House passes CROWN Act to ban discrimination against Black hairstyles

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., sponsored the CROWN Act that passed in the House Friday meant to stop discrimination against hairstyles often worn by African Americans. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

March 18 (UPI) -- The House on Friday passed a bill that banned discrimination against African American-related hairstyles, which includes afros and cornrows.

The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, or CROWN, was born out of incidents in which Black people complained they were denied employment or discriminated against because of their hairstyles.

The issue reached a national high point in 2019 when a high school wrestler in New Jersey was ordered by a White referee to cut his dreadlocks before a match or he would rule it a forfeit. Since then, more than a dozen states have passed similar legislation on their own.

"Natural Black hair is often deemed 'unprofessional' simply because it does not conform to white beauty standards," Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

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"Discrimination against Black hair is discrimination against Black people. I'm proud to have played a part to ensure that we end discrimination against people for how their hair grows out of their head."

The act, which still faces an uncertain future in the Senate, outlawed discrimination against people wearing such hairstyles as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots or afros, all commonly worn by African Americans.

"It's time that natural hair is a point of pride, not something to hide," Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia, said about the bill in a statement. "I am proud to have worked on this bill with Rep. Watson Coleman and my colleagues to end race-based hair discrimination."

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Some Republicans, though, ridiculed the bill, suggesting it was a waste of time while the country faced more pressing issues and that federal law already covered such discrimination.

"Fourteen months of chaos and we're doing a bill on hair," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Friday, according to CNN. "I hope we can actually focus on the things that matter to the American people."

Internet-famous cat Stepan escapes from Ukraine

March 18 (UPI) -- Stepan, an internet-famous tabby cat who has more than a million followers on Instagram and Tik Tok, has escaped war-torn Ukraine.

The cat's social media pages went silent on March 3, alarming his followers. Stepan's owner, known only as Anna, gave an update on Instagram this week on how they made it to safety following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We spent two nights in the basement and without electricity for a week. We had to go to the nearby basement to charge the phone. Then we managed to leave the city. Kharkiv volunteers helped by taking us to the railway station. We got on the train Kharkiv - Lviv (in 20 hours, we got to Lviv). Then we followed to the border with Poland," the post said alongside photos of Stepan's journey.

"At the border, we stood in line in a pedestrian crossing. There were a lot of people (4-5 thousand). After 9 hours, we crossed the border. When we reached Poland, we were offered help from the World Influencers and Bloggers Association from Monaco. They helped us get to France to wait for the very day when we could return home. We're all right now. We worry very much about our relatives in Ukraine and will do the very best we can to help our country," the post continued.

Anna, her family and Stepan were able to escape with the help of The World Influencers and Bloggers Association. The organization, founded in 2019, unites influencers from all over the world.

The organization, who voted Stephan as one of the world's top pet influencers, was able help the family escape, and rented an apartment in France for the famous tabby and his owners to stay in.

"It was not so easy, on each stage we were in touch with them," said Iryna Savchak, a spokeswoman for the World Influencers and Bloggers Association. "Now, we are personally taking care of them in France."

Stepan's Instagram account detailed the damage done to his family's home and surroundings in Kharkiv.

The 13-year-old tabby cat called for peace recently with his Instagram account stating "Ukraine does not want a war," alongside a photo of the cat with a Ukrainian-colored heart above his head.

Stepan came to fame in November when Britney Spears posted content from the cat that was liked more than one million times. Hailey Bieber and Diane Kruger are also fans.

Egypt displays recently discovered ancient tombs in Saqqara

By SAMY MAGDY

Reporters prepare to enter a recently discovered tomb near the famed Step Pyramid, in Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 19, 2022. Egypt on Saturday displayed a recently discovered, finely-decorated ancient tombs at an infamous Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital of Cairo. The five tombs, unearthed earlier this month, date back to the Old Kingdom (1570 B.C. and 1069 B.C.) and the First Intermediate Period, an era spanned for around 125 years after the collapse of the old kingdom, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. (AP Photo/Sayed Hassan)

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Saturday displayed recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo.

