'They want to silence Palestinian voices’: British-Palestinian surgeon denied entry to Germany

'When I arrived at Berlin airport, I was stopped. I was taken down for questioning for three and a half hours. I was then told that I would not be allowed to enter German soil for the remainder of April,' Ghassan Abu Sitta tells Anadolu

Burak Bir |13.04.2024 - 



- 'The reason behind this is they want to silence Palestinian voices. And the reason behind this is that what Nicaragua is saying in the International Court of Justice, that Germany is an accomplice to the genocidal crimes of Israel is true,' says war surgeon who spent weeks in Gaza to help wounded civilians

-'This is what accomplices do in a crime. They try to hide the evidence and they try to silence the witnesses and that's what Germany is trying to do,' adds Abu Sitta

LONDON

Doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta who was prevented by Germany from entering Friday to address a pro-Palestine conference in Berlin said German officials try to hide evidence and silence witnesses to the crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The British-Palestinian surgeon who is also the newly-appointed Rector of Glasgow University told Anadolu about what happened when he was held up by federal police at a Berlin airport and why he was banned from entry.

Abu Sitta said he landed in Germany to attend a Palestine Congress event to give evidence about what he saw in Gaza.

Until his return to the UK in November, Abu Sitta helped wounded Palestinians for weeks in Gaza, including at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.

"When I arrived at Berlin airport, I was stopped. I was taken down for questioning for three and a half hours. I was then told that I would not be allowed to enter German soil for the remainder of April," he said.

The war surgeon noted that he was also told not to try to deliver a speech via video from outside Germany or send a recorded video address to the conference.

"They asked me who I was, what I had done in Gaza. And they asked me whether I had received an invitation and whether there were planned marches or it was just going to be a speech," said Abu Sitta.

“The reason they gave is really a ludicrous reason. They said that they cannot ensure the safety of people attending the conference, and that's why they're canceling the conference.”

However, for Abu Sitta, the reason is quite different than what he was told. He said, "The reason behind this is they want to silence Palestinian voices."

"The reason behind this is that what Nicaragua is saying in the International Court of Justice -- that Germany is an accomplice to the genocidal crimes of Israel is true."

Germany is also facing legal charges from Nicaragua at the top UN court that it is "facilitating the commission of genocide" against Palestinians with its military and political support for Israel.

"This is what accomplices do in a crime. They try to hide the evidence and they try to silence the witnesses and that's what Germany is trying to do," added Abu Sitta.

Asked whether the UK Embassy in Berlin or UK Foreign Secretary have contacted him after he was denied entry, he said, he was contacted through his lawyer by a member of parliament representing his constituency.

"We will be taking it up both legally and diplomatically with the German government," added Abu Sitta.

Berlin police broke up the Palestine Congress in Berlin, less than two hours after the event began Friday.

Dozens of police officers stormed the meeting, cutting off the livestream transmission and electricity in the hall.

A police official ordered the 250 participants to leave the hall, spurring strong shouts of protest by the crowd.

Marcos to Duterte: What did you compromise in ‘secret agreement’ with China?

APR 13, 2024 2:21 PM PHT
RAPPLER.COM



INFO
President Marcos says he also plans to get answers from former Duterte officials on his predecessor's 'gentleman's agreement' with his Chinese counterpart on Ayungin Shoal


MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has several questions for former president Rodrigo Duterte on his “gentleman’s agreement” with China on Ayungin Shoal, among them, why he kept it a secret to the Filipino people and what the deal entailed.

“Para sa akin maliwanag na may tinago – may usapan sila na tinago nila sa taumbayan, number one (For me, it’s clear that they hid something – they had discussions that were kept from the people, number one),” Marcos said in response to questions in a Philippine media interview in Washington on Friday, April 12.

He was asked about the Chinese embassy in Manila’s confirmation of the existence of such an agreement, though Duterte denied it.

“So, now, with the confirmation of the Chinese embassy, we now know that there was a secret agreement. Now,…the second question that I have is what is contained in the secret agreement?” he said.

