Category Archives: Government Oppression

First Case

The first hint of something big on the horizon came in early March when school district 68 cancelled planned trips for students overseas as a precaution.

COVID-19 officially hit Island shores on Mar. 11, two and a half months after the first B.C. case was detected in Vancouver.

Life-altering closures

On Mar. 16, the province issued sweeping orders mandating all but essential services shut down. Restaurants, retail and movie theatres closed, sports shuttered, city recreation facilities shut their doors and people were told to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

The City of Parksville were the first jurisdiction in the region to close public playgrounds on Mar. 20, seen as a high touch point for kids and families and a potential source of transmission.

Nanaimo announced a similar decision in a late-night press release on Mar. 21.

In the space of nine days, Vancouver Island went from a casual onlooker to COVID-19 to being in the trenches with the rest of British Columbia.

Societal shutdown & event cancellations

With immense amounts of uncertainty, event organizers were forced to pull the plug on their summer staples.

Nanaimos Dragon Boat Festival was the first on Mar. 21, followed by Silly Boats on Apr. 2, Parksville Sand Sculpture Festival on Apr. 16 and Nanaimos downtown night market on Apr. 22. In May, the VIEX adjusted their festival to a virtual event.

Countless other smaller events either postponed or outright cancelled their plans.

Be kind, be calm & be safe

Front line workers in healthcare and essential services became the focus of nightly tributes in March, with people banging pots and pans from their homes at 7 p.m. each night.

Nanaimos first responders arrived en mass to NRGH on Mar. 30 to salute staff at the hospital for their work battling the virus. Three weeks later, over 100 classic cars toured through Nanaimo and lapped the hospital to show their appreciation.

Countless home windows across the region were decorated with hearts as part of a global campaign to show appreciation to essential workers.

COVID-19 free in Island Health

Island Health reported no new COVID-19 cases from May 8 through Jun. 22, a stretch which also saw the Island go at least 16 days without a single, active COVID-19 case.

On Jun. 4, a patient who had spent at least a month in hospital was discharged, clearing the Island of any active cases.

A single case reported on June 22 broke the streak. However, Island Health added just six cases between June 22 and July 17 and just 47 cases through June, July and August.

The waiting game & gradual re-opening

As case numbers eased and B.C.s curve bent downward, the province eased their restrictions as part of a restart plan. Retail stores re-opened under heavy precautions on May 19, eager to make up two months of lost revenue.

At the same time restaurants were allowed to resume service through take out or delivery options only, but it would be another five weeks before they could welcome customers back inside.

Sport court and recreation facilities began to open through the region in June, movie theatres welcomed guests back with old classics beginning on Canada Day and as time progressed, restrictions eased.

Masks and mis-information

Masks became a more essential part of daily life, with BC Ferries mandating them to be worn on board vessels in mid-June and more public spaces requiring them through the summer.

Conspiracies surround the origins of the pandemic, restrictions being a form of government oppression and people fighting back against social gathering restrictions became more common place.

A group of around 150 people gathered in Coombs reportedly holding an anti-mask rally inside a small hall, while smaller demonstrations against widely-accepted medical advice were spotted in the region.

Return to School

Cases in B.C. come September were creeping back up as restrictions continued to ease. It was an acceptable tradeoff from public health to take a further step towards normal life while limiting transmission of the virus.

After a trial run in June where around 35 per cent of students attended class, a variety of learning opportunities were in place for a full time return beginning Sep. 14.

Around 92 per cent of students in Nanaimo and Ladysmith returned to class in the first week, well above what was expected by the district. The increased enrollment forced shuffling of cohorts and caused frustration for some parents who saw their children moved from class to class.

School clusters and hospital outbreak in Nanaimo

Despite a smooth return to class, Nanaimos school system was thrown into chaos in early November.

Beginning Nov. 7, district officials reported 22 exposure events across three secondary and two elementary schools in Nanaimo and Ladysmith. Randerson Ridge Elementary, Dover Bay and John Barsby Secondary schools were considered clusters, featuring multiple cases.

Frank J. Ney elementary and Ladysmith Secondary listed single exposure events. Wellington Nananimo Secondary school and Forest Park elementary reported single exposures in early December.

NRGH reported an outbreak on Nov. 11 when five members of a transitional care unit tested positive. No other areas of the hospital were affected and remained at full operation during the outbreak. Island Health declared the outbreak over on Nov. 21 after no further cases were found.

The Second Wave

Health officials in B.C. long predicted a second wave of COVID-19 would arrive in the fall and winter months. The virus had been proven to spread in close-proximity, indoor settings which became more common as the weather cooled.

A rolling, three-day average of cases in Island Health, which had sat in single digits for a majority of the time since late March, suddenly shot up in November to crest at 67 on Nov. 16 and 17.

Daily additions to Island Healths case count were routinely in double digits. Weekend updates, accounting for three reporting periods, ranged from 41 on Nov. 16 to a record of 58 on Nov. 30.

Provincially, cases soared courtesy outbreaks and high transmission in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health authorities. The rolling three-day average of new cases shot from 119 in late September to 830 by the end of November.

Additional Restrictions

Public health locked down the Lower Mainland on Nov. 7 by limiting travel and banning in-home gatherings. Gyms, dance studios and other high-intensity indoor spaces were also ordered to close.

The province expanded restrictions to all health authorities on Nov. 19 while also mandating masks in all indoor public spaces.

The restrictions were originally put in place through Dec. 7, however were further extended past the holiday season meaning travel and indoor gatherings synonomous with the holidays were banned.

The vaccine

B.C. began its COVID-19 vaccination program with the approved Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 15 with the goal of immediately providing 3,900 doses of the shot to front line healthcare workers in the Lower Mainland.

Further shots of the Pfizer product in combination with other soon-to-be approved vaccines will increase the provinces efforts in early 2021. The first shots within Island Health were given to Island Health staff on Dec. 22.

Follow-up rounds of immunization will be targeted at seniors, long term care residents, those who are homeless or underhoused and people in remote, Indigenous communities.

Whats to come in 2021?

The curve for Island Health and B.C. flattened somewhat in the first weeks of December.

Case counts in B.C. dropped from between 800 and 1000 to between 500 and 700, while Island Health recorded single-digit increases routinely through mid-December.

The current level of restrictions affecting home gatherings and travel are in place until at least Jan. 8.

Public health estimates 400,000 people will be immunized against COVID-19 by the end of March with Easter seen as a potential tipping point in garnering a measure of herd immunity.

Island Health has remained relatively insulated from COVID-19 compared to other parts of B.C. and Canada, accounting for around two per cent of total cases in the province despite Island Health representing around 17 per cent of the provinces population.

