'Reducing global warming matters for freshwater fish species'

RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN

Research News

 

The habitats of freshwater fish species are threatened by global warming, mainly due to rising water temperatures. A 3.2-degree Celsius increase in global mean temperature would threaten more than half of the habitat for one third of all freshwater fish species. The number of species at risk is ten times smaller if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees. This is the conclusion of a study led by Radboud University, in collaboration with Utrecht University, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Leiden University and others, and published in Nature Communications on March 15th.

Many studies have already assessed the potential impacts of climate change on animal and plant species in terrestrial systems. "However, freshwater fish species have been largely ignored, even though they represent approximately a quarter of the global known vertebrate diversity", says Valerio Barbarossa, lead author of the paper. This is the first study that investigated the potential impact of climate change on approximately 11,500 freshwater fish species around the globe.

Clear differences between global warming scenarios

With a global rise of 3.2 degrees Celsius, a scenario expected if there are no further emission cuts after current governments' pledges for 2030, over one third of the freshwater species have more than half of their present-day habitats threatened by extremes in water temperature or streamflow.

If global warming is limited to 2 degrees, 9% of the species would have more than a half of their habitat threatened. If warming is limited to 1.5 degrees, the number of species at risk reduces to 4%. "These numbers indicate that limiting global warming really matters for freshwater fish species, just as previous research has shown that it matters for species in terrestrial systems", says Barbarossa.

Temperature and flow

The researchers modelled future extremes in water flow and temperature and identified where these may exceed present-day extremes within the habitats of the fish species. "Water temperature and water flow are two key habitat factors for freshwater fish species. Climate change will amplify extremes in flow and temperature, which may reduce the amount of suitable habitat. This in turn is an important indicator of extinction risk", says Aafke Schipper, environmental researcher at Radboud University and PBL and co-author of the study.

The results of the study indicate that changes in water temperature are much more threatening than changes in flow extremes, reflecting that global warming will lead to rising water temperatures nearly everywhere. The findings further show that threats to freshwater fish species are particularly high in tropical waters.

Man-made barriers

"The numbers of species at risk represent a worst-case scenario in the sense that we assume that fish will not be able to move to other parts of the watershed or adapt to changed conditions", continues Barbarossa. "We have also considered a scenario in which species could move freely across the watershed and "escape" altered conditions. In that case, climate change threats would be substantially lower. However, many freshwater systems are fragmented, which impedes fish from moving to more suitable conditions."

River systems worldwide are characterized by an increasing number of many man-made barriers like dams, weirs, sluices or culverts. These reduce the connectivity of freshwater habitats and limit opportunities for fish to respond to climate change by shifting their ranges. This in turn stresses the need to limit global warming, the authors conclude, if we want to safeguard freshwater biodiversity.

WWII-era Japanese internee reburied by family

Sun, March 14, 2021

The family of a Japanese man interned during World War II have buried his remains 75 years after he went missing near a California internment camp. Giichi Matsumura was one of thousands of people of Japanese descent interned during the war. (March 15)

VIDEO WWII-era Japanese internee reburied by family (yahoo.com)

Lost to mountain, Japanese internee's bones return home

photo essay long read



















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US Japanese Internee Final Burial

Lilah Matsumura, 11, prays for for her great-grandfather, Giichi Matsumura, during a memorial service at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, Calif., Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. Giichi Matsumura, who died in the Sierra Nevada on a fishing trip while he was at the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, was reburied in the same plot with his wife 75 years later after his remains were unearthed from a mountainside grave. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

BRIAN MELLEY
Sun, March 14, 2021, 9:15 AM·15 min read


SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — When Giichi Matsumura arrived at his final resting place in late December, the people who knew him best when he disappeared from a Japanese internment camp in 1945 already were there.

His wife, Ito, who had mourned his passing for 60 years before her death in 2005, was buried in the same plot, as was his daughter, Kazue, who died in 2018. His father, Katsuzo, who died in 1963, was nearby. His brother and two of his three sons were a short walk away, all buried in the shady, grassy haven of Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

They last saw Giichi alive in the waning days of World War II at the Manzanar internment camp, one of 10 where the U.S. government held more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent for more than three years, claiming without evidence they might betray America in the war.

In the summer of 1945, Matsumura hiked from camp into the nearby Sierra Nevada, the rugged spine of California, and never returned. His remains were committed to a lonely mountainside grave left to the elements.

His journey home, 75 years in the making, only happened after a hiker bound for the summit of Mount Williamson, a massive peak overshadowing Manzanar, veered off route near a lake and spotted a skull in the rocks. He and his partner uncovered a full a skeleton under granite blocks.

It was 2019, and the duty to bring him back fell to a granddaughter born decades after he died.

Lori Matsumura never expected to play that role. She knew of her grandfather’s unfortunate death, but it wasn’t something she often thought about.

Then an Inyo County sheriff's sergeant phoned and asked for a DNA sample to see if the unearthed bones belonged to her grandfather, the only Manzanar prisoner who died in the mountains.

“It was a complete surprise when I received a call from the sheriff,” Lori said. “There were stories my grandmother told me about her husband passing on the mountain. They were stories to me, and it wasn’t reality. But then when the sheriff called it, you know, brought it into reality.”

That conversation set her on the first step of a mission to reunite her ancestors, a journey that awakened her to a history she had largely seen through a child’s eyes, the edges softened by a generation more inclined to look forward than dwell in the past. Stories that once seemed rosy lost their bloom when faced with the harsh landscape where her relatives spent more than three years in captivity.

