One of the lessons people might have incorrectly drawn from the 2020 uprising around racial justice in the United States was that it was spurred by a sharp, rapid increase in police violence directed toward Black people. Protesters around the globe were attributing the murder of George Floyd, while technically at the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, to the entire Minneapolis Police Department and, more widely, to a system of policing that allows the police to enact violence on the communities they’ve sworn to protect and serve. The video of the killing, courageously recorded by a 17-year-old woman, showed millions of Americans what really goes on when an initial police statement announces a “medical incident.”

NEWARK, NJ–The world has been watching the latest war between Israel and the Occupied Territory of Palestine-Gaza for the past seven weeks. According to the latest reports, to date, over 14,500 have been killed in Occupied Gaza and some 1,200 in Israel.

Today, representatives from Israel and Palestine reached a four-day truce set to begin tomorrow at 7 am. The agreement, brokered by Qatar,  outlines several key objectives, including the release of 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a halt on military engagement. 

Thanks to laws like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the government is empowered to conduct mass surveillance with minimal safeguards to protect our privacy and rights. Because of this power, digital mass surveillance is trampling our very democracy.

Dear West Orange Town Council and Mayor McCartney,

I’m appealing to you about the planned “2nd annual Israeli flag raising at West Orange’s Town Hall in honor of ‘Israel's independence day’” scheduled for April 26th. I implore you to cancel it immediately! As the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, I say, “not in my name.” I don’t celebrate the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) at the hands of ruthless Zionists with the support of the British colonial army. How do you think Palestinians feel when people want to celebrate the day their villages were massacred, their families were driven from their homes, and their land was stolen?

Ronald Rice, a revered, senior political leader and one of the longest-serving state senators in New Jersey passed away on March 15, 2023. He exemplified honor, resilience, and doggedness: an example for friend and foe.

He is remembered with great sadness across the state, but for Public Square Amplified advisory committee members, John Smith and Linda McDonald Carter it is a deeply personal loss.

Yesterday, upon learning of Senator Rice’s death, Linda McDonald Carter delivered raw and personal sentiments in real time at the Newark Municipal Council hearing.

Corporate media stirred up deep dread and apprehension whilst shaping the social and political response of how and what we are to understand and consume in this recent state killing of a human being – Tyre Nichols. 

Major corporate media outlets, including public radio, teased out the video of the latest killing of a Black man by police as they would a major blockbuster movie or a ride in a Bezos or Musk spaceship. The narrative braced us for an explosion of wanton and rampant destruction, as gatekeepers are never fully convinced that the participants will not bring down the "big top", in its relatively commonplace fashion.