Marcos says the trilateral summit was 'not against any country' but had focused on deepening economic and security relations among Manila, Washington, and Tokyo

“We need to know, what did you agree to? What did you compromise? Ano ‘yung pinamigay ninyo? Bakit nagagalit sa atin ang mga kaibigan natin sa China dahil hindi kami sumusunod? Ano ‘yung dapat naming gawin? Ano’ng laman ng secret agreement na ‘yan?” he added.

(We need to know, what did you agree to? What did you compromise? What did you give away? Why are our friends from China angry at us because of we didn’t follow it? What is it that we should we do? What does that agreement entail?)

The Chinese embassy said in a statement posted on its website on Friday that under the deal with the Duterte administration, Philippine resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre would only be limited to the delivery of food and water and would not include construction and repair materials.

China has been harassing Philippine resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal, which is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, calling such actions “provocative.”

The Philippines and its allies have slammed China’s actions, which were among the top agenda in the first trilateral summit of the leaders of the United States, the Philippines, and Japan in Washington. 

(READ: US, Japan, Philippines condemn Beijing’s South China Sea moves in summit)

Accountability issue

Marcos reiterated that then-outgoing president Duterte and his officials did not mention any such deal during the transition period between administrations following his victory in the 2022 presidential elections.

Marcos said he also wants to hear from former Duterte officials who may shed light on what the agreement entailed, but did not identify them.

“Tanong natin sa kanila. Eh walang dokumento. Oh sige, ano ba talaga, ano ba talaga? I- kuwento naman ninyo kung ano ‘yung nangyari? What part did you play in all of these? Well, we need to clarify the situation because nalalagay ang Pilipinas sa alanganin,” he said.

(Let’s ask them. There’s no documentation. What is is about? Tell us what happened. What part did you play in all of these? Well, we need to clarify the situation because the Philippines is being placed in a compromising situation.)

“I’ll talk to the former officials, and see what they have to say. I can get a straight answer on any of them,” he added.

Marcos said he “disagrees” with the idea of entering into a secret agreement because it would allow those behind it to escape accountability.

“[If] you have any secret, any agreement with another sovereign state should really be known by the people, should be known by the elected officials, should be known by the Senate. Because the treaty is to be ratified by the Senate. It should be known by all the local officials. It should be known by everyone,” he said.

“If it’s a bad decision, you’re accountable,” he added.

Marcos also wondered aloud why a “very experienced lawyer” like Duterte would enter into such an important agreement without any written documentation.

“Walang dokumento. Hindi ko nga maintindihan, very experienced lawyer si president Duterte. Ang abogado lahat gusto nila nakasulat lahat ‘yan. Bakit walang nakasulat na kahit isang papel? Bakit walang video? Bakit walang announcement? Nothing,” he said.

(There are no documents. I can’t understand this – [former] president Duterte is a very experienced lawyer. All lawyers want everything in writing. Why was there not even one sheet of paper? Why is there no video? Why is there no announcement? Nothing.)

“So, papaano namin magagawa, kung gusto naming sundan, kung ayaw naming sundan, hindi pa rin, hindi namin alam (So what could we do, if we want to follow it or not follow, we have no idea). So, whatever foreign policy we undertook vis-à-vis South China Sea, West Philippine Sea was just continuing our foreign policy of maintaining the peace and promoting the national interest,” he added.

Marcos said in an April 10 interview that he was “horrified by the idea that we have compromised, through a secret agreement, the territory, the sovereignty, and the sovereign rights of the Filipinos.” 

– Rappler.com

CAPITALI$T ANARCHY

Global cholera jab stockpile runs dry

At the end of February, countries had already reported 79,300 cases and 1,100 deaths from cholera this year. Since there is no uniform system for counting cases, this is most likely a gross underestimate

Stephanie Nolen

 New York  Times

Published 13.04.24, 


Pilirani Wanja, a clinician at a health centre in Blantyre, Malawi, shows clients how to take the cholera vaccine.Reuters file picture

Doses of cholera vaccine are being given to patients as fast as they are produced and the global stockpile has run completely dry, as deadly outbreaks of the disease continue to spread.

This does not shock anyone in the field of emergency epidemic response because the vaccine stockpile has been precariously low for years.

