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PBS NewsHour
On the U.S.-Mexico border, agents are encountering 10,000 migrants a day. House Speaker Johnson urged President Biden to take executive action to stem the tide of migration even as senators continue negotiations on a deal to fix an immigration system seen by many as broken. Lisa Desjardins discussed the forces overwhelming the system and possible solutions with Doris Meissner and Ruth Wasem.

Aired: 12/21/23

Rating: NR

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PBS NewsHour | Why the U.S. immigration system is strained | Season 2023 | PBS

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Why the U.S. immigration system is strained and unable to handle record number of migrants

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Why is it so hard to escape poverty? - Ann-Helén Bay

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Effect on children growing up in poverty

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What are the universal human rights? - Benedetta Berti

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Social media and kids’ mental health | WNN

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ER doctors struggle amid rising mental health concerns in children

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Cyber-bullying Facts – Top 10 Forms of Cyber Bullying

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Cyberbullying: Online bullying affects both victims and bullies⼁CBC Kids News

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Effects of social media and eating disorders

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Effects of social media and eating disorders

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What are the effects of cyber-bullying on teens?

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Bullying is a form of youth violence and an adverse childhood experience (ACE). CDC defines bullying as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths, who are not siblings or current dating partners, that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance, and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm. Common types of bullying include:

Physical such as hitting, kicking, and tripping

Verbal including name-calling and teasing

Relational/social such as spreading rumors and leaving out of the group

Damage to property of the victim

Bullying can also occur through technology, which is called electronic bullying or cyberbullying. A young person can be a perpetrator, a victim, or both (also known as "bully/victim"). For more information about bullying definitions please see Bullying Surveillance Among Youths: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements, Version 1 [8.64 MB, 116 Pages, 508] .

Bullying is widespread in the United States. Bullying negatively impacts all youth involved including those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness bullying, known as bystanders.

Bullying is common. About 1 in 5 high school students reported being bullied on school property. More than 1 in 6 high school students reported being bullied electronically in the last year.

Some youth experience bullying more than others. Nearly 40% of high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and about 33% of those who were not sure of their sexual identity experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to 22% of heterosexual high school students. About 30% of female high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to about 19% of males. Nearly 29% of White high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year compared to about 19% of Hispanic and 18% of Black high school students.

Bullying is a frequent discipline problem. Nearly 14% of public schools report that bullying is a discipline problem occurring daily or at least once a week.

Reports of bullying are highest in middle schools (28%) followed by high schools (16%), combined schools (12%), and primary schools (9%).

Reports of cyberbullying are highest in middle schools (33%) followed by high schools (30%), combined schools (20%), and primary schools (5%).

Bullying can result in physical injury, social and emotional distress, self-harm, and even death. It also increases the risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school. Youth who bully others are at increased risk for substance misuse, academic problems, and experiencing violence later in adolescence and adulthood. Youth who bully others and are bullied themselves suffer the most serious consequences and are at greater risk for mental health and behavioral problems.

Bullying is preventable. There are many factors that may increase or decrease the risk for perpetrating or experiencing bullying. To prevent bullying, we must understand and address the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence. CDC developed, Youth Violence Prevention Resource for Action [4 MB, 64 Pages] , to help communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent youth violence. This resource is also Cdc-pdf available in Spanish [3.89 MB, 68 Pages, 508] and can be used as a tool in efforts to impact individual behaviors as well as the relationship, family, school, community, and societal risk and protective factors for violence. The approaches in this resource, particularly universal school-based programs that strengthen youths' skills and modify the physical and social environment, have been shown to reduce violence and bullying or key risk factors.

Different types of violence are connected and often share root causes. Bullying is linked to other forms of violence through shared risk and protective factors. Addressing and preventing one form of violence may have an impact on preventing other forms of violence.

See Youth Violence Resources for articles, publications, data sources, and prevention resources for bullying.

1. Gladden RM, Vivolo-Kantor AM, Hamburger ME, Lumpkin CD. Bullying surveillance among youths: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements, Version 1.0. Atlanta, GA; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Education; 2013. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-definitionsfinal-a.pdf.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior surveillance-United States, 2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report-Surveillance
Summaries 2020; 69(SS1). Available fromhttps://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2019/su6901-H.pdf

3. Diliberti, M., Jackson, M., Correa, S., and Padgett, Z. (2019). Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2017-18 (NCES 2019-061). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.

4. Farrington D, Baldry A. Individual risk factors for school bullying. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research 2010; 2(1):4-16. Available from https://doi.org/10.5042/jacpr.2010.0001.

5. David-Ferdon, C., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Dahlberg, L. L., Marshall, K. J., Rainford, N. & Hall, J. E. (2016). Youth Violence Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Note: The title of this document was changed in July 2023 to align with other Prevention Resources being developed by CDC's Injury Center. The document was previously cited as "A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors."

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Adolescents & adults often unaware teens experience dating violence

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In-School suspension affecting young students

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Breaking the school-to-prison pipeline for young offenders one class at a time

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In most states across America, education for teen offenders pales in comparison to what they’d receive on the outside. Just one third mandate that these kids meet the same standards as their public school counterparts. Massachusetts is one of them, and there the goal is to save these young offenders…

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Challenges when leaving jail after covid

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Challenges when leaving jail after covid

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Free from prison after 23 years, but facing new challenges during the pandemic

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The callous killing of George Floyd at the hands of those charged with his protection has energized calls to reform our policing system. But if we're serious about protecting Black families as a whole, we cannot limit the conversation to the police alone. We need to transform the child welfare system, too.

Significant and warranted attention has been focused on the school-to-prison pipeline and the foster care-to-prison pipeline, but there is a related and lesser-known police-to-foster care pipeline that is often the starting point for the destruction of families and horrific long-term outcomes for children, particularly Black children.

American children in foster care have higher rates of PTSD than adult soldiers who have been to war.

Across the country, Black parents are more likely than white ones to be reported to child protective services and more likely than their white counterparts to have their children taken from them. Common behaviors or hurdles in white communities can lead to removal in minority populations.

Once taken out of their homes, the situation of children in foster care often rapidly deteriorates and paves the way for juvenile detention, followed by prison. A recent study out of Cornell University found that Black families were investigated almost twice as often as white families. Police are often responsible for initiating referrals to child protection agencies, and since police are more likely to be in Black neighborhoods, they are more likely to be involved in triggering a family review process than in places they patrol less.

But most of the police reports related to maltreatment were not related to child abuse, rather "neglect." Unsurprisingly, there is voluminous data that shows that neglect is often conflated with poverty, as many state statutes define neglect as inadequate food, shelter, clothing or care. It is no secret that Black families in America are more likely to be poor than white ones. While some of these statutes contain language intended to protect indigent parents, children continue to be removed because their parents are evicted or because they don't have adequate child care.

