Category Archives: Freedom

There is an India where a large number of people cheer stand-up comic Vir Das for revealing the Janus-faced nature of his country. Das praises the India that is inclusive and critiques the India that is splintering. And at the same time, this group is appalled that actor Kangana Ranaut can ridicule Indias freedom struggle by describing what happened in 1947 as a mere act of British charity towards an India begging for freedom.

There is also another India where a similarly large number of people (to be fair, in India, any group is by definition large) express outrage over stand-up comic Vir Das insulting his motherland before an international audience, which goes on to applaud him. Indians abroad are meant to act like Vivekananda, the Hindu thinker who in 1893 spoke at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, mesmerizing his audience. (The group praising Vivekananda forgets that the philosopher actually called for religious tolerance and an end to fanaticism, a message similar to Dass). That other India then loudly lauds actor Kangana Ranaut for telling the bitter truth about Indias freedom struggle because, in its view, the relevant turning point in Indian history was 2014, seen as Year Zero.

Those two Indias can barely stand each other. The former yearns for a liberal, inclusive, secular India that is committed to democratic ideals and is proud of its non-violent struggle, its culture of unity in diversity, and which believes that India today is staring into the abyss. The latter is tired of what it describes as pseudo-secularism, seen to have kept India in a dark valley; it is convinced that India is at last on the ascent as it wraps itself in jingoistic, virulent nationalism, and considers those who disagree with its world view anti-national, offering a grotesque caricature of fascist movements worldwide. Those two Indias coexist, wanting firm action taken against the other. As citizens of the republic of hurt sentiments, neither side seems to understand the value of free speech.

To be sure, we are like that only. Works of art, films, books, forms of music, lyrics, jokes, cartoons, advertisements and messages forwarded on social media have all evoked the wrath of fury. Canvases have been slashed, film theatres attacked, books banned or burned, a stand-up comedian has been arrested on the mere assumption that he might say something offensive even before he had a chance to get on stage, exchanging cartoons or even liking them online has led to prosecution, ads have been yanked off after an eruption of outrage, and in some horrific instances, writers have been murdered. The country swears by freedom of speech, but it cannot guarantee freedom after speech. Say something that might offend someone, and the state, whose job it is to protect human rights, will likely ask the speaker to shut up; it wont tell the one who claims offence to do something else, or to read or watch something that offends him less.

A mature society would laugh at Ranauts hilarious assertions while she was being interviewed by a fawning TV personality who describes herself as a journalist. Their performance perhaps proved the adage that the meek shall inherit the earth. That Ranaut spoke in all seriousness the very week she got a civilian award from Indias President only shows the tolerance the country has developed for poorly-informed opinion. And yet, some aggrieved Indians filed police complaints against her, giving wider, undeserved currency to an expression of profound ignorance.

But the other India wasnt going to be denied its part in the fun. Not only were old misogynistic remarks by Das trotted out to show what a bad boy he has been, two activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reportedly filed complaints against Das for insulting the country. They usually take their cues from their leaders: In February, when the popular singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg criticized Indias farm laws, foreign minister S. Jaishankar evidently saw it fit to slam their remarks instead of ignoring them. This isnt just an affliction of the ruling BJP; leaders and activists of the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and various incarnations and versions of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham, as also political parties of the Left, have all shown little tolerance for views that are critical of their leaders or ideas.

Feeling offended is a trait that unites most Indians and the list of what cannot be said gets longer by the day. Writing about the Emergency of 1975-77, columnist Behram Contractor, who wrote under the pseudonym Busybee, said there were only two safe topics left that were worth writing about: mangoes and cricket.

Given the vituperative flak that Indian cricketers Mohammed Shami and Virat Kohli received after Indias poor performance at the recent T20 World Cup, even cricket is no longer safe. Quite so. After all, in his famous non-political interview of 2019, actor Akshay Kumar asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he liked mangoes, and whether he had them cut, or preferred them unsliced. Such is the level of permissible discourse in a country where a comedian is yelled at for some truth-telling and a performer hailed for confusing fiction with fact.

Salil Tripathi is a writer based in New York. Read Salils previous Mint columns at http://www.livemint.com/saliltripathi

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Vir Das, Kangana Ranaut and a big failure on freedom of speech - Livemint

Meet The Composers of Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical Richard Allen and Taran Gray

If youve followed the New York Theatre Festival circuit the last five years, or youve seen the viral social media rehearsal footage of high notes and harmonic excellence on TikTok, chances are youve been patiently waiting for the Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical to come out with an album. Thanks to Broadway Records and New York Theatre Barn Records, the wait is over.

