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Friday, May 28, 2021
Canada probes forced labour claims in Malaysian palm oil, glove-making industries
© Reuters/LIM HUEY TENG
© Reuters/LIM HUEY TENG
A worker unloads palm oil fruit bunches at a factory in Tanjung Karang
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Canada is investigating allegations of forced labour in Malaysia's palm oil and glove manufacturing industries, the government said on Friday.
Malaysian firms, which includes some of the world's biggest palm oil and rubber glove producers, have faced increasing scrutiny in recent years over reports of labour abuses.
Employment and Social Development Canada told Reuters in an email that its Labour Programme was "actively researching a number of forced labour allegations in different countries and sectors, including palm oil and glove manufacturing in Malaysia."
It declined to provide further details or name specific companies being probed.
Malaysia's human resources ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the last year, the United States has banned imports from three Malaysian firms on suspicions of forced labour.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said it found forced labour indicators such as excessive hours, abusive living and working conditions, debt bondage, intimidation, physical and sexual violence, and retention of identity documents at these companies.
The sanctioned companies include Top Glove, the world’s biggest latex glove maker, and the two of the world’s top palm oil producers, Sime Darby Plantation and FGV Holdings.
Top Glove said in April it has resolved all indicators of forced labour found at its factories.
Sime Darby has said it is committed to combating forced labour and has robust policies to protect workers' rights.
FGV has said it has taken concrete steps in recent years to demonstrate commitment to respect human rights and uphold labour standards.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Ed Davies)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Canada is investigating allegations of forced labour in Malaysia's palm oil and glove manufacturing industries, the government said on Friday.
Malaysian firms, which includes some of the world's biggest palm oil and rubber glove producers, have faced increasing scrutiny in recent years over reports of labour abuses.
Employment and Social Development Canada told Reuters in an email that its Labour Programme was "actively researching a number of forced labour allegations in different countries and sectors, including palm oil and glove manufacturing in Malaysia."
It declined to provide further details or name specific companies being probed.
Malaysia's human resources ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the last year, the United States has banned imports from three Malaysian firms on suspicions of forced labour.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said it found forced labour indicators such as excessive hours, abusive living and working conditions, debt bondage, intimidation, physical and sexual violence, and retention of identity documents at these companies.
The sanctioned companies include Top Glove, the world’s biggest latex glove maker, and the two of the world’s top palm oil producers, Sime Darby Plantation and FGV Holdings.
Top Glove said in April it has resolved all indicators of forced labour found at its factories.
Sime Darby has said it is committed to combating forced labour and has robust policies to protect workers' rights.
FGV has said it has taken concrete steps in recent years to demonstrate commitment to respect human rights and uphold labour standards.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Ed Davies)
FREEDOM OF RELIGION FOR CHRISTIANS
Lawsuit: Only Christians could apply for jail chaplain job
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Applicants for a chaplain's job at a Maryland county jail had to sign a statement affirming that they are Christians, a Muslim man claims Thursday in a federal lawsuit accusing the county and a contractor of religious discrimination.
Lawyers from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, sued Prince George's County on behalf of Edrees Bridges, who has been a volunteer chaplain at a county jail in Upper Marlboro since 2018.
Bridges, 49, learned in April that the county was hiring a paid chaplain. He asked for an application but couldn't complete it because all applicants were required to sign a “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” that would force him to abandon his religious beliefs as a Muslim, his lawsuit says.
Prison Ministry of America, which also is named as a defendant in the suit, has a contract with the county to provide religious services to jail inmates. The statement on its job application says Prison Ministry of America employees are “committed to a lifestyle of Christianity and agree with our statement of faith.”
It also asks applicants to affirm that they “believe in one God, Creator and Lord of the Universe," that “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit" and that “the Bible is God’s authoritative and inspired Word.”
The lawsuit says that kind of religious test is illegal under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from establishing a state religion. It also claims the statement violates Bridges' religious freedom rights.
Bridges said he was shocked and saddened to learn that his Muslim faith would exclude him from the applicant pool.
“I have always encountered people that have been open to that diversity of ideas, diversity of thought,” he said in an interview Thursday. “As a chaplain, one of the core ingredients to being a chaplain is to be there for all.”
Prison Ministry of America Executive Director Mark Maciel said non-Christians aren't disqualified from applying. The nonprofit already has Muslims who work as chaplains under its umbrella, he added.
“We don't exclude anybody," Maciel said.
Spokespeople for Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks didn't immediately respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.
Bridges is an assistant imam at the Ali Khan Islamic Center in Maryland. He has a master's degree in divinity with a concentration in Islamic chaplaincy from the Claremont School of Theology in California and is pursuing his doctorate in ministry from the same school.
Prison Ministry of America is a nonprofit based in Paramount, California. CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas, one of Bridges’ lawyers, said he doesn’t know if Prison Ministry of America includes the same statement on applications for jobs in other jurisdictions.
“But if it’s going on in (Prince George’s) County, I bet they’re doing it in other places as well,” he added. “At Prison Ministry of America, their objective is to is to bring Christianity to the folks who are incarcerated.”
Bridges says he told Maciel during a telephone call last month that he was interested in applying for the chaplain’s position. Maciel emailed him a copy of an application and a job description.
Maciel said he told Bridges on May 3 that they were conducting interviews if he was interested in the job. Maciel said Bridges never told him he is Muslim.
“It didn’t matter. And I didn’t even ask him,” Maciel said.
The lawsuit asks the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to rule that limiting the applicants to Christians is illegal and to block the county from using the “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” in the jail's job application process. Bridges also is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Bridges doubts he would apply for the job if he does prevail in his lawsuit.
“I don’t think so at all because I really don’t have a lot of faith in whether or not I will be accepted,” he said.
Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
Lawsuit: Only Christians could apply for jail chaplain job
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Applicants for a chaplain's job at a Maryland county jail had to sign a statement affirming that they are Christians, a Muslim man claims Thursday in a federal lawsuit accusing the county and a contractor of religious discrimination.
Lawyers from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, sued Prince George's County on behalf of Edrees Bridges, who has been a volunteer chaplain at a county jail in Upper Marlboro since 2018.
Bridges, 49, learned in April that the county was hiring a paid chaplain. He asked for an application but couldn't complete it because all applicants were required to sign a “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” that would force him to abandon his religious beliefs as a Muslim, his lawsuit says.
Prison Ministry of America, which also is named as a defendant in the suit, has a contract with the county to provide religious services to jail inmates. The statement on its job application says Prison Ministry of America employees are “committed to a lifestyle of Christianity and agree with our statement of faith.”
It also asks applicants to affirm that they “believe in one God, Creator and Lord of the Universe," that “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit" and that “the Bible is God’s authoritative and inspired Word.”
The lawsuit says that kind of religious test is illegal under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from establishing a state religion. It also claims the statement violates Bridges' religious freedom rights.
Bridges said he was shocked and saddened to learn that his Muslim faith would exclude him from the applicant pool.
“I have always encountered people that have been open to that diversity of ideas, diversity of thought,” he said in an interview Thursday. “As a chaplain, one of the core ingredients to being a chaplain is to be there for all.”