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Top Stories of 2020: What the COVID happened this year? - Nanaimo News NOW

Barasat MP Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar today lashed out at the Centre, stating that it is of grave disservice to our country if a political leader spreads lies with a motivation to create strife.

The BJP has made the country a haven for Harmad forces as is evident from the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, she stated.

Women are safest in Bengal, said Dr Ghosh Dastidar, MP and member of the Lok Sabhas Standing Committee on Home Affairs for ten years. But they have engaged some people to post on Facebook saying there is no security for women in Bengal, she said..

The law and order system of Bengal is more than adequate to deal with miscreants severely, she stated. She said in Kolkata alone there are eight police stations for women and in the state 48 out of 65 women police stations had already been set up.

She said these police stations are set up to exclusively tackle crimes against women including dowry and domestic violence cases, abduction and sexual offences.

She said every city police stations has at least three female police personnel including two constables and a sub-inspector.

Dr Ghosh Dastidar stated that the National Crime Records Bureau report for 2019 found Kolkata to be the safest among 19 cities. She said West Bengal also has child-friendly police stations and 88 fast track courts including 45 courts for women and 19 human rights court.

She stated that BJP claims about votes are far from truth.

She said in 2015, then BJP president Amit Shah had said BJP will win the Assembly election in Bihar but ended up winning just 53 of 243 seats. He claimed the party would form a government in Delhi in 2015 but won 3 of 70 seats. Mr Shah projected full majority in Rajasthan in 2018 but won 73 of 199 sests. In Madhya Pradesh he claimed to win twothird seats but won less than half and in Chhattisgarh in 2018, won only 16 seats out of 65.

She said Mr Shah claimed full majority in Jharkhand but only won 29 out of 81 seats whereas in Maharashtra the party got than one-third seats. In 2020 Delhi Assembly election, the BJP won only 8 of 70 seats.

She said a programme like Duare Sarkar has not been seen in any state in India and possibly not elsewhere in the world. Ninety-nine per cent of work has been completed but BJP miscreants will claim that no work is done.

She said the Duare Sarkar outreach programme has reached more than one and a half crore people.

The chief minister has announced a tiffin allowance of Rs 5,000 every two months for the government workers and volunteers involved in the camp. The government has released Rs. 8700 crore for this.

Mamata Banerjee has demanded the Indian government to repeal the three agricultural laws immediately, Dr Ghosh Dastidar stated. She also stated that the BJP has launched an attack against Rabindranath. They are sitting in Rabindranaths chair. Even the iconic Ghonta Tala at Viswa Bharati was razed at the behest of outsiders. Now the BJP has started attacking Nobel laureate Amartya Sen because he is raising the issue of a sordid state of affairs in the country. Their leaders have come from Delhi and are disrespecting Bengal through their words and deeds. Bengal will not accept this, she said.

We strongly condemn the oppression of farmers and common people. They (the BJP) spread strife wherever they go. Now this group of miscreants is trying to create chaos in Bengal, she stated.

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BJP has created a country of harmads and henchmen: Kakoli - The Statesman

Georgia hit an unwanted but not completely unexpected record this week: 7,899 confirmed Covid-19 cases in one day. The number, announced on Christmas Eve, breaks the states previous high by some 1,700 cases.

Health experts have, for months, warned of the winter holidays, saying the elevated case numbers this entire month are due to Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. And they are bracing for more cases after the Christmas and New Years holidays.

State officials have urged people to keep following coronavirus prevention measures, like mask wearing and physical distancing, even during the holidays. AndGovernor Brian Kemp announced, Tuesday, the state will be re-opening a temporary medical facility at the Georgia World Congress Center to relieve stress from hospitals amid the rising cases.

Meantime, more than 150,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna are now in the state.Georgias public health commissioner, Doctor Kathleen Toomey, said this vaccine is easier to store than the one from Pfizer.

There were parts of rural Georgia, including our own public health departments, that werent able to receive them, said Toomey. With now the Moderna vaccine, we can literally cover the state with vaccinations, and were very excited to begin that process.

Front line health care workers and those who work at long-term care facilities are receiving vaccinations first.

More People Going Hungry in Georgia During the Pandemic

The economic downturn caused by the coronavirus is exacerbating hunger in Georgia. Before the pandemic, more than a million Georgians needed help getting enough food. Now, even with a new relief package from Congress, experts are warning that higher levels of hunger could continue for years.

Many people needing help are those in businesses like restaurants and hotels crushed by the economic slowdown from the pandemic, according to Lily Pabian, executive director of WeLoveBuHi, a community organization behind food distribution events along Buford Highway.

These communities are frontline workers, said Pabian. They live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. They dont have the comfort of 401k, retirements, all that stuff. If they want to pay the bills, they have to work.

The food banks are responding to an unrelenting 50-percent increase in demand for food, said Danah Craft, executive director of the Georgia Food Bank Association. And it has grown in the last 60 days.

Some 40-percent of the people coming for help now have never had to look for assistance before, according to Craft.

The Georgia Food Bank Association estimatesone in five children in Georgia right now is experiencing food insecurity. And food banks the association works with are supplying 8 million more meals a month than they were pre-pandemic.

This heightened need to respond to hunger will last much longer than the pandemic itself because the economy wont bounce back instantly, said Tom Rawlings, Director of the State Division of Family and Children Services. And that will force nonprofits, food banks, and government agencies to fill the gap for years to come.

High Schoolers Are Helping Remove a Controversial Relic

Decatur city commissioners unanimously backed a resolution to remove the Indian War cannon from in front of the old Dekalb County Courthouse.

High school students in Decatur pushed for the resolution saying the monument, placed there in 1906 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, celebrates the forced removal of Native Americans from the South.

Certain community members dont want this cannon to reflect oppression or a horrible history, said Decatur High School student Koan Roy-Meighoo. But, the fact of the matter is, it does.

Dekalb County Commissioners will have to make the official removal as the cannon is on county property.

Remembering Those Many Have Forgotten

Each year theres a candlelight memorial to recognize the deaths of those who are homeless in Fulton County.

Mercy Care, a major health care provider for the homeless in Atlanta, leads the event. The medical center moved it online for 2020 because of the ongoing pandemic.

Dozens still joined the Zoom call earlier this week and held a candle up to their screen, as Mercy Care staff read the names of 73 people who died homeless.

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WABE's Week in Review: Georgia Hits One-Day Covid Record as More Vaccines Arrive | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

The U.S. asylum system is often cited as part of a noble legacy tied to the message on the Statue of Liberty, offering freedom to the huddled masses.

But the truth is much more complicated and decidedly less noble.

Over its 40-year history, the U.S. asylum system has never meted out refuge evenly or in the full spirit behind its creation.

