(2019-01-31). ICE Is Force-Feeding Detainees on Hunger Strike. truthdig.com Federal immigration officials are force-feeding six immigrants through plastic nasal tubes during a hunger strike that's gone on for a month inside a Texas detention facility, The Associated Press has learned. | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says 11 detainees at the El Paso Processing Center have been refusing food, some for more than 30 days. Detainees who reached the AP, along with a relative and an attorney representing hunger strikers, said nearly 30 detainees from India and Cuba have been refusing to eat, and some are now so weak they cannot stand up or talk. | Another four detainees are on hunger…
(2019-01-31). Boochani: Asylum seeker on Manus wins Australian literature prize. aljazeera.com Iranian Kurd awarded $73,000 for his book written via text messages sent from offshore prison.
(2019-01-31). Catholic Bishop in Kentucky: Trump agenda is anti-life and immoral. peoplesworld.org 
In the midst of controversy over videos showing young men from a Catholic high school in Kentucky harassing a Native American in Washington, D.C., the Catholic Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, John Stowe, issued a remarkable op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Leader condemning President Trump's racist and anti-immigrant agenda as a violation of Catholic moral principles. The …
(2019-01-31). Dialogue: Women's March Leaders on Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Racism & More. democracynow.org 
Thousands took to the streets for women's marches across the country on January 19, exactly two years after Donald Trump's inauguration sparked a burgeoning women's movement. But some of this year's marches were steeped in controversy. In November, Teresa Shook, one of the founders of the Women's March movement, called for the removal of the four national co-chairs: Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour. She accused them of allowing "anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform." Much of the criticism focused on links between some of the c…
(2019-01-31). Headlines for January 31, 2019. democracynow.org Venezuela: U.S. Urges Military to Back Guaidó as Protesters Take to Streets, Reuters: UAE Hired Ex-NSA Agents to Spy on Opponents and Critics, Congress Reintroduces War Powers Resolution to End War on Yemen, Trump Hits Back After Intelligence Chiefs Contradict Him on Iran, N. Korea, Israeli Forces Kill Teenage Palestinian Girl at West Bank Checkpoint, Israel: Thousands of Israeli Ethiopians Protest Racism, Police Brutality, Migrants: Scores Killed in 2 Boat Wrecks Off Djibouti Coast, Humanitarian Ship Docks in Italy After European Nations Agree to Process Migrants, Colombia: 2 Community Leaders Killed Amid Mounti…
(2019-01-31). Like Military at Gitmo, ICE Reportedly Using Nasal Tubes to Force Feed Migrant Prisoners on Hunger Strike. commondreams.org "By starving themselves, these men are trying to make public the very suffering that ICE is trying to keep hidden from taxpayers." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/ice_0_0_0.jpg…
(2019-01-31). Darwin pub staff take a stand against racism. greenleft.org.au 
Staff at the Rorkes pub in Darwin walked off the job on January 22 after refusing to follow the owner's orders to ban Aboriginal patrons from the premises. | Larrakia elder June Mills called for a boycott after allegations of racism against owner Mitchell McNamee came to light. | Staff told ABC News that McNamee had told them to ban Indigenous patrons using the excuse of "no singlets". Thom Brock, a former…
(2019-01-31). Venezuela: Authorities must release journalists detained while covering crisis. amnesty.org In response to reports of the detention of at least 11 journalists in Venezuela this week, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: | "The detention of journalists is a flagrant and deeply concerning attack on freedom of expression and the right to truth, in a vain attempt to prevent the world from seeing the massive human rights violations that the Venezuelan authorities are committing." |
(2019-01-31). Muslim child-murderer sues prison over refusal to allow imam instead of priest attend death chamber. rt.com 
A Muslim inmate in Alabama has asked a court to postpone his execution, claiming the state has violated his rights by not allowing an imam to be present when he is put to death, instead of a Christian cleric.
