Tag Archives: Northern America

Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Syrian Refugees

President Obama announces U.S. will take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over next year
  • Obama announced that preparations are being made to take in the number by the end of September 2016.
  • The U.S. had originally planned to accept 1,500 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015.
  • While welcoming the increase, humanitarian groups criticized the number as too low relative to U.S. capacity, calling on the president to increase the yearly refugee cap from 70,000 to 200,000.

“The White House’s pledge is a start, but it just scratches the surface. … The U.S. can and must do more to help ensure that thousands of Syrians fleeing violence have the safety and security they need.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Robert Atanasovski/AFP /Getty Images, via BuzzFeed News)

Nationality + Migration

Canada Feature | Refugees

Video

Finding Refuge across an Ocean

For Toronto native Samia Tecle, the more than 5,000 miles separating her from the heart of the global migration crisis may as well be 5. Matthew House, the refugee reception services organization Tecle works for, provides accommodations and administrative services for newly arrived refugees, who, having no place to live, are counted among Toronto’s homeless population. Tecle tells the Globe and Mail of the Matthew House’s work and of the importance of Canadian solidarity with new arrivals.

“This is a global crisis. This is as much Canada’s issue as it is Italy’s or Greece’s or Turkey’s.”

View the Globe and Mail video on YouTube.

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. Feature | Latinos

Latinos in the Big Easy

Image Credit: Casa Borrega, via NBC News
Image Credit: Casa Borrega, via NBC News

In the fallout of Hurricane Katrina a decade ago, Latinos of diverse nationalities poured into New Orleans to assist in the reconstruction of the city. The Latino bloom has been met with polar responses, from harassment and discrimination to exploding entrepreneurial opportunities and cultural flourishing. NBC News examines the new Latino presence in the post-Katrina Big Easy.

Read the full feature at NBC News.

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Native American

President Obama announces tallest North American mountain will have native name officially recognized
  • Denali (“the high one” in Athabaskan) is the native name for Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, and has now become federally recognized as the official name of the mountain.
  • In 1896, the mountain was renamed Mount McKinley during President William McKinley’s second election campaign despite Ohioan McKinley having no connection to the mountain or Alaska.
  • President Obama will announce the change as he becomes the first sitting president to visit the Alaskan Arctic, where he will meet with Alaskan Native leaders to discuss cooperative measures.

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Becky Bohrer/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. Feature | Undocumented Asian Immigrants

Undocumented Silence

Image Credit: Jill Stephenson/Alamy, via the Guardian
Image Credit: Jill Stephenson/Alamy, via the Guardian

With only 21% of the estimated 87,000 undocumented Asian immigrants having applied for deportation relief under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the U.S.’s undocumented Asian community has largely existed in the shadow of the more politically vocal Latino community in immigration activism. The Guardian profiles Jong-Min You, one of the few public faces of the undocumented Asian community, about the causes of this silence and his hopes for his own future.

Read the full feature at the Guardian.

Ideology + Affiliation, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | African Americans & Journalists

Protests and arrests in Ferguson, Missouri, mark the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death
  • Police have arrested more than 30 over two nights (including reporters) as hundreds of protesters have marched, stopped highway traffic, and clashed with police in memory of the events that transpired last summer.
  • Nearly 60 more were arrested for a sit-in outside of the St. Louis federal courthouse.
  • The county executive declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of gunfire and police response during demonstrations that led to the critical wounding of an 18-year-old male.

“Charging a reporter with trespassing and interfering with a police officer when he was just doing his job is outrageous. … You’d have thought law enforcement authorities would have come to their senses about this incident.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Jeff Roberson/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Other, Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | Transgender

California grants first gender reassignment surgery to trans inmate
  • Following extensive medical review and testimony, the state agreed to pay for the surgery for trans woman Shiloh Quine, who will be transferred after surgery to a women’s prison.
  • However, the decision did not resolve the question of whether such surgeries are constitutionally guaranteed for prisoners, including the 400 in California alone who are receiving hormonal treatments.
  • In April, another prisoner, Michelle Norsworthy, won a court order to undergo reassignment surgery but was paroled before the procedure was carried out.

“Sex reassignment surgery is medically necessary to prevent Ms. Quine from suffering significant illness or disability, and to alleviate severe pain caused by her gender dysphoria.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

U.S. News & Feature | Nonbelievers of Color

Arian Foster: Freethinking in the NFL

Image Credit: Josh Goleman/ESPN
Image Credit: Josh Goleman/ESPN

NFL running back Arian Foster, currently playing for the Houston Texans, has come out as a freethinker and nonbeliever, one of very few professional players to have ever professed nonbelief. With little to no separation between church and field in the NFL, Foster sits down with ESPN to share his experiences being out to teammates, the evolution of his belief, and the ubiquity of Christianity in football.

Read the full profile at ESPN.