Prison Ministry of America Executive Director Mark Maciel said non-Christians aren't disqualified from applying. The nonprofit already has Muslims who work as chaplains under its umbrella, he added.
“We don't exclude anybody," Maciel said.
Spokespeople for Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks didn't immediately respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.
Bridges is an assistant imam at the Ali Khan Islamic Center in Maryland. He has a master's degree in divinity with a concentration in Islamic chaplaincy from the Claremont School of Theology in California and is pursuing his doctorate in ministry from the same school.
Prison Ministry of America is a nonprofit based in Paramount, California. CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas, one of Bridges’ lawyers, said he doesn’t know if Prison Ministry of America includes the same statement on applications for jobs in other jurisdictions.
“But if it’s going on in (Prince George’s) County, I bet they’re doing it in other places as well,” he added. “At Prison Ministry of America, their objective is to is to bring Christianity to the folks who are incarcerated.”
Bridges says he told Maciel during a telephone call last month that he was interested in applying for the chaplain’s position. Maciel emailed him a copy of an application and a job description.
Maciel said he told Bridges on May 3 that they were conducting interviews if he was interested in the job. Maciel said Bridges never told him he is Muslim.
“It didn’t matter. And I didn’t even ask him,” Maciel said.
The lawsuit asks the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to rule that limiting the applicants to Christians is illegal and to block the county from using the “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” in the jail's job application process. Bridges also is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Bridges doubts he would apply for the job if he does prevail in his lawsuit.
“I don’t think so at all because I really don’t have a lot of faith in whether or not I will be accepted,” he said.
Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
WATER IS LIFE
EPA restoring state and tribal power to protect waterways
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest reversal of a Trump-era policy, the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency is restoring a rule that grants states and Native American tribes authority to block pipelines and other energy projects that can pollute rivers, streams and other waterways.
A provision of the Clean Water Act gives states and tribes power to block federal projects that could harm lakes, streams, rivers and wetlands within their borders. But the Trump administration curtailed that review power after complaints from Republican members of Congress and the fossil fuel industry that state officials had used the permitting process to stop new energy projects.
The Trump administration said its actions would advance then-President Donald Trump’s goal to fast-track energy projects such as oil and natural gas pipelines.
Washington state blocked construction of a coal export terminal in 2017, saying there were too many major harmful effects including air pollution, rail safety and vehicle traffic, while New York regulators stopped a natural gas pipeline, saying it failed to meet standards to protect streams, wetlands and other water resources.
In a statement to The Associated Press, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the nation has “serious water challenges to address,'' adding that he “will not hesitate to correct decisions that weakened the authority of states and tribes to protect their waters.''
Regan vowed to work with state, tribal and local officials to protect clean water while encouraging “sustainable economic development and vibrant communities.''
The Trump-era rule will remain in place while the EPA develops a revised rule, Regan said, but the agency “will continue listening to states and tribes about their concerns ... to help address these near-term challenges.''
Regan called restoration of the Section 401 provision an important step to reaffirm the authority of states and tribes to regulate projects that affect water quality within their borders. Under the provision, a federal agency may not issue a license or permit to conduct any activity that may result in any discharge into navigable waters unless the affected state or tribe certifies that the discharge is in compliance with the Clean Water Act and state law, or waives certification.
A spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, whose state was targeted by the Trump administration rule, said Inslee was "pleased the Biden-Harris administration recognizes that states have the expertise to uphold water quality standards and is reconsidering the Trump administration’s politically-motivated, flawed rule.''
The spokesperson, Tara Lee, said Washington state “will work to help shape a final rule that protects the health of our communities and environment.'' In the meantime, the state encourages the EPA to issue interim guidance that will allow states, tribes and federal agencies to work together “to fully protect our nation’s waters,'' she said.
Environmental groups also hailed the move to restore state and tribal authority.
The action should allow states and tribes to “protect their waters from potentially damaging federally permitted projects like dams, mines and pipelines,” said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. He urged the EPA to “take the next logical step and move swiftly to repeal" a Trump-era rule on clean water that Murphy said “has stripped thousands of waters of Clean Water Act protections.''
The water rule — sometimes referred to as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS — addresses federal jurisdiction over streams and wetlands and has been a point of contention for decades. Regan has pledged to issue a new rule that protects water quality while not overly burdening small farmers.
___
Associated Press writer Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Wash., contributed to this report.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Pr
EPA restoring state and tribal power to protect waterways
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest reversal of a Trump-era policy, the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency is restoring a rule that grants states and Native American tribes authority to block pipelines and other energy projects that can pollute rivers, streams and other waterways.
A provision of the Clean Water Act gives states and tribes power to block federal projects that could harm lakes, streams, rivers and wetlands within their borders. But the Trump administration curtailed that review power after complaints from Republican members of Congress and the fossil fuel industry that state officials had used the permitting process to stop new energy projects.
The Trump administration said its actions would advance then-President Donald Trump’s goal to fast-track energy projects such as oil and natural gas pipelines.
Washington state blocked construction of a coal export terminal in 2017, saying there were too many major harmful effects including air pollution, rail safety and vehicle traffic, while New York regulators stopped a natural gas pipeline, saying it failed to meet standards to protect streams, wetlands and other water resources.
In a statement to The Associated Press, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the nation has “serious water challenges to address,'' adding that he “will not hesitate to correct decisions that weakened the authority of states and tribes to protect their waters.''
Regan vowed to work with state, tribal and local officials to protect clean water while encouraging “sustainable economic development and vibrant communities.''
The Trump-era rule will remain in place while the EPA develops a revised rule, Regan said, but the agency “will continue listening to states and tribes about their concerns ... to help address these near-term challenges.''
Regan called restoration of the Section 401 provision an important step to reaffirm the authority of states and tribes to regulate projects that affect water quality within their borders. Under the provision, a federal agency may not issue a license or permit to conduct any activity that may result in any discharge into navigable waters unless the affected state or tribe certifies that the discharge is in compliance with the Clean Water Act and state law, or waives certification.
A spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, whose state was targeted by the Trump administration rule, said Inslee was "pleased the Biden-Harris administration recognizes that states have the expertise to uphold water quality standards and is reconsidering the Trump administration’s politically-motivated, flawed rule.''
The spokesperson, Tara Lee, said Washington state “will work to help shape a final rule that protects the health of our communities and environment.'' In the meantime, the state encourages the EPA to issue interim guidance that will allow states, tribes and federal agencies to work together “to fully protect our nation’s waters,'' she said.
Environmental groups also hailed the move to restore state and tribal authority.
The action should allow states and tribes to “protect their waters from potentially damaging federally permitted projects like dams, mines and pipelines,” said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. He urged the EPA to “take the next logical step and move swiftly to repeal" a Trump-era rule on clean water that Murphy said “has stripped thousands of waters of Clean Water Act protections.''
The water rule — sometimes referred to as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS — addresses federal jurisdiction over streams and wetlands and has been a point of contention for decades. Regan has pledged to issue a new rule that protects water quality while not overly burdening small farmers.
___
Associated Press writer Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Wash., contributed to this report.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Pr
New clashes as wildcat miners attack Indigenous in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hundreds of wildcat miners attacked police who were trying to halt illegal mining in the Brazilian Amazon region and then raided an Indigenous village, setting houses on fire, federal prosecutors in the northern state of Para reported.