(2019-01-31). Sri Lanka: Countering terrorism at the expense of human rights: Concerns with Sri Lanka's Counter Terrorism Bill. amnesty.org Far from being a break with the past, according to analysis by Amnesty International the new Counter Terrorism Bill proposed by Sri Lanka would require substantial amendment to be brought in line with international law. The draft law, which permits detention without charge for up to one year, contains ambiguity on critical definitions of what constitutes an offence of terrorism, and would permit detention for up to 14 days without access to a court of law. Although the Bill improves on some aspects of the draconian measures in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), there are many provisions in the current Bill wh…
(2019-01-31). US Interrogators Are Working in UAE Prisons in Yemen. theantimedia.com 
(MEMO) — US interrogators are present in UAE prisons in Yemen, the Daily Beast has revealed today, providing shocking evidence that the American military is a witness to the torture of Yemenis. In a series of interviews, two former detainees have testified to being interrogated by men with American accents, who looked on as they were beaten and electrocuted. …
(2019-01-30). US, China Resume Trade Talks Amongst Cold-War Like Tensions. telesurenglish.net Top U.S. and Chinese trade officials returned to the bargaining table Wednesday, working to avoid a sharp escalation in the trade war between the world's two largest economies. | RELATED: | China VP Arrives in US For Talks, Huawei Detention Concerns | At the head of a 30-person delegation from Beijing, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He greeted his counterpart…
(2019-01-30). Smith College Overhauls Policing Practices After Black Student Racially Profiled. aclu.org 
After a Smith College employee called the cops on a Black student as she ate lunch, Smith will take up the ACLU's recommendations for police reforms. | This past July, Oumou Kanoute was a rising sophomore at Smith College, working on campus over the summer to mentor high school students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, careers. A young Black immigrant and the daughter of a single mother, Oumou is exactly the kind of striver colleges like Smith seek to attract. | But Oumou felt anything but welcome on that late July afternoon. As she ate in a common room, wearing the unofficial Sm…
(2019-01-30). Chile: 6 Men Guilty of Poisoning Ex-President Eduardo Frei. telesurenglish.net After an 18-year investigation, six people were convicted for the 1982 murder of Chilean ex-President Eduardo Frei Montalva and sentenced up to 10 years in prison, Judge Alejandro Madrid ruled Wednesday. | RELATED: | Chile: Mapuches Fight For Right to Consultation in Araucania | While undergoing surgery, Frei was injected with multiple doses of "toxic substances" containing thallium and sulfur mustard which induced him into a septic shock before death, an 811-page court record sa…
(2019-01-30). NAACP Challenge to 2020 Census Preparations Moves Forward. naacp.org Federal judge denies Census Bureau motion to dismiss suit over inadequate government preparations for the 2020 Census The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its allies today won a major court ruling that allows them to proceed with a federal lawsuit challenging the government's inadequate preparations for the 2020 Census. "[T]he census must […]
(2019-01-30). Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People's Voice Prints. theintercept.com 
Roughly six months ago at New York's Sing Sing prison, John Dukes says he was brought out with cellmates to meet a corrections counselor. He recalls her giving him a paper with some phrases and offering him a strange choice: He could go up to the phone and utter the phrases that an automated voice would ask him to read, or he could choose not to and lose his phone access altogether. | Dukes did not know why he was being asked to make this decision, but he felt troubled as he heard other men ahead of him speaking into the phone and repeating certain phrases from the sheets the counselors had given them. | "I was c…
(2019-01-30). NYT flirts with irrelevancy after publishing Mary Poppins blackface exclusive. rt.com 
Does the new Mary Poppins film feature blackface? No, but the NYT has nonetheless argued that the movie somehow borrows from racist 1930s minstrel jokes, the latest outrage-laden interpretation of a children's classic.