The surprise — the good news, which is in itself surprising since ‘cholera’ and ‘good news’ are rarely used together — is that three new vaccine makers are setting up production lines and joining the effort to replenish the stockpile. And a fourth company, the only one that makes the vaccine which is given orally, has been working at a pace that experts describe as “heroic” to expand its production.

Yet even with all this, the total global supply of the vaccine that will become available this year will be, at best, a quarter of what is needed.


At the end of February, countries had already reported 79,300 cases and 1,100 deaths from cholera this year. Since there is no uniform system for counting cases, this is most likely a gross underestimate.

In October 2022, the organisation that manages the global emergency cholera vaccine stockpile made an unprecedented recommendation that people receive only one dose of the vaccine instead of two to stretch the supply. A single dose of the cholera vaccine provides between six months and two years of immunity, while the full regimen of two doses delivered a month apart gives adults roughly four years of protection.

Last year, countries sent requests for 76 million doses of the vaccine for single-dose “reactive campaigns” — efforts to vaccinate people in places with active outbreaks.

There were only 38 million doses in the stockpile, so only half the requests were filled, and those were with only a single dose. No vaccines were left for preventive campaigns that would ideally be carried out in places such as the Gaza Strip, where all of the conditions for large outbreaks exist, or in places where cholera is endemic.

The race to make more cholera vaccine illustrates all of the reasons it’s so hard to respond to epidemics even with the participation of committed drugmakers who are not scared off by the slim profit margins in an immunisation that’s mostly for poor people.

Cholera can cause death by dehydration in as little as a single day as the body tries to expel virulent bacteria in streams of vomit and watery diarrhoea.

The disease is spread through unclean drinking water. The current outbreaks are being driven by the spread of conflict and climate disasters that force people into crowded living situations without adequate sanitation systems. In recent months, there have been outbreaks in 17 countries.

New York Times News Service

Pakistan has highest living cost in all of Asia with 25 per cent inflation rate: Asian Development Bank

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and federal government had set the inflation target at 21 per cent for this fiscal year but they are going to miss it despite inflicting huge losses in the shape of a 22 per cent interest rate

PTI Islamabad Published 13.04.24


Pakistan has the highest living cost in all of Asia with a 25 per cent inflation rate and its economy may grow at the fourth lowest pace of 1.9 per cent in the region, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

The report was released on Thursday in Manila.

The Express Tribune reported that the Asian Development Outlook also painted a gloomy picture for the next fiscal year as well, projecting a 15 per cent inflation rate for the next fiscal year -- again the highest among 46 countries and a 2.8 per cent growth rate -- the fifth lowest for FY 2024-25.


The Manila-based lending agency stated that the inflation rate in Pakistan is expected to be 25 per cent in the current fiscal year -- the highest in all of Asia. This makes Pakistan the most expensive nation in Asia. Earlier, the cost of living in Pakistan used to be the highest in South Asia.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and federal government had set the inflation target at 21 per cent for this fiscal year but they are going to miss it despite inflicting huge losses in the shape of a 22 per cent interest rate.

The ADB said during the current fiscal year, the country’s economic growth rate might remain at 1.9 per cent -- the fourth lowest after Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Nauru.

Pakistan is in a stagflation phase for a prolonged period and the World Bank too said last week that another 10 million more people might fall into the poverty trap because of any adverse shocks. About 98 million people are already living a poor life in Pakistan.

In the past, the ADB gave a rather optimistic economic scenario close to Pakistan’s official forecasts.

However, the latest ADB report stated that Pakistan would continue to face challenges from substantial new external financing requirements and the rollover of old debt, exacerbated by tight global monetary conditions.

The Manila-based lender said political uncertainty that affected macroeconomic policymaking would remain a key risk to the sustainability of stabilisation and reform efforts. It said with Pakistan's large external financing requirements and weak external buffers, disbursement from multilateral and bilateral partners remained crucial.

“Further IMF support for a medium-term reform agenda would considerably improve market sentiment and catalyse affordable external financing from other sources,” the report added.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is set to meet the IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva next week in Washington to request a new bailout package. The IMF MD said this week that Pakistan was in discussions for a potential follow-up programme.