As The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported over the last year in an in-depth investigation, disparities, capriciousness and bias plague the system, subjecting asylum seekers to excruciating waits and making it difficult to predict the outcome of even the strongest cases.

Those shortcomings, partnered with policies meant to deter people from coming, have meant that many people fleeing the worlds atrocities are sent back to danger. Some are returned to their deaths.

While the problems are longstanding, theyve intensified under the Trump administration, which defined itself largely by extreme deterrence policies that have ultimately taken away any meaningful chance at asylum.

The incoming Biden administration has indicated it will undo many of the widely criticized programs created under President Donald Trump, including the Remain in Mexico program, which forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as their cases are processed in the U.S.

But, it remains unclear whether the 46th U.S. president will be able to use the moment to break with the United States past in a profound way.

To do so will take a re-examination of more existential questions about the countrys global obligations to protect refugees, as well as a reimagining of many of the processes that make up the asylum system today.

Claudia Hernandez (left) along with her 6-year-old daughter, Angelina, and friend Fernanda Zuniga (right) ended up waiting by a port of entry in early 2019 for their chance to request asylum after they lost their temporary shelter in Mexico.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The decision on whether to protect people fleeing harm used to be made from crisis to crisis, and on the whims of elected officials.

The modern conceptualization of refugees and asylum was born in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Even then, the United States resisted providing shelter.

After the atrocities of the Nazis were widely known, then-President Harry Truman still had a difficult time convincing Congress and the American public that the United States should take in Jewish refugees, according to Edna Friedberg, historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

It wasnt until 1968 that the United States signed onto a United Nations agreement regarding its role in identifying and protecting refugees as part of a collective global commitment.

It would be 12 years before the country codified this obligation into law. That legislation created the asylum system a screening process to identify refugees from among the migrants at and inside the United States own borders.

It also outlined how the United States, through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, would resettle refugees who were identified in other countries screening systems, such as those who fled violence in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and were waiting in refugee camps.

In order to balance these obligations with countries desires for control of their borders, the international definition of a refugee is specific and restricted.

States give up a certain amount of sovereignty over their borders in order to place themselves under obligation to protect vulnerable people, but the obligation is kept as narrow as possible, said Larry Gollub, a retired asylum officer.

Refugees are people who have fled their countries because of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group such as the LGBTQ+ community.

But there are many people who flee harm or hardship whose life experiences do not match this definition. There is also a lot of room for interpretation and political agenda, creating a haphazard and inconsistent system.

A hand from the Mexico side of the border reaches through the fence that separates Tijuana from San Diego at Border Field State Park, where families who cannot cross visit each other through the barrier.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Making the asylum system live up to its obligations in a more humanitarian and efficient way is feasible through a wide variety of changes.

Some could be accomplished at the discretion of the president; others would require an act of Congress and likely bipartisan support.

While some of the changes would require more funding for a particular agency or process, there are also opportunities to shift funding away from policies that dont help the system function as smoothly or fairly as it could.

Its not necessarily all about needing more money invested its about political will, said Michelle Bran, director of the migrant rights and justice program at the Womens Refugee Commission. You think about the things that weve done as a nation in terms of response to challenges, and this is so minor in comparison.

Changes both big and small have been discussed at length by experts in asylum law and human rights, attorneys, judges, former and current government officials, and people who have journeyed through the system themselves as refugees.

Here are their suggestions.

MOVE IMMIGRATION COURT TO THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

Immigration judges are not traditional judges. Instead, they work under the executive branch of government under the presidents authority. They are employed by the attorney general at the Department of Justice, the same prosecutorial agency that argues against asylum seekers appeals in federal court.

This presents, critics argue, a clear-cut conflict of interest.

It also means that the presidential administration has a lot of power to influence the courts decisions based on its political agenda.

That was especially apparent under the Trump administration when attorneys general used their powers to redecide cases and fundamentally changed accepted asylum precedents.

They made it much more difficult for women fleeing domestic violence in countries that dont shelter them from that abuse to get protection in the United States. They also made cases of people fleeing gang violence already a tough scenario to prove under U.S. asylum law nearly impossible.

The National Association of Immigration Judges, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Federal Bar Association have all advocated for years for immigration courts to become free of the political sway of the executive branch by moving to the judicial branch.

The system needs independence, said Jeremy McKinney of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Its time for the Department of Justice and the immigration court system to get a divorce.

Moving the court would require an act of Congress, but past efforts at legislation have not gained much support. Interest among some Democrats to take up the issue appears to be growing.

DIVERSIFY AND TRAIN IMMIGRATION JUDGES

The majority of immigration judges previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security as opponent attorneys arguing against asylum seekers in immigration court.

The Union-Tribune reported in August that immigration judges with this work history were about 1.4 times more likely to order asylum seekers deported than judges with different backgrounds, based on an analysis of immigration court outcomes from fiscal 2009 through fiscal 2018.

Immigration attorneys have long criticized the executive branchs hiring practices for immigration judges. That concern only grew under the Trump administration as the Department of Justice promoted judges who ordered deported high percentages of asylum seekers. Those judges now decide asylum appeals.

In its proposal to move immigration court to the judicial branch, the Federal Bar Association calls for a reimagining of the hiring process that would limit any one presidential administrations influence and incorporate suggestions from local communities.

Newly hired judges, as well as veterans, could also be given thorough trainings of asylum law to try to equalize some of the disparities in their outcomes and lean more toward a mindset often embraced by asylum officers that decisions should be made with an abundance of caution.

REDUCE THE COURT BACKLOG

At her home in Santee, Carmen Kcomt plays her late fathers favorite song from memory on the piano. Kcomt came to the U.S. in the early 2000s from Peru. She had to flee because she was the judge in a paternity case involving the then-president and was facing threats and attacks.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The number of immigration court cases has swelled in recent years to well over 1.2 million with an average wait of more than two years, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University, or TRAC.

Many of those cases are asylum seekers.

The backlog contributes to issues within the asylum system, including forcing refugees to wait in a hellish limbo.

Its horrible, said Santee resident Carmen Kcomt, who won asylum in 2008 from Peru after waiting for four years through multiple rejections and appeals. You feel like you are a hybrid, not belonging to anywhere. You cannot go back. You cannot stay.

Fully funding an effort to reduce the backlog could gain bipartisan support, even from those who take a deterrence perspective. Reduced wait times discourage people from using the asylum system as a way to forestall deportation if they are not actually fleeing harm, according to many former government officials.

While the Trump administration hired judges and increased the courts budget to $673 million in 2020 from $422 million in 2016, many support staff roles such as clerks and translators were left out, and many judges retired over objections to the administrations practices.

