"Do We Deserve to Kill?"
After a 17-year hiatus, in the summer of 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that the U.S. government would resume federal executions. Two people, Brandon Bernard and Alfred Bourgeois, were executed the week of December 7, 2020 as a result of this federal action. Three more people face execution before President-Elect Biden assumes office in January 2021. In a nation conflicted by issues of racial justice, freedom, and the protection of civil liberties, several questions have emerged: What is the threshold for the death penalty? Is it the commission of a crime? Simply being present at the scene of a crime? Hiding evidence? Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative says, “I think the threshold question is, ‘Do we deserve to kill?'”
Where the Wild Things Are
In April 2020, Girl Friday started tracking the Trump administration's renewed focus on auctioning off oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). On December 3, 2020, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that the controversial sale of oil and gas leases will take place on January 6, 2021. Indigenous activists, politicians, and conservation groups have been working hard to block this outcome for decades. Can we save ANWR?
Giving Tuesday & Season of Giving List
Because of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, there are so many charitable organizations and communities in dire need of support and resources. Below, with a focus on combatting hunger and supporting farmworkers in the United States, we’ve listed some of our favorite organizations for Giving Tuesday. Want to add to this list? Send us a direct message, or leave us a comment, on Instagram @DearGirlFriday. We’ll make updates and add new categories throughout the 2020 Season of Giving.
In Honor of The Butterflies: Eliminating Violence Against Women
Each year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is recognized on November 25 in honor of the courageous Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic. Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, better known as The Butterflies, were assassinated by the state on November 25, 1960 for leading a resistance movement against their country's ruthless dictator, Rafael Trujillo. While there's been progress, the United Nations believes every level of our global society can work harder to end violence against women and girls.
75 Years After Nuremberg
On this day in 1945, the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Germany was filled with notorious Nazis, including Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess, who had perpetrated some of the most heinous crimes during the Holocaust. Over the course of the trials, Nuremberg became the birthplace of modern international law, cementing concepts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seventy-five years after the Nuremberg Trials began, antisemitism still exists. How can we spot and stop antisemitism today?
Beyond Veterans Day
Every November 11, we pause to honor veterans in the United States. Originally called Armistice Day, it was created in 1919 to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I, but in 1954 the celebration expanded to include all veterans. Beyond Veterans Day, how we can support veterans experiencing challenges like homelessness?