T2c talked to Richard Allen and Taran Gray, the creators of the award-winning Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical. They shared how they released an 18-song world premiere recording in its entirety on November 19th.

This is a dream come true for us. Richard Allen says, both Taran and I grew up listening to musical soundtracks. It was a pillar of our theater community growing up to be able to experience a show in this way when a ticketed performance wasnt readily available. Its how we fell in love with so many productions.

Allen and Grays Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical tells the true story of the college age activists who boldly challenge the legality and optics of the Jim Crow Laws in 1961 by riding buses in mixed groups through the South; a soaring portrait of the fearless voices who used nonviolent direct action to initiate change. The show won the 2016 Beta Award at the New York Musical Festival. The show returned to the festival the following year and took home the award for Outstanding Music as well as a special honors award for Social Impact and Relevance. The 2017 Festival production was visited by Congressman John Lewis who said of the show, extremely accurate. It brought tears to my eyes.

Video by Magda Katz

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Meet The Composers of Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical Richard Allen and Taran Gray Times Square Chronicles - Times Square Chronicles

How do you make a head of school cry?

Thats a broad question. How do you make the head of a pre-K through eighth-grade Jewish day school cry tears not of sorrow but of gratitude, mixed with awe and joy?

Try putting him in front of an assembly of six in-person American armed forces veterans and 19 others on screen, and then having the children in your school sing to them.

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Thatll do it.

That is what happened at Ben Porat Yosef in Paramus on Veterans Day.

Jewish day schools including but not limited to his are very good at teaching Jewish values and making sure that their students have a thorough, age-appropriate understanding of what each Jewish holiday means, Rabbi Saul Zucker, the head of school at BPY, said.

And we get a chance to celebrate most of the American holidays Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, and though were not in school for Independence Day and we do units on them. Although its not a holiday, we talk about democracy on Election Day, he continued.

But Veterans Day often gets overlooked.

And that was the realization of the schools general studies principal, Naomi Maron.

Ms. Maron had the idea, and the program that developed from that idea was her brainchild, Rabbi Zucker said. She said we need to make sure that our students know that we owe boundless gratitude to those who have served our country in the armed forces.

These girls listen to the speakers.

We need to do something to recognize the hakarat hatov the debt of gratitude that we owe them.

The program that Rabbi Zucker oversaw in the school on Veterans Day was an expression of that hakarat hatov which is a basic Jewish value, he said and a recognition that there has been no country kinder to Jews, maybe in all of history, than the United States, and it is important that the students understand and recognize that.

So most of the schools students first graders through eighth graders gathered to honor U.S. armed forces veterans.

Ms. Maron and Rabbi Zucker decided to create the program in October. That left them with about a month to put it together. We gathered names from the great BPY family; we reached out to people we knew had served in any of the American armed forces, and we contacted students parents and grandparents. We reached out to senior citizens homes and to Jewish War Veterans. (Thats the organization that, as its name makes clear, supports the Jewish veterans of all branches of the U.S. armed forces.) We found that there were a whole slew of veterans, and we invited them to the program.

On Veterans Day, six veterans came to the school, accompanied by their families, and 19 others were represented in person by their families, and onscreen by images.

They veterans represented a range of historical periods. We had veterans from World War II, from Korea, from Vietnam, Rabbi Zucker said. Mainly we had older people. There was a chaplain from the first Gulf war, who also did a tour in Afghanistan.

As the program started, We opened with the national anthem, and a song called On Veterans Day by Karl Hitzemann, and then the veterans introduced themselves, or were introduced. On Veterans Day is about how we value you, how we cherish and treasure your time, your effort, your sacrifice.

All the kids sang. It was haunting.

And that, Rabbi Zucker said, is when I was crying. Tears were running down my cheeks.

Then Rabbi Zucker spoke, telling the assembly about his personal connection to Veterans Day not that you need that personal connection to feel the weight of the moment, he said.

The students are enthralled by the veterans who talk to them.

My grandfather, my mothers father, Saul Schwartz, who Im named after, came as an immigrant to this country from Poland. He came just a few years before the war that was World War I and he so appreciated the opportunities that America provided that he joined the Army.

He was not drafted. He enlisted.

