The Lipman Letter
Issue 17 - Friday, April 15, 2022
The Lipman Letter
Issue 17 - Fri, April 15, 2022
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. On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Kentucky legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto, passing strict abortion restrictions that advocates say will force the state’s two clinics to stop providing abortions immediately. Meanwhile on Thursday, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a ban on abortions after 15 weeks. Similar legislation is gathering pace as conservatives advance a nationwide push to roll back abortion rights: https://t.co/Zg0AD9JwWx and https://apnews.com/8e8fb722fcb84ae86fd6be17f48503a9
1B. On April 4, Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese refugee living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was fatally shot by a Michigan police officer following a traffic stop. On Wednesday, video of the incident was released that shows a brief foot chase and a struggle over the officer's Taser, after which the officer shoots Lyoya in the head as the Black man is face down on the ground. Lyoya's family is seeking criminal charges in connection to the incident: to.pbs.org/3EjoFIz
1C. As part of a statewide initiative to step up immigation enforcement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has required the state Department of Public Safety to stop all commercial truck traffic for inspections. After a week of the program being in effect, creating gridlock traffic, wait times in excess of eight hours and significant delays in cargo delivery, on Friday, Abbott reopened border crossing to normal traffic: wapo.st/3jx3Obd and bit.ly/3JBogCn
2. Story of the Week
In February, 2021 Lipman Fellow Kovie Biakolo was published in The Nation. Her story follows Julliana, a Cameroonian migrant who traveled from Brazil to Mexico amid the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the dangerous conditions faced by arrivals to the U.S.-Mexico border. Her story has new resonance, given the Biden Administration's Friday announcement that Cameroonian immigrants have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a protection from deportation and an offer of work permits, due to the ongoing armed conflict in the African country: https://t.co/WFKgekhBid and https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/biden-cameroon-immigrants-temporary-protected-status-deportation-work-permits/
3. For Your Consideration
Samantha Michaels, a member of the team from Mother Jones that won a 2021 Initiative in Reporting on Race and Criminal Justice grant, wrote an article on successful social services-based interventions in use in Oakland, California. These approaches to crime reduction are receiving renewed attention given recent increases in gun-related deaths: https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/07/oakland-ceasefire-shootings-murder-rate-social-services-life-coach-boston-miracle-thomas-abt-david-kennedy-cat-brooks
5. On Next Week
On Wednesday, April 20 at 1 p.m. EDT, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University hosts the final panel in its "Democracy in the Balance,” which features discussions about democratic vulnerability and resilience in the United States. This week's event will be moderated by our director, Prof. Jelani Cobb: bit.ly/3JiI7pW
