Monthly Archives: February 2022

Lewes African American Heritage Commission chair recalls Lewes Beach 2

The Rev. George Edwards talks about the significance of Johnny Walker's, a Black-owned restaurant on what's now known as Lewes Beach 2.

Wochit

A Delaware family's contributions to the abolitionist movement in the United States and Canada in the 1800s may be little known today, but a historical marker unveiled during Black History Month will ensure they are not forgotten.

The Shadd family, who date to the 1700s in Wilmington, included Abraham Doras Shadd, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who among her many accomplishments was the first female Black newspaper publisher in America.

A cobbler by day and an abolitionist by night, Abraham Doras Shadd lived in Wilmington, Delaware in the 19th Century with his wife HarrietParnell and their thirteen children.

Shadd strived forthe civil rights of African Americans and later Afro-Canadians.He was a messiah for fugitive slaves anddevoted his life to the abolitionist movement which sought the immediate end of slavery.

During the late 1820s, Shadd was a conductoron theUnderground Railroad and hadhomes in Wilmingtonand West Chester,Pennsylvania. Fromthose homes, he sheltered andassisted countless Black men in their Canadian pilgrimage who were being hunted, and hurried northward in their quest for freedom.

THE CITY'S PAST: Wilmington's turbulent history led to this exhibition. Here's why it's back

A prominent public voice, Shaddactively spoke on behalf of abolition.He was a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society headquartered in Philadelphia, and in 1833 he was elected asthe President of the National Convention for the Improvement of Free People of Color.

Shaddlater became the first Black man to serve in public office in Canada afterhis family moved there following the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

The historical marker's unveiling took place earlier this month inWilmington's Spencer Plaza, close to where the Shadd family lived. It was attended by more than 90 people, including Gov. John Carneyand descendants of Abraham Shadd.

"Black stories are essential to the ongoing story of America, our faults,our struggles,our progress, our aspirations, the full story,"Carney said at the marker's unveiling.

TEACH BLACK HISTORY: Delaware lawmakers pass bill to mandate teaching Black history in schools

The Shadd family represents one of the premier Black families of Delaware whose contributions areetched in the first state's history. Their childrenhadsuccessful careers as lawyers, journalists, professorsand politicians.

Perhaps the most prominent was Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the eldest.

When the lists of African American firsts are read, Mary Ann Shadd Carys name is everywhere, awoman who was eager for change anddemanded action, not rhetoric.

We have been holding conventions for years we have been assembling together and whining over our difficulties and afflictions, passing resolutions on resolutions to any extent. But it does really seem that we have made but little progress considering our resolves, she wrote in a letter in 1848to the abolitionist and African American statesman Frederick Douglass.

Douglass printed the letter, an unapologetic critique of theabolitionist movement, and it became Shadd Carys first published work.

Shadd Cary was the first Black woman in North America to edit and publish a newspaper, The Provincial Freeman Canada's first anti-slavery publication in 1853. Devoted to antislavery, temperance and general literature was the paper's slogan.

She published several pieces displaying Canada as a safe haven for former slaves and free Blacksand urged them to take the journey north.

"Mary Ann wasn't afraid of anybody. She stopped a taxi, a horse-run coach, at a time when they did not give rides to people with darker skin," said Lora Englehart, a former Wilmington resident, who had nominated Shadd Cary's name for the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame in 1997 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in New York in 1998, after she read extensive literature about her.

"Men would try to discredit her, to get her to be quietbut she wouldn't," Englehart said.

After the Civil War ended, Shadd Cary settled in Washington and graduated from Howard University Law School asone of the nations first Black female law students. She also taught there.

She thrust herself into the suffrage movement in 1874 and addressed the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee as part of a group of women petitioning for the right to vote, years before women finally exercised thatright in 1920.

At a time when one's skin color meantthe difference between life and death, Abraham Shadd'sfamily broke down barriers, stood against injusticeand influenced Delaware's African American history through their tenacity and sheer force of will.

"Abraham was like the standard-bearer, he led by example and passed that on through his children and you could just see that through the years," said Janmichael Shadd Graine, great-great-great-grandson of Abraham Shadd, at the marker's inauguration."To see the recognition they have here, we are just elated."

Contact Yusra Asif at yqureshi@delawareonline.com.

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Historical marker reveals story of Wilmington family who helped fuel the abolitionist movement - The News Journal

We should all know the story of Deliverance Symonds.

Dill, as she was called, was enslaved in 1766 and freed in 1783, when she moved from Danvers to Salem.

