“
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
“
VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2
December 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2
The ultimate goal of Anthro Magazine, Paly’s social activism publication, is to create a platform and forum for students to express their opinions and voices. Social activism is bringing issues into the spotlight to spread awareness and create change in society. On this platform, we will promote unity, diversity, and respect. As a publication, we aim to be inclusive but do not tolerate hate speech of the targeting of individuals. We hope to highlight issues that we see in our community, create a safe place to discuss these issues, and to make sure student voices are heard.
Dear Readers,
We are excited to bring you the second edition of Anthro this semester. It’s indisputable that this recent presidential election was one of the most significant of our lives, and our community is processing the result in different ways. From students to teachers, this edition presents multiple stories highlighting the Palo Alto High School community’s reaction to the election results.
This edition also brings compelling stories on local community issues. In “Pushing the people,” reporters Shreyas Shashi and Chiara Martin spotlight the effects of gentrification in East Palo Alto. Reporters Doreen Hou and Alexander Lawson profile Paly’s Social Justice Program teachers, detailing their impact on the Paly students.
In contrast to local issues, staff writer Ava Knapp sheds light on Santa Clara District Attorney battling Cambodian labor trafficking, standing out as an activist for international issues.
As always, Anthro’s opinion section features a diverse array of student voices. In “A country divided against itself cannot stand,” writers Marcus Ling and Motoko Iwata dive into the dangers of social media polarization and ways to combat it. Lara Dumanli provides perspective on how social media activism shouldn’t be the endpoint but rather a stepping stone along the way in “Hiding behind the hashtag.”
Enjoy Anthro Volume 7.2!
-Lara Dumanli and Vivian Lin, editors-in-chief
Editors-in-Chief
Lara Su Dumanli
Vivian Lin
Managing
Faizan Kashmiri
Features
Marcus Ling News
Amily Zhang
Opinion Editor
Hadrien de Martel
Design
Amani Fossati-Moiane
Business Manager
Amily Zhang
Webmaster
Divij Motwani
Staff
Motoko Iwata
Veronica Qiu
Ava Knapp
Chiara Martin
Shreyas Shashi
Anika Nair
Augustus
Soedarmono
Doreen Hou
Alexander Lawson
Cailey Quita
Mihika Sridhar
Photo/Art
Arjun Jindal
Salem Coyle
Doreen Hou
Keira Ling
Alexander Lawson
Polina van Hulsen
Adviser
Paul Kandell
The staff welcomes letters to the editors. We reserve the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity. Send all letters to anthromagazine. paly@gmail.com or to 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
Printing & Distribution
Anthro is printed by Folger Graphics in Hayward, California. The Palo Alto Parent Teacher Association mails Anthro to every student’s home. Past issues are available at anthromagazine.org.
Publication Policy
Anthro, a social activism magazine published by students in Palo Alto High School Incubator class, is a designated limited open forum for student expression and discussion of issue of concern to its readership. Anthro is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. Please visit anthromagazine.org to view our AI policy and ethics policy.
Voteless Voices
Our Demoracy suffers in silence
Verbatim: Social Justice Issues
New Activism Clubs at Paly
Election Photo Essay
Reaction to the decision
Cambodia Journalist Imprisoned
Pushing the People
Preserving History
Meet the SJP Teacher
AI, The End of Human Creativity?
A country against itself can’t stand
The Revolution is Now
Hiding behind the hashtag
Activism around the world
Future for sale
On the cover of Anthro 7.2, the preamble of the United States Constitution in the colors of the American flag symbolizes how even in these polarizing times, all of us are united under the law of the land.
Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian at President-elect
Donald Trump’s closing rally in Madison Square Garden on Oct 7, made a comment that had a lasting impact on many Americans. According to BBC, he said “I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Many Americans, including two Republicans from Florida, rightfully called him out for this demeaning and racist joke. However, this brought up the point of why Puerto Rico and other US territories always seem to be the subject of insensitive jokes.
Normally people can show their anger for these jokes through the presidential election, but not in US territories. In the United States, the right to vote is a fundamental principle of democracy, yet not all citizens enjoy this privi lege equally.
Citizens of US territories, like Puerto Rico, face significant restrictions preventing them from participating in the federal electoral process.
Many Paly students can already vote, and as California residents, we need to be more conscious that we are able to vote without major restrictions and participate in federal elections.
United States territories include 17 different islands, with around five that are inhabited, including Puerto Rico. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the territories have a combined population of around 3.6 million people. The majority of the people living on the territories are US citizens, writes the Pew Research Center.
Regardless of your political affilia tion, all US citizens should have the right to vote in elections, especially ones that influence the entire country, like presi
dential races. Puerto Ricans and other people living in US territories have been denied voting rights for too long.
The citizens who reside in US territories pay mostly the same federal taxes, can go anywhere in the US without a visa, and vote in presidential primaries, according to the Puerto Rico Report and PR51st.
There is one big difference, which is, according to Frost Law, most income made in Puerto Rico and other territories is exempted from federal income taxes. This is just one reason used to justify the unequal treatment of US territories, like Puerto Rico.
This inequality was seen after Hurricane Maria, when, according to the Puerto Rico Report, Puerto Rico didn’t receive the same amount of resources and help, like funding and personnel, as other US states. The Puerto Rico Report adds the lack of basic necessities led to thousands of preventable deaths.
Once again people who were personally affected by this horrible disaster couldn’t have a say in who was president of the government that was responsible.
US citizens deserve to have a voice in our government through presidential elections. US citizens living in US territories pass all the requirements to vote but are excluded simply because they live in territories, not states.
Allowing citizens of U.S. territories to vote in the federal elections allows them to have a voice and no longer gives them the short end of the stick when it comes to politics.
America’s very core values lie in democracy and freedom for all and, thus, citizens of US Territories should be included in this belief. If we fail to uphold the values that glue our nation together, then we fail our duty to our country.
The Wall Street Journal. Time Magazine. The Chicago Tribune. The Economist. These publications are just a fraction of the numerous newspapers, magazines and publications that have fallen into the grasp of wealthy billionaire owners, some of whom have no prior experience in the field at all.
In recent years, the acquisition of media into the hands of the billionaire class has become increasingly apparent. Whether it’s Twitter getting sold to the immensely wealthy Elon Musk, or The LA Times being bought out by billionaire investor Patrick Soon-Shiong, there has been a clear trend that media is centralizing.
As The Atlantic reported, after the Chicago Tribune was acquired by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, a quarter of its newsroom was cut. Ironically enough, the Atlantic was also bought by the billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs in 2017, Steve Jobs’ widow.
