On The Vine: An act of self-preservation
Both nothing and everything weighs on my mind this week.
We’ve yelled and cried and expatiated about so many ills present still today, but this week, I don’t know what more there is to say. Maybe someone else should have taken the mic for this week’s On The Vine. Instead you get me, stuck somewhere between exhausted and galvanized; desensitized and still in awe.
Even with the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson — a moment that makes the world pause for just a second and smile — we’re still contending with COVID woes, racism in policing and abroad, Florida’s anti-gay bill and other states similarly turning an ignorantly hateful eye to the diaspora of identities.
The load is heavy.
So in an act of self-preservation — we started this year talking about the quest to find your joy — I think I just leave it at that for now, breathe, and get into (some of) the news of the week.
Around the block
KCPD officer almost died of COVID. Now she recovers, helped by fellow cops, Hispanic community
The Star’s Aaron Torres writes (in English and Spanish):
The priest entered the hospital room alone, to pray for healing.
He also administered Lisa Sidenstick her last rites.
By this time in February, the Kansas City police officer and mother of four had been in a medically induced coma at North Kansas City Hospital for nearly a month. She was in grave danger of dying from COVID-19 and hope of recovery was slipping away.
For weeks, her father, Joe Arce, founder and publisher of the bilingual newspaper KC Hispanic News, had been preparing himself for the death of his eldest daughter.
“We just didn’t know if she would go at any minute,” he said.
Sidenstick’s long illness, at a time when much of the country has tried to move on from the pandemic, hit home for two particular communities in Kansas City.
At the Kansas City Police Department, where the nine-year-veteran of the force is affectionately known as “Mama Lisa,” an outpouring of support came from up and down the ranks, from officers to the chief of police.
And in the Hispanic community on Kansas City’s West Side, generations of Kansas Citians touched by Arce’s work over the years stepped forward to support the family in their time of need, including with a crowded fundraising event earlier last month at the Guadalupe Center’s historic facility on Avenida Cesar E. Chavez.
As a Hispanic person and a police officer, Sidenstick, 45, is a member of two high-risk groups for COVID at once.
The virus has been the No. 1 killer of police officers for more than a year. Hispanic Americans, meanwhile, have been at higher risk for hospitalizations or death from COVID-19, in part because of social determinants of health: lack of access to health care and higher exposure in the jobs they do.
But most of all, she was unvaccinated.
More from The Star...
Another lawsuit claims Kansas City’s water department fails to address discrimination
Missouri high court throws out Keith Carnes’ convictions in KC murder, orders release
Founders of Kansas City gentlemen’s club Blakk Co. to create a space for women of color
Why Ochai Agbaji fell into his parents’ arms, crying, after Kansas Jayhawks’ title win
‘Zero tolerance’: Clergy urge KC police board to hire chief who will root out racism
In the aftermath of the publication of The Star’s yearlong investigation into racism within the Kansas City Police Department, the community has called for action.
This week, nearly two dozen Kansas City faith leaders gathered on the steps of the department headquarters to urge the Board of Police Commissioners to hire a new chief who’s committed to fighting racism.
Glenn Rice and Luke Nozicka report for The Star:
The faith leaders, including ones who have worked with KCPD on community initiatives, gathered in response to a yearlong Star investigation into racism within the police department, which published about a week ago. Black officers told the newspaper that white colleagues have called them racial slurs and made derogatory comments.
Black officers also told The Star that they are disciplined more harshly than their white peers, leading to a department that has fewer Black officers today than it did decades ago. Just 11.6% of cops are Black in a city that is 28% Black.
At the press conference, Rabbi Doug Alpert of Congregation Kol Ami said the next police chief should come from outside the department and work toward a culture in which there is “zero tolerance for racism and racist officers.”
“A culture and environment in which the next generation of Black kids will want to join the KCPD,” Alpert said. “We, our Black brothers and sisters in the KCPD, our Black neighborhoods, our entire city will be better for it.”
Beyond the block
Florida’s governor signs controversial law opponents dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’
Last week was pretty busy. We didn’t get around to this news, so I’ll simply present with an eye roll.
The bill, which some opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay,” was signed by DeSantis on Monday. It reads, “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Supporters of the legislation say it’s meant to allow parents to determine when and in what way to introduce LGBTQ topics to their children. It also gives parents an option to sue a school district if the policy is violated.
During a press conference ahead of signing the law, DeSantis said teaching kindergarten-aged kids that “they can be whatever they want to be” was “inappropriate” for children.
More to read...
Florida’s law limiting LGBTQ discussion in schools, explained
Pakistan is thrown into crisis after the prime minister dissolves parliament
The Senate confirms Jackson, elevating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
History.
From The New York Times:
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to be elevated to the pinnacle of the judicial branch in what her supporters hailed as a needed step toward bringing new diversity and life experience to the court.
Overcoming a concerted effort by conservative Republicans to derail her nomination, Judge Jackson was confirmed on a 53-47 vote, with three Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in backing her. The vote was a rejection of Republican attempts to paint her as a liberal extremist who has coddled criminals. Dismissing those portrayals as distorted and offensive, Judge Jackson’s backers saw the confirmation as an uplifting occasion, one where a representative of a group often pushed into the background instead moved to the forefront...
“Even in the darkest times, there are bright lights,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “Today is one of the brightest lights. Let us hope it’s a metaphor, an indication of many bright lights to come.”
Keep on keeping on
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