As researcher Sheila Cooke-Kayser told reporter Taylor Ann Bradford, Dill was an excellent cook and poet. Married twice, she had six children, six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Eleven men in her family sailed on Salem ships between 1790 and 1855, when that city was one of the busiest ports in the world. One grandson, William Fowler, served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

Her legacy carries on to this day.

Something that I was amazed to find was that she has living descendants today, Cooke-Kayser said. That is something I never thought we would find.

Cooke-Kayser, a former National Park Service employee, was scheduled to share her findings with the public Wednesday night at a forum sponsored by the Danvers Historical Society.

We should also know the story of Brutus Julius Mozambique, an African who was bought in Brazil, taken to Beverly, and trained as an indentured servant. And of Lucy Foster, born into slavery in Boston in 1767, and given to Hannah Foster of Andover at the age of 4 as a wedding gift.

Their stories are our stories. And we are hearing them thanks to the hard work and fearlessness of local historians.

While Cooke-Kaysers presentation was part of the observance of Black History Month, the contributions of the Danvers and other local historical societies and museums has not been limited to the month of February. Rather, they are playing a vitally important role in ensuring the regions complicated past isnt lost to time. For example:

The Marblehead Museum has launched The Free and Enslaved People of Color in Marblehead, an online database that shares the stories of Black and Indigenous residents of the town through the 19th century.

The Museum of Newbury in Newburyport is a driving force behind the Newburyport Black History Initiative, which looks to bring the citys Black history to light through interpretive signs, lectures, panel discussions, and workshops.

In Gloucester, the Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition Trust, which grew out of the Unitarian Universalist congregations in Rockport and Gloucester, manages a website of its own, Cape Ann Slavery & Abolition, which documents how the nations oldest seaport benefitted from the slave trade.

And the Beverly Historical Societys exhibition, Set at Liberty: Stories of the Enslaved in a New England Town, lays bare how many of the towns founding fathers built their fortunes, and thus their lasting reputations, aided by generations of slavery. As Set at Liberty details, the 1754 census of Negro Slaves that found Beverly had 28 slaves, 12 males and 16 females over the age of 16.

Why are these stories important, some 150 to 200 years later? The murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and the death of Breonna Taylor brought several months of protests by Black Lives Matters activists and a long-overdue reckoning with racism in America.

For those of us in the seemingly progressive Northeast, it is easy to see those events as happening somewhere else, in places with histories fraught with discrimination and outright oppression. The work of local historians is a bracing rebuke to the notion that our history is somehow kinder and gentler. We owe them our thanks, this and every month.

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Our view: We all should be aware of history of slavery here - Eagle-Tribune

More than a biological event, menstruation is a cultural phenomenon with profound consequences for those who menstruate in terms of finance, work, and education. There are still around 500 million people globally who lack the knowledge to guarantee their own health and well-being during menstruation, according to the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

Few countries have made menstrual products tax-free many still tax them as luxury items but those which have includeKenya,Australia,Canada,India,South Africa and Rwanda. In 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to unanimously pass legislation providing for free and universal access to menstrual management products, including tampons and pads. Even in the European Union, the much-discussed luxury item tax on tampons will only be abolished this year, after years of campaigns and pressure.

In Latin America, the majority of countries still charge VAT on menstrual products, with exceptions like Nicaragua and Colombia, which was the first country in the region to abolish the tax on tampons and menstrual towels in 2018 though the debate continues on menstrual cups. The Mexican government have proposed its abolition for this year.

Colombia has a strong track record: in 2019, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was a relevant issue for the public agenda, specifically obliging Bogot to provide menstrual products to people living on the streets. Comfama (Caja de Compensacin Familiar de Antioquia) recently launched a subsidy programme to increase access to education and menstrual products. Around 15% of women in Colombia have economic barriers to managing to their menstruation, and in August last year, 683,000 Colombian women were unable to access menstrual hygiene products due to lack of money.

Faced with this, grassroots groups have their work cut out for them, but many are determined to provide resources and education to young people across the country and determined to take the conversation further than just being about products and suppies. Princesas Menstruantes (menstruating princesses) is an education group which has been working in the field for 15 years, doing intensive field research to investigate the best ways to engage and educate youth all over Colombia and raising awareness well beyond statistics around access to products.

The response is not to give a towel, the response is to ask why that woman doesnt have enough to buy one. Its a bigger question, a deeper analysis it goes much further. We want a transformation of narratives, a curriculum, not just this question of whether or not there are supplies, Carolina Ramrez, Creator of Princesas Menstruantes, tells me.

