2023 Civics Edition
April 4, 2023
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Today, former President Donald Trump is due to surrender and be arraigned on criminal charges related to hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. Follow Sahan Journal and other URL Media newsrooms for updates on this historic court case.
A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.
Julia Kuo for Documented
🇰🇵 Ten years ago an asylum seeker escaped North Korea, now ICE Is trying to deport her: ICE is pursuing deportation charges against one asylum seeker from North Korea, reports Documented. The woman, Usim, who has requested anonymity under the pseudonym to protect her family from retribution in North Korea, says her exodus from North Korea began when her sister was charged with possessing “propaganda.” (In her case it was a CD full of Korean and American TV dramas.)
During Usim’s time on the run, she experienced food deprivation, escaped trafficking and fled from possibly being imprisoned in labor camps. But, given that Usim entered the country illegally through the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, ICE is threatening to deport her back to South Korea, where she previously lived. Usim's lawyer says her client's life would be at risk if she were sent back. Read the full story here.
🔢📏 Black Girl Magic: Two high school seniors on the verge of proving 2000-year-old math formula: At a recent math conference in Atlanta, two Black high school seniors showed how they used trigonometry, namely the Law of Sines, to prove the 2000-year-old Pythagorean theorem known as a2 + b2 = c2, reports Black Voice News. The duo from New Orleans were the only high school students to present at the conference, and they stand to prove the theorem without using the equation — something mathematicians have been trying to prove forever. Read more to learn about their theory here.
⚖️ New program to provide legal training for Tulsa students: Recently, a native Oklahoma recording artist anonymously donated $250,000 to the Neal Center for Justice, Inc., a newly-created nonprofit based in Oklahoma City, which will launch a legal studies program this summer to encourage Black and Brown high school students to pursue legal careers. “There is a lot of talk about the need for justice,” President C.J. Webber-Neal told The Oklahoma Eagle. “But in many cases, people don’t know the laws. We see this [program as a way] to start informing people about the ins and outs of the legal system.” Read the full story here.
🗺 The latest in geopolitics from Ukraine to China to Nigeria: In the latest Our Body Politic episode, guest host Hagar Chemali, foreign policy expert and creator and host of the YouTube show "Oh My World!," looks closely at the latest in international policy from the conflict in Ukraine to China-U.S. relations, as well as the recent election in Nigeria. Listen to the insightful conversation.
🏥 Minn. rushes to help hundreds of thousands at risk of losing Medicaid after pandemic: This past weekend, states across the country began removing large numbers of people from Medicaid rolls who had been allowed to stay in the program during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Sahan Journal. That includes some 1.5 million Minnesotans in low-income health programs, many of whom will soon lose coverage. “We are estimating anywhere from 15 to 30 percent may lose access or not renew,” said Dr. Nathan Chomilo, director of Medicaid at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Read the full story here.Plus: One Minnesotan leads a community effort to provide long-term earthquake relief in Turkey
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