When trainee doctor Moumita Debnath’s half-naked, mutilated body was found last August at a medical college in Kolkata, shock reverberated across India. But the outrage didn’t stop there, with news of her death sparking protests in major cities across the globe and in the tristate area.

The U.S. news cycle proves to be a continuing barrage of the absurd and alarming. Unclaimed drones share headlines with warnings of a looming purge of civil servants and replacement by reprobate sycophants. At the same time, relentless coverage of an alleged 26-year-old assassin hints at the undercurrent of an unspoken rage, even among those assailed as being “woke.”

Though New Jersey has taken important steps to expand access to the ballot in recent years, many barriers still exist that disproportionately harm communities of color. For our state to live up to its values, transformational change is needed to ensure that voting rights are protected and expanded for all New Jerseyans.

Maung’s Meanwhile in Jersey City mural stands around the corner from an elementary school. Its inscription reads: “This mural is not just Ms. Marvel. It is the representation and power that comes with her. It is for the kids of Jersey City to take up space both metaphorically in the media, but also physically on the walls of Jersey City.”

Mona Dalia and Ghada Elnajjar are members of the NVFG movement and supported the campaign from their respective home states. Both offered some personal insights, experiences, and visions for the future of their ancestral homeland and their transplanted homeland, the U.S.

The 2024 U.S. election revealed historic and unresolved political fractures that betray the story of an America finally triumphant over deep misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. As the collective consciousness gives way to disillusionment and confusion, the decay of the collapsing U.S. empire eats away at its own ideals of democracy and self-identity.

The NJ Uncommitted movement, after earning over 40,000 votes during the New Jersey Democratic primaries in June, reemerged as No Votes for Genocide (NVFG) launched on September 1. The organization, led by Mona Dalia, a Palestinian healthcare worker and organizer, and Martina Manicastri is an organizer with Central New Jersey DSA; with the support of Ghada Elnajjar, a political activist and community organizer with the “No Peace, No Peach” movement out of Georgia.

In 2023, approximately 2.5 local newspapers shut down each week. This national downhill trend has continued in 2024 and is hitting home in New Jersey. Decisions made by the Newark Morning Ledger Co. and NJ Advance Media have led to the print closures and full closures of multiple local New Jersey news outlets.

In this interview, Public Square Amplified community reporter Alaa Essafi speaks with Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU-NJ, about the types of legal advocacy being utilized to ensure immigrant rights are protected, ongoing immigration policy campaigns, and ways to promote civic engagement leading up to the 2024 presidential election.