___

Until the U.S. entered WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Giichi Matsumura and his family lived what seemed like a quiet life in the leafy oasis of Santa Monica Canyon, a retreat for artists and stars of old Hollywood.

Born in the Fukui prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1916, arriving in San Francisco on a steam ship with a single bag. His father already was there and they worked as gardeners and lived on property owned by the Marquez family, Mexican land grant owners of an area that became parts of Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

Giichi’s wife, Ito, arrived from Kyoto in 1924, according to U.S. Census records. The couple had four children born in the U.S.: sons Masaru, Tsutomo and Uwao, and a daughter, Kazue, the youngest. Kazue, Lori’s aunt, recalled a fun childhood in an interview by Rose Masters, a ranger with the Manzanar National Historic Site, a few months before her death in 2018.

Her mother would pull her in a wagon to play at the beach. She remembers seeing the actor Leo Carrillo, later known as sidekick Pancho to TV’s “The Cisco Kid,” doing lasso tricks.

Giichi Matsumura, who signed up for the World War I draft, registered again on Feb. 14, 1942. Five days later, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order that would force people of Japanese descent on the West Coast into prison camps in waves.

Under an April 20, 1942 order, the Matsumura family had about a week to leave their life in the canyon behind.

Kazue, who wasn’t even aware there was a war, recalled her experience as a 7-year-old.

Her father had to give away his car and they were only allowed to bring a single suitcase to camp.

She had been excited about taking a bus trip, but the novelty after a long ride from LA through the desert along the dramatic eastern flank of the Sierra quickly faded when they arrived at Manzanar.

“I noticed it was all dirt,” she said. “Nothing there. Like a desert.”

Manzanar, which means apple orchard in Spanish, quickly became home to 10,000 people of Japanese descent — two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens — living in hundreds of cramped, tar-paper covered barracks.

The family would have shared a barrack with four to six other families, each unit separated only by a thin wall that did not extend to the pitched roof. There was little privacy.

The shacks were so poorly built that frequent winds blew sand through the cracks in walls and floors. There was no insulation, making scorching summers intolerable and frigid winters unbearable.

Giichi Matsumura worked as a cook. In his spare time, he painted watercolors, capturing the guard tower, barracks and Mount Williamson, the second-highest peak in California.

His eldest son, Masaru, Lori’s father, had been about to graduate from high school when they were imprisoned. Instead, he had to wait until the next spring when he was in the internment camp’s first graduating class.

Lori remembers her father talking about the camp’s most infamous incident when guards shot into a crowd of people, killing two and injuring nine.

But she doesn’t know much about his time there. He didn’t like to discuss it.

What she knew came mostly from her grandmother and Aunt Kazue, who lived together across the street, stories about squashing scorpions on the way to the bathroom using geta — elevated wooden sandals.

___

Lori Matsumura always meant to visit Manzanar. But she’s not sure she would have made the more than three-hour drive north from Los Angeles.

Now she had to go.

A few weeks after the sheriff’s call, she and her boyfriend, Thomas Storesund, drove to the station in Lone Pine where she gave an oral swab for DNA. They then drove a few miles north where the National Park Service operates the camp as a sort of living museum.

The sentry house still stands at the entrance. A replica of one of the eight guard towers looms overhead and replica barracks, a latrine and a mess hall recreate what the camp looked like, minus hundreds of other structures crammed into a square mile of high desert surrounded by barbed wire.

The buildings display vestiges of life in camp and some of the many indignities experienced, such as the loyalty questionnaire adults had to complete.

“How could something like this happen in America?” Lori thought.

But she wasn’t struck by the gravity of her family’s loss until she visited where they had lived.

Standing near a sign for Block 18, Matsumura looked out at an inhospitable barren patch of scraggly rabbitbrush, fiddleneck weed and a row of barren locust trees. She was filled with sorrow.

“I was blown away by how desolate the place was,” she said. “Seeing it in person made it so sad for me. I don’t think I could have survived that.”

For the first time, Matsumura felt a connection to the place her family lived. She was walking in their footsteps. It was now real.

While the buildings were gone, one reminder stood out: Mount Williamson standing at 14,374 feet (4,381 meters) to the west. It was the site of her grandfather’s first grave.

___

Giichi Matsumura left camp July 29, 1945 heading toward that peak with a group of trout fishermen for a several-day outing. He planned to sketch and paint.

Prisoners had been free to leave camp six months earlier, but about 4,000 internees remained. Many, like the Matsumuras, had nowhere to go or feared racist reprisals in places they once called home.

Ito Matsumura didn’t want her husband to go on the trip. She forbade him from taking his art supplies because she feared he would stop to paint and get lost, Lori’s Aunt Kazue recalled.

It takes at least a full day to ascend about 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) to reach the chain of lakes where they were destined. The trail eventually ends and hikers must navigate a forbidding jumble of granite in the thin air at the high altitude.

On Aug. 2, Matsumura stopped to paint as others fished.

When a storm blew in, the fishermen, who had been there before, knew where to shelter in a cave, said Don Hosokawa, whose father, Frank, was on the trip. The men couldn’t find Giichi after the storm and returned to camp, hoping he headed there.

Exactly what happened to Giichi Matsumura remains unknown. Aunt Kazue said she heard her father slipped on wet rocks and hit his head. Don Hosokawa said the body was later found next to a bloody rock.

His disappearance came four days before the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima that would hasten the Japanese surrender.

Three search parties looked for him in the following weeks. They found only his sweater.