The clashes came days after a Supreme Court justice ordered the government to protect Indigenous populations threatened in recent weeks by illegal miners who appear to have been emboldened by support for their industry from President Jair Bolsonaro.
The state prosecutor's office said miners tried to block a federal police operation by closing off entries to the municipality of Jacareacanga on Wednesday and trying to raid a police base where heavy equipment for the operation was kept.
Hours later, miners raided a village of the Munduruku people and set several houses on fire, including one that belonged to a prominent mining critic and indigenous activist, Maria Leusa Munduruku.
The attack followed clashes farther north in Roraima state, where miners in motorboats have repeatedly attacked and threatened a riverside Yanomami settlement known as Palimiu. There, miners also clashed with federal officials investigating the incidents.
Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, president of a Yanomami association, told The Associated Press that two of the group's children drowned while fleeing during a particularly violent confrontation May 10 that also resulted in three miners being killed.
Federal prosecutors in Roraima have not been able to confirm any of the deaths, but said a police investigation was underway.
Clashes around the Palimiu community have intensified since April 24, when Yanomami men took fuel and some equipment from wildcat miners they accused of encroaching on their land, Hekurari and state prosecutors said.
Hekurari said miners have been driving their motorboats past the village almost daily, shouting threats and sometimes firing their guns.
“People aren’t sleeping properly. They are very tired,” Hekurari said in a Zoom call from Palimiu. He said Yanomami men keep watch each night.
He alleged that miners have killed several people and raped women and girls — allegations not confirmed by federal prosecutors in the state, who said they were investigating.
Bolsonaro on Thursday was less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the vast Yanomami reserve to inaugurate a small wooden bridge along a federal highway that runs near a rich deposit of the mineral niobium that he has often touted as a potential economic boon for Brazil.
The conservative president has been outspoken about his desire to legalize mining in Indigenous territories — something not allowed under Brazil's constitution — and to promote development in the Amazon.
“It isn't fair to want to criminalize the prospector in Brazil," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace May 14, according to the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo. "People wearing suits and ties give their guesses about everything that's happening in rural areas.″
Such comments have encouraged miners, say federal prosecutors, environmental and Indigenous rights activists.
“There is a feeling of impunity in the country, that those who invade won’t be penalized," said Juliana Batista, a lawyer who works at the Socio-Environmental Institute, an advocacy group.
The institute says some 20,000 illegal miners are suspected of working within the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, which is Brazil’s largest Indigenous reserve and roughly the size of Portugal. Some 27,000 Indigenous people live on that land.
Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso this week ordered the federal government to “immediately adopt all necessary measures to protect the life, health and safety of indigenous populations” in Yanomami and Munduruku territory. He also accused the government for “recalcitrance and lack of transparency” in ensuring the health and safety of Indigenous groups.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly argued that Indigenous groups control too much territory, given their sparse population. He also says they should be integrated into broader society — a stance with which many communities disagree.
A March report published by two Indigenous associations, which used satellite imagery and flyovers, complained that the “unusual proximity” of some mining sites to Yanomami communities tends to fuel conflict.
Alisson Marugal, a prosecutor in Roraima state who has investigated clashes on Yanomami land, said from his office in the state capital of Boa Vista that illegal mining has brought prostitution, disease, drug and alcohol abuse and the loss of traditional ways of life.
"If nothing is done, conflicts with miners could lead to massacres,” he said.
Diane Jeantet, The Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hundreds of wildcat miners attacked police who were trying to halt illegal mining in the Brazilian Amazon region and then raided an Indigenous village, setting houses on fire, federal prosecutors in the northern state of Para reported.
The clashes came days after a Supreme Court justice ordered the government to protect Indigenous populations threatened in recent weeks by illegal miners who appear to have been emboldened by support for their industry from President Jair Bolsonaro.
The state prosecutor's office said miners tried to block a federal police operation by closing off entries to the municipality of Jacareacanga on Wednesday and trying to raid a police base where heavy equipment for the operation was kept.
Hours later, miners raided a village of the Munduruku people and set several houses on fire, including one that belonged to a prominent mining critic and indigenous activist, Maria Leusa Munduruku.
The attack followed clashes farther north in Roraima state, where miners in motorboats have repeatedly attacked and threatened a riverside Yanomami settlement known as Palimiu. There, miners also clashed with federal officials investigating the incidents.
Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, president of a Yanomami association, told The Associated Press that two of the group's children drowned while fleeing during a particularly violent confrontation May 10 that also resulted in three miners being killed.
Federal prosecutors in Roraima have not been able to confirm any of the deaths, but said a police investigation was underway.
Clashes around the Palimiu community have intensified since April 24, when Yanomami men took fuel and some equipment from wildcat miners they accused of encroaching on their land, Hekurari and state prosecutors said.
Hekurari said miners have been driving their motorboats past the village almost daily, shouting threats and sometimes firing their guns.
“People aren’t sleeping properly. They are very tired,” Hekurari said in a Zoom call from Palimiu. He said Yanomami men keep watch each night.
He alleged that miners have killed several people and raped women and girls — allegations not confirmed by federal prosecutors in the state, who said they were investigating.
Bolsonaro on Thursday was less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the vast Yanomami reserve to inaugurate a small wooden bridge along a federal highway that runs near a rich deposit of the mineral niobium that he has often touted as a potential economic boon for Brazil.
The conservative president has been outspoken about his desire to legalize mining in Indigenous territories — something not allowed under Brazil's constitution — and to promote development in the Amazon.
“It isn't fair to want to criminalize the prospector in Brazil," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace May 14, according to the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo. "People wearing suits and ties give their guesses about everything that's happening in rural areas.″
Such comments have encouraged miners, say federal prosecutors, environmental and Indigenous rights activists.
“There is a feeling of impunity in the country, that those who invade won’t be penalized," said Juliana Batista, a lawyer who works at the Socio-Environmental Institute, an advocacy group.
The institute says some 20,000 illegal miners are suspected of working within the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, which is Brazil’s largest Indigenous reserve and roughly the size of Portugal. Some 27,000 Indigenous people live on that land.
Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso this week ordered the federal government to “immediately adopt all necessary measures to protect the life, health and safety of indigenous populations” in Yanomami and Munduruku territory. He also accused the government for “recalcitrance and lack of transparency” in ensuring the health and safety of Indigenous groups.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly argued that Indigenous groups control too much territory, given their sparse population. He also says they should be integrated into broader society — a stance with which many communities disagree.
A March report published by two Indigenous associations, which used satellite imagery and flyovers, complained that the “unusual proximity” of some mining sites to Yanomami communities tends to fuel conflict.
Alisson Marugal, a prosecutor in Roraima state who has investigated clashes on Yanomami land, said from his office in the state capital of Boa Vista that illegal mining has brought prostitution, disease, drug and alcohol abuse and the loss of traditional ways of life.
"If nothing is done, conflicts with miners could lead to massacres,” he said.
