Some criticism has focused on the contested legacy of a U.N. peacekeeping mission that intervened in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. Peacekeepers brought cholera to the country, and numerous instances of rape and sexual abuse, including of girls as young as 11, have been documented. “This is outrageous,” Marlene Daut, a professor of American and African diaspora studies at the University of Virginia, said this week in response to a Washington Post editorial that called for a new international peacekeeping force in Haiti. The editorial described the previous U.N. peacekeeping mission as having brought...
In the wake of Moise’s assassination, many questions remain about the role of the US, including how to successfully effect long-lasting change. Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born historian and political science professor at the University of Virginia, spoke to Time about the harm that international involvement in Haiti has caused. “[After the intervention], Haiti became a country dependent on international financial organizations for its funding, its budget – it was and still is at the mercy of what the international community is willing to give,” he said.
(Video and transcript) Haiti police arrested at least 20 people, including two U.S. citizens, in the aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse’s in his home on Wednesday. While the Haitian first lady is recovering in a hospital in Florida, the nation’s interim president asked the U.S. and the United Nations for military help to protect critical infrastructure. Marlene Daut, professor of African diaspora studies at the University of Virginia joins.
The Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has made its way to Virginia, but it only makes up about 11 percent of cases. That’s according to Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health. However, because this variant of the virus is more transmissible, he also thinks that it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the most common variant in the commonwealth.
(Video) Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at UVA, joins “American Voices with Alicia Menendez” to share advice for anyone with a loved one who doesn’t want to get vaccinated, and discusses why “long COVID” serves as a reminder of the seriousness of the virus.
(Transcript) As the debate over cancel culture grows, NPR’s Ari Shapiro takes a look back at a similar phenomenon in the early 1990s: the moral panic over political correctness. Among those interviewed is UVA media studies professor Meredith Clark.
University of Virginia Professor Larycia Hawkins said she was excited to witness this ‘historical correction.’ “This is a good day. It’s not erasing history. It’s, it’s removing monuments that tell the wrong narrative about history.”
Jalane Schmidt, a local activist and University of Virginia professor, said the forces that kept the statues standing for decades are still at work. “Those values that kept it there are still here; they’re still operative,” she said after the Jackson statue departed Court Square. “So we’ve got a lot of work to do. We can’t just pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘Oh good, we did it; we undid racism. There’s a lot of work to do, and this is just a more visible symbol of it, but the institutional systemic nature with the zoning codes” goes on. That’s why she’s going to continue to share the hist...
Jalane Schmidt, a local activist and professor at UVa, said it was a relief to see the statues come down. “It was really quick ... I’m glad they were able to move them. It’s amazing, because the wheels of government and bureaucracy often turn very slowly,” she said. Schmidt said she doesn’t want the city to rush into determining what should replace the statues. “I think what would be appropriate is to have community discussions about that and take time. These were here for a century, so we can take our time,” she said.
“I literally felt lighter when the statues came down, it was such a relief,” said Jalane Schmidt, a Charlottesville resident and academic who turned out to witness. Schmidt, who is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, said the statues, put up in the wake of the civil war to honor the leaders of the southern rebellion that aimed to maintain the enslavement of Black people, are “propaganda art, an attempt by white civic leaders to enshrine a view of the civil war that denied the humanity of Black people. They are a visual representation of white supremacy.”
John Edwin Mason, a history professor at the University of Virginia, scurried around the perimeter of the park as the removal of the Lee statue was underway to keep a close eye on the proceedings. “I’m really happy it’s a boring morning, and boring means that no bad things happened,” he said, adding, “The ordinariness of this occasion is fine.”
Larry J. Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, has balked at an attempt from the Republican Party of Virginia to force an ethics investigation prompted by several tweets critical of former President Donald Trump.
(Commentary) Over the past five years of searching, here’s the most compelling evidence I’ve found that has changed my mind about the great beyond: 1. Past life memory research at the University of Virginia. The research of Jim B. Tucker, M.D., and his mentor, the late Ian Stevenson, M.D., was one of the first things I discovered in my quest. Tucker is a child psychiatrist and professor at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies who researches kids and past-life memories. After children recount their memories of life in the past, Tucker and his team go on to see if the chil...
Doctors at the University of Virginia are tracking the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the commonwealth and the greater-Charlottesville area. That means sampling and sequencing strains of COVID-19 infections to pinpoint the variant. Although it makes up about 11% of all COVID-19 cases in Virginia, the Delta variant is the most common variant in the United States. The variant currently makes up over half of COVID-19 infections nationwide.
The University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center – which VDOE uses to gauge school-age population, defined as between 5 and 19 years old – estimates there are nearly 1.6 million people statewide who fall in this category. This means almost 3 in 4 kids in this age group are not vaccinated, and only about 1 in 5 are fully protected against the virus.
A weekly update from the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute, which has tracked COVID trends throughout the pandemic, reported on Friday that nine health districts are in slow growth trajectories. UVA researchers acknowledged the risk the Delta variant poses for unvaccinated residents and areas with lower vaccination rates, but noted the projected bump in cases in the next few weeks remains minimal.
Charlottesville has updated information regarding overnight closures of part of Emmet Street. The full nighttime closure will be near Ivy Road on July 9 and 10 and again from July 12 to 16. The road will be closed between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. while work is underway to relocate a natural gas pipeline. This is part of the ongoing work on the University of Virginia Ivy Corridor Project. A partial lane closure will also remain in place between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
People at the University of Virginia will see fewer plastics soon, because the university is cutting back on its use of single-use plastics. This action will go into effect on July 21.
Albemarle County publicly bid out for the removal of its Confederate soldier statue, as did the University of Virginia for the future removal of its monument to George Rogers Clark. On Wednesday, UVA awarded the contract to remove the Clark statue to Team Henry Enterprises, a Newport News-based contracting firm owned by Devon Henry that removed Confederate statues in Richmond last summer.
Virginia’s flagship university also joined in, confirming it would on Sunday begin a project to