On Sunday, June 9, at about 7 a.m., dozens of Rutgers police raided and then evicted a peaceable assembly – an encampment – of Newark residents and Rutgers University students at the institution’s Newark campus. The raid occurred without warning.

As a young Jewish woman, I try to hold on to hope for a future in which my people aren’t marked forever by Israel’s actions, for the blood on the hands of the once-oppressed-now-oppressors. But in a world where the Holocaust’s existence is questioned, I hope that the plight of the Palestinians is remembered, and remembered well.

For many, commemorative holidays have been reduced to another day off or a means to host a barbecue or ravage a sale. Yet, they all came at a human cost. 

Juneteenth is one such noble day that represents more than just the end of the enslavement of Africans in America, but reminds us of a political moment that lives vividly in our contemporary space. It is also referred to as "Freedom Day" or "African American Emancipation Day." 

Following the devastating impacts of the recent earthquakes hitting both Syria and Turkey, one woman saw an opportunity to lend a hand in a way that is often overlooked. She did not donate food, clothes, or even money. Instead, Eiko La Boria, founder of The Flow Initiative, donated over 20,000 menstrual products to the people of Turkey and Syria.

On Tuesday night, March 7, hundreds of citizens gathered to mourn and protest in outrage the killing of yet another Black man, 31-year-old, Najee Seabrooks, by two Paterson Police officers, while Seabrooks was experiencing a mental health crisis.

In provocative irony, Seabrooks worked as a high-risk violence interventionist with the Paterson Healing Collective to assist Paterson community members, mainly young people, experiencing a crisis.

While New Jersey has strong legal protections for the right to reproductive autonomy and abortion care, reproductive justice advocates say that doesn’t mean everyone has equal access to abortion—especially those in disenfranchised, low wealth and under-resourced communities and women of color regardless of income level.

Nationally, low-income families face deep inequality, low wages, collapsed jobs and more. These families braced the economic consequences of the global pandemic and now prepare for the impact of inflation. According to the Poor People’s Campaign, “Rising inequality is associated with slower overall economic growth and more persistent poverty.”