The Biden administration could further clear the backlog by working with Congress to create programs other than the asylum system to grant permanent residency to people who meet certain criteria essentially resetting the system.

This solution would likely be controversial in todays political climate, but it is not unheard of; it has been done before.

In the 1990s, the asylum system also got bogged down with cases.

In 1997, Congress ended up granting certain Central Americans the ability to stay in the United States without going through the asylum process, a system reset to clear out old cases and make sure newly filed cases could be processed fluidly. It gave green cards to just under 200,000 people, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Charlene DCruz, director of Project Corazon with Lawyers for Good Government, said that Congress should consider doing a similar reset and start with people who were put into the Remain in Mexico program. There are more than 65,000 people with cases pending in the programs border courts, according to TRAC.

The Trees of Life art installation that lines much of Managua, Nicaragua, was implemented by President Daniel Ortegas wife, who is also the vice president. To pro-democracy protesters, these trees represent a lavish excess in spending when many Nicaraguans live in poverty. Many of these Trees of Life were taken down by protesters in 2018.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Congress could also consider creating a way to grant refugee status to groups of people fleeing a particular situation, such as the political oppression in Nicaragua under the regime of President Daniel Ortega or the discrimination and attacks faced by English-speaking Cameroonians.

This strategy is already used in other countries including Kenya, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been invited by the government to manage the process of identifying refugees.

PROVIDE LEGAL AID TO ASYLUM SEEKERS

Since immigration is considered a civil matter rather than a criminal one, people in immigration court have a right to be represented by an attorney if they can afford one but not at the U.S. governments expense if they cannot.

In 2018, during the height of the public outcry over families being separated at the border, reports of toddlers standing alone before judges around the country astonished many Americans who were not familiar with U.S. immigration court practices.

Giving asylum seekers more access to legal representation would make the system fairer, many advocates say, and could make it more efficient, too, saving the government money on other immigration court costs.

The attorney general could set up programs that provide lawyers to asylum seekers or even to everyone in immigration court proceedings starting with the most vulnerable among them such as unaccompanied children.

Some states and local governments, including California and New York, have implemented programs to provide attorneys to some of the unrepresented at immigration courts in their area.

If funding attorneys for everyone is not politically feasible at the federal level, the attorney general could increase funding for legal orientation programs that support asylum seekers who have to represent themselves.

These programs, operated by nonprofits in some detention centers, help people understand whether their cases match asylum criteria, how to fill out an asylum application and other basic legal questions that can seem impossible to figure out without an attorneys knowledge.

A 2012 audit of orientation programs that receive funding from the Department of Justice found that they saved the federal government a net of $17.8 million per year because they help people move through the court system more quickly.

Bidens attorney general could also revive a program that provided case management services to asylum-seeking families.

The program, which operated as a pilot from 2016 to 2017, matched families with social workers who helped them find lawyers, housing, schools and more while they waited for their cases. It reported 99 percent compliance with monitoring requirements and immigration court hearing attendance. It was shut down by the Trump administration.

END THE DETENTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

Otay Mesa Detention Center holds asylum seekers and other immigration detainees in custody in south San Diego.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Asylum seekers, even those with no criminal history, often spend years in the prison-like conditions of U.S. detention centers after fleeing traumatic persecution in their home countries.

Attorney Elizabeth Lopez of the Southern California Immigration Project said that rethinking practices of detaining asylum seekers would be in her top changes for the system a change that either Congress or the White House could put in place.

But, Lopez said, that would have to be paired with either giving asylum seekers work permits right away so that they can support themselves or creating services to assist asylum seekers with housing, food and medical care if they are not allowed to work. Those adjustments would require congressional action.

Ruth Hargrove, another San Diego attorney, hoped politicians on both sides of the aisle could support this change because holding asylum seekers in custody for years is expensive, in addition to going against humanitarian principles, she said.

It costs roughly $3,500 to hold an asylum seeker in detention for one month, based on fiscal 2019 costs reported by the Department of Homeland Security. The government budgeted more than $3 billion for immigration detention in fiscal 2020.

Plus, detention often is not necessary to ensure compliance. A study from TRAC last year found that more than 80 percent of migrant families likely asylum seekers showed up for their immigration court hearings, and that number rose to more than 99 percent for families who had attorneys to help them.

The federal government has several alternatives to detention programs, such as requiring check-ins with federal officials, to help ensure that people show up for immigration court hearings at much lower costs than detention.

Hargrove recently helped a Cameroonian asylum seeker get released from detention after about 20 months inside.

There are all of these people languishing in prison, and their only crime is that they were trying to avoid death and torture in their home country, Hargrove said. I cant even tell you the sense of betrayal that my client has. He really thought that America was going to save him, and no one was more surprised than he that he was immediately put in chains.

ACT AS AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER WEALTHY COUNTRIES

A Tigray boy who fled the conflict in Ethiopias Tigray region carries water at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan on Nov. 27, 2020. More than 50,000 people have fled from Ethiopia into Sudan since the beginning of November.

(Nariman El-Mofty / The Associated Press)

Where asylum seekers go to be recognized as refugees is often a matter of geography.

Countries neighboring current conflicts and crises tend to receive the most if those countries allow them in.

About 85 percent of people forcibly displaced from their countries are living in places designated as developing economies by the United Nations.

Only some refugees in these countries end up resettled, chosen to move to a wealthier country.

In the past decade, even with the cuts to refugee resettlement put in place by the Trump administration, the United States resettled roughly 420,000 refugees who were waiting in limbo in other countries, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. Thats more refugees than any other nation resettled.

But those numbers are small compared with the number of forcibly displaced people around the world, particularly those who need more stable protection than what is being provided in countries that require refugees to remain in camps or relegate them to second-class status.

The United States like other wealthy nations often gives money either to UNHCR ($1.7 billion last year) or directly to these developing countries to help with refugee situations rather than resettling more refugees.

There are currently roughly 33.8 million people who have been forcibly displaced outside of their countries of origin, according to UNHCR. Thats less than 1 percent of the worlds population.

Many refugee advocates emphasize that this is the highest number of displaced people on record. Their goal in that message is to encourage more aid.

But, according to researcher Benjamin Thomas White of the University of Glasgow, the levels of displacement are not an unprecedented crisis, and making the situation seem worse than ever can actually contribute to a push for xenophobic policies.

We live in a period where the world is much wealthier than in the past, White said. Our capacity of supporting is much greater.

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The U.S. asylum system is broken. How could it be reimagined? - The San Diego Union-Tribune

The confession represented the first testimony from perpetrators corroborating the accounts that Myanmar soldiers shot children, raped women, destroyed villages and dumped bodies in mass graves, as previously described by Rohingya refugees and a United Nations fact-finding mission.

