Immigrants were revitalizing tiny Charleroi. Then Donald Trump’s attacks brought white supremacists and conservative influencers.; The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 14, 2024

Aliya Schneider, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Immigrants were revitalizing tiny Charleroi. Then Donald Trump’s attacks brought white supremacists and conservative influencers.

"Her customers hadn’t been going out much since Trump began disparaging andspreading lies about Haitian immigrants, first in Springfield, Ohio, and soon after, in Charleroi, where he falsely said Haitian immigrants brought a crime surge and financial strain to the town, claiming that it’s on the precipice of bankruptcy.

Quickly, the former president’s claims thrust the small town, where, in reality, crime was down and bankruptcy was nowhere on the horizon, into an unwanted national spotlight, exposing fault lines and ratcheting up anxiety and tensions that show little sign of abating weeks later.

Trump’s attacks on the Western Pennsylvania town appear to have emboldened people whose views once seemed to sit on the fringes...

Joe Manning, the borough manager in Charleroi, said the town that originally seemed to welcome immigrants has been tainted since Trump’s comments.

“By and large, these folks have received a lot of support in this community,” Manning said. " … But now, that seems to have changed. I don’t know if it’s ever going to go back to the way it was.”

And while the former president’s comments were directed at the Haitian community in Charleroi, his claims impact immigrants from across the globe."

Ohio sheriff asks for residents' addresses with Kamala Harris signs to send illegal immigrants to homes; Fox News, September 16, 2024

Stepheny Price  , Fox News; Ohio sheriff asks for residents' addresses with Kamala Harris signs to send illegal immigrants to homes

"A sheriff in Ohio took to social media to issue a warning to the public that anyone who is showing support for Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign could eventually house some extra guests. 

In a post on his personal campaign page, Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski appeared to encourage residents to write down the addresses of supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris."

‘Dangerous and un-American’: new recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration; The Guardian, August 31, 2024

 Jason Wilson, The Guardian; ‘Dangerous and un-American’: new recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration

"Vance also talked about institutions like universities and the media as components of a “broken elite system”, and portrayed their inhabitants as enemies whom conservatives would need to reckon with.

“There is no way for a conservative to accomplish our vision of society unless we’re willing to strike at the heart of the beast. That’s the universities.”"

At Pitt, war or not, Russian and Ukrainian cultures share a bond; PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, February 26, 2022

BILL SCHACKNER,  PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE; At Pitt, war or not, Russian and Ukrainian cultures share a bond

Immigrants who helped build the 'Steel city' are part of famed Nationality Rooms

[Kip Currier: An uplifting, poignant article, amidst the wrenching scenes emanating from an under-siege Ukraine.

The Nationality Rooms (more aptly, Classrooms) are one of the United States' truly singular treasures -- at the nexus of cultures and education -- and are my favorite place to take visitors, having had the privilege of serving as a Quo Vadis student organization volunteer tour guide for these architectural marvels during my undergraduate years at Pitt.]

"The Russian room, dedicated in 1938, and the Ukrainian room, dating to 1990, are historical treasures. But just as important, they are functioning classrooms at the University of Pittsburgh — part of the Cathedral of Learning's 31 famed Nationality Rooms.

Built on ethnic pride and donations, the rooms honor immigrants whose labor in the steel mills helped make Pittsburgh what it is today. In that, the two Eastern European communities share a deep bond.

Only now, Russia has invaded Ukraine and the countries are at war. Pitt undergraduates who routinely sit in these rooms taking classes that have nothing to do with geopolitics find themselves surrounded by trappings of cultures now locked in bloody conflict.

Time will tell if Pitt can turn all that into a teachable moment.

The rooms, like the people whose contributions built them, have always been about advancing understanding globally across cultures, said Kati Csoman, director of Pitt’s Nationality Rooms.

"They are intended to be spaces of, really, timelessness and cultural values," she said. "These are volunteers who have worked hard to raise funds for scholarships."

The Nationality Rooms are located on the first and third floors of the Cathedral, one of the world’s tallest classroom buildings, 42 stories high, its summit visible for miles beyond the sprawling Oakland campus. The massive Indiana limestone structure was opened in 1936 after a decade of construction.

Then-Chancellor John Bowman wanted to harness the enthusiasm of immigrant mill workers by establishing classrooms that would honor their traditions and inspire their children to seek a college education. That idea became the Nationality Rooms."

My column’s name does a disservice to the immigrants whose food I celebrate. So I’m dropping it.; The Washington Post, January 2, 2019

Tim Carman, The Washington Post; My column’s name does a disservice to the immigrants whose food I celebrate. So I’m dropping it.

"By writing about immigrant cuisines under a cheap-eats rubric, I have perpetuated the narrative that they should always be thought of as budget-priced...

Given this theory, I’ve had to ask myself uncomfortable questions, such as: Isn’t lumping certain cuisines under a cheap-eats banner only contributing to their low-class status? Am I not kneecapping, say, Central American cooks who toil in almost every kitchen in the District? Am I not telling these cooks that we, as Washingtonians, will never pay the same price for a Salvadoran, Guatemalan or Puerto Rican meal as we do for that plate of charred brassicas with mint chimichurri at the fancy New American restaurant where these immigrants are currently employed?...

By stripping this column of its previous name, I hope to remove at least one possible stigma about the restaurants that I decide to cover: that they are somehow “lesser” than the ones that might charge higher prices, have table service, offer a full bar or whatever confers prestige among diners. They are simply different in their approach. Many take just as much pride in their food as the chefs at the white-tablecloth restaurants do. I want to contribute to a society where it’s possible to esteem the high and low equally, each worthy of respect for what it does well."

Hillary Clinton Says Libraries Are Essential In Fight To Defend ‘Truth And Reason’; HuffPost, June 27, 2017

Hayley Miller, HuffPost; Hillary Clinton Says Libraries Are Essential In Fight To Defend ‘Truth And Reason’

"“The work you do is at the heart of an open, inclusive and diverse society,” Clinton told a crowd at the American Library Association’s conference in Chicago. “I believe libraries and democracy go hand-in-hand.”...

“You have to be on the front lines of one of the most important fights we have ever faced in history in this country: the right to defend truth and reason, evidence and facts,” she said...

The former first lady added that libraries are critical to the well-being of rural communities and provide invaluable resources to help immigrants and refugees learn English and “know their rights.”"

Britain just killed globalization as we know it; Washington Post, 6/25/16

Jim Tankersley, Washington Post; Britain just killed globalization as we know it:

"Political factions in other European countries are now clamoring to follow Britain out the door of the European Union. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is promising to levy the highest set of tariffs in the last century for America, against China, Mexico and other key trading partners. His presumptive Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, has vowed to renegotiate existing deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

These developments come at the hands of an anxious working class across the West, whose members feel left in the cold by many developments of the rapid integration of foreign products and people into their lives.

It is clear from the results of the British vote, and from Trump's rise in American politics, that there is a large backlash against the results of globalization so far. Native-born workers without college degrees are venting their frustrations with immigrants, with factory jobs outsourced abroad and with a growing sense of political helplessness -- the idea that their leaders no longer respond to concerns of people like them.

University-educated voters in Britain overwhelmingly sided with the "remain" campaign in Thursday's vote; those without college degrees powered the victory for "leave.""