The five tombs were unearthed earlier this month and date back to the Old Kingdom — a period spanning roughly from around 2700 BC to 2200 B.C., as well as to the First Intermediate Period, which lasted for over a century after the Old Kingdom collapsed, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Egyptian archeologists started excavating the site in September. The tombs, he said, were for senior officials including regional rulers and palace supervisors in ancient Egypt.

“All of those five tombs are well-painted, well-decorated. Excavations did not stop. We are planning to continue our excavations. We believe that we can find more tombs in this area,” he told reporters at the site.

The tombs were found near the Step Pyramid of Djoser, in the Saqqara Necropolis, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo.

Footage shared on the ministry’s social media pages showed burial shafts leading to the tombs. Walls were seen decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions and images of sacred animals and after-life items used by ancient Egyptians.

The Saqqara site is part of a a sprawling necropolis at Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.



In recent years, Egypt has heavily promoted new archaeological finds to international media and diplomats in the hope of attracting more tourists to the country.

The vital tourism sector, a major source of foreign currency for Egypt, suffered from years of political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The sector has recently started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but was hit again by the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Along with Russia, Ukraine is a major source of tourists visiting the Middle Eastern nation.

Baker Hughes joins oil rivals in pausing Russian operations
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO

The logo for Halliburton appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, April 23, 2018. U.S. oil field services companies Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger are suspending their operations in Russia as the Houston, Texas-based businesses react to U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. oil field services company Baker Hughes said Saturday that it was suspending new investments for its Russia operations, a day after similar moves were announced by rivals Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger.

The steps from the Houston, Texas-based businesses come as they respond to U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In its statement, Baker Hughes, which also has headquarters in London, said the company is complying with applicable laws and sanctions as it fulfills current contractual obligations. It said the announcement follows an internal decision made with its board and shared with its top leadership team.

“The crisis in Ukraine is of grave concern, and we strongly support a diplomatic solution,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes.

Halliburton announced Friday that it suspended future business in Russia. Halliburton said it halted all shipments of specific sanctioned parts and products to Russia several weeks ago and that it will prioritize safety and reliability as it winds down its remaining operations in the country.

Schlumberger said that it had suspended investment and technology deployment to its Russia operations.

“Safety and security are at the core of who we are as a company, and we urge a cessation of the conflict and a restoration of safety and security in the region,” Schlumberger CEO Olivier Le Peuch said in a statement.

As the war continues, and the deadly violence and humanitarian crisis worsens, companies that remain are under increasing pressure to leave.

More than 400 U.S. and other multinational firms have pulled out of Russia, either permanently or temporarily, according to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for Executive Programs at Yale University’s School of Management, who has publicized a list of corporate actions in Russia.

Oil companies ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP, along with some major tech companies like Dell and Facebook, were among the first to announce their withdrawal or suspension of operations. Many others, including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Estee Lauder, followed. Roughly 30 companies remain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday asked Congress to press U.S. businesses still operating in Russia to leave, saying the Russian market is “flooded with our blood.”

Jewish groups condemn Latvian parade to honour Nazis, warn it could be used for Russian propaganda

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen

Jewish groups are condemning a parade in Latvia to celebrate members of Adolf Hitler’s SS, warning that the continued glorification of Nazis is not only wrong, but could also be used for Russian propaganda.

© Provided by Ottawa Citizen A veteran of the Latvian Legion, a force that was commanded by the German Nazi Waffen-SS during the Second World War, places flowers at the Monument of Freedom in Riga, Latvia on March 16, 2019. Some see the parade as glorifying Nazism because the Legion, founded in 1943, was commanded by Germany's Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi party's Schutzstaffel SS.

The march to honour Latvia’s SS Legion has been a controversial annual event, but pandemic health restrictions forced the cancellation of the celebration for the past two years. Latvian TV reported it was back on this year with several hundred people participating in the parade in Riga on Wednesday.

For decades, Jewish groups have condemned the celebration and what they say is Latvia’s continued glorification of those who supported Hitler or took part in the Holocaust. There were also concerns the parade would give Russian leader Vladimir Putin yet another example to drive home his propaganda message that NATO nations and Ukraine are home to Nazis. Putin has already claimed his military needed to invade Ukraine to “de-Nazify” that country.

