Dispatches From the Culture Wars – Campus Ruckus Edition

ICE enslaves; Muslims aid Jews; DOJ has cops’ backs; Black college heads played; Burning Zinn; Muffling Murray; Popular assemblies

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Men help lift a fallen tombstone at the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetery on Feb. 26 in Philadelphia. Police say more than 100 tombstones were vandalized a week after a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was desecrated. ,Dominick Reuter/Agence France-Presse


Thousands of ICE Detainees Claim They Were Forced Into Labor, a Violation of Anti-slavery Laws

By Kristine Phillips
March 5, 2017
Washington Post

Tens of thousands of immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were forced to work for $1 day, or for nothing at all — a violation of federal anti-slavery laws — a lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit, filed in 2014 against one of the largest private prison companies in the country, reached class-action status this week after a federal judge’s ruling. That means the case could involve as many as 60,000 immigrants who have been detained.
It’s the first time a class-action lawsuit accusing a private U.S. prison company of forced labor has been allowed to move forward.

Empathy and Action: Muslims Unite to Help Fix Vandalized Jewish Cemeteries

By Holly Yan and Eric Levenson
March 1, 2017
CNN

Once again, dozens of Jewish headstones have been vandalized, stoking fears of heightened anti-Semitism. And once again, members of the Muslim community are rallying to help.
Salaam Bhatti, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said members were at Mount Carmel cemetery Monday helping with "whatever the cemetery needs."
"This attack is not just an attack on our Jewish brothers and sisters, but on our common community," Bhatti said. "We believe we need to be protecting our fellow humans from this extremism."


Jeff Sessions Deals a Blow to Black Lives Matter

By Erica Pishdadian
March 1, 2017
Marie Claire

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a major policy change yesterday that will likely have broad and real consequences for people of color around the country. At a meeting of state attorneys general on Tuesday, Sessions said that the Justice Department would "pull back" on the federal scrutiny of police departments for civil rights violations against people of color.
Though he did not directly address the Black Lives Matter movement in his speech, the policy change undoubtedly puts a new road block in BLM's path.
It's also just the latest in a line of Obama-era policies that Sessions has rolled back since his confirmation. According to reports, Sessions was the driving force behind President Trump's removal of protections for transgender students and played a large role in the DOJ's decision to withdraw from a lawsuit challenging Texas' controversial voter ID law.

Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump

By Anemona Hartocollis and Noah Weiland
March 4, 2017
New York Times

Thursday, students disrupted a university convocation to protest what they saw as Howard University’s catering to the Trump administration. One student confronted Dr. Frederick, shouting: “Someone might have convinced you that money is more important than people. But we are asking you, in this moment, to choose us, to take a stand for us, and to do right by us.”
The student backlash came after Dr. Frederick and more than 60 other leaders of historically black colleges and universities gathered for a meeting on Monday with top officials of the Trump administration, including the new education secretary, Betsy DeVos. As the meeting was getting underway, participants said, it was interrupted to invite them to an impromptu visit with President Trump in the Oval Office.
A photograph of the black leaders smiling and chatting with Mr. Trump around his desk was widely circulated and instantly became a flash point for students who believe the administration has been insensitive to the needs of black Americans.

Interview: This Arkansas Republican Says Howard Zinn Books Are Too Scary for Students, Should Be Banned

By Anthony L. Fisher
March 3, 2017
Reason

Arkansas State Rep. Kim Hendren (R) has introduced a one-page bill that would ban "study books or any other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn" from the state's public schools, including charter schools.
 

Shouting Down a Lecture

By Scott Jaschik
March 3, 2017
Inside Higher Ed

Hundreds of students at Middlebury College on Thursday chanted and shouted at Charles Murray, the controversial writer whom many accuse of espousing racist ideas, preventing him from giving a public lecture at the college.
Murray had been invited by Middlebury's student group affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank at which Murray is a scholar. Many of his writings are controversial, but perhaps none more than The Bell Curve, a book that linked intelligence and race and that has been widely condemned by many social scientists (even as Murray has been supported by others).
Prior to the point when Murray was introduced, several Middlebury officials reminded students that they were allowed to protest but not to disrupt the talk. The students ignored those reminders and faced no visible consequences for doing so.
 

Why Popular Assemblies Sweeping the Country Are Building Blocks of the Resistance

By Sarah Lazare
March 1, 2017
AlterNet

Countless organizers across the country are working to pull off large popular assemblies to empower and connect the communities caught in the crosshairs of this multi-pronged assault. With roots in the U.S. Black Freedom movement, Latin American encuentro and left formations across the globe, such forums appear to be gaining steam, as growing crowds cram into packed community meetings to plot out strategies for resistance. While the issues and tactics may vary, organizers from across the country emphasized to AlterNet that the aim is to fortify independent social movement infrastructure to enable a broader and more effective fightback—and determine the needs of the most-impacted communities during this harrowing political moment.