Ukrainian-born Miss Japan rekindles an old question: What does it mean to be Japanese?


Contestants including Carolina Shiino, who won the Miss Nippon (Japan) Grand Prix, center, pose for a photo after the contest in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Crowned Miss Japan this week, Ukrainian-born Carolina Shiino cried with joy, thankful for the recognition of her identity as Japanese. 

(Miss Nippon Association via AP)

BY MARI YAMAGUCHI
Uanuary 26, 2024Share

TOKYO (AP) — Crowned Miss Japan this week, Ukrainian-born Carolina Shiino cried with joy, thankful for the recognition of her identity as Japanese. But her Caucasian look rekindled an old question in a country where many people value homogeneity and conformity: What does it mean to be Japanese?

Shiino has lived in Japan since moving here at age 5 and became a naturalized citizen in 2022. Now 26, she works as a model and says she has as strong a sense of Japanese identity as anyone else, despite her non-Japanese look.

“It really is like a dream,” Shiino said in fluent Japanese in her tearful acceptance speech Monday. “I’ve faced a racial barrier. Even though I’m Japanese, there have been times when I was not accepted. I’m full of gratitude today that I have been accepted as Japanese.”

“I hope to contribute to building a society that respects diversity and is not judgmental about how people look,” Shiino said.



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But her crowning triggered a debate over whether she should represent Japan.

Some people said on social media that it was wrong to pick a Miss Japan who doesn’t have even a drop of Japanese blood even if she grew up in Japan. Others said there was no problem with Shiino’s crowning because her Japanese citizenship makes her Japanese.

Japan has a growing number of people with multiracial and multicultural backgrounds, as more people marry foreigners and the country accepts foreign workers to make up for its rapidly aging and declining population.

But tolerance of diversity has lagged.

Chiaki Horan, a biracial television personality, said on a news program Thursday that she was born in Japan and has Japanese nationality, yet has often faced questions of whether she is really Japanese or why she is commenting on Japan.

“I’ve learned that there are some people who require purity of blood as part of Japanese-ness,” she said. “I wonder if there is a lack of an understanding that there may be people of diverse roots from different places if you just go back a few generations.”

Shiino is only the latest to face the repercussions of questions over what constitutes Japanese.

Ariana Miyamoto, a native of Nagasaki who has a Japanese mother and an African American father, also faced fierce criticism when she was chosen to represent Japan in the Miss Universe pageant in 2015.

When tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021, she was lashed by nationalists on social media for not being “pure Japanese,” though she was also warmly welcomed by many.

Growing up, Shiino said she had difficulty because of the gap between how she is treated because of her foreign appearance and her self-identity as Japanese. But she said working as a model has given her confidence. “I may look different, but I have unwavering confidence that I am Japanese,” she said.

THE ROCK INC.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson gets rights to one of the most famous nicknames in entertainment — his own

 Actor and former WWE Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson participates in a Wrestlemania XXVII press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square on Wednesday, Mar. 30, 2011 in New York. It is a name that has become almost synonymous with professional wrestling but its bearer, Dwayne Johnson, has never legally owned “The Rock.” That will change under a new agreement with the WWE under whichJohnson will also join the board of TKO Group, the sports and entertainment company that houses WWE and UFC.(AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

 Wrestler John Cena, top, chokes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at a Wrestlemania event on April 7, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J. It is a name that has become almost synonymous with professional wrestling but its bearer, Dwayne Johnson, has never legally owned “The Rock.”

 (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN
January 23, 2024

It is a name that has become almost synonymous with professional wrestling but its bearer, Dwayne Johnson, has never legally owned “The Rock.”

That will change under a new agreement with the WWE under which Johnson will also join the board of TKO Group, the sports and entertainment company that houses WWE and UFC.

“The Rock” is a name is derived from Johnson’s father, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, who was the first Black champion in WWE history (alongside partner Tony Atlas), according the WWE.

Johnson, in an interview on CNBC, would not discuss the financial value of the deal with WWE, but said that the name “The Rock” means a lot to him personally.

“I owe that name everything,” Johnson said. “Without that name there’d be no wrestling career. There’d be no Hollywood career.”

Johnson, a movie and wrestling star, has a business portfolio that includes his production company Seven Bucks Productions, tequila brand Teremana Tequila, energy drink company ZOA Energy, Project Rock apparel brand and the United Football League.

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Johnson said on CNBC that this will be his first time serving on the board of a publicly traded company.

“I’m very motivated to help continue to globally expand our TKO, WWE, and UFC businesses as the worldwide leaders in sports and entertainment — while proudly representing so many phenomenal athletes and performers who show up every day putting in the hard work with their own two hands to make their dreams come true and deliver for our audiences,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “I’ve been there, I’m still there and this is for them.”

TKO Group Holdings Inc. says Johnson’s board appointment, effective Tuesday, reflects its “commitment to delivering long-term value and strong performance for shareholders through strategic growth initiatives across both UFC and WWE.”

Johnson began his wrestling career with WWE in 1996. The third-generation wrestler became famous for rivalries with wrestlers including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H and his finishing maneuver, The Rock Bottom, according to his biography on WWE’s website. He has won eight WWE championships, has a New York Times bestselling autobiography, “The Rock Says,” and starred in movies including “Fast X,” “Black Adam,” “Jungle Cruise” and ”Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”

Johnson has recently appeared on World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.'s “Smackdown” and “Raw” television programs, with rumors swirling that he may compete at this year’s WrestleMania.

“I am thrilled to partner with Dwayne and welcome his immense talent to TKO’s Board,” TKO CEO Ariel Emanuel said in a prepared statement. “Dwayne brings an incredible track record of creating content and building globally recognized consumer brands, and he will play a key role in realizing our ambitions for TKO.”

TKO also announced Tuesday that Brad Keywell will become a board member. Keywell has co-founded and led multiple companies, including Groupon, Echo Global Logistics, MediaOcean, and Uptake Technologies, where he is currently founder and executive chairman.

The additions of Johnson and Keywell will increase TKO’s board from 11 to 13 members.

