Category Archives: Freedom

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a major speech in Florida Thursday that President Trumps foreign policy puts America first, but stressed that the mantra actually means helping oppressed people in other nations fight for freedom and democracy especially in the Western Hemisphere.

Its time to have our hemisphere, the place we are today, be a hemisphere of freedom, Mr. Pompeo told a supportive crowd that interrupted him often with applause, and greeted him with chants of U.S.A., U.S.A, U.S.A., at Sumter County Fairgrounds in Bushnell, Florida.

The speech came on the heels of multi-nation tour of South America and the Caribbean this week by the secretary of state. It also comes against a backdrop of decline among left-leaning political movements in Latin America and the election of pro-capitalist conservative governments in several nations of the region.

Mr. Pompeo pushed back against Trump administration critics, who claim many nations around the world have distanced themselves from the United States over the past three years in frustration at Mr. Trumps unpredictable style and often temperamental rhetorical posturing.

The world knows what America stands for, Mr. Pompeo said. It is true now more, frankly, than ever, and people around the world who love liberty, who love democracy and love freedom, are with us. They stand with us.

While Trump critics accuse the administration of standing up for human rights in some cases but aligning with governments accused of violating human rights in others, Mr. Pompeo portrayed the administrations foreign policy as realist and cut and dry.

The America first approach means protecting America and protecting freedom, he said, asserting that people around the world love that.

You know what else we stand for and the world loves? They love that we stand for religious liberty, the secretary of state said. Christians, Jews, Muslims doesnt matter. You can believe what you want here in America, or you can choose not to believe at all. Never in the world has that right been recognized it is as it is here in the United States of America.

We know that people all across the world should be free to worship their own god, Mr. Pompeo added. I raise it in every meeting. President Trump knows this. The world loves it.

They love, too, that we stand for freedom and markets and capitalism and the right to take risks and to work hard, to raise your family. They love capitalism not that S word, he said, apparently referring to socialism.

With regard to socialism in the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Pompeo said the Trump administration is committed to advancing freedom in Cuba and working to restore democracy in Venezuela.

These are tyrannies, he said, referring to the Castro government in Havana and the embattled socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro the ouster of whom has been a foreign policy priority of the administration for the past two years.

These are leaders that have destroyed countless lives. Now some 6 million people have fled Venezuela, only because this madman Maduro destroyed their ability even make a living for their families, to take care of their kids, Mr. Pompeo said. Thats not right, its not decent, and America will stand with the Venezuelan people until we can have a free and fair election and restore democracy to that once proud nation.

While he did not specify whether such a commitment might mean the Trump administration would support a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, Mr. Pompeo asserted that his mission as secretary of state is really, really simple: to make the world safer, so we dont have to send our young men and women off to fight.

In President Trumps administration, we stare at the world as it really is, as it actually is, the reality on the ground, he told the crowd in Florida. The same way you do each and every day in your lives. You cant pretend, you cant wish you have to work within the world in which we live, in which it exists.

The good news is, in spite of what you may read elsewhere that people dont like America, everywhere I go, I see a deep love for our country and for you, Mr. Pompeo said.

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Mike Pompeo: Trump 'America first' policy creating 'hemisphere of freedom' - Washington Times

The Jan.25, 2011uprising that toppledPresident Hosni Mubarakunleashed acreative revolutionwith the spontaneous emergence of a variety of art forms:graffiti, street performances, underground music and satirical online videos.Much of the revolutionary art was aform of protestagainst social injustice and repression, but it also acted as avisual commentaryon the dramatic developments that were unfolding during that time of political turmoil.Relishing their newfound freedom, artists and musicians used their art to express grievances about "social wrongs"and urge action to redress them.

Nine years on, as the anniversary of the revolution approaches, there is hardly a trace of thecultural awakeningthat symbolized the freedom of expression in the "new"Egypt. An ongoingsecurity crackdownon dissent, in place since 2013, has targeted artists and musicians along with opposition and political figures, journalists and members of theLGBT community, stifling freedom of expression and putting a lid on provocative art and creativity.

Nearly all of the graffiti art that mushroomed on the walls in and around Mohamed Mahmoud Street in the wake of the revolution has beenwhitewashedand a large part of an iconicgraffiti wallon the same street has been torn down.As the authorities carry out extensiverenovation worksin downtown Cairo, they appear adamant to wipe out anyremnants of the revolution. Tahrir Square where the protesters had gathered is undergoing an overhaul its second since 2011.

