrote. Despite the successful example set by the Rhode Island law of February 1778 and the combat performance of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, many civil leaders across the country maintained their opposition toward recruiting slaves and no large-scale legislation authorizing the enlistment of enslaved individuals was adopted.

READ MORE: How an Enslaved Man-Turned-Spy Helped Secure Victory at the Battle of Yorktown

Continued here:

Americas First Black Regiment Earned Their Freedom by Fighting Against the British - History

Just released; it's from the University's Committee on Academic Freedom, which is an organ of the faculty (the Academic Senate) rather than of the administration.

The University's responsibility to protect academic freedom and freedom of expression cannot be outsourced. As we all know, UC currently relies heavily on platforms such as Zoom to facilitate our teaching, research, governance, and the public dissemination of knowledge. UC cannot, however, rely on private companies to protect the academic freedom on which those core university functions depend.

The threats here are not just hypothetical. Zoom has already canceled political events and academic discussions at other institutions, after receiving complaints and finding violations of their terms of service.[1] UCAF's worries go beyond the facts of particular prior cases, which vary in potentially important ways. UCAF is concerned about dangers evident in UC's own contract with Zoom, under which Zoom retains largely unfettered discretion to control what content it hosts. We suspect that Zoom is not alone in this regard.

Zoom's Terms of Service,[2] which incorporate by reference the company's Community Standards,[3] currently prohibit all of the following:

Zoom encourages users to report violations of its Terms of Use and Community Standards through its online "Trust Form."[4]

From swastikas portrayed in history classes to nudity in art studios, from clinical training in the medical schools to impersonation by our theater clubs, mock trial teams, and school mascots, members of the University of California routinely violate Zoom's terms and standards in the course of regular instruction, research, and extracurricular activities. Of course, Zoom may never enforce its terms and standards to the absurdly broad extent that their vague language would allow. (Insofar as it would never do so, Zoom should have no objection to clarifying and limiting its contractual language.) Under our current contract, however, the power to decide what content to allow lies with Zoom, not the University. This is an astonishingly open-ended threat to the University's ability to carry out its fundamental mission.

Zoom has the ability to censor University content on the basis of criteriasuch as indecency, falsity, goriness, or the promotion of hostilitythat would be unconstitutional for the University to employ in some contexts, and a serious violation of academic freedom in many other contexts. This will surely make companies like Zoom an attractive target for those seeking to influence what gets said, taught, and studied at the University. The University needs to take steps to guard against such outside influence nowparticularly now, when UC is so thoroughly reliant on the services of companies like Zoom.

To their credit, our colleagues in Academic Affairs and Information Technology at UCOP had begun meeting to discuss these issues even before UCAF raised them. On December 4, 2020, in a letter to the Council of UC Faculty Associations (attached [see pp. 6-7 of this PDF]), the University Provost also addressed the problem, reaffirming in his letter "that the University of California is committed to upholding and preserving principles of academic freedom." Bringing attention to these principles is always welcome, but the present threat to them requires a stronger response.

Provost Brown writes in his December 4 letter that "Zoom is a private company that has the right to set its own terms of service in its contracts with users." This is true, but incomplete: the right to set contractual terms is not Zoom's alone; the University of California is party to the contract as well. UC has already negotiated additions to its contract with Zoom on issues of data security and privacy. Protecting academic freedom is no less vital. The University of California has the responsibilityand fortunately also the stature and market powerto negotiate terms of service that do not just facilitate the University's core activities, but preserve the academic freedom that makes them possible in the first place.

UCAF therefore requests that Academic Council call on the administration to take the following steps:

First, negotiate with Zoom for contractual terms that protect the academic freedom of UC faculty and other teachers and researchers, the freedom of scholarly inquiry of UC students, and the First Amendment rights of the entire UC community. Content on University of California Zoom accounts should be censored only if hosting it would cause Zoom to violate the law. Any other content limitations should be left to the University.

Second, identify other platforms that UC faculty, students, and staff can use as an alternative if censorship by Zoom occurs or is feared. Provost Brown's recent letter encourages faculty to "contact their local Information Technology Department for recommendations as to other vendors." But the threat of censorship is one that affects the entire University. It results from university-wide contracting. A university-wide solution is therefore appropriate. UC should make available backup platforms that can be used for courses and other events while UC's negotiations with Zoom proceed (or, certainly, if its negotiations fail).