Menstruation has been approached from a medical perspective, Carolina tells me, neglecting psycho-emotional and socio-cultural, as well as economic and environmental aspects. Stigma and prejudices surrounding gender and menstruation have influenced the menstrual experience and the exercise of fundamental rights, cementing and reinforcing discrimination and exclusion.

Its considered specifically reproductive and sanitary treated like a problem of public health something to be cleaned or sanitized. All these words imply a conception of menstruation as a bad, dirty blood, she says.

The group started with a simple observation: there were no childrens books on this issue.

So we wrote one Menstruating Princesses we wanted to challenge the idea of what a princess was that European idea women who are without body hair, who dont menstruate. We started to develop teaching and storytelling even a board game.

Feminism it was missing a piece: menstruation. When we manage to break that silence, it opens other doors too.

Carolina Ramrez, Creator of Princesas Menstruantes

Approaching from a social enterprise angle are WAM Bienestar, who sell sustainable products and run workshops for 8- to 30-year-olds: they noticed the same thing happening in their education work that the taboos and myths around the menstrual cycle feed into deeper cycles of oppression and gender-based violence.

Its an issue of machismo deeply rooted misogyny, I feel that the more deeply-rooted the taboos, the more physical violence against the body: the more machista the culture, the bigger the aversion to female sexuality, menstruation and womens bodies, Juliana Orrego tells me.

The taboo of talking about menstruation is present across Colombia rural and urban she says, but the specifics of the myths can vary widely: that you cant hold a baby, or cook, or cut your hair while menstruating.

But there are a lot of obstacles nobody talks at home, theres shame and silence. That shame is very limiting.

As well as the cultural, economic, and biological elements, the ecological element is increasingly taking centre stage, and with it the menstrual cup and washable pads like those which WAM sell and which are part of Comfamas subsidy programme.

The cup was also a way into education: using a cup makes you get to know your body, where things are, how things feel, Juliana tells me, though the menstrual cup presents its own cultural challenges in some places. There are people who think that using a cup is a loss of virginity: we teach about the hymen, about what virginity is a social concept more than anything.

While there is resistance to education and open communication from religious groups in particular it is clear that steps are being taken in the right direction, and that a conversation is opening up regionwide.

The taboo is a spiderweb we have to remove it thread by thread in order to clear the windows, Carolina says.

Emily Hart is a journalist and researcher covering Latin America. Her stories have been featured in the Times, the Telegraph, Sky News, Pitchfork, Dazed, Colombia Reports, The Bogota Post etc.

She is also newsreader and host for the Colombia Calling podcast.

Subscribe to her weekly news round-up (audio and text) The Colombia Briefing here

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The missing piece of feminism the long road to menstrual justice in Latin America - Latin America Reports

Michael McDermott believes he is the first meme page admin to run for public office in Ireland. The person behind the Facebook page Trinity Collidge, McDermott has amassed an internet following with clever, if often absurd, satire, as well as through his animated past campaigns in Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) elections, running in 2018 for role of the unions president and the editorship of this newspaper simultaneously.

In an interview with The University Times, McDermott draws a parallel between those and his current bid for the Seanad. I guess its very much: If I get it, thatd be great.

On the other hand: If I dont, I just go back to what I was doing anyway.

Labelled as a joke candidate in his past efforts for office, the meme page admin largely agrees with this label, but warns its not a joke if I win, though, and then quickly changes his mind. Or its an even better joke.

The fact that McDermott is running in a 17 candidate race for one seat that can only be voted on by a small portion of the electorate is not lost on him. Its silly that thats a constituency, he says. Its just weird, he laughs. Some of the smartest people Ive ever known have been graduates of Trinity, some of the dumbest people Ive known are also graduates of Trinity.

Remembering the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum, McDermott says he voted to retain the Upper House, on the assumption that reform would follow. I dont remember what my reasonings were. I thought, give them a chance, I guess. I dont think anythings actually really been done since then.

its not a joke if I win. Or its an even better joke

Understandably, then, one of McDermotts campaign slogans is abolish from within. How would this work in practice? I think I would just be so annoying and also just take away the, what would you call it, prestige of being a Seanadir. Just having me there I think would bring the whole thing down so much that no ones really going to want to be elected after me, and it basically abolishes itself.

Im surprised there arent more joke candidates in Irish politics. I mean, the UK has Count Bin Face, the Monster Raving Loony Part, and I think Irish politics could benefit from a bit of levity.

To McDermott, this is even more true due to some of the grave situations Irish politics finds itself in. With the housing crisis, theres not a shortage of houses, its just, theyre not selling to people. Having been a victim of an unfair lease termination over the summer himself, McDermott sees the direction the housing market is going and thinks its more profitable to basically, turn [buildings] into something thats not housing, or just leave them vacant.