Meanwhile, a number of artists who rose to prominence during the revolution, have paid a high price for expressing nonconformist ideas. Ganzeer, notorious for his street artlampooning the military,was forced to flee Egypt for the United States after he was branded "a terrorist"by the country's pro-government media in early 2014. His disputed poster on the Mohamed Mahmoud wall depicting a soldier standing amid a pile of skullslikely provoked the allegation, putting him at risk of arrest.

"In today'srestrictive environment, artists are no longer able to express their ideas freely; if they do, no galleryor art fair will agree to show their work," saidMohamed Abla, a painter and sculptor whose works touch upon political and social issues. "Artists are increasingly resorting to symbolism in their work; they are also having toself-censorfor fear of arrest," he told Al-Monitor. "This situation is unsustainable as Egyptian artists are not accustomed to being silencedthings will have to change."

Abla reminisced about the days when he and fellow artists could showcase their work at the volunteer-runAl-Fan MidanFestival (Art is a Public Square Festival), launched in the spring of2011. The festival wasinitially fundedby the Ministry of Culture but the funds quickly dried up, prompting organizers togather donationsinstead. For three consecutive years, a host ofcultural eventswere staged in public squares across the country under the Al-Fan Midan banner.

"The aim of the festival was to bring culture to the masses and educate the public about art. Organizers sought to attract the layman rather than art connoisseurs so as to spark interest in art," Abla said. "It was also meant to promote freedom of expression and protest all forms of censorship."

The public response was overwhelming with large crowds flocking to the squares to attend the performances or tour the art exhibits. But all that came to a shuddering halt in the summer of 2014, when thefestival was canceledtwice by the Egyptian authorities on the grounds that "the organizers did not have the right permits." An anti-protest law,passed in November 2013, criminalized such gatherings without a prior permit from the Interior Ministry, spelling the festival's end.

Abla now spends his time shuttling between his art studio in downtown Cairo and Fayoum, a city located southwest of Cairo, where he continues to organizeart workshopsat the Fayoum Arts Center, which he founded in 2006. He also oversees the running of theCaricature Museumthere, which he established in response to the 2005Prophet Muhammad cartoons controversy"to show that there are also caricatures in Egypt and they are political as well associally critical," according to a March 2010 interview with the artist published in Qantara.de.

The museum, the first of its kind in the Middle East, showcases an impressive collection of Egyptian cartoons, some dating back to the early 1920s "a treasure" that Abla has sought to preserve for future generations. While many of the cartoons poke fun at the woes of the society, there are none lampooning President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. It appears that Abla has to tread cautiously so as not to ruffle the feathers of the authorities. The arrests anddetention of a number of satiristsin recent years have sent a chilling message of zero tolerance for humor when the military, police or the president are the targets.

This was made clear right from the start of Sisi's rule when "Al-Bernameg," a satirical TV show,was suspendedafter an episode in which the host, Bassem Youssef, had joked about the "Sisi-mania" sweeping the country at the time. Bassem was accused ofdisturbing the peaceand security of the country in no less than 12 legal complaints filed against him, by pro-government citizens. He has since relocated to the United States and has been unable to return.

In December 2015, Amr Nohan, a law student, was handed a three-year prisonsentence for posting on Facebook a doctored image of Sisi wearingMickey Mouse ears.

It has not been smooth-sailing either for theunderground musicbands that shot to fame with their politically charged songs in the wake of the revolution. Rock bandCairokeewhose song "Sot el Horreya" ("Sound of Freedom") became the anthem of the revolution had several concerts called offin 2018 after tickets had sold out. The repeated cancellations prompted the group to shift its attention to international concerts abroad instead of staging local performances.

A committee formed in July 2018toregulate festivalsand issue permits for cultural events including music concerts. The new regulations alsomade it mandatory for event organizers to have a capital of no less than 500,000 Egyptian pounds ($31,700) and to provide all details about their event. Moreover, applications for permits can only be submitted in June each year.

"The new restrictions have made it exceedingly difficult to organize a concert as it takes a verylong time for the committee to issue the permits, and sometimes, those are never granted," Sherif Hawary, lead guitarist ofCairokee, told Al-Monitor. He believes the restrictions were placed in reaction to the Mashrou' Leilaconcert controversywhen at least seven concertgoers were arrested and detained for raising the rainbow flag at the concert. The government accused them of "inciting debauchery."The Lebanese alternative rock band Mashou' Leila, whose lead singer is gay,has since beenbanned from performingin Egypt.

The space for freedom of artistic expression has been shrinking under Sisi's rule. In 2017-18, two female singerswere detainedover their "racy" music videos; they were accused of inciting debauchery. Singer Sherine Abdel Wahab has twicefaced prosecution, once in November 2017 over a joke she made at a concert about the River Nile beingpolluted, and a second time earlier this month when she had said on stage, "Egypt doesnt deserve me." The legal complaints against her were filed by Samir Sabry, a pro-government lawyer notorious for filinglawsuits against celebrities.