Third, since Zoom is not the only private platform or service the University uses to carry out its core activities, UC should identify other contracts that might raise similar threats to academic freedom and free speech. A renegotiated contract with Zoom could provide a model for negotiations with those contractors, as well as for other universities grappling with similar concerns.

The University of California has an opportunity to be a leader on this important issue. UCAF asks that Academic Council endorse this statement of concern and proposed responses. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Brian Soucek, ChairUCAF

[1] See, e.g., "Zoom Blocks Activist in U.S. After China Objects to Tiananmen Vigil," N.Y. Times (June 11, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/zoom-china-tiananmen-square.html; Letter from CUCFA to UC President Drake (Sept. 24, 2020), https://cucfa.org/2020/09/potential-censorship-by-technology-providers/; Letter from AAUP to NYU President Hamilton (Oct. 28, 2020), https://academeblog.org/2020/10/29/aaup-urges-nyu-president-to-address-zoom-censorship/. But see "US Charges Ex-Zoom Employee with Shutting Down Tiananmen Square Events," BBC.com (Dec. 19, 2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55372493.

[2] https://zoom.us/terms/

[3] https://zoom.us/docs/en-us/community-standards.html

[4] https://zoom.us/trust-form

Disclosure: I'm a member of the UCAF (in my capacity as the Chair this year of the UCLA Academic Senate's Committee on Academic Freedom), and I generally agree with this letter, but I didn't take the laboring oar on it, and thus shouldn't get any of the credit.

See the article here:

"Censorship by Zoom and Other Private Platforms": The UC Academic Freedom Committee's Concerns - Reason

Pitt Professor of History Alaina E. Roberts sometimes shares with friends and colleagues a little-known fact of 19th century American historyfive tribes of Native Americans who settled in modern-day Oklahoma owned Black slaves. People are usually stunned to hear it.

As explained in Roberts forthcoming book, Ive Been Here All The While: Black Freedom on Native Land, at first, their adoption of slavery was not about white supremacy, but rather an attempt to assimilate into white European society. The five tribes who enslaved Black peoplethe Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminolebecame known to whites as the Five Civilized Tribes.

These people are trying to assimilate and figure out where they fit into the racial hierarchy of the United States, said Roberts. There was a benefit to be viewed as civilized by white Americans.

Roberts work sheds new light on what was happening among Native Americans, Blacks and white settlers in Indian Territory, now present-day Oklahoma, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction. As a result of negotiations between the U.S. government and the Chickasaw Nation, the Black former slaves had two choicesleave the Chickasaw Nation and land they had developed, or stay in a place where they had no rights or citizenship. Many, says Roberts, chose to stay.

It says a lot about the importance of land, said Roberts, who is originally from northern California but came to Pittsburgh three years ago. Land was more important than citizenship. Developing the land was also important. If you had cattle on it, or buildings, it was less likely to be seized by white settlers, Roberts said.

For the Pitt professor, much of this research is personal. Her own fathers ancestors were enslaved by Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians. Roberts pored through many records, including the Dawes Rolls, which were citizenship records prepared by a federal commission for each of the five tribes after passage of the Dawes Act of 1887. (The Act allowed the president to break up reservation lands and distribute it to individuals.)

She found the actual words of Josie Jacksonher own great-great-grandmother, who was working for a white family in Dallas, Texas, but who traveled back to Indian Territory many times.

She traveled hundreds of miles, said Roberts. I dont know if she walked or went by wagon, but she invested a lot of time and money going back and forth. It shows how important the land was to her. She wanted to maintain that connection.

Roberts also relied on oral histories and interviewed her great aunt and second cousin a few years agoboth of whom had done research into their Chickasaw and Choctaw ancestry. She found out her family made a life for themselves on land in modern-day Ardmore, Oklahoma, and that they farmed. They planted fruit trees. They built a general store.

I enjoy enlightening a lot of people. It feels special, because I have the family connections to be able to tell these stories.