On this, and on most other issues, McDermott says he doesnt yet have a specific policy, but believes this is to a democratic advantage. If I did get into the Seanad, Im not a person whos coming into this with all the things I want to do. Instead Id probably be a perfect representative, because if enough people annoy me on Twitter with something, Ill be like, okay, I guess I can use my speaking time to raise that issue or whatever. I think in a roundabout way, itd be the most democratic Seanad really.

McDermotts fianc has a hip debilitating hip condition, which has opened his eyes to concerns about disability rights in Ireland. She talks to me about how in the US, not everythings really accessible, but like, its a different world compared to someplace like Dublin.

Legislation-wise, the Seanad hopeful adds that the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that a lot of places have to be accessible, whereas Dublins just an awful city to get around with if you have any kind of difficulties moving.

I want her to be able to walk around the city safely without being in a massive amount of pain. So, I think we need to really have a better think about how this country is laid out. I worry when Im bringing her to the train that like, you know, theres no one there, shed have to go somewhere on her own.

Noting Dr Tom Clonan as another candidate who is passionate about disability rights in the bye election race, McDermott compliments his sincerity it seems like something hes very genuine about. This is in contrast to when McDermott ran a satirical campaign for TCDSU president in 2018, where his opponents ran to launch a political career. Having like, good, genuine people makes it hard to be a bit of a jokester.

Im surprised there arent more joke candidates in Irish politics. The UK has Count Bin Face, the Monster Raving Loony Part, and I think Irish politics could benefit from a bit of levity

McDermott raises other concerns affecting Ireland at the moment. Im very anti climate change he says earnestly. I dont know, I do my bit. I separate my recyclings from the general waste, and then, I turn on Twitter and the Gulf of Mexico is on fire.

Aside from acknowledging the importance of improving public transport systems in the struggle against climate change, the candidate doesnt believe the problem deserves to be dealt with tentatively. I think were past the point where personal choices are going to make any difference. I think we kind of just have to completely re-organise the way the world is run to have any chance of mitigating it.

This all sounds rather capital-G Green, and yet McDermott is running as an independent. I dont particularly like the concept of political parties, he admits. I just cant imagine myself joining any party. It seems that even if there are parties [where] the general kind of policy seemed grand, sometimes the culture can be apparently quite toxic.

Youth political parties creep me out, he says. Most of my interaction with Irish politics comes from Twitter, and the people who were in a youth party, like they kind of scare me.

McDermott goes on, half-explaining how valuable his status as a newbie to Irish politics is. I cant imagine deciding at like 16 or 17: Ive got to join this group. And then five years later theyre in government and are doing really horrible shit and like being like: Well I have all my eggs in this basket. Gonna have to defend this shit.

Despite a dislike for party politics, McDermott names Hazel Chu as his biggest competitor in the Seanad race. Shes the only candidate Id actually heard of before, he admits. As soon as she declared, I was like, well, Im not going to win this one.

You join a political party at 16 or 17, then five years later theyre in government and are doing really horrible shit and youre like: Well I have all my eggs in this basket. Gonna have to defend this shit.

On his PhD candidacy, McDermott says that, unlike Hannah Montana, he is getting the worst of both worlds, since PhD work is not considered standard employment. Turning off the satire for a moment, McDermott explains how, as a PhD student, you are working a full-time job but are just getting a set monthly amount in payment, which can be enough to live, I guess, but not necessarily comfortably.

I mean, in my case, my rent is half the stipend. So, instantly, half my stipend has just gone to having a roof over your head.

A lot of times, especially when deadlines are coming by, especially around [the] time of your thesis,you could be working like 60- to 80-hour weeks, but youre still getting the same amount of money.

So yeah, Id definitely be an advocate of PhD students getting more money. And thats one of my things, is that, you know, if you elect me to the Seanad, Ill be a PhD student getting more money, he says with a grin. My standard of living will go up significantly.

McDermotts PhD researches a type of infrared lasers, which, he quickly reassures, are not the dangerous spy-movie kind. I dont think youre allowed bring weapons into the Seanad. I guess if it was more visible light it could really help me abolish the Seanad. If I was just there, like pointing lasers at everyone.

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Michael McDermott: One of the Few Joke Candidates in Irish Politics - The University Times

February 18, 2022 | 11:36am

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 2:12 p.m.) The European Parliament has approved a fresh resolution condemning "drug war" killings and the red-tagging of activists and journalists in the Philippines as it warned ofpossible trade sanctions if calls remainunheeded.