Egyptian-American musician Nader Sadek wasdetainedfor four days in 2016 for his part in organizing a concert in which Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura would have played. In this case, the lawsuit was filed by Hani Shaker,head of the Musicians Syndicate, who claimed in a TV interview on Egypt's CBC channel that "devil worshippers" in weird clothing had turned up for the ill-fated event.

The detentions and prosecutions of artists is a far cry from the short-lived period of freedom in the early days of the revolution. Sadek painted a gloomy picture of the current situation for the arts. "Music and art have become dangerous business in Egypt,"he told Al-Monitor.

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How artistic freedom of expression shrinks in 'new' Egypt - Al-Monitor

On Bluray/DVD and Digital this week from director Kasi Lemmons and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a story of the run for freedom with HARRIET.

Minty (Cynthia Erivo) is a young slave woman working on a plantation married to free man John Tubman (Zackary Momoh). Believing their time had come to be set free according to a prior agreement, Minty is upset to learn that the agreement won't be honored by plantation owner Edward Brodess (Mike Marunde). Angry that she even asked, Brodess orders her sold. Looking on is son Gideon (Joe Alwyn) who has known Minty since they were children.

When Minty asks God for answers, Gideon lets it be known that he also has no intention of honoring his grandfather's agreement. Knowing that she has no other choice if she is ever to have a life beyond the fields, Minty plans to make a run north. She also knows that leaving husband John behind will save his life.

She tells her mother and father goodbye and his final father order is to visit Reverend Green (Vondie Curtis-Hall) who gives Minty a mental map to freedom. Not far behind her is Gideon who is not about to let her go. When the two finally meet, it is on a bridge over a rushing river where she makes the ultimate decision.

Making her way north, she meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.) who takes notes of slaves who find freedom and asks Minty if she wants to give herself a new name for her new life. Choosing Harriet Tubman she meets Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae) who helps her settle in safely and a job. For the first time, Harriet is free to come and go while making a wage without fear.

But Harriet can not forget her husband or family left on the plantation. She makes it clear to William that if she made it north, so could they. She proves all the nay-sayers wrong and so begins her effort to go back and forth from south to north taking as many as possible to freedom.

Gideon's father passes and now he is more obsessed with finding the girl he knows as Minty but Harriet isn't about to stop what she is doing or be stopped by anyone.

Erivo as Harriet portrays a woman who trusts in her faith and doesn't let what others think of her get in the way of her goal. Thinking she is being led one way, it becomes quickly clear that her life would be dedicated to helping others. Her speech in the company of Frederick Douglas is what cements the belief that her path is laid out before her with the Underground Railroad.

Alwyn as Gideon is obsessed with keeping Minty on the plantation, so much so that he's willing to promise her anything to make that happen. When she refuses his offer, Gideon starts a mission to do whatever it takes to get her back. Marude as Brodess is a plantation owner who isn't about to let one single person leave and teaches that behavior to his son Gideon.

Odom Jr. as Still is a man who does everything he can to help slaves who manage to get to Philadelphia. Keeping records, he fears for what Harriet is doing but that's not stopping her! Momoh as Tubman is a free man who is married to Minty as a slave. Believing that one day the agreement would be honored, insists that running is the way to go. His life would change as well when Harriet returns to help family.

Monae as Marie is the first woman in Harriet's life who teaches her what freedom means and how to fool anyone stopping her in the south. She is elegant and graceful and, more importantly, an owner of a business. Curtis-Hall is the Harriet's preacher who also becomes important in helping slaves fleeing the south.

Other cast include Daphne Reid as Miz Lucy, Clarke Peters as Ben Ross, Vanessa Calloway as Rit Boss, Omar J. Dorsey as Bigger Long, Henry Hall as Walter, Tim Guinee as Thomas Garrett, Nick Basta as Foxx, Joseph Anderson as Robert Ross, Antonio Bell as Henry Ross, CJ McBath as Junyah Ross, Alexis Louder as Jane, Tory Kittles as Frederick Douglas, and Jennifer Nettles as Eliza Brodess.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are film of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit http://www.uphe.com.

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit http://www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

The Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes, Her Story, Becoming Harriet and Feature Commentary with Director and Co-Writer Kasi Lemmons.

HARRIET is a riveting story about a woman who defies the odds of slavery, survival and dangerous trips from south to north to free other slaves. Keeping it simple in the telling allows the viewer to become emotionally invested in understanding the life of Harriet.

