Yemen

Here are some facts about Yemen. They portray a country in worse shape than Syria, facts that are hard to accept, but still the reality, and a reality we ought to remember because so many lives are affected.

<>OCHA (the office of coordination of human affairs) calls it the world’s largest food insecurity emergency

<>17 million are food insecure. 6.8 million are severely food insecure and 2 million children are acutely food insecure. (The total population is 27.4 million)

<>It would cost 2 billion dollars to bring food aid Continue reading “Yemen”

Mass Graves

The PBS Newshour recently ran a segment on 72 mass graves found in Syria and Iraq. It may be that the identity of the thousands of people buried there may never be known, Lori Hinnant, the reporter of the story explained that the lack of money and the lack of political will make it doubtful the needed research would occur. That does not mean these lives must be forgotten. Hinnant tells of a father she met who was looking for his sons who according to an eyewitness were in a particular grave she was investigating. He wanted to give them Continue reading “Mass Graves”

Nate Parker and The Issue of Rape

I’ve just finished reading several articles about the Nate Parker controversy relating to his having been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1999 when still a teenager and while being a student at Penn State ( one of the most thoughtful was one in Slate). Parker was cleared and his co- writer, Jean Celestin, who was then his classmate was also accused, convicted and given a 6 months sentence. He was eventually cleared upon appeal. After reading all these points of view I am left with a question: Is our reaction to Nate Parker, the actor, writer, director of the movie Birth of a Nation, a movie about a rebellion led by Nat Turner, meant to make a statement about the history of African Americans, based on his case or is it a product of our current heightened Continue reading “Nate Parker and The Issue of Rape”

Trafficked Children and “The Ugly Truth”

Several days ago I read a couple of details in a story on the traficking of children in India that stayed with me. One was how unaware the realities of trafficking are is to most people in India, and the one that haunts me that young girls who were stolen as children to be trafficked were given hormone shots such as Oxytocin to makes them mature more quickly. That one detail evoked the horrors of that trade and I keep wondering about the effects of those Continue reading “Trafficked Children and “The Ugly Truth””