New top story from Time: Deb Haaland: Gabby Petito Case Should Be a Reminder of Missing Indigenous Women

https://ift.tt/3CJRCeN

(WASHINGTON) — Speaking in personal terms, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said extensive news media coverage of the disappearance and death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito while on a cross-country trip should be a reminder of hundreds of Native American girls and women who are missing or murdered in the United States.

Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary, said that her heart goes out to Petito’s family, but that she also grieves for “so many Indigenous women” whose families have endured similar heartache “for the last 500 years.”

Read more: The Historical Significance of Deb Haaland Becoming the First Native American Cabinet Secretary
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The search for Petito generated a whirlwind of news coverage, especially on cable television, as well as a frenzy of online sleuthing, with tips, possible sightings and theories shared by the hundreds of thousands on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. The Florida woman, who disappeared while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, was found dead at the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Authorities have determined she was a homicide victim.

This combo of photos provided by FBI Denver via @FBIDenver shows missing person Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito. — Courtesy of FBI Denver —APThis combo of photos provided by FBI Denver via @FBIDenver shows Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito.

A report prepared for the state of Wyoming found that at least 710 Native Americans were reported missing between 2011 and late 2020. Between 2010 and 2019, the homicide rate per 100,000 for Indigenous people was 26.8, eight times higher than the homicide rate for white people, the report said.

Haaland, a member of the Pueblo Laguna tribe, said she has frequently seen Native American family members posting pictures on fences and the sides of buildings to help locate missing girls or women. When that happens, “you know I see my sisters,” she told reporters Thursday at a news conference. “I see my mother. I see my aunties or my nieces or even my own child. So I feel that every woman and every person who is in this victimized place deserves attention and deserves to be cared about.”

A former New Mexico congresswoman, Haaland pushed for a law signed last year to address the crisis of missing, murdered and trafficked Indigenous women. The law, known as Savanna’s Act, is intended to help law enforcement track, solve and prevent crimes against Native Americans, especially women and girls. The law is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake tribe who was abducted and killed in 2017 near Fargo, North Dakota. Greywind, 22, was pregnant, and her unborn baby was cut from her body. Her remains were found in the Red River.

Haaland said she sees her mission as interior secretary in part as a way to elevate attention on Native American issues.

“I feel like it’s my job to lift up this issue as best I can. And hopefully, the folks who are writing the news, and broadcasting the news will understand that these women are also friends, neighbors, classmates and work colleagues,” she said.

Haaland stressed that her comments were not intended to downplay the pain suffered by Petito’s family.

“Anytime a woman faces assault, rape, murder, kidnapping—any of those things—it’s very difficult and my heart goes out to any family who has to endure that type of pain,” she said. “And so, of course, my heart goes out to the young woman who was found in Wyoming.”

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities, Haaland said, but “where I can make a difference in particular is in addressing the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis, which has occurred since the beginning of colonization of Indigenous people on this continent for about the last 500 years and it continues.”

Haaland created a Missing & Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services earlier this year and has established a joint commission of national tribal leaders and experts, led by the Interior and Justice departments, to reduce violent crime against American Indians and Alaska Natives. Haaland also ordered Interior to investigate its past oversight of Native American boarding schools that forced hundreds of thousands of children from their families and communities.

“The primary goal of this work is to share the truth of this dark chapter in our nation’s history, so that we can begin to heal,” Haaland said.

A written report is expected next year.

Comments

Mumbai terror attack 12 years on: Remembering the heroes of 26/11 https://ift.tt/2J9bWA8

Floral tributes were paid on Thursday to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008. "Their sacrifice will never be erased from the memory of time and history. Today, we pay tribute to our saviours #2611Attack #2611Martyrs," Mumbai Police tweeted.

More trouble for Chinese cos as India changes trade rules in public procurement https://ift.tt/2EeBklg

Amid the border tension with China, the government has changed trade rules imposing restrictions on public procurement from China and other countries with the common border. According to the changed rules, the government has imposed restrictions on firms, companies from countries which share common land border after it amended the General Financial Rules 2017. An official statement on Modi government latest move said that this has been done on the grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security. The Department of Expenditure has, under the said Rules, issued a detailed order on public procurement to strengthen the defence of India and national security, it said. Here what the order says: As per the order, it said, any bidder from such countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (...

Biking by the Numbers: San Francisco’s 2019 Biking Statistics

Biking by the Numbers: San Francisco’s 2019 Biking Statistics By Bradley Dunn Bicycling moves people around San Francisco using less space per person than when people go by driving. The SFMTA encourages bicycling and makes yearly ridership and trend data public. While Bike-to-Work day has moved to September this year due to the ongoing pandemic, we are excited to share San Francisco’s 2019 citywide bicycling data that we usually release in May. The SFMTA uses a variety of bicycle infrastructure and data metrics as indicators of a healthy and growing bicycle network. In 2019, the Agency prioritized the development of a robust data management system, improving high-quality bikeway infrastructure to make bicycling less stressful and more appealing, and expanding access to bikeshare services across the city. As in past years, 2019 data is pulled from the SFMTA’s automated bike counters, annual manual count data, operator-provided bikeshare data, and the US Census. Here are some key fin...