However, she said that there are “very important issues” to be solved in Pakistan: the tax base, how the richer part of the society contributed to the economy, the way public spending is being directed, and creating a more transparent environment.

The ADB said low confidence, a surge in living costs, and the implementation of tighter macroeconomic policies under the IMF programme would restrain domestic demand in Pakistan.

It said the government’s goal was to achieve a primary surplus of 0.4 per cent and an overall deficit of 7.5 per cent of GDP in FY2024, with both declining gradually in subsequent years. However, the World Bank said last week that Pakistan would miss both these budget targets, reported The Express Tribune.

‘Permanent contraception procedures’ soared after Dobbs decision: Research

BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH

The Hill's Headlines - April 12, 2024


Rates of people seeking permanent contraception spiked after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, new research shows.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Boston University looked at rates of tubal ligations and vasectomies among 18- to 30-year-olds between 2019 and 2022 using the TriNetX platform and compared them with 2022 to 2023 rates.

That platform largely gathers data from academic medical centers and related clinics across the country.

The findings were published Friday in a JAMA Health Forward research letter.

Researchers found that tubal ligations had increased by 2.84 procedures per 100,000 visits per month for women before the Supreme Court’s decision and by 1.03 procedures per 100,000 visits per month for men.

After the decision, researchers found that the trend for tubal ligations increased to 5.3 procedures per month among female patients but there were no significant changes in the number of procedures per month for men, according to the letter.

On top of this, researchers found that the average rate of women undergoing tubal ligations post-Dobbs increased to about 58 procedures per 100,000 visits, while the average rate for men increased to about 27 procedures per 100,000.

The study, however, did not provide the average rate of these procedures before the Dobbs decision was handed down. The Hill has reached out to the authors for more information.

This disparity reflects “the unequal burden of unwanted pregnancy,” said Jaqueline Ellison, assistant professor at The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and lead author of the letter.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, 21 states have banned or imposed increased restrictions on abortion access.

“What we see is reflecting increases in fear and anxiety among young people about restricted access to abortion after Dobbs,” said Ellison said about her research.

“These changes in permanent contraception rates are really important to understand because they show how abortion bans affect people’s reproductive autonomy beyond abortion access.”

While most people who undergo sterilization are happy with their decision, a small portion regret the decision later in life.

About 5 percent of men who undergo vasectomies regret their decision in the future, according to the U.S. Centers and Disease Control and Prevention.

There is not a clear consensus on how many women regret choosing permanent contraception. The CDC estimates that between 1 and 26 percent of women who choose sterilization regret their decision, with younger women more likely to have second thoughts than older women.

One 1999 study found that about 20 percent of women who choose to be sterilized at 30 or younger regret the decision, compared to about 6 percent of women who underwent sterilization after age 30.

China helping Russia’s ‘most ambitious’ war machine expansion since USSR

BySteve Holland and Susan Heavey
April 13, 2024 — 11.29am

Washington: 

China is backing Russia’s war effort in Ukraine by helping Moscow in its biggest military build-up since the Soviet era, providing drone and missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools, senior US officials said.

The American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US President Joe Biden raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their recent phone call and that it is a topic of discussion with US allies in Europe and around the world.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping declared a no-limits friendship in 2022. Russian technology is being used to improve the stealthiness of Beijing’s submarine fleet while Chinese parts help Russia’s war in Ukraine.CREDIT:AP

One official said Chinese materials were filing critical gaps in Russia’s defence production cycle and helping Moscow undertake its “most ambitious defence expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict”.

“Our view is that one of the most game-changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC [China] to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base. Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC input,” the official said.

Some of the information provided by the American officials in a small briefing with reporters on Saturday (AEST) was based on declassified intelligence. They sketched a wide array of ways China is helping Russia’s two-year war against Ukraine without providing lethal assistance.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US said it has not provided weaponry to any party, adding that it was “not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis” and that normal trade between China and Russia should not be interfered or restricted.

“We urge the US side to refrain from disparaging and scapegoating the normal relationship between China and Russia,” Liu Pengyu said.

