“I introduced this to make Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the end of chattel slavery, America’s original sin, and to bring about celebration, crushing racial divide down to a point of unity,” said Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, a lead sponsor of the legislation to designate Juneteenth as a national holiday, commemorating…
CULTURE
June is here, and with it comes the festivities of Pride Month. Organizers across NYC worked through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to not allow it to hamper this important time for the LGBTQIA+ community. They coordinated a number of events, both virtual and in-person, to celebrate, reflect on, and encourage activism across the city and…
Throwback to early 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic is gradually making its way throughout the world, shutting down countries one by one as it dangerously comes closer to the United States. Then, a seemingly new concept starts to pop up everywhere from statements by scientists and world leaders to catchy headlines: herd immunity. The premise for…
On Monday 17, 2021, the United States Supreme Court said that it will review a case challenging a state law on abortion rights. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, concerns a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The state law is considered a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the…
On May 7, the German Bundestag, which is the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, passed a unique resolution. The federal government now has to recognize nightclubs and live venues in Germany under building law as facilities for cultural purposes. According to a Club Commission statement, the resolution's main goal is to protect…
There’s nothing quite like the bond between a mother and daughter. From entertainment to STEM to activism, mother-daughter duos have accomplished some incredible things. Inspired by Mother’s Day, we are going to highlight some extraordinary mother-daughter duos who are working hard to change the world. There’s nothing these women can’t accomplish with dedication and a…
On May 1, Yulia Tsvetkova, a 27-year-old Russian LGBTQ activist and artist came out from eight months of radio silence with an announcement: As an act of peaceful protest against the injustices she has been enduring from the Kremlin for almost two years now, she decided to start a hunger strike. Tsvetkova's trial began on…
President Joe Biden hosted a virtual climate summit on April 22, Earth Day, and April 23, gathering countries responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions and global GDP. The goal of the Leaders Summit on Climate? Underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action and re-establish the United States in a…
On March 16, 2021, one year after news of the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world by storm and took over all of our media stations, America began a return to its sad normalcy. The Atlanta Spa mass murder caused eight fatalities, six of whom were Asian women, and one other wounded. It occurred at three…
On April 13, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine "out of an abundance of caution." The CDC and FDA are reviewing data after six people out of the nearly 7 million…
As more Americans are getting vaccinated – more than 20% of the U.S. population is fully inoculated against COVID-19 – a growing concern is arising about how people will prove that they are immune to the virus. Since the first cases of COVID-19 reached the United States last year, every aspect of the pandemic has…
As New York City and the rest of the world begin to clear a path for a way out of the global pandemic, a year of racial uprisings, and a financial crisis, the 2021 mayoral race could prove to be one of the City's most crucial yet. Several Democratic candidates have officially secured their positions…
Nearly one year after George Floyd died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest, restrained under former police officer Derek Chauvin's knee for nearly nine minutes, the case is finally being prosecuted in criminal court. The death of Floyd last May spurred protests over police brutality and racial injustice beginning in Minneapolis and quickly spreading across…
As the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic with increasing vaccination rates worldwide, health professionals suggest it is also time to address the second, more silent pandemic: the mental health crisis. Amid continuing lockdowns, people can turn to a new, unexpected ally for help: art. When the first news reports of COVID-19 cases reaching…
The shootings on March 16, 2021, when a white gunman killed eight people – including six Asian women – in massage parlors in Atlanta have shaken the community and sparked a nationwide reckoning about a long history of racism and hate towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, or AAPI, in the United States. The killings…
The year is 1923. Three years after women won the right to vote in the United States, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is introduced in Congress with a seemingly simple premise: "Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." Almost…
Calls for impeachment and demands for Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign have been in the headlines following a series of scandals involving the Governor. Last month, Assembly Republicans called for Cuomo's impeachment following the mishandling of the state's nursing home data, undercounting the COVID-19 related deaths in nursing homes by nearly half. Now, with an…
On Wednesday, March 10 Congress passed a third COVID-19 relief package under the title, the American Rescue Plan, which allocates $1.9 trillion and was passed in a 220 to 211 House vote. The bill, which President Joe Biden is expected to sign on Friday, is the most expensive single bill in United States history, and…
Though COVID-19 vaccines are giving people hope of soon returning to normalcy, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still recommends postponing any long-distance travel plans. Luckily, this doesn’t mean that people cannot still experience the world. One silver lining of travel restrictions is that many tourist attractions are brought directly to you and…
The roar of demonstrators has been echoing in the streets of Myanmar for over a month now as civilians continue to protest the Feb. 1 military coup against the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. As Myanmar police continue to use violence and brutal crackdowns against peaceful protesters, unexpected allies stand out from the…