About a month after he was lost, a hiker from nearby Independence was trying to summit Mount Williamson with her husband and a friend, but rain ruined their plans. They stopped for lunch, and Mary DeDecker, a botanist, noticed a branch in the rocks below, which struck her as unusual because trees don’t grow at that altitude.

A closer look revealed a body.

A small burial party from camp made a last trip into the mountains, carrying a sheet from Ito Matsumura to wrap her husband in. They buried him under granite and affixed a simple piece of paper to a block to mark the grave. In Japanese characters, it gave his name, age and said, “Rest in Peace.”

The group returned with locks of his hair and nail clippings, a Buddhist tradition for a body that couldn’t be returned.

About 150 people attended a funeral ceremony back at the camp. A photo by Toyo Miyatake, famous for documenting Manzanar life, shows mourners in dark suits and dresses behind a wall of crepe paper flowers.

Aunt Kazue lamented that it was difficult never having seen her father's corpse or his gravesite.

“To this day it seems like he’s not passed away,” she said. “It seems like he’s gone some place because I don’t see his body.”

At the Manzanar cemetery, where a tall white obelisk is often decorated with chains of origami cranes left by visitors, a sign says 150 people died at camp. Most were cremated and their ashes buried after their families left camp. One man, Giichi Matsumura, the sign says, died exploring the Sierra and “is buried high in the mountains above you.”

That sign will have to be changed.

___

The gravesite was not widely known so it initially appeared to be a mystery when hikers unearthed it Oct. 7, 2019. Officers from Inyo County Sheriff’s Office flew by helicopter to retrieve the remains.

When word reached rangers and historians at Manzanar, they had a hunch who it was.

“It wasn’t a huge mystery,” Ranger Patricia Biggs told Lori Matsumura in February last year. “We would have been amazed if it wasn’t your grandfather.”

Sgt. Nate Derr had called Matsumura for a DNA sample because she was listed at the historic site as a contact person for her aunt. It took about three months for the Department of Justice to match her DNA with a tooth from the remains to positively identify her grandfather.

Derr notified her in January last year. Then she had to decide what to do with the bones.

Manzanar wouldn’t allow her grandfather to be buried in the small cemetery where only six bodies, interred when the camp was operating, remain. His bones also couldn’t be returned to the mountain.

The thought of scattering his ashes at one of those places held some appeal. Although it’s illegal to scatter ashes on public lands, Lori said she was told by one official that no one would stop her.

But it was unlikely her family would trek up the mountain for a burial service and returning him to a place he’d been captive seemed in poor taste.

After consulting her siblings and cousins, they decided he should be cremated and laid to rest with his wife. His name was already on the grave marker, his toenail clippings and hair buried with her.

Lori had to sign paperwork amending the death certificate from a burial to a cremation. And she wanted to view the remains.

On Presidents Day last year, she and other family members went to the small city of Bishop, about 45 minutes north of Manzanar, to Brune Mortuary, which is also the county coroner’s office.

Coroner Jason Molinar began to lead Lori and her niece, Lilah, from his office to a private viewing room when Lori halted in the doorway to reassure the 11-year-old, who was scared.

“They’re just his bones. That’s all it is,” Lori told the girl.

Laid on a sheet-covered gurney were the remains of the grandfather she’d never met.

The skeleton was roughly arranged in order. The skull was bleached white, most likely from sun exposure. The ribs, spine and joints were stained a shade of brown.

Molinar pointed to a coil of fishing line, the remains of a rusty pocket knife and two buttons found with the bones. A pair of shoes and belt he had worn were next to his lower leg bones.

It was remarkable to find the body 99% intact, Molinar said, a testament to a good burial in a climate where the remains were probably encased in snow and ice much of the year and undisturbed by people or critters.

“The crazy part is the fact that it’s this well-preserved,” he said. “Usually after this many years, you just find fragments.”

Lori made a video call to her sister, Lisa Reilly, who lives in San Francisco and couldn’t make the trip.

“Do you want to see Grandpa’s bones?” she asked.

She then turned the camera to the skeleton and artifacts. She paused at the skull and pointed out the sutures, the fine cracks where the bones of the skull are joined that had begun to separate from exposure. The cracks had led the hikers to speculate on social media about foul play.

Lori and her niece stood with their hands clasped in prayer and heads bowed. They prayed he would rest in peace and be reunited with his family.

After the viewing, they went to Manzanar to donate the shoes, belt, fishing line and knife, to be put on display.

As Biggs looked at the weather-beaten shoes and withered belt, she was almost overcome with emotion.

“I just want to have a moment,” the ranger said. “Out of respect. Wow. It’s amazing to me the things that last forever and the things that don’t.”

In a guest book, Lori’s nephew, Lukas, 9, wrote: “We are bringing you home Great Grampa Giichi Matsumura. We love you.”

Two weeks later, Lori retrieved the ashes.

___

Lost once and found twice, it was now time to properly bury Giichi Matsumura.

On Dec. 21, Lori, her brothers, Wayne and Clyde, along with Clyde’s wife, Narumol, and two children brought his ashes to a burial service at Woodlawn, which is a block from where they grew up.

The Rev. Shumyo Kojima, a Buddhist priest, assembled a small altar with a framed photo of Giichi Matsumura in front of the box containing his remains.

“He moved from the high Sierra to here. All of you are eyewitnesses,” Kojima said. “This is a kind of house-warming party. So, everyone will be here to celebrate his new residence.”

Kojima lit incense and picked up a bell that he rang at different intervals as he chanted ancient sutras, bowing repeatedly.