He became a lieutenant, a rare appointment for an enlisted man to achieve in those days, especially one who was Jewish.

After the war, Mr. Schwartz became both an accountant and a chazan for his shul in the Bronx. And then he came to a tragic end, Rabbi Zucker said. In 1937, he developed a mastoid infection, a middle-ear condition that is easily treatable by antibiotics now but then, pre-readily available penicillin, was a killer. My mother was 5 when he passed away, he continued. So I grew up with the flag that his family was given at his funeral.

I still have that flag, Rabbi Zucker said.

Rabbi Zuckers father, Mordechai, served in Calcutta during World War II. He is a doctor now, he was a medic then. Every morning, he would wake up before reveille, put on tefillin, and daven.

I dont think there was another Jew in his platoon, and it was the first time that many of them had seen a Jew.

They thought that he had invented a new means of taking blood pressure.

When he talked to the students at the assembly, Rabbi Zucker said, he told them in a line that I did not invent that freedom is not free.

We dont have freedom just because we want it. It has costs in time, in energy, in human lives. We have to recognize that what the veterans gave us goes right to the heart of what it means to be a free people.

Each veteran had been assigned a middle-school ambassador, and after he spoke, Rabbi Zucker said, each ambassador gave a veteran a flag as a token from the school, and then we all got up again, and we sang God Bless America. I pointed out that this song was written by a Jew, Irving Berlin, out of his profound sense of hakarat hatov to America.

And like many other adults there, Rabbi Zucker got a little teary again.

And so, to his surprise, did some of the older kids. That really blew me away, he said.

One of the most striking elements to him was the programs multigenerational nature, and how connected by gratitude and trust the people in the room were.

We will do this program again, he said. I think that its really important, and we also will build on it in May, centered around the theme of Memorial Day. Its lessons of hakarat hatov, of gratitude, continue to resonate through Thanksgiving and on into the spring.

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When freedom isnt free - The Jewish Standard

The implementation of the tutored online courses on Freedom of Expression and Protection and Safety of Journalists for judges and prosecutors in Serbia has started on 23 November 2021.

The courses have been prepared in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europes action on Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX) and in co-operation with the Council of Europes Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme.

The courses are implemented in co-operation with JUFREX action partner the Judicial Academy of Republic of Serbia and used as a tool to supplement traditional materials used in legal education. The courses will be implemented even beyond the actions lifetime which will also ensure their long-term sustainability.

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Start of the online courses on Freedom of Expression and Protection and Safety of Journalists for judges and prosecutors in Serbia - Council of Europe

A few weeks ago I went to a Liberal Party womens high tea at the invitation of a Christian friend. I felt like it was a mistake almost as soon as I arrived. I am not sure if it was growing up in a working-class Labor family that has meant I have never been entirely comfortable around conservative Christian women, and maybe if I had kept my mouth closed, the afternoon would have been more pleasant.

At the dry garden party, I was soon cornered with an otherwise pleasant woman, telling me about the globalists, the crazy left and those who conspire with the devil to persecute us.To be fair to the Liberals, she was not a member of the Liberal Party or even a Liberal voter she informed me. Initially I tried to agree with her in part, in an attempt to build a kind of constructive dialogue, but soon my eyes began darting about for ways of escape. Did I mention there was no wine?

In stark contrast, I had coffee this week with a radical feminist ally. Radical Feminists (RadFems) are on my side of the gender debate, and we stand shoulder to shoulder on defining women as a biological reality, and the protection of girls and women as a sex class. But the areas where I disagree with RadFems are extensive. I have blocked about a dozen of them on Twitter this week alone, mostly young American RadFems. Their religious fervour frequently overspills to attack my belief that men have a right to have an opinion about their own cultural representations (gender).

Even thoughmycoffeeconversation with theRadFemwas muchmore enjoyablethan thehigh teaconversation withtheconservative woman, I likewise was unable to find the energy to elaborate my position onsome issues, particularly aroundreligious freedom.What I could have said, but didnt, was that if her political allies hadnt been soeffectiveundermining our religious rights,wemaybe able tojointogetherinre-engineer the newly proposedReligiousFreedomBill into amore broadly practicalfreedom of conscience billtoprotect us all.

In the gender, sex and sexualitydebate,I havefoundmyselfmorenaturallyaligned with gay menand women who are not particularly ideologically or politicallyinvested,butwant toestablish their rights to speak and advocate for themselves as same sex attracted people.