Biden has been pressuring Republicans who control the House of Representatives to approve a major infusion of funding for providing weapons to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off the Russians.

The US and its allies have also been more blunt about confronting Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and against self-ruled Taiwan.


China complained about what it viewed as anti-China rhetoric emanating from Biden’s talks this week with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines, prompting a denial from the White House.

Russian has likely used imported machine tools from China to increase its ballistic missile production, the officials said. They cited Dalian Machine Tool Group, one of China’s leading machine tool manufacturers, as one company supplying Russia.

In 2023, 90 per cent of Russia’s microelectronics imports came from China, which Russia has used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft, the officials said.


They said that Chinese companies such as Wuhan Global Sensor Technology Co, Wuhan Tongsheng Technology Co Ltd and Hikvision were providing Chinese optical components for use in Russian systems, including tanks and armoured vehicles.

Russia has received military such optics made by Chinese firms iRay Technology and North China Research Institute of Electro-Optics manufacture, they said.


China has also provided drone engines and turbojet engines for cruise missiles, and that Chinese and Russian entities have been working to jointly produce drones inside Russia.

Chinese companies are likely providing Russia with nitrocellulose to make propellants for weapons, helping Russia rapidly expand its capacity to make key munitions like artillery rounds, they added.


The US officials also said China was helping Russia improve its satellite and other space-based capabilities for use in Ukraine, increasing the Russian threat across Europe. And they said the US has information China

Aadujeevitham: The migrant story shining a light on Gulf states' exploitation of workers

By Meryl Sebastian

BBC News, Kochi

Aadujeevitham tells the story of an Indian emigrant to Saudi Arabia, who goes missing and is forced into slave-like labour

A Malayalam-language film that depicts the plight of impoverished Indians seeking jobs in the Middle East has been drawing throngs to cinemas.

Aadujeevitham (Goat Life), adapted from the bestselling 2008 Malayalam book, stars Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb, an Indian immigrant in Saudi Arabia who is kidnapped and forced into slave-like labour as a goat herder in the desert. The story is inspired by the real-life ordeal of a man with the same name, who was abducted in the country in the 1990s and managed to escape after two years.

Written as a gripping thriller, the book has become a cultural cornerstone in the southern Kerala state, with its 250th edition released this year. Its widespread acclaim had sparked a conversation on the harsh realities of migrant life in the Gulf.

The three-hour film has also done exceedingly well, grossing over 870 million rupees (£8.23m, $10.4m) worldwide in the first week of its release. Critics have called it a "stunning survival drama" and a much awaited "cinematic portrayal of brutal struggle".

Aadujeevitham shows Najeeb isolated from the world, alone with his master and his animals, facing extreme heat in a harsh desert, miles away from the nearest road, with no access to a phone, paper or pen to write with, and no one to call a friend. He drinks water from the same trough as his animals.

Aadujeevitham

The film is inspired by the real-life ordeal of a man, who was abducted in Saudi Arabia

"Please let me go back," he pleads in a a heart-wrenching scene, tears streaming down his face as he recounts selling everything and leaving his family behind, all in pursuit of a promised job.

His words in Malayalam mean nothing to his boss, who only speaks Arabic.

Among the 2.1 million people from Kerala living abroad, nearly 90% migrated to the Gulf countries, drawn by the state's longstanding relationship spanning over five decades with nations such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in the Arabian Peninsula.

Many of these workers from impoverished families have toiled under the kafala system in these countries, where their stay and mobility are controlled by their sponsor, leaving them susceptible to abuse and exploitation. The pay the workers have sent back to Kerala has powered its economy - a government think tank index showed that the state has the lowest poverty rate in India.

Much has been written about the oppressive working conditions in the Gulf countries.

"Your passport is taken away, you cannot return, you are constantly under the threat of death," says Mohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil of Manipal Centre for Humanities, who has researched labour migration.

In a conversation on YouTube, Najeeb, on whose life the book and the film are based, says he could never return to the places described in the story.

The film has grossed over 870 million rupees (£8.23m, $10.4m) worldwide in the first week of its release

"I had left [Kerala] in 1991 with a lot of dreams. The experiences I had there, the horrible master and the life among goats - I lost my self-consciousness, I lost my mind," he says.