Diane Jeantet, The Associated Press
THE YELLOW STAR AND THE PINK TRIANGLE
Alaska Jewish museum, gay bar tagged with swastika stickers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A tall, thin man wearing a hood and a mask was caught on a security camera plastering Nazi stickers on a Jewish museum in Alaska’s largest city early Tuesday.
He drove a scooter to the Alaska Jewish Museum, placed one sticker on the door and jumped to place three more symbols of hate on windows before driving off, Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, the president of the museum’s board of directors, said of what their video cameras showed happening at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
About 45 minutes later, another sticker was placed on the main entrance door to Mad Myrna’s, a gay bar in downtown Anchorage.
Each white sticker was emblazoned with a black swastika, the symbol of the Nazi party, and targeted two groups associated with Holocaust victims.
Written above and below the swastika are the words, “WE ARE EVERYWHERE.”
“There is no place for hate in our community,” Anchorage police said in a statement asking the public’s help in identifying those responsible.
“What that sticker symbolizes is hate,” Anchorage police spokesperson MJ Thim told The Associated Press. “And we’re not going to stand for it, and there’s no place for it. And we’re going to investigate it and figure out what this is all about.”
Spokesperson Chloe Martin said the Anchorage FBI office is in regular contact with Anchorage police.
“If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,” she said in an email to the AP.
Thim said to his knowledge, these were the first reports of such stickers showing up in Anchorage. But in Washington state last October, similar stickers were placed on several businesses in Bellingham, the Bellingham Herald reported at the time.
“Swastikas have also become a symbol of white supremacy and the far right, and actions like this disproportionately impact people of color in the LGBTQ community,” said Laura Carpenter, executive director of Identity Inc., a statewide LGBTQ+ organization headquartered in Anchorage, not too far from Mad Myrna's.
“This is just another example of people trying to demonize the LGBTQ community and Jewish people,” Carpenter said.
Under Adolf Hitler, Nazis systematically murdered 6 million Jews during World War II. Nazis also persecuted gays, mostly men. About 15,000 were sent to camps and at least half were killed.
In concentration camps, Jews wore yellow stars, gays wore pink stars and gay Jews wore an emblem combining the two colors. Other Nazi targets included communists, Slavs, gypsies and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Jewish people have 4,000 years’ experience of persecution,” Greenberg said.
He called the person on the scooter, a man believed to be in his late 20s or 30s, a coward whose only purpose was to create fear.
“He is dealing with the wrong people,” Greenberg said. “We are not the people that fear.”
He said the FBI and police indicated it was not a serious or organized threat.
“One guy got excited about something he read on the internet and came and put a sticker,” he said.
Police asking for the public’s help to find the person who did it and “to make a statement that the entire community us united, that such things cannot happen in this community,” Greenberg said.
With assistance from a local firm, security personnel will be on site at the museum and adjacent property for the foreseeable future.
Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press
Alaska Jewish museum, gay bar tagged with swastika stickers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A tall, thin man wearing a hood and a mask was caught on a security camera plastering Nazi stickers on a Jewish museum in Alaska’s largest city early Tuesday.
He drove a scooter to the Alaska Jewish Museum, placed one sticker on the door and jumped to place three more symbols of hate on windows before driving off, Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, the president of the museum’s board of directors, said of what their video cameras showed happening at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
About 45 minutes later, another sticker was placed on the main entrance door to Mad Myrna’s, a gay bar in downtown Anchorage.
Each white sticker was emblazoned with a black swastika, the symbol of the Nazi party, and targeted two groups associated with Holocaust victims.
Written above and below the swastika are the words, “WE ARE EVERYWHERE.”
“There is no place for hate in our community,” Anchorage police said in a statement asking the public’s help in identifying those responsible.
“What that sticker symbolizes is hate,” Anchorage police spokesperson MJ Thim told The Associated Press. “And we’re not going to stand for it, and there’s no place for it. And we’re going to investigate it and figure out what this is all about.”
Spokesperson Chloe Martin said the Anchorage FBI office is in regular contact with Anchorage police.
“If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,” she said in an email to the AP.
Thim said to his knowledge, these were the first reports of such stickers showing up in Anchorage. But in Washington state last October, similar stickers were placed on several businesses in Bellingham, the Bellingham Herald reported at the time.
“Swastikas have also become a symbol of white supremacy and the far right, and actions like this disproportionately impact people of color in the LGBTQ community,” said Laura Carpenter, executive director of Identity Inc., a statewide LGBTQ+ organization headquartered in Anchorage, not too far from Mad Myrna's.
“This is just another example of people trying to demonize the LGBTQ community and Jewish people,” Carpenter said.
Under Adolf Hitler, Nazis systematically murdered 6 million Jews during World War II. Nazis also persecuted gays, mostly men. About 15,000 were sent to camps and at least half were killed.
In concentration camps, Jews wore yellow stars, gays wore pink stars and gay Jews wore an emblem combining the two colors. Other Nazi targets included communists, Slavs, gypsies and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Jewish people have 4,000 years’ experience of persecution,” Greenberg said.
He called the person on the scooter, a man believed to be in his late 20s or 30s, a coward whose only purpose was to create fear.
“He is dealing with the wrong people,” Greenberg said. “We are not the people that fear.”
He said the FBI and police indicated it was not a serious or organized threat.
“One guy got excited about something he read on the internet and came and put a sticker,” he said.
Police asking for the public’s help to find the person who did it and “to make a statement that the entire community us united, that such things cannot happen in this community,” Greenberg said.
With assistance from a local firm, security personnel will be on site at the museum and adjacent property for the foreseeable future.
Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press
RELIGIOUS RITES VS HUMAN RIGHTS
Kentucky ties to Baptist kids agency at risk over gay rights
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A cultural clash pitting religious beliefs against gay rights has jeopardized Kentucky's long-running relationship with a foster care and adoption agency affiliated with the Baptist church that serves some of the state's most vulnerable children.
The standoff revolves around a clause in a new contract with the state that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and that Sunrise Children’s Services is refusing to sign.
It's another round in a broader fight in states and the courts over religious liberty and LGBTQ rights, including whether businesses can refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings. An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Pennsylvania case could be decisive in the Kentucky clash; it's reviewing a refusal by Philadelphia Catholic Social Services to work with same-sex couples as foster parents.
In the Kentucky contract, Sunrise officials are concerned the disputed clause would compel them to violate deeply held religious principles by sponsoring same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents. Supporters of the provision see it as a crucial safeguard against discrimination.
Child welfare advocates worry that losing Sunrise — which also offers residential treatment programs — would further strain a state system struggling to keep up with demand. Kentucky consistently has some of the nation’s worst child abuse rates.
“You cannot pivot from losing such a large provider of child welfare services ... and not anticipate some degree of disruption,” said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.
The state set a June 30 deadline for Sunrise to sign. If it refuses, the state has threatened to stop placing children with the agency. Formerly called Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, Sunrise's history dates to caring for Civil War orphans. It has contracted with the state for 50-plus years, becoming one of Kentucky's largest service providers for abused or neglected children.
Sunrise's supporters say the agency is the target of a political correctness campaign. Critics say allowing exceptions to the LGBTQ-inclusive clause would sanction discrimination.