One of my favourites on the tweets is Jules, a gender critical gay man. Like many gay men who comment in the gender debate, Jules is anonymous, I assume because he has a job that he would like to keep.Jules is famously snarky and funny, and has an intelligent compassion that reminds me of a gay man I once loved very much and lost to suicide. I suspect Jules also has religious women in his life that he loves, and this allows him to overcome ingrained suspicion some gays have of Christians for a range of fairly obvious reasons.

Jules and I keep a rare commodity of respect between us that allows friendship and political allyship across the modern hostile lines of sexual politics, even though almost all we talk about is the politics of sex, sexuality and gender.I have to confess; we have occasionally exchanged speculative mutual interest on the ideal amount of chest hair on handsome Mediterranean men.

I get the feeling that there is something about me that neither the Christian lady nor the RadFem understand, that somehow Jules does.He understands that there is a part of me that I am not prepared to yield to politics, a part that is not up for debate.For me, that is the part of me that loves Jesus without measure. The political Christian doesnt understand this because they place their religion at the centre of their politics, and the RadFem is unlikely to understand because they connect their politics to their core belief systems in the same way that Christians sometimes do.

Even though Jules is an atheist, or an agnostic, he respects that something in humans is sacred, or at least out of reach of the state. Jules understands, perhaps because he is gay, that part of the human experience is not common cultural property but owned by the individual. This used to be bog standard classic liberal position.The same liberalism that was used to enshrine protections of Christians from each other and the state, the same liberalism that was then used by used by gay rights activist to argue for their own emancipation from the state regulation of their sex lives.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been following the trend of conservative leaders everywhere who are going weak on foundation liberal principles where they are being infringed by equity legislation.There is no greater example of this infringement, than in Tasmania, an example I use often because Tasmania has been stupid enough to allow the removal of sex as a legally protected characteristic.

TheTasmanianAnti-Discrimination Commissioner,Sarah Bold,wrote a smarmy and superior reply to a lesbian woman,who had requestedan exemption under the Anti-Discrimination Act tohold a single sex event.The lesbian woman,Jessica Hoyle,claimed she wantedto hold a single sex lesbian event becauselesbianshave beenexperiencing sexual harassment fromtranswomen.The issue of lesbians being sexually coerced bytranswomenhas been completely ignored by mainstream media, until a recent article by theBBC.

I have long believed lesbians when they have raised this issue, because I have heard too many reports to deny it. But I think there is a fundamental indignity in asking for single sex protections for women because they are at risk of sexual harassment or rape, even though I have made this argument myself.The main problem with this argument, is that it leads to counter arguments that women are not entitled to spaces free from trans identified males because they have not been raped enough by this group of people. The Sydney Morning Herald have made this exact argument.Essentially, trans activists claim that violations of women by trans identified males is not happening in womens spaces, and if it is happening, it isnt that bad, and if it is that bad its the price women have to pay to include transwomen in the category of women. What is being called trans rights.

The Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission have stated that no matter what the risk to women, it is unlawful to discriminate against types of bodies.Discriminating against types of bodies is the sole basis for single sex protections women have relied on in law and social contracts going back to the beginning of recorded urban society. Gender critical people, believe discrimination between male and female bodies in spaces and sexual behaviour is a birthright.It is also a type of discrimination and protection that should be the right of all women, not just religious women.

When asked toweighin on the culture wars that are leading to overstep of the state into individual freedoms of expression,Morrisonhassaid thatculturewarissuesdonot matter tomost Australians.With an election looming, and possibly with the benefit of polling and political pressure, Morrisonnowseems tohave changed his tune. Apparently, now aborn againclassicLiberal, Morrisonisagaintablingreligious freedomlegislationthat was first drafted following the change to the marriage act to allow same sex marriage.

Iam in favour of religious freedom, but I dont thinkprotection for one group fromequity legislation is a solution,when equity legislation itself isinfringing on a wide range of freedoms.If a lesbian cant hold a dating event, if aradical feminist academic cant declare the reality of sex without harassment, then I am of the opinion that the religious people of Australia need to stand up and say if not for thee, then not for me. Lets take a good hard look at ourselves and this overreach of anti-discrimination legislation itself, and how we got here.

