The Lipman Letter

Week 41 - Friday, September 30, 2022

Oct 05, 2022

The Lipman Letter

Week 41 - Friday, September 30, 2022

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

A weekly newsletter from the Ira A. Lipman Center For Journalism and Civil and Human Rights at Columbia Journalism School.

Website: https://journalism.columbia.edu/lipman-center
Twitter: @LipmanCenterCJS

1. In the News

1A. Early on Thursday morning, Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness, bringing with it “catastrophic” flooding and forcing people into shelters, in what officials say is likely the largest natural disaster in state history. That same day, President Biden declared a major disaster in the state of Florida, ordering federal assistance to supplement local recovery efforts. However, people in less affluent, predominantly Black coastal communities have seen little relief, suffering power outages, unsafe tap water and red tape. Meanwhile, new research completed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvest demonstrates that hurricanes often set financially insecure people further behind: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126482416/in-one-fort-myers-neighborhood-residents-feel-forsaken-in-the-aftermath-of-ian AND https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/analysis-how-disasters-like-hurricane-ian-can-make-inequality-worse

1B. On Tuesday, thousands of Virginia students from nearly 100 high schools staged a walkout from school to protest guidelines put forward by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that would reduce protections for transgender students: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/28/virginia-schools-students-walkout-protest-trans-glenn-youngkin

1C. Last week, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested in Tehran apparently for not properly wearing her hijab. She was taken to a “re-education center,” where she died under suspicious circumstances. Since then, demonstrations have erupted in 40 cities around Iran, and at least 1,200 people have been arrested. Protestors are demanding an end to discrimination and violence against women and the compulsory wearing of the hijab: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/middleeast/mahsa-amini-death-iran-internet-un-investigation-intl-hnk

2. Story of the Week

2A. On Tuesday, the White House hosted a gathering of U.S. officials and representatives of 19 countries across the Western Hemisphere to address mass migration issues in the region. This meeting comes less than three months after the countries signed an agreement that their governments would expand services for migrants, including temporary worker programs, increased legal pathways for refugee resettlement and family reunification support. The conversation focused particularly on alleviating the flow of migrants along the US-Mexico border, where migrant deaths have hit a record high of 800 over the past year: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/white-house-western-hemisphere-migration/index.html AND https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125638107/migrant-deaths-us-mexico-border-record-drownings

3. People Are Talking

3A. On Monday, Sept. 26, Giorgia Meloni won general election as Italy's first female prime minister. She leads a government that is the furthest to the right since the fall of dictator Benito Mussolini in 1943. Meloni’s politics are deeply conservative, as she is openly anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion and anti-immigration. Meanwhile, liberals in the country are voicing concerns that individual rights and social freedoms will be rolled back: https://www.ft.com/content/46abf385-61d5-4659-8bfd-459bc52d3b9f

4. For Your Consideration

4A. From Tess Owen, senior reporter at Vice News and a 2022 Lipman Fellow, comes this story of a Texas church that hosted a “drag bingo” event, which precipitated a clash between 100 far-right protestors and 100 counterprotestors: https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d3wbk/proud-boys-neo-nazis-and-white-nationalists-protested-drag-bingo-at-texas-church

5. On Next Week

5A. On Thursday, Oct. 6 at 12 p.m., Columbia University’s Office of University Life will host “Awakening Our Democracy: What’s at Stake in the Midterm Elections?” — a panel discussion that outlines key policy issues for the November midterms. The information will be livestreamed and held in-person at Pulitzer Hall. For more information, visit the following link: https://universitylife.columbia.edu/events/awakening-our-democracy-whats-stake-midterm-elections

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