This is the genre of film that can be an enormously beneficial teaching tool and hope that teachers will use it. It shows the human spirit and potential to change the wrongs of the society then and what can be accomplished now.

In the end - be free or die.

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HARRIET Shares the Story of Freedom - Patch.com

A federal court ruled in December that ICE violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by denying immigration lawyers access to their clients files.

Immigration lawyers are not entitled to their clients files, so many rely on FOIA requests. ICE defended the practice because the agency deems the lawyers clients that are in their custody as fugitives.

But that reasoning was not within the nine stated exemptions in the law, and the ACLU decided to file a lawsuit. FOIA requires federal agencies to provide documents to any person who requests them.

The government needs to follow the law, ACLU of Colorado legal director Mark Silverstein said. The government doesnt get to make up extra exceptions to disclosure. This was a lawless and illegal practice.

In 2013, Glenwood Springs immigration lawyer Jennifer Smith filed a FOIA request to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services for information about one of her clients. USCIS then forwarded the request to ICE, who refused, stating It is ICEs practice to deny fugitive alien FOIA requesters in 2015.

Smith then filed a lawsuit in 2016, arguing that there is no FOIA exception that would justify ICEs practice. Soon after, ICE sent Smith the information she originally requested. Regardless, she continued on with her lawsuit, stating that this was an ongoing problem with ICE.

According to court documents, ICE used this practice as justification to deny FOIA requests at least 333 times between July 21, 2017, and April 4, 2019.

ICE has about a month remaining to appeal, Silverstein said.

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Federal Judge Finds ICE Violated Freedom Of Information Act By Denying Immigration Lawyers Documents - Colorado Public Radio

Three months after the fatal crash of the B-17G Flying Fortress bomber Nine O Nine, patrons can tour one visiting B-24J vintage bomber but flights will not be available.

VENICE The Wings of Freedom Tour returns to Venice Municipal Airport at 2 p.m. Thursday, for what will be the third stop on its 31st annual tour. Organizers are still regrouping in the aftermath of the Oct. 2, 2019, crash of the B-17G Flying Fortress Nine O Nine that cost the life of pilot Ernest "Mac" McCauley, co-pilot Michael Foster and five passengers.

The tour started Jan. 17 in DeLand and moved to Tampa Executive Airport, with two planes the B-24J Liberator Witchcraft and the Mustang fighter plane, Toulouse Nuts available for ground tours.

Flight training is being offered on the Mustang, technically a TF-51D two-seat trainer.

No flights will be offered on Witchcraft, as the Collings Foundation is still in the middle of a "voluntary stand-down" on the Living History Flight Experience during an Federal Aviation Administration investigation.

The B-25 Mitchell bomber Tondelayo is currently being serviced in New Smyrna Beach and may rejoin the tour in two or three weeks.

"With fewer aircraft it draws fewer people but what were surprised is theres still a good turnout thankfully so," Collings Foundation spokesman Hunter Chaney said.

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The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash that occurred at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

"We really were encouraged by people all around the country to get back on the horse and start the tour in Florida," Chaney said. "Were taking things gently as we start to tour."

He added that the continued tours are a tribute to McCauley, co-pilot Michael Foster and the five passengers who died.

"Its not something that we outrightly advertise," Chaney said. "They were friends and family stellar, excellent people, unique its heartbreaking, so they leave a big hole for us."

McCauley, who was 75, had the most hours spent as a pilot and in command of a B-17 in the history of aviation, Chaney noted.

"Its been rough," he added. "Aside from just the encouragement of the general public around the country, Mac would have our hides if we stopped touring hed say you have 10 minutes to get over it.

"Thats another form of our memorial for the crew."

The tour, essentially a traveling aerial museum, has been offering rides since 1989 and visits by World War II veterans have often resulted in cathartic experiences.

"Its a way that these veterans remember their past and heal from it too," Chaney said.

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With members of the Greatest Generation dwindling, their children and grandchildren have been attending to try and connect with the past.

"Were starting to find theres a whole new group of younger people who are genuinely curious to see what these planes are like, to crawl through the inside of it, to talk to the pilots," Chaney said. "A lot of extended family members are starting to come out, because theyre genuinely curious, trying to capture that slice of time, to get an idea what it was like in 1944, how do these machines behave, what do they smell like, feel like thats appealing to a lot of folks."

Venice where the planes will be available for tours through Monday afternoon has always been a highlight of the Wings of Freedom tour.

"Its in the top 10 every year," Chaney said. "The number of friends who come out every year is just neat.

"Venice is one of the true motivating factors for us to get out there and tour and at least get done what we can for people to come and visit Its a special stop.