The resolution called on the Philippine government to immediately end violence and human rights violations targeting suspected drug offenders and to stop labelinghuman rights and environmental defenders, journalists and trade union activists as supporters and allies of communist rebels.

"In this regard, [the European Parliament] calls for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in charge of carrying out red-tagging,"the resolution read, which also urged the government to amend the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act and its implementing rules and regulations.

Red-tagged rights alliance Karapatan welcomed the adoption of the resolution, and thanked the members of the European Parliament who voted pass it.

"We also laud the European Parliament, which categorically stated through the said resolution its position for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, as it denounced the practice of red-tagging by government officials against activists, journalists and critics, exposing them to potential harm," the group also said.

"Such a position reaffirms the lack of credibility and the notoriety of the NTF-ELCAC, amid its hubris on its officials junkets in Europe," they said.

Karapatan, which the NTF-ELCAC has accused of being a communist front whose human rights work the government has equated with terrorism, has reported the loss of at least 13 rights defenders since the start of the Duterte administration.

Activist Zara Alvarez, a paralegal for Karapatan, was shot dead in Bacolod City in 2020. Alvarez had been included in red-tagging posters that circulated in in the city along with other activists and human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos who was killed in 2018.

The Philippine government has yet to respond but statements from abroad on the human rights situation in the Philippines are often dismissed as foreign interference. The government has maintained that it is aware of its obligation to defend and uphold human rights and that it has been doing that.

The Department of Justice has also been reviewing "drug war" cases where supposed drug personalities were killed and has found lapses in protocol in many of the cases reviewed.

The European Parliament also asked the Philippines to conduct "impartial, transparent, independent and meaningful investigations"into all extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance of activists and into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

RELATED:17 cops face murder raps over deaths of two Bloody Sunday victims

It urged the government to release human rights defenders and journalists who have been unfairly detained, respect peoples right to freedom of expression and ensure that journalists can do their work without fear.

European parliamentarians likewise reiterated theircall to end what they said was the persecutionof Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and the political harassment of Sen.Leila De Lima, who has been detained since 2017.

The resolution was adopted Thursday with 627 votes in favor, 26 against and 31 abstentions.

The European Parliament issued similar texts in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.

READ:DOJ: Four of 52 deadly PNP 'drug war' cases reviewed now in courts

European parliamentarians also raised concern that political rights will be further violated and restricted in the upcoming May polls.

[The European Parliament] calls on all candidates to refrain from using disinformation campaigns and troll armies, and to commit to fair and fact-based campaigning, thus preventing further divisions in Philippine society and politics, the resolution read.

They called on authorities to ensure fair and free elections and a non-toxic environment for online and offline campaigning.

[The European Parliament] deplores the deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines under President Duterte and hopes to see free and fair elections leading to a democratic government which upholds, investigates and prosecutes past human rights violations and rejoins the Rome Statute, they said.

Opinion polls showed the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos as the frontrunner to succeed Duterte. Under the elder Marcos' Martial Law, 70,000 people were detained, 34,000 were tortured and 3,240 were killed.

The junior Marcos andthe clan's supporters dispute the figures as well as the accounts of victims and survivors. President Duterte, whose daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is running for vice president, has often praised the elder Marcos and allowed the burial of his remains in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in November 2016.

The parliamentarians "strongly" reiterated the call to the European Commission to initiate the procedure which could lead to the temporary withdrawal of Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP+) if there is no substantial improvement and willingness to cooperate on the part of the Philippine authorities.

"How many rights defenders must lose their lives before we do something? I therefore call on the EU Commission to immediately begin the withdrawal of GSP+ which has been granted to the Philippines. We have to stop being complicit in this massive violation of human rights,"said Marie Arena, chair of the European Parliaments subcommittee on human rights.

According to European Parliament vice president Heidi Hautala, the Philippines has been enjoyingtariff preference under the GSP+ scheme since 2014.

"The current GSP+ scheme is up for review, with the current arrangement coming to its end in 2023. Now the EU must see a steep positive curve in the Philippine human rights situation to be able to accept its possible reapplication to the scheme by 2024,"she said.

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European Parliament calls for end to red-tagging, killings in Philippines - Philstar.com

Presidents Day isn't just a day off... or is it?

The third Monday of every February is a time to remember past presidents but also give some workers a three-day weekend.

USA TODAY

Vermont has produced two U.S. presidents. The more recent of the two, Calvin Coolidge, who served nearly 100 years ago, is relatively well-known historically, has a meticulously preserved state historic site in Plymouth and is celebrated statewide in large part because of his rousing brave little statespeech about Vermont.