Once embroiled in the child welfare system, there is bias throughout. Two studies in Texas demonstrated that even though Black families on average were given lower risk scores than white families when initially assessed on whether children could safely remain at home, they were 20 percent more likely to have their case opened for services, and 77 percent more likely to have their children removed instead of being provided with family-based safety services.

This trend is true even when the allegations are the same or the investigation of a report uncovers identical facts. And circumstances that would likely be perceived as insignificant in white communities can be grounds for removal from Black homes. One mother had her newborn removed because child welfare authorities said that her two-bedroom apartment was too small for her family of five. Another mother was investigated after she left her 13-year-old in charge of siblings aged 6 and 8 to go to the dry cleaners.

As a result, time and again, Black children are overrepresented in foster care. And foster children on the whole have worse outcomes than children in the general population. In t wo different studies, approximately one-third of children experienced abuse or neglect in foster settings.

Many foster parents are not properly trained to deal with children's emotional, psychological, educational or other special needs. Children are also often taken out of their foster homes because foster parents cannot deal with age-appropriate behaviors like toddler tantrums. This may lead to children being shuffled from home to home, which reinforces negative beliefs about themselves and their worth. Ninety percent of foster children who experience five or more moves will end up in the juvenile justice system.

Altogether, more than half of those who have been foster children have one or more mental health diagnoses. Further, close to half of foster children have experimented with drugs and alcohol, and 35 percent meet the criteria for substance abuse disorders. Children diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder were more likely to use multiple substances, and one study showed that foster children experience PTSD at twice the rate of war veterans. That's right: American children in foster care have higher rates of PTSD than adult soldiers who have been to war.

Many of these problems can ultimately lead to incarceration, as more than half of prisoners are diagnosed with a mental health concern or substance abuse disorder and 75 percent have both. A survey of foster care alumni showed that, by their 25th birthdays, 81 percent of males had been arrested, and 35 percent had been incarcerated.

In this way, Black children are first swallowed up by a biased foster care system under the guise of care, and then spit out into a criminal system that at least lacks the pretense of promising anything good.

Of course, there will be extreme cases where removal is necessary for a child's safety. But research demonstrates that in cases that are close calls when determining whether to remove children or leave them at home, kids usually fare better when left with their parents. When the state removes children from their parents, those children suffer grief and loss similar to what they experience if their parents died.

So how do we fix it?

I've long argued that courts should be statutorily required to balance the harm of removal with the potential risk of harm if a child is left with his or her caregivers and consider whether services could mitigate those harms. Right now, only two jurisdictions require such consideration.

"Blind removals," whereby all demographic information about the families is hidden in order to eliminate prejudices, also show promise. In one such experiment in New York's Nassau County, the percentage of Black children in foster care was reduced from 55.5 percent to 29 percent after five years.

The government now spends 10 times more on foster care and adoption than services to help families stay together.

The government now spends 10 times more on foster care and adoption than services to help families stay together. Given that so many cases are based on poverty, we should be providing more support for parents who are struggling rather than paying others to care for their children.

At a recent rally in Brooklyn amid the Black Lives Matter and "defund the police" demonstrations, people marched to declare that " Black Families Matter " and to protest the activities of the Administration for Children's Services, or ACS, New York's child welfare agency. Child welfare and policing are inextricably intertwined, and Black families will never thrive in this country until we stop pretending otherwise.

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Opinion | Common behaviors for white parents cause Black children to be taken out of their homes

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The callous killing of George Floyd at the hands of those charged with his protection has energized calls to reform our policing system. But if we're serious about protecting Black families as a whole, we cannot limit the conversation to the police alone. We need to transform the child welfare system, too.

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Coping With Incarceration | Sesame Street in Communities

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With adults' love and support, kids can cope with the incarceration of a loved one.

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Hidden Consequences: The Impact of Incarceration on Dependent Children

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Aloysius Patrimonio/Thinkstock (see reuse policy). Family members of incarcerated individuals are often referred

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Related Story
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s the overuse of jail becomes more common-although the majority of people are held there pretrial and presumed innocent-its growing impact extends to the children, families, and communities outside its bars, people who must also manage the financial, economic, and emotional effects. For example, more than 1.1 million men and 120,000 women in U.S. jails and prisons have children under the age of 17 and 2.7 million children nationwide have one or both parents behind bars, according to a 2010 Pew Charitable Trust report.

Studies show that the growth in incarceration of men with children contributes to higher rates of homelessness among black children in particular by thinning family finances and placing additional strains on mothers. When a mother is incarcerated, her children often end up in foster care, separated from their family. Furthermore, while a stay in jail may cause a person to lose wages or work, the stigma of an arrest record -even without a conviction or charge-continues after release, with a negative effect on his or her pursuit of employment. These issues are further exacerbated by policies that ban people with certain convictions from receiving cash welfare and food stamps, and broader policies that limit their access to subsidized housing.

Such instabilities can take an emotional toll on children, especially if their parent is going in and out of jail. The cycles of jail time create uncertainty for children regarding how long their parent will be gone and when their parent will return, potentially causing more stress than if the parent went away to serve a long-term prison sentence, according to a report by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center.

The center also reports that, to cope, children may act out in school-becoming aggressive or losing focus-or simply stop attending. These early behaviors may lead to more serious misbehavior or further mental and physical health problems in their adult years. Because higher rates of incarceration tend to occur among residents of neighborhoods already ravaged by poverty and heightened police presence, the effect on children's education and income as they grow into adulthood creates a cycle of lagging opportunities and resources for entire communities.

However, there is growing recognition of and effort toward diminishing this problem- Sesame Street's Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration initiative is a prime example. With increased opportunities for children to maintain relationships with an incarcerated parent and through better support for these parents-and other types of caregivers in the community-children and their families can be better protected and tap into their own resiliency against the effects of incarceration.

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Incarceration's Impact on Kids and Families

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The Vera Institute of Justice presents the story behind the story.

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A variety of sources to learn about child labor issues.

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Voting Rights For People With Disabilities

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Voting Rights For People With Disabilities

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7 Black Women Who broke barriers in US politics and paved the way for Kamala Harris

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7 Black Women Who broke barriers in US politics and paved the way for Kamala Harris

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Kamala Harris, the groundbreaking senator from California, has made history again - set to become the first female vice president and woman of color in the White House.

Harris, who was born in California in 1964 to Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist from India and Donald J Harris, a Stanford University professor from Jamaica, was elected senator of California in 2016, becoming the second black woman and the first South Asian American senator in US history.

As Biden's running mate, the former attorney general of California has become the first black woman and person of South Asian descent to run as vice president on a major political party's ticket.

Before Harris, several black women rose the ranks in the US political sphere, bidding to become president, speaking at the Democratic National Convention and serving in the presidential cabinet among their achievements.

Shirley Chisholm
"I am the candidate of the people, and my presence before you now symbolises a new era in American political history."

(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Shirley Chisholm's signature campaign slogan, "unbought and unbossed", were words she not only spoke to, but also lived by. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, Chisholm was a second-generation immigrant, her father coming from Guyana and her mother from Barbados.