“If Sunrise doesn’t want to abide by that, that’s fine. They shouldn’t have access to state money, state contracts or children in the state’s care,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Louisville-based gay rights advocacy group.
Hartman said he worries LGBTQ children in Sunrise's care are “deeply closeted,” hiding their sexual orientation out of fear of “indoctrination and proselytization."
A long-running federal lawsuit has alleged that Sunrise imposed religious indoctrination on children. Sunrise's attorney, John Sheller, calls it an “outrageous accusation.”
Sheller said Sunrise “willingly and gladly" accepts LGBTQ youths and does not put children in conversion therapy, which tries to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Sunrise's focus is on finding good homes for children and treating mental health, substance abuse or other problems they are battling, he said.
When same-sex couples contact Sunrise about becoming foster parents, the agency offers to help steer them to other child services agencies that are a “better fit,” Sheller said. He was aware of a handful of such instances.
“There is clearly a tension between LGBT issues and traditional Christian values,” Sheller said. “And it does not have to be winner-take-all. There is room for both principles to survive and thrive in our pluralistic society, and we can accommodate both.”
Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services says it hopes for a “positive resolution.” Sunrise President Dale Suttles says he wants the relationship to continue.
“Sunrise would act on a contract today that allows them to care for Kentucky’s needy and abused children while protecting their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Todd Gray, executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
Like many other states, Kentucky contracts with private agencies like Sunrise for some of its child welfare services. Overall, about 5,000 of the 9,100 children in Kentucky's care are in foster homes or other placements managed by the state. About 4,000 receive care through private agencies.
Sunrise, which only operates in Kentucky, says it currently cares for nearly 800 children. The state reimburses Sunrise for about 65% of its costs, with private donations covering the rest.
The state insists it's bound by an Obama-era federal rule to include the contract clause Sunrise opposes. The rule included sexual orientation as a protected class under anti-discrimination provisions.
“It would be a mistake not to place kids with wonderful couples that want to be foster parents that are gay,” Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said this week. "People make wonderful foster parents in all types of couples, and we shouldn’t be eliminating or discriminating against any of them.”
Sunrise argues that the federal rule was invalidated under former President Donald Trump, giving the state leeway to exclude the clause. Sheller said the agency is “open to any reasonable process” as long as it's "not compelled by that language to violate its faith principles.”
“The state’s position is that it’s going to try to compel Sunrise to sign the same form contract that it uses with secular providers," Sheller said. "And Sunrise cannot and will not sign that form contract by July 1st or any other date.”
Sunrise is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention, consisting of nearly 2,400 churches with a total membership of about 600,000 people. The faith views homosexuality as a sin.
If Sunrise loses its state contract, it would have to change its model and raise new capital to continue its services, said Suttles, the agency's president.
“We do know that there are many children in need of help that are not in state custody,” he added.
The dispute has had political fallout. Kentucky House Republicans and state GOP officials have urged Beshear's administration to maintain ties with Sunrise. Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the administration was forcing Sunrise to “choose between continuing to serve Kentucky children or abandon its religious beliefs."
Meanwhile, other agencies contracting with the state welcome LGBTQ people as foster or adoptive parents.
“Gay-lesbian families want to grow their families just like heterosexual families do," said Grace Akers, CEO of St. Joseph Children’s Home in Louisville.
She applauded Beshear's administration for taking a stand she said will benefit children.
“There are children in Kentucky who are not just working through their trauma, but they’re working through who they are as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender," Akers said. "And for us to celebrate those children, I just think is critical.”
If it cuts ties to Sunrise, the state must be prepared to fill the gaps if it loses some foster parents in the agency's network, said Brooks of Kentucky Youth Advocates. His biggest concern is ensuring a smooth transition for the children who require “intense and specialized treatment” that Sunrise now provides.
Brooks said he's confident the state can move children to other agencies but added that “the challenge cannot and should not be minimized.”
Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press
Kentucky ties to Baptist kids agency at risk over gay rights
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A cultural clash pitting religious beliefs against gay rights has jeopardized Kentucky's long-running relationship with a foster care and adoption agency affiliated with the Baptist church that serves some of the state's most vulnerable children.
The standoff revolves around a clause in a new contract with the state that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and that Sunrise Children’s Services is refusing to sign.
It's another round in a broader fight in states and the courts over religious liberty and LGBTQ rights, including whether businesses can refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings. An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Pennsylvania case could be decisive in the Kentucky clash; it's reviewing a refusal by Philadelphia Catholic Social Services to work with same-sex couples as foster parents.
In the Kentucky contract, Sunrise officials are concerned the disputed clause would compel them to violate deeply held religious principles by sponsoring same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents. Supporters of the provision see it as a crucial safeguard against discrimination.
Child welfare advocates worry that losing Sunrise — which also offers residential treatment programs — would further strain a state system struggling to keep up with demand. Kentucky consistently has some of the nation’s worst child abuse rates.
“You cannot pivot from losing such a large provider of child welfare services ... and not anticipate some degree of disruption,” said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.
The state set a June 30 deadline for Sunrise to sign. If it refuses, the state has threatened to stop placing children with the agency. Formerly called Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, Sunrise's history dates to caring for Civil War orphans. It has contracted with the state for 50-plus years, becoming one of Kentucky's largest service providers for abused or neglected children.
Sunrise's supporters say the agency is the target of a political correctness campaign. Critics say allowing exceptions to the LGBTQ-inclusive clause would sanction discrimination.
“If Sunrise doesn’t want to abide by that, that’s fine. They shouldn’t have access to state money, state contracts or children in the state’s care,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Louisville-based gay rights advocacy group.
Hartman said he worries LGBTQ children in Sunrise's care are “deeply closeted,” hiding their sexual orientation out of fear of “indoctrination and proselytization."
A long-running federal lawsuit has alleged that Sunrise imposed religious indoctrination on children. Sunrise's attorney, John Sheller, calls it an “outrageous accusation.”
Sheller said Sunrise “willingly and gladly" accepts LGBTQ youths and does not put children in conversion therapy, which tries to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Sunrise's focus is on finding good homes for children and treating mental health, substance abuse or other problems they are battling, he said.
When same-sex couples contact Sunrise about becoming foster parents, the agency offers to help steer them to other child services agencies that are a “better fit,” Sheller said. He was aware of a handful of such instances.
“There is clearly a tension between LGBT issues and traditional Christian values,” Sheller said. “And it does not have to be winner-take-all. There is room for both principles to survive and thrive in our pluralistic society, and we can accommodate both.”
Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services says it hopes for a “positive resolution.” Sunrise President Dale Suttles says he wants the relationship to continue.
“Sunrise would act on a contract today that allows them to care for Kentucky’s needy and abused children while protecting their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Todd Gray, executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
Like many other states, Kentucky contracts with private agencies like Sunrise for some of its child welfare services. Overall, about 5,000 of the 9,100 children in Kentucky's care are in foster homes or other placements managed by the state. About 4,000 receive care through private agencies.
Sunrise, which only operates in Kentucky, says it currently cares for nearly 800 children. The state reimburses Sunrise for about 65% of its costs, with private donations covering the rest.
The state insists it's bound by an Obama-era federal rule to include the contract clause Sunrise opposes. The rule included sexual orientation as a protected class under anti-discrimination provisions.