Shares of TKO Group surged more than 19% in morning trading after TKO announced WWE’s weekly television show “Raw” will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion.

WWE’s ‘Raw’ is moving to Netflix next year in a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion


 Wrestler Carmella leaps at Bianca Belair, during the WWE Monday Night RAW event, March 6, 2023, in Boston. WWE’s weekly television show “Raw” will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal. 

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN
January 23, 2024

WWE’s weekly television show “Raw” will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion.

TKO Group Holdings Inc., which houses WWE and UFC, said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that the agreement is for 10 years, with Netflix having an option to extend the deal for an additional 10 years. There’s also an opt out available to Netflix after the initial five years.

“Raw,” which debuted in 1993, has produced 1,600 episodes to date and features wrestlers such as Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins and Rhea Ripley. The three-hour program currently airs on USA Network and its media rights were considered a hot commodity over the past several months, particularly after the WWE return of CM Punk in November, with many speculating it could land at any number of networks or streaming platforms.

“We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix,” Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a prepared statement.

WWE said Tuesday that “Raw” will air on Netflix starting in January 2025. This will impact viewers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Latin America and other territories. WWE said that it will also impact additional countries and regions over time.

“This deal is transformative,” Mark Shapiro, TKO president and COO, said in a prepared statement. “It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years. Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.”

WWE also said that its documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects will be available on Netflix internationally starting in 2025.

The move of “Raw” to Netflix follows the announcement in September by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. that “Friday Night Smackdown,” would be moving from Fox to USA Network in 2024 under a new five-year domestic media rights partnership with NBCUniversal. As part of the agreement, WWE will also produce four prime-time specials per year that will air on NBC, starting in the 2024/2025 season. This will be the first time that WWE will air on the network in prime time.

Speaking on CNBC, TKO CEO Ariel Emanuel said that he didn’t believe there’s a move away from traditional television networks or cable networks, but that streaming platforms were becoming another option, as seen through its “Raw” deal with Netflix.

“This is the streaming play. For us, it’s the next step,” he said.

WWE also announced Tuesday that it reached a deal with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that will give the star the rights to his nickname. Johnson will also join the board of TKO Group.

Shares of TKO Group jumped more than 19% in early trading.

Who was St. Brigid and why is she inspiring many 1,500 years after her death?


 Dancers perform in front of an image of St. Brigid projected onto The Wonderful Barn in Leixlip, Kildare, Ireland, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023 during the Herstory Festival of Light. Devotees of St. Brigid in Ireland plan to celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, with the scheduled return of a relic associated with the so-called “matron saint of Ireland” — about a millennium after her remains were removed from her hometown of Kildare. It’s part of a series of observances in Ireland and around the world marking the 1,500th anniversary of her death. 

 A woman holds a St. Brigid Cross as she participates in a candlelight pilgrimage walk, which makes its way past an ancient well associated with St Brigid, to the Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare, Ireland, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Devotees of St. Brigid in Ireland plan to celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, with the scheduled return of a relic associated with the so-called “matron saint of Ireland” — about a millennium after her remains were removed from her hometown of Kildare. It’s part of a series of observances in Ireland and around the world marking the 1,500th anniversary of her death.

Women pray at Saint Brigid’s Shrine in Faughart, Ireland, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Devotees of St. Brigid in Ireland plan to celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, with the scheduled return of a relic associated with the so-called “matron saint of Ireland” — about a millennium after her remains were removed from her hometown of Kildare. It’s part of a series of observances in Ireland and around the world marking the 1,500th anniversary of her death. 

People participate in a candlelight pilgrimage walk which makes its way past an ancient well associated with St Brigid to the Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare, Ireland, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Devotees of St. Brigid in Ireland plan to celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, with the scheduled return of a relic associated with the so-called “matron saint of Ireland” — about a millennium after her remains were removed from her hometown of Kildare. It’s part of a series of observances in Ireland and around the world marking the 1,500th anniversary of her death. 

(AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)

BY PETER SMITH
Updated 11:29 PM MST, January 26, 2024Share

Devotees of St. Brigid plan to celebrate her Sunday with the scheduled return of a relic associated with the so-called matron saint of Ireland. The festivities come about a millennium after her remains were removed from the town of Kildare, where she founded a prestigious abbey and inspired a host of colorful, miracle-filled legends.

The celebration in her hometown, southwest of Dublin, is part of Brigid 1500 — a series of observances across the world centered around the saint’s feast day of Feb. 1, marking the 1,500th anniversary of her death around the year 524.

In a sense, Brigid is on a roll. The commemorations come a year after Ireland began honoring her with an annual public holiday — the first Irish woman to be recognized with one.

While St. Patrick has long been the saint most identified with Ireland, Brigid has gained a growing following in the 21st century. Devotees draw inspiration from Brigid the saint — and from Brigid the ancient pagan goddess, whose name and attributes she shares — as emblematic of feminine spirituality and empowerment. This comes amid growing disenchantment with the patriarchal and historically dominant Catholic Church.

First question: which Brigid?

Brigid was the name of a prominent goddess worshipped by ancient pagan Celts — the namesake of the saint who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries.

Brigid the goddess was associated with everything from poetry, healing and metal crafting to nature, fertility and fire. She was honored on the mid-winter holy day of Imbolc, still commemorated on Feb. 1, which also became St. Brigid’s Day.

St. Brigid’s father is said to have been a ruler, her mother enslaved. Though Brigid’s life story has been embellished by legends, she is believed to have been the abbess of a monastic settlement of men and women that became a center of arts and learning and that gave the town its name, Irish for “church of the oak.” One legend says that when the local king agreed to give her only enough land for her monastery that could fit under her cloak, she miraculously spread it across the surrounding countryside.

St. Brigid traveled, preached and healed. She’s often depicted with images of fire and light and is associated with fertility, care for living things and peacemaking.

According to another legend, Brigid gave her father’s jeweled sword to a needy man for him to barter for food.

WHAT RELIC IS BEING RETURNED TO KILDARE?