After graduating cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1946, Chisholm became a nursery school teacher before earning a master's degree from Columbia University in early childhood education in 1952. After becoming director of several daycare centres and an educational consultant for the Division of Day Care, she became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the League of Women Voters, using her voice to campaign against racial and gender discrimination.

In 1964, Chisholm became the second African American to be elected to the New York State Legislature, before making history four years later as the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Known for her powerful speeches and quick-witted debating comebacks, she went on to serve seven terms in the House of Representatives, introducing over 50 pieces of legislation.

In 1971, Chisholm became a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus alongside Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. The following year, Chisholm set her sights on the US presidency, running for the Democratic nomination. Announcing her presidential bid, she said, "I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud; I am not the candidate of the women's movement of the country; although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people, and my presence before you now symbolises a new era in American political history."

Chisholm survived several assassination attempts during her presidential campaign, in addition to being barred from participating in the majority of the televised primary debates, which resulted in her having to take legal action to ensure she could join. Chisholm, who authored Unbought and Unbossed in 1970 and The Good Fight in 1973, died at the age of 80 in 2005. 10 years later, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-president Barack Obama.

Charlotta Bass
"I am strengthened by thousands on thousands of pioneers who stand by my side and look over my shoulder."
Before Harris, the first black woman to run for vice president was Charlotta Bass, who bid for the position in 1952 on the ticket of the left-wing Progressive Party, alongside presidential candidate and lawyer Vincent Hallinan.

Born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1874, Bass's career in politics came about following a long bout in journalism, which began in her twenties when she started working at local Rhode Island newspaper the Providence Watchman. After moving to the Golden Coast, Bass took her penmanship to another paper called the Eagle, proving herself to such an extent that when the founder of the company died, the paper was put in her hands.

Working alongside editor Joseph Bass (whom she later married), Bass published the paper - which she renamed the California Eagle - from 1912 to 1951, utilising her platform to raise awareness of racial discrimination and civil rights issues. Together, the couple spoke out against police brutality, segregation and the Ku Klux Klan, which resulted in them facing several menacing threats from the white supremacist group.

Bass's decision to use her voice to speak out against injustices in society put her on the radar of the FBI, who placed her under surveillance amid claims that she was a Communist, though Bass denied any such connection to the Communist Party.

Prior to her vice presidential nomination, Bass was already making headway in the world of politics, becoming co-president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the 1920s and creating the Home Protective Association, which fought against restrictive covenants that hindered people of colour from being able to purchase homes. In 1952, upon her nomination as vice president for the Progressive Party, Bass said:

"I stand before you with great pride. This is a historic moment in American political life. Historic for myself, for my people, for all women. For the first time in the history of this nation a political party has chosen a Negro woman for the second highest office in the land. It is a great honour to be chosen as a pioneer. And a great responsibility. But I am strengthened by thousands on thousands of pioneers who stand by my side and look over my shoulder - those who have led the fight for freedom - those who led the fight for women's rights - those who have been in the front line fighting for peace and justice and equality everywhere. How they must rejoice in this great understanding which here joins the cause of peace and freedom."

Barbara Jordan
"I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution"

(Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images(Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Barbara Jordan's opening remarks at a hearing during the impeachment process of Richard Nixon - a 15-minute, televised speech - became one of the defining moments of her political career. The member of the House Judiciary Committee stunned those watching in 1974 when she emphasised the "faith" she felt in the US Constitution, and the adamance she felt in protecting said Constitution from "diminution, subversion and destruction". In her obituary published in The New York Times in 1996, the paper described her oratory skills as "Churchillian", drawing parallels between Jordan's mannerisms with the British wartime prime minister.

Before becoming the first African American woman from the deep South to become a congresswoman in the US, Jordan embarked on a career in law, launching a private law firm in 1960. However, politics was clearly on her mind at the time, as she bid twice for a seat on the Texas House of Representatives in the early 1960s, both times being unsuccessfully. Nonetheless, in 1966 Jordan prevailed, becoming the first black woman to be elected to the Texas Senate and the first African American to become a state senator since 1883.

Following her landmark speech during the Nixon impeachment process, which occurred amid the Watergate Scandal, in 1976 Jordan became the first African American and the first woman to deliver a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Jordan stressed the ethos of the Democratic Party, saying the party believes "in equality for all and privileges for none". "This is a belief that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum - all of us," she said.

Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994, in addition to receiving the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, an award given every year to people of African descent and American citizenship "who shall have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honourable field of human endeavour".

Condoleezza Rice
"We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favours freedom."

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As the first black woman to become appointed national security adviser and the first black female secretary of state for the US, Condoleezza Rice held a great deal of power within the US government. As secretary of state, she made it her mission to enact "transformational diplomacy", a term she coined that she hoped would help create democratic, well-governed states around the world.

Rice brought a great deal of political expertise to the White House, having earned a degree, a master's degree and a PhD in political science. This expertise is what brought her into the presidential fold, as she was recruited onto the United States National Security Council during the presidency of George H W Bush after being scouted while working as a professor at Stanford University.

In 2001, the year that George W Bush assumed the presidency, Rice was named United States national security advisor, the first black woman to assume the role. Two years after assuming the position, the invasion of Iraq took place, an event that Rice supported. During Bush's second presidential term, which began in 2005, Rice became the first black woman to become secretary of state. Following her confirmation hearing, she said that "we must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favours freedom. And the time for diplomacy is now".

In 2006, a release was published by the US Department of State regarding Rice's plans to collaborate with the US's "many partners around the world to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people - and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system", an objective she called "transformational diplomacy". "Transformational diplomacy is rooted in partnership, not paternalism - in doing things with other people, not for them," she stated. "We seek to use America's diplomatic power to help foreign citizens to better their own lives, and to build their own nations, and to transform their own futures."

Carol Moseley Braun
"My presence in and of itself will change the US Senate."

(BRIAN BAHR/AFP via Getty Images)(BRIAN BAHR/AFP via Getty Images))

Carol Moseley Braun was destined for a career in politics from a young age, organising a sit-in at a segregated restaurant and marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr during a demonstration against Chicago housing conditions as a teenager. After earning political science and law degrees, Moseley Braun demonstrated her prowess as an impressive prosecutor in the office of the US attorney in Chicago, covering areas including the environment, health and housing from 1973 to 1977, her work even being recognised with the attorney general's special achievement award.

In the late 1970s, Moseley Braun entered the political domain, elected as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. She rose the ranks to become assistant Democratic majority leader, the first black woman to hold the position, and upon her retirement from the role in 1987, she was dubbed the "Conscience of the House" by her peers, evidently demonstrating the high regard with which she was perceived.

The pioneer continued to make history, becoming the first African-American woman to be elected to the US Senate in 1992 as a representative of Illinois. Shortly after assuming her position, Moseley Braun stated: "I cannot escape the fact that I come to the Senate as a symbol of hope and change. Nor would I want to, because my presence in and of itself will change the US Senate."

