By Milca Kouame
Milca Kouame is a 16-year-old high school student who was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents migrated to the U.S. from the Ivory Coast in the 1990s. Her father was deported when Milca was seven years old, and she has not seen him since.
This week, Milca joins other young people and advocates on an AFSC-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C., where they will share their stories with members of Congress as they call for humane and compassionate immigration reform.
Institutional racism is at the core of the brutal violence we all witnessed last week. Here are six ways that anyone can use messaging to advance racial justice.
This week, police officers shot and killed two Black men, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. In 2016 alone, police have killed 566 people in the United States.
News outlets cover extremist groups like ISIS as either crazy or cunning, and sometimes both. Why does this matter? Because it makes military intervention seem like best response, when we know that violence doesn't work in the long run.
AFSC Iowa's Immigrant Voice Program gives young people the chance to tell their stories in their own way.
I was honored to be part of the awards ceremony for this year's Youth Video Contest, held by AFSC Iowa's Immigrant Voice Program.
In June, 2016 the Presbyterian Church USA and the Unitarian Universalists conferences met, considered, and passed resolutions/overtures related to Israel and Palestine, moving forward the work of church divestment from Israeli occupation. AFSC staff Jennifer Bing reflects here on her experience in Portland, Oregon with the Presbyterian Church sessions.
As the 2015-2016 Supreme Court session winds to a close, major decisions on just a few remaining cases are expected before the end of this month. The court has already made some huge decisions this term, including on affirmative action, the fourth amendment, and President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
These decisions will potentially affect millions of people. Here’s what we’re reading to make sense of it all:
This morning, the United States Supreme Court announced that they were evenly divided in a four -to -four split on U.S. v. Texas, the case challenging a Texas court’s injunction on President Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration.
Claire Cohen has attended Quaker Meetings off and on since 1973. She started attending Pittsburgh Monthly Meeting in 1984 when she moved to Pittsburgh, PA. She has been a member of the Society of Friends for over 15 years. Claire is also a member of the Pennsylvania American Friends Service Committee. One of the main focuses of the Pennsylvania AFSC has been on undoing institutional racism.