In 2008, film director Blessy acquired the rights to adapt the book. Sukumaran told the BBC that he believed he knew everything about the book when the director handed him a copy next year.

"I knew all the events in the story. That was how much people were talking about it, especially in the film industry. Even then, it blew me away."

"A standout feature of this story is this diffusion of identities between man and animal - this one man slowly losing his identity as a species, as a human, and becoming one among the animals. I had never read anything like it."

In the film, Najeeb gradually stops speaking in Malayalam, only making guttural sounds like the animals he tends to. From time to time, he dips into a jar of mango pickle he'd brought from home for a taste of comfort.

After a 16-year wait, Aadujeevitham hit screens, overcoming obstacles like high costs, production setbacks, and the pandemic, with the director investing his savings to make the film

Blessy, who called the film a passion project, said he chose to adapt just 43 pages from the novel "to capture the essence".

On the weekend of its release, people either talked about having watched the film or booking tickets to watch it. YouTube channels showed people leaving the cinema in tears, with many saying it was an extraordinarily emotional experience.

"I know the story well but almost felt like I shouldn't have watched the film - that's how painful it was," one woman said.

Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule set to direct movie about Japan’s first Black Samurai

Francis Akhalbey

April 12, 2024    

Blitz Bazawule is set to direct and produce a movie about Japan's first Black Samurai -- Photo Credit: Nadira.2154

Blitz Bazawule, the Ghanaian filmmaker best known for directing The Color Purple and The Burial of Kojo, has been tapped by Warner Bros. to spearhead a movie about Japan’s first Black Samurai, Yasuke.

Sources informed Variety that Warner Bros. was among four studios that keenly expressed interest in landing the 41-year-old’s upcoming movie. Bazawule is also lauded for co-directing Beyoncé’s Black Is King feature-length visual album.

As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Yasuke was an enslaved African believed to have been born in Mozambique around 1555. He served as a slave under the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano.

Valignano, who was in charge of the Jesuit missions (a scholarly religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in sixteenth-century Spain) in East Africa, South and East Asia, travelled to Japan with Yasuke in 1579.

The presence of the Black man who was taller than the regular Japanese and believed to have the strength of ten men caused a stir and gave Yasuke an audience with the Japanese hegemon and warlord Oda Nobunaga.

According to a 1581 letter written by Jesuit Luís Fróis to Lourenço Mexia, Yasuke was presented to Nobunaga who suspected his skin was coloured with black ink. He had him strip and scrub his skin to prove his claim. This was also recorded in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan.


Nobunaga took a keen interest in Yasuke when he was convinced his skin was in fact black. He added him to his servants and enjoyed talking to him, according to many Japanese books.

The archives of the Japanese Maeda Samurai clan noted that “the black man was given his own residence and a short, ceremonial katana [Samurai sword] by Nobunaga. Nobunaga also assigned him the duty of weapon bearer.”

In 1582, Yasuke fought alongside the Nobunaga-led forces in the tribal battle called the Battle of Tenmokuzan. Nobunaga was attacked and he was forced to commit seppuku [Japanese ritual suicide].


After Nobunaga’s death, Yasuke was eventually captured by the rival clan which described him as an animal and not Japanese. His life was spared and he was returned to the Jesuits.

There is no account of the rest of Yasuke’s life and how he died. However, he has been depicted in many artworks by 16th-century Japanese artists who painted him in service and also in sumo wrestling matches.

Chinese-American family donating $5M to Black community to thank Black couple who rented to them in 1939

Dollita Okine

April 12, 2024

Today, the Dongs possess the Thompsons' original home at 832 C Ave. as well as an eight-unit apartment building next door, with a combined value of $8 million, according to family members. Photo Credit: NBC News

Gus and Emma Thompson, a black couple, are being recognized for their courageous decision to rent their Coronado, California, property to Lloyd Dong Sr. and his wife in 1939, despite widespread racial restrictions on home ownership and rental at the time.

Today, the Dongs possess the Thompsons’ original home at 832 C Ave. as well as an eight-unit apartment building next door, with a combined value of $8 million, according to family members.