(2019-01-29). Trump Says 58,000 Texans Voted Illegally. Here's What Actually Happened. aclu.org Voter fraud is extremely rare. States using unreliable data to justify purges of eligible voters, unfortunately, is not. | The president of the United States is once again spreading unsubstantiated claims about rampant voter fraud and undermining faith in the integrity of our democracy. This time, he's claiming that 95,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in Texas and more than half have actually voted. These numbers,…
(2019-01-29). The One Wall Trump Doesn't Like. aclu.org The Trump administration continues to push laws and policies that breach the wall separating religion and the government. | President Trump may be the world's most renowned fan of building walls, but there's at least one wall he loathes: the wall of separation between church and state. From the Muslim ban to his so-called "religious freedom" executive order, Trump and his theocratic supporters have pushed l…
(2019-01-29). AGO proposes nationwide raids on books containing 'banned ideas'. mronline.org 
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo is proposing that massive raids be carried out to hunt down books which contain communist teachings and banned ideologies. The proposal was made after the seizure of hundreds of books around the country allegedly containing "banned ideas". — Taufiq Siddiq, Jakarta "I'm proposing that if possible, yes massive raids be carried […] | Source
(2019-01-29). 2-year-old expelled by mall, community demands disability rights. fightbacknews.org Wyoming, MI – Discrimination against a two-year-old girl with a disability brought close to 150 people to Rogers Plaza Town Center for "Walking with Claire" on January 27. | On a Sunday afternoon, the normally empty mall was filled with family, friends and disability rights activists wearing, "Walking with Claire" t-shirts. Some held signs reading, "Disabled lives matter!" and "We heart our community! Everybody belongs!" | The large crowd gathered to walk slowly behind Claire and her parents, Andrew Dykstra and Hiliary Goddard-Dykstra, to the far end of the mall. There everyone sat down on the floor together to r…
(2019-01-29). NAACP Statement on Racist and Homophobic Attack on Jussie Smollett. naacp.org "The recent racist and homophobic attack on acclaimed actor and activist Jussie Smollett is troubling. The rise in hate crimes is directly linked to President Donald J. Trump's racist and xenophobic rhetoric. It is dangerous for any society to allow a tone of divisiveness and hatred to dominate the political discourse. As this rhetoric continues to […]
(2019-01-29). Protest Is Coming to Super Bowl LIII. thenation.com Protest Is Coming to Super Bowl LIII…
(2019-01-29). China: Rights Website Founder Sentenced to 5 Years. hrw.org 
(New York) — Chinese authorities should immediately quash the conviction and unconditionally release the founder of a human rights news website, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 29, 2019, a court in Hubei province sentenced Liu Feiyue to five years in prison after convicting him on charges of "inciting subversion of state power." | | | Liu Feiyue. | Source: Chinese Human Rights Defenders | Liu, 48, is a veteran activist and founder of Minsheng Guancha (Civil…
(2019-01-28). In Congress, a Threat to Americans' First Amendment Right to Boycott. aclu.org A new bill promotes state laws targeting boycotts of Israel — even though multiple judges have found such laws to be unconstitutional. | The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a bill that includes language that would encourage states to pass unconstitutional laws penalizing businesses and individuals who participate in politically motivated boycotts against Israel. | More than two dozen states have adopted such laws in the past four years. Their collective target is the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, "a glob…
(2019-01-28). Headlines for January 28, 2019. democracynow.org U.S. & Taliban Agree to Path for Afghan Peace Deal, Federal Employees Return to Work as Gov't Agencies Temporarily Reopen, Venezuela: Maduro Gov't Defies U.S. and European Calls to Support Opposition, Philippines: Twin Bombs Rock Cathedral, Killing At Least 20, U.N. Condemns Killing of Palestinian by Israeli Settlers, Israeli Forces Kill 3 Palestinians Across Occupied Territories, Brazil: Mining Dam Collapse Kills At Least 58, Hundreds Still Missing, France: Protesters Take Streets for 11th Week, Call Out Police Brutality, Germany to Shut Down All Coal Plants by 2038, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Reinstates…
(2019-01-28). Racist Website Faith And Heritage Is Closing Up Shop. splcenter.org Faith and Heritage, a website launched in 2011 espousing the racist "Kinist" interpretation of Christian theology, announced on Jan. 13 that it would stop publishing articles.