“It would be a mistake not to place kids with wonderful couples that want to be foster parents that are gay,” Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said this week. "People make wonderful foster parents in all types of couples, and we shouldn’t be eliminating or discriminating against any of them.”
Sunrise argues that the federal rule was invalidated under former President Donald Trump, giving the state leeway to exclude the clause. Sheller said the agency is “open to any reasonable process” as long as it's "not compelled by that language to violate its faith principles.”
“The state’s position is that it’s going to try to compel Sunrise to sign the same form contract that it uses with secular providers," Sheller said. "And Sunrise cannot and will not sign that form contract by July 1st or any other date.”
Sunrise is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention, consisting of nearly 2,400 churches with a total membership of about 600,000 people. The faith views homosexuality as a sin.
If Sunrise loses its state contract, it would have to change its model and raise new capital to continue its services, said Suttles, the agency's president.
“We do know that there are many children in need of help that are not in state custody,” he added.
The dispute has had political fallout. Kentucky House Republicans and state GOP officials have urged Beshear's administration to maintain ties with Sunrise. Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the administration was forcing Sunrise to “choose between continuing to serve Kentucky children or abandon its religious beliefs."
Meanwhile, other agencies contracting with the state welcome LGBTQ people as foster or adoptive parents.
“Gay-lesbian families want to grow their families just like heterosexual families do," said Grace Akers, CEO of St. Joseph Children’s Home in Louisville.
She applauded Beshear's administration for taking a stand she said will benefit children.
“There are children in Kentucky who are not just working through their trauma, but they’re working through who they are as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender," Akers said. "And for us to celebrate those children, I just think is critical.”
If it cuts ties to Sunrise, the state must be prepared to fill the gaps if it loses some foster parents in the agency's network, said Brooks of Kentucky Youth Advocates. His biggest concern is ensuring a smooth transition for the children who require “intense and specialized treatment” that Sunrise now provides.
Brooks said he's confident the state can move children to other agencies but added that “the challenge cannot and should not be minimized.”
Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press
How my family's memory of the Tulsa massacre sheds new light on Jan. 6 Capitol riot
© Erin SchaffAnneliese M. Bruner
Pushing a preferred storyline to uphold a system that favors the powerful is at the heart of any effort to rewrite history. But creating false public narratives is the purview of authoritarians.
This a standard game, but many Americans are still just waking up to it. My great-grandmother Mary E. Jones Parrish understood this dynamic all too well. She was a trained journalist and teacher who moved to Tulsa around 1919 and was reading at home when the violence began on May 31, 1921. Her young daughter, my grandmother Florence Mary, called her to the window, saying: "I see men with guns."
In her newly republished book-length account of the Tulsa massacre of 1921, my great-grandmother reported on the horrific events that she and her daughter escaped. She admonished the nation to awake to the factors that feed state-sanctioned violence and provided a model for capturing and preserving the truth. She knew, as did the other survivors of the massacre: Our democracy depends on it. She wrote: "The rich man of power and the fat politician who have maneuvered to get into office, and even our Congress, may sit idly by with folded hands and say, 'What can we do?' Let me warn you that the time is fast approaching when you will want to do something and it will be too late."
The truth our democracy requires is fighting its way to the light. Earlier this month, "Mother" Viola Fletcher, 107, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, testified before Congress about what she witnessed on May 31, as a mob of White Tulsans rampaged through her neighborhood killing Black people, looting and torching their homes and businesses. With a calm demeanor that belied the terror she recounted, she told the story of her family fleeing in the middle of the night to escape violence sweeping the Greenwood quarter: "The night of the massacre, I was awakened by my family -- my parents and five siblings were there -- I was told we had to leave and that was it ... I will never forget the violence of the White mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot. I still see Black bodies lying in the street."
Hearing the excruciating details of what she saw as a child of seven was not the only shock for viewers -- and it wasn't at all a shock to me. "For 70 years, the City of Tulsa and its Chamber of Commerce told us that the massacre didn't happen, like we didn't see it with our own eyes," she said, revealing the complicity of local government and businesses in covering up the crimes of 1921. City officials were not keen to acknowledge what happened because of how it would look to the outside world and imposed their self serving agenda of denialism on the victimized community, without regard for the people's suffering. Evidence that city fathers, along with the National Guard, bore some responsibility for the destruction provided another motive for official eagerness to suppress the truth.
A week before Mother Fletcher testified, another denial of truth was unfolding within the same halls of power. The House Oversight and Reform Committee held hearings on the Jan. 6 invasion of the US Capitol, during which Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde told his colleagues, "Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the sixth, you'd actually think it was a normal tourist visit."
He and other like-minded lawmakers oppose the establishment of a commission to investigate the unprecedented attack, downplaying the gravity of an event that some have referred to as a failed coup d'etat. They are working feverishly to characterize the attack as relatively benign and to cast doubt on the legitimacy on any commission that is empaneled to investigate the crimes that took place in Washington, DC -- the city where I reside -- on Jan. 6.
Some others who lived through the attack on the Capitol see it differently. On Feb. 23, former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee: "The events on January 6, 2021, constituted the worst attack on law enforcement that I have seen in my entire career. This was an attack that we are learning was pre-planned and involved participants from a number of states who came well equipped, coordinated and prepared to carry out a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol. I witnessed insurgents beating police officers with fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades and flag poles. These criminals came prepared for war. They came with weapons, chemical munitions and explosives. They came with shields, ballistic protection and tactical gear. They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack, as well as climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the Capitol's security features."
Another law enforcement officer, Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone has gained fame for his condemnation of attempts by some lawmakers to sanitize what happened that day. "It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other officials kind of whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened," he told CNN's Don Lemon, adding, "I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish their goal."
In each of these scenarios, authority for bringing to light what happened and who was responsible rests, paradoxically, with stakeholders whose interests align with suppressing a factual accounting. In Tulsa, city fathers were more concerned with their image than in ensuring justice for the victims. And in Congress, what could be complicit factions among lawmakers are thwarting efforts to ensure transparency in government, a hallmark of a healthy democracy, to maintain power and escape possible criminal prosecution.
Their lust for power is matched by the bloodlust that Mary Parrish saw in the Tulsa mobs. She wrote: "This spirit of destruction, like that of mob violence when it is once kindled, has no measure or bounds."
In a conversation I had with renowned historian Scott Ellsworth, who has been studying and writing about the Tulsa Race Massacre since the 1970s, I recall him using that same word -- bloodlust -- to describe what eyewitnesses said the Tulsa attackers exhibited. That was the motivating force for the murderous mob to organize and resume the attack on Greenwood, deploying the machinery and methods of war. It's what we can see in the eyes of those who marched in Charlottesville, carrying torches and shouting "Jews will not replace us." It's what we can hear in the voices of those screaming as they slammed their bodies and weapons into the US Capitol.
Looking back on the events of 1921 and how we dissect and analyze what happened, it feels strange to think that people 100 years from today will evaluate the way we handled the political turmoil and violence in which we are currently embroiled. Will we demand truth and accountability, or will we accept a watered-down investigation that does not make people answer for potential crimes?