Alaina E. Roberts

In 1866, the U.S. forced the five tribes to adopt their slaves as citizens, which all but the Chickasaws did. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the five tribes began to remove the descendants of their former slaves from their membership rolls, and they lost their citizenship. A flood of lawsuits by the descendants followed, and Roberts is keeping an eye on those cases.

The Cherokee slave descendants won their fight in 2017, she said. Im hoping the Creek slave descendants are successful as well.

All of this Black-Native history is woven into the courses she teaches at PittAfrican American History, Natives and Newcomers, and The Black West.

Pitt junior Julia Koehl, a history and political science double major in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has taken all of them and appreciates the new perspective Roberts offers.

History is often very skewed, as it is written by the people in control, she said. Marginalized groups of people have existed throughout history, and their stories are not often told. Professor Roberts focuses on these groups and their histories, as well as how they are portrayed in other sides of history.

Said Roberts: I enjoy enlightening a lot of people. It feels special, because I have the family connections to be able to tell these stories.

Read the rest here:

Professor Explores Black Freedom on Native Land | Pittwire | University of Pittsburgh - UPJ Athletics

Freedom, Inc. wants to totally eliminate police departments and free almost everyone from prisonProgramming by Freedom, Inc. politicizes kids, teaches them to use intimidation tactics and to vandalize public propertyThe radical non-profit received over $500,000 in grants in 2020 from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

February 3, 2021

By Brett Healy

Freedom, Inc., a Madison-based non-profit with vocal anti-police beliefs, came into the spotlight recently after organizing protests and unrest in Madison last summer. It might have come as a shock to taxpayers when Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Daniel Bice revealed that this same non-profit had received $3.6 million in grants from the state of Wisconsin over the past five years.

With Freedom, Inc. playing a bigger role in public policy debates and protests, we looked for more information on their background, beliefs and tactics in the coverage they have received from the mainstream media. For some reason, the vast majority of the coverage of Freedom Inc. fails to mention their radical beliefs or document their aggressive tactics. So, as a public service, we have put together the information for you.

Freedom, Inc. Wants To Do Away With The Police And Believes Looting Is Justifiable

Freedom, Inc. hasnt minced words about what theyre fighting for: taking police officers out of our schools, getting rid of police departments altogether, replacing the police with pleasant-sounding community control, and releasing almost all people from prison.

Many in the mainstream media have depicted the group and its goals as positive and peaceful. However, the mainstream media has missed or deliberately ignored the real nature of what Freedom, Inc. is trying to accomplish.

We really want people to understand, we are not saying defund the police or abolish prisons and then put another system of punishment in place, said Freedom, Inc.s Executive Director, M. Adams, on a Facebook livestream in June.

Its not about fire the one cop, or get some training, or anything else like that. Its about this long lineage of harm and domination in the name of white supremacy, in the name of patriarchy, said Mahnker Dahnweih, Freedom, Inc.s Community Power Building Coordinator, during the same livestream.

We tried community policing. We tried black people building relationships with officers and officers building relationships with black people. We tried hiring officers of color. We tried more training for the police, and none of those things have been able to stop putting us in jail, to stop killing us, to stop sexually assaulting us, to stop harming our communities, said Bianca Gomez, Freedom, Inc.s Gender Justice Coordinator.

Freedom, Inc. believes it is completely righteous, completely justified, in Gomezs words, to achieve their goals through property damage and looting in downtown Madison. They also believe that a transformative ass-whoopin is a justified way to deal with a community member who is targeting young children. As Gomez said in June I think thats revolutionary self-defense, I do not think thats violence.

If you are black and you are a victim of racist terrorism, of white supremacy, of capitalist exploitation, of the active violence of this government, then you know the only way for you to survive is to take what you deserve, yelled Adams in front of the Madison City-County Building on June 1st. You stop murdering black people and your glass will be safe!

The people who own those buildings are fine, theyre okay, theyre alive still, theyre still here. Whatever is in those stores can be replaced. Glass and brick can be rebuilt. What cannot be replaced is a human life, Dahnweih has said, referring to businesses that were looted on State Street in Madison over the summer.

These messages appear to guide much of the work that Freedom, Inc. does in the community and with kids.

What Does Freedom, Inc. Teach Kids?