Moseley Braun served one term on the US Senate, during which time she voted against the death penalty, advocated for gun control measures and was pro-choice. Moseley Braun also staged a demonstration on the US Senate floor in the early 1990s against the rule that women were not allowed to wear trousers, a regulation that was overturned later that year under the condition that they also had to wear jackets.

Patricia Harris
"I didn't start out as a member of a prestigious law firm, but as a woman who needed a scholarship to go to school. If you think that I have forgotten that, you are wrong."

(Everett/Shutterstock(Everett/Shutterstock)

Patricia Harris worked alongside several presidents throughout her political career, becoming the first African American woman to serve in the presidential cabinet during the presidency of Jimmy Carter in 1977, named co-chair of the National Women's Committee for Civil Rights by President John F Kennedy in 1963 and was made an American envoy by President Lyndon Johnson in 1995.

Born in Mattoon, Illinois in 1924, Harris's involvement in politics started during her university years, which saw her become vice chair of the student chapter of the NAACP at Howard University and take part in one of the first lunch counter sit-ins in America. 15 years after graduating from university, Harris earned a law degree from George Washington University, resulting in her working for a short stint as an attorney for the US Department of Justice.

Upon her appointment as an American envoy by President Johnson, Harris expressed her pride over the position, in addition to her frustration that no black women had taken on the role before her. "I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier, but also a little sad about being the 'first Negro woman' because it implies we were not considered before," she stated.

It was in the 1970s that Harris became a member of Carter's presidential candidate, becoming the first black woman to serve as cabinet secretary as secretary of housing and urban development. Following her nomination, Harris was questioned by a senator during her cabinet hearing regarding her ability to defend the interests of poor members of the public.

Harris replied: "I am one of them. You do not seem to understand who I am. I am a black woman, daughter of a dining-car worker. I am a black woman who could not buy a house eight years ago in parts of the District of Columbia. I didn't start out as a member of a prestigious law firm, but as a woman who needed a scholarship to go to school. If you think that I have forgotten that, you are wrong."

Loretta Lynch
"I stand before you so thrilled, and, frankly, so humbled to have the opportunity to lead this group of wonderful people who work all day and well into the night to make that ideal a manifest reality, all as part of their steadfast protection of the citizens of this country."

(Photo by Ramin Talaie/Getty Images(Photo by Ramin Talaie/Getty Images)

In 2015, Loretta Lynch became the first black woman to become appointed US attorney general, a position she was granted by President Barack Obama. Her path towards becoming attorney general began in the 1980s, when she graduated from Harvard Law School and embarked upon a career in law.

After making a name for herself as a prosecutor in the office of the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York working on drug and violent-crime cases, in 1999 President Bill Clinton made her attorney of the office, a position she held for two years and then again for another five from 2010 to 2015. Following her second tenure as US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, President Obama deemed Lynch worthy to replace Eric Holder as attorney general of the US.

Upon his nomination of Lynch, Obama praised the attorney's "principles of fairness, equality, and justice", saying that she has "striven to make a difference for the people she serves."

"It's in her blood," he said. "Her grandfather, a sharecropper in the 1930s, helped folks in his community who got into trouble with the law and had no recourse under the Jim Crow system. She rode her father's shoulders to his church, where students would meet to organise anti-segregation boycotts. The sense of justice she absorbed as a young girl is what she will bring to bear at the Department of Justice." In response, Lynch said she felt "thrilled" and "humbled" by the nomination.

In 2016 during her tenure as attorney general, Lunch wrote an op-ed about the hardships former criminals face when they re-enter society from prison, emphasising that "for far too many Americans, re-entry has become an all-but-impossible task". "As we continue striving to make our criminal justice system smarter and fairer, we must ensure that those returning from prison come home to a meaningful second chance," she said.

That same year, Lynch intervened in the case of the death of Eric Garner, replacing the Brooklyn agents and lawyers investigating the case with agents from outside New York, in a move that was described as "highly unusual". Garner died on Staten Island in 2014 after a New York police officer put him in a chokehold during his arrest. The police officer was fired in 2019, with no charges being brought against him.
Written by Sabrina Barr

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7 black women who broke barriers in US politics and paved the way for Kamala Harris

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https://youtu.be/HJgtQOKUdx4 Kamala Harris, the groundbreaking senator from California, has made history again -- set to become the first female vice president and woman of color in the White House.

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On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which sanctioned the removal of Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese heritage from their homes to be imprisoned in internment camps throughout the country.

At the time, the move was sold to the public as a strategic military necessity. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the government argued that it was impossible to know where the loyalties of Japanese-Americans rested.

Between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were relocated to internment camps along the West Coast and as far east as Louisiana. Here are 12 facts about what former first lady Laura Bush has described as "one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history."

1. THE GOVERNMENT WAS ALREADY DISCUSSING DETAINING PEOPLE BEFORE THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK.

July 2, 1942-Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Mealtime in one of the messhalls at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry.

In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt-who was concerned about Japan's growing military might-instructed William H. Standley, his chief of naval operations, to clandestinely monitor "every Japanese citizen or non-citizen on the island of Oahu who meets these Japanese ships [arriving in Hawaii] or has any connection with their officers or men" and to secretly place their names "on a special list of those who would be the first to be placed in a concentration camp in the event of trouble."

This sentiment helped lead to the creation of the Custodial Detention List, which would later guide the U.S. in detaining 31,899 Japanese, German, and Italian nationals, separate from the 110,000-plus later interred, without charging them with a crime or offering them any access to legal counsel.

2. INITIAL STUDIES OF THE "JAPANESE PROBLEM" PROVED THAT THERE WASN'T ONE.

May 8, 1942-Hayward, California. Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Identification tags are used to aid in keeping the family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township. He raised snapdragons and sweet peas. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.

In early 1941, Curtis Munson, a special representative of the State Department, was tasked with interviewing West Coast-based Japanese-Americans to gauge their loyalty levels in coordination with the FBI and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Munson reported that there was extraordinary patriotism among Japanese immigrants, saying that "90 percent like our way best," and that they were "extremely good citizen[s]" who were "straining every nerve to show their loyalty." Lieutenant Commander K.D. Ringle's follow-up report showed the same findings and argued against internment because only a small percentage of the community posed a threat, and most of those individuals were already in custody.

3. THE GENERAL IN CHARGE OF WESTERN DEFENSE COMMAND TOOK NOTHING HAPPENING AFTER PEARL HARBOR AS PROOF THAT SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT COLLEGE PARK, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 3.0

Despite both Munson and Ringle debunking the concept of internment as a strategic necessity, the plan moved ahead-spurred largely by Western Defense Command head General John L. DeWitt. One month after Pearl Harbor, DeWitt created the central ground for mass incarceration by declaring: "The fact that nothing has happened so far is more or less ... ominous in that I feel that in view of the fact that we have had no sporadic attempts at sabotage that there is a control being exercised and when we have it, it will be on a mass basis."