Marvin Rotrand, a national director with B’nai Brith Canada, said Latvia continued to ignore calls for the parade to be shut down. “They are honouring a SS unit whose members were involved in atrocities,” Rotrand said. “This year, in particular, there is an amazing lack of understanding of the damage a march like this does to the unity of NATO and the nations standing for democracy.”

Over the years, eastern European nations have erected monuments to nationalistic leaders who fought the Soviet Union during the Second World War, but many of those same leaders were Nazi collaborators and some were active participants in the Holocaust. The Nazis also created SS units drawn from men in Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Estonia.

This photo from the Second World War shows Latvian SS members.

Holocaust scholars and Jewish groups note the easiest way for eastern European governments to undercut Putin’s claims that they support Nazism would be to put a halt to such celebrations and to remove monuments to collaborators.

But Latvian officials have doubled down on praise for the SS and argue the members of the legion are heroes who fought the Russians and had nothing to do with the Holocaust.

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In 2019, Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks called the SS members “the pride of the Latvian people and of the state.” Pabriks also called out those who condemned the parade, adding, “It is our duty to honour these Latvian patriots from the depths of our soul.”

Canadian government and military officials refused to condemn Pabriks’ statements.

In early 2019, however, Global Affairs Canada denounced the annual March 16 parade. Amy Mills, a department spokesperson, said Canada was “strongly opposed to the glorification of Nazism and all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance and extremism. That is why we condemn the parade to commemorate the Latvian SS Brigade held in Latvia on March 16th.”

This year, Global Affairs Canada took a less strident approach. It did not mention Nazis, nor specifically denounce the parade. “Canada has consistently supported Latvia’s freedom and independence, and condemns those who would co-opt those sentiments to promote hatred, extremism, and division,” department spokesperson James Emmanuel Wanki noted in an email Thursday. “To our understanding, these events are neither sanctioned nor attended by the Latvian government.”

The Canadian Forces has around 540 troops in Latvia as part of a NATO mission. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently concluded a visit to Latvia and announced a further extension of the mission. His office noted “Canada and Latvia’s relationship is rooted in our shared values.”

The Latvian SS Legion consisted of hard-core Nazi collaborators who had taken part in the Holocaust as well as conscripts. Among the Legion’s officers was Viktors Arajs, the anti-Semite who liked to refer himself as “Arajs, the Latvian Jew-killer.”

Arajs once regaled guests at a dinner party in Riga with his views on the best method to kill Jewish babies, according to the book The Holocaust in Latvia. Arajs told his dinner party participants he would throw the children into the air and then shoot them. That way he avoided ricochets that might happen if he murdered the babies on the ground.

Latvian TV reported the government had increased the police presence at this year’s parade and there were no incidents. Government officials denied a request to allow a counter-protest by those opposed to Nazi glorification.

The Latvian government and its supporters allege those denouncing the parade have been duped by “Russian disinformation.” The right-wing Macdonald Laurier Institute in Ottawa, which has received funding from the Latvian defence ministry, has also claimed some news articles outlining Latvians’ participation in the Holocaust and support for Hitler “essentially parroted the Kremlin’s tailored narratives.”

But Jewish groups have raised concerns such statements are aimed at whitewashing the Holocaust.

Dovid Katz, editor of Defending History, a journal devoted to Holocaust studies and fighting Nazi glorification, said it was “utterly sad” the parade was back on in Riga. “That they would this year again be gifted the historic centre of the capital is a folly rife with poor judgment and even poorer ethics in an act of de-facto state facilitation of a pathetic worship of Hitlerism,” he said.

EXPLAINER: Why Putin uses WWII to justify war with Ukraine
By TIA GOLDENBERG

March 18, 2022

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 Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 1, 2022. (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Vladimir Putin on Friday again painted his enemies in Ukraine as “neo-Nazis,” even though the country has a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government.

The Holocaust, World War II and Nazism have been important tools for Putin in his bid to legitimize Russia’s war in Ukraine, but historians see their use as disinformation and a cynical ploy to further the Russian leader’s aims.