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It also bolstered the criminal investigations against Myanmar aggressors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which investigates individuals suspected of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. At present, the ICC is examining whether Myanmars military leaders carried out forced deportations by coercing Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, an ICC member state.

Like China, Myanmar refused to join the ICC, and the courts jurisdiction principally applies only to those who are member states. However, the Court broadened its jurisdictional reach against Myanmar under a novel legal strategy that Rohingyas are victims of a forced deportation in which the crime was completed in the territory of an ICC member state, Bangladesh. This legal approach could be used in a similar way against China.

Authoritarian governments often emulate one another; one can find many similar practices between Myanmar and China. Both governments target and persecute ethnic minorities that do not conform to their artificial ideals. Both vehemently deny the allegations while deploying similar strategies and forms of punishment. Both authorities label their genocidal campaigns internal security matters and reject public criticism from democratic countries. Both governments have justified their actions by claiming that the ethnic minorities are extremists, legitimizing ruthless human rights violations under the guise of counterterrorism.

Relying on the Myanmar lawsuit as precedent, British lawyers representing two Uighur organizations filed a landmark complaint with the ICC this year against the Chinese government. The basis for their claim was also forced deportation committed partially in the territory of ICC member states. A number of Uighurs have been forcibly deported from Cambodia and Tajikistan, both ICC member states, and returned to China to be sent to concentration camps.

The ICC is one of the limited avenues for the Uighur people to pursue accountability in their ongoing struggle for justice because of Chinas immense political and economic clout. While the Myanmar crisis benefited from public condemnation by Hollywood celebrities such as Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie, Chinas overwhelming economic influence has resulted in devastating indifference and complicity from the entertainment industry.

Disneys recently released Mulan even offered thanks during the films closing credits to a Chinese government agency responsible for facilitating the internment camps. This complicity contradicts the ideals of those in the music, business and entertainment industries.

And the entertainment industry is not the only entity that is notoriously known for appeasing China. The Organization for Islamic Cooperation mobilized and actively promoted United Nations mechanisms for Rohingyas but it looked away when similar atrocities were committed against the Uighur people, because of Chinas close economic ties with its member countries.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, which passed a resolution establishing the fact-finding mission for Myanmar, has failed to do the same for the Uighur people despite repeated calls from human rights advocates, including more than 50 U.N. experts. Instead, China is expected to soon be re-elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, making the prospect of any action by the body on human rights abuses against the Uighurs virtually nil.

This is why the ICC offers so much promise, especially because since the forcible transfer originated in ICC member states the ICC could prosecute all the resulting crimes that took place in Xinjiang and other parts of China after the forced deportations. These include torture, enslavement, arbitrary imprisonment, enforced sterilization, enforced disappearances and even genocide.

An active ICC investigation would allow the court to compile a list of names of perpetrators engaged in the atrocities, including those responsible for providing China with the sophisticated technology to create and sustain a police state and develop the internment camps. Once it gathers enough credible information on perpetrators, the court can issue arrest warrants, allowing senior-level perpetrators to be detained whenever they enter any of the 123 ICC member states territory.

Additionally, the confession of the two Myanmar soldiers demonstrates the important role of whistleblowers in ICC investigations, whereby lower-level agents can provide key information for identifying senior-level perpetrators against whom the court can eventually issue arrest warrants.

A successful finding of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Myanmar case would send a message that perpetrators cannot commit the crime of all crimes with impunity and bring some sense of justice to Rohinga victims. It would also be a heartening signal to the Uighur community that the ICC is willing to hold economically and politically powerful nonmember state parties accountable for atrocities committed in part on state parties territories and bring some form of comfort to victims in their pursuit of justice.

Newly revealed evidence demonstrates that the Chinese government is determined to build new more permanent internment facilities, making it that more urgent for the ICC to launch an investigation to help the innocent victims of internment camps like my brother Ekpar. The Uighur case represents a true test of the international communitys commitment to justice and accountability, and the ICC must seize this opportunity to affirm that no government or official may commit atrocities with impunity.

Rayhan Asat is a lawyer at a Wall Street law firm and serves as president of the American Turkic Lawyers Association (ATILA). She is also a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights and chair of the Women Entrepreneurs Committee at Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs D.C. Chapter.

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China and Myanmar face Uighurs and Rohingya that are fighting back after years of oppression - NBC News

This January, I wrote an article about the massive protests that erupted while I was studying abroad in Valparaso, Chile last fall. I had never witnessed social unrest on such a large scale. I had never seen so many people demonstrating together, across an entire country, united by one cause, across party lines and differences of race, class, gender and other identities. I had also never witnessed violent oppression by the state against peaceful protesters.

In my article, I posed the question: Could this level of unity among the people ever occur here, and what would be the results? I also noted that:

In the United States, although we certainly see increased policing, mass arrests of protestors and the criminalization of certain social movements (re: mass incarceration that started during the Civil Rights Movement) it is hard to imagine our military patrolling the streets where we live or the government prohibiting us from leaving our houses after a certain hour.

Reading this now, it is glaringly obvious just how naive I was. At the beginning of June, I moved to St. Paul, MN for the summer. There, I went to protests where we were surrounded by the National Guard. I once again found myself living under a curfew. And I couldnt stop thinking about the uncanny resemblance to the protests in Chile.

There are obvious and important differences between the two movements. One is centered around class inequality, while the other stems from systemic racial oppression. One was sparked by a government spiking a metro fare, the other by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Although the inequality in Chile is deep-rooted and the people have been calling for action on individual issues for decades, the sense of a broad, cohesive movement was novel. Meanwhile, the official Black Lives Matter movement is not newit began in 2013. Finally, much of the stratification of wealth in Chilean society is due to the Pinochet dictatorship and its neoliberal economic policies. The dictatorship ended in 1990, so it has been 30 years since the countrys return to democracy. In the United States, however, the structures that oppress, traumatize and kill Black people are hundreds of years old.

That being said, the similarities between the two cases are remarkable. I feel like I could draw a timeline of events for each situation and every stage would match up perfectlyfrom the tip of the iceberg event that sparked the groundswell, to the spread of education about the underlying systemic injustices, to the tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets used on protesters by police, to the installation of a curfew, to the protests spreading across the country and even internationally, to the deployment of auxiliary forces to keep the order (in Chile, the military; in the United States, the National Guard).