Gender

U.S. News | Men & Women

Netflix and Microsoft announce major expansions in parental leave policies
  • New parents at Netflix will now be able to take an unlimited amount of paid leave in the year following the birth or adoption of a child, regardless of gender.
  • At Microsoft, new fathers will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, with an additional two weeks of paid prenatal leave and eight weeks of paid disability leave for new mothers.
  • A fifth of U.S. organizations offer family leave benefits above those required by state and short-term disability laws, despite the country’s lack of laws guaranteeing paid family leave for at least new mothers.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | African Americans

Cincinnati community speaks out on ongoing police harassment following killing of unarmed black man
  • A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted on murder charges following a traffic stop involving a missing front-end license plate.
  • Residents decried targeting by campus police at the University of Cincinnati, where only 7% of students are black compared to 45% in the city population.
  • Off-campus patrols were increased in 2013 following a statement by the UC president that community residents and student activists believe inflamed town-gown relations.

“Instead of inclusion, there’s this culture of class that UC has created. … It’s like the people in the outside communities are voiceless to the administration and the administration just wants them to stay out of the way.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: William Philpott/Reuters, via BuzzFeed News)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. Research | Race Sentiment

Black Attitudes on U.S. Race Relations

The New York Times released the results of a recent New York Times/CBS News poll surveying individuals’ attitudes on white-black relations in the U.S.. Here are highlights of the level of security expressed by black respondents only:

Belief in real progress made in eliminating racial discrimination
56% believe vs. 41% do not believe

Who has the better chance of getting ahead in today’s society?
Whites do: 60% (2015) vs. 46% (2014)
Blacks do: 1% (2015) vs. 4% (2014)
Both do equally: 35% (2015) vs. 46% (2014)

Feelings about personal interactions with the police
58% mostly safe vs. 37% mostly anxious

Belief that race has ever caused police to stop him/her
41% race-motivated experience vs. 57% no race-motivated experience

Further Reading
“A Growing Divide on Race” (NYT: full results)
“Poll Finds Most in U.S. Hold Dim View of Race Relations” (NYT: analysis)
“How the Poll Was Conducted” (NYT: methodology)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | Transgender Jews

Ritual baths pose difficult obstacle for trans individuals converting to Judaism in the U.S.
  • The last step in the conversion process, the mikvah requires submersion in water in the nude, which can be a source of anxiety for transgender converts.
  • Transgender and ally rabbis have been working together to compile a running list of transgender Jews willing to serve as witnesses for those undergoing mikvah.
  • The number of gender minorities seeking to convert has surprised some community members, but theologians note that Judaism has recognized individuals falling outside of the gender binary since its earliest times.

“The body is an area of particular vulnerability for transgender people, because so much of our identities is inextricably intertwined with the nuances of our physical appearance.”

Read the full Religious News Service story at The Huffington Post.

(Image Credit: Mayyim Hayyim, via The Huffington Post)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual

Boy Scouts of America ends ban on gay adult leaders
  • The executive board’s vote culminates a 15-year evolution that began with the Supreme Court’s 2000 affirmation of the right of the organization to ban gay individuals from participating as scoutmasters.
  • In 2013, the organization ended its ban on gay youth participation while upholding the exclusion of openly gay adult leadership.
  • The Mormon church responded that it would have to reevaluate its relationship with the organization, although individually chartered groups will still be able to enforce the ban should they so choose.

“We so much closer to getting back to being about what scouting is all about, going on camping trips and teaching how to build fires and tie knots and lash poles together and build stuff … and learning to be a good leader and good friend and good citizen in the midst of all that.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Rich Pedroncelli/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Religion + Belief

U.S. Feature | Muslim Americans

Video

Reclaiming Faith

Western Muslims are in the throes of a two-front battle against ignorance, forced to counter both religious reactionaries’ and Islamophobia’s reduction of the complexity of contemporary Islam to its most extreme, fundamentalist interpretations. NPR spotlights Not in His Name, an education campaign launched by Reclamation Studios that uses the tools of Islam to demonstrate why most Muslims reject Islamic State theology and action.

Read the full feature at NPR.

Age, Gender, Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Immigrant Women & Children

U.S. federal judge rules mothers and children held in immigration detention centers must be released
  • The judge cited poor detention conditions and failure to comply with a 1997 ruling on the detention of migrant children as grounds for release.
  • Border officials resorted to the detention centers during the surge of undocumented migrant arrivals in 2014, many of whom were unaccompanied children.
  • The Department of Homeland Security will have to develop a release strategy by August 3, according to the ruling.

“It is astonishing that Defendants have enacted a policy requiring such expensive infrastructure without more evidence to show that it would be compliant with an Agreement that has been in effect for nearly 20 years. … It is even more shocking that after nearly two decades Defendants have not implemented appropriate regulations to deal with this complicated area of immigration law.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.