Brigid was believed to have been buried at her monastic church in Kildare. Around the ninth century, her remains were moved to the northern town of Downpatrick in hopes of avoiding the pillages of Vikings and others. That shrine was later destroyed by English troops during the Protestant Reformation.

Various churches on the European continent claim to have relics of St. Brigid. This includes a bone fragment from Brigid’s skull, which tradition says was brought to a church in Portugal by three Irish knights. A fragment of that relic was returned in the 1930s to Brigidine Sisters elsewhere in Ireland and is stored in a small metal reliquary, shaped like an oak tree, an image associated with Brigid. That’s the relic being returned to Kildare.

The relic’s new resting place will be the Catholic parish church named for St. Brigid, which plans to display it permanently.

WHAT IS A RELIC, AND WHY DO CATHOLICS VENERATE THEM?

Catholic canon law says the church “promotes the true and authentic veneration” of saints because of their pious examples. This can involve veneration of relics — which can include fragments of bodies of saints, as well as their clothing and other items associated with them.

“Veneration must be clearly distinguished from adoration and worship, which are due God alone,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

WHAT IS ST. BRIGID’S DAY?

St. Brigid’s Day and Imbolc, a pagan holy day associated with the goddess Brigid and heralding the coming of spring, both fall on Feb. 1, although Ireland is observing the public holiday on the following Monday.
WHY IS BRIGID GAINING A 21ST-CENTURY FOLLOWING?

Brigid’s moment is happening as many Irish are disillusioned with traditional Roman Catholicism and its patriarchal leadership amid a secularizing culture. Even many devout Catholics are dismayed over scandals including the cover-ups of sexual abuse.

Whether devotees honor Brigid primarily as a saint, a goddess or some combination of both, they see Brigid as emblematic of feminine spirituality, environmental care and artistic creation.

Brigid’s Day is “an invitation to stop the pointless millennia old war of Christianity versus paganism” and see “the wisdom and beauty in both lineages,” wrote Melanie Lynch, founder of Herstory, which campaigned in support of the new national holiday.

HOW IS ST. BRIGID’S DAY BEING COMMEMORATED?

The most dramatic event is the scheduled return of the relic to Brigid’s hometown, with a short procession to St. Brigid’s Parish Church from Solas Bhride — a Christian spirituality center led by Brigidine Sisters in Kildare with a mission of welcoming “people of all faiths and of no faith.” The procession is to be led by three girls riding ponies and dressed as the medieval Irish knights who, one tradition says, accompanied the relic to Portugal centuries earlier.

“What amazes me is, 1,500 years later, she’s still remembered with love in Kildare and Ireland,” said David Mongey, chair of Into Kildare, the local tourism board. “Her words, her wisdom and her actions mean more today than they ever did, when you think about how we treat our land, how we treat our environment, how we treat our animals, how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves.”

Several events are being organized by Solas Bhride, Irish for “Light of Brigid,” including a noontime “Pause for Peace.” Thousands of students plan to mark the pause on the nearby Curragh Plains by making a human formation of a large St. Brigid’s Cross, shaped by a square with four symmetrical arms.

Others around the world are joining in the pause — a minute’s silence at noon local time — said Brigidine Sister Rita Minehan, one of the founders of Solas Bhride.

“We are sending out a message that we actively oppose warfare in our world and the proliferation of arms,” she said. “It’s rather frightening what’s happening in our world. It’s sorely in need of peace, and Brigid was renowned as a peacemaker.”

Other Kildare locations are hosting music, ecumenical worship and other activities.

The group Herstory, which uses arts and education to promote female role models, plans events around Ireland on the holiday and days afterward. These include dramatic lightshows in which artistic depictions of Brigid are projected onto historic landmarks.

Elsewhere worldwide, Irish-heritage groups plan to mark the day with concerts and cultural events. Churches plan Masses in honor of the saint, while Wiccan and other pagan groups plan meditations and other ceremonies in honor of the goddess and in observance of Imbolc.
___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Avian flu is devastating farms in California’s ‘Egg Basket’ as outbreaks roil poultry industry



A worker moves crates of eggs at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. 

Ettamarie Peterson holds a chicken at her farm in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. She’s concerned her flock of 50 hens could be infected with avian flu. Jan. 11, 2024. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 

A worker moves crates of eggs at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 


BY TERRY CHEA
 January 26, 2024Share

PETALUMA, Calif. (AP) — Last month, Mike Weber got the news every poultry farmer fears: His chickens tested positive for avian flu.

Following government rules, Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County north of San Francisco.

“It’s a trauma. We’re all going through grief as a result of it,” said Weber, standing in an empty hen house. “Petaluma is known as the Egg Basket of the World. It’s devastating to see that egg basket go up in flames.”

A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.

The highly contagious virus has ravaged Sonoma County, where officials have declared a state of emergency. During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak, dealing an economic blow to farmers, workers and their customers.

Merced County in Central California also has been hit hard, with outbreaks at several large commercial egg-producing farms in recent weeks.

Experts say bird flu is spread by ducks, geese and other migratory birds. The waterfowl can carry the virus without getting sick and easily spread it through their droppings to chicken and turkey farms and backyard flocks through droppings and nasal discharges.

California poultry farms are implementing strict biosecurity measures to curb the spread of the disease. State Veterinarian Annette Jones urged farmers to keep their flocks indoors until June, including organic chickens that are required to have outdoor access.

“We still have migration going for another couple of months. So we’ve got to be as vigilant as possible to protect our birds,” said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.

The loss of local hens led to a spike in egg prices in the San Francisco Bay Area over the holidays before supermarkets and restaurants found suppliers from outside the region.

While bird flu has been around for decades, the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Whenever the disease is found the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the spread of the virus.

The price of a dozen eggs more than doubled to $4.82 at its peak in January 2023. Egg prices returned to their normal range as egg producers built up their flocks and outbreaks were controlled. Turkey and chicken prices also spiked, partly due to the virus.

“I think this is an existential issue for the commercial poultry industry. The virus is on every continent, except for Australia at this point,” said Maurice Pitesky, a poultry expert at the University of California, Davis.