Israel has proceeded cautiously, seeking not to jeopardize its security ties with the Kremlin, despite what it considers the sacred memory of the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Here’s a closer look at how the ghosts of the past are shaping today’s conflict:


THE WAR THAT DEFINES RUSSIA

World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people, is a linchpin of Russia’s national identity. In today’s Russia, officials bristle at any questioning of the USSR’s role.

Some historians say this has been coupled with an attempt by Russia to retool certain historical truths from the war. They say Russia has tried to magnify the Soviet role in defeating the Nazis while playing down any collaboration by Soviet citizens in the persecution of Jews.

On Ukraine, Russia has tried to link the country to Nazism, particularly those who have led it since a pro-Russian leadership was toppled in 2014.

This goes back to 1941 when Ukraine, at the time part of the Soviet Union, was occupied by Nazi Germany. Some Ukrainian nationalists welcomed the Nazi occupiers, in part as a way to challenge their Soviet opponents, according to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial. Historians say that, like in other countries, there was also collaboration.

Some of Ukraine’s politicians since 2014 have sought to glorify nationalist fighters from the era, focusing on their opposition to Soviet rule rather than their collaboration and documented crimes against Jews, as well as Poles living in Ukraine.

But making the leap from that to claiming Ukraine’s current government is a Nazi state does not reflect the reality of its politics, including the landslide election of a Jewish president and the aim of many Ukrainians to strengthen the country’s democracy, reduce corruption and move closer to the West.

“In terms of all of the sort of constituent parts of Nazism, none of that is in play in Ukraine. Territorial ambitions. State-sponsored terrorism. Rampant antisemitism. Bigotry. A dictatorship. None of those are in play. So this is just total fiction,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a history professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

What’s more, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and has said that three of his grandfather’s brothers were killed by German occupiers while his grandfather survived the war. That hasn’t stopped Russian officials from comparing Zelenskyy to Jews who were forced to collaborate with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

HOLOCAUST DISTORTION

Putin’s attempts to stretch history for political motives is part of a trend seen in other countries as well. Most prominently is Poland, where authorities are advancing a nationalist narrative at odds with mainstream scholarship, including through a 2018 law that regulates Holocaust speech.

The legislation sought to fight back against claims that Poland, a victim of Nazi Germany, bore responsibility for the Holocaust. The law angered Israel, where many felt it was an attempt to whitewash the fact that some Poles did kill Jews during the German occupation during World War II. Yad Vashem also came out against the legislation.

Havi Dreifuss, a historian at Tel Aviv University and Yad Vashem, said the world was now dealing with both Holocaust denial and Holocaust distortion, where countries or institutions were bringing forth their own interpretations of history that were damaging to the commemoration of the Holocaust.

“Whoever deals with the period of the Holocaust must first and foremost be committed to the complex reality that occurred then and not with wars over memory that exist today,” she said.

ISRAELI INTERESTS

The Holocaust is central to Israel’s national identity. The country comes to a two-minute standstill on its Holocaust remembrance day. Schoolchildren, trade groups and soldiers make regular trips to Yad Vashem’s museum. Stories of the last cohort of Holocaust survivors constantly make the news.

Israel has butted heads with certain countries, including Poland, over the memory of the Holocaust. But Israel has appeared more reticent to challenge Putin and his narrative, according to some observers, because of its current security interests. Israel relies on coordination with Russia to allow it to strike targets in Syria, which it says are often weapons caches destined for Israel’s enemies.

Israel came under fire from historians in 2020 after a speech by Putin and a separate video presentation at a meeting of world leaders in Jerusalem to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, which they said skewed toward his narrative and away from the historical facts.

Israel was conspicuously muted in its criticism of Russia in the lead-up to the war on Ukraine. Commentator Raviv Drucker wrote in the daily Haaretz that Israel was “on the wrong side of history” with its response, which initially sought to support Ukraine while not rattling Russia.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion. But Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has stopped short of issuing a public condemnation of Russia. Through that neutral stance, he has emerged as an unlikely mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.