A major portion of Freedom, Inc.s services are directed towards kids and teens. Two of their programs for kids are the Freedom Youth Squad and the Freedom Youth Organizing Camp. The programs teach teens about civil disobedience, vandalism of public property, and how to disrupt local police.

Freedom Youth Squad

The Freedom Youth Squad has made a name for itself by using disruptive tactics, some might argue harassment, against those who disagree with them. One event hosted by the Freedom Youth Squad and Freedom, Inc. invites teens to call the Madison Police Department to stop business as usual and make them hear us! Promotional posters for the event refer to police as liars and pigs.

The Freedom Youth Squad may be known more, however, for their harassment of the Madison Board of Education and disruption of their meetings. For instance, during district budget proceedings in 2018, the Freedom Youth Squad blocked voting on the budget through an in-your-face, aggressive demonstration.

Kids and Freedom, Inc. organizers held up a sign that said No Cops In Schools while stamping their feet on the auditorium stage, screaming If we dont get it, shut it down! and F*ck the police! This is one of the multiple times that the Freedom Youth Squad and Freedom, Inc. have disrupted school board meetings. At another 2018 school board meeting that the group crashed, a Freedom Youth Squad member threw and broke the cell phone of someone trying to record their disruptive behavior.

The kids in the Freedom Youth Squad harass school board members outside of public hearings as well.

In June 2020, kids in the Freedom Youth Squad were responsible for painting Police Free Schools on West Dayton Street in front of the Madison Metropolitan School Districts (MMSD) administration building. Members were also responsible for preventing street cleaners from removing their Police Free Schools slogan off the street. That slogan alone cost the city around $8,000 to remove.

At that same event, the Freedom Youth Squad vandalized the walls of the MMSD administration building with chalk-drawn anti-police slogans, profanity and slurs. Phrases included F*ck 12, which is another way to say f*ck the police. Other phrases included No justice no peace, Cops eat sh*t, Abolish police, community control, and restorative justice, transformative justice.

Some of the kids drew phrases on the walls geared at School Board President Gloria Reyes, such as Open your purse, Gloria and Gloria how do you sleep?

These threats to Reyes are nothing new for Freedom, Inc. On June 4, the organization gathered at Reyes own home with bullhorns, demanding that Reyes terminate MMSDs security contract with the Madison Police Department. Mahnker Dahnweih lead chants through a bullhorn saying do you want your job, Gloria? The mob later placed flags all over Reyes lawn that said f*ck the police and f*ck 12.

On June 9, Reyes announced that she was changing her position and would end the MMSD security contract with the Madison Police Department.

Freedom Youth Organizing Camp

Freedom, Inc.s other operation for kids, the Freedom Youth Organizing Camp, hosts teens aged 12-18 for two weeks of day-camp activities. Camp programming teaches the kids how to be activists and protesters.

Freedom, Inc. promises to pay $200 to anybody who attends, but only if the child stays for the full 2 weeks of the camp.

The Director of Youth Organizing for Freedom, Inc., Zon Moua, describes the camp as A place where they are able to come and be politicized, its a place where they are able to get leadership development.

One teen left the 2020 Organizing Camp saying I know Barack Obama did a camp like this, and he was the president. Id want to run a protest.

If the kids inevitably do start protests and rebel, like youth did during the rioting and looting on Madisons State Street last summer, Freedom, Inc. doesnt want adults getting in the way.

We dont want anyone down there thats going to be policing the youth, thats going to be saying Hey wait, dont do that. Do that. This will keep you safe, this wont. If you are there to listen and take direction, stay and put your body in-between the youth and police, said Mahnker Dahnweih during the Freedom, Inc. livestream in June.

This might explain why Freedom, Inc. did not condemn the severe beating of two good samaritanswith2x4s who tried to stop kids from looting businesses on State Street. According to a media account, one of the men had his phone stolen and needed 12 stitches to his face. The other man suffered multiple broken bones.

What Does Freedom, Inc. Teach Adults?

Freedom, Inc.s programming isnt focused only on kids. Much of their political programming is aimed at adults.

A page on the Freedom, Inc. website has an archived list of their political education videos. Topics covered by their panel include rebelling against policing and criminal justice, faux history lessons about the origins of police, why the police should be abolished, and LGBTQ+-lead rebellions.