Each family member stepped forward to sprinkle incense in a burner while Kojima chanted.

Kojima showed a document from the Zenshuji Buddhist Temple that recorded memorial services Ito held for her husband on important milestone anniversaries over the years. It showed how she kept thinking about him, the priest said.

Three cemetery workers then moved the altar to reveal a hole in the ground. One of them placed the box of ashes in the shallow grave.

As the interwoven threads of incense smoke drifted northeast — the direction of Manzanar — the family members each took a turn dropping a shovel full of dirt on the box.

The grave-diggers finished the job and placed a bouquet of white flowers on the grass. Kojima sprinkled water over the grave for purification.

Lori Matsumura wished the hikers hadn’t disturbed the grave. She imagined it was a beautiful setting in mountains her grandfather admired.

Yet she was satisfied he was back with those who loved him.

“His body is laid to rest with everyone, so it’s kind of just closed the chapter on my dad and his siblings and parents,” she said.

She only regretted they weren’t alive to see it.

Michael Flynn could face thousands of dollars in penalties as the Army reviews a Pentagon watchdog report

Sarah Al-Arshani
Sat, March 13, 2021, 

Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, leaves the federal court with his lawyer Sidney Powell, left, following a status conference with Judge Emmet Sullivan, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta


The Army is reviewing a watchdog report on money Michael Flynn earned from foreign governments.


The report is from a delayed Department of Defense investigation which was launched in 2017.

The investigation was paused because of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The US Army is reviewing an internal watchdog report from the Department of Defense into former national security advisor Michael Flynn, The Washington Post reported.

In April 2017, the Pentagon launched an investigation into money Flynn received from Russian and Turkish interests after his retirement but before he joined former President Donald Trump's administration.

In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to investigators as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Flynn admitted that he misled investigators in a January 2017 interview about his communications with Russia's then-ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak.

He was initially cooperative with the FBI, but in 2019, he reversed course, fired his entire defense team, and hired Sidney Powell as his lawyer. In January 2020, Flynn tried to retract his guilty plea.

Trump pardoned Flynn last November.

CNN reported that then-special counsel Robert Mueller's probe investigation into the 2016 election had put the DoD's investigation into Flynn on hold.

The DoD Inspector General's office did not reply to Insider's email request for comment at the time of publication.

DoD spokeswoman Dwrena Allen told CNN that following Flynn's pardon, they were granted permission from the Department of Justice to resume the investigation, which was completed on January 27, 2021.

The investigation looked into whether or not Flynn violated the Constitution's emoluments clause, which stipulates that officials such as retired military members can't accept money or gifts from foreign governments.

The Post reported that the payments from Russia were from 2015, when Flynn was paid $45,000 for appearing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a gala dinner for the state-controlled outlet RT. His company, Flynn Intel Group, was also paid $530,000 by a Netherlands-based company, Inovo BV, in 2016. The company was founded by a Turkish businessman and lobbies on behalf of Turkey.

In 2017, the DoD said that Flynn did not seek permission to work as a foreign agent on behalf of Turkey.

The results of the report could mean, Flynn, who retired from the Army as a three-star general in 2014, could face tens of thousands of dollars in penalties.

Korean battery firm offers Georgia plant as dispute lingers

Sat, March 13, 2021


ATLANTA (AP) — With a giant battery factory in northeast Georgia hanging in the balance of a trade dispute, South Korean company LG Energy Solution is now telling some Georgia officials that it could build its own factory in the state if rival SK Innovation can't proceed.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports LG Energy Solution CEO Jong Hyun Kim wrote a Wednesday letter to Democratic U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock on Wednesday saying LG “is prepared to do whatever we can to help the people and workers of Georgia."

Kim also wrote that if some other entity acquires the SK plant, LG could help run the $2.6 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Commerce, where SK plans to hire 2,600 workers.

“Multiple investors and manufacturers … will be interested in the Commerce plant due to increased demand for electric vehicle batteries,” Kim wrote.

Thursday, LG announced plans to build at least two new plants and spend more than $4.5 billion to make electric vehicle batteries in the United States, in addition to a plant it already operates in Holland, Michigan, one it's building in Lordstown, Ohio, and one it could build in Spring Hill, Tennessee. All those plants are in partnership with General Motors.

LG's overture comes as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday renewed his call for President Joe Biden to override a federal trade decision that threatens SK's ability to move ahead.

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in February that SK stole 22 trade secrets from LG and that SK should be barred from importing, making or selling batteries in the United States for 10 years.

SK has contracts to supply batteries for an electric Ford F-150 truck and an electric Volkswagen SUV to be manufactured in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The commission said SK can supply batteries to Ford Motor Co. for four years and to Volkswagen for two years. SK can also repair and replace batteries in Kia vehicles that have already been sold.

An SK spokesperson said in an emailed statement that “it is simply impossible for someone to acquire an EV battery manufacturing facility and run it to produce batteries acceptable to a major auto company.”

“LG’s monopolization of the U.S. battery supply chain will only set the U.S. further back in its effort to catch up with China,” the spokesperson wrote.

Biden has until April to review or block the ruling and both side are lobbying him, part of a chess game that also involves talks between the companies. SK lost the ruling in part because it destroyed evidence. The commission called the move “extraordinary” and concluded that top SK executives ordered the destruction.

SK said this week that its directors had rejected LG's demands for compensation. LG said it was “regrettable” that SK wasn't willing to negotiate and said LG would accept cash, royalties on future battery sales, or an ownership share in SK's business.