Then there is his predecessor as president from Vermont, Chester Alan Arthur, who served among a group of relatively obscure chief executives in the late 1800s. Arthur is the focus of a bare-bones state historic site one, it turns out, that isnt even his birthplace as was originally thought with an exhibit that refers to him as Vermonts other president.

In honor of Presidents Day, maybe its time to elevate Chester Alan Arthur just a little bit in the eyes of those who live where he lived, at least in his early years. Here are 21 facts about the 21st president.

1. Arthur was born Oct. 5, 1829 in Fairfield. His father, Irish immigrant William Arthur, was a preacher and his mother, Malvina Stone, was from Berkshire. Some historical documentation, including a plaque at his gravesite, cites 1830 as his birth year. His birthplace has also been up for debate, as some rumormongers during his presidential run suggested Arthur was born in Canada.

2. Arthurs family moved when he was a boy from Franklin County to Chittenden County, starting in Williston, a flourishing town of about 1,600 on the stagecoach route between Burlington and Montpelier, according to the 2017 book The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger. A year later, Greenberger writes, the family moved to Hinesburg for a couple of years before relocating permanently to New York state.

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3. Chester Arthur attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, graduating in 1848.

4. He taught in North Pownal in the same school where Greenbergers book notes that his predecessor as president, James A. Garfield, also taught.

5. Arthur became a lawyer in New York City; one of his first high-profile cases saw him represent a young Black woman who filed a lawsuit after being physically forced to leave a streetcar designated for whites only. Jennings won a $250 settlement and, according to Greenbergers book, the case set the process in motion to desegregate the citys streetcars.

6. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 appointed Arthur to the powerful position of collector for the Port of New York, where he became known as a proponent of the "spoils system" that rewarded political cronies with jobs.Honorable in his personal life and his public career, Arthur nevertheless was a firm believer in the spoils system when it was coming under vehement attack from reformers, according to his page at The White House website. He insisted upon honest administration of the Customs House, but staffed it with more employees than it needed, retaining them for their merit as party workers rather than as Government officials.

7. In 1880, Arthur became an unlikely vice president after multiple votes at the Republican National Convention led to him being chosen as the running mate for Garfield, an Ohio congressman.

8. Critics were aghast at Arthurs history of cronyism. Despite his faults, Arthur had some redeeming qualities, most notably his commitment to abolition, according to the 2019 book Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen.

9. Garfield served less than a year as president. He was shot July 2, 1881 by Charles Guiteau, who felt Garfield had spurned him for a government post that Arthur would grant him. Garfield would die just over two months later.

10. Arthur, though often opposed to Garfields policies, was aghast at his shooting. His valet, Aleck Powell, told a reporter of Arthurs reaction to Garfields death following a question about Arthurs plans. He is sitting alone in his room sobbing like a child, with his head on his desk and his face buried in his hands, Greenbergers book quotes Powell as saying. I dare not disturb him.

11. The New York Times was among publications and individuals horrified at the prospect of an Arthur presidency, calling him about the last man who would be considered eligible to that position.

12. Arthur handled the lingering situation between Garfields shooting and death well, changing negative views about him, according to Cohens book. Public opinion had shifted and it seemed that citizens and the press alike were ready to give him the benefit of the doubt as president, Cohen writes.

13. The new president shocked opponents and supporters by working to dismantle the spoils system, honoring the work started by Garfield. He knew the American people would never have chosen him to be president, Greenberger writes. Now he was determined to show he was worthy of the job.

14. Arthur initially vetoed a proposal by Congress to bar the immigration of Chinese laborers for 20 years but, despite his reputation as a defender of civil rights, later signed a revised version that reduced the length of time to 10 years. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was repealed by the Magnuson Act in 1943.

15. Arthur took a trip to nascent Yellowstone National Park and asked Congress to pass legislation to preserve forests in the public domain, according to Greenbergers book.

16. The U.S. Navy was in disarray when Arthur became president. Arthur may be best remembered for civil service reform, Cohen writes, but where he really deserves credit is for being proactive around national defense. By the time he left office, Congress appropriated nearly $2 million for four new ships that according to Cohen represented the birth of the modern-day Navy.

17. Arthur remained unpopular within his own party and was not renominated by the Republicans for the 1884 election that would be won by Democrat Grover Cleveland. Arthurs legacy is more triumphant than his political demise would suggest, Cohen writes in his book. Arthur left the White House politically unrecognizable to those who knew him, according to Cohen, in large part because he rejected the spoils system.

18. Arthur suffered from Brights disease, a kidney ailment, and died in 1886 at age 57.

19. He is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery outside the state capital of New York with his wife, Ellen Herndon, and children, including Chester Alan Arthur II and his son, Chester Alan Arthur III.