DeWitt, whose ancestors were Dutch, didn't want anyone of Japanese descent on the West Coast, stating that "American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty."

4. ALMOST NO ONE PROTESTED INTERNMENT.

Alongside General DeWitt, Wartime Civil Control Administration director Colonel Karl Bendetsen avowed that anyone with even "one drop of Japanese blood" should be incarcerated, and the country generally went along with that assessment. Some newspapers ran op-eds opposing the policy, and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies created pamphlets to push back, but as historian Eric Foner wrote in The Story of American Freedom, "One searches the wartime record in vain for public protests among non-Japanese." Senator Robert Taft was the only congressperson to condemn the policy.

Dorothea Lange/National Archives/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

5. SUPPORTING OR OPPOSING INTERNMENT WERE BOTH MATTERS OF ECONOMICS.

The first group of 82
japanese-americans arrived the Manzanar Internment camp, Owens Camp, California March 21,1942

White farmers and landowners on the West Coast had great economic incentives to get rid of Japanese farmers who had come to the area only decades before and found success with new irrigation methods. They fomented deep hatred for their Japanese neighbors and publicly advocated for internment, which is one reason so many of the more than 110,000 Japanese individuals sent to camps came from the West Coast. In Hawaii, it was a different story. White business owners opposed internment, but not for noble reasons: They feared losing their workforce. Thus, only between 1200 and 1800 Japanese-Americans from Hawaii were sent to internment camps.

6. PEOPLE WERE TAGGED FOR IDENTIFICATION.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT COLLEGE PARK, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 3.0

Moving entire communities of people to camps in California, Colorado, Texas, and beyond was a gargantuan logistical task. The military assigned tags with ID numbers to families, including the children, to ensure they would be transferred to the correct camp. In 2012, artist Wendy Maruyama recreated thousands of these tags for an art exhibition she titled "The Tag Project."

"The process of replicating these tags using government databases, writing thousands of names, numbers, and camp locations became a meditative process," Maruyama told Voices of San Diego. "And for the hundreds of volunteers, they could, for a minute or two as they wrote the names, contemplate and wonder what this person was thinking as he or she was being moved from the comforts of home to the spare and bare prisons placed in the foreboding deserts and wastelands of America. And could it happen again?"

7. NOT EVERYONE WENT QUIETLY.

an Francisco, California. Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for them to continue their education.

Directly combatting the image of the "polite" Japanese-Americans who acquiesced to internment without protest, collections of resistance stories paint a disruptive picture of those who refused to go to the camps or made trouble once inside. Among those who were considered "problematic" were individuals who refused to register for the compulsory loyalty questionnaire, which asked questions about whether the person was a registered voter and with which party, as well as marital status and "citizenship of wife" and "race of wife."

"A broadly understood notion of resistance represents a more complete picture of what happened during World War II," David Yoo, a professor of Asian American Studies and History and vice provost at UCLA's Institute of American Cultures, told NBC News about collecting these resistance stories. "Because these stories touch upon human rights, they are important for all peoples."

8. THE GOVERNMENT CONVERTED UNUSED BUILDINGS INTO CAMP FACILITIES.

une 16, 1942-San Bruno, California. A sign at the main entrance of the Tanforan Assembly center, through which all traffic passes. The gate is guarded and controlled by United States soldiers.

For the most part, camps were set against desert scrub land or infertile Ozark hills bordered with barbed wire. Before getting on buses to be transported to their new "homes," detainees had to go through processing centers housed in converted racetracks and fairgrounds, where they might stay for several months. The largest and most noteworthy center was Santa Anita Park, a racetrack in Arcadia, California, which was shut down so that makeshift barracks could be assembled and horse stables could be used for sleeping quarters.

9. ANSEL ADAMS TOOK HUNDREDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS INSIDE THE MOST FAMOUS CAMP, AS DID AN INTERNEE WITH A SMUGGLED CAMERA.

ANSEL ADAMS, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // PUBLIC DOMAIN

Approximately 200 miles north of Santa Anita Park, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, was Manzanar-which, with its 11,000 internees, was perhaps the most famous of America's 10 relocation centers. It was also the most photographed facility. In the fall of 1942, famed photographer Ansel Adams-who was personally outraged by the situation when a family friend was taken from his home and moved halfway across the country-shot more than 200 images of the camp. In a letter to a friend about a book being made of the photos, Adams wrote that, "Through the pictures the reader will be introduced to perhaps 20 individuals ... loyal American citizens who are anxious to get back into the stream of life and contribute to our victory."

While Adams may have successfully offered a small glimpse at life inside Manzanar, Tōyō Miyatake-a photographer and detainee who managed to smuggle a lens and film into the camp, which he later fashioned into a makeshift camera-produced a series of photos that offered a much more intimate depiction of what everyday life was like for the individuals who were imprisoned there between 1942 and 1945. Today, Manzanar is a National Historic Site.

10. DETAINEES WERE TOLD THEY WERE IN CAMPS FOR THEIR OWN PROTECTION.

U.S. SIGNAL CORPS, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // PUBLIC DOMAIN

Just as the justification for internment was an erroneous belief in mass disloyalty among a single racial group, the argument given to those incarcerated was that they were better off inside the barbed wire compounds than back in their own homes, where racist neighbors could assault them. When presented with that logic, one detainee rebutted, "If we were put there for our protection, why were the guns at the guard towers pointed inward, instead of outward?"

11. INTERNEES EXPERIENCED LONG-TERM HEALTH PROBLEMS BECAUSE OF THE CAMPS, AND CHILDREN HAD IT THE WORST.

June 16, 1942-San Bruno, California. This scene shows one type of barracks for family use. These were formerly the stalls for race horses. Each family is assigned to two small rooms, the inner one, of which, has no outside door nor window. The center has been in operation about six weeks and 8,000 persons of Japanese ancestry are now assembled here.

Internment officially lasted through 1944, with the last camp closing in early 1946. In those years, Japanese-Americans did their best to make lives for themselves on the inside. That included jobs and governance, as well as concerts, religion, and sports teams. Children went to school, but there were also dances and comic books to keep them occupied. But the effects of their internment were long-lasting.

There have been multiple studies of the physical and psychological health of former internees. They found those placed in camps had a greater risk for cardiovascular disease and death, as well as traumatic stress. Younger internees experienced low self-esteem, as well as psychological trauma that led many to shed their Japanese culture and language. Gwendolyn M. Jensen's The Experience of Injustice: Health Consequences of the Japanese American Internment found that younger internees "reported more post-traumatic stress symptoms of unexpected and disturbing flashback experiences than those who were older at the time of incarceration."