Georgia gave $300 million in free land, cash and other incentives for the SK factory, which is now partially built and is supposed to open in 2022.

The Little-Known History Behind the People of Color Who Joined the Royal Family Long Before Meghan

Suyin Haynes
Fri, March 12, 2021

The submission of the Maharajah Duleep Singh to Sir Henry Hardinge as the battle of Sobraon ends the 1st Sikh War in India in 1846
Credit - Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

In the televised interview given by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, to Oprah earlier this week, the couple spoke of the way they had been treated by the Royal Family, and the racist media headlines that increasingly targeted Meghan after the couple’s wedding in 2018.

“When I joined that family, that was the last time, until we came here, that I saw my passport, my driver’s licence, my keys. All that gets turned over. I didn’t see any of that anymore,” Meghan said, speaking candidly about experiencing suicidal thoughts and wanting to seek help for her mental health, yet being told by “The Firm” that she couldn’t.


These details, of how the Firm operates, as well as the racist coverage of Meghan, struck a chord with historian Priya Atwal, author of Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire, whose research specializes in empire, monarchy and cultural politics across Britain and South Asia. On March 7, the day before the interview aired in the U.S., Atwal posted a Twitter thread detailing the experiences of other people of color from across the British Empire who became Queen Victoria’s “godchildren” over the 1850s and 1860s, noting some of the parallels between the way they were treated by the institution and the press, and the current situation with Meghan. The thread quickly went viral, and Atwal was “blown away” by its popularity.

She says that despite the different circumstances, comparisons between the situations show how little has changed within the machinery of the monarchy. “The problem remains that the culture of royalty and the way the institution operates to protect its own image is actually very problematic. It tries to assimilate these people, because ultimately, it doesn’t care about those people to the same degree as it does about the crown,” says Atwal. “And if the interests of the crown are being messed with, then it doesn’t really matter what collateral damage happens to the lives of those people that are being assimilated. They are expendable.'

Queen Victoria’s imperial godchildren

The mid-19th century was a period of rapid change for Britain, the British Empire and the British monarchy. The Empire was dramatically expanding around the world, with control of India transferring to the direct rule of the British Crown starting in 1858, and trading networks in Asia and Africa plundering nations for their natural resources. Starting with Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born in West Africa and held captive for two years before being presented as a “gift” in 1850 to a British naval captain representing Queen Victoria, the monarch informally adopted several wards as her godchildren from different corners of her vast empire. And while Atwal says that Victoria did take a personal interest in all of these young children from across the Empire and took them under her wing, “they essentially were put up as poster children in many respects.”

Sara Forbes Bonetta, god-daughter of Queen Victoria, with her husband James Davies on Sept. 15, 1862Camille Silvy—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Among them were Princess Gouramma of Coorg, who came with her father to England in 1852 at the age of 11, after they were exiled and deposed from rule by the British in southwest India. Gouramma became the first Indian Royal to convert to Christianity and took on the name Victoria in her baptism, in a ceremony where the Queen became her godmother. And while Gouramma was often seen with the Royal Family and was given fine clothing and jewelry along with the title of honorary princess, her life and upbringing was closely controlled by Queen Victoria. “Victoria doesn’t allow Gouramma to see her father again, and Gouramma eventually loses the ability to speak Hindi, her mother tongue. It’s really cruel,” says Atwal. “The lens through which Gouramma is seen is through this colonial mindset. It’s all about making sure that what she does and how she behaves fits with a way that will protect the royal family.” Gouramma tried to run away several times as a teenager, and Atwal says that the young princess felt very misunderstood—another parallel with the modern-day Meghan.

Queen Victoria also tried, unsuccessfully, to matchmake Gouramma with another ward of the Empire she had a close relationship with—Maharaja Duleep Singh, who converted to Christianity and settled in the U.K. in 1854 at the age of 16, after he was removed from his title in the Punjab, northern India. The Queen became godmother to Duleep Singh’s children, including Sophia Duleep Singh, who would later become a suffragette.

In the 1860s, Victoria became the godmother of two more children: Prince Alamayu, son of the Emperor of Abyssinia, and Albert Victor Pōmare, who was born in England in 1863 when a group of Maori people visited as part of a trip organized by a Wesleyan preacher. The children lived with other families or “caretakers”—including members of the upper middle class in the case of Gouramma, the family of the naval captain the case of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and an army officer in the case of Alamayu. Victoria also played a role in directing their education and comportment, or behavior, training. “There was an element of sympathy—[Victoria] saw them as kin really, in many respects, they were royal, and they were Christians,” says Atwal.

The Ex-Rajah Of Coorg, And His Daughter Princess Gouramma, And Suite, 1852Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images) Control of the Royal Family’s image

Part of the reason why these children were taken under Victoria’s wing was because the British Royal Family was projecting a new image for themselves, not only within British society, but across the Empire, says Atwal. Much of the way we understand the Royal Family today, as a public-facing family and in its relationship with the media, was consolidated during the Victorian era, alongside the development of photographic practice and mass printed media.

As has been well documented, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert started the concept of the royal family photo album as photography became more technologically advanced; Victoria was particularly fond of the medium. Within these albums were photographs of their wards, including Gouramma and Sarah Forbes Bonetta. “So in a way, they see each other as family, even if they were adopted members of the family,” says Atwal. These photographs contributed to the public image of the monarchy, and ultimately projected one that was a “squeaky clean model royal family,” she says, adding that the monarchy’s status has become more dependent on public opinion over time, and so the need to protect that image has become more important. “Everything has to work in the benefit of the monarchy, the crown and the British royal family. That has been a consistent theme throughout history, especially recent history.”