If my friend Jules finds his perfect man. with just the right amount of chest hair and he chooses to marry, he couldnt marry in my church.Marriage between a man and a woman sits at the centre of the Christian creation story and is the symbol of the relationship of Christ with His Church.It is a foundation religious belief in the existence of humans as the image of God as male and female. Sex (biological) and gender (cultural) are so intertwined in the Christian religion, that any attempt to apply equity legislation on our religious beliefs and practices will cross lines that should never be crossed, not just between church and state, but into personal conscience and basic freedom.

Having said that,Julesdoesnt believein healingcrystals, past lives, auras, chakras, souls..alien abductions[gender souls]and other assorted mumbo-jumbo, so he is unlikely to lose sleep over the sex and gender beliefs of evangelical Christians.Theidea that gay people are so fragile,thatthey all believe the state must extinguish theexistence ofantithetical beliefs to same sex marriageor homosexual sex is just not true.Toattempt to suppress the expression of the beliefs of the Christian church on gender, sex and sexuality will require tyranny,thatmany gay people simplyare not prepared to support.

In a predictable twist, the crossing of the boundaries into personal liberty with equity legislation has meant that somegay peoplethemselvesarenowcalling forthe protection of their beliefs, in of all things, biological sex.In a condemnation of this group of dissident gays, arecent article entitled Whats UpWith Gender Critical Gay Guys? even indirectly mentioned my snarky friend Jules. The conclusions of the article are not hard to guess. Gays who do not believe that homosexuals are same gender attracted instead of same sex attracted, are mean, ignorant and most likely racist and of course right wing.

This weekonTwittertherewas apicturecirculating of a man walking through a transit centre in the UK, minding his own business. The man had a tote bag with the logo of LGB Alliance on it.The seemingly innocuous picture was posted by trans activists who described their anger and disgust at this man.The LGB Alliance is a registered charity in the UK and seeks to centre the needs of same sex attracted people but does not purport to represent transgender people. The mystery man in transit was abused and vilified online for his assumed belief, evidenced by the tote, that homosexual men are not inherently connected with gender identity ideology.

Tensions in belief are part of the society our ancestors chose to create. The inoculation from the curse ofterrorisingeach other over belief was thegenius ofliberalism, oftheseparation ofideologyand state, along with the liberal protections in freedom of belief and expression.I am broadly in favour of religious protections as a last resort, but I am more in favour ofaddressingtheoverreachofanti-discrimination legislation.

If politics was one of those cruel childhood team picking situations, I have chosen a range of grass roots feminists, radical feminists, lesbians, gays, and evolutionary biologists for my team. But if religion and ideology are embedded in the state and politics, I am compelled to choose my Christian brothers and sisters. That annoying woman at the Liberal party fundraiser and I will be off to the same gulag.I am first and foremost a follower of Christ and I will not negotiate this part of myself. I want my religious beliefs protected, but more than that, I want to live in a society where the beliefs of my brothers and sisters are held with equal weight to the beliefs of my neighbours.If not, the destruction of our liberty is mutually assured.

Edie Wyatt has a BA Hons from the Institute of Cultural Policy Studies and writes on culture, politics and feminism. She tweets at@MsEdieWyattand blogs atediewyatt.com.

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Religious freedom legislation? Yes, because Australians need freedom from the tyranny of equity - The Spectator Australia

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kevin Stricklands first trial in the late 1970s for the deaths of three people ended in a hung jury.

A second jury found Strickland guilty by using the sole eyewitness testimony of a woman maned Cynthia Douglas.

Douglas passed away in 2015, but not before she called her friend, Eric Wesson Sr., the managing editor/publisher of The Call Newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, and told him she identified the wrong person.

Cynthia Douglas and I were childhood friends, Wesson told KSHB 41 News Tuesday after a Missouri judge exonerated Strickland in a ruling. We grew up together; Went to the same school and later on in life when I started working (at the newspaper), she came and talked to me several times about Kevin and said that she had identified the wrong person.

Wesson said those conversations started in 2004.

She went through the whole scenario of how the police department came in and kind of pressured her into saying that it was Kevin, showed her a suggestive lineup and she was going through a lot of trauma, Wesson said.

Wesson was among the witnesses called by Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker during hearings earlier this month to review evidence of Stricklands innocence.

Wesson says Douglas struggled with her decision for years, but would later share her recantation to family, friends and lawmakers who would listen. That persistence eventually caught the ear of the Midwest Innocence Project, which took on the effort that eventually lead to Stricklands release Tuesday.

Finally, finally something that she participated in that was wrong, was right now and Kevin is out, Wesson said. I dont think it negates from the fact that he spent 43 years trying to prove his innocence and nobody would listen to him.