Politicians, the media and citizens alike have criticized the violence in both scenarios. However, in both cases, people have been peacefully protesting the issues at hand for decades with little to no change. When peaceful protests fall on deaf ears for so long, people have no other choice. Quite frankly, America does not have the right to tell Black people in this country how they can and cannot protest. And in Chile, a government that took years to reckon with a brutal dictatorship that killed, tortured and disappeared thousands, and has only perpetuated inequalities in the aftermath of Pinochet, also has no right to judge the outrage of the Chilean people.

What should be in the spotlight in both countries is the violence against protesters at the hands of the police. In both cases, the police have used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bulletsruthlesslyagainst largely peaceful protesters. In both cases, the police have arrested and detained people who were simply exercising their right to demonstrate. In both cases, state-sanctioned violence has been used to control, curb and punish those asking for justiceall under the guise of law and order.

In Chile, the massive protests actually led to hope for change: The government agreed to hold a referendum about the possibility of finally rewriting the Chilean constitution. (Originally scheduled for April 26, the referendum was pushed to Oct. 25 due to the pandemic.) The current constitution is handed down from Pinochet, and codifies many of the systems that have produced such stark inequality in Chile, such as the privatization of water. Chileans had been protesting the countrys inequities for 30 years and nothing changeduntil they forced the government to listen.

Americans oftentimes see violence or unrest in places like Latin America and say, That could never happen here. We believe that our democracy protects us from the political unrest that many other countries experience. Some Americans even look down on countries that have suffered through horrible dictatorships and oppression (that the United States oftentimes supported and even established) and call those countries undemocratic and unstable. We forget that our country has also experienced this level of social unrest and protest and is experiencing it again. It should be obvious that our democracy is, in practice, not very democratic.

Many Americans also often look down on places like Chile, where there is extreme repression of protests, violence against protesters and restrictions on freedom of speech and the freedom to demonstrate, and say That could never happen here. We naively believe that the freedoms granted to us in the Constitution will protect us from state-sanctioned violence. And yet we have witnessed violence against protesters this summer again and again, as well as the criminalization of the entire Black Lives Matter movement, exemplified by the prejudicial targeting and arrest of protesters. This should not come as a surprise, as it has happened before. May it serve as a wake-up call to those who have forgotten.

In Chile, a metro fare hike was the straw that broke the camels back. It was finally time to reckon with 30 years of wealth stratification and with a neoliberal government filled with corrupt politicians who care more about their own wealth than helping the countrys poor. Sound familiar? At least Chile has universal health care. On top of extreme wealth inequality, Americans must also reckon with the deep-rooted racial violence that continues to kill Black people. Lets take our country off of its pedestal.

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I've seen protests like this before in America, but never in the United States - Miscellany News

There are four tough women from that country who dared to face the hardliner Taliban across the table during peace talks. (Photo source: IE)

For the first-time Afghan women were represented in the peace talks that took place in Doha recently. The women who had been facing the oppressive rule of the Taliban and fought for gains joined an all-male Afghan governments team of 17 and team of the Taliban with only men.

Who are these women?

There are four tough women from that country who dared to face the hardliner Taliban across the table during peace talks.

Negotiator Fawzia Koofi is a politician and high-profile womens rights campaigner. In her country, she has survived at least two assassination attempts during her career. The latest was in August recently in Kabul.

During the rule of Taliban from 1996-2001, while she was threatened with stoning for wearing nail polish, her husband was jailed, she has told the media before she left for talks.

The Taliban had banned girls from going to schools and women to work and the women used to be whipped lashed in case found guilty of adultery. Things have improved considerably for women in rural areas since the US-led forces toppled the Taliban. And the big cities like Kabul have witnessed huge progress. Women are getting an education at a secondary and high level as well some are now holding elected positions and running businesses.

Ms Koofi is one of the few women who held unofficial talks with the Taliban in 2019 and she knows and fully aware of the issues the female negotiators face.

Another negotiator in the team is an Islamic law expert Fatima Gailani, 66, the former spokeswoman for the Mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s and also the former president of the Afghan Red Cross. She has expressed her apprehension about negotiations with the Taliban. Though she has support of the male negotiators in her team, she says The women always have fear whenever there are changes in her country.

Though Taliban claims that womens rights will be protected through Islamic values, Ms Gailani stated that the talks should be focused on common values.

Habiba Sarabi, another lady member of the team too has her apprehensions and wants to see Afghanistan as a `Republic and not Taliban run state. She was barred from working under the Taliban rule and had to flee the country to pursue her passion for teaching.

When she returned to Afghanistan, at 62 years she became her countrys first female provincial governor and has also served as a minister twice.

A former broadcaster and local politician in the eastern province of Paktia, Sharifa Zurmati, is also part of the team.

What are these talks?

This year in February, the US signed a deal with the Taliban in which they agreed to withdraw forces in return for an assurance from the insurgents to hold talks with the Afghan government, which is aimed at ending the war.

Amidst a lot of delays, direct talks finally opened in the Qatari capital Doha on Saturday.

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Firts time ever! Afghan women negotiate with hardliner Taliban; Talk against oppression - The Financial Express

On day two of the summit, we learned about the importance of self-advocating, how to get on a board and why its so imperative for women to get a seat at the table.

On day two of the Women & Worth Virtual Summit, we began with a keynote from Wade Davis, VP of Inclusion for Production at Netflix, who gave a powerful talk on the importance of self-reflection. He discussed how self-reflection can be used to help others, especially in putting an end to systemic oppression. He stated two important things we needed to keep in mind when self-reflecting: to make agreements with ourselves to end systemic oppression and to be disinterested in needing to be right.

Davis opened up about his experience as an LGBTQ+ member of the NFL. He discussed how his identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and as a male has affected him. He learned throughout his childhood and when coming out to his mother that the world offered him a certain power. He had to overcome the fear and use his power to help those who are oppressed. He used his identity to become an advocate for women. Once you recognize the power that you hold within your identity, you can use it to help others. Men have been groomed in the sports and corporate world to believe that they belong in that industry. However, there are women and POC who are well-qualified who are oppressed because of the connotation that belief has made. In order to break this barrier, you must identify yourself and see how you can work together in order to overcome this systemic oppression.

Davis also emphasized the value of self-love and how you should overcome your fears and walk toward self-love. He discussed how when youre self-interrogating, change doesnt happen without great risk. Those who are in the dominant group should acknowledge the power they have and use to their advantage and be accountable in the actions they take. Davis concluded his talk by quoting from Lucille Cliftons poemwont you celebrate with me.

Next, CEO of Worth Juliet Scott-Croxford spoke with Anita Bhatia, deputy executive director for resource management, sustainability and partnerships for UN Women, on activating progress for women. Bhatia started by mentioning that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the lives of women around the world and has deepened the already existing social, economic and political inequities that women face. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit three main areasincome, health and security. Because of the pandemic, many women have been out of the labor force to meet family needs. This has affected their earnings, and statistics show that most of them will not go back to the labor force. Furthermore, womens issues, such as reproductive and gynecological problems, are being put on hold. There has also been an increase in violence against women amidst the pandemic, which has impacted their physical and mental health.