Climate change is increasing the risk of outbreaks as changing weather patterns disrupt the migratory patterns of wild birds, Pitesky said. For example, exceptional rainfall last year created new waterfowl habitat throughout California, including areas close to poultry farms.

In California, the outbreak has impacted more than 7 million chickens in about 40 commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks, with most of the outbreaks occurring over the past two months on the North Coast and Central Valley, according to the USDA.

Industry officials are worried about the growing number of backyard chickens that could become infected and spread avian flu to commercial farms.

“We have wild birds that are are full of virus. And if you expose your birds to these wild birds, they might get infected and ill,” said Rodrigo Gallardo, a UC Davis researcher who studies avian influenza.

Gallardo advises the owners of backyard chickens to wear clean clothes and shoes to protect their flocks from getting infected. If an unusual number of chickens die, they should be tested for avian flu.

Ettamarie Peterson, a retired teacher in Petaluma, has a flock of about 50 chickens that produce eggs she sells from her backyard barn for 50 cents each.

“I’m very concerned because this avian flu is transmitted by wild birds, and there’s no way I can stop the wild birds from coming through and leaving the disease behind,” Peterson said. “If your flock has any cases of it, you have to destroy the whole flock.”

Sunrise Farms, which was started by Weber’s great-grandparents more than a century ago, was infected despite putting in place strict biosecurity measures to protect the flock.

“The virus got to the birds so bad and so quickly you walked in and the birds were just dead,” Weber said. “Heartbreaking doesn’t describe how you feel when you walk in and perfectly healthy young birds have been just laid out.”

After euthanizing more than half a million chickens at Sunrise Farms, Weber and his employees spent the Christmas holiday discarding the carcasses. Since then, they’ve been cleaning out and disinfecting the hen houses.

Weber hopes the farm will get approval from federal regulators to bring chicks back to the farm this spring. Then it would take another five months before the hens are mature enough to lay eggs.

He feels lucky that two farms his company co-owns have not been infected and are still producing eggs for his customers. But recovering from the outbreak won’t be easy.

“We have a long road ahead,” Weber said. “We’re going to make another run of it and try to keep this family of employees together because they’ve worked so hard to build this into the company that it is.”

PHOTOS: Avian flu is devastating farms in California’s ‘Egg Basket’ as outbreaks roil poultry industry

Aerial view of the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.

Eggs are cleaned and disinfected at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 

Chickens stand in a holding pen at Ettamarie Peterson’s farmin Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. There are concerns that the flock of 50 hens could be infected with avian flu. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.

Aerial view of Ettamarie Peterson’s farm, where she has a flock of about 50 chickens that produce eggs she sells. She’s concerned her flock could be infected with avian flu. Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 

Mike Weber watches an employee clean a hen house at his egg farm in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. His company Sunrise Farms had to euthanize 550,000 chickens after avian flu was detected among the flock. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.

A worker moves crates of eggs at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.

Mike Weber stands in an empty hen house at Sunrise Farms, which had to euthanize 550,000 chickens after avian flu was detected among the flock in Petaluma, Calif. Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 

Ettamarie Peterson stands in a holding pen with chickens at her farm in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. She’s concerned her flock of 50 hens could be infected with avian flu. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. 

A worker moves crates of eggs at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, which has seen an outbreak of avian flu in recent weeks. 

A grocery store employee stocks cartons of eggs for display at a Petaluma Market in Sonoma County, on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, where avian flu infections shut down a cluster of egg farms in recent months.

PHOTOS BY TERRY CHEA

Ukraine says there’s no evidence for Russia’s claim that dozens of POWs died in a plane crash


In this photo taken from video released by Russian Investigative Committee on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, Russian Investigative Committee employee walks in a place with wreckage of the Russian military Il-76 plane crashed area near Yablonovo, Belgorod region of Russia, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. 

(Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

On the photo from video released by Russian Investigative Committee on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, buses with Ukrainian POWs parked to load Ukrainian servicemen on board of Russian military Il-76 plane, later crashed near Yablonovo, Belgorod region of Russia, on Jan. 25, 2024. Russia’s vulnerability to cross-border attacks was highlighted again Wednesday when the Defense Ministry said a military transport plane was shot down in the Belgorod region while carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war. Ukraine didn’t contest the plane went down but argued that Moscow had failed to say in advance it was carrying POWs. 

(Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Investigative Committee on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, wreckage of the Il-76 is seen near Yablonovo, Belgorod region of Russia, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Russia and Ukraine are trading accusations over the crash of a military transport plane that Moscow said was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war and was shot down by Kyiv’s forces. The Il-76 crashed in a huge ball of fire in a rural area of Russia, and authorities there said all 74 people on board, including 65 POWs, six crew and three Russian servicemen, were killed. 

(Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

Women lay flowers in memory of those who were killed in the plane on Wednesday, at the memorial to soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War “Enternal Flame” in Yablonovo, Belgorod region, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. A Russian military transport plane crashed in a border region near Ukraine. Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting it down and said that all 74 people aboard were killed on Wednesday. Russia said the fatalities included 65 Ukrainian POWs.

January 27, 2024

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials in Ukraine said Russia has provided no credible evidence to back its claims that their own forces shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped for Russian POWs.

The Ukrainian agency that deals with prisoner exchanges said late Friday that Russian officials had “with great delay” provided it with a list of the 65 Ukrainians who Moscow said had died in the Wednesday plane crash in Russia’s Belgorod region.

Ukraine’s Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said relatives of the named POWs were unable to identify their loved ones in crash site photos provided by Russian authorities. The agency’s update cited Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as saying that Kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that missiles fired from across the border brought down the transport plane that it said was taking the POWs back to Ukraine. Local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen.


Russia’s Putin blames Ukraine for crash of POW’s plane and pledges to make investigation public


“We currently don’t have evidence that there could have been that many people onboard the aircraft. Russian propaganda’s claim that the IL-76 aircraft was transporting 65 Ukrainian POWs (heading) for a prisoner swap continues to raise a lot of questions,” Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s POW agency, said.

Social media users in the Belgorod region posted a video Wednesday that showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a huge ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.

Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed a Russian military transport plane that day, and Russia’s claim that the crash killed Ukrainian POWs could not be independently verified. Earlier Friday, Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine’s air force commander, described Moscow’s assertion as “rampant Russian propaganda.”

Ukrainian officials earlier this week confirmed that a prisoner swap was due to happen Wednesday but said it was called off. They said Moscow did not ask for any specific stretch of airspace to be kept safe for a certain length of time, as it has for past prisoner exchanges.

An International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson in Ukraine urged Russia on Friday night to return the bodies of any POWs who might have died in the plane crash.

In a live interview with the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Red Cross Media Relations Officer Oleksandr Vlasenko also remarked that “very little time” had passed between the initial reports of the incident and Moscow declaring it was ready to return the bodies of the Ukrainian POWs.

While Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange the bodies of dead soldiers, each trade has required considerable preparation, Vlasenko said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for an international investigation into the crash. Russia has sole access to the crash site.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Friday to make the findings of Moscow’s crash investigation public. In his first public remarks on the incident, Putin repeated previous comments by Russian officials that “everything was planned” for a prisoner exchange that day when the aircraft went down.

“Knowing (the POWs were aboard), they attacked this plane. I don’t know whether they did it on purpose or by mistake, through thoughtlessness,” Putin said of Ukraine at a meeting with students in St. Petersburg.

He offered no details to support the allegation that Kyiv was to blame, but said the plane’s flight recorders had been found.

“There are black boxes, everything will now be collected and shown,” Putin said.

A famed NYC museum is closing two Native American halls. Harvard and others have taken similar steps


The south entrance to the American Museum of Natural History is shown, in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. New York’s American Museum of Natural History is closing two halls featuring Native American objects starting Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, acknowledging that the exhibits are “severely outdated” and contain culturally sensitive items. 

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

BY PHILIP MARCELO
 January 26, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s American Museum of Natural History is closing two halls featuring Native American objects starting Saturday, acknowledging the exhibits are “severely outdated” and contain culturally sensitive items.

The mammoth complex across from Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is the latest U.S. institution to cover up or remove Native American exhibits to comply with recently revamped federal regulations dealing with the display of Indigenous human remains and cultural items.

The museum said in October that it would pull all human remains from public display, with the aim of eventually repatriating as much as it could to Native American tribes and other rightful owners.

Sean Decatur, the museum’s president, said in a letter to staff Friday that the latest move reflects the “growing urgency” among museums to change their relationships with tribes and how they exhibit Indigenous cultures.


“The halls we are closing are vestiges of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives, and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,” he wrote. “Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others.”

Earlier this month, Chicago’s Field Museum covered several displays containing Native American items. Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has said it would remove all Native American funerary items from its exhibits. The Cleveland Museum of Art is another institution that has taken similar steps.

Shannon O’Loughlin, head of the Association on American Indian Affairs, a national group that has long called for museums to comply with the federal requirements, welcomed such developments but said the true test is what ultimately becomes of the removed items.

“Covering displays or taking things down isn’t the goal,” she said. “It’s about repatriation — returning objects back to tribes. So this is just one part of a much bigger process.”

Todd Mesek, a Cleveland Museum of Art spokesperson, said the institution is consulting with Native American groups to secure their consent to display certain items as well as reviewing archival records to determine if there is already some agreement on record.

Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesperson, said the Peabody is committed to returning all ancestral remains and funerary items and has more than doubled the number of staffers working toward that end in recent months. The museum also announced this month that it would cover the expenses of tribal members traveling to campus as part of the repatriation process.

The revised regulations released in December by the U.S. Department of the Interior are related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The changes include expanded requirements for consulting with and receiving tribes’ consent to exhibit and conduct research on Indigenous artifacts, including human remains and funerary, sacred and cultural objects.

Native American groups have long complained that museums, colleges and other institutions dragged out the process of returning hundreds of thousands of culturally significant items.

“The only exception to repatriation is if a museum or institution can prove they received consent at the time the item was taken,” O’Loughlin said. “But most institutions can’t do that, of course, because these items and bodies were usually taken through violence, theft and looting.”

Decatur said in the letter that rather than simply covering up or removing items in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains Halls, the ones closing this weekend, the decision was made to shutter them entirely because they are “severely outdated.”

Meanwhile, some displays elsewhere in the museum, including ones showcasing Native Hawaiian items, will be covered, he added.

Decatur acknowledged one consequence of the closures will be the suspension of visits to them by school field trips. The Eastern Woodlands Hall, in particular, has been a mainstay for New York-area students learning about Native American life in the Northeast.

The museum remains committed to supporting the teaching of Indigenous cultures, Decatur said, and officials are reviewing the new federal regulations to understand their implications.

O’Loughlin of the Association on American Indian Affairs said there isn’t as much gray area as museum officials might suggest.


“The new regulations make it crystal clear,” she said. “It doesn’t prohibit research. It doesn’t prohibit exhibiting native cultural heritage. It only requires prior and informed consent before doing so.”
___

Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this story.
___

AMERIKA PRISON NATION INC.

What happened at the nation’s first nitrogen gas execution: An AP eyewitness account


Anti-death penalty signs placed by activists stand along the road heading to Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., ahead of the scheduled execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. On Thursday, Alabama put Smith to death with nitrogen gas. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler, File)

This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife. On Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, Alabama put Smith to death with nitrogen gas. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File)

BY KIM CHANDLER
Updated 5:58 PM MST, January 26, 2024Share


ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — As witnesses including five news reporters watched through a window, Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted and sentenced to die in the 1988 murder-for hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett, convulsed on a gurney as Alabama carried out the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas.

Critics who had worried the new execution method would be cruel and experimental said Smith’s final moments Thursday night proved they were right. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, however, characterized it on Friday as a “textbook” execution.

Here is an eyewitness account of how it unfolded. Times, unless otherwise noted, are according to a clock on the execution chamber wall at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility.