Vera Michlin-Shapir, a former official at Israel’s National Security Council and the author of “Fluid Russia,” a book about the country’s national identity, said that Israel’s regional security concerns were of greater interest than challenging Russia on its narrative.

“Russia can provide weapons systems to our worst enemies and therefore Israel is proceeding very cautiously — you could say too cautiously — because there is an issue here that is at the heart of Israel’s security,” she said.

MEDIEVAL FEUDALISM
Afghanistan world’s unhappiest country, even before Taliban

By KATHY GANNON

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Internally displaced Afghans from northern provinces, who fled their home due to fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel, take refuge in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world — even before the Taliban swept to power last August. That's according to a so-called World Happiness report released, Saturday, March 19, 2022 ahead of the U.N.-designated International Day of Happiness on Sunday. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world — even before the Taliban swept to power last August. That’s according to a so-called World Happiness report released ahead of the U.N.-designated International Day of Happiness on Sunday.

The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed, with a happiness rate of just 2.5. Lebanon was the world’s second saddest country, with Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe rounding out the bottom five. Finland ranked first for the fourth year running with a 7.8 score, followed by Denmark and Switzerland, with Iceland and the Netherlands also in the top five.

Researchers ranked the countries after analyzing data over three years. They looked at several categories, including gross domestic product per capita, social safety nets, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity of the population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels.

Afghanistan stacked up poorly in all six categories, a confounding result coming as it did before the Taliban arrival and despite 20 years of U.S. and international investment. The U.S. alone spent $145 billion on development in Afghanistan since 2002, according to reports by the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan.

Still, there were signs of increasing hopelessness.

Gallup did a polling in 2018 and found that few Afghans they surveyed had much hope for the future. In fact the majority said they had no hope for the future.

Years of runaway corruption, increased poverty, lack of jobs, a steady increase in people forced below the poverty line, and erratic development all combined into a crushing malaise, said analyst Nasratullah Haqpal. Most Afghans had high hopes after 2001, when the Taliban were ousted and the U.S.-led coalition declared victory,

“Unfortunately the only focus was on the war, the warlords and the corrupt politicians,” said Haqpal.

“People just became poorer and poorer and more disappointed and more unhappy... that is why these 20 years of investment in Afghanistan collapsed in just 11 days,” he said referring to the Taliban’s lightning blitz through the country before sweeping into Kabul in mid August.

When Masoud Ahmadi, a carpenter, returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan after the 2001 collapse of the Taliban, his hopes for the future were bright. He dreamed of opening a small furniture-making shop, maybe employing as many as 10 people. Instead, sitting in his dusty 6-foot by 10-foot workshop on Saturday, he said he opens just twice a week for lack of work.

“When the money came to this country, the leadership of the government took the money and counted it as their personal money, and the people were not helped to change their life for the better,” said Ahmadi.

The report warns that Afghanistan’s numbers might drop even further next year when it measures Afghans’ happiness level after the arrival of the Taliban. The economy is currently in free fall as the group struggles to transition from insurgency to governing.

SCOTUS

Marshall, 1st Black justice, faced down Senate critics
By MARK SHERMAN


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 Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the U.S. Supreme Court, sits at the witness table before testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in Washington, July 18, 1967. (AP Photo, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court is likely to face questioning at her Senate hearing that would have been familiar to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black man who served on the high court.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination has come before the Senate during what Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called a national crime wave.

“Amid all this, the soft-on-crime brigade is squarely in Judge Jackson’s corner,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Other Republican senators and some in the conservative media have focused on Jackson’s work as a federal public defender, which included representation of several men held without charges at Guantanamo Bay naval base. Jackson’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee begins Monday.


\ Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is photographed as she meets with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 15, 2022. If confirmed, she would be the court's first Black female justice. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Fifty-five years ago, a band of Southern senators, almost all Democrats, used riots in the nation’s cities and Americans’ fears about crime to try to derail Marshall’s nomination.

“I know there is a crisis in this country, a crime crisis. And I know the philosophy of the Supreme Court one way or the other on these vital issues is going to be of untold consequences, and has already been in my judgment of serious consequences to the crime situation,” Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark., said during Marshall’s hearing before the committee.