Upon receiving a question on what governments can do to better support women, Bhatia mentioned that inclusive fiscal policies would be best. For example, through a digital identification system, the government of India successfully sent 200 million women cash payments. Additionally, providing unemployment insurance and paid leave during the pandemic would benefit women immensely.

Bhatia ended by noting that bringing women to decision-making tables would be the best way to power forward in 2021.

After this session, Emily Cegielski, senior editor at Worth, moderated a panel discussion on advancing careers through self-advocating with panelists Alli Young, founder and CEO of The Forem, Jamie Sears, social impact and corporate responsibility leader at UBS, and Arsha Cazazian-Clement, director of global real estate at Shearman and Sterling LLP.

The panelists began by stating that self-advocating is harder for women, as they are expected to follow social norms by being humble, quiet and not boastful. Additionally, women face more blowback for mistakes and are often said to be too ambitious, as seen by the narrative surrounding Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris.

On the topic of moving up the corporate ladder without a sponsor, all panelists mentioned the importance of building meaningful relationships with peers and employers. Young mentioned that though this can be intimidating, building relationships and networking help women build confidence. Sears added that meritocracy alone cant get a worker as far as they deserve; they must know how to build relationships.

When asked for tips and tricks for being the only woman in the room, Cazazian-Clement emphasized the importance of knowing your strengths and weaknesses as well as how to build trust.

The conversation then shifted to how Black women can navigate race and gender in the workforce. In response, Cazazian-Clement highlighted observing if the companys values align with yours and if the company sees your value and potential.

In closing remarks, Sears mentioned that one way women can power forward is through investing in their careers overall, and not just their current jobs. By identifying their own strengths, women can conquer their careers.

Then, Shelley Zalis, CEO of The Female Quotient, introduced Anna Catalano, board director, Claudia Pici-Morris, board practice consultant at Spencer Stuart, and Breen Sullivan, founder of The Fourth Floor, for a session on how to get on a board. Zalis discussed with the panelists what steps women should take in order to take the next step in their careers. They all talked about the importance of progress and to be continuous in learning from your mistakes. Any experience, whether it is from a public or a nonprofit board, is valuable because of the skill sets you will gain.

All of them mentioned the importance of networking in the industry. The number of women on a board has increased to a little bit over 20 percent. In a field which is predominantly male and has traditionally held women back, now is the time to power forward. When Zalis had asked the women for advice about how to get on boards, Pici-Morris said, Dont underestimate your own network and who you know. Catalano said to highlight what you know how to do and during the interview to ask what the voice around the table is that youre missing that I can fill. It is important to be a part of a board that truly recognizes what you can bring to the tablenot just being a woman at the table.

Sullivan mentioned that, It is a marathon, not a sprint. She advises that you should not wait and start sooner. There are a wide range of opportunities that many women and POC did not have access to because of equity, but now it is a time to get started early. Zalis concluded the talk with the importance of having a good elevator pitch.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that women face to this day is not merely being impacted by gender inequity or underrepresentation. For those who are able to find their way in, the toughest challenge lies not only in surviving, but also thriving in male-dominated industries. The session moderated by the CEO and cofounder of The Justice Dept, Jennifer Justice, was a real eye-opener on how women can make their presence and value known, and how to use this to pave the way for other women to join in. If you cant see it, you cant be it, said Justice, pointing out how women like Leona Qi, president of VistaJet, can be an inspiration to others. We need to definitely show up, and we need to make sure to let them know that were here and demand respect. Qi, who leads in an industry where over 90 percent of their clientele is male added. The day that Ill see that half of my clients are women, thats the day that we know that women made it into the boardroom.

Having a passion to deliver, staying focused on what you are good at and showing up for yourself and others were the key points that the panelists pointed out, not only for businesses and industries, but across the board. Kate Pratt, who is the head of sales for Liverpool Football Club,was excited about the prospect of bringing more female figures into a predominantly male-led industry. Sports has evolved so much, and the great thing about it now is that it is so broad and there are so many entry points for women. As a matter of fact, Pratts company offered a free digital classroom series to help foster interest about sports and the business of sports, especially among females.

Its a business imperative. Companies need to represent the customers they serve, added Joy Falotico, president of the Lincoln Motor Company and CMO of Ford. When youre the only woman in the room, and its intimidating, thats what you have to look at and say, hey, Im here not just for myself, but Im representing all these other women. Falotico, who has worked for Ford for over 30 years, echoed Qis emphasis on having a passion and using that passion to drive yourself to be the best that you can be, and focusing on pipeline and mentorship to help other women get in the door. Youre the wedge in the door, and you want to keep it open when youre the only woman, so you can get more people to come through the door with you, Falotico said.

To conclude the second day of the summit, Scott-Croxford wrapped up the discussions with reflections from Amy Wu, founder and chief content director of From Farms to Incubators, and Paige McCullough, who is a board member of girl-empowering initiative tre. Both Wu and McCullough agreed that self-encouraging, networking and an open mindset are vital to succeeding in modern times. Anita Bhatia neatly summarized the key ideas of day two, saying: Womens representation, leadership and economic progress are severely underrepresented. Women are carrying the world on their shoulders for all the work that they do. We should advocate for women to be at the tables where important decisions are made.

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Women & Worth Virtual Summit Day 2: Reserving a Seat at the Table - Worth

Police in the Indian state of Kashmir have been accused of killing a young man in their custody and then staging his death as an accident.

Protests erupted in the conflict-ridden state after details of the allegations concerning the death of Irfan Ahmad Dar, a shopkeeper, emerged on Wednesday. In response, the government cut off the internet in his hometown of Sopore.

The family of Dar, 23, have alleged he was arrested on Tuesday and then tortured in police custody. Dar was dead within hours of his detention.

According to police, Dar died trying to escape from police custody. Taking advantage of darkness and terrain, he managed to escape, police alleged. They said his body had been found near a stone quarry, but did not state a cause of death.

The police claimed Dar was working for insurgents and that two Chinese-made grenades were recovered from his possession. However, this version of events was disputed by his family and called into question by politicians.

At their home in Sopore, Dars brother Javaid Akbar, who was also detained on Monday but let go close to midnight, said he was assured by police that Dar would be released in the morning.

We should at least be given his body so we can have a proper burial, said Akbar. However, as part of a new policy in Kashmir, alleged insurgents are now given remote burials in forests to prevent large crowds gathering at the funerals in mourning. Dar was buried just under 100 miles away from his family home.