Mary Parrish's warning is clear that failing to hold those responsible for political violence will beget further violence and destruction, perhaps even of democracy itself. I hope that we pass muster.
© Trinity University Press
© Erin SchaffAnneliese M. Bruner
Pushing a preferred storyline to uphold a system that favors the powerful is at the heart of any effort to rewrite history. But creating false public narratives is the purview of authoritarians.
This a standard game, but many Americans are still just waking up to it. My great-grandmother Mary E. Jones Parrish understood this dynamic all too well. She was a trained journalist and teacher who moved to Tulsa around 1919 and was reading at home when the violence began on May 31, 1921. Her young daughter, my grandmother Florence Mary, called her to the window, saying: "I see men with guns."
In her newly republished book-length account of the Tulsa massacre of 1921, my great-grandmother reported on the horrific events that she and her daughter escaped. She admonished the nation to awake to the factors that feed state-sanctioned violence and provided a model for capturing and preserving the truth. She knew, as did the other survivors of the massacre: Our democracy depends on it. She wrote: "The rich man of power and the fat politician who have maneuvered to get into office, and even our Congress, may sit idly by with folded hands and say, 'What can we do?' Let me warn you that the time is fast approaching when you will want to do something and it will be too late."
The truth our democracy requires is fighting its way to the light. Earlier this month, "Mother" Viola Fletcher, 107, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, testified before Congress about what she witnessed on May 31, as a mob of White Tulsans rampaged through her neighborhood killing Black people, looting and torching their homes and businesses. With a calm demeanor that belied the terror she recounted, she told the story of her family fleeing in the middle of the night to escape violence sweeping the Greenwood quarter: "The night of the massacre, I was awakened by my family -- my parents and five siblings were there -- I was told we had to leave and that was it ... I will never forget the violence of the White mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot. I still see Black bodies lying in the street."
Hearing the excruciating details of what she saw as a child of seven was not the only shock for viewers -- and it wasn't at all a shock to me. "For 70 years, the City of Tulsa and its Chamber of Commerce told us that the massacre didn't happen, like we didn't see it with our own eyes," she said, revealing the complicity of local government and businesses in covering up the crimes of 1921. City officials were not keen to acknowledge what happened because of how it would look to the outside world and imposed their self serving agenda of denialism on the victimized community, without regard for the people's suffering. Evidence that city fathers, along with the National Guard, bore some responsibility for the destruction provided another motive for official eagerness to suppress the truth.
A week before Mother Fletcher testified, another denial of truth was unfolding within the same halls of power. The House Oversight and Reform Committee held hearings on the Jan. 6 invasion of the US Capitol, during which Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde told his colleagues, "Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the sixth, you'd actually think it was a normal tourist visit."
He and other like-minded lawmakers oppose the establishment of a commission to investigate the unprecedented attack, downplaying the gravity of an event that some have referred to as a failed coup d'etat. They are working feverishly to characterize the attack as relatively benign and to cast doubt on the legitimacy on any commission that is empaneled to investigate the crimes that took place in Washington, DC -- the city where I reside -- on Jan. 6.
Some others who lived through the attack on the Capitol see it differently. On Feb. 23, former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee: "The events on January 6, 2021, constituted the worst attack on law enforcement that I have seen in my entire career. This was an attack that we are learning was pre-planned and involved participants from a number of states who came well equipped, coordinated and prepared to carry out a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol. I witnessed insurgents beating police officers with fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades and flag poles. These criminals came prepared for war. They came with weapons, chemical munitions and explosives. They came with shields, ballistic protection and tactical gear. They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack, as well as climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the Capitol's security features."
Another law enforcement officer, Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone has gained fame for his condemnation of attempts by some lawmakers to sanitize what happened that day. "It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other officials kind of whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened," he told CNN's Don Lemon, adding, "I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish their goal."
In each of these scenarios, authority for bringing to light what happened and who was responsible rests, paradoxically, with stakeholders whose interests align with suppressing a factual accounting. In Tulsa, city fathers were more concerned with their image than in ensuring justice for the victims. And in Congress, what could be complicit factions among lawmakers are thwarting efforts to ensure transparency in government, a hallmark of a healthy democracy, to maintain power and escape possible criminal prosecution.
Their lust for power is matched by the bloodlust that Mary Parrish saw in the Tulsa mobs. She wrote: "This spirit of destruction, like that of mob violence when it is once kindled, has no measure or bounds."
In a conversation I had with renowned historian Scott Ellsworth, who has been studying and writing about the Tulsa Race Massacre since the 1970s, I recall him using that same word -- bloodlust -- to describe what eyewitnesses said the Tulsa attackers exhibited. That was the motivating force for the murderous mob to organize and resume the attack on Greenwood, deploying the machinery and methods of war. It's what we can see in the eyes of those who marched in Charlottesville, carrying torches and shouting "Jews will not replace us." It's what we can hear in the voices of those screaming as they slammed their bodies and weapons into the US Capitol.
Looking back on the events of 1921 and how we dissect and analyze what happened, it feels strange to think that people 100 years from today will evaluate the way we handled the political turmoil and violence in which we are currently embroiled. Will we demand truth and accountability, or will we accept a watered-down investigation that does not make people answer for potential crimes?
Mary Parrish's warning is clear that failing to hold those responsible for political violence will beget further violence and destruction, perhaps even of democracy itself. I hope that we pass muster.
© Trinity University Press
How my family's memory of the Tulsa massacre sheds new light on Jan. 6 Capitol riot
German Greens' honeymoon over
after series of gaffes
© John MACDOUGALL
© John MACDOUGALL
Party co-leader Annalena Baerbock failed to declare around 25,000 euros in supplementary income to parliament
Germany's resurgent Green party, its sights set on the chancellery in September's election, has stumbled on the campaign trail over undeclared bonus payments and controversial comments about arming Ukraine.
© Michael Sohn
Germany's resurgent Green party, its sights set on the chancellery in September's election, has stumbled on the campaign trail over undeclared bonus payments and controversial comments about arming Ukraine.
© Michael Sohn
Robert Habeck suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to buy "defensive weapons" from the West
But although support for the centre-left, ecologist Greens has slipped in the wake of the missteps, the party remains neck-and-neck with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The Greens dipped by one percentage point in this week's Forsa poll for broadcasters NTV/RTL but held on to the top spot at 25 percent.
Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc, which has selected the unpopular Armin Laschet for the race to succeed Merkel, came a close second at 24 percent.
A different poll, carried out by Insa for Bild newspaper, put the conservatives ahead at 26 percent followed by the Greens on 22 percent.
- Tax slip -
Last week, Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock admitted she had failed to declare around 25,000 euros in supplementary income to parliament. It is Baerbock who has been tapped to lead her party into the September 26 vote.
The 40-year-old, who is thought to have a realistic shot at becoming Germany's first Green chancellor, called it a "stupid oversight" that has since been corrected.
But opponents have leapt on the slip-up as a sign of hypocrisy from a party championing more transparency in politics.
The Sueddeutsche daily said the case did not amount to a corruption scandal like the one that has snagged several of Merkel's conservatives, who are accused of profiting from face mask contracts early on in the pandemic.