"We have some great organizers there who work so hard and we felt it necessary to make sure we visited."

The planes will be open for tours from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Admission is $10 for adults, and $5 for children age 12 and under. World War II veterans are admitted free.

Mustang training flights start with a $2,400 donation per student for a 30-minute flight training, with 60-minute sessions available. Links to book the flight are available at collingsfoundation.org.

Even as it works on preserving history, the Collings Foundation which operates one of the worlds largest collections of historic aircraft has an eye on future activities.

Last year, the foundation started refurbishing a second B-17, which will be outfitted to look like "Outhouse Mouse," a plane that flew in the same squadron as Nine O Nine.

A two-stick P-40 Warhawk it acquired last year is being outfitted to fly along with the Mustang.

"Its still in the works, were about a year out with that restoration," Chaney said. "As tragic as it is, its nice that well have another B-17 representing the veterans that flew them."

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There is no timetable for the FAA to allow the Living History Flight Experience excursions to resume. Flights on the B-24, at $475 per person, and the B-25, at $425, are the main source of revenue to keep the museum going.

Since the crash, insurance premiums have also increased, boosting costs of what was already an expensive endeavor. Proceeds from the flights already go back into the airplanes.

"It really is more of a labor of love than anything," Chaney said.

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Wings of Freedom returns to Venice Thursday - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Most afternoons, Jeremiah Smith can be found in a small building at the center of the Mississippi Delta, where a signpost in the front features a Black Power fist clutching a rose. He belts verses of Oh, Freedom and Which Side Are You On with his students after long days at school. In his usual teaching uniform of a T-shirt and cargo shorts, Smith claps with the most enthusiasm out of anyone and bravely tries to get a group of middle schoolers to muster up enough energy for the rest of the afternoon with his endless enthusiasm and commanding voice. After this morning circle-up with singing and announcements for the day, Smith leads some of the students in a class about filmmaking techniques. Others head to the creative writing club, the activist club, a study session or the social justice reading club for afternoon activities like voter registration planning and poetry readings.

A 29-year-old Teach for America alum in Mississippi, Smith is the Director of Programming at the Rosedale Freedom Project. The Project is an educational nonprofit organization in the Mississippi Delta that aims to support youth leadership through community building, grassroots organizing and classroom enrichment. Its programming focuses on the histories of democracy and protest in the Delta. The students, called Freedom Fellows, participate in six years of summer camp and after-school programming that culminates in high school graduation.

A 29-year-old Teach for America alum in Rosedales school district West Bolivar, Smith remembers being dissatisfied with the prospect of moving back to the East Coast, having felt a pull to remain in the Delta. I was on this precipice of do I stay, or do I go, he said.

Smith chose to stay, taking a job an hour away from Rosedale at the Sunflower County Freedom Project a program founded by early Teach For America corps members in 1998. The program had modeled itself after the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project in which liberal college students from the East Coast organized mass voter registration and taught civics classes to local residents. In 1998, almost 50 years after the Freedom Summer, TFA corps members decided to bring students and teachers from beyond the community to supplement the still-broken and underfunded education system in Mississippi and help students get to college.

Smith saw a need for a similar program where he lived in Bolivar County, where the lasting impact of centuries of racial oppression is perhaps felt most deeply in the schools. Once the site of a failed lawsuit to integrate Chinese students into white schools, the high school is now considered an apartheid school. Over 98 percent of the student body is black. In 2015, Smith decided to open up another organization in Rosedale with a similar mission inspired by Sunflower County the Rosedale Freedom Project.

Amidst national conversations about desegregation, Mississippi can be seen as one of the places where efforts have most obviously failed. A study done by the U.S. Department of Education in 2016 found that Mississippi spends $33,355 less per student over the course of their education than the national average. Black families continue to fight for better resources and investment in their childrens education despite these barriers. When I was a teaching assistant, we attended crowded school board meetings where parents constantly questioned the lack of funding in the district. Students in the Freedom Project have met with their state and congressional representatives several times encouraging them to advocate for black students in public schools. In contrast, white parents in the area pay thousands of dollars for their students to attend private segregation academies private schools founded in the 1960s to ensure that white students did not have to participate in integration.

Bolivar County is the kind of place that programs like Teach For America were originally founded to serve. A drastic shortage of teachers in the county led to the school system buying a computer program, which students use to take classes for several hours of the day. Fifty-seven percent of the rural towns population lives under the poverty line, and eleven percent of students in West Bolivar High School are considered proficient in algebra by the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. Eleven percent are proficient in English. Paddling students by hitting them with rulers as a disciplinary measure is a legal and common occurrence in the public school system. Students are acutely aware that they are being disempowered by larger political systems, and Smith says that the first thing students ask during the program is, Why does racism exist?