In appreciation, Lloyd Dong Jr. and his elder brother, Ron Dong, the sons of Lloyd Dong Sr., are giving $5 million of their share of the property’s sale earnings to Black college students around the U.S.

The family is also attempting to rename the Black Resource Center at San Diego State University in honor of Emma and Gus, who were born into slavery in Kentucky.

Lloyd Dong Jr., now 81 years old, told NBC News that the Thompsons gave their family a start with the land, and now it’s their turn to give others the same opportunity. He said, “Without them, we would not have the education and everything else.”

His 86-year-old brother Ron Dong and his wife Janice Dong, retired educators, are happy that the funds will support education because they believe it has the power to transform lives. “It’s just exactly what’s appropriate,” Ron went on to say.

According to the publication, the Dong family has been in California since the late nineteenth century. Formerly a farmer in the Central Valley, Lloyd Dong Sr. went to Coronado to work as a gardener. His son Ron recounted that his father put in extra effort even on the seventh day of the week to support his American-born children’s education, professional development, and real estate investing.

Then, in 1939, Gus and Emma Thompson provided the Dong family with a place to live, a commitment to sell them the land, and the opportunity to build a better life.

Not by accident, though, as Gus Thompson’s boarding house on the upper floor of his barn was the only place in Coronado at the time where immigrants and members of minority groups could stay.

Gus Thompson had come from Kentucky to California to work at the Hotel Del Coronado. He was not restricted from constructing the house and barn on C Avenue in 1895 because the city’s racial housing covenants had not taken effect at the time. Thompson turned his barn into a boarding home for the vulnerable.

According to Kevin Ashley, a Coronado historian, Emma Thompson sold the Coronado home and adjacent barn to the Dongs in 1955, making them the first Chinese-American family to acquire real estate in Coronado.

The Dong family stayed at the house at 832 C Ave. until 1957, when they replaced the barn with an apartment complex. Ron Dong went on to become a high school teacher, while Lloyd Dong Jr. worked in a variety of fields, including tax preparation. The brothers relocated from Coronado to various parts of California, managing the houses on C Avenue from afar.

Ed Dwight: America’s first Black astronaut candidate will finally get his flight to space at 90

Dollita Okine

April 12, 2024

Ed Dwight next to his sculpture work. (Photo courtesy of www.eddwight.com)

90-year-old Ed Dwight will at long last be able to fly into space. Jeff Bezos’s space venture company recently revealed that Dwight, the nation’s first black astronaut candidate, will be one of the six members of the crew on Blue Origin’s planned New Shepard trip beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Blue Origin said in a statement, “[Dwight] was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.”

POCIT reported that Dwight’s inclusion in the six-person crew for the NS-25 mission offers him the opportunity to become the oldest person to accomplish this feat—beyond even Wally Funk’s record from her Blue Origin flight.

While the first seat’s ticket cost $28 million in 2021, Space for Humanity and the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Foundation will fund Dwight’s voyage.

Dwight joined the United States Air Force in 1953 and served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. In 1961, the 35th president selected the Kansas native to train under the U.S. Air Force training program that would later produce NASA’s first astronauts, known as the Mercury 7, according to history.

He had a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering, three consecutive “outstanding” evaluations from military superiors, and held a time of 1,500 hours of jet aviation flying at the time. But when he became one of 26 people recommended to NASA by the Air Force to become astronauts, the agency did not select him.

The first African American to travel to space was Guion Bluford, and he didn’t do it until 1983.

According to History Makers, Dwight eventually quit in 1966, without having gone into space, and went on to work as an engineer, in real estate, and for IBM.

In the mid-1970s, he became interested in art and enrolled at the University of Denver, where he learned how to operate the university’s metal casting foundry. He earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1977 and became a popular sculptor.

Among his creations are the Black Patriots Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C.; the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial in Denver’s City Park; the International Monuments to the Underground Railroad in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario; and more.

Ed Dwight Studios in Denver became one of the largest privately held production and marketing facilities in the Western United States.

The date of the upcoming flight has yet to be announced. The other members of the Blue Origin six-person crew are Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and Gopi Thotakura.