The Supreme Court, under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, had expanded the rights of people accused of crimes, in a series of decisions that included the famed Miranda case that limited police questioning of suspects without a lawyer present.

But concerns about crime were inextricably linked to the issue of race, author Wil Haygood wrote in “Showdown,” his account of Marshall’s confirmation.

The only significant opposition to Marshall came from McClellan and the other ardent segregationists on the committee, Sens. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., James Eastland, D-Miss. and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. They were determined to make life difficult for Marshall, the storied civil rights lawyer. Marshall had argued the Brown v. Board of Education case in which the Supreme Court outlawed official segregation.

The previous three choices of Democratic presidents had been confirmed within a month of their nominations by voice votes in a Senate controlled by Democrats.

The party still held the reins in the Senate in 1967 when President Lyndon Johnson maneuvered to create a Supreme Court opening and then sought to fill it with a groundbreaking choice.

By then, Marshall had been a federal appeals court judge and was serving as solicitor general, Johnson’s top Supreme Court lawyer, at the time of his nomination to the court.

But Marshall’s stellar resume didn’t impress the Southerners.

“They were pretty awful to Marshall. Thurmond in particular kept asking questions that were like trivia questions. ‘Tell us the names of the people on the committee that voted out the 14th Amendment,’” said Carolyn Shapiro, a professor at the Chicago-Kent School of Law who has studied Supreme Court nominations. That amendment, which includes the due process, equal protection and citizenship clauses, was passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified two years later.

The same senators had previously voted against Marshall’s confirmation to the appeals court and tried to block adoption of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But they insisted that Marshall’s race had nothing to do with their view of his nomination.

Ervin explained his opposition on the Senate floor just before the final vote on Marshall. “I know that in so doing I lay myself open to the easy, but false, charge that I am a racist. I have no prejudice in my mind or heart against any man because of his race. I love men of all races,” Ervin said.

Instead, Ervin said, Marshall would be another “judicial activist” to cement the direction of the Warren Court.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who would later recant his segregationist views, said it would be smart politically for him to support Marshall because Marshall was Black. “Yet, I consider it my duty as a senator, under the Constitution, not to let Mr. Marshall’s race influence my decision. Having reached the definite conclusion that were Mr. Marshall white, I would vote against him. I cannot, therefore, let the fact that he is a Negro influence me to vote for him when I would not do so otherwise,” Byrd said.

In the end, the Senate confirmed Marshall by a 69-11 vote, a healthy margin, but only a couple of votes beyond what was needed to overcome a filibuster at the time. Johnson and his teams lobbied hard to persuade other Marshall opponents to simply not vote, Haygood wrote.

Marshall was a target for people who were unapologetic about their opposition to civil rights for Black Americans, Shapiro said.

More than half a century later, much has changed, she said, but race remains front and center in American politics.

President Joe Biden pledged during the 2020 campaign to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court for the first time.

Jackson, along with other Biden nominees, has been asked whether she ever took part in a riot. Senators also wanted her to tell them what role race plays in judging.

“We’re in a moment of political division and a lot of it revolves around race,” Shapiro said.

Marshall endured five days of questioning spanning three weeks. It was another month before his nomination reached the Senate floor. He was sworn in as a justice on Sept. 1, 1967.

Democrats who control the Senate have a much faster timetable in store for Jackson. She will testify over two days, standard practice for high court nominees these days. Barring a major misstep, Jackson could be confirmed before Easter.

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON

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Biden nominates Jackson, first Black woman, to Supreme Court

Africa mostly quiet amid widespread condemnation of Russia

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and MOGOMOTSI MAGOME

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 A visitor handles a gun at an exhibition by the Kalashnikov company on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia on Oct. 24, 2019. Amid a worldwide chorus of condemnation against Russia's war on Ukraine, Africa has remained mostly quiet — a reminder of the Kremlin's considerable influence over the continent.

 (Sergei Chirikov, Pool Photo via AP, File)


KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently remarked that Russia’s war on Ukraine should be seen in the context of Moscow being the “center of gravity” for Eastern Europe.