This is the system that Smith and the rest of the staff are working to subvert. With a starting budget of only $12,000 raised with local grants and a supportive community a dilapidated former youth center donated by the town and a few undergraduate teaching assistants, they put on the first Rosedale Freedom Project Freedom Summer in 2015.

Now, there are around 30 Freedom Fellows a year. The program has a $150,000 operating budget and pays three full-time staff members. Four principles define all programming: love, education, action and discipline (LEAD), which guide student behavior and highlight the Freedom Projects desire to provide structure in students education while still allowing them to take control of what they want to learn. Fellows take annual trips to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and began a student-operated community garden on their lawn in 2018 called the Freedom Farm. During the summer, middle school students spend all day at the building taking reading, math and arts classes, while high schoolers have the opportunity to take college-level courses with Ph.D candidates. When I most recently spoke to Smith, it was on his single Sunday off of work after taking the Fellows to the New Orleans Film Festival on an overnight trip.

It is kind of hard to wrap my head around how much we have changed since the beginning and how many of those changes have been innovating what it means to be a Fellow, Smith said. To be honest, then, it was really just about giving kids quality reading and math instruction and teaching them about the civil rights movement.

Smith is known among his staff and students for his willingness to work endless hours for the Freedom Fellows and intense devotion to developing the program. His desk is often filled with Red Bulls and student work, and he has put in hundreds of hours driving students around the South in the Freedom Projects white van.

Lucas Rapisarda, the former director of operations of the Rosedale Freedom Project and Smiths former roommate in Teach For America, recounted Smiths passion for young people as a large part of what has contributed to the projects rapid growth and sustainability. However, he also acknowledges that this same devotion to students and strong opinions about the direction of the Freedom Project can cause conflict and wear out the staff. Smith himself acknowledges that, for a long time, he believed it was necessary to constantly look at what was going wrong at the Freedom Project so they could improve while not allowing himself to celebrate small successes. Now, he tries to balance the small victories with students while still pushing himself and the staff to think about improvements.

Although the Freedom Project prides itself on allowing students to take charge over their own lives and education, Program Coordinator Lydia DuBois also said that Smiths personality has helped keep students motivated. He is a person that people want to impress when they meet him, she said. It drew the kids back because there was this person that was working for them overtime and in overdrive all the time.

One of those students is Chandler Rogers, a high school junior who has been a Freedom Fellow since 2015. During the summer, he often remains in the building long after programming is over, chatting with Smith and the teaching assistants about anything and everything. Rogers credits the Freedom Project with giving him confidence in his social and academic life, and he now helps lead the Creative Writing Club for younger students. He is a junior, so he is starting ACT preparation at the Freedom Project and hopes to attend Southern Mississippi University. Chandlers sister JaMya is a sophomore who helps run the Freedom Farm, and many of Chandlers closest friendships are with other fellows.

The opportunities and the atmosphere they give the youth are important, he said of his time at the Freedom Project. It makes you feel welcome and like you are important to society.

Although he has established the Freedom Project as an important presence in the region and is well-known by residents of Bolivar County, Smith said that it has been difficult to foster trust in an outsider in Mississippi. He came into a community that has often been betrayed in the past by people who receive grants to do projects that are unsustainable, with weak frameworks that rely on short-term teachers from outside Mississippi. By living in the community and establishing permanent partnerships, he has been able to slowly earn trust from parents and leaders. Smith spends a lot of time thinking about his own privilege as a white, college-educated man from Virginia and the ways it has helped him bring grants and other donations to the Freedom Project. They have started to attract more staff and summer teaching assistants who are from the Delta as well as bringing in the parent community board and student leaders as a more active presence. Smith says that the ultimate goal is to get to a place where his presence is no longer needed at the Freedom Project and it can be fully sustainable in the long term. But until then, he is completely invested in Rosedale and its students.

Smith is also fundamentally uncomfortable with any assessment that would give him too much credit for the community created within the Freedom Project. He describes a restorative council he facilitated a few weeks prior between students who were in an altercation and their parents as just one example of the communitys investment in children. Smith emphasizes how much the parents did the work of making their children feel protected and loved while he only facilitated the discussion. To Smith, it is only because of the contributions of the people who the Freedom Project serves who have made its direction possible.

This space is a product of students and teachers and parents and community members, he said. Just remember how indebted you are to the people that you serve.