12. A CONGRESSIONAL PANEL CALLED IT A "GRAVE INJUSTICE" ... 40 YEARS LATER.

RUSSELL LEE, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // PUBLIC DOMAIN

It wasn't until 1983 that a special Congressional commission determined that the mass internment was a matter of racism and not of military strategy. Calling the incarceration a "grave injustice," the panel cited the ignored Munson and Ringle reports, the absence of any documented acts of espionage, and delays in shutting down the camps due to weak political leadership from President Roosevelt on down as factors in its conclusion. The commission paved the way for President Reagan to sign the Civil Liberties Act, which gave each surviving internee $20,000 and officially apologized. Approximately two-thirds of the more than 110,000 people detained were U.S. citizens.

Written by Scott Beggs

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12 Facts About Japanese Internment in the United States

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https://youtu.be/Lr-AxNJ_eO0 On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which sanctioned the removal of Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese heritage from their homes to be imprisoned in internment camps throughout the country. At the time, the move was sold to the public as a strategic military necessity.

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Thriving Black Culture in a Time of Racism

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Thriving Black Culture in a Time of Racism

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Newsela | Why black culture thrives alongside rampant racism

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Mainstream recognition of black pride through art is growing despite racism. This might seem odd but it is actually a modern twist on the Harlem Renaissance of the early-20th century.

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Why Isn't There More Research About Gun Violence?

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In 1970, on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, several hundred demonstrators marched past the Stonewall Inn. It is considered the first Gay Pride march. At first, Pride demonstrations focused only on participants being proud to declare their identity. However, by the 1980s, members of the LGBT community began to use the events to call for more rights.

Gay Pride, or Pride, is now an annual celebration of LGBT identity. In many places Pride takes place in June to remember the Stonewall riots. Pride typically involves a series of events, such as concerts and social events. It often concludes with a parade involving marchers from the LGBT community and its supporters and colorful floats. In cities such as Paris, London, and San Francisco, Pride events usually attract several hundred thousand to more than a million celebrants every year.

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In 1970, on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, several hundred demonstrators marched past the Stonewall Inn. It is considered the first Gay Pride march. At first, Pride demonstrations focused only on participants being proud to declare their identity. However, by the 1980s, members of the LGBT community began to use the events to call for more rights.

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You have rights as a student in public school. If your rights are being violated by teachers, principals, or other students, please contact the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Rights of Transgender, Genderqueer, & Gender-Nonconforming Students

You have the right to express your gender, and it is unlawful for your peers or teachers to harass or treat you differently because of your gender. No matter what sex you were assigned at birth, you have the right to cut your hair and wear your clothes in a way that matches your gender identity. If you have to wear a drape or tuxedo for your senior portrait, you have the right to wear whichever matches your gender identity. You have the right to be called by the gender pronouns that you specify. You also have the right to play on the sports team that matches your gender identity. You have the right to use the restroom and locker room that match your gender identity.

Right To Be Free from Religious-based Discrimination

You have the right to be free from discrimination and harassment regardless of the religious views of your peers, teachers, or community. No student or teacher has the right to harass you on the basis of your sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression just because they hold certain religious views.

"Don't Say Gay" or "No Promo Homo" Laws Are Invalid

Laws that prohibit teachers from discussing sexual orientations other than heterosexual may be susceptible to legal challenge. Laws or policies portraying LGBTQ people negatively, such as in a health class, may also be subject to challenge.

Bullying, Harassment, & Discrimination Are Unlawful

If anyone, even a teacher, is harassing you at school, the most important thing you can do is tell someone in charge-like your principal, vice principal, or superintendent. Keep a journal that includes details of what happened, when it happened, who said what to whom, whether you told anyone, and whether the school did anything to make it stop. If you tell someone in charge, but they don't do anything, contact us.

Know Your Rights Regarding School Dress Codes

The First Amendment allows students to express themselves at school. School officials can restrict your freedom of expression only in certain circumstances. For example, you can wear a T-shirt or accessory expressing your pride or support for LGBTQ people, but you may not be allowed to wear something with a curse word on it. If your school's dress code allows students to wear T-shirts with slogans, it is unlawful for your school to ask you to take off your shirt just because it endorses gay pride. You also have the right to wear clothes that match your gender identity.

You Have the Right To Form Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) or Gender & Sexuality Alliances

These organizations are student-led groups that provide a safe, supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth and their allies. If your public school permits other student clubs, then it should allow you to form and publicize a GSA.

Remember: You have to comply with the rules that your school sets up for clubs as long as the rules apply equally to all groups.

You Have the Right To Attend Proms, Field Trips, & Dances

You have the right to take a same-gender date to prom or school dances as long as your date satisfies all the same rules that apply to different-gender dates.

Conversion "Therapy" Is Harmful & Discredited by Mental Health Professionals

Conversion therapists say they can change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a lie. Conversion therapy does not work and can cause serious, lasting harm. If a counselor or other staff member at your school recommends conversion therapy to you or another student, please contact us.

Your Rights in Foster Care

In foster care, you have the right to safety, expression, and freedom. You have the right to be safe from discrimination, harassment, name-calling, violence, and abuse no matter who you are. You have the right to express your gender even if it is different from how boys and girls usually dress or act. You have the right to be free from conversion therapy or church services that say negative things about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

If you experience a violation of these rights, tell someone with authority. Social workers, foster parents, teachers, and administrators are all required to protect you from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse whether it occurs in your foster home, at school, or somewhere else.

If you tell someone and nothing happens, contact the Southern Poverty Law Center by phone or email.

Trans Rights at School

You have the right...

To be who you are, whether you identify as binary, nonbinary, genderfluid, agender, bigender, or another gender.

To use the restroom or locker room that matches your gender identity as opposed to a gender-neutral restroom in the nurse's office or staff area.

To play on a sports team that matches your gender identity.

To express your gender with your clothing, hair, jewelry, voice, and mannerisms, even if some or all of those things don't match the sex you were assigned at birth.

Your school has the duty...

To respect your identity and refrain from discriminating against you because you're trans.

To reasonably respond to harassment, including when peers or teachers misgender you or intentionally use your deadname to bother you.

To refer to you by your chosen name and gender pronouns.

If your rights are being violated...

Tell a teacher, guidance counselor, or principal, even if it doesn't seem like a big deal to you.

Write down the following and save it:

Detailed description of the incident, including the date it happened, who was involved, and where it took place;

Date you reported every incident;

Name of the adult you told; and

Action that the adult said would be taken.

If your school fails to address the problem, contact the SPLC.

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Know Your Rights: Students & LGBTQ Rights at School

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You have rights as a student in public school. If your rights are being violated by teachers, principals, or other students, please contact the Southern Poverty Law Center. You have the right to express your gender, and it is unlawful for your peers or teachers to harass or treat you differently because of your gender.