Freedom, Inc. Youth Organizing Director, Zon Moua, describes the Freedom Youth Organizing Camp as A place where they are able to come and be politicized.

The videos teach lessons like We all benefit from rebellion, and that The polices function is to protect capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy.

During a video titled Queer Power Rising: Political Education and Action, Dahnweih left teaching materials for viewers to use to educate students at school.

State Government Support Of Freedom, Inc.

Taxpayers might be surprised to learn that the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) has been giving grants to Freedom, Inc. for many years. Records delivered to MacIver show Freedom, Inc. was receiving DCF grants at least since 2015.

As you have seen above, what Freedom, Inc. advocates for online and in speeches is very aggressive, forceful, and radical. When Freedom, Inc. applies for grants from DCF, however, their mission statements take on a very different tone. In their grant program proposals, in fact, the group sounds quite compassionate and peace-loving.

Freedom, Inc. works to end all forms of oppressionin which violence has its rootsas a means to ultimately ending violence against women and children, says their 2020 project proposal for domestic violence survivors in the Khmer, Hmong, and black communities. We link our organizing efforts with social services, crisis and criminal justice intervention, and legal aid, as powerful anti-violence tools.

We will provide direct services, advocacy, [domestic violence/sexual violence] education/trainings, while mobilizing and organizing victims and survivors for social change, the program proposal says.

In 2020, DCF awarded Freedom, Inc. five grants for domestic violence services: one for general domestic abuse services, one for children, one for underrepresented populations, one for refugees and immigrants in the Hmong community, and one for refugees and immigrants in the Khmer community. These five grants totaled $542,585.

Funds from these specific grants pay for at least three cultural dance troupes for teens, a healing Cambodian Buddhist temple group, traditional clothing sewing groups for Hmong and Cambodian members, a group called People Like Us (PLUS) for the LGBTQ+ community, and a 50 Plus and Fabulous group for black women 50 years and older.

DCF Gives Freedom, Inc. Nothing But Praise

In 2017, a DCF worker inspected their worksite and left a glowing review. In the site visit letter, the worker praised Freedom, Inc.s gender and racial justice work. They lauded their story-telling, dance, and the arts programs to address trauma, and their vibrant and innovative youth programming about cultural norms, systems of oppression, and root causes of oppression. The worker wrote that Freedom, Inc. was in total compliance with their grant contract.

In Freedom, Inc.s 2016 program proposal for childrens domestic abuse services, Freedom, Inc. says their program will be successful if 40-50 teens attend their weekly group meetings and 30 attend workshops on the root-causes of gender base violence. Their program says If there is an increase in analysis, terminology, and shared understanding amongst those we served this will be a great project success.

In their 2020 domestic abuse services project proposal, Freedom, Inc. says their program will be successful if 20 weekly group meeting participants have at least 3 written safety plans by the end of the year. 10 weekly participants should be able to identify 5 community/people/ resources at the end of the year, and 5 weekly participants should be able to teach teens what Freedom, Inc. taught them.

Of the documents MacIver received from DCF, none recorded how many people came to weekly meetings and none of the documents we reviewed recorded how many people had developed written safety plans.

Freedom, Inc. also measures the success of their programs through client surveys that ask about what the individual has learned from Freedom, Inc.s work. While that is an important measurement, its anecdotal and insufficient to measure the success of an organization that addresses domestic violence and sexual assault victims. We could not find any documented mention that Freedom, Inc.s work had lead to a decrease in the number of domestic or sexual abuse incidents in Madison and Dane County.

Freedom, Inc. Is Expanding Their Influence Over Public Safety In Dane County

Freedom, Inc. started as a domestic violence and sexual assault service provider for marginalized populations. But in the last few months and years, Freedom, Inc. has begun spreading their reach to local politics in Dane County.

We discussed above, for example, how Freedom, Inc. and the Freedom Youth Squad received attention for disrupting one of MMSDs 2018 school budget meetings and how School Board President Reyes changed her position after Freedom, Inc. protested at her house.