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PROFILE: The freedom teacher in the Delta - Yale Daily News

By Staff | on January 23, 2020

The B-24 played a primary bombing role in the American effort during the war from 1942 to 1945 and was famous for its ability to sustain damage and still accomplish the mission, despite the risks of anti-aircraft fire, enemy fighters and sub-zero temperatures. COURTESY PHOTO

In honor of WWII veterans, the Collings Foundations Wings of Freedom Tour will bring extremely rare bomber and fighter aircraft for a local Living History Display as part of a 110-city nationwide tour.

The Wings of Freedom Tour will arrive at the Naples Municipal airport (off North Road) at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, and will be on display until the aircraft departs after 4 p.m. operations on Sunday, Feb. 2. Hours of ground tours and display are 2-4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30; and 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. Thirty-minute flight experiences are normally scheduled before and after the ground tour times above.

Participating in the Collings Foundations Wings of Freedom Tour will be the B-24 Liberator and P-51 Mustang Toulouse Nuts fighter. This is a rare opportunity to visit, explore and learn more about these unique treasures of aviation history. The B-24J is the sole remaining example of its type flying in the World. The P-51 Mustang was the first intercept fighter that had the long-range capability to protect Allied bombers all the way to a target and back.

Visitors are invited to explore the B-24 aircraft inside and out. The charge of $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12 is requested for access to up-close viewing and tours through the inside of the B-24. Discounted rates for school groups are available. Visitors may also experience the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a 30-minute flight aboard these rare aircraft. Flights on the B-24 are $475 per person. Or, get some stick time in the worlds greatest fighter. P-51 flight training is $2,400 for a half hour and $3,400 for a full hour. For reservations and information on flight experiences call 800-568-8924.

The Collings Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit educational foundation devoted to organizing living history events that allows people to learn more about their heritage and history through direct participation. The foundation developed the Wings of Freedom Tour to promote the concept of educating future generations in WWII history through an immersive experience of touring through and flying in these WWII aircraft. The Wings of Freedom Tour travels the nation as a flying tribute to the flight crews who flew them, the ground crews who maintained them, the workers who built them, the soldiers, sailors and airmen they helped protect; and the citizens and families that share the freedom that they helped preserve. The nationwide Wings of Freedom Tour is celebrating its 31st year and visits an average of 110 cities in over 35 states annually. Since its start, tens of millions of people have seen the B-24 and P-51 display at locations nationwide.

Local veterans and their families are encouraged to visit and share their experiences and stories with the public. For aviation enthusiasts, the tour provides opportunity for the museum to come to the visitor and not the other way around. Visitors can find out more by visiting http://www.collingsfoundation.org.

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Wings of Freedom Tour featuring WWII aircraft coming to Naples - Florida Weekly

By Sen. Patrick Leahy

Last Tuesday night, just as Senate Republicans voted to blindfold the Senate from key witnesses and evidence during the Senate's impeachment trial of President Trump, even more damaging bits and pieces of his illegal Ukraine aid freeze spilled into public view thanks to the Freedom of Information Act. These documents - heavily and inappropriately redacted by the Trump administration - shed light on just how much more information remains hidden about the alleged misconduct for which the President has been impeached. And it is Congress's constitutional obligation - not as Republicans or Democrats, but as a coequal branch of government - to fight systematic efforts to keep us and the American people in the dark.

Although a lot of news coverage has focused on the president's alleged abuse of power by using his public office for personal gain, I believe his wholesale obstruction of a co-equal branch's constitutional oversight responsibilities merits equal attention, as it threatens a fundamental premise underlying our democracy.

No other president in our history has engaged in such a complete stonewalling of Congress. Throughout the impeachment inquiry and trial, the president directed Executive Branch officials not to cooperate at all, and through overly aggressive classification efforts and baseless executive privilege claims, not a single subpoenaed document was turned over. Numerous key witnesses defied Congress and followed the president's instruction. President Trump isn't even working to hide this obstruction. As he boasted earlier this week, "we have all the material. They don't have the material."

Despite this obstruction, some of the very documents President Trump kept hidden from Congress and the American people have recently been made public through FOIA. FOIA empowers the public to request and obtain information from the federal government. Using FOIA, organizations like American Oversight have obtained documents that - despite the Trump administration's rampant abuse of FOIA exemptions and redactions - show White House staff laying the groundwork for the unlawful aid delay the day before, and even during, President Trump's infamous July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president.

As the son of Vermont printers, I've worked for decades to improve government transparency, in particular through FOIA. The American people have a right to know what their government is doing. This transparency is necessary to hold our government to account, to ensure it acts in the public interest and follows the law, and to understand what happened if the government falls short. That is especially true if, as the House has alleged, taxpayer money has been used, in violation of the law, to extract a personal favor for the president.