And sure, many of these acquisitions are necessary. In 2013, when the Boston Globe was struggling to
make the transition over to print, Red Sox owners John and Linda Henry purchased The Boston Globe for $70 million. Upon receiving ownership of the publication, the Henrys invested in digital publication and made the Globe the first publication to have more digital subscribers than print.
If
“democracy dies in darkness,” as the Washington Post’s slogan goes, then it most certainly suffers in silence too.
In a time when newspapers have been largely in decline in the United States and print media has been struggling to stay alive amidst falling readership and the digital era, these billionaire investments can be the lifeline for major publications.
But these acquisitions are coming at the cost of free and independent journalism, which comes from a fundamental difference in the goal of the media.
Journalism’s goal is, in part, to hold the wealthy and powerful accountable. These are ideals that contradict the immediate goals of a businessman: concentration of money and power. One of the most concerning consequences of the rising influence of billionaires in
media has been their overreaching influence over journalistic independence. Perhaps the best example of this is Jeff Bezo. Bezos is the founder of Amazon and has a net worth of over 215 billion dollars. He also happens to be the owner of the Washington Post, which he acquired for 250 million dollars in 2013.
Bezos recently blocked a Washington Post editorial endorsing Kamala Harris, a choice that led to the resignation of three editorial board members. Similarly, the LA Times blocked an editorial to endorse Harris, a move that also caused editorial board members to resign. It’s clear that these billionaire owners are not here to defend journalism. They are here to, instead, to promote their individual interests.
If “democracy dies in darkness,” as the Washington Post’s slogan goes, then it most certainly suffers in silence too. Wealthy interests have decided to
decrease in the number of newspaper newsroom employees in the past two decades. Additionally, according to research conducted by Northwestern University Medill School, a fifth of the US population now lives in a news desert, a place without a native local newspaper.
These local newspapers aren’t just dying because of shifting trends. In a report by The Atlantic, certain conglomerates and hedge funds have been actively gutting newsrooms. One of these funds, Alden Global Capital, has made a business off of buying local newspapers, shrinking the newsroom and offering aggressive buyouts, before eventually letting the newspaper be squandered off or collapse entirely. Money speaks louder than a thousand words.
don’t have to be silent.
We — as consumers of the media and as concerned citizens — have power. Not just in our voice, but in our wallets.
Journalism’s goal is, in part, to hold the wealthy and powerful accountable.
For example, readers responded swiftly to the blocking of the endorsement editorials: The Washington Post saw the cancellation of 200,000 subscriptions. The LA Times saw thousands of its readers cancel their subscriptions, with over a thousand explicitly citing “editorial concerns” as their main reason.
Readers should instead support local and independent journalism, which struggle to compete with larger publications.
the generosity of parents, the community, and their readership.
We encourage readers to donate, sponsor, and subscribe to your local newspaper.
In an age where our national outlets are constantly at risk of being controlled by the powerful and the wealthy, a class of people which journalists directly attempt to hold accountable, a defense of local journalism is paramount.
The free flow of information and popular participation in the democratic process can only exist with a free press — a press not controlled for the wealthy, but instead for the millions.
alo Alto High School’s Incubator journalism class is currently home to seven publications: Anthro Magazine, Chomp, Ink, Via Verde, Vertias, KPLY, and Paly Voice. Anthro Magazine has compiled some of the content these publications have previously produced to give a taste of what our class has been doing. We encourage you to check out each of these publications!
Chomp Magazine aims to showcase the different ways food can impact the Paly community through culture, food reviews, and inspiring cooks. Readers will understand the depth food has to offer, savoring each story throughout this journey.
Editor-in-Chief: Shreyas Shashi and Augustus Soedarmono
Submit your story ideas to chompmagazine2@gmail.com
Via Verde is a travel magazine that focuses on discussing both local and international trips taken by the Paly community. Featuring photo essays and travel stories, Via promotes the celebration of different cultures within Paly.
Editor-in-Chief: Anika Nair
Submit your travel photos and stories to: viaverdemagazine@gmail.com
KPLY is Paly’s online podcasting publication, providing weekly campus updates via Quad Talks and features on campus culture. KPLY covers everything from cultural analysis to current events and student opinions.
Executive Producer: Shreyas Shashi
Listen on Soundcloud, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts
Ink is a literary magazine dedicated to student expression. Our central mission is to create a platform for diverse student voices. We believe reading and sharing writing is vital to the writerly experience.
Editor-in-Chief: Sarina Grewal and Salem Coyle
Submit your writing to : literarymagazineink@gmail. com
Veritas is Paly’s leading science and technology publication. The publication is dedicated towards spotlighting students in STEM, and providing the latest news on technological advancements in Silicnon Valley.
Editor-in-Chiefs: Vivian Tang and Divij Motwani
Submit your story ideas to: veritas.paly@gmail.com
The Paly Voice is a breaking news, online only publication that covers everything from school events to reviews on local restaurants and student profiles. The Paly Voice also features a podcast called Tone which covers current events and sports.
Editor-in-Chiefs: Celina Lee and Nathan Jiang
Visit at: palyvoice.com
“I don’t necessarily think that there’s a most important issue, but something a lot of students worry about in the past few years, especially with gun violence in schools, is always racial injustice and racism. And then also with the fairly recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, there’s a lot of concern about women’s rights. ”
— CHERIANNE YOON, senior
“I think a lot of people are uneducated about certain types of LGBTQIA+ groups. This causes a lot of violence in the world with many people getting hurt or even dying so I think that is something we need to fix.”
—
LEVI VOLLMAR, sophomore
“I think climate change is a really big one that people have been focusing on but still nothing is getting done about it. I think that it’s been an issue for a long time and continues to be. And nothing is being done to improve or help it and so it needs to be talked about more.”
— AMADEA DOMOKOS, freshman
“Racism is a big issue because there is a low black population in Paly. So its hard to fit in at times, it took me a while. I’m just saying its a struggle some people face at Paly that needs to be fixed. I think we need to educate people about different cultures because people are often ignorant about those issues.”
— KALEB AMANUEL, junior
“I believe the social justice issue we should definitely look into would be raising the minimum wage. Firstly, even though there was a proposition on that, I don’t believe people actually understand how much a minimum wage could make a difference to our economy. I don’t think a lot of parents know about the nuance of minimum wage.”
— JERRY YAN, junior
“I think broadly activists should focus on quality and accessibility of education. I think most social justice issues stem from a lack of education from opponents and I think that tackling the issue at its core is probably the best way forward. ”
— ALEXANDER DADE, math teacher
Three student-led clubs at Palo Alto High School are gearing up to make an impact in a world increasingly focused on the activist movements of young people challenging representation, environmental conservation, and equity in leadership. Women Representation in Media, Ocean Conservation Awareness Club, and Women in Automotive Leadership all have activism playing a major role in them. They are run by passionate young women who want to change their community.