Freedom, Inc.s impact on life and public policy in Dane County increased dramatically this past summer with the publicity they received for organizing protests after the death of George Floyd, leading marches that stopped traffic on the Beltline, and spreading their message of support for rioters and looters against police and arrest.

Now, Freedom, Inc. has demanded that they have a seat on the Madison Police Civilian Oversight Board so their anti-police beliefs will be represented. Members of the board will be able to order investigations on the Madison Police Department and its officers, make policy recommendations about the police force, and recommend that specific officers and police chiefs be dismissed from the Madison Police Force.

Freedom, Inc.s Bianca Gomez has also taken a seat among those who will restructure MMSDs new school safety plans. She has delivered a Freedom, Inc. proposal to the districtsSchool Safety and Security Ad Hoc Committee that would put a Freedom Inc. representative in charge of a committee run by kids who have previous records of being disciplined by the school district. The kids, along with four trusted adults would Have complete decision-making power over school safety and accountability policies within the DISTRICTs schools. That includes unilateral power to remove any disciplinary policies that members think are discriminatory. The delinquent kids would also have the power to recommend firing a school employee who they believe unjustly called the police on a student. The proposal appears to have influenced the Ad Hoc Committees recommendations that the MMSD school board will discuss in mid-February.

We will continue to update our findings as we receive more responses to our open records requests.

Read more:

MI Research: What Does Freedom, Inc. Believe And Why Won't The Mainstream Media Talk About Their Radical Beliefs? - MacIverInstitute

Elation Hypercars unveiled the Freedom last fall and now the model is inching closer to production as the company has announced a strategic partnership with Cascadia Motion.

Under the terms of the deal, the companies will work together to develop the Freedoms electric powertrain. The base model is slated to have three electric motors that produce a combined output of approximately 1,427 hp (1,064 kW / 1,447 PS) and 1,062 lb-ft (1,440 Nm) of torque.

If thats not powerful enough, the company also has plans for a quad motor variant with around 1,903 hp (1,419 kW / 1,929 PS). This should enable the car to accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in approximately 1.8 seconds, before hitting a limited top speed of 260 mph (418 km/h).

Also Read:Elation Freedom Electric Hypercar Revealed With Four Motors And More Than 1,900 HP

The Freedom will be offered with two different T-shaped battery packs, which are structural and have a capacity of 100 or 120 kWh. The former is targeted to deliver a range of 300 miles (483 km), while the latter should increase that distance to 400 miles (644 km).

Two different charging systems will be available including a standard J1772 setup. Customers can also get a 350 kW CCS fast charge system that allows for an 80% charge in as little as 12 minutes. If you have an additional eight minutes, the battery pack can be fully replenished under ideal conditions.

Theres still no word on when the Freedom will be launched but, when the car was announced,Elation said pricing would start at $2 (1.5 / 1.7) million. At the time, the company also mentioned an Iconic variant with a 5.2-liter V10 engine, a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and an all-wheel drive system. Its slated to have 750+ hp (559+ kW / 760+ PS) and a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time of 2.5 seconds.

more photos...

More here:

Elation Hypercars Teaming Up With Cascadia Motion To Bring The Freedom EV To Life - CarScoops

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is concerned about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to impose sanctions on 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK TV channels and its potential consequences for the freedom of expression in the country. This was stated by the official representative of the OHCHR Marta Hurtado, TASS reports.

"This decision has led to the immediate revocation of broadcasting licenses for these channels and the cessation of their broadcasting activities. OHCHR is concerned that this will affect the freedom of expression in Ukraine," she said.

The official recalled that "the states have a duty to protect and ensure the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas."

"We are currently assessing the compliance of this decision with the international human rights law," noted the representative.

As Hurtado explained: "a key concern of OHCHR is related to the need for and proportionality of restrictions on freedom of expression in Ukraine."

As we reported earlier, on February 2, VolodymyrZelensky signed a decree on sanctions against 112 Ukraine, NewsONE, and ZiK TV channels.

By this decree, he enforced the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on sanctions on the cancellation of the broadcasting licenses of theTV channels belonging to Taras Kozak(112 Ukraine, NewsOne, ZIK).

Continued here:

UN expresses its concern regarding situation with freedom of expression in Ukraine - 112 International