Author: Carma Henry

       Attacks on federal workers aren’t just a problem for their families or their unions—they hurt all of us and jeopardize the essential government services we rely on daily. These workers make sure our food and water are safe and our communities are free from pollution. They protect our families during public health emergencies, care for our veterans, and monitor extreme weather and natural disasters. When workers can’t speak up on the job and make sure their offices are serving the American people, we are all at risk.

       The 6th Annual Carlton B. Moore Friends & Family Day will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Osswald Park, 2220 NW 21st Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Moore, who passed away on April 2, 2014, at the age of 60, served on the City Commission for more than 20 years and was a past president of the local branch of the NAACP.

        Over the weekend a community of young and old came together to celebrate 50 years of The Marshall L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (DAHCAC). A place where Liberty City youth can experience all genres of performing and visual arts including theater, art and band; falling in love with something they didn’t even know existed. The evening featured extraordinary performances from the Nu Deco Ensemble, alumni whose lives were forever changed by the center, and a one-hour screening of the documentary feature film An Instrumental Start: A Model for the Nation. 

        Being a senior in Broward County Public Schools, I’ve seen the problems and potential that shape the classrooms we sit in five days a week. Sitting in testing rooms that have outdated technology that freezes in the middle of State tests and exams. AP courses that my school has and that many students take advantage of that other schools across the county don’t offer. Even though I am a student at a predominantly white high school, I’m still a Black female in today’s school system. I can’t disregard that schools in communities with kids that look just like me are underfunded, under-supported, and last to be acknowledged during tough decisions.

David Jolly brought his gubernatorial campaign to the Florida panhandle for the fourth time, hitting Pensacola, Milton, Panama City, and Tallahassee. Outside the Capitol City, Democrats brand the region “No Man’s Land” for its conservative leaning, but Jolly says affordability is just as important there as it is anywhere.  So is diversity.  Equity is also on his agenda, where everyone is welcomed and uplifted.” Why has equity become an extreme idea?” he asked.

       Two of the deaths in Louisiana were linked to tainted oysters, but the Department of Health says 85% of those sickened “reported wound/seawater exposure.” Vibrio can cause an infection if a swimmer has an open cut or scrape, or recent tattoo or piercing.

     Campaign Nonviolence Action Days is underway an impressive 5,595+ actions and events across the United States and around the world working to “build a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction.”

      On September 13, the British public was startled when more than 110,000 people turned out for a raucous far-right rally in London featuring racist conspiracy theories, anti-Muslim hate speech, and violent assaults upon police. Whipping up the crowd, Tommy Robinson―a popular far-right agitator, march organizer, and five-time convicted criminal―told the assemblage that British government officials believed “that Somalians, Afghans, Pakistanis, all of them, their rights supersede yours, the British public, the people that built this nation.” Signs carried by the demonstrators invoked racist and xenophobic themes, such as: “Why are white people despised when our money pays for everything?”

       Charlie Kirk’s killing – and the aftermath of grief and political outrage – are too overwhelming to ignore, even though I couldn’t possibly have anything to say that hasn’t already been said.

      One cannot examine the wars in Ukraine and Gaza without noticing certain parallels. First and foremost are the human and economic costs of aggression. Those costs are staggering, and how they might be made up is anybody’s guess, since the aggressors—Russia and Israel—are not going to pay. And the aggressors happen to be led by people judged war criminals—Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, and their inner circles—another parallel.