COVID-19: How do Canada and the U.S. compare in controlling the outbreak

CBC News: The National

Published on Jul 20, 2020

Infectious disease experts talk to National co-host Andrew Chang about how Canada and the U.S. compare at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and what happens when the border opens.

Impact of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean – UN Chief

United Nations

Published on Jul 20, 2020

Video message by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the launch of policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Officials demand troops out of Portland, Trump threatens more force

CBC News: The National

Published on Jul 20, 2020

State and local officials in Oregon are demanding federal authorities, brought in to break up protests, get out of Portland. But U.S. President Donald Trump wants to expand his law-and-order plans to other cities, blaming Democrats for the ongoing protests and unrest.

Why These Former Trump Voters Are Disappointed By President’s Behavior | NowThis

Republican Voters Against Trump

Published on Jul 17, 2020

“He is very slowly chipping away at our democracy one little piece at a time.”

Are you a Republican, ex-Republican, or Trump-voter who won’t support the president this November?

Listen as this former Trump supporter delivers an emotional plea to Republicans to vote for Biden

Republican Voters Against Trump

Published on Jul 17, 2020

“He is very slowly chipping away at our democracy one little piece at a time.”

Are you a Republican, ex-Republican, or Trump-voter who won’t support the president this November?

Bernie Sanders Urges A 10% Cut To The Pentagon – BRAVE NEW FILMS (BNF)

bravenewfoundation

Published on Jul 20, 2020

We need more masks not bombs!

Join Senator Bernie Sanders and call (202) 224-3121

Tell your Senators to pass the Sanders Amendment to cut the Pentagon by 10%

Why the U.S. still doesn’t have control of COVID-19, 6 months after pandemic began

PBS NewsHour

Published on Jul 20, 2020

It was just about six months ago that the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the U.S. Since then, the pandemic has exacted an enormous toll in terms of both human lives and economic harm — with no end in sight. Amna Nawaz marks the moment with two people focused on solving the pandemic: Dr. Rajiv Shah of the Rockefeller Institute and John Barry of Tulane University School of Public Health.

Oregon governor says ‘Trump troops’ in Portland are escalating tensions, not easing them

PBS NewsHour

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Published on Jul 20, 2020
Kate Brown is the governor of Oregon, where ongoing protests over race and police violence have attracted federal attention. Some agents deployed to Portland have refused to identify themselves to protesters, and their tactics have drawn criticism — and even provoked a lawsuit. Gov. Brown joins John Yang to discuss her concerns about lack of communication and what she considers “political theater.”

‘It’s embarrassing’: Larry King on Trump’s Fox News interview

RT America

Published on Jul 20, 2020

Broadcasting icon Larry King joins Rick Sanchez to weigh in on President Trump’s hostile and unflattering recent interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

‘My Nigerian great-grandfather sold slaves’ – BBC News

BC Interview – Newshour, 19 July 2020:

Amid the global debate about race relations, colonialism and slavery, some of the Europeans and Americans who made their fortunes in trading human beings have seen their legacies reassessed, their statues toppled and their names removed from public buildings.

Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani writes that one of her ancestors sold slaves, but argues that he should not be judged by today’s standards or values.

My great-grandfather, Nwaubani Ogogo Oriaku, was what I prefer to call a businessman, from the Igbo ethnic group of south-eastern Nigeria. He dealt in a number of goods, including tobacco and palm produce. He also sold human beings.

“He had agents who captured slaves from different places and brought them to him,” my father told me.

Nwaubani Ogogo’s slaves were sold through the ports of Calabar and Bonny in the south of what is today known as Nigeria.

People from ethnic groups along the coast, such as the Efik and Ijaw, usually acted as stevedores for the white merchants and as middlemen for Igbo traders like my great-grandfather.

They loaded and offloaded ships and supplied the foreigners with food and other provisions. They negotiated prices for slaves from the hinterlands, then collected royalties from both the sellers and buyers.

About 1.5 million Igbo slaves were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean between the 15th and 19th Centuries.

More than 1.5 million Africans were shipped to what was then called the New World – the Americas – through the Calabar port, in the Bight of Bonny, making it one of the largest points of exit during the transatlantic trade.

The only life they knew

Nwaubani Ogogo lived in a time when the fittest survived and the bravest excelled. The concept of “all men are created equal” was completely alien to traditional religion and law in his society.

t would be unfair to judge a 19th Century man by 21st Century principles.

Assessing the people of Africa’s past by today’s standards would compel us to cast the majority of our heroes as villains, denying us the right to fully celebrate anyone who was not influenced by Western ideology.

Igbo slave traders like my great-grandfather did not suffer any crisis of social acceptance or legality. They did not need any religious or scientific justifications for their actions. They were simply living the life into which they were raised.

That was all they knew.

(… read more)

See related:

• Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Novelist | Essayist | Journalist | Humorist
• Mapping the Slave Trade: 1556-1823 – A Digital Humanities Project