Kevin is not a unique story, Wesson continued. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of men that are in prison who are actually innocent.

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Newspaper editor plays role in Strickland's path to freedom - KSHB

The Ford Motor Company this week announced winners of the Ford Freedom Unsung Teacher Heroes of COVID-19 Awards, honoring 25 U.S. educators who in the face of tremendous difficulty, heroically resolved to reach and teach students.

The honorees were announced on November 10, 2021, during the Global Automotive Summit in Detroit sponsored by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. The celebratory event culminated a national campaign where Ford invited the public to nominate K-12 educators who went above and beyond for their students despite the challenges of virtual learning and other hardships during the pandemic.

Managed and supported by Ford Motor Company Fund, the automakers philanthropic arm, Ford Freedom Unsung is an annual award series that celebrates ordinary individuals doing extraordinary acts in the African American community.

The three Chicago winners are Dr. April Price, Jacob Rangel and Mrs. Danyele T. Woods. Each demonstrated why they are Ford Freedom Unsung Teacher Heroes of COVID- 19.

Dr. April Price teaches at Burnside Scholastic Academy in Chicago Illinois where she teaches 6-8th grade students with mild and moderate disabilities. Dr. Price also coaches participants with the Special Olympics. In addition to teaching, she serves as a Consulting Teacher and a Teacher Ambassador for Chicago Public Schools working to both retain and recruit teachers for the district. In her spare time, she works with an organization she helped create called Brown Girl Magic. In this role, she works with middle school girls of color whose motto is The most important thing a girl can wear is her confidence. Dr. Price was one of the Teacher Heroes of COVID-19 because she kept her special needs students engaged during virtual lessons and ensured that they had everything they needed. She delivered supplies to her students and helped their parents get accustomed to virtual classes.

Jacob Rangel teaches Math and Engineering to pre-college high school students at Chicago State University. During the pandemic, Mr. Rangel continued to virtually prepare his PREP students for competitions, coaching them to victory while contracting and fighting the virus. He hosted small group sessions and encouraged students to share their work and had interactive lessons and demonstrations.

Mrs. Danyele T. Woods teaches first and second grade at Heritage Leadership Academy, which she founded and is Principal and Chief Executive

Officer of the Academy. It is based on Chicagos South Side. During the pandemic, Mrs. Woods smoothly transitioned to a virtual learning plan and would deliver supplies to her students homes. She even created a virtual summer STEM to keep students engaged and excited about education.

The 2021 Ford Freedom Unsung Teacher Heroes of COVID-19 Award recipients and the communities they serve are:

Chelsea Adams, Knightdale, NC; Sasha Bass, Jacksonville, FL; Neidra Ellen Berry, Davenport, FL; Pamela Price Brown, Charlottesville, VA; Juel Cope land, Escondido, CA; Dekonti Davies, Greensboro, NC; Kimberly Edwards,

Madison, AL; Micah Edwards, Hockessin, DE; Priscilla Floyd, Chesapeake, VA; Joelle Gentner, New Orleans, LA; Schrildea Glover, Terrell, TX; Pam Grant, Rochester, NY; Erik Hines, Sumter, SC; Janette Jones, Birmingham, AL; Lisa M. Long, Detroit, MI; Dr. Althea Penn, Snellville, GA; Justin Phillips, Statesville, NC; Shannan Pike- Murray, Poughkeepsie, NY; Dr. April L. Price, Chicago, IL; Jacob Range, Chica- go, IL; Kia Smith, Sumter, SC; Samantha Dawn Smith, Sumter, SC; Edwina Lynn Walton, Los Angeles, CA; Katina White, Little Rock, AR; and Danyele Woods, Chicago, IL.

Ford Motor Company Fund

As the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, Ford Funds mission is to strengthen communities and help make peoples lives better. Working with dealers and nonprofit partners in more than 50 countries, Ford Fund provides access to opportunities and resources that help people reach their full potential. Since 1949, Ford Fund has invested more than $2.1 billion in programs that support education, promote safe driving, enrich community life and encourage employee volunteering. For more information, visit http://www.fordfund.org or join us at @Ford- FundonFacebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Several Chicago educators among national winners of Ford Freedom Unsung Teachers Heroes of COVID-19 Awards - The Chicago Crusader - The Chicago...