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The Challenge:

Some data suggest that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in foster care, with as many as 2 times the number of LGBTQ youth in care as not in care. Like all children in foster care, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ), gender expansive and non-binary (GNB) youth are affected by the elimination of services, overburdened Family Courts, and an often-dysfunctional child welfare system. Unlike other children in foster care, however, LGBTQ and GNB youth must also contend with discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity; lack of service providers who are sensitive to their particular needs; questions about whether to "come out" or openly acknowledge sexual orientation or gender identity while in foster care; and difficulty finding a supportive community of other LGBTQ youth and adults.
LFC's Response:
LFC's LGBTQ Rights Project consists of two attorneys who collaborate with LFC's highly skilled social workers on each of their cases. The objectives of the project are to: 1) assess the needs of LGBTQ and GNB youth in foster care; 2) develop and implement advocacy plans both for individual young people and for system-wide improvements; and 3) inform LGBTQ and GNB youth in foster care of their rights through workshops and distribution of our You Are Not Alone handbook for LGBTQ and GNB youth in foster care, which includes a resource guide of programs and services specifically for LGBTQ youth.

"Shardee begged for a transfer to a trans-friendly placement."

In order to preserve client confidentiality, names and other details have been changed. Volunteer models appear in all photographs that depict LFC clients. Photographs courtesy Ben Fink Shapiro Studio and Jasmin Ortiz.

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The Challenge: Some data suggest that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in foster care, with as many as 2 times the number of LGBTQ youth in care as not in care. Like all children in foster care, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ), gender expansive and non-binary (GNB) youth are affected by the elimination of services, overburdened Family Courts, and an often-dysfunctional child welfare system.

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Protecting the Rights of the LGBTQ Child

The second article of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ensures the right not to be discriminated against – in any way. This includes the right to not be discriminated against for one’s sexual orientation or gender preference. Children identifying as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning), growing up in households with LGBTQ parents, or even perceived to be, are subject to many forms of discrimination in most countries around the world.

To ensure that these children are able to fully realize their rights, positive social norms must be encouraged through education, law, and policies encouraging diversity and acceptance. Throughout the last decades, while many nations have recently been strengthening laws to combat LGBTQ discrimination, in over 80 countries around the world citizens are still subject by law to severe criminal punishment for homosexuality. No international treaty explicitly addresses this right.

LGBTQ Children

Closely related to human rights, and strongly attached one’s identity, sexual rights of children and youth are often not addressed, as discussions on this topic are considered taboo and inappropriate by many. However, the failure to address this issue leads to further discrimination of children. This is mainly due to lack of education.

LGBTQ children and youth are much more likely to be bullied, harassed, isolated, or subjected to violence. In many communities, they are outcast and prevented from participating in most aspects of society. LGBTQ children and youth are more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers. Health risks tend to rise as students lack access to appropriate education and health services.

National laws in many countries around the world make homosexuality illegal, and others outlaw the “promotion of sexuality,” preventing children from learning about the different gender identities and sexual orientations with which an individual may identify. Some nations may outlaw homosexuality to the extent that one can be executed for homosexual acts. Other nations, or even individual communities and families, may perform medical or psychological procedures, or even “corrective rape” to “treat” homosexuality in LGBTQ children, grossly violating their rights.

LGBTQ Families

Children growing up in families with LGBTQ parents are often denied the same rights as children growing up in single-parent families or families with heterosexual parents. Due to lack of recognition by some governments, these children are often not able to access the same social security measures as children growing up in “typical” families. Regarding homosexual couples, many nations allow guardianship of a child to only one parent, which can be harmful to children in cases of parental involvement in health and education.

Children growing up with LGBTQ parents must be entitled to the same social security measures, and must be protected from discrimination and violence that may arise from their parents’ identities.

Educating to Prevent Discrimination

Education is the most effective way to prevent the discrimination of LGBTQ children and families. Freedom of thought, opinion, and expression is threatened when
a child is not taught about LGBTQ issues and rights, and when an LGBTQ child is not able to express his or her identity. Educating children in an open, informed manner, no matter their sexual orientation, on the variety of gender identities and orientations, leads to acceptance and prevents discrimination.

Nations must not prevent schools and teachers from talking about and discussing sexuality, and violations of their right to non-discrimination must be prevented. Nations have a duty to write laws that promote LBGT rights and punish those who attack or discriminate against LGBTQ children, youth and adults.

Written by: Katie Krakow
Review by: Alice Sellers
Review by: Olivier Soret

http://ifm-sei.org/files/up/rr-english_web.pdf

http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/PDFs/Current_Issues_Paper-_Sexual_Identification_Gender_Identity.pdf

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LGBTQ Children Protecting the Rights of the LGBTQ Child The second article of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ensures the right not to be discriminated against – in any way. This includes the right to not be discriminated against for one’s sexual orientation or gender preference. Childr…

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Juneteenth: Celebrating a Day of Freedom

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Juneteenth: Celebrating a Day of Freedom

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Juneteenth is the oldest celebration honoring the end of slavery in the United States (Credit:Galveston.com)

June 19, 2020, marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth - a mashup of June and nineteenth - the oldest-known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It was on this day in 1865 when the last American slaves - a group of people in Texas - finally learned that slavery had been abolished and that they were free.

The chain of events leading to this historic day began with on January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It stated: "I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons."

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 (Credit: Battlefields.org)

The decree, issued amid the American Civil War (1861-1865), legally freed millions of enslaved people in the 11 Confederate States - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. However, the Union-loyal border states of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky were exempted and continued to practice slavery. The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, closed the loophole, abolishing slavery across the United States.

The two laws freed all but the 250,000 enslaved people in Texas who had only heard unconfirmed rumors about the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. It was not until June 19, 1865 - about three months after the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, and almost two and a half years since President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation - that Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced General Order No. 3.

It stated: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."

A portion from the handwritten General Order No. 3 issued by Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, that led to the Juneteenth holiday in Texas (National Archives/National Archives )

A year later, on June 19, 1866, the former slaves celebrated their new freedom with community cookouts, dances, and prayers, and Juneteenth was born. Over time, Emancipation Day, or Black Independence Day, as it is also called, has been observed in varying degrees in most US states and was even declared a holiday in Texas in 1980. However, it has been poorly understood outside of the African American community and overshadowed by the July 4th Independence Day celebration.

But the recent outcry against police abuse of African Americans and the growing awareness of systemic racism in US businesses and institutions has brought forth the national significance of Juneteenth. In the weeks leading to the day, many American companies, including Twitter and Nike, declared June 19 a paid holiday for all employees. Earlier this week, three governors - New York's Andrew Cuomo, Virginia's Ralph Northam, and Pennsylvania's Tom Wolf - signed orders making Juneteenth a holiday for state workers starting 2021. On June 19, 2020, New York Mayor de Blasio went one step further by making it a citywide and public school holiday starting next year. "We'll work with all the unions to work through the plan, give this day the importance and recognition it deserves," Mr. de Blasio said. "Every city worker, every student will have an opportunity to reflect the meaning of our history and the truth."