(2019-01-27). New Yorkers rally for Marzieh Hashemi. fightbacknews.org New York, NY — On January 25 several dozen activists gathered in Grand Central Station to bring attention to the case of Marzieh Hashemi. Hashemi is a Muslim, African-American journalist who was imprisoned on January 13 when she was arrested by the FBI at the Saint Louis International Airport. She was on her way to visit her sick brother in Denver. For almost two weeks she as held as a "material witness" for an undisclosed investigation. | Hashemi was finally released shortly before the protest, but her family asked for the protesters who were mobilizing to continue their plans, so they could bring awarenes…
(2019-01-27). Netanyahu Forms Alliances with Far-Right Authoritarian Leaders. therealnews.com 
Shir Hever says Netanyahu is abusing his image as a protector of the Jewish people, and cuts deals with far-right and anti-Semitic heads of state, absolving them of their racism towards Jews in exchange for their superficial support for the State of Israel. All this, to win the upcoming Israeli elections
(2019-01-25). It's Time to Update Aging Voting Equipment Before the 2020 Election. aclu.org Sixteen million voters encountered problems voting in 2016. A big culprit was aging voting equipment. | When Ronald Campbell went to his polling location in Horry County, South Carolina, to vote in the 2018 midterms, he wasn't expecting it to become an odyssey. But when he and his wife arrived at their polling location, the lines were so long that Ronald feared he and his wife wouldn't be physically able to stand for the amount of time it would take to get to the voting booth. Nevertheless, they returned to the polling location four separate times throughout the day until the line had become reasonable — th…
(2019-01-25). Data Reveals Driving as a Person of Color in Illinois Leads to More Unjustified Searches. aclu.org Baseless traffic stops and inconsistent search standards harm the public trust and damage police-community relationships. | In January 2016, Richard Jackson, a Black man, was driving to his home on Chicago's West Side when he noticed a car trailing him. As he turned into the alley leading to his driveway, the unmarked police car pulled him over and four officers leapt out, demanding that he lower all four of his car's windows. Jackson's grandparents, who live with him, watched from their home's window in fear. | After running his license, one officer told Jackson he would be let go with a warning. But when Jackso…
(2019-01-25). Trump Administration Puts Religious Beliefs Over the Best Interests of Children. aclu.org The Department of Health and Human Services has exempted South Carolina from federal nondiscrimination requirements for child welfare programs. | Across the United States, there are over 440,000 children in the public child welfare system. Nearly a quarter of these children are awaiting adoption with many living in group homes because no family is available to care for them. In the end, too many of these children will age out of the system without ever becoming part of a loving family. Despite these facts, the Trump administration this week made it even harder for these children to find foster and adoptive parent…
(2019-01-25). Weekend Read: 'I'm going to be paying it down until I die.'. splcenter.org The women incarcerated in Corinth, Mississippi, have a phrase for it: "sitting it out." We have another name for it: "debtors' prison."
(2019-01-25). My Time as an NAACP LAW Fellow. naacp.org I applied for the NAACP's law fellows program because of the organization's legacy in protecting the rights of people of color and in doing so the rights of all people. Law school has allowed me to more fully contextualize the history of race in the United States, and I recognized the crucial role the NAACP has played […]
(2019-01-25). Egypt's LGBT Crackdown Expands to Stifle Journalists. hrw.org 
| | Screenshot of an August 2018 television segment in which Egyptian anchor Mohamed Al-Ghaity interviewed an unidentified gay guest. Al-Ghaity was sentenced to one year in prison for the interview in January 2019. | © 2018 LTC TV/YouTube | An Egyptian television anchor was unexpectedly sentenced to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man on TV last week. The conviction of Mohamed Al-Ghaity,…
(2019-01-24). My NAACP Law Fellowship. naacp.org I thoroughly enjoyed my 1L summer at the NAACP and I cannot speak highly enough about my experience there. I decided to go to law school because I wanted to learn how to address the ways systemic issues such as housing discrimination and mass incarceration adversely affect the African American community. Working for the NAACP […]
(2019-01-24). Arizona Provides Me Unequal Healthcare Because I'm Transgender. aclu.org I'm part of a class-action lawsuit to ensure that the state of Arizona includes transition-related health care in its insurance coverage. | I'm a professor of family studies and human development at the University of Arizona, and I have dedicated my career to studying how discrimination impacts LGBTQ adolescents. I'm also transgender, and I know from experience that growing up is different — and still much more difficult — for LGBTQ youth. So it came as a disappointment when I learned that the state university where I work does not cover transition-related healthcare for its employees or their depende…
(2019-01-24). 3 Members of a Kansas Militia Once Plotted To Bomb a Mosque, Now Are Going to Prison. splcenter.org Three members of a militia group known as "the Crusaders" were sentenced Friday to a total of 81 years in prison for plotting to bomb Somali and Muslim communities in Kansas.