Duleep Singh, Maharajah of Lahore, 1837-1893. Engraved by D.J. Pound from a photograph by Mayall. From the book "The Drawing-Room Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages" Published in London 1859.Universal History Archive/Getty Images

And when the godchildren fell out of favor or did anything to tarnish that model image, they would incur the wrath of the printed press of the era too. By the 1870s, Duleep Singh’s finances were dwindling from years of living a lavish lifestyle, and his increasing anger at the annexation of the Punjab led to his plotting a rebellion against the British Raj. “When it’s reported in the press, it’s explosive, and he is vilified in the British media,” says Atwal, who is currently researching Duleep Singh’s life. Cartoons ridiculing him appeared in the press, leaning into colonial tropes and propaganda to portray him in a negative light.

“In terms of the racism and the history and the tropes thrown at [Meghan], it originates in that earlier period,” says Atwal. She says that these issues have been intensified by the way mass media has developed today, and how the same tropes and racist comments are then amplified on social media. “In many respects, we’re dealing with old problems that have massively expanded, because of the way that the media landscape has developed.” The tabloid press grew to become a staple of British society over the 20th century, and has been involved in several scandals and tragedies in recent decades, including the involvement of the paparazzi in the car chase that ultimately killed Princess Diana in 1997, and in the phone-hacking scandal, where several high-profile journalists were found to have hacked people’s phones for information, including members of the Royal Family.

For Atwal, the fact that there has been much surprise, and interest in general, in response to her Twitter thread proves how much of this history has fallen out of public consciousness. “It just goes to show that within the wider knowledge of the history of race and Empire, we’ve got a long way to go.”

Deaths of police in failed Port-au-Prince slum operation sparks #FreeHaiti hashtag, outrage



Jacqueline Charles
Sat, March 13, 2021

The United Nations is calling on Haitian authorities to clarify the circumstances surrounding the deaths and injuries of several members of the Haiti National Police in a police operation turned deadly in a Port-au-Prince slum known for harboring kidnapped victims and a notorious gang.

In a statement issued Saturday, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said it is shocked by the deaths of members of the security forces in Village de Dieu, Village of God, on Friday. It did not specify how many officers were killed but expressed condolences to the families of the victims, the HNP and to the Haitian people.

Acting Haiti National Police General Director Léon Charles confirmed during a brief press conference Saturday that four officers had been killed and eight wounded. Five officers have been discharged from the hospital, while three are in stable condition, he said. Haiti police also have been unable to locate another officer.

“In a deleterious security context, it is imperative that the circumstances surrounding the tragic events of March 12 be clarified, and that the perpetrators of this killing be arrested, prosecuted and brought to justice. The same is true for all serious crimes committed in the country,” the U.N., which has trained the force, said.

The failed anti-gang operation by specialized units of the Haitian police have shaken Haitians and triggered the trending #FreeHaiti hastag on social media. Many have been seeking answers as to how officers were ambushed by an armed gang under the command of a leader in a slum run by a guy who goes by the name “Izo” and “5 Seconds.”

Significant amounts of ammunition were stolen and two armored police vehicles were commandeered, one of which was set ablaze. Video shared on social media show armed gang leaders desecrating the bodies of slain SWAT officers. One photo also showed heavily armed men sitting on the hood of one of the armored vehicles, riddled with bullets.

The bursts of gunfire from the operation could be heard all morning Friday in Port-au-Prince. That same day, a House Foreign Affairs Committee met in a virtual hearing to discus the ongoing political crisis and deteriorating human rights in Haiti. Several members of Congress, concerned about reports about the force being weakened and politicized, asked questions of the all-female panel of witnesses about the Haiti National Police and its ability to confront armed gangs, which have multiplied in recent years.

The police force, which currently stands at an estimated 14,997 officers, has benefited from millions of dollars in funding and training from the U.S., as well as Canada and the U.N. But it has not been enough to counter poor working conditions, a lack of proper equipment and funding from the government, which recently increased its police budget.

Most were unaware of what was taking place in Port-au-Prince, where police were being outgunned in a stark reminder of the country’s revolting security environment. But soon, on Twitter, the #FreeHaiti hashtag started trending as word spread about the slain officers and the failed operation.

On Saturday, #FreeHaiti had been retweeted more than 250,000 times by Haitians including influencers and well-known celebrities like rapper Cardi B and actor Jimmy Jean-Louis.


Officers have struggled to rein in criminality in Haiti, where several kidnapped victims have reported being taken by individuals in police uniforms and in vehicles with official license plates.

Haiti civic leaders and former US diplomat to House Foreign Affairs: ‘Haiti is a mess’

Charles, in a press conference, offered little detail about what went wrong in Friday’s operation, and how his units were ambushed. He said that police have been engaged in a battle against organized crime, especially kidnappings.

“The operation yesterday was a decisive phase in the actions we had already carried out against this phenomenon,” Charles said, describing Village of God as “one of the places where they hold most of the people who are kidnapped.”

He offered sympathy to the families of the slain officers, while stressing that the police will not back down. “The police cannot retreat,” he said. “We have a mission to finish and we are going to keep the engagement we took, which is to protect and serve the population.”

The violence is a new low for Haiti, which has been wrestling with widening insecurity, armed gangs and for-ransom kidnappings. During a live broadcast Saturday of the popular political talk radio show Ranmase on Radio Caraibes, the sister of one of the slain SWAT officers, Wislet Desilus, pleaded for her brother’s body. She said that the gang had requested $2 million in order for her mother to receive his corpse.