His son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, was more forceful, declaring that most Africans “support Russia’s stand in Ukraine” and “Putin is absolutely right!”

Amid a worldwide chorus of condemnation, much of Africa has either pushed back or remained noticeably quiet. Twenty-five of Africa’s 54 nations abstained or didn’t record a vote in the U.N. General Assembly resolution earlier this month condemning Russia.

The reason? Many nations on the continent of 1.3 billion people have long-standing ties and support from Moscow, dating back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union supported anti-colonial struggles.

Those relations have tightened in recent years: As U.S. interest in Africa appeared to wane under President Donald Trump’s administration, Russia — along with China — expanded its influence, enlarging its economic footprint to include everything from agricultural programs to energy plants. In 2019, dignitaries from 43 African nations attended a summit with Russia, which also has become the dominant exporter of weapons into sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The developments have not gone unnoticed. Last month, European Union leaders held a long-delayed summit in Brussels to discuss ways to counteract Russia’s and China’s influence in Africa, while Western military and civilian leaders are eyeing Russia’s advancing presence on both the African continent and in the Middle East as long-term threats to security in the West. China also is among the few countries showing support for Moscow.

There have been exceptions to the current of sympathy running through Africa, with Kenya and Ghana criticizing Russia’s actions.

But, elsewhere on the continent, countries not only are abstaining from criticism, they appear to be celebrating their alliances with Russia.

As the war in Ukraine escalated, leaders of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party attended an event at the Russian Embassy in Cape Town to mark the 30-year anniversary of the country’s diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation.

The ANC has ties to the Kremlin extending back to the Soviet Union’s diplomatic and military support of the struggle against apartheid, which Western powers did not provide. Some South Africans point out that Russia was not among the colonizers of Africa.


South Africa’s friendship with Russia is “rooted through bonds of brotherhood,” said lawmaker Floyd Shivambu, a leader of the country’s leftist opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters. Shivambu said Russia’s actions in Ukraine are necessary to prevent NATO’s expansion.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country abstained from the U.N. censure resolution because it failed to call for “meaningful engagement” with Russia.

“We have seen how, over time, countries have been invaded, wars have been launched over many years, and that has left devastation,” Ramaphosa told lawmakers Thursday, criticizing NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe. “And some leaders of certain countries have been killed. On our own continent (Libya’s) Muammar Gadhafi was killed.”

He said he believes Russia feels “a national existential threat” from NATO.

Also abstaining from the U.N. vote was neighboring Zimbabwe, which had previously escaped sanctions of its own at the U.N. — for alleged human rights abuses and election corruption — thanks to vetoes by Russia and China.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has praised Russia and China as “dependable pillars,” citing the guns they provided and the training they gave fighters in the 1970s war against white minority rule in Rhodesia.

Russia has major investments in Zimbabwe, including a multibillion-dollar joint mining venture in the Great Dyke area, which holds one of the world’s largest deposits of platinum. Russia also is involved in gold and diamond mining operations in Zimbabwe.

In Uganda, where Russian officers regularly assist in the maintenance of military equipment, authorities recently announced the signing of a contract with a Russian firm to install tracking devices in vehicles to combat violent crime.

The East African country’s U.N. representative said Uganda abstained from the U.N. resolution on Russia to protect its neutrality as the next chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, a Cold War-era group of 120 member states that includes almost every African nation.

But President Museveni went further, actually meeting with the Russian ambassador as the war raged in Ukraine. The Ugandan leader, who has held power since 1986, has criticized the West’s “aggression against Africa.”

Museveni’s government in recent months has tangled with the U.S. and other countries that have expressed concern over last year’s disputed election and growing allegations of rights abuses. Museveni also has accused the West of interfering in domestic affairs, including through pressure to recognize LGBTQ rights.

Nicholas Sengoba, a columnist with Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, said that many authoritarian African leaders like Museveni are pleased to see Putin “stand up to the big boys in the West.”

Following his meeting with the ambassador, Museveni urged Africans in a tweet to find what he called a “center of gravity,” which is what he said Russia is for “the Slavic nations of Eastern Europe.”