But even when FOIA works perfectly, it was never meant to replace Congress's oversight authority, which is deeply rooted in the Constitution. Republicans and Democrats alike have agreed: Congress, by virtue of its constitutional mandate and position of public responsibility, should receive more information than the FOIA statute requires, not less.

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That the Trump administration provided documents to private FOIA litigants but refused to provide those very same documents to Congress should offend all members of Congress. Such obstruction is an affront to our Constitution's carefully calibrated system of checks and balances that have defined our fragile but, so far, durable democracy for more than two centuries.

The House of Representatives tried valiantly to obtain these documents from President Trump, but was stonewalled at every turn. Now the Senate has the chance to serve as the check and balance on the executive branch it is meant to be - and compel the Trump administration to provide us with the basic transparency that we deserve as a coequal branch, and that we need to uncover the whole truth.

As Congressman Adam Schiff, who is the lead House Manager prosecuting President Trump, pointed out this week, this information is going to get out one way or another. Through FOIA, through good journalism, or through John Bolton's forthcoming book, the American people will ultimately learn the full story. If Senate Republicans bury their heads in the sand now which will forever damage the Senate and do nothing to heal the country they do not even know the extent of what they're covering up.

During the Senate trial, President Trump will have the opportunity to present evidence that he has thus far kept hidden. That includes key documents and critical witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the president's actions, including John Bolton, the president's former National Security Adviser. Bolton described the Trump administration's efforts in Ukraine as "a drug deal" and said this week he would testify before the Senate if asked. If any of the evidence that the President has thus far kept under wraps helps his case, I would think he would seize this opportunity. If he does not, the Senate consistent with its constitutional duties can and should compel cooperation from the President and relevant witnesses. We can do so with just 51 votes. And that means just four Republican senators.

FOIA continues to play a critical role in shining a light on government misconduct. And I will continue to work hard to improve compliance with the letter and spirit of that law. But FOIA is no substitute for the Senate's constitutional duty to pursue the truth and to impartially weigh the impeachment charges presented to it. At stake is whether the president can be permitted to keep both the Senate and American people in the dark, to stand beyond the reach of accountability for his actions. In our democracy, no one not even a president is above the law.

The Senate's actions in the days and weeks ahead will shape our system of checks and balances for decades to come. FOIA is doing its job, and slowly, steadily exposing pieces of the truth. Now senators must do theirs and demand all of it.

Patrick Leahy (D) is Vermont's senior United States Senator, the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and the dean of the Senate. He has long been Congress's leading champion of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and in 1996 was inducted into the FOIA Hall of Fame.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

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Leahy | Impeachment and the ongoing importance of the Freedom of Information Act - Bennington Banner

Among the 1,985 former students and faculty members featured on our Gies College of Business-powered UI at 150 & Beyond website: the Class of 2003s SHAILA KOTADIA, director of culture and inclusion at Stanfords School of Medicine.

The UI is where Shaila Kotadia earned the bachelors degree in cell and structural biology that led to positions at two of Americas most distinguished academic institutions.

Its also where she got a keepsake from Campustown.

Going to the U of I meant getting freedom. And one choice I wasnt allowed, even away from home, was having my belly button pierced, says the Cal-Berkeley STEM equity planning director-turned-Stanford Medical School director of culture and inclusion.

I remember there was this trendy store on John Street that my friends and I would sometimes shop at and they had piercings. So, one day, gripping the hands of my friends friends I still have today too tightly, I experienced the pain of freedom.

Recently, I had a baby and the piercing had to come out. But I still have a scar to keep the memory alive.

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UI at 150 & Beyond: 'Going to the U of I meant getting freedom' - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Wednesday that Americans must work to protect their democracy and freedom, and the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump is part of that effort.

Theres no guarantee that next year people will live in more freedom than today, and the prospect for our children is even more in doubt, Schiff, the lead House manager in the trial, said during his opening arguments on the Senate floor.

He said freedom is not an immutable law of nature and instead every generation has to fight for it.

Were fighting for it right now, Schiff added.

The seven House managers, Democrats who are acting as prosecutors in the trial, began their arguments on Wednesday and will continue to present their case over three days. Trumps lawyers will then present their defense.

The House of Representatives impeached the president in December on two articles abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Democrats argue Trump abused his official powers when he withheld U.S. military aid for Ukraine, allegedly in an attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. They further claim Trump improperly blocked Congress from investigating his conduct.

During the trial phase, U.S. senators will determine whether Trump is convicted of those charges and removed from office, or acquitted.

Trump is the third president to be impeached. No president has been removed from office.

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WATCH: Every generation has to fight for democracy and freedom, Schiff says - PBS NewsHour