“My brother died since yesterday, he was ripped apart. Whatever you can give me, I will take it,” she said, adding that her mother is poor and the family has no money. “Even if it’s just a piece of him that I can bury to console me, so I can tell his child something.”

She said when she heard the news, she went to the SWAT base. “I didn’t find anyone there to receive me; I didn’t find anyone who could give me any information,” she said. “Everyone I found said they couldn’t do anything for me.”

On Monday, a high-ranking gang leader of the Village de Dieu gang, Peterson Benjamin, appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on charges related to the kidnapping of five U.S. citizens, including three minors, in Haiti last year. He faces a nine-count indictment by a Washington, D.C., grand jury, which includes charges of hostage taking and possessing a firearm during a violent crime.

Benjamin was arrested by Haitian police and turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which flew him to South Florida on March 5, along with convicted drug trafficker Lissner Mathieu. Benjamin was taken into custody by the Drug and Enforcement Administration for probation violation.

Why Fred Hampton's fiancée, Akua Njeri, fought for accuracy in 'Judas and the Black Messiah

Kamilah Newton
Wed, March 10, 2021

New film Judas and the Black Messiah, now in theaters and on HBO streaming platforms, dramatizes a specific moment in the history of the Black Panther Party, the political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale: the betrayal of Illinois chapter head Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) at the hands of thief turned FBI informant William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield).

It also tells, more incidentally, the story of Hampton's then fiancée Akua Njeri (née Deborah Johnson, played by Dominique Fishback), who was just 19 — and nearly nine months pregnant — when Hampton was killed during a police raid as he slept in bed next to her. Now, at the age of 70, Njeri is on the advisory board of the Black Panther Party Cubs, created by children of Black Panthers, while her son, Fred Hampton Jr., 51, is chairman of that same organization — both of them living out the late Hampton's legacy.

Njeri tells Yahoo Life that both she and Hampton Jr. inserted themselves into the making of the film — one that “could not be made” without their participation, she says.

“Our struggle was to fight for as much accuracy [as possible] in defending the legacy of the Black Panther Party,” says Njeri, explaining that her son has always said, “Legacy is far more important than our lives because it’s here after we’re gone.”

Njeri says she’s glad that their story made it to the big screen, as she hopes that it may, for viewers, “spark some kind of flame” to create change and teach more about what the party has done — although, as she notes, “a two-hour movie cannot give you a whole history lesson.”

The Black Panther Party was originally founded in Oakland, Calif., with hopes of diminishing police brutality, especially in Black neighborhoods. At the height of public support for the organization, Panther membership exceeded 2,000, with branches operating in major cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia.

Njeri says that she began teaching her son about the liberation work of Hampton Sr. “before he could walk or talk,” as she knew that the media would paint a “distorted image” of who he was, following his assassination.

The party believed that economic exploitation was “at the root of all oppression in the United States and abroad” and sought to support oppressed communities by implementing several successful programs targeting education, healthcare, legal assistance — and even the production and distribution of free shoes to those in need. It also created the blueprint for the many free breakfast programs currently found across the country, though their anti-capitalist efforts were met with opposition from the federal government. In 1969, J. Edgar Hoover recognized the Black Panther Party as the “greatest threat to national security” and promised to disband the organization however possible.

“How do we say we want our children to have the best situation when we continue to put them in ... oppressive religions [and] oppressive schools? Everything is dictated to us by an oppressive system that does not act in our interest,” Njeri explains today, adding that even the national police departments’ pledges to protect and serve actually have “nothing to do with serving and protecting the interests of Black and colonized communities.”

Although much of the party was dissolved by 1982, Hampton’s family is in the process of having his childhood home named as a landmark and transformed into a new Black Panthers community resource center that will continue the work that he started so long ago. A GoFundMe effort has already surpassed its $350,000 goal to help make the necessary repairs, but until those are underway, the mother-son duo continues to pour their efforts into the next generation of up-and-coming Panthers.

“We [are still] oppressed,” says Njeri, “but [we’re] ‘fighting back’ oppressed people.”

Video produced by Jennifer Miller

Former Black panther member seeking parole after almost 5 decades

DeMicia Inman
Sat, March 13, 2021

Sundiata Acoli has been denied parole eight times and is serving a life sentence

Lawyers for Sundiata Acoli, born Clark Edward Squire, have moved to have the former Black Panther party member released from prison after he has served decades behind bars.

Acoli’s legal team said that last year, Acoli contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized, which resulted in dramatic weight loss. They also said he suffers from hearing loss and early-stage dementia. In total, since his 1974 conviction, Acoli has been denied parole eight times, according to the Washington Post.


Read More: A history of radical Black self-care and the impact of the Black Panther Party

“You can have someone elderly who may still be dangerous in some rare cases, but that is not this man. I mean, he has not had a single problem of any kind in prison for 25 years,” said Acoli’s attorney, Bruce Afran, according to the news outlet. “Frankly, the reason they’re denying him parole is because a state trooper was killed. I can think of no other reason for this treatment.”

Image via SundiataAcoli.org

In 1973, Trooper Werner Foerster was killed during a shootout during a traffic stop. Acoli was in the car, along with two passengers, Assata Shakur and Zayd Malik Shakur. Trooper James Harper, who stopped the vehicle for a damaged taillight, called for backup and was joined by Foerster, who found an ammunition magazine for an automatic pistol on Acoli, according to the report.