Another club making a strong impact is the Women in Automotive Leadership Club, run by Manasvi Noronha and Alice Jambon, who meet at lunch on Tuesdays in room 851. It seeks to spotlight the automotive industry, spark-
ing interest among young women in a STEM field that’s often underrepresented.
“We talk about cars and the automotive industry to try to get people interested in it,” Noronha said. “I’m really interested in cars myself, and I’ve noticed that there are a lot of girls at Paly who are as well, but they don’t have a space to talk about it, so I wanted to help create that space and
help people share the experience.”
Their club format attempts to educate while having fun.
“Every other week we watch a movie, racing, or something related to cars and then the meeting after, we do a lecture about types of cars, suspension, or super niche things that people are interested in learning about,” Noronha said.
The Ocean Conservation Awareness Club, led by Caroline Lee and Courtney Taylor, meets at lunch bi-weekly on the first and third Mondays of the month in room 304. They’re dedicated to raising awareness about protecting the ocean and its ecosystems. Both leaders share a joy for marine life and preserving clean oceans and beaches, and they aim to bring that enthusiasm to the Paly community.
“We wanted to start this club because we’re really passionate about the ocean and beaches and we think that being able to have a clean ocean is something everyone wants to have and enjoy,” Lee said.
Taylor added that the club is not only for ocean enthusiasts but also for anyone interested in science.
“We want to spread awareness to all kids at Paly and anyone passionate, not just about ocean awareness, but also about marine biology in general,” Taylor said.
The club meetings are interactive and
fun, featuring presentations, trivia, and discussions around specific ocean-related topics, according to Taylor.
One of their upcoming initiatives is the “Fish Line Project,” which aims to reduce ocean pollution by setting up recycling bins for fishing lines on local beaches.
The Women Representation in Media Club, led by Alana Chun and Charlotte Meyer, meets at lunch Thursdays in room 708. Their mission is clear: to examine and challenge how women are portrayed in film, TV, and so-
“We’ll build the bins and we can put them on the beaches,” Lee said.
In addition, the club will host guest speakers and organize documentary watchings to educate members further and inspire action toward ocean conservation.
cial media and raise awareness about the impact these portrayals have on society’s views of women.
“Our club is for girls and guys in our community to meet and watch different movies and TV show clips and discuss how they portray women, the impact they have on girls, and their precipitation of women in general,” Chun said. “We were inspired to start this club because we’re both interested in going down the journalism path and we wanted to empower our community and educate people about how people’s views of girls and women change because of movies and social media.”
Looking ahead, the club plans to focus on the recent presidential election in their meetings, Meyer said.
To further their mission, Chun shared that the club plans to gather input of members and find an organization that
“I’m disappointed in America after seeing the results of this election because it has shown that the people are willing to let a felon [be the] president of the United States. He has demonstrated absolutely no respect for democracy, demonstrates zero respect for women, and by electing [him] to be the representative of our country, [we are] moving backwards.
Sophomore
“Going into the election, it looked like it was gonna be quite a toss-up. It looked like a very close race, and I was really surprised when Trump really swept all the all the swing states.
Regarding the actual result, I think Trump seemed like the better candidate, although none of them really fit completely fit my opinions and expectations for a president.”
“A couple of years ago, Trump separated many families, and this caused trauma in many immigrant children. This is something that I am pretty scared for, and hopefully we don’t see much of this again. Trump did say that he will be enforcing some laws that are stricter, so I’m pretty worried. ”
“As someone with a disability, [Project 2025] really affects me because of how the healthcare system will be changed. The likelihood of me getting insurance is very low now.
I’m also concerned because [I’m] going to go into college during Donald Trump’s presidency, so I’ll have to deal with health care on my own while Donald Trump’s president.”
“I’m not happy that the Republicans have all three branches of the government. I think that can lead to a lot of bad circumstances, especially with some of the decisions that Trump is making right now.”
“I’m very worried for the future with plans he has; It does put a lot of my rights at risk as a queer woman. There are a lot of anti trans bills which would hurt a lot of the people that I care about.”
“I was not happy with Kamala’s campaign. She attempted to appeal to the neoconservative, more corporate elements of both the Democratic and Republican parties.”
“The Republicans, especially Donald Trump and JD Vance, were able to tap into the populist current of the Republican party. Kamala’s decision to align with the upper parts of American society cost her that election.”
“Trump isn’t the greatest person, but I think he would be a good leader for America. This time, he actually won the popular vote, so I think it’s a good result.”
“Dealing with foreign affairs and pulling us out of Ukraine more is the most important part that makes him different from Harris.”
“I can’t say that I expected it. I had some hope of it going a certain way, and [I thought] it was going to be a very close election. Looking back, I don’t really know why I thought that realistically. I should have seen it coming.”
“The thing that worries me most is that it’s likely that he’ll appoint two more Supreme Court justices, which will irreversibly shift the tides of the supreme court’s leanings for an estimated 40 years.”
“My initial reaction was surprise. After reading a lot [and] analyzing a lot, I thought that Vice President Harris could take a couple of swing states. II thought she would get Michigan and have a good shot at Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, [the results] reinforce the division of the country.”
“Some people are happy. Some people are not. The fight is always at the ballot box. That’s where we should always concentrate our efforts. “
Santa Clara District
Attorney battles
Cambodian labor trafficking
Money laundering. Corruption of international financial institutions. Cyber slavery.
What do these have in common? They’re all a product of criminal activity in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia. And they’re all receiving intense scrutiny from the most unlikely of scrutinizers: a lone prosecutor a world away, in Santa Clara County.
Meet Santa Clara District Attorney Erin West who is a prosecutor of over 26 years and has dedicated the last 8 years of her professional life to taking down Cambodian labor trafficking and a Southeast Asian scam industry that is affecting millions globally.
The scams not only result in financial losses for victims worldwide but are perpetrated by individuals who are themselves victims of human trafficking. West’s involvement stems from a tech-based task force in
there, I started to do research into the origin of this [Cambodian scam industry],” West said. “I found that there was a whole world of bad actors operating in Southeast Asia. I found that this was Chinese organized crime, that was attached to the Cambodian government at the highest level and that they were using human trafficked victims to be the workforce behind this whole thing.”
West co-founded the program ‘Operation Shamrock,’ in April which is dedicated to battling this problem.
“The only way to fix something this big is to gather all of the different stakeholders that have a piece of this,” West said. “Operation Shamrock is a way to bring together the stakeholders to work together. It’s a group that includes
global security.
“Organized crime is a significant driver of conflict globally,” the report states. “It preys on weak governance, slack law enforcement, and inadequate regulation. It tears at the fabric of societies by empowering and enriching armed actors and fueling violent conflict. In Asia, criminal groups prop up corrupt and dangerous regimes from Myanmar to North Korea, posing a direct threat to regional stability.”
According to the USIP report, scam operations originated from loosely regulated gambling activities popular in Southeast Asia during the 1990s.
“The idea is that we share information and assist each other so that we can move forward against this crime”
– ERIN WEST, SANTA CLARA DISTRICT ATTORNEY
ment, and Cryptocurrency exchanges. The idea is that we share information and we assist each other so that we can move forward together against
Together, West and Jacob Sims, co-founder of Operation Shamrock, wrote a report for the United States Institute of Peace, detailing how this transnational scam industry in Southeast Asia is becoming an increasing threat to
“The scamming operations proliferating in the region today have their roots in a regional network of loosely regulated casinos and online gambling that, beginning in the 1990s and accelerating in the 2000s, some governments promoted as a legitimate contribution to economic development,” the report states.
Sims said this problem only started receiving attention in 2021 after the pandemic worsened the situation. People from more than 60 countries are victims and the journalists and the activists trying to help often face threats, jail, or violence. According to Sims, groups like Operation Shamrock are working to fight this and help victims of scams get their money back.
Cambodian journalist Mech Dara was released last week after being arrested and detained for over a month due to investigative reporting on the issue in Cambodia. West said Dara’s situation brings attention to the fact that they’re dealing with more than a scamming industry but also preserving a right to speak freely.
“We are fighting a government that is not allowing information to be dispersed, and we are fighting a government where they’re going to silence people who oppose them,” West said. “It [this level of governmental control] lends a lot of credibility to what we know about the level of corruption at the highest levels of government in Cambodia. When he [Dara] got arrested, it was yet another way of calling attention to the fact that there’s some really horrible behavior going on in that part of the world.”
According to Sims, the Cambodian government is trying to eradicate reporting in Cambodia.
“The Cambodian government has effectively mounted a two-and-a-half-year campaign to eliminate everyone who’s reporting on the issue,” Sims said. “There are few who are in Cambodia actively researching and reporting on this because they’ve all either been threatened, thrown in jail, beaten up, kicked out of the country, or otherwise intimidated into silence or bought off. It’s a pretty dire civil society with media freedom in Cambodia.”
Human trafficking is the leading reason for these scamming operations to be functional. According to Sims, the lockdowns from COVID-19 dried up supply chains in the Southeast Asian region resulting in a desperate scramble for work opportunities. As a result, people got stuck in Cambodia and Myanmar according to Sims.
“We started hearing about these people who were trapped in Cambodia who thought they were coming to be tech salespeople, customer service, or IT support people,” Sims said. “They would go through seemingly normal recruitment processes, have their plane tickets bought, [but] they’d arrive in Cambodia and then be driven to these apartment buildings, casinos, and hotels that had been converted into basically a prison. They were forced to conduct complex cyber crimes against people from Southeast Asian and Western countries like the U.S.”
According to Sims, more than a quarter million personnel have been duped into this criminal workforce, which he said is unprecedented.
“We’ve documented over 60 different nationalities,” Sims said. “It started out primarily with people from China who were in this situation, but it’s expanded and now there’s people from all over the world who are getting trafficked into this industry.”
According to the USIP report, the people forced to perform scams are deceived by illegitimate ads.
are held by armed gangs in prison-like conditions and forced to run online scams,” the report states.
“We are fighting a government where they’re going to silence people who oppose them”
– ERIN WEST, SANTA CLARA DISTRICT ATTORNEY
“The scamming operations are powered by hundreds of thousands of people, many duped by fraudulent online ads for lucrative high-tech jobs and trafficked illegally into scam compounds, where they
In Southeast Asia, advanced technology has been used for online scamming and has even allowed criminal network operations to go under the radar and evade law enforcement. West founded Operation Shamrock in April and said she has since come to understand that local law enforcement is not capable of handling a crisis of this magnitude.
“One of the things that we’ve taken re-
ally seriously is the idea of bridging the gap for law enforcement,” West said. “Bringing the people who know how to do this work together so that any victim can walk into any jurisdiction and be able to get some help for this crisis.”
Since locations, where the compounds exist, are owned by powerful people in the country, both Sims and West said there’s sufficient evidence suggesting that the network is state-affiliated.
“Senators, governors, family members of the prime minister, and advisors to the prime minister are totally untouchable.” Sims said. “In essence, this country in the last three years has gone into a complete mafia state, and its strongest economics and political interests are aligned with perpetuating this form of crime.”
Text by CHIARA MARTIN and SHREYAS SHASHI
by CHIARA MARTIN
Zero. That was the number of homicides East Palo totaled in 2023, 31 years after being named the U.S. murder capital in 1992. This statistic can only be viewed as a positive change, but the decrease in crime rate isn’t the only thing happening here.
Families that have lived in East Palo Alto for a long time are now facing the invisible force of gentrification. With companies like Facebook and Amazon establishing headquarters nearby, and just the general growth of companies in the Bay Area, the influx of higher-earning employees has driven up the cost of living, forcing long-term residents to leave the community.
According to census.gov, the median household income in East Palo Alto in 1979 was $14,147, which would be $56,770 accounting for inflation. In 2023 the census reported the median at a much higher household income of $103,248.
For some, like Palo Alto High School sophomore Eduardo Ontiveros, the raised prices have helped benefit quality of life.
“Back then [early 2010s], my street was more ghetto,” Ontiveros said. “We had this trap house full of crackheads, starting fights. But once their grandma who owned the house died, the price became too expensive for them to stay. The house got reconstructed and rebuilt, and my street is much safer for me and my family.”
However, the overall increase in safety isn’t the only effect of higher rent and pricing.
According to long-time EPA resident Kristine Taylor, some aspects of her life have been tougher as people have been priced out. Having lived in East Palo Alto since 1975, she’s observed the societal changes that the statistics overshadow.
moved into the same house, there might be two or three families in one house. So that’s really changed too, because it used to just be family-owned homes, and you knew everybody on the street.”
Taylor said she paid $28,500 when she bought her house in 1975, which is around $170,000 in 2024 accounting for inflation. But now, similar houses in the same neighborhood are going for close to a million dollars.
“I wouldn’t pay a million dollars for a home here,” Taylor said. “I don’t think they’re worth a million dollars. A lot moved out when the homes went up and they wanted to get their money out for their home. Because when you pay what I paid, close to a million dollars is quite a benefit.”
With Facebook moving headquarters to the area in 2004, and Amazon building a campus shortly after, people have even been directly asked to leave.
“Facebook had people going door to door trying to get people to sell their homes so their workers could have a place to live,” Taylor said.
“It was a real tightness that made me want to stay because of the people I knew. Even though it was rougher, I kind of liked it better.” — KRISTINE TAYLOR
In the 1980’s and 90’s, when she raised her two kids and was a role model to many more, Taylor felt a sense of connectedness in the community, despite the daily dangers posed in the area.
“You could know everybody on your block, your kids knew everybody and everybody knew them, so we watched out for each other,” Taylor said. “It’s not that way at all anymore.”
Now, as her grandkids have grown up in the same area 30 years later, their upbringing has been very different.
“It’s in the reverse,” Taylor said. “It’s supposed to be a safer community, but kids don’t go out and play. I didn’t even know some people had kids. But when it was a rougher community, everybody’s kids were out.”
Many now rent their homes instead of owning them, causing more instability.
“The people that bought the homes don’t live here, so they’re just making money renting,” Taylor said. “Plus, a lot of people have
Although moving may seem like the best option, it’s easier said than done to uproot one’s life, especially for long-standing residents such as the Taylor family. If she left, she’d have to cut off all the roots to the city.
“If I left here, I’d have to really leave, because this has been my home for so long,” Taylor said.
For some, staying is simply no longer an option. Whether they would like to or not, the financial opportunity to rent out the houses is too big to pass up on. As a result, many of Taylor’s long-time friends, some of whom she called family, have been forced to move to areas like Stockton and Hayward, shifting their EPA family homes into rental properties.
“When I moved here, everybody owned their home,” Taylor said. “They took care of their homes, and now that’s really changed, because there’s so many renters. And the people that bought the homes don’t live here, so they’re just making money renting the homes. I know some of my neighbors, but I would never go over socially to their homes. Whereas the other ones [before significant price increases], it’s like their door was open. You just go and you’re welcome in.”
While overshadowed by the positives, such as the decrease in crime rate, shining a light on the underlying cause and what else is changing is important to understand the full picture.
“[Back then] it was just a real tightness here that made me want to stay because of the people that I knew,” Taylor said. “Even though it was rougher, I kind of liked it better.”
On 17th Street in the Mission district, the smell of diverse authentic food fills the air with rows of food/merchandise stands lined up selling items of all sorts. However, located within all the diversity, a small bookstore, located on the third floor wraps America’s beautiful and ugly history into one basket.
Bolerium Books, co-founded by John Durman, was established in 1981 to preserve activism regarding many social movements for race quality, labor, feminism, and other causes, per their website. According to Durman, while most books preserve the political left’s history, the store does have some materials regarding the far-right movements to cover all viewpoints and perspectives in American History.
“We try to cover all viewpoints, [and] we have our own definite viewpoint, but it doesn’t make sense if you don’t cover the other stuff,” Durman said.
Additionally, Bolerium also preserves valuable original leaflets, pamphlets, and posters that helped spread certain political movements and ideological leanings.
Like many, Durmans journey did not simply begin with his love for Antiquarian book dealing, but instead his love for social justice (or revolution).
“I started up [Antiquarian book dealing] because I failed my first career,” Durnam said. “My first career was a professional revolutionary, [which] was overthrowing capitalism, [but] turned non-viable, which was a pity.”
Consequently, Durnam and colleagues opened Bolerium Book collecting an abundance of books, pamphlets, and other items.
When stepping into the bookstore Durnam and his colleagues do a great job in making an organized and simple layout where each section is labeled clearly.
As a result, cataloging makes it easy for universities and private collectors to browse and obtain certain pieces they are looking for.
“We sell about 25% to 30% to libraries,” Durnam said. “[For example] we are working on a deal with Stanford right now for a bunch of hydrology.”
Despite the success of partnering with private collectors and universities, the business of keeping a bookstore afloat comes with many challenges.
“The book trade is hard and new books are very difficult [to obtain],” Durnam said. “Barnes and Nobles were basically eating lunch at independent bookstores [like Bolerium], which is very problematic for selling new books.”
As a result, Durnam and colleagues go to antique stores/auctions and receive donations from individuals adding to their collection of books in the library.
Although the bookstore provides exceptional information regarding social justice movements, Durnam believes that the bookstore contains information that may be hard for students to comprehend.
“We do have stuff [for high schoolers to read] and sometimes there’s introductory stuff here, but it’s kind of not fully set up for that [high schoolers],” Durnam said.
However, the best way to know if the bookstore is the best fit can be through the store’s website. On top of that, other sources like the Marxist or Freedom Archives can be the best way to stay informed and learn about the pressing issues the world has faced.
“I would strongly suggest, you know, look at these things [Jacobin, Marxist or Freedom Archive] which are relatively cheap,” Durnam said.
At the time, Bolerium Books is not open to the public. However, with appointments, students and families can visit the beautiful bookstore. Especially for those partaking in activism and want to get involved in Social Justice it is important to understand the history the country has been through to make an impact.
“If you want to understand American [history], you’ve got to understand economics and you’ve got to understand the color line,” Durman said.
Text by DOREEN HOU and ALEXANDER LAWSON
At Palo Alto High School, almost every student has heard of the Social Justice Pathway. Yet, the vast majority have little exposure to the key things the program provides. We were able to interview the teachers who greatly contribute to the program and community to get a deeper understanding of this program.
The first cohort started in 2014, and this year will be the 11th cohort for the SJP program.
Erin Angell, the English teacher for Cohort 10 who also started the program, describes its early days.
“The district was offering an opportunity to develop curriculum and a program that wasn’t present in the district,” Angell said. It could be open to anything ... so me and my co-teacher at the time, Mr. Eric Bloom, were thinking that project-based learning is something you can do an entire curriculum and an entire pedagogy around in a classroom.”
After settling with the curriculum, one of the teachers who used to work at Paly, Heather Johansen, came up with the idea
to have a themed pathway, Angell said. The curriculum is a cohorted program in which the same teachers are with the same group of students for three years of their high school experience, starting from sophomore year. Angell said the reason they chose social justice as a theme for this curriculum is to bring a new perspective on something that the students are already learning inside a classroom setting.
Austin Davis, SJP program social studies teacher and current partner with Angell, said he’s able to combine his professional studies with the program.
“SJP had a lot of elements of progressive ed [a child-centered approach to education],” Davis said, adding that the program offers an opportunity to build relationships with students and also get to know the parents better.
Ken Tinsley, SJP program social studies teacher, said he was drawn to the program because teachers would have room for creativity.
“You [SJP teachers] are given a lot more room to try creative teaching things
Photos by ALEXANDER LAWSON
and projects that you couldn’t do in the standard class,” Tinsley said. “There’s more opportunities to explore topics that you wouldn’t be able to do in a general class. So I think it’s between doing new ways of projects and ideas that you know makes it worth doing.”
Even though the SJP program provides a unique social justice lens through the normal curriculum, what draws the attention of Caitlin Drewes, the Cohort 11 social studies teacher, is the fact that SJP is a cohorted program.
“Actually, what turned me on to it is not the social justice piece,” Drewes said. “But the thing that really turned me on to it was the ability to be with kids for three years. I was really excited about the idea of looping and getting to know them really well.”
Marc Tolentino, who shared a similar opinion as Drewes, said he joined this program when he was still new to Paly because he heard that Angell and Bloom were in need of teachers to lead Cohort 2.
For the past several years, SJP teachers have had different opinions on the topics
IN THE COMMUNITY:Tinsley is guiding students working on a project in social studies that helps to re-arrange the housing plan so more affordable housing can be built. Keith Tocci, partner with Ken Tinsley, said what he likes about SJP program. “I think that building community and building relationships, is really imporant for having a society that is empa-
they enjoy teaching the most.
Davis said that the C-span project that Cohort 10 did sophomore year had a lasting impact on him. The C-span project is a national video documentary competition that involves over 1,000 high schools.
“There were a lot of environment and climate things for the future, but also stuff related with school and mental health and things like that,” Davis said. “Our first prize in the Western Division last year … (was) really cool.”
SJP programs also have trips where teachers bring students to places for bonding and immersing in history.
Angell shared her memory of her cohort traveling to Alcatraz one year.
“The trip to Alcatraz was really cool,” Angell said. “Ai Weiwei had done [created seven large scale] installations across the island to focus on political dissonance and prisoners … people who are imprisoned as a result of their political viewpoints and their expression of those viewpoints. That was really powerful.”
Drewes shared an exceptional experi-
ence that she said was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity two years ago. Her group of SJP students were working extensively with the local Muwekma Ohlone tribe on a project to try to win their federal recognition as a tribe again. In the end, they created about 2,000 postcards to send out to the lawmakers. Drewes and her student’s efforts granted them a cherishable opportunity to be able to visit the lawmakers in Congress in Washington, D.C.
“The tribe actually invited me and five or four of our students to go to Washington D.C.,” Drewes said. “We walked all over Capitol Hill, and tried to convince lawmakers to help support the tribe, which was really an amazing experience.”
Drewes adds on why she love projet based classroom.
“I reached out and asked can we work on this project with them,” Drewes said. “It was, like this perfect relationship, which is one of the reasons I love project based learning, it’s really authentic.”
Text by MARCUS LING and MOTOKO IWATA
Politics nowadays seems to be an ever-present part of our lives. Classroom discussions, news channels, fliers in your mailbox – and now our phones. A quick scroll through TikTok for one user may show poodles in pasta pots, while another user may see “top 10 things Obama doesn’t want you to know about immigrants!”
The integration of politics into social media has changed the way we view our government. And algorithms know this.
A study published by the American Economic Review surveyed 17,000 Americans and found that content-ranking algorithms on platforms such as Facebook limit exposure to contrasting views, increasing polarization and leading to more user engagement such as likes and reactions. Essentially, algorithms are leveraging our “us vs. them” psychological mentality to feed us the information we want to see.
According to Emilee Chapman, an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University, social media is increasing the ideological rift between users of different worldviews.
“To the extent that people are interacting with strangers on social media, they’re getting a very skewed picture of that person,” Chapman said. “If you’re interacting with a person online that you don’t know, then you’re much more likely to make broader inferences about defects in the person’s character, or reasoning to jump to conclusions about other facts of who they are.”
ate their own media consumption. Chapman says that it is our responsibility to approach polarized content with critical thinking.
“For echo chambers, there has to be a strong degree of personal responsibility,” Chapman said. “If people are interacting with people of different viewpoints, they’ll be able to put one thing that someone says into context.”
Students who consistently engage with people of similar political beliefs should take a step back. The farther you stand from aw social issue, the simpler it seems. So the next time you debate politics with someone else, whether it be online or at an awkward family gathering, get close. Engage with an open mind and with the intent to learn. Ask questions and reiterate their points to make sure your interpretation of their points is not clouded by preconceived biases.
“For echo chambers, there has to be a strong degree of personal responsibility.”
of a cycle, as these users create polarized output.
The way in which this takes place in the digital space is increased engagement with “rage bait,” which is content that inspires anger or hate in the viewer.
A paper published by researchers from New York University in 2021 suggests that each additional out-group word, such as “Republican” or “Right-wing” for a Democrat post, increased the probability of that post being shared by 67%. It also increased the number of negative reactions through dislikes and angry comments.
“If people are interacting with people of different viewpoints, they’ll be able to put one thing that someone says into context.”
— EMILEE CHAPMAN
Students are also encouraged to consume news from multiple outlets across the political spectrum, allowing readers to compare how different outlets frame the same story. This can be easier achieved by using sites like AllSides.com, which presents users coverage of a news story from multiple perspectives—left, right, and center.
— EMILEE CHAPMAN
As students, we need to realize the role that social media algorithms play in manipulating the information we receive. First, students can also choose to moder-
And on social media, students should go out of their way to explore media output from opposing sides or find people in their community who may disagree with their opinions.
These misunderstandings of the “other side” also lead to the perpetuation
Before retweeting that viral thread on a political scandal or sharing that sensationalized story about a politician’s latest statement, we should stop and ask ourselves, Is this content crafted to inform, or is it merely designed to enrage? Is it bringing something constructive to the conversation, or is it just adding fuel to the fire? In that pause lies the potential to shift from reaction to reflection.
It’s also easier than ever to assume the worst of others based on snippets or headlines, but meaningful discourse demands more than reactionary responses. Students are encouraged to be thoughtful in the way they engage with media, whether that means reading further into facts before posting or refraining from publicly reacting to rage bait.
In an increasingly polarized world, it’s our responsibility as the next generation to reverse this cycle of division and attempt to connect with the other side. We have the power to close the divide: in our hands, and in our phones.
The Arrogance, tunnel vision, not accurate reflection of national political consciousness
Text by FAIZAN KASHMIRI Photo by ALEXANDER LAWSON
By November 5, at roughly 8:30 PM, Pacific Standard Time, the electoral bloodbath became apparent.
For how close the polls said North Carolina, Georgia, and the rest of the ‘swing states’ were, it was clearly over. The sunbelt was called for former president Donald Trump, a lost cause in its entirety. The voting margins in the Midwest were only seeming to get larger. Even ignoring the presidential race, the Senate had been painted a most robust crimson red, and the House was well on its way to total Republican dominance.
