EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome back to the DEI Digest. Here are some top headlines in diversity, equity and inclusion news for the week of June 13-17, 2022:
31 Men Linked to a White Supremacist/Nationalist Group Arrested for Conspiracy to Riot at an LGBTQ Pride Event in Idaho: As the nation marks the sixth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre affecting the LGBTQ community, and continues to reel from mass shootings in Buffalo (which was aimed at the Black community) and Uvalde, Texas, among too many other parts of the country, the FBI is now assisting in the investigation of an attempt by a far-right extremist group to cause harm at an LGBTQ pride event in Idaho. Because of the volume of news stories covering this incident, we have linked to a Google News roundup, which has compiled news from many sources. You'll also find Twitter posts about the incident. The link to Google News compilation is here.
Scientists Push to Rename Monkeypox Viruses: A group of scientists from Africa and other countries are urging leaders and the scientific community to stop using stigmatizing language around monkeypox viruses, and are advocating renaming the virus itself. The group published a position paper on June 10 outlining their rationale. Stigma around monkeypox has been an emerging issue as the World Health Organization and UNAIDS are emphasizing the need to avoid stigmatization of groups of people who are currently suffering during this outbreak - including harmful, homophobic, and racist imagery in media.
Read more from STAT News: https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/11/monkeypox-virus-name-stigma/
Read the position paper: https://virological.org/t/urgent-need-for-a-non-discriminatory-and-non-stigmatizing-nomenclature-for-monkeypox-virus/853
More on stigmatizing language from UNAIDS: https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2022/may/20220522_PR_Monkeypox
Expanding Heat Wave Threatens Low-Income Individuals & Those Who Work Outdoors: The week started with more than 100 million Americans under heat warnings and advisories as a heat wave that began in the Southwest expands across the country, including Georgia. Heat waves are of a major health concern and are the deadliest type of severe weather hazard in America - especially since many low-income people may lack access to air conditioning, and outdoor workers are in particularly dangerous risk, too.
Read more from Axios: https://www.axios.com/2022/06/13/heat-wave-intensifies-plains-chicago-memphis
National Resources Defense Council - "Toward a Renter's Right to Heat-Safe Housing": https://www.nrdc.org/experts/sam-whillans/toward-renters-right-heat-safe-housing
Legal Efforts Fail in Countering U.K. Government Plan to Expel Rwandan Asylum Seekers: On June 13, judges threw out last-ditch efforts by human rights groups to stop Britain from sending its first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda - described by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees as catastrophic. The plan Britain made with Rwanda, valued at 120 million pounds ($148 million U.S.), will send some migrants who arrived without authorization by crossing the English Channel in small boats from Europe. Human rights groups believe the policy is inhumane and will put migrants at risk; the U.K. government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson posits that this strategy will undermine human traffickers and reduce the number of migrants risking the dangerous crossing. There is a larger issue at play: Some observers have stated that there is a xenophobic, racist double standard being enacted by Western governments in 2022 - with Ukrainian refugees welcomed, but in the U.S., entry has been denied to many more people from Mexico, Central America, Haiti, and other refugees of color.
Read more about the U.K.'s moves from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-courts-hear-last-minute-appeals-stop-first-rwanda-deportation-flight-leaving-2022-06-13/
More on the double standard, from The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/double-standard-refugees-immigration/
A Letter from a Doctor to The New York Times Magazine's Ethicist Column - Caring for a Racist, Homophobic Patient: A physician wrote to The New York Times Magazine explaining an incident where a white, female patient referred to Black staff members by the N-word and the receptionist by an anti-gay slur. The writer reported that she stopped the behavior when she was told to knock it off, but a question remained: if she hasn't stopped, would it have been wrong to force her to leave the hospital? The columnist's response examined the ethics involved and duty to care.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/magazine/withhold-medical-care-racist-ethics.html
Compiled by Jeremy Craig, Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost, written June 13, 2022