The post was later deleted, but his son Kainerugaba, who commands Uganda’s infantry forces, was unambiguous in his remarks on social media.

“The majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia’s stand in Ukraine,” he tweeted on Feb. 28. “Putin is absolutely right! When the USSR parked nuclear armed missiles in Cuba in 1962 the West was ready to blow up the world over it. Now when NATO does the same they expect Russia to do differently?”

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Magome reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.

Hydropower eyes bigger energy role,

less environmental harm

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM


FILE - Whitewater rafters paddle on the Kennebec River in The Forks, Maine, on May 28, 2019. On the Kennebec River, conservation groups and state environmental agencies are pushing for the removal of four hydropower dams that block endangered Atlantic salmon from reaching habitat. The dams generate about 5% of the state’s renewable energy.

 (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — In southwestern Pennsylvania, eight locks and dams that for decades helped barges move goods along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers will in a few years also generate enough power for 75,000 homes.

Rye Development, a Boston-based hydropower company, is retrofitting the dams with turbines to generate electricity and says the upgraded structures will limit damage to the rivers’ water quality and fish.

The project reflects a recent thawing between the industry and conservation groups, which had long opposed dams that can prevent fish migration, alter water temperatures and cause other environmental problems. As the U.S. pushes to transition to low-carbon energy, Rye is among the companies that sees an opportunity to expand hydropower production at existing dams while working to minimize environmental harms.

The recent compromises between the industry and environmental groups are reflected in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law, which puts $2.5 billion toward projects including dam removals as well as upgrades at existing structures for hydropower and energy storage.

“We do recognize that (hydropower) is probably going to play some role in the transition. It’s certainly better than coal,” said Ted Illston of American Rivers, which has advocated for dam removals on environmental grounds.

Hydropower, which uses flowing water to spin turbines connected to generators, is the oldest and second-largest renewable energy source in the U.S. after wind power. In 2020, it accounted for roughly 7% of the electricity generated in the country.

The industry hasn’t received as much federal funding and tax incentives as wind and solar, but sees room for growth. Of the 90,000 dams in the country, about 2,500 produce power. Non-powered dams could produce enough power for 9 to 12 million homes, according to an estimate by the Electric Power Supply Association based on federal data from 2012.

Part of the challenge is that most dams in the U.S. were built more than half a century ago. The risk of dam collapses has fueled demolitions in recent years, with more than 40% of the country’s nearly 2,000 dam removals in the past century happening in the last decade. Some are also torn down largely for environmental reasons.

Last month, federal regulators moved a step closer to approving what would be the largest dam demolition in U.S. history. Removal of the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River near the Oregon-California border would help save the river’s salmon and other fish species that can’t reach breeding habitat because of the structures.

The hydropower industry and conservation groups still clash over dams too. On Maine’s Kennebec River, conservation groups and state environmental agencies are pushing for the removal of four hydropower dams that block endangered Atlantic salmon from reaching key habitat. The dams generate about 5% of the state’s renewable energy.

“It’s very easy for individual river systems to get lost in the message of climate change and the need for renewable energy,” said Shannon Ames, executive director of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, which grades hydropower dams based on environmental criteria.

With persisting drought affecting hydropower production west of the Mississippi River, the industry has a more direct path to expansion in eastern states.

In Pennsylvania, Rye consulted with the Low Impact Hydropower Institute early in its process and is among a small number of companies seeking certification from the group.

To get certified, companies must show their structures meet protections for endangered species, cultural and historic uses of rivers, passage for fish and recreational areas. The group says its environmental standards are often stricter than state or federal guidelines.

On a recently certified dam in West Virginia on the Ohio River, for example, dissolved oxygen levels — an important measure of river water quality — were meeting or exceeding state standards, according to a five-year study. In some states, dams certified by the organization qualify for green-energy programs.

Rye said its dams in Pennsylvania will include structures to support fish migration ,and that it is building a fishing pier since federal regulators require hydropower producers to support recreation on river systems. The retrofits are expected to be operational as early as 2025.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment