Insight ::: 07.11.2022

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July 11 11,, 2022 - July 17, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 28• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Photo by Sulaiman Mohamed

THE NEW ENVIRONMENTALISTS

Healthy fare to the village square Heidi Heiland, owner and operator of Heidi’s GrowHaus Gardens came to the community’s rescue recently.

She donated a truckload of starter plants to Project Sweetie Pie. The plants support the USDA demonstration project entitled “The People’s Garden”.

Minneapolis is one of 17 cities selected across the US slated to create and promote “Gardens for Good”. In essence Gardens for Good is a modern day version of the Victory Garden campaign implemented during World War II. The gardens are a national effort to address food access and food insecurity.

Project Sweetie Pie created a collaboration that partners the Celestial Garden-2210 Emerson N., with Pillsbury United Farms-1701 Oak Park Ave N., and E.D.E.N Gardens-38th and Emerson Ave N. Produce harvested provides fresh vegetables for

the community meals being served weekly at Oak Park.

At Oak Park, community members enjoy each other’s companionship over a home cooked meal every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays-4-6 pm.

The Michael Chaney Mixim: Partners in community are seizing this unique opportunity to demonstrate unity while operationalizing sustainable development goals being advanced by the United Nations as a framework for addressing global warming/ climate change.

Partners include: Project Sweetie Pie, GrowHaus, Tangletown Gardens, Growing North Minneapolis, Pillsbury United Oak Park, Zintkalaluta, Hennepin County Green Partners, Minneapolis Edible Boulevard Gardens, Sustainable Resource Center, Northside Safety N.E.T, Environmental Initiative,

Twin Cities Agricultural Land Trust, Northside Green Zone Task Force, Caring Is Culture, Restoration Inc, Brother’s Empowered, Xerces, USDA/ NRCS, City of Minneapolis/ Step-up, America Heart Association, Loving Spirit Holistic Services, Urban Ag Initiative, Mortenson Family Foundation, Patagonia, BF50 Indigenous Health, Nature’s Path.com Chaney is inviting residents and businesses to help.

To get involved, collaborate, volunteer in the garden or help stage community engagement activities, he says, “Invest in the community. Invest in yourself.

Join us as we continue to bring healthy fare to the village square.”

For further information: Michael Chaney - Project Sweetie Pie: 763-2274881.

Photo by Kiyon Jefferson

Top photo: Kiyon Jefferson and Robert Simmons-Growing North Minneapolis/ City of Mpls Step Up interns.

Bottom selfie: Andrea Smith, Kiyon, Robert Simmons, Michael Chaney, Sulaiman Mohamed, Anita Gates , Foreground: Dorothy Nins.

Page 2 • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight News • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Page 3

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INSIGHT NEWS IS AUDITED BY THE ALLIANCE FOR AUDITED MEDIA TO PROVIDE OUR ADVER TISER PAR TNERS WITH THE HIGHES T LEVEL OF MEDIA ASSURANCE.

July 11 11,, 2022 - July 17, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 28• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

#ICYMI:

Brandon Brundidge helps Brown put new spin on ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ chant

By Steve Megargee AP Sports Writer

MPRnews.org

Martha Holton Dimick

Holton Dimick brings experience, perserverance, focus on equity, justice to Hennepin county attorney race Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Martha Holton Dimick says her decision to run for Hennepin County Attorney was based on the horrific statistic of 94 homicides in two years. in her North Minneapolis neighborhood. Two of the fatalities were children. One was a baby.

Although her life trek had not been an easy or normal one, she managed to transition from a career in nursing to being a humanitarian and a scholar in the law. She relied on her

faith, perseverance, and willful determination to balance single motherhood and daily survival tactics, she says.

For three and a half years, Holton Dimick took at least four buses to day care, work, college classes, and back home. Public assistance often supplemented financial shortfalls. She completed law school at night, earning the law degree from Marquette University.

Observing the stark realities of courtroom injustices, incarceration, and recidivism gaps in Black, Brown, and white accused, and having worked in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office for 10 years, Holton Dimick said she is seeking election because she believes she has to do more.

“I felt I should at least try and restore trust

in the County Attorney’s office. What’s that old adage I hear all the time about how a person can’t change what they refuse to face? I’ve got to encourage more community members, business owners, law professionals, parents, and educators who are honest with themselves to face the obstacles we’re capable of changing -like peace and safety for our seniors, quality education, housing for the homeless, and a future for our children,” she said in a recent Conversations with Al McFarlane interview.

Holton Dimick came to Minneapolis after working in mid-size law firms and gaining valuable experience in corporate litigation.

She joined the lawyers in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, hired by now Senator Amy Klobuchar.

She was assigned to work in

a newly created community prosecution program where 60 attorneys and she collaborated with neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations, communities and residents, and the police working with a 60-million-dollar budget.

She said the coalition set out to and achieved improvement in public safety from 2008 to 2010. There were 23 homicides then compared to the current 94. The team was awarded national recognition for their collaboration.

In 2009, the Holton Dimick served as the Minneapolis City Attorney, and in 2012 was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton as a judge on the Fourth District bench.

She retired from the bench, and to run for County Attorney.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (AP) — Brandon Brown wanted a way to change the narrative behind the “Let’s go, Brandon” message after his first career NASCAR victory inadvertently fostered a chant that has been used to insult President Joe Biden.

Brown found that new message thanks to the family of an 8-year-old boy with autism.

Brandon Brundidge of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, was on a spring-break trip to Houston in March and saw signs with the “Let’s go, Brandon” phrase. He believed the signs were meant to encourage him.

He consequently started trying activities he’d never attempted before, such as learning to swim and removing the training wheels from his bicycle.

His mother, Sheletta Brundidge, used that story to write a children’s book titled, “Brandon Spots His Sign.” Brown had the cover of Brundidge’s book on the hood of his Camaro for his Xfinity Series race Saturday at Road America.

“To have this come through was like that breakthrough moment for us,” Brown said.

“This can be positive. This can be good. It doesn’t have

photo/Steve Megargee

Sheletta Brundidg, left, her son Brandon, center, and NASCAR driver Brandon Brown gather Saturday, July 2, 2022 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Sheletta Brundidge wrote a children’s book in her son’s honor after Brandon Brundidge saw “Let’s go, Brandon” signs and assumed they were cheering him on.

The cover of Brundidge’s book decorated the hood of Brandon Brown’s car for his Xfinity Series race Saturday at Road America. to be hateful or divisive.”

This divisiveness had started after Brown earned his first career NASCAR victory last October.

The crowd at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama chanted “F--- Joe Biden” during the winner’s postrace interview. NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast incorrectly

BRUNDIDGE 4

HOLTON 4

Jayland Walker, an unarmed Black DoorDash delivery driver with no criminal record shot dozens of times by Akron Police Officers.

Jackson sworn in at SCOTUS

Akron authorities release disturbing bodycam of shooting of Black DoorDash driver

By Mark Sherman Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the Supreme Court last Thursday, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.

The 51-year-old Jackson is the court’s 116th justice, and she took the place of the justice she once worked for. Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement was effective at noon.

Moments later, joined by her family, Jackson recited the two oaths required of Supreme Court justices, one administered

by Breyer and the other by Chief Justice John Roberts.

“With a full heart, I accept the solemn responsibility of supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States and administering justice without fear or favor, so help me God,” Jackson said in a statement issued by the court. “I am truly grateful to be part of the promise of our great Nation. I extend my sincerest thanks to all of my new colleagues for their warm and gracious welcome.”

Roberts welcomed

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

photo/HOGP

In this image from video provided by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts administers the Constitutional Oath to Ketanji Brown Jackson as her husband Patrick Jackson holds the Bible at the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 30, 2022.

Jackson “to the court and our common calling.” The ceremony was streamed live on the court’s website.

Jackson, a federal judge since 2013, is joining three other women — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. It’s the first time four

women will serve together on the nine-member court.

Biden nominated Jackson in February, a month after Breyer, 83, announced he would retire at the end of the court’s term, assuming his successor had been confirmed.

Breyer’s earlier-than-usual announcement and the condition

Commentary

Will the January 6th hearings result in men and women going to prison?

PAGE 5

he attached was a recognition of the Democrats’ tenuous hold on the Senate in an era of hyper-partisanship, especially surrounding federal judgeships.

The Senate confirmed Jackson’s nomination in early April, by a 53-47 mostly party-line vote that included

JACKSON 4

Authorities on Sunday released disturbing bodycam footage of Jayland Walker, an unarmed Black DoorDash delivery driver with no criminal record shot dozens of times

by Akron Police Officers.

The lawyer for the 25-year-old’s family called it an execution, telling media members that police fired 90 shots, hitting the young man “60 to 80 times.”

As the video rolls, several officers are seen approaching Walker’s vehicle with their guns drawn. Police Chief Stephen Mylett claimed Walker had a ski mask on and reached toward his waist during a foot chase and turned toward pursuing police officers.

He claimed that’s when officers opened fire.

Mylett said a weapon was found in Walker’s car, but it wasn’t clear if it was discharged.

He admitted Walker didn’t exit car with a gun.

While handcuffed and bleeding profusely from his wounds, Mylett claimed officers attempted to provide lifesaving help for Walker.

The eight officers directly involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave.

“It was difficult to watch, and shocking,” Mylett stated. “I’m not going to pass judgment.: The chief and Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan commended Walker’s family for calling for peaceful demonstrations.

“The video is heartbreaking, it’s hard to take in,” Horrigan said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the FBI field office in Akron issued joint statements noting that they were “closely monitoring and reviewing the circumstances.” that the

AKRON 5

I2H

FDA advisers recommend updating COVID booster shots for fall

PAGE 6

Page 4 • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Insight News

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Business

Comcast pushing program offering free internet service for millions of households

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia After the White House announced a plan to expand access to affordable highspeed internet for millions of Americans, particularly lowincome families, it didn’t take long for Comcast to ensure its cstomers took advantage.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), created under the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, has allowed Comcast to offer free and discounted internet service to customers in its Beltway Region – Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and parts of Delaware, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

The program provides $30 per month toward the cost of internet or mobile service to eligible low-income households.

Maryland has agreed to provide an additional $15 per month.

“The impact means for eligible households, there’s no reason anyone should have to pay for internet service,”

Holton From 3 Holton Dimick lists her priorities as gun violence prevention, practicing fair sentencing, a stronger connection between police and residents, partnering with leadership to discipline problem officers, addressing chemical dependency, especially fentanyl overdose prevention, exploring alternatives versus the common practice of mass Brown and Black incarceration, reforming police training, and dealing with teen carjacking while providing resources for parents who cannot control their offspring.

“We must set

said Misty Allen, the vice president of government affairs for Comcast’s Beltway Region.

“In Baltimore, eligible households can get $30 applied through the federal government, and the state of Maryland is providing an additional $15, so that’s up to $45 each month,” Allen remarked.

“So, when you talk about impact, we know that there are three major barriers to internet subscription. One is relevancy, where people ask, ‘why do I need internet service when I have a phone?’

“Do I have the skills?

Maybe I don’t have a computer.

The third is affordability.

This takes affordability off the table because internet service effectively can be free for Maryland residents.”

According to a release from Comcast, Customers who qualify also can apply ACP credits to any tier of Xfinity Internet, including Internet Essentials or Xfinity Mobile.

Comcast and its community partners in the Beltway Region – including Montgomery Housing Partnership, The Green Beret Project, and The Senior

standards of racial equality and non-partisanship based on facts and the law. That’s the number one priority for now.

It would help if we had more alternative-type courts like chemical dependency treatment.

Violent lawbreakers need to be in jail, separated from the notso-violent; who are working hard to become better men and women,” she says.

She also calls for far more transparency in law enforcement leadership and redesigned police training that includes police department reviews and reports.

“We must find a sustainable balance of equity and fairness and to be committed to the application of the law,” she said.

told Brown the fans were chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

From that point, “Let’s go, Brandon,” became a rallying cry for Biden critics, with signs bearing that message popping up all over. Brown

Brundidge From 3

INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com

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Qualifying households either earn below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level or have a member who receives other government benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income.

Zone – are hosting ACP awareness events throughout the summer where residents can learn about eligibility, benefits, and how to sign up.

The ACP program should help households of color where government officials provided statistics that show

Latino Americans are 15% less likely to have high-speed internet than their white peers, while Black families are 9% less likely.

Additionally, about 35% of all people living on Tribal lands lack access to broadband services.

The Biden-Harris

administration estimated that 48 million households qualify for the ACP, accounting for about 40% of all households in the U.S. Qualifying households either earn below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level or have a member who receives other government benefits

such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income.

“The success of the program is highly depended upon people being aware that’s it available,” Allen stated.

“We are emailing our customers, running television commercials, and doing everything we can as providers, but we’re working with community leaders, elected officials, and nonprofits.

“We’re getting that information out to them and asking them to help us spread the word. We are working with the Y’s, the Boys & Girls Clubs, Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Fight Back, and the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition has a hotline to help people who call in looking for resources. “ Allen continued: “We are working the social fabric of these communities to help get the word out because these are the folks doing it every day to help their communities.”

For more information or to sign up for the ACP program, visit www.Xfinity. com/ACP.

Holton Dimick multi-tasked holding down a full time job as a nurse and Marquette University law school at night while providing a protective, nurturing environment for her daughter, Jocelyn “Jazzy” Holton unintentionally found himself in the middle of the firestorm that surrounded these chants.

“I’ve just been hopeful that I could make it a positive, I could have my name back and not have it be so divisive and scary, where it wouldn’t be a political statement for my friends and family to cheer me on during a race,” Brown said.

That’s where the Brundidge family stepped in.

Sheletta Brundidge is the mother of four children, and three of them have autism.

She has written children’s books focusing on each of them. She said Brandon often

Jackson From 3 support from three Republicans.

Jackson had been in a sort of judicial limbo since, remaining a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., but not hearing any cases.

Biden elevated her to that court from the district judgeship to which she was appointed

by President Barack Obama.

Glynda Carr, president of Higher Heights for America, an organization that advocates for the growth of

dealt

with social anxiety.

That changed after she saw all the “Let’s go, Brandon” signs and assumed people were cheering him on.

He suddenly had a whole new attitude and wasn’t nearly as shy about trying new things.

“He literally wanted us to put flags in front of the house (saying), ‘Let’s Go Brandon,” Sheletta Brundidge recalled.

“I’m like: ‘That’s not going to happen. We’re not putting these flags in front of the house.’”

Brown learned about this book from his mother and invited the Brundidge family to Road America. They met

in person for the first time this weekend, and the two Brandons became fast friends.

“It feels like I have a twin brother but who’s older than me,” Brandon Brundidge said.

The Brundidges were giving out copies of “Brandon Spots His Sign” at Road America. The book’s cover design decorated Brown’s car, though he was knocked out of Saturday’s race after getting caught up in a multicar wreck that caused him to get examined and released from the infield care center.

Finally, someone found a way for the “Let’s

go, Brandon” chant to unite rather than divide.

“I’m sorry for what you went through all of this past year,” Sheletta Brundidge told Brown on Saturday. “I know it’s been horrible. But I’m so glad it happened because this child would not have this breakthrough (otherwise). He still would be afraid to ride his bike without training wheels. He’s literally walking up to kids and passing out this book. He would have never done that (before).”

More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto racing and https://twitter.com/ AP_Sports

Black women’s political power, said the timing of Jackson’s swearing-in was bittersweet.

“Although we celebrate her today, one Black woman or a cohort of Black women can’t save this democracy alone. We are a piece of it and we are doing our work, our part. She’s going to forever reshape and shape that court. But she’s just a piece of the work that needs to happen moving forward,” Carr said.

Because of Jackson’s appointment, Judith Browne Dianis, a Black lawyer in Washington, said she intends to end her protest against joining the Supreme Court Bar. She started it when Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed in 1991.

She said that even the series of conservative rulings from the court over the past week cannot take away from the significance of Thursday’s ceremony.

“This is a momentous occasion and it’s still a beautiful

moment,” said Dianis, executive director of the civil rights group Advancement Project.

But, Dianis added, “she’s joining the court at a time when conservatives are holding the line and trying to actually take us back, because they see the progress that’s being made in our country. It’s like the Civil War that never ended. That’s the court that she’s joining.”

Jackson will be able to begin work immediately, but the court will have just finished the bulk of its work until the fall, apart from emergency appeals that occasionally arise.

That will give her time to settle in and familiarize herself with the roughly two dozen cases the court already has agreed to hear starting in October as well as hundreds of appeals that will pile up over the summer.

She helps form the most diverse court in its 232-year history and is the first former public defender to be a justice.

The court that Jackson is joining is the most conservative than it has been since the 1930s. She is likely to be on the losing end of important cases, which could include examinations of the role of race in college admissions, congressional redistricting and voting rights that the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, will take up next term.

Today’s court now is surrounded by securing fencing, and justices and their families have 24-hour protection by the U.S. Marshals, the result of a law passed days after a man carrying a gun, knife and zip ties was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland house after threatening to kill the justice. The bill was introduced in May shortly after the leak of a draft court opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade and sharply curtail abortion rights in roughly half the states.

The court issued final opinions earlier Thursday after a momentous and rancorous term that included overturning Roe v.

Wade’s guarantee of the right to an abortion. One of Thursday’s decisions limited how the Environmental Protection Agency can use the nation’s main anti-air pollution law to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, a blow to the fight against climate change.

Associated Press writer Aaron Morrison in New York contributed to this report.

insightnews.com

Insight News • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Page 5

Honoring the lived experiences of Palestinians today and every day Azmera Hammouri-Davis, previously published on medium 5/15/2022 While our attention continues to be turned toward Ukraine, an awful situation, we have never seen as many signs that say “We Stand with Palestine” or anything of that nature despite such horrific ongoing human rights violations happening there – especially the murder of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

The Harvard Crimson – the United States’ oldest daily campus newspaper – recently expressed support for the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement for the first time in the paper’s history. Many wonder how this may impact campus climate and conversations on social justice moving forward given the culture of censorship on this issue. And unsurprisingly, immediate backlash from high profile figures, including a former Harvard University president who claims that boycotting “the world’s only Jewish state” is somehow antisemitic, highlights the very imbalance that necessitates such a release.

A few courageous Harvard students and alumni have spoken up in support of BDS amid the onslaught of tone-deaf, age-old reactions that distract from and excuse the systemic death of innocent Palestinian civilians. While these misguided, knee-jerk attacks, cloaked in false victimhood, saturate the public’s imagination on this issue, very few Palestinian voices ever get the mic to shed light on their experiences. Aqeh was one of the few Palestinian women who had a platform to speak to the brutal realities of life under occupation, which makes her execution by the Israeli military

especially painful.

Although the Crimson editorial, and the student and alumni op-eds supporting BDS, is one heartening step in the right direction, the history of punishing voices that dare speak truth to power on the question of Palestine, and Harvard’s complicity in that ugly history, is egregious.

As a Black-Palestinian American whose been at Harvard for four years, the erasure of my lived experience has often felt like common practice in these spaces. I can distinctly remember the humiliation of being stopped, frisked, and strip-searched by officers at Ben Gurion Airport in front of my fellow colleagues upon my first trip to Palestine in 2019 as a Master of Theological Studies Student at Harvard Divinity School. Being detained for an hour was terrifying. Being interrogated simply because of my grandfather’s last name was devastating. But from where I sit today as I look back, it was the inaction of my peers and course leaders, particularly those with privilege, that was most disheartening. Even more than the words of those who would accuse my stance as antisemitic.

In his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that “In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

That I was racially profiled was one thing.

That nobody spoke up after witnessing such mistreatment in broad daylight was another. The silence still haunts me.

At first, I was shocked at such abysmal reactions.

But then, I heard stories of it happening countless times to other friends of African and Arab

descent, and the cruel reality sinked in. The New Israel Fund names how such racist laws are designed to intimidate and discourage those in diaspora, even Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, from entering the country.

After years of organizing across the university by student groups like the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, alongside the local and global grassroots community, this support for Palestinian human rights is a glimmer of hope. But the delay in any glimpse of institutional support raises common questions. Why has it taken so long?

The U.S. was quick to boycott, divest and sanction Russia for their human rights violations against Ukrainians, yet supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel for their human rights violations of Palestinians has taken over seventy years. Why is that?

Unilateral assumptions that anyone who opposes the systemic death of Palestinian civilians, and the unlawful demolition of their homes is antisemitic (whether directly or indirectly) is nothing new. But it is outright wrong. Not only does this suspend accountability for the systematic killing of innocent Palestinians without consequence, but this vitriol also overlooks the thousands of peace-activist voices of Jewish people who grew up in Israeli settlements and who are outraged by the injustice they’ve witnessed. Not to mention, it undermines Palestinians’ ability and validity to name their pain.

The fact that the Crimson has received so much backlash by former editors for support of BDS further highlights this

Munira Hammouri and family, Palestinian refugees in Kuwait, 1972 inequality.

Let me be clear, Jewish well-being, and Palestinian dignity are not mutually exclusive. They never were. Just ask any of the many Jewish pro-Palestine peace activists, including Rabbi Lynn Gotleib, Rebecca Pierce, Marc H. Ellis, Peter Beinhart, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Norman Finklestein, Noam Chomsky, and the list goes on. As many Jewish pro-Palestine activists on college campuses see it, supporting Palestinian freedom is not a betrayal, but rather an affirmation of their Jewish values.

So, in a world that is already so divisive, what can college campuses do to push conversations around justice in Palestine forward instead of silencing them altogether?

First, we can recognize our universities’ responsibility to safeguard the right to uphold critical conversations about Israel and Palestine without harassment or blacklisting, especially of Palestinian voices that are already marginalized.

As a university officer, I should have never been required to participate in a task force that gauged antisemitism on campus without having to do the same for anti-Palestinian sentiment on campus. Yet I was, several times.

Second, we can commit to unlearning harmful ways of interacting with one another by centering those who are doing this critical work.

Read, watch and learn about the former IDF soldiers who have said enough is enough, refusing to support this system of injustice any longer. Many Palestinians and former Israeli Defense Soldiers are working alongside each other to end the occupation and create transformative change.

A change that pushes against the violent settler colonization and racist logics that sanctioned the extermination of 12 million Native Americans, justified the enslavement of African descendants for over 300 years, annihilated over six million European Jews in Germany, and expelled over

750,000 Palestinians from their homeland.

It’s what eighty Harvard faculty recently declared as an apartheid system, along with Harvard Law School, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. When historians look back on the shift in consciousness happening right now, where will you stand?

Will you turn a blind eye and avoid the topic altogether? Will you assume that you know what other people believe before ever speaking to them in person? Or will you choose courage over comfort. I ask you to confront these difficult conversations.

Indeed, tension is the primary place from which real change has ever emerged.

And after you’ve deeply reflected, act. You can start by signing this petition to tell your congressperson that you don’t want $3.8 billion of your U.S. tax dollars to go toward funding the human rights abuses of Palestinian civilians. (https://uscpr.org/tell-congressend-u-s-complicity-in-israelsabuses-of-palestinians/)

Will the January 6th hearings result in men and women going to prison?

King Jr. when he said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

By James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D. | Houston Forward Times Will the January 6th hearings result in men and women going to prison?

If I had to guess, I would probably say no.

Will these hearings change the minds of some people about what happened on January 6th?

My answer to that question would be yes.

They will jump off the bandwagon of wrong and jump to the bandwagon of right.

The in-your-face truth has a strange effect on people.

These hearings, now in their third week, have made an indelible impression on a lot of us.

The culprits and cronies are even more guilty than we originally thought they were. Their denial of the facts is both laughable and pathetic.

As the January 6th hearings have unfolded, it revealed that the former president of the United States did put pressure on government officials at all levels.

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, at the time, testified that the former president wanted the Justice Department to be a part of this dishonest scheme.

The former president said, “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the GOP Congressmen.”

Who was corrupt in this matter?

We know the answer to that question.

We have heard many in the Republican Party state that nothing illegal or illicit happened.

Their constant refrain is: why are these hearings taking place? What is the big deal?

How does any reasonable person who watched this attack say that nothing transpired?

Of course, the key words in the last statement are “reasonable person.”

Akron From 3 “The FBI continues to coordinate with state and local partners to provide resources

Photo: Crowd of Trump supporters marching on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, ultimately leading the building being breached and several deaths. / TapTheFowardAssist | Wikimedia Commons

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, at the time, testified that the former president wanted the Justice Department to be a part of this dishonest scheme. The former president said, “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the GOP Congressmen.”

Many people outside of the political arena have also voiced their opinion on what happened.

The latest is Jack Del Rio, a professional football coach with the Washington Commanders, who recently said that the January 6th insurrection was not a “major deal.”

Coach Del Rio was fined $100,000.00. His fine will be donated to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund.

The hypocrisy of some Republicans is both dastardly and dubious.

They say no problem, but they know there is a problem.

If everything is peachy keen, then why did some of them run to Mr. T and ask for pardons.

According to reports, Republican Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, asked for pardons. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia is also included in this report.

Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is a member of the committee said, “The president must not use his political influence to use the Department of Justice to his advantage.”

To some, and not to all, Mr. T did try to use his political influence. He failed.

Joe Biden is the president of the United States of America now.

The former president’s vile and incendiary comments on January 6th led to charges and jail time for many participants.

Some could make a valid argument that he is responsible for their actions and subsequent consequences.

According to Time Magazine, more than 840 people have been arrested, with more to come. Roughly 185 individuals have received sentences, with more awaiting trials.

Those awaiting arrests and trials are anxious and nervous. In other words, they are “sweating bricks.”

Every knock on the door could mean their January 6th reckoning is upon them.

If I was one of them, I wouldn’t make any long-range plans. If you did the crime, then you must do the time.

As the January 6th hearings continue, more people will testify, and more evidence will come out.

If you are a doubter, then just keep watching!

What will be the ramifications of the January 6th hearings?

Right now, we don’t know.

However, remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther

and specialized skills,” officials wrote in the statement. “If the evidence reveals potential violations of federal criminal statutes, the Justice Department will take appropriate action.”

In attempt to quell tensions, Horrigan announced the cancelation of Akron’s

Fourth

of July Festival.

Walker’s family attorney Bobby DiCello called for a federal investigation.

“The is brutal,” DiCello asserted. “It’s going to stir up some passion. It’s going to make people uneasy.”

The post Will the January 6th Hearings Result in Men and Women Going to Prison?

appeared first Forward Times.

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Page 6 • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight 2 Health

FDA advisers recommend updating COVID booster shots for fall

By Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone Associated Press At least some U.S. adults may get updated COVID-19 shots this fall, as government advisers voted Tuesday that it’s time to tweak booster doses to better match the most recent virus variants.

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration wrestled with how to modify doses now when there’s no way to know how the rapidly mutating virus will evolve by fall — especially since people who get today’s recommended boosters remain strongly protected against COVID-19’s worst outcomes.

Ultimately the FDA panel voted 19-2 that COVID-19 boosters should contain some version of the supercontagious omicron variant, to be ready for an anticipated fall booster campaign.

“We are going to be behind the eight-ball if we wait longer,” said one adviser, Dr. Mark Sawyer of the University of California, San Diego.

The FDA will have

to decide the exact recipe, but expect a combination shot that adds protection against either omicron or some of its newer relatives to the original vaccine.

“None of us has a crystal ball” to know the next threatening variant, said FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks.

But “we may at least bring the immune system closer to being able to respond to what’s circulating” now rather than far older virus strains.

It’s not clear who would be offered a tweaked booster — they might be urged only for older adults or those at high risk from the virus. But the FDA is expected to decide on the recipe change within days and then Pfizer and Moderna will have to seek authorization for the appropriately updated doses, time for health authorities to settle on a fall strategy.

Current COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives globally. With a booster dose, those used in the U.S. retain strong protection against hospitalization and death but their ability to block infection dropped markedly when omicron appeared.

And the omicron mutant that

caused the winter surge has been replaced by its genetically distinct relatives. The two newest omicron cousins, called BA.4 and BA.5, together now make up half of U.S. cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pfizer and Moderna already were brewing boosters that add protection to the first omicron mutant. Their combination shots, what scientists call “bivalent” vaccines, substantially boosted levels of antibodies capable of fighting that variant, more than simply giving another dose of today’s vaccine.

Both companies found the tweaked shots also offered some cross-protection against those worrisome BA.4 and BA.5 mutants, too, but not nearly as much.

Many scientists favor the combination approach because it preserves the original vaccines’ proven benefits, which include some cross-protection against other mutants that have cropped up during the pandemic.

The question facing FDA is the correct recipe change.

Both companies said they’d have plenty of omicron-targeted

combo shots by October but Moderna said switching to target omicron’s newest relatives might delay its version another month.

Further complicating the decision is that only half of vaccinated Americans have received that all-important first booster. And while the CDC says protection against hospitalization has slipped some for older adults, a second booster that’s recommended for people 50 and older seems to restore it. But only a quarter of those eligible for the additional booster have gotten one.

Marks said that by tweaking the shots, “we’re hoping we can convince people to go get that booster to strengthen their immune response and help prevent another wave.”

The logistics will be challenging. Many Americans haven’t had their first vaccinations yet, including young children who just became eligible — and it’s not clear whether tweaked boosters eventually might lead to a change in the primary vaccine.

But the FDA’s advisers said it’s important to go ahead and study updated vaccine recipes in children, too.

photo/Fly View Productions

The FDA will have to decide the exact recipe, but expect a combination shot that adds protection against either omicron or some of its newer relatives to the original vaccine.

And one more complexity: A third company, Novavax, is awaiting FDA authorization of a more traditional kind of COVID-19 vaccine, protein-based shots.

Novavax argued Tuesday that a booster of its regular vaccine promises a good immune response against the new omicron mutants without a recipe change.

Advisers to the World Health Organization recently said omicron-tweaked shots would be most beneficial as a booster only, because they should increase the breadth

of people’s cross-protection against multiple variants.

“We don’t want the world to lose confidence in vaccines that are currently available,” said Dr. Kanta Subbarao, a virologist who chairs that WHO committee.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Edibles, beverages containing THC now legal in Minnesota (AP) - A new Minnesota law taking effect today allows people 21 and older to buy edibles and beverages that contain a limited amount of THC, the ingredient in marijuana that creates a high.

Edibles, like gummies, and beverages can contain up to 5 milligrams of THC per serving and 50 milligrams per package under the law. Five milligrams is about half the standard dose found in recreational marijuana

products

in other states.

Under the law, new THC products must be derived from legally certified hemp.

But, industry experts say 5 milligrams will produce the same effect whether it’s derived from hemp or marijuana.

“This stuff will get you high, no doubt about it,” said attorney Jason Tarasek, founder of the Minnesota Cannabis Law firm and a board member

photo/Charles Wollertz

Under the law, new THC products must be derived from legally certified hemp.

of the Minnesota Cannabis Association.

“Everybody’s calling it hemp-derived THC, which makes it sound like something other than marijuana.

But I went on social media and I called it adult-use marijuana, because that’s what most people are going to consider this to be.”

Steven Brown, CEO of Nothing But Hemp, said he will begin selling a dozen new THC products Friday at

his six Minnesota retail stores, with a few dozen more rolling out over the next month.

“In some ways, we legalized cannabis,” Brown said.

Cannabis advocates say they’re surprised the law passed the Minnesota Legislature given Senate Republicans’ opposition to recreational marijuana legalization.

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Insight News • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Page 7

Aesthetically It

Myah is Introduced to Etiquette Sharing Our Stories

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor Myah is Introduced to Etiquette

by Juliet “Ms. J” Mitchell We are never too young to learn, and that includes the art of etiquette; how we conduct ourselves in social settings. The values, lessons, and skills we learn as children often carry over into our adult lives. Exemplifying this is Juliet Mitchell’s children’s book Myah is Introduced to Etiquette.

Our story opens with Myah and her Grammy at breakfast, with Grammy saying, “Good morning, Myah, and how are you, my sweet?” Myah wonders why Grammy says the same thing every morning, which prompts Grammy to teach her a new word: etiquette.

Grammy uses Myah’s question as a teachable moment, spelling it, sounding it out, and making the distinctions in the pronunciation of “qu.” She further discusses synonyms, since one synonym for etiquette is manners. Adding upon this are the values and benefits of being polite and respectful to others.

Inspired by her granddaughter Kamyah Wiley, Mitchell’s book is a serendipitous blend of love, respect, teaching, and positive reinforcement, augmented by the beautiful illustrations of Morgan Jennings. I remember well learning these kinds of lessons in etiquette from my elders, which I passed on to my son. When he was a child, the

photo/www.talladega.edu photo/Chris Grange

Megan Braden-Perry Juliet “Ms. J” Mitchell

Essence CEO Wanga: Festival is ‘never leaving’ New Orleans

By Chevel Johnson Associated Press

one thing everyone commented on was how well-mannered he was. I love her Gold Star theme, “Manners are Memorable.”

Mitchell is a certified life etiquette expert, serving clients of all ages and all walks of life. Myah is Introduced to

Etiquette is available through Amazon and the Life Etiquette Institute LLC. Thank you, Juliet, for bringing another ray of positivity and growth for our children.

photo/Chris Granger

Vanessa Dawson

Caroline Wanga CEO, Essence

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Essence’s chief executive officer said she’s been asked multiple times whether the Essence Festival of Culture is staying in New Orleans. On Thursday, Caroline Wanga ended any speculation, making the answer to that question very clear.

“The Essence Festival of Culture is never leaving the City of New Orleans,” Wanga said repeatedly during a news conference held to welcome the in-person event back to the city after a forced break of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are embedded and born together,” Wanga said of the brand’s relationship to the city. “We need each other.”

The city’s current contract with the festival runs through 2024. Discussions are currently being held regarding a contract extension, said John F. Lawson, deputy press secretary for Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration.

Essence Fest started in 1995 as a one-time salute to celebrate the 25th anniversary

of Essence magazine. Known as “a party with a purpose,” its original mission was to give back to the community through free seminars designed to enrich women’s lives. Since then, Essence Fest has evolved into the world’s largest celebration of Black women, culture and community, attracting more than 500,000 visitors in past years, officials said.

Before the pandemic hiatus sparked the festival’s virtual birth, it had been held in New Orleans every year except in 2006 when it moved to Houston while the Superdome was being repaired following Hurricane Katrina.

Its virtual experience has drawn more than 100 million views, organizers have said.

This year, they also noted it will be the first time they’re offering a live component and the option to connect virtually. Hulu will be the official streaming platform for the festival, providing select programming, including panel discussions and nightly musical performances. The livestream will run Friday through Sunday from 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. CDT. Cantrell thanked Essence and its corporate

partners for returning to the city “to invest in our communities and our neighborhoods.”

“The needs are great and the time is now,” she said.

Since its inception, the festival has been a huge summer economic driver for the city. In past years, it’s had a $200 million impact on city revenues and was expected to draw that or more this year, tourism officials said.

Kelly Schulz, a spokeswoman for New Orleans and Company, which tracks hotel occupancy in the French Quarter and central business district, said hotels are expected to be about 90% full Friday and Saturday and around 80% on Sunday, the festival’s closing night. The occupancy numbers mirror or are near those reported in 2019, the last time the festival held an in-person event.

“Having the festival return is hugely significant,” Schulz said. “There’s been a lot of pent up demand for this in New Orleans, but not just from our hotels. It’s coming from our restaurants, our music clubs, the shops, the artists, the tour groups.” She added, “We are ecstatic Essence is back on our calendar and excited to have them here.”

Page 8 • July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022 • Insight News

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