Sajad Lone, a Kashmiri politician who had previously allied with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata party, said the polices version of events just doesnt add up.

Lone said: They have done a bad job even at inventing a story. The guilty need to be punished.

The death came at a time when Indian government forces are announcing near-daily detentions and arrests of civilians on charges of supporting insurgents, after the removal of Kashmirs semi-autonomous powers in August 2019, which brought the state under the full control of the central Indian government.

It is the second time in recent months that an alleged staged killing has occurred in Kashmir, after it emerged that the deaths of three civilians at the hand of the Indian army in July had been concealed and staged to look like the killing of three armed insurgents.

Both incidents have raised fears in the region of the return of staged gunfights and extrajudicial killings by police and military, which have been a frequent feature of life in Kashmir over the past decades. In 2010, a faked gunfight led to months of demonstrations.

Hasnain Masoodi, a politician from Kashmir, raised Dars alleged custodial killing in parliament on Wednesday and said the oppression and atrocities are not going to fetch any results and would further widen the gulf.

After the unconstitutional decision of 5 August 2019, a story of oppression is being scripted thousands were detained and now the oppression has been [taken] to new levels with fake encounters and custodial deaths, said Masoodi.

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Kashmir protests erupt after alleged cover-up of death in custody - The Guardian

Note: Matthew Braunginn is the host of Madison365s newest video show and podcast, Finding the Warmth of Our Sun.

In a recent column, former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz attacked the newly approved oversight of the Madison police department without offering discourse other than racist dog whistles. No new ideas, no real solutions, just law-and-order rhetoric, which does nothing but perpetuate the racist status quo. I believe it is time for the Isthmus to deplatform him and his no-longer-soft bigotry.

No, this isnt cancel culture. His livelihood isnt being destroyed. Im not asking for him to be locked up and Im not saying he cant state his views. But no one has a fundamental right to a platform like the one he has.

Three of his last four articles, and more going back further during a time of protest, during a time when white supremacist violence has been accosted by militias and the US government across the United States, and specifically in Wisconsin he spent more time denouncing those who fight for freedom than oppressors or racial oppression.

In trying to talk about the cost of police oversight, he fails to mention the millions of dollars the city has spent in civil suits paying out to victims of police violence. Dismissing these victims because the police found themselves with no-wrong doing. And lets be clear, the outside investigation in Wisconsin for police use of force, are still police investigating police. Implying the cost of oversight is too much, while the cost of death is acceptable. All while talking about a budget shortfall, while forgetting to mention that the current police budget is currently $86.7 million, about 30% of the cities annual operational budget.

In Just the facts, he suggests Freedom Incs M. Adams is somehow wrong for calling for an end to the killing of Black people as a solution to broken windows caused by those protesting police violence. This is a simple cause and effect here; if there was no police violence, especially racist police violence, then there would be no protests, then there would be no potential for property damage. Instead, he decides that all Black people must condemn acts of property destruction in protest of death.

Where is he taking responsibility as a white man for white violence in society? I have yet to see him write a series of articles suggesting white people need to get their collective act together to stop white supremacist violence, which has caused more deaths in the US since 9/11 than any other extremist group or ideology.

Anti-racist protesters arent threatening civil war and acting on it, Dave. That is the right.

He talks of needing to have police arrest those that commit gun violence and not violence interruption. Well, first, Dave, police already arrest gun violence and community violence, it seems youre calling for something which is already going on. Secondly, violence interruption isnt a long-run strategy, it is an immediate and long-term one, one that is underfunded and more effective than a police focused one. Not to mention, ignoring the material conditions of Black America and that unemployment and unemployment being the biggest driver of crime, with Black Americans facing the largest rates of unemployment.

He continues to put the burden of ending racial oppression on the oppressed, in suggesting they arent doing it right, and in suggesting well-meaning white folk like him would stop oppression if only the oppressed asked in a way that made him comfortable.

Just end the schtick and say you hate uppity negroes, Dave. How many Black people do you interact with regularly, Dave? And not just ones that make you feel comfortable. How many would truly call you a friend?

The status quo brought us here. Weve led peaceful protests for years. Many lobbied you for change when you had power. Many racial disparities got worse under your leadership. What the hell do you know about ending racism? What the hell do you know about not deepening racism in our society?

Maybe spend less time attempting to be the patriarch to Black folk, and spend more time taking responsibility for your white folks who support a white supremacist President en masse, who are overlooking violent militias killing people, and threatening government officials with armed protests. Collect your people, Dave, because the violence you want to end has a root cause and it aint with Black folk.

Or do you only wish to continue to not take responsibility and continue to tell Black folk theyre doing it wrong with a foot on our neck, and being shot seven times in the back?

Last I checked, the only violence I see you condemning is that caused by a small number of Black folks, or those fighting to end racial oppression. Not police enacting violence with zero consequences. Not white supremacists. Not the US government and its wars of imperialism and occupation. Not the US in being the worlds largest arms dealer. Not the GOP who wont condemn its supporters that cause violence, who in fact encourage and lift those folks up as heroes. No calls for the Madison Police Department or the city to investigate and condemn the Friends of MPD Facebook page, which had people calling to shoot and kill anti-racist protestors after a white supremacist killed two people in Kenosha. Youd rather denounce property crimes as violence, and tell Black folk, and those who have been on the ground organizing to end gun violence, to work to end gun violence the very thing theyve already been doing.

Where are you, Dave, in the effort to end gun violence in Black neighborhoods? Still too scared to be in Black spaces? In fact, you seem to agree Tony Robinson should be dead since you cited nothing wrong was found by police investigating police. So it seems youre okay with some types of violence.

The opposite, or anti-racist word, would be one of understanding, one that sees these issues are ones larger than Black community leaders can respond to it seems you see enough for them to be too large of a problem for cities to address, but why are they small enough for local Black leaders, with far fewer resources than the city to address? As they cant end the poverty, education disparities, criminal justice disparities, that you, Dave helped inflict. The opposite would be one of understanding, where not necessarily having to agree with property destruction, where one understands its roots in violent racist oppression, and calling to end that instead.

Take this as a free lesson. Next time Ill send you an invoice for the service pointing out your racism, especially because it is people like you who perpetuated a world where my father worked himself half to death to end racism and provide you with free advisement which you didnt take. You are the white moderate MLK Jr was talking about in his Letter from a Bermingham Jail, and it is time for you to go quietly into the night as the time for your mediocre voice is over.

This opinion piece reflects the views of its author and not necessarily those of Madion365, its funders, board of directors or staff.

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Matthew Braunginn: Just the facts about Citizen Dave and racist dog whistles - madison365.com