Alabama man shook violently on gurney during first-ever nitrogen gas execution




Alabama executes a man with nitrogen gas, the first time the new method has been used


The curtains between the viewing room and the execution chamber opened at 7:53 p.m. Smith, wearing a tan prison uniform, was already strapped to the gurney and draped in a white sheet.

A blue-rimmed respirator mask covered his face from forehead to chin. It had a clear face shield and plastic tubing that appeared to connect through an opening to the adjoining control room.

FINAL WORDS

The prison warden entered the chamber, read the death warrant setting his execution date and held a microphone for Smith to speak any final words.

“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards,” Smith began. He moved his fingers to form an “I love you” sign to family members who were also present. “I’m leaving with love, peace and light. ... Love all of you.”

The Sennett family watched from a viewing room that was separate from the one where members of the media and Smith’s attorney were seated.

THE EXECUTION IS GREENLIGHTED

Marshall, the attorney general, gave prison officials the OK to begin the execution at 7:56 p.m. That was the final confirmation from his office that there were no court orders preventing it from going forward.


A corrections officer in the chamber approached Smith and checked the side of the mask.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual advisor took a few steps toward Smith, touched him on the leg and they appeared to pray.

The Department of Corrections had required Hood to sign a waiver agreeing to stay 3 feet (0.9 meters) away from Smith’s gas mask in case the hose supplying the nitrogen came loose.

THRASHING AND GASPING BREATHS

Smith began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements, at about 7:58 p.m. The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the against the straps holding him to the gurney. He lifted his head off the gurney the gurney and then fell back.

The shaking went on for at least two minutes. Hood repeatedly made the sign of the cross toward Smith. Smith’s wife, who was watching, cried out.

Smith began to take a series of deep gasping breaths, his chest rising noticeably. His breathing was no longer visible at about 8:08 p.m. The corrections officer who had checked the mask before walked over to Smith and looked at him.

THE EXECUTION ENDS

The curtains were closed to the viewing room at about 8:15 p.m.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm told reporters afterward that the nitrogen gas flowed for approximately 15 minutes. The state attorney general’s office declined Friday to discuss at what time the nitrogen gas began flowing, or at what time a monitor connected to Smith during the execution showed that his heart had stopped beating.

State officials said Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.
___

Chandler was one of five media witnesses for Smith’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia. She has covered approximately 15 executions in Alabama over the last two decades, including the state’s first lethal injection.

Alabama man shook violently on gurney during first-ever nitrogen gas execution

A man put to death using nitrogen gas shook and convulsed on the gurney as Alabama carried out the first-of-its-kind execution that once again placed the United States at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment. (Jan. 26)

BY KIM CHANDLER
January 26, 2024



ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — A man put to death using nitrogen gas shook and convulsed for minutes on the gurney as Alabama carried out the first-of-its-kind execution that has ignited debate over the humaneness of the method.

Breathing through a nitrogen-filled face mask that deprived him of oxygen, 58-year-old convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith convulsed in seizurelike spasms for at least two minutes of the 22-minute execution by nitrogen hypoxia Thursday. The force of his movements at times caused the gurney to visibly shake. That was followed by several minutes of gasping breathing until his breath was no longer perceptible.

Smith’s supporters expressed alarm at how the execution played out, saying it was the antithesis of the state’s promise of a quick and painless death. But Alabama’s attorney general characterized the execution as “textbook” during a Friday news conference.

“As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. It is a proven one,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said, extending an offer of help for states considering adopting the method.




Alabama calls nitrogen execution method painless and humane, but critics are raising doubts

Why are states like Alabama, which is planning to use nitrogen gas, exploring new execution methods?

Asked about Smith’s shaking and convulsing on the gurney, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said they appeared to be involuntary movements.

“That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia,” Hamm said. “Nothing was out of the ordinary from what we were expecting.”

Marshall said he anticipated Alabama “will definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions.” More than 40 death row inmates have selected nitrogen as their preferred execution method over lethal injection but did so at a time when the state hadn’t developed nitrogen procedures.

AP AUDIO: Alabama man shook violently on gurney during first-ever nitrogen gas execution.

AP correspondent Sagar Meghani has the story.

Attorneys for those inmates have asked the court to order Alabama to turn over records and information about Smith’s execution. Litigation will almost certainly focus on Smith’s convulsions and movements during the execution.

“The State promised the world the most humane method of execution known to man. Instead, Mr. Smith writhed and thrashed before he died. No further executions should take place by this method until the events of this evening are examined by an independent body,” Assistant Federal Defender John Palombi, who represents death row inmates who requested nitrogen, said in a statement.

Smith’s spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, agreed that the execution did not match the state attorney general’s prediction that Smith would lose consciousness in seconds followed by death within minutes.

“We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life,” said Hood, who attended the execution.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia expert who designed a suicide pod using nitrogen gas and appeared as an expert witness for Smith, said the description of Smith’s thrashing matches what he would expect to happen when nitrogen gas is used in a mask and someone holds their breath or takes the smallest possible breaths.

“I think this outcome is inevitable if the nitrogen gas is to be used in execution where people do not want to die and will not cooperate,” Nitschke said.

Outside the country, the European Union and the U.N. Human Rights Office expressed regret Friday over the execution. The 27-nation EU and the Geneva-based U.N. rights office say the death penalty violates the right to life and does not deter crime.

Smith, who was paid $1,000 to kill an Alabama woman more than 30 years ago, said in a final statement: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. I’m leaving with love, peace and light.”

He made the “I love you sign” with his hands toward family members who were witnesses. “Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you,” Smith sai

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the execution was justice for the murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett in 1988.

“After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes,” Ivey said in a statement. “I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.”

“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. ... I’m leaving with love, peace and light.”
Kenneth Eugene Smith, in a final statement

Mike Sennett, the victim’s son, said Thursday night that Smith “had been incarcerated almost twice as long as I knew my mom.”

“Nothing happened here today is going to bring Mom back. It’s kind of a bittersweet day. We are not going to be jumping around, whooping and holler, hooray and all that,” he said. “I’ll end by saying Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett got her justice tonight.”

Alabama had previously attempted to execute Smith in 2022, but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line.