New top story from Time: Bomb Targeting Mosque in Kabul Kills a ‘Number of Civilians’

https://ift.tt/3Fg5SxS KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded in the entrance of a mosque in the Afghan capital on Sunday leaving a “number of civilians dead,” a Taliban spokesman said. The bomb targeted the sprawling Eidgah Mosque in Kabul, where a memorial service was being held for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who later tweeted the attack had claimed civilian lives. Taliban fighters were not been harmed in the attack, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told the Associated Press. Those killed in the attack were civilians outside the mosque gate. He did not provide a figure for the number killed and said an investigation was ongoing. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Emergency NGO, an Italian-funded hospital in Kabul, tweeted it had received four people wounded in the blast. The area around the mosque was cordoned off by the Taliban, who maintained a heavy security presence. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, since the Tal...

New top story from Time: Facebook’s Ties to India’s Ruling Party Complicate Its Fight Against Hate Speech

https://ift.tt/3b0vAI8 In July 2019, Alaphia Zoyab was on a video call with Facebook employees in India , discussing some 180 posts by users in the country that Avaaz, the watchdog group where she worked, said violated Facebook’s hate speech rules. But half way through the hour-long meeting, Shivnath Thukral, the most senior Facebook official on the call, got up and walked out of the room, Zoyab says, saying he had other important things to do. Among the posts was one by Shiladitya Dev, a lawmaker in the state of Assam for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had shared a news report about a girl being allegedly drugged and raped by a Muslim man, and added his own comment: “This is how Bangladeshi Muslims target our [native people] in 2019.” But rather than removing it, Facebook allowed the post to remain online for more than a year after the meeting, until TIME contacted Facebook to ask about it on Aug. 21. “We looked into ...

New top story from Time: The Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage Is Our Selma

https://ift.tt/37oF2Ez After the public lynching of George Floyd last summer, his cry of “I can’t breathe” galvanized a movement for Black lives that won majority support among Americans . Floyd wasn’t the only one gasping for breath. While Americans watched a police officer choke the life out of Floyd, we also witnessed Black Americans contracting a deadly respiratory disease at three times the rate of our white neighbors , according to an August report from the National Urban League. The growing public consensus that we as a nation must address systemic racism has led to serious soul-searching in families, churches, universities, corporations and political life. But just as the Selma campaign became a symbol during the civil rights movement of the need for legislation to expand voting rights, the $15 an hour minimum wage proposal in Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan represents the possibility that our government can take decisive action to make racial justice real tod...

New top story from Time: ‘We Not Human At All.’ Why the Fight to Unionize an Alabama Amazon Warehouse Could Spur a Labor Union Resurgence

https://ift.tt/3sGpMvz Darryl Richardson is bone-tired. For a year, he has labored in a sprawling Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, collecting the home office supplies, fleece sweatpants, antibacterial wipes and other pandemic purchases that millions of customers have been adding to their virtual shopping carts since the warehouse opened in March 2020. As a “picker” for the retail giant, it is Richardson’s job to gather the items and put them in a tote where they can be sent for packing and shipping. It’s monotonous, labor-intensive work and Richardson says it has taken a physical toll on his 51-year-old body. “I go in there and give it all I can give them,” he says. “My hands be achy, my legs be sore, I be too tired when I get off to do anything. Sometimes I don’t even eat. That’s how tired I be.” But when he’s not working his 10 hour shifts or picking up mandatory overtime hours as a picker, Richardson is taking on a task that is perhaps even more exhausting: chall...

New top story from Time: Cleveland Baseball Team Reportedly Dropping Indians Name After 105 Years

https://ift.tt/2LpSBeG (CLEVELAND) — The Cleveland Indians are changing their name after 105 years. Citing three people familiar with the decision, The New York Times reported Sunday night that the team is moving away from a name considered racist for decades. The Indians have been internally discussing a potential name change for months. A team spokesman told The Associated Press the franchise has no immediate comment on the report. The Times said the team could make a formal announcement later this week. It’s not known when the name change will take affect or if the team has settled on a new moniker. Cleveland’s move away from Indians follows a similar decision earlier this year by the NFL’s Washington Football Team, which was previously known as the Redskins. For years, Native American groups and others have protested against Cleveland’s use of Indians as its name as well as other imagery used by the American League charter franchise founded in 1901. Last year, the ...

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni By Mariana Maguire Next time you ride Muni or see a Muni vehicle, keep an eye out for the faces of some of the people of the SFMTA working to keep customers and fellow staff safe on Muni, day to day. They include members of our Muni Transit Assistance Program , Proof of Purchase team, our Muni operators, as well as our head of Safety, Security and Investigations. Staff in our Muni Transit Assistance Program ride Muni \ to help address conflicts.Our Proof of Purchase team, Station Agents and Transit Inspectors support customer safety by providing an extra presence on Muni vehicles, at stops and in stations and assistance if issues arise. And our Muni operators provide the first line of safety for customers. While their primary responsibility is to operate their vehicles safely, they can also help address conflicts onboard when necessary and when it is safe for them to do so. In the case that it’s not possible or safe for an operator to...

New top story from Time: Netflix Defends Dave Chappelle’s Anti-Trans Remarks and Suspends a Trans Employee

https://ift.tt/3ByxX1p Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos defended the company’s decision to air a controversial Dave Chappelle comedy special featuring trans jokes as “artistic freedom.” “We don’t allow titles [on] Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line,” he wrote in a memo last week obtained by Variety Monday. “Particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.” The company on Monday also suspended three employees who crashed an executive meeting last week, including Terra Field, a transgender worker who spoke out against the Chappelle special, according to a person familiar with the matter. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especial...

My precise view

Search This Blog