(2019-01-24). Lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck: Bush, Rumsfeld & Cheney Are a Troika of Tyranny & Should Be in Prison. democracynow.org 
As Venezuela faces an attempted coup supported by the U.S., Brazil and the European Union, we speak with human rights attorney Wolfgang Kaleck. In November, John Bolton accused Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua of being part of a "troika of tyranny." Kaleck says the real "troika of tyranny" is George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who should be in prison for war crimes. Kaleck is a human rights attorney who for decades has been at the forefront of the legal fight to hold powerful actors and governments around the world accountable for human rights abuses. His new book, titled "Law Versus Power: Our Global…
(2019-01-24). Decades of Financial Deregulation & Racist Housing Policy Brought Us 2007 Meltdown, with More to Come (Pt 1/3). therealnews.com 
Carter, Reagan, Clinton, the Bushes, Obama, and now Trump deregulated Wall Street and did nothing to help Black and Brown homeowners in America. White collar criminologist Bill Black discusses the social structure of mortgage discrimination. Part 1: The History
(2019-01-22). Uniting against racism. greenleft.org.au 
A collective of alt-right and neo-Nazi groups organised what they called a "political meeting" at St Kilda beach on January 5. It came a week after the neo-Nazi Neil Erikson led a group of acolytes down to the same beach to harass and film African Australians in an attempt to incite violence. | Various hate-filled Facebook pages promoted the "meeting", including one described as "Rise Up Australia — Romper Stomper 2.0", a reference to a film about white supremacists in Footscray who attacked and violently assaulted Vietnamese Australians. | The event was not a "political meeting" nor was it ever intended to…
(2019-01-20). How to Spend MLK Day. naacp.org 
Tomorrow, our nation will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose dream of an America that was truly equal for all its people has inspired generations of people to fight to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. From the Montgomery Bus Boycott to marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, […]
(2019-01-19). For the People Act. naacp.org The first legislation to be introduced in the 116th Congress is H.R. 1, the For the People Act. H.R. 1 is a comprehensive bill with provisions to protect and support eligible American citizens to cast a free and unfettered vote and for the American people to be sure their vote was counted. The For the […]
(2019-01-18). Spectre Unmasked: Racist 'Alt-Right' Podcaster Used To Be Local Reporter. splcenter.org A notorious white nationalist podcaster with a history of instigating harassment campaigns and threats of violence against reporters is in fact a journalist himself, Hatewatch has learned.
(2019-01-17). Campaign to free Aboriginal women jailed for unpaid fines. greenleft.org.au 
An online crowdfunding campaign set up to help Aboriginal women in Western Australia avoid jail for unpaid fines has raised $230,000 in its first four days and already settled the debts of 30 imprisoned women, with another 50 expected to be free in coming weeks. | The campaign is being organised by the Queensland-based Sisters Inside advocacy group. | In a statement calling for donations, Sisters Inside explained: "Western Australia refuses to change the laws where people who have no criminal convictions are imprisoned if they do not have the capacity to pay a fine. | "Single Aboriginal mothers make up the majori…
(2019-01-16). Imprisoned Neo-Nazi Leader Says His Hate Group Is a Religion, Court Says No. splcenter.org A federal appeals court has ruled that Matthew Hale's hate philosophy, Creativity, isn't a religion because it focuses almost exclusively on preserving the white race and lacks a coherent set of "ultimate ideas."
(2019-01-15). At Root a Radical. A New Book Re-Examines Martin Luther King's Quest for Economic Justice. progressive.org He refused to choose between economic equality and an end to racially-based discrimination.
(2019-01-14). Venezuela: Self-Proclaimed 'Interim President' Released After 'Irregular' Detention. venezuelanalysis.com The officers responsible have been detained and suspended, reportedly on Maduro's orders.
(2019-01-05). Exploring the institutional drivers of gender bias. zcomm.org The Social Institutions and Gender index (SIGI) was first launched in 2009, and then updated in 2012 and 2014. The fourth edition of the SIGI was launched in December 2018. The index uses these four dimensions to measure the institutional effects on gender parity: Discrimination in the family Restricted physical integrity Restricted access to productive Read more…