Civics 6/27

2023 Civics Edition

June 27, 2023

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News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.

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Students tackle emergency contraception access on college campuses: Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, college students have taken emergency contraception access into their own hands. “In the post-Dobbs era, the stakes for pregnancy prevention are higher than ever in states where abortion is banned or severely restricted,” said Kelly Cleland, executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC). Emergency Contraception For Every Campus, a project of ASEC, is a student-led initiative that aims to make emergency contraception accessible and affordable. According to Prism, the group has installed emergency contraception vending machines in at least 39 colleges. Read more here.

SCOTUS rules against Navajo Nation in landmark water rights case: Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation in a 5-4 decision to secure water rights to the Colorado River. The court ruled that the 1868 treaty, which is over 150 years old, did not bind the U.S. government to guarantee agriculture and water rights for the largest Indigenous group in the country. Native News Online reports that nearly 30% of homes on the Navajo Nation reservation lack running water. Read more here.ICYMI: What the Indian Child Welfare Act means for Indigenous people (URL Media)More: Minneapolis attorney unpacks U.S. Supreme Court decision on Indian Child Welfare Act (Sahan Journal)

Latino history and storytelling are being stripped from schools: Over a quarter of the nation's 50.8 million K-12 public school students are of Latino descent. Yet state book bans in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina threaten to diminish Latino representation in classrooms, writes Pulso. Among the books removed from shelves this year include "My name is Maria Isabel" by Alma Flor Ada and Matt de la Peña’s "Carmela Full of Wishes." Earlier this year, Axios reported that a Florida school district removed a children's book about Afro Latino baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente in order to comply with a new state law that limits classroom discussions about race. Read more here.ICYMI: Why Latinos should commemorate Juneteenth (Pulso)

Going to the Dominican Republic showed me how dark Haiti is: A Haitian journalist's visit to the Dominican Republic highlights the stark contrast between the two neighboring countries for the Haitian Times. As the journalist witnesses "skyscrapers, huge malls and all that" in the Dominican Republic, he reflects on Haiti’s current struggles and finds it difficult to not compare both nations. "My country could’ve been like this too, but something went wrong along the line." Read more here. 

More: Making sense of Haiti’s ‘constitutional crisis’ (URL Media)