20. The President Chester A. Arthur State Historic Site in 1903 became the first historic site owned by the state of Vermont, according to the website for the location. In 1953, the state oversaw reconstruction of the home Arthur was believed to have been born in. Research has ultimately proven this site was not the location of Arthurs birth and the true location of his birth is passionately debated. The house in Fairfield is now regarded as the second Vermont home of Arthur and his family.

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21. Arthur generally shows up in historical rankings in the lower tier of U.S. presidents, well behind Coolidge, whos usually in the middle of the pack. But signs are looking up for Arthur the C-SPAN survey asking historians to rank presidents hadhim 35th in 2017, but four years later listed him 30th.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

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Here are 21 facts about Vermont's 'other president,' Chester Alan Arthur - Burlington Free Press

In Frances overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, people wonder why, with so many endemic problems, the law on Covid vaccines is the only one France seems intent on enforcing. Since November 2021 the French Antilles (also known as the French Caribbean or French West Indies) have been rocked by large-scale political protests, with demonstrations, strikes and barricades. Popular anger is directed at the state: shots have been fired at the police, occasionally with military weapons; customs premises and a gun shop have been looted, a supermarket, shops and cars burned. The French government sent in elite police units, but in Guadeloupe protesters occupied the regional legislature for two days in December, and on 4 January occupied the hospital in Pointe--Pitre, Guadeloupes second largest city, and beat up its director.

Three factors have led to this crisis. The first is popular protests against the Covid pass, which people claim makes life hell, and healthcare professionals refusing mandatory Covid vaccination. People remember the chlordecone scandal, and again believe the government is trying to poison them; chlordecone (marketed as Kepone in the US) was an insecticide used on banana plantations in 1972-93, causing prostate and (reportedly) breast cancers, premature births and development issues in infants. For years the French government ignored World Health Organization warnings of its carcinogenic potential (issued as early as 1979), and more than 90 per cent of Guadeloupeans and Martiniquans were exposed.

The second factor is the rising prices of petrol and bottled gas for cooking, which have increased the cost of living. Last is the feeling that the French Antilles are treated like colonies. Guadeloupe and Martinique are in fact French overseas territories or departments part of metropolitan France itself but the local population tend to forget this and have a deep-seated resentment of the Bk (white Creoles).

They see the huge profits made by local supermarkets mostly owned by a Bk-founded group as exploitation of inherited privilege. This oligopoly (which the authorities have failed to legislate against) pushes food prices up: official figures show the same products can cost 38 per cent more in the French Caribbean than in metropolitan France; in reality it can be twice as much.

Trade union roadblocks werent enough to start a movement of any size, but they soon gave way to maroon [runaway slave] barricades manned by ordinary people who began to play a central role in the protests. The self-proclaimed Autonomous Republic of La Boucan blockaded the town of Sainte-Rose, paralysing Guadeloupes entire construction sector. Out of the chaos, a list of demands has emerged: revoke mandatory vaccination and Covid passes, cut taxes on petrol and gas, combat the rising cost of living, create jobs for the young.

Meanwhile, youths in hoodies have been looting shops and extorting drivers at wildcat roadblocks. Frdric Dumesnil, aka Bwana, from Baie-Mahault, a mediator for local NGOs, thinks the violence was inevitable: There comes a point where people have had enough of marching in the heat and attending endless meetings. Its like a third world country here: we have problems with our drinking water, and half our young people are unemployed [...]. [Emmanuel] Macron said himself that we are at war!

Bwana continues: The youths on the barricades say: They never worried about our health when they were using chlordecone. How come theyre so worried now that we have to get vaccinated? When its the construction bosses holding the country to ransom, they negotiate a solution in three days. But when its us, they send in the GIGN and the RAID [police tactical units].

The owner of a small business employing nine people told me he was getting by, though things had not been easy. He was proud of his roots and keen to work with Caribbean and African suppliers, but first had to overcome French and European Union administrative barriers, which cut the French Antilles off from the rest of the region. He also found it hard to get a bank loan: local institutions are wary (except when issuing consumer loans) and small businesses dont have much faith in their judgment. Support from local authorities has too many strings attached, and in any case you need connections.

The businessowner started small, importing essential oils from neighbouring Dominica with help from fishermen friends. The business gradually expanded, using second-hand cars and an old forklift. It started off in a one-room apartment, then moved to two rooms, then a converted nursery. It was ten years before he could hire a chemical engineer and start creating real added value. Few entrepreneurs get this far: Boris Dupoux, an engineer involved in local entrepreneurship development, says: If you feel youre at the end of the supply chain, that youre not really creating any value and youre just consuming, it makes you feel degraded and unrecognised.