"But it weakens (Baerbock), because her campaign thrives on being more upstanding that her competitors," it noted.
- 'Defensive weapons' -
Fellow Greens leader Robert Habeck meanwhile caused a storm when he suggested during a trip to eastern Ukraine that the country should be allowed to buy "defensive weapons" from the West.
The traditionally pacifist Green party was quick to disown the suggestion, saying it supported the current German government policy not to supply weapons to war zones.
Habeck's remarks nevertheless rattled the centre-left Social Democrats, potential coalition partners in a future Green-led government.
The charismatic but gaffe-prone Habeck rowed back on Wednesday, saying he was referring to "night vision goggles, reconnaissance equipment and ammunition clearance".
The turmoil comes at a delicate time for the Greens because Baerbock "is still cementing her image among the public", Thorsten Faas, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University, told AFP.
Baerbock, an expert in international law and mother of two, was chosen in April over Habeck to be the Greens' chancellor candidate.
The nomination gave the Greens a boost that saw them overtake Merkel's bloc in opinion polls for the first time.
But the honeymoon didn't last long.
- 'Ironic' racism -
Baerbock quickly became the subject of a barrage of fake news and online attacks, from false claims about her green policies and scrutiny of her education, to a photoshopped nude picture.
The Greens have pushed back, condemning the at times sexist attacks and launching an online "fire service" to expose false stories.
But the party had to put out more fires earlier this month when Green mayor Boris Palmer posted racist remarks on Facebook about a black soccer player.
Palmer claimed his comments had been meant ironically, but members of the Greens in Baden-Wuerttemberg state overwhelmingly voted to exclude him from the party.
Baerbock herself denounced the comments a "racist and repulsive".
"The Greens are still doing well in the polls," the Handelsblatt daily said. "But the election is still four months away. A lot can happen."
mat-mfp/fec/jj
But although support for the centre-left, ecologist Greens has slipped in the wake of the missteps, the party remains neck-and-neck with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The Greens dipped by one percentage point in this week's Forsa poll for broadcasters NTV/RTL but held on to the top spot at 25 percent.
Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc, which has selected the unpopular Armin Laschet for the race to succeed Merkel, came a close second at 24 percent.
A different poll, carried out by Insa for Bild newspaper, put the conservatives ahead at 26 percent followed by the Greens on 22 percent.
- Tax slip -
Last week, Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock admitted she had failed to declare around 25,000 euros in supplementary income to parliament. It is Baerbock who has been tapped to lead her party into the September 26 vote.
The 40-year-old, who is thought to have a realistic shot at becoming Germany's first Green chancellor, called it a "stupid oversight" that has since been corrected.
But opponents have leapt on the slip-up as a sign of hypocrisy from a party championing more transparency in politics.
The Sueddeutsche daily said the case did not amount to a corruption scandal like the one that has snagged several of Merkel's conservatives, who are accused of profiting from face mask contracts early on in the pandemic.
"But it weakens (Baerbock), because her campaign thrives on being more upstanding that her competitors," it noted.
- 'Defensive weapons' -
Fellow Greens leader Robert Habeck meanwhile caused a storm when he suggested during a trip to eastern Ukraine that the country should be allowed to buy "defensive weapons" from the West.
The traditionally pacifist Green party was quick to disown the suggestion, saying it supported the current German government policy not to supply weapons to war zones.
Habeck's remarks nevertheless rattled the centre-left Social Democrats, potential coalition partners in a future Green-led government.
The charismatic but gaffe-prone Habeck rowed back on Wednesday, saying he was referring to "night vision goggles, reconnaissance equipment and ammunition clearance".
The turmoil comes at a delicate time for the Greens because Baerbock "is still cementing her image among the public", Thorsten Faas, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University, told AFP.
Baerbock, an expert in international law and mother of two, was chosen in April over Habeck to be the Greens' chancellor candidate.
The nomination gave the Greens a boost that saw them overtake Merkel's bloc in opinion polls for the first time.
But the honeymoon didn't last long.
- 'Ironic' racism -
Baerbock quickly became the subject of a barrage of fake news and online attacks, from false claims about her green policies and scrutiny of her education, to a photoshopped nude picture.
The Greens have pushed back, condemning the at times sexist attacks and launching an online "fire service" to expose false stories.
But the party had to put out more fires earlier this month when Green mayor Boris Palmer posted racist remarks on Facebook about a black soccer player.
Palmer claimed his comments had been meant ironically, but members of the Greens in Baden-Wuerttemberg state overwhelmingly voted to exclude him from the party.
Baerbock herself denounced the comments a "racist and repulsive".
"The Greens are still doing well in the polls," the Handelsblatt daily said. "But the election is still four months away. A lot can happen."
mat-mfp/fec/jj
SPOILER ALERT; YES HE DID, KINDA
Did Matt Gaetz Call for Use of 'Second Amendment' Against Silicon Valley?James Walker -
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesRep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) arrives for a House Republican conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on May 12, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Congressman Matt Gaetz was criticized on Thursday after a misleading clip on social media appeared to show him calling on "America First" supporters to use the Second Amendment against Silicon Valley employees during a speech on cancel culture.
The Florida Republican actually told an "America First" rally in Dalton, Georgia, that Big Tech firms were "the internet's hall monitors," and said they were trying to "suppress" conservatives as he called on the movement to use the First Amendment to speak and assemble.
He later made a separate point about the Second Amendment and a Twitter user edited the speech to make it look like Gaetz was calling on people to shoot Silicon Valley employees. The clip went viral.
The GOP lawmaker in fact said: "Let us use the Constitution to strengthen our argument, and our movement. We have a First Amendment right to speak and assemble, and we better use it.
"The internet's hall monitors out in Silicon Valley, they think they can suppress us, discourage us. Maybe if you're just a little less patriotic, maybe if you just conform to their way of thinking a little more, then you will be allowed to participate in the digital world?
"Well, you know what? Silicon Valley can't cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman."
He then added separately: " We have a Second Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it. The Second Amendment—this is a little history for all the fake news media—the Second Amendment is not about hunting, it's not about recreation, it's not about sports.
"The Second Amendment is about maintaining, within the citizenry, the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary.
"I hope it never does, but it sure is important to recognize the founding principles of this nation, and to make sure that they are fully understood."
A number of verified Twitter users shared the misleading clip of Gaetz's speech, which implied that he was calling on his supporters to bear arms against Silicon Valley staff.
The clip cut out Gaetz's reference to the First Amendment, which makes it clear he is not calling on supporters to shoot Silicon Valley employees, but instead to simply exercise their rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
The video has gone viral and been viewed more than 1 million times after being shared by users, lawmakers and media outlets including the MailOnline and Mediaite.
Reacting to the edited clip of the speech, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Gaetz's remarks were "not speech protected by the first amendment," and added that it went "beyond yelling fire in a theater."
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) called on House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to boot out Gaetz from the House Judiciary Committee as he accused the congressman of "urging people to shoot Silicon Valley employees."
Newsweek contacted Gaetz's office for further comment on his speech.
Gaetz is facing a federal investigation into allegations that he sexually trafficked an underage girl. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and claimed in a March 30 statement that he was being extorted by an ex-Justice Department official.
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