The immediate response, of course, was snark at this fact. Well-meaning people in my life – family, friends, and others – immediately proclaimed that America was done for. That the hordes of reactionary Whites in Pennsylvania, short-sighted Arabs in Michigan, and clearly unenlightened Mexicans in Arizona, had won out in the battle for ‘democracy’. It was time to prepare your trips to Canada, the United Kingdom, and wherever else Silicon Valley money can take you.
have nothing but scorn for this. Some even dare to argue that this is “not us,” despite what the popular vote indicates. But many here in the Bay forget, however, that they live in what is a glorified fever dream. A castle atop the hill, far from the mouth breathing masses of “the Midwest” or “the Bible belt.”
Here in liberal Santa Clara County? Households earning under $103,000 are considered low income. Morning coffee goes for eight dollars. The average person is so removed from discomfort that they might just forget what the price of milk is. I’d go as far as to wager that a few of the Tesla Cybertruck’s, which pepper the streets liberally, might be some prospective students’ first car.
On dad’s credit card, no less.
The struggle will continue on all fronts, with or without us.
“It’s tough to remember how hateful this country is,” lamented a good companion of mine. They’re not entirely wrong, either.
The rhetoric for the last year has been nothing short of appalling. Trump called Biden a ‘bad Palestinian’ during a disastrous debate. Republicans have threatened millions of undocumented immigrants with deportation, chained people that work the fields and feed this country. And, perhaps most shockingly? The blood libel of the entire Haitian American community. A spike in white nationalist and neo-Nazi sentiment in Springfield, the heart of the controversy, has left the community on edge.
Let me be very clear on what this is; the height, and expression, of a most egregious national intolerance. An intolerance that broke down the idea of dog whistles with explicit bigotry, an intolerance that embraces the most conservative sections of American society... and an intolerance that is now scheduled to come into power this coming inauguration day.
Many Palo Altans, myself included,
The grievances that arguably have launched Trump into a second term are grievances that are broadly unimaginable here. Few of the people who attend Palo Alto High School worry about the cost of their prescription medicine. The increase in grocery prices may go unnoticed considering the existing propensity to buy organic or GMO-free. Gas prices, while annoying, can be shrugged off.
Meanwhile, in a country where nearly 80% of its residents are living paycheck-to-paycheck, the realities are much starker. Childcare, gas, rising rents, the cost of your daily bread and butter? They’re at the front of your mind. Inflation can’t be written off so easily.
And for some, their reality was life or death.
Arab Americans are a traditionally Democratic bloc of voters. They make up a substantial amount of Michigan’s population. And while plenty of people I have spoken to condemned the idea of voting third party, often juxtaposed with the ever-looming threat of Trump, the ‘single-issue’ Arabs of Michigan stepped out of line.
In Dearborn, the heart of Arab American life, the city is mourning the death of Kamel Ahmad Jawed, a staple of the entire community. He was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. Jawad left behind four children, a wife, and angry people being told to suck it up and vote for
the candidate promising to continue the flow of arms and funds to Israel. When protestors confronted her at rallies, demanding an explanation for her support, Harris used it to coin her new catchline: “I’m speaking now.”
If that’s the case? She should have listened, too.
In Dearborn, 18% voted for the third party Jill Stein, splitting the liberal vote across party lines. And over 42% voted for Trump, in direct protest of Harris’s prowar stance, frustrated by what felt like a betrayal from the Democrats. And plenty of others boycotted the vote entirely, opting to stay home on election night. Michigan went red as a result, defying expectations.
All of this is to, at the very least, shine a light on why the results of this election were not as clear cut like so many had hoped. It wasn’t because of some cabal of money-grubbing racists. Nor was it because of yellow-toothed misogynists who hated that Harris was a woman. The people of the United States, both via the Electoral College and the popular vote, wanted change. Trump represented it for them.
The next months will be very pressing. I do not doubt that a sea of op-eds will be written condemning the various scapegoats. But make no mistake: Here in Palo Alto, we are out of touch with the average American. Our proximity to the issues is often minimal at best.
For better or for worse? It’s hardly over. Rather, the next four years have simply begun. Issues like abortion, Gaza, immigration, and America’s control of the climate crisis, will soon be under the management of a Republican trifecta. The Democrats have been thoroughly beaten in that regard. And, with that, a liberal retreat has ensued.
Palo Alto’s armchair liberals will need to make a choice: Will they embrace the movement, the spirit of resistance to the specter of Trumpism, or will they shrug it off? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not particularly confident that the streets will be full of hoodie-clad software developers fighting ‘“the man.” But the truth, frustrating as it is, must be driven home.
Which side of history you want to be on will not matter. The struggle will continue on all fronts, with or without us.
Instagram “activism” isn’t enough
Everybody’s addicted to their phones. I’m addicted to my phone. Every friend I can name off the top of my head is also addicted to their phone. It seems like the more we burst into a bubble overfilled with technology, the less this revelation becomes shocking.
I mean, how could we not be addicted? We can text friends across the world, take an infinite amount of atrocious 0.5 selfies, and essentially do anything our mind desires. However, when it comes to activism, we can’t continue being digital activists that solely focus on spreading awareness. With our digital platform only increasing, 46% of social media users have reported that they are politically engaged online according to the Pew Research Center.
In the midst of the pandemic, when society seemed to be bursting from its inside, we transitioned our activism to a completely digital landscape. Social media users went to Instagram to repost carousel-like posts, attempting to spotlight various social issues such as Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, Project 2025, and during the 2020 election, commentary on both Biden and Trump.
This complete dependency on digital activism, especially on social media apps, a section of apps that were always branded as entertainment was unprecedented. According to Melissa Camache, a professor at San Francisco State University, this format of digital activism has completely revolutionized how the average user receives and processes stretching from genocides in Congo to school shootings in their own backyard.
“All [these] components have created a digital culture where it becomes a mainstay in activism,” Camache said. “[It] has now become a primary force within any kind of activism that we need to perform.”
eficial, yes, but it’s simply not enough to be the only action taken towards social chan ge. There must be a fundamental difference between mimesis, the process of communicating through mimicry and creating a call to action. Simply communicating activism-related topics isn’t inherently activism, you must be engaged in physical, online or global efforts for societal transformation.
“But if you communicate with a purpose, with the purpose to call to action, your communication is going to take a different tone and it’s going to be received differently,” Camache said.
“A huge part is figuring out what [you] can do in your day-to-day schedule other than resharing a post or liking something,” Larson said “Either that’s reflecting on what organizations to donate to or volunteer at, your actions need to be followed up.”
However, this rapid and complete dominance of social media activism isn’t where activism efforts can cease to exist in other domains
Since we’ve become so inundated with information on social media, our sense of urgency, and anxiety when we read about social injustices has been increasingly diminished. Constantly being surrounded by an influx of complex, global conflicts and the subsequent constant re-posting desensitizes us to feel a sense of injustice whenever we observe a human rights violation.
We’ve become too complacent in our current mindset of what “activism” constitutes and until we can actively shift our perspective to welcome and emphasize physical efforts, in addition to online actions, then society will be stuck in an endless loop of empty-handed promises. Digital activism in the form of spreading awareness on certain issues will never be ineffective but simply your social media presence on a topic doesn’t constitute a ‘ground-breaking’ activism effort. The power is with the people and together, we must use our voice to set a precedent, a precedent of dissatisfaction when it comes to humanity’s suppression.
The power is with the people and together, we must use our voice to set a precedent, a precedent of dissatisfaction when it comes to humanity’s suppression.
I’ve noticed this desensitization occur in myself, too. Soon, social problems all blur together, and as a result, my emotional response to act on behalf of the cruelty is diminished. In a National Institute of Health study, 20-30% of users showcased a lower emotional reaction to graphic content after frequent exposure to social media platforms. This level of desensitization will only spread as we become more inclined to live according to our phones. But, how, in a society that encourages beginner-level digital activism, do we change this culture?
1 in 10
hashtags related to a social issues in the last year from Statista social media users in the USA used
80% of Americans say social media platforms are very or somewhat effective for raising public awareness from Pew Research Center
15% of teens reported engaging in online activism in the past year in the Digital Wellness Lab
67%
claimed that the majority of digital activism was successful
However, this rapid and complete dominance of social media activism isn’t where activism efforts can cease to exist in other domains. Digital activism is ben-
Professor Ashley Larson of Electronic Communications at San Francisco State University remarks that once the awareness level of activism is complete, we must transform that ferocity into tangible efforts.
policy,
Venâncio Mondlane, presidential candidate for PODEMOS—the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique—is acting as a catalyst for reform, he has incited both peaceful and aggravated protests in the capital, Maputo. In the past month since the results of the elections, peaceful protesters have had tear gas thrown at and shot at by the military. Demonstrations emerged after Daniel Chapo, the candidate for the dominant party FRELIMO, the Mozambican Liberation Front, won the election. Throughout the past month, Facebook posts from government workers have brought up ballot counters that weren’t included in the final vote. In addition to the allegations of election fraud, many citizens are voicing concerns about economic stagnation, rising inequality, and the monopolization of political power by FRELIMO. The discontent has drawn international attention, with human rights organizations condemning the government’s violent response to peaceful protests. Mondlane’s rise as a reformist symbol has inspired hope among younger voters and civil society groups, who see this moment as pivotal for Mozambique’s democratic future.
Uganda’s federal court ratifies Anti-Homosexuality Act. This illegalizes gay marriage and those that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community to be sentenced to life in jail. Acts of “aggravated homosexuality” such as sex with a minor or vulnerable person, sex while being HIV/AIDS positive and incest are punishable by death. According to CNN, there are at least 50 cases as of 2023 of aggression towards those who identify as LGBTQ+, which include “so-called ‘corrective’ rape [a hate crime where people are raped because of their sexual orientation], outing, termination from employment, blackmail, threats of violence or physical attacks and incidents of mob justice, according to SRT [the Strategic Response Team].” Today, activists argue that this law is not only a grave human rights violation but also an erasure of pre-colonial African heritage. International outcry continues to grow, with human rights organizations and global leaders condemning the act as a threat to the safety, dignity, and freedom of Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community.
The Turkish government faces major backlash after numerous femicides (homicides towards females). Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in early October against to the numerous cases of females being murdered throughout Turkey in the victims’ residences. In 2024, 41% of the cases were committed by the victims’ husbands and in 2023, 65% of the cases happened in the victims’ homes. The femicide crisis in Turkey is horrifying, with nearly 300 women killed in 2024 so far. Activists blame the government’s failure to enforce protective laws, compounded by Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention—a critical international treaty designed to combat violence against women.
After Donald Trump was elected in 2016, top executives from some of the largest tech companies — including the CEOs of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple — gathered at Trump Tower for a meeting, to determine what the new administration had in store for them. According to the New York Times, the new president-elect told them “I’m here to help you folks do well” — cementing his position as one of the most pro-corporation leaders in contemporary American history.
In 2024, the tides are shifting once again, with Silicon Valley in the center — as many with wealth are now jumping on the Trump train. This includes San Francisco billionaire David Sacks, who once told Bloomberg reporters in 2020 that Trump should be “disqualified from office.” Four years later, Sacks spoke at this year’s Republican National Convention and started a fundraising campaign for Trump. According to Business Insider, other Silicon Valley billionaires — including Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Chamath Palihapitiya — also donated large amounts of money in support of the future president’s campaign.
These billionaires, many of whom
own venture capital firms, have a vested interest in Trump’s policies — many of which stand to make them richer. This includes the deregulation of trust, which could allow largescale corporate collaboration at a scale far larger than under the Biden administration’s stricter antitrust stance.
Another one of Trump’s promised changes is corporate tax cuts, which would undeniably be a boon to the pockets of high-earners in the U.S. — and could even create the possibility for overall economic growth. Despite these positives, according to MIT Sloan professor Yasheng Huang, Trump’s economy is unlikely to increase access to social services — as was already demonstrated in his first term.
rates climb rapidly.
“High-tech entrepreneurs and venture capital investors who supported Trump are sacrificing young people who are going to high school now,” Huang said.
“I hope that some of the high-tech entrepreneurs who supported Trump this year are going to recognize that they made a terrible mistake”
— YASHENG HUANG
Even if it fills the pockets of the rich, our upcoming administration’s economics will likely have negative effects overall for the average citizen. Although its policies may create the possibility for overall economic growth, growth on a country-wide scale isn’t indicative of whether the quality of life for the average person improves. It’s time for Billionaires to recognize that their donations harm working-class lives across America.
“During [Trump’s] first term, he didn’t do anything for infrastructure, and also his party is very hostile toward Obamacare,” Huang said.
Tax cuts will most likely lead to compensatory tariff increases, causing higher consumer prices and worse conditions for people taking out money. For young people with little wealth to their names, having loans at reasonable rates is especially critical — and stand to be hurt the most under an administration where interest
“I hope that some of the high-tech entrepreneurs who supported Trump this year are going to recognize that they made a terrible mistake,” Huang said.
For people with billions of dollars, the Trump administration could create the potential for them to grow their wealth by billions more. But in a country where millions voted for their presidential candidate in fear of rising grocery prices, it’s clear that growing personal wealth shouldn’t be the priority.