The execution came after a last-minute legal battle in which his attorneys contended the state was making him the test subject for an experimental execution method that could violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Federal courts rejected Smith’s bid to block it, with the final ruling coming Thursday night from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching,” Sotomayor wrote.

The White House also expressed concern over the execution method, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying during a media briefing Friday that reports about Smith and his death were “very troubling.”

Sennett was found dead in her home March 18, 1988, with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck. Smith was one of two men convicted in the killing. The other, John Forrest Parker, was executed in 2010.

Prosecutors said they were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance. The husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation focused on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

In ‘Origin,’ Ava DuVernay and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor seek the roots of racism

Ava DuVernay has been disappointed that “Origin” and its star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor haven’t been recognized during Hollywood’s awards season so far, but says: “Time will reward the film for its merits.”

BY JAKE COYLE
January 22, 2024


NEW YORK (AP) — Ava DuVernay kept hearing she had to read “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” She had Isabel Wilkerson’s book in galleys before it was published in 2020. Oprah Winfrey kept telling her to read it. But she put it off. It seemed an imposing read. Copies kept proliferating in her home.

“At one point, a high-profile director said to me, ‘I heard you got the book,’” DuVernay says. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I got a couple copies.’ He said, ‘No, I heard you’re doing it.’ I said, ‘As in doing a movie?’ So I said I better read this.”

But even once she cracked Wilkerson’s book open, it took DuVernay a few reads before it really sunk in. “Caste,” a best-seller released shortly before the death of George Floyd, reframed American racism through historical stratifications of caste. “Race, in the United States, is the visible agent of the unseen force of caste,” wrote Wilkerson. “Caste is the bones, race the skin.”

For DuVernay, whose films ( “The 13th,”“Selma” ) have illuminated American history with rigor and passion, the thesis of “Caste” was eye-opening.

“I was so wrapped up with the idea of race as a Black woman. That was the lens through which I see myself and the world sees me,” says DuVernay. “That’s what I thought.”

“Origin,” DuVernay’s new film, isn’t a direct adaptation of Wilkerson’s book. DuVernay, who wrote the script, centers it on Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), following the author while she researches the book and navigates her own personal joys and tragedies. The film takes a heavyweight work of historical and sociological inquiry and transforms it into a deeply humanistic drama and a globe-trotting detective story.

“She’s Indiana Jones. She’s going around the world in search of the holy grail,” says Ellis-Taylor. “She’s on this process of discovery and then in the middle of that worldwide hunt, she loses, and her loss is immeasurable. But she’s still searching. That is a hero. That is a cinematic hero.”

DuVernay and Ellis-Taylor met for an interview last month in the downtown offices of Neon, which is releasing “Origin” theatrically Friday. They had only just begun talking about their still-fresh experience making the film. Ellis-Taylor hadn’t yet seen it and wasn’t sure she was going to. “It was so personal for me,” she said. “I don’t want to share it with anybody yet.”

Some have overlooked “Origin” since its Venice Film Festival debut. DuVernay has lamented Ellis-Taylor’s absence thus far from the pomp of award season. But underestimating “Origin” would be a mistake. The film, which made numerous 10 lists including this critic’s, is audaciously original in how it fuses big ideas with emotional warmth.

If “Caste” sought to describe some of the man-made hierarchies that repeat throughout history, “Origin” – which DuVernay and her producing partner, Paul Garnes, gathered financing for independently – is itself a work that boldly and beautifully transcends conventional Hollywood limitations.

DuVernay and Garnes raised $38 million with the help of philanthropists — including the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — many of whom had little Hollywood experience but believed in the movie. Melinda Gates is a producer. NBA stars like Chris Paul invested.

“We are in an industry and a society where everything has a label. If there’s a Black woman director and a Black woman lead, it has to be about things they care about,” DuVernay says. “My hope is that we can somehow break caste.”

“Origin” opens with a dramatic recreation of the shooting of Trayvon Martin and later dips into historical vignettes including Nazi Germany, Jim Crow-era Mississippi and the experience of the Dalits in India. It steps into stories from history while capturing Wilkerson’s life with her husband (Jon Bernthal) and mother (Emily Yancy) – intimate dramas that touchingly counter and clarify some of the social structures Wilkerson traces while seeking the roots of racism.

“I wanted something where her intimate personal journey ran alongside, mirrored, challenged and actually complemented this huge universal truth that we don’t really know,” DuVernay says. “And I felt like somewhere in there, there were touch points where they could complement each other. One doesn’t always lead perfectly into other, but that they were in a conversation.”

Ellis-Taylor, the Oscar-nominated co-star of “King Richard,” had acted in DuVernay’s 2019 miniseries “When They See Us,” about the 1989 Central Park jogger case. She signed on to “Origin” without a script. “I had read ‘The Warmth of Other Suns,’” she says, alluding to Wilkerson’s prior book. “So how bad could it be?”

DuVernay describes the making of “Origin” as centered on her work with Ellis-Taylor, a collaboration founded on their mutual personal connection to the material.

“These things that she speaks about in her pillars of caste, that’s stuff I lived with. They’re not abstract ideas. That’s my reality,” says Ellis-Taylor, who was raised in Mississippi.

Seeing race as a caste was, to Ellis-Taylor, a revelatory new paradigm.

“That excites me. That sets me on fire,” she says. “And I believe this film is a dangerous film. If it does the work that I want it to do in theaters, it should make people angry. It should make people mad. I felt myself as being a soldier in that battle.”

DuVernay, too, describes herself as ready for “ugly feedback” to the film. A prominent proponent of inclusivity in cinema and the first African American woman to direct a $100 million-budgeted live-action film, she’s accustomed to the cultural battles that often accompany frank discussions of race.

“I am used to it. But on ‘Selma’ I was unprepared and it hurt me. It hurt me when people came at me about LBJ (on ‘Selma’) and that I’m tearing down people’s legacy and that I’m wrong and how dare I do this and that when I was advancing the perspective of a group of people that usually don’t have a story told from their point of view,” says DuVernay. “It seems whenever I do that, I’m wrong. I’ve felt that vitriol and felt that anger.”