By Sheila Reynertson

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to erode Americans rights by overturning or severely weakening the constitutional guarantee of abortion care, New Jersey lawmakers can send the opposite message to residents of this state.

The New Jersey Legislature has before it a measure to codify our fundamental right to abortion and remove financial barriers to this time-sensitive care. While some other states race to turn back the clock and push abortion out of reach, there is strong support among New Jersey voters to protect and expand access to abortion care.

The Reproductive Freedom Act (RFA) squares with other strides New Jersey has made in the past four years to support, defend, and expand access to health care. But time is running out. If the RFA doesnt pass by the end of this legislative session in January, the bill dies and the process would have to start again.

Besides declaring the fundamental right to reproductive healthcare, the RFA would:

These measures would enable everyone regardless of income, ZIP code, insurance coverage, or immigration status to make personal health care decisions with dignity.

Some legislators talk of amending the RFA to allow cost barriers to remain. Thats inequitable. People with financial resources wouldnt be affected, but those who struggle to make ends meet young adults, people in low-paying jobs, Black and brown families, immigrants without a path to health insurance, and those who live in rural areas would be left behind. This version of the RFA would mainly harm communities already underserved due to a legacy of historical racism and ongoing forms of discrimination and bias.

Being denied an abortion has devastating consequences on the economic trajectory of a persons life. A groundbreaking, 10-year study shows them to be more likely to live in poverty, raise children alone without family or partners, and lack the money to afford such basics as food, housing, and transportation. The financial well-being and development of their children is harmed, too. Those denied an abortion have lower credit, higher debt, and a greater likelihood of bankruptcy and eviction. Another recent study found that facing eviction during pregnancy leads to adverse birth outcomes, which can have lifelong and even generational consequences.

For all these reasons, the RFA should be neither shelved nor changed. Equitable access to contraception and abortion services doesnt just benefit the well-being of people directly affected. Removing barriers improves our collective well-being as a state. When people can control their own destiny and pursue opportunities that boost their economic security, New Jersey is a healthier place where all communities can thrive.

Sheila Reynertson is a senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), a nonpartisan think tank.

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Abortion rights are under attack. Dont shelve the Reproductive Freedom Act during lame duck. | Opinion - nj.com

OPINION:

Sometimes there is a simple, common-sense way to refine public policy. Surely there is a need for a better public health policy to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical evidence can overcome stubbornness by public health agencies and disagreements among physicians. Americans can get medical choice without sacrificing public health.

Personalized medicine principles define a flexible two-part pandemic policy that most Americans can understand and support. It can bring together pro-vaccine and anti-mandate groups.

Part One: Individuals decide either on their own or with the advice of their personal physician to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Part Two: Individuals choose a preferred medical professional who, based on their education, training, experience and successful clinical results, offers alternatives to vaccination and government-promoted medical solutions for outpatients and inpatients. The medical professional uses the patients medical history, biological and genetic conditions, and unique personal circumstances to reach the best personalized medical solution.

This two-part policy recognizes a huge array of reactions to both COVID-19 infections and vaccines. Current government policy does not recognize fundamental differences among people. It fails to accept the wisdom of making the medicine fit the person. The cornerstone of personalized or individualized medicine. And using the combination of drugs that is best for the individual. These medical truths contrast with the mass use of off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all drugs and vaccines.

People are profoundly different in their biological makeup. Reactions to COVID-19 infection are remarkably different. There is a broad range of adverse vaccine impacts. Thus, one pandemic solution makes little common sense. Not respecting myriad differences breeds division, conflicts and anger among people who want more choice, more medical freedom.

The two-part policy recommended here does not deny the use of COVID-19 vaccines for those who want the shot. But it does reject vaccine mandates for the entire diverse population that eliminate sensible choice. Medical freedom has been replaced with medical tyranny.

Interestingly, in the first months of the pandemic, there was considerable attention to personalized medicine. That soon gave way to stubborn vaccine fixation for everyone. Here are some examples of early personalized medicine interest for addressing the pandemic:

The Mayo Center for Individualized Medicine said there was an opportunity for the COVID-19 response.

A September 2020 article, How to use precision medicine to personalize COVID-19 treatment according to the patients genes, noted that in the rush to find a COVID-19 vaccine and effective therapies, precision medicine has been insignificant. If precision medicine is the future of medicine, then its application to pandemics generally, and COVID-19, in particular, may yet prove to be highly significant.