An Emancipation Day celebration in Richmond, Virginia, in 1905 (Credit: VCU Libraries / Public domain)

While this is a great start, it is not enough for 93-year-old Opal Lee, who has been campaigning to make Juneteenth a national holiday for over four decades. On Friday, June 19, 2020, the Fort Worth, Texas, resident continued her fight by marching 2.5 miles down West Lancaster Avenue - a distance symbolizing the 2.5 years it took for slaves in Texas to realize they had been freed. Lee has also taken her cause online with a petition for a million signatures on Change.org. So far, over 600,000 people have signed up, and the numbers are increasing by the minute.

Peniel Joseph, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affair is also a proponent of June 19 being a national holiday. In his June 13, 2020, op-ed for CNN, the expert wrote: "A national holiday commemorating Juneteenth would spur not only conversation about the origins of our current racial and political conflicts, but would also prompt vitally necessary education about white supremacy and its manifestations in policies and political actions that are anti-Black, anti-democratic and anti-human."

Resources: Vox.com, Patheous.com, LAtimes.com, NBCnews.com

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Understanding The Significance Of Juneteenth

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June 19, 2020, marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth - a mashup of June and nineteenth - the oldest-known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It was on this day in 1865 when the last American slaves - a group of people in Texas - finally learned that slavery had been abolished and that they were free.

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Women in India Stand Together For Their Rights

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Women in India Stand Together For Their Rights

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On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of women joined together to create a "Women's Wall" - a human chain that stretched 385 miles (620 kilometers) in the Indian state of Kerala.

The women were showing support for a recent law which said women should be allowed into a Hindu temple where they were not allowed before. The human chain was a show of strength for women's rights in a country where women are struggling for more equal rights. The event was supported by the government of Kerala, which said it expected around 3 million women to take part.

There are people of many different religions in India, but about 80% of the people are Hindu. Sabarimala temple is one of the most famous and important Hindu religious buildings in India. Sabarimala is a temple to the Hindu warrior god Ayyappa, who is known for never marrying.

Sabarimala is one of the most visited temples in the world, even though it is only open part of the year. Between 17 and 50 million people visit the temple every year. Most people visit in November and December.

Many people make special trips to the temple, called 'pilgrimages'. On these pilgrimages, people eat special food and try to make themselves pure and clean. They may hike through jungles and cross rivers to reach the temple. Many walk barefoot.

But for a long time, the temple has not been open to most women. Women who are too young or too old to have a baby are allowed in. But women between ages 10 and 50 have generally not been allowed in the temple for over 200 years,.

In September, India's Supreme Court - the highest court in the country - said that it was against the law to keep women out of the temple.

But hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting because they don't believe women should be allowed. The protesters have blocked any women who tried to go into the temple. The protesters were often violent - trying to attack the women and throwing stones at them. Police have tried to keep women safe, but so far, no women have been able to enter the temple. In late October, over 2,000 of the protesters were put in jail for their actions.

The protests over women visiting the Sabarimala temple has raised serious questions in India. When the laws of a country don't agree with the laws of a religion, which wins? Which is more important - the rights of women or the rights of people to follow their own religion?

For now, these questions do not have an answer. But the Indian Supreme Court has said that on January 22, it will think again about whether women can enter the Sabarimala temple. The court has said that it does not expect to change its decision, but it will at least think about and discuss the 19 different complaints that people have made about the new law.

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Women in India Create Human Chain 385 Miles Long

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On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of women joined together to create a "Women's Wall" - a human chain that stretched 385 miles (620 kilometers) in the Indian state of Kerala. The women were showing support for a recent law which said women should be allowed into a Hindu temple where they were not allowed before.

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Millions of Children Still Enslaved in Child Labor

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Millions of Children Still Enslaved in Child Labor

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Newsela | PRO/CON: Should America pay reparations for slavery?

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Presented before Congress, the case for and against reparations for slavery.

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The international community has developed a prevention, protection and prosecution framework for combating human trafficking

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Child Labor and Cocoa Beans- Newsela Article

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Two Democratic senators are calling for a ban on cocoa imported from the Ivory Coast, citing "overwhelming evidence" of the use of forced child labor on the country's cocoa farms

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There are 168 million children worldwide trapped in child labor, accounting for almost 11 percent of the overall child population.

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160 million children, almost 1 in 10 worldwide, are engaged in child labor, with 80 million working in hazardous conditions in agriculture, mining, domestic labor, and other sectors. On tobacco farms, children work long hours in extreme heat, exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides that can make them sick.

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"The first time I experienced racism was when I was 8 years old. I went into a convenience store. When I was checking out, a woman in front of me looked at me with disgust and told me straight to my face that I'd never have a future and never be anything because of the color of my skin." - Jermarlon

Let that sink in for a moment. This is what Black kids and children of color face every day in America - in their neighborhoods, grocery stores, shopping malls and schools. We recently asked Boys & Girls Club teens to tell us about their personal experiences with racism. Here's what they had to say about kids and racism and its impact on their everyday lives.

While racism and its impact on kids has been undeniable for centuries, our nation is calling for change louder than any time in recent history. The prevalence of bias, injustice and systemic racism cannot be ignored, and today's youth will make sure of that.

Boys & Girls Clubs are where many kids and teens say they feel safe exploring difficult conversations and building relationships with diverse peers and adults. It's where they learn about new cultures, unlearn biases and have trusted mentors to support and guide them.

The Solution to an Enduring Problem

As the world responded with outrage to George Floyd's murder, teens at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis in Oregon were grappling with their personal experiences with racism and its impact on kids. With the support of Club staff, four members - Neveah, Kayla, Josiah and Malik - quickly mobilized their peers to hold a live-streamed online event called "Addressing Racism Through Teen Voice." They shared their honest stories and initiated courageous conversations to address systemic racism and advocate for change.

"I am biracial. Growing up I didn't fit in with white kids because I was too black, and I didn't fit in with black kids because I was too white. I always felt like an outcast. I was ashamed of who I was and felt lost. When I started attending the Boys & Girls Club, I slowly started to feel like I belong. Now in my senior year, I have started to embrace being black, being powerful and being intelligent."- Neveah

When it comes to kids and racism, education expert Alfie Kohn has wisely said that "youth learn how to make good choices by making choices, not by following directions." Boys & Girls Clubs give young people the opportunity to make choices and try new things in a safe environment. Helping kids and teens process complex challenges, amplify their voices and navigate adversity with compassion and conviction is at the heart of what happens at Clubs. As we face another uncertain school year where learning losses, safety concerns and inequities will only deepen, Boys & Girls Clubs remain a critical community hub of support to attack systemic problems with systemic solutions driven by our youth.

You can watch the full replay of Addressing Racism Through Youth Voice here:

Give More Kids the Support They Need to Have Great Futures

As many Americans call for change and ask how they can help, investing in our youth is the first and most important step. Your donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America will help break the cycle of inequity and empower kids with proven programs, daily guidance and a safe place to redefine what great futures look like.

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