The politicians are partly responsible. People on the barricades complain about a lack of transparency in the allocation of public funding; about national and European aid that never makes it into the economy and gets lost; and the disastrous way the water network has been managed.

Harry Durimel, mayor of Pointe--Pitre, says: Our water problems come from 40 years of mismanagement by the local authorities and multinationals such as Gnrale des Eaux. Durimel, previously head of an environmental NGO, found out when filing a complaint that the council had signed an undertaking not to complain about the water company once their contract ended. But when they left, the pipes were crumbling. The uplands in Guadeloupe can get as much as ten metres of rainfall a year, but the state of the network means the water can be off for months at a time. Hundreds of thousands of euros that users have paid towards maintenance seem to have vanished into thin air.

lie Domota, former general secretary of the UGTG (Union Gnrale des Travailleurs de Guadeloupe) and spokesperson for the Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP, Alliance Against Profiteering, an umbrella group of trade unions and social movements), says current events remind him of May 1967, when police and demonstrators clashed following a racist attack.

The bosses back then said: The Blacks will go back to work when theyre hungry[...]. Now [Frances] minister for overseas territories, Sbastien Lecornu, says anyone who doesnt want to get vaccinated can see a psychologist, who will tell them why theyre wrong.

He says...our refusal is cultural, as if we were incapable of understanding scientific discussion. Its like chlordecone: the government is lying to us. All we want is for our doctors to be allowed to prescribe ivermectin [an antiparasitic falsely claimed to be effective against Covid], so we have a choice of treatment or vaccine, like other Caribbean countries. They say its the law. If thats true, why dont they enforce the laws on water treatment and distribution? Or on the amount of chlordecone in the water supply? Or seismic standards for public buildings?

In recent years, Guadeloupeans have come to feel that nothing works properly. The public education system has operated only sporadically for years, amid repeated strikes, Covid lockdowns and the current protests. The pandemic has temporarily saved the university from imploding, as remote learning seems to have shut down public score-settling in the local media. The state of the hospital at Pointe--Pitre has had extensive media coverage: water leaks, floods, mould, insect infestations, a fire in 2017, and, above all, severe staff shortages. Frequent strikes by non-medical staff eventually spurred the authorities into action, and a new hospital has been under construction for two years.

Waste collection is often stopped by fires at treatment centres. The latest strike lasted two months (July-August 2021), and the prefectural authorities have condemned poor financial and technical management, in a barely disguised criticism of the local authorities who appointed those in charge. Social security staff recently had a 50-day strike after accusing their bosses of racism and discrimination. They have been complaining for years about the poor service the agency provides, due to the steady reduction of staffing levels.

Support for the protests, but disgruntlement over the disruption causedMartinique activist group RVN were in the news in 2020 after toppling statues of the Empress Josephine and 17th-century trader Pierre Blain dEsnambuc, symbols of European colonialism, and looting a distillery shop accused of displaying symbols of slavery. RVN also instigated a premature harvest on a banana plantation in protest at land-grabbing by Bks, and symbolically renamed the village of Schlcher (named after Victor Schlcher, commemorated in the French Antilles as the architect of the abolition of slavery). The name they chose was Romain, after a slave who defied the ban on drumming on his plantation to start the movement that led to emancipation on 23 May 1848.

Popular events such as Carnival have been cancelled in the name of fighting the pandemic, while those aimed at outsiders, such as the Raid des Alizs (a multi-sport competition for women) and the Jacques Vabre yacht race, have gone ahead another sign of colonialism, according to many locals.

Though most people support the protest movement more than 60 per cent are still refusing vaccination the form it has taken irritates them. They cant understand why roads have to be blocked and are alarmed by the violence of masked, and sometimes armed, youths. The local economy is made up of tens of thousands of small businesses employing nearly 100,000 people across the islands. They have been badly affected by the movement, and their owners see the repeated blockades, especially of the port at Pointe--Pitre, as unfair.

A man who works at the hospital says the authorities are even preventing his children from playing sports: they now need a PCR test before every gym class, though theyll be mixing with others who havent been tested because they have been vaccinated, and could still pass on the virus. Over the last two years, accessing sports facilities and clubs has become more and more difficult, a concern given the rise in youth obesity.

The age pyramid, by contrast, is unnaturally slim in the younger age bands, owing to an exodus of young people from the age of 20: half go to study overseas, others leave to find work or better opportunities. Over 90 per cent say they would like to move back, but wont just yet, because of the current situation.

This article has been translated from French.

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