A July 2020 NPR show was titled Research on Personalized Medicine May Help COVID-19 Treatments. But there has been no significant attention to this approach since the summer of 2020.

For a personalized pandemic strategy, we need to use pharmacogenomics that combines pharmacology and genomics to discover individual responses to drugs and vaccines. To get treatments that can replace or at least complement the one-drug-fits-all approach.

An August 2020 journal article Pharmacogenomics of COVID-19 therapies noted that Pharmacogenomics may allow individualization of these drugs thereby improving efficacy and safety. Vaccine safety remains a key reason why so many people reject the shot because of all the news accounts of people falling seriously ill or dying shortly after getting the shot.

Add to this the increasing awareness that the mass vaccination strategy has failed. Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted: [Vaccinated people] are seeing a waning of immunity not only against infection but hospitalization and death. Its waning to the point that youre seeing more people getting breakthrough infections and winding up in the hospital. And the head of the World Health Organization admitted that the pandemic was surging in countries with high vaccination rates because vaccines do not stop transmission of the virus.

These leaders are catching up with medical research that has found no correlation between the level of vaccination and health impacts. A recent article came to this conclusion: The sole reliance on vaccination as a primary strategy to mitigate COVID-19 and its adverse consequences needs to be re-examined, especially considering the Delta variant and the likelihood of future variants.

In sum, there was legitimate medical interest early in the pandemic to use personalized medicine. This fits with many people wanting alternatives to vaccines, such as generic medicines successfully used in other countries to treat and prevent COVID-19 disease. Many oppose vaccine mandates, not necessarily COVID-19 vaccines. And many people want the government to fully recognize natural immunity obtained from prior COVID-19 infection as equivalent to vaccine immunity. To get flexible government action, the two-part strategy given here should be the basis for legislation by Congress. Otherwise, there will be no end to the pandemic.

Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Pandemic Blunder. As a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he directed a medical research program between the colleges of engineering and medicine. As a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association, he directed major studies on health-related subjects. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, and Americas Frontline Doctors.

Read more here:

In the time of COVID-19 medical freedom has been replaced with medical tyranny - Washington Times

Freedom House Board Member Sara Helgeson and her husband Jason will host the 12th Annual Mash Dash on Thanksgiving morning in an effort to raise awareness of the homeless issue in the Green Bay area. The Mash Dash is a 2-mile Run/Walk on the citys eastsidein the Bay Highlands neighborhood. The event also offers a mile Kids Run. Thanks to the generosity of many friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues, this event continues to grow each year. The run or walk is open to all ages and abilities, no registration necessary but the couple is asking for donations for Freedom House, a 16-room shelter serving all types of homeless families with children. Participants who want to donate items can go to freedomhouseministries.org/donate to see the updated Needs List. Prevea Circle of Giving will match all cash donations up to $500.

Exercise prior to gorging yourself on Turkey Day is a good thing; hanging out with family, friends and neighbors on Turkey Day is a great thing,' said UW-Green Bay alumnus Jason Helgeson, who serves as race organizer. Donating an item in need to those less fortunate is an awesome thing.' he said when asked why he and his wife decided to host a Thanksgiving Day run/walk.Were just a local family trying to help out a neighbor.

The Race start and finish line is in front of 1517 Creekside Lane in Bay Highlands on Green Bays East side, just 2 miles west of the shelter. The 1/2-mile Kids Run starts at 9 a.m. and the 2-mile Mash Dash starts at 9:15 a.m. Each finisher will receive a warm bowl of mashed potatoes, what better way to kickoff Thanksgiving Day?

This event is a great example of families helping families. After all, the sole focus of Freedom House is on families, said Jessica Diederich, President of Freedom House. We are thankful for the support of the community and people like Jason and Sara who actively participate in solutions to end homelessness in Brown County.

Freedom House Ministries, Inc. is a 16-room homeless shelter in Green Bay that serves all types of families with children, the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. The not for profit organization was started in 1992 by a handful of concerned individuals to address the growing issue of homelessness. Its vision is to provide programs that cause families to be successful in all areas of their lives spiritually, emotionally, socially, physically, financially and intellectually. Since its inception, Freedom House has served nearly 1,800 families and more than 3,600 children in the Northeastern Wisconsin area. http://www.freedomhouseministries.org.

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UW-Gren Bay neighbor, Freedom House, to host 12th annual thanksgiving run to help homeless - Inside UW-Green Bay News - UWGB