A gun fight between the three people in the car and the officers resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries. The Post reported Foerster was shot four times — twice in the head by his own service weapon and Harper was wounded. Assata Shakur and Acoli were later arrested and Zayd Shakur was found dead.

Acoli and the surviving Shakur were both convicted of the murder of Foerster in separate trials. According to the news outlet, Shakur claimed she was shot and wounded with her hands up and was unable to fire the fatal shots. Acoli said he too was shot and blacked-out with zero memory of the night’s events.

Read More: Oakland, Calif. mural honors women of the Black Panther Party

In 1974, Acoli was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. He entered prison at 36 and is now 84-years-old as he pleas for his freedom to the New Jersey Supreme Court. According to Afran, each time he is denied, the reasoning is the same: “he hasn’t done enough psychological counseling; he doesn’t fully admit to his crime, or he hasn’t adequately apologized for it,” according to the Post.

Tony Ciavolella, a board spokesman, said, “Denials of his parole were decided upon impartially, fairly, and . . . in accordance with statutory and administrative regulations,” according to the outlet.

In 2014, a state appellate panel ruled he should be released, however, the state Attorney General’s office contested. The case was sent back to the board, and again, denied. He is now appealing that decision.

“Sundiata’s case is a glaring example of the need for parole reform in New Jersey and throughout the United States,” said Joseph J. Russo, Deputy Public Defender in the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender’s Appellate Section.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of Former Troopers, said that in its December 2019 decision, the New Jersey Appellate Court backed-up the parole board’s conclusion that Acoli, “lacked insight into his criminal behavior, denied key aspects of his crimes and minimized his criminal conduct and anti-social behavior,” according to the news outlet.

“The Former Troopers Association of New Jersey finds it is extremely difficult to believe that in less than one-years’ time, Inmate Acoli has miraculously found remorse, accepted rehabilitation, or even offered a sincere admission of his actions in the inhumane murder of Trooper Foerster.”

According to the Sundiata Acoli Speaks website, he was declared a political prisoner in September 1979 by the International Jurist.

Words for Acoli from Assata Shakur are presented on the site:

“I want so much for Sundiata to know how much he is loved and respected. I want him to know how much he is appreciated by revolutionaries all over the world. I want Sundiata to know how much he is cherished by African people, not only in the Americas, but all over the Diaspora. I want him to know how much we admire his strength, his courage, his kindness, and compassion. Sundiata loves freedom and we must struggle for the life and freedom of Sundiata,” she said.

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 29: Noname performs onstage at the Pavilion during the 2017 Panorama Music Festival – Day 2 at Randall’s Island on July 29, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Panorama)

In 1979, Assata Shakur escaped prison and fled to Cuba where she was granted political asylum. Rapper Noname recently shared petitions on social media for Sundiata Acoli and others after the film Judas and the Black Messiah sparked new-interest in the Black Panther party.

“I hope we use this renewed interest in prominent black radicals as momentum to get all political prisoners FREE! Hollywood won’t advocate for them. that’s up to us! sign petition below,” she wrote on Twitter, sharing a thread of resources. She continued, “Sundiata is a former Black Panther Party member, who at every stage in his life has worked to help people. Sundiata, like so many others, is a victim of the FBI’s COINTELPRO effor

U.K. police criticized for response to vigil for slain Sarah Everard



Oriana Gonzalez
Sat, March 13, 2021

The suspected abduction and murder of a 33-year-old London woman has spurred a cascade of concern over women's safety and an outpouring of grief from the British public.

The latest: Thousands of people gathered at south London's Clapham Common Saturday for a vigil for Sarah Everard, which police called unlawful. Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted that she's asked for a "full report" from police after seeing "upsetting" images taken as officers made arrests.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he's "urgently seeking an explanation" from the Metropolitan Police commissioner, amid accusations that male officers were "grabbing and manhandling" women during arrests, per the Evening Standard.

"The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I've seen it's clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate," added Khan, who along with Patel oversees London's police force.

Of note: Wayne Couzens, a London police officer, made his first appearance in court on Saturday morning following his Tuesday arrest for the suspected abduction and murder of Everard, who disappeared on March 3, according to the Metropolitan Police. He was charged Friday.

Police confirmed that a body found hidden southeast of the capital was Everand's, and have said the investigation remains ongoing.

What they're saying: Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said in a statement that police arrested four people during Saturday evening's vigil for public order offenses and for "breaches of the Health Protection Regulations."

She said police "absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary" and that they acted out of safety concerns.

The big picture: Everard's death has "dismayed Britain and revived a painful question: Why are women too often not safe on the streets?" AP notes. Her fate is "all the more shocking" because the suspect charged Friday over her death is an officer "whose job was protecting politicians and diplomats," AP added.

Her killing has sparked outcry across the U.K. and beyond, with women and girls sharing their experiences and fears about personal safety on social media and other mediums.

Everard's disappearance has shone a light on "a double standard that exists: Women are expected to adapt their behavior to reduce personal risk, which in turn fuels a 'victim-blaming culture' and detracts attention from male actions," NBC News writes.

For the record: Member of Parliament Jess Phillips this week read the names of 118 women aloud who were murdered last year.

By the numbers: The United Nations in 2019 reported that 71% of women in the U.K. said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in public, with the number rising to 86% for women between the ages of 18 and 24.

Centre of London, a U.K. think-tank, noted in 2019 that "women were nearly twice as likely as men to mention personal safety as a barrier to walking and using public transport."

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Patel, Khan and police.ee.