“In this, I’m prepared for it in a way I hadn’t been before,” DuVernay adds. “And my preparation involves: Deal with it. I’m not going to fight you. It’s in there. Have at it.”

Yet the most common reaction to “Origin” from audiences has been an outpouring of emotion. Moviegoers often come out of the theater drying their eyes. Far from academic, the movie’s power builds through its straightforward humanity – what DuVernay calls “15 little love stories.”

In between are some painful historic episodes. Yet even filming those – like the Martin shooting – the director doesn’t find agonizing.

“My experience in shooting these kinds of films before has given me a set of muscles and tools where it doesn’t bother me, and I actually feel empowered and bolstered because I get to be the teller of these stories,” says DuVernay.

“Origin” was shot quickly, in 37 days across three countries during early 2023. DuVernay turned it around quickly, completing the edit in time for Venice in September. It was a fast enough process that Ellis-Taylor has trouble locating it chronologically in her mind.

“I think I know why,” she says. “Because it doesn’t feel real. It feels like a miracle.”

DuVernay calls “Origin” the film she’s proudest of, partly because of how she made it outside the studio system. Each film before has felt to DuVernay, who started in the industry as a publicist, like a test, either to herself or to prove her talent behind the camera. Her last movie, “A Wrinkle in Time, ” for the Walt Disney Co., adapted a famously difficult-to-adapt novel. The experience of “Origin” – while no less daunting -- was different.

“For me, it’s shifted everything I know about myself and my work. To be working with a freedom and an abandon yet a sense of certainty in my skills. To not feel like ‘Oh, I didn’t go to film school and I’m just skating by,’” DuVernay says. “This was just free.”
___

In a story published Jan. 17, 2024, about the movie “Origin,” The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of actor Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. It was updated Jan. 19, 2024, to correct her first name to Aunjanue.
___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

JAKE COYLE
Film writer and critic

Movie Review: Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’ is a powerful, artful, interpretation of ‘Caste’

This image released by Neon shows Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in a scene from “Origin.” (Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP)

This image released by Neon shows Jon Bernthal, left, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in a scene from “Origin.” (Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP)

This image released by Neon shows Emily Yancy , left, and Jon Bernthal in a scene from “Origin.” (Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP)

This image released by Neon shows director Ava DuVernay, center, on the set of “Origin.” (Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP)

BY LINDSEY BAHR
January 17, 2024

Words like “important” and “vital” are thrown around possibly a little too much in film criticism. It’s not that we don’t mean it — it’s just that sometimes we (ok, I) can get a bit excited. And when watching and reviewing good films in real time, it’s impossible to know what is yet to come. Will there be something else that makes that superlative seem silly in retrospect? Often times, yes.

Ava DuVernay’s new film “Origin” is that something else. It is a powerful and artistic interpretation of an academic book that was anything but an obvious candidate for a narrative feature.

The book in question is “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” in which Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson offers an overriding theory about power and hierarchy and systemic dehumanization in social structures, connecting the Black experience in America to the Dalits of India and Jewish people in Nazi Germany. The New York Times reviewer called it one of the most powerful non-fiction books he’d ever encountered and “the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”

That “Caste” was appealing to DuVernay, who has made documentaries like “13th,” connecting slavery to mass incarceration of Black men, is not surprising. What’s she’s done with it is. Instead of rehashing the facts of the book, DuVernay has turned “Caste” into an investigative, fictionalized drama in which we follow the character Isabel Wilkerson as she puts the pieces together while her life crumbles.

With an unconventional structure, in which we are often transported to different stories in different times, in the American South, Nazi Germany and early 20th century India, “Origin” is nonetheless alarmingly effective, a riveting and haunting journey to a kind of enlightenment.

Wilkerson is played beautifully by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, an actor deep enough to engage with the academic and intellectual inquiries of the film, and charismatic enough to make what sounds like homework absorbing. Hers is the kind of 360-degree Black woman that we don’t see leading films very often: She is at once confident and full of doubt and vulnerability, accomplished but searching, determined and still wary. And she’s unafraid to pursue her hunch that everyone, civilians and book editors alike, seems to be telling her isn’t worth it.

This is a character who is surrounded by love when we meet her, with a fairly perfect and supportive husband (Jon Bernthal), her aging mother Ruby (Emily Yancy) and a cousin/confidant in Marion (Niecy Nash-Betts). She is not immediately interested in an assignment about Trayvon Martin, and is a bit stuck knowing that whatever she does, she’ll have to give herself over fully to it. In “Origin,” a push comes in the form of loss and her research takes on a vital urgency to, not to be too hyperbolic, figure out why everything is rotten before she too leaves the earth.

DuVernay takes us into her findings as Wilkerson learns about a group of Harvard students, two Black, two white, who integrate themselves into a segregated Southern community to study it, a Nazi party member who fell in love with a Jewish woman, and an Indian intellectual who rose out of his lowly caste and advocated for Dalit rights. They feel a bit like different movies. But while it might not be the most elegantly stitched together anthology, it works on a gut level. DuVernay and Ellis-Taylor commit to the big swing, and audiences who give it a chance may find themselves changed — or at least a little more curious, a little more alert — because of it.

Is it premature to say that “Origin” might just be DuVernay’s magnum opus? Well, perhaps. But hopefully it’s the start of a vibrant and bold new era of storytelling for her, with those pesky wrinkles in time firmly in the rearview mirror.

“Origin,” a Neon release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “scenes of violence.” Running time: 135 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

 Leon Trotsky Speaks! (English)

The Founding of the Fourth International

10:51

Leon Trotsky Speaks! (English) The Founding of the Fourth International (Full). Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) addresses American supporters in this 1938 recorded speech. He also addresses the founding of the Socialist Workers Party and the tenth anniversary of the Left Opposition in the Soviet Union and Third International to Stalin and bureaucratic and increasingly repressive rule by the bureaucratic Communist Party. Recorded in Coyoacan, Mexico CIty. 1938.

Lenin's speech on antisemitism