On Thursday of last week, on the second day of Spring, we learned that Trump was moving ever forward in his desire to be just like the dictators he so admires. He hired lawyers who are not adept at criminal legal defense but who can go on State TV AKA Fox News and peddle their conspiracy theories about the Deep State and the Special Counsel. I am writing this early in the morning of Friday March 23rd for publication around the 29th, so God knows what the political realities are now when you are reading this, but I was freaking out about Mueller’s fate as well as the impending disaster of John Bolton and a hollowed out State Department. I was vacillating between preternatural calm and panic for most of the evening when I came across these sketches of the kidnapped Africans who fought for their freedom with armed force and with the force of law. I was once again reminded that struggle comes with being an American and that now it is not just people of African descent who are fighting against tyranny, but most of the country. I asked these brave souls to give me strength. They did. Gaze at their faces. Think of what they endured. Realize that at the end of the legal process, they were once again free men.
Onward.
-Eva
- In a day filled with stirring and powerful speeches, the one delivered by 11-year-old Naomi Wadler during Saturday’s March for Our Lives shining a spotlight on an ignored group of gun violence victims – African American women and girls – rang the loudest. Washington Post
- Mitt Romney: “DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally.” Vox
- Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis is a national disgrace. Los Angeles Times
- Jeff Sessions called a Black attorney “boy.” @LeslieProll
- White Man wearing body armor, carrying loaded gun arrested at Chicago train station. Imagine had he been Black. ABC News
- Trump’s new judicial litmus test: shrinking ‘the Administrative State’. New York Times
- No charges will be filed against two Baton Rouge police officers in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling. CNN
- An estimated 60% of France’s prison inmates are Muslims. Another illustration of virulent Islamophobia in France. @KhaledBeydoun
- On average, a hundred and fifty Americans are mistakenly detained for deportation proceedings every year. What sort of legal protection do they have? The New Yorker
- Pence speaking after Trump group staffer who said he didn’t like Muslims, gays, said “the black race” had “lax morals,” and shared an n-word laden Facebook post. @KFILE
- At Justice Page Middle School, in Minneapolis, African-American students are 338 percent more likely to be suspended than their white peers. New York Times
- Unarmed man with pants down fatally shot by a Texas deputy. Houston Chronicle
- Republicans fear the power of voters of color and progressive voters. Mother Jones
- Violent murders in Texas and Maryland show how white killers receive more sympathy than black victims. Slate
- Tweet by Leslie Proll RE: citizenship question on the Census. @LeslieProll
- Tweet by Apply to #YoungJusticeNerds – SAME CENSUS ISSUE. @DrPhilGoff
- Several employees at the Interior Department have told CNN that Secretary Ryan Zinke repeatedly says that he won’t focus on diversity. CNN
- Making profits on the captive prison market. The New Yorker
- Fatal Sacramento shooting: police chief doesn’t know why officers turned off body camera audio. NBC News
- Myriam was rear-ended. She had her insurance information and a photo I.D. But instead of helping her, the police booked her and called ICE. ACLU
- The death of an 85-year-old survivor of the Holocaust is being treated as a possible anti-Semitic hate crime by French police. BuzzFeed
- ICE deports Army vet with PTSD who served 2 tours in Afghanistan. Splinter
- Fox News on marches: Neo Nazis, yes/March for Life, not so much. @existentialfish
- Jeff Sessions sent federal prosecutors a reminder that they have the power to seek America’s most serious punishment for certain drug crimes: the death penalty. CNN
- Her son, facing murder charges, is being called an ‘alt-right killer.’ This mother blames herself. Washington Post
- Tweeted by Republican Congressman Steve King (now deleted), RT by @RachelGonKCMO:
AND NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS
Good News from the Resistance: Good Guys playing offense, Bad Guys start retreat
NC prisons change restraint policy for pregnant inmates
California, NY sue Trump administration over addition of citizenship question to census
In ‘Undocumented’, Photojournalist Chronicles ‘Resilience of Human Spirit’
MORE GOOD NEWS, VICTORIES & HEROES
- Lauren Underwood, an Arena Fellow, won her primary and is now the Democratic nominee and first female nominee for Congress in Illinois’ 14th District! The Arena
- The U.S. Supreme Court and a federal panel rejected Republican challenges to a newly redrawn congressional map imposed on Pennsylvania. Politico
- A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Mississippi bill that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Axios
- A Wisconsin judge ordered Gov. Scott Walker to call special elections to fill a pair of legislative seats vacated by fellow Republicans, handing a victory to Democrats who have pushed for the elections to be held. Washington Post
- Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed an election reform package that includes automatic voter registration, Election Day registration, pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and a state version of the national Voting Rights Act. Mother Jones
- The disgraceful Republican candidate who called a Parkland shooting survivor a “skinhead lesbian,” has dropped out of the race for a House seat in Maine. Refinery29
- Mark Zaid, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., is offering his services on a pro bono basis for any White House staffer who signed a nondisclosure agreement at trump’s urging. Newsweek
- A New York Supreme Court judge ruled that a defamation suit filed against trump by Summer Zervos could move forward. Vox
- A county circuit judge who refused to marry same-sex couples has been suspended for three years without pay by the Oregon Supreme Court. NBC News
- DeAndre Harris, a black man who was brutally beaten by white supremacists in Charlottesville was acquitted of assault. NPR
- A historic number of Native American women are running for elective office – “in all, there are at least four indigenous women running for Congress, three more are bidding for governors’ offices and another 31 are campaigning for seats in state legislatures.” New York Times
- More women are running for office and this Maryland mother is running for governor, and not playing by the old boy’s club rules. Salon
- Hillary Clinton’s former communications director Jennifer Palmieri wrote a book called Dear Madam President. An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World. NPR
- Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) who got her start in organic agriculture is looking at ways foods, like fruits & vegetables, can help with the current diet-related health issues such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease with the launch of a bi-partisan effort, Food as Medicine Working Group. Mother Jones
- Research is showing more and more college-educated, millennial women are choosing the Democratic party. New York Times
- Two class-action lawsuits filed by Flint residents and businesses over contaminated water will go to trial. Grist
- Meteorologists have a new strategy for bringing climate change down to earth. Grist
- Viola Desmond will become the first black person to appear alone on Canadian currency. Toronto Star
- Young Slovaks in Slovakia are protesting to protect their democracy. New York Times
- Children’s Book About Mike Pence’s Gay Bunny Jumps to No. 1. Vanity Fair
To read more from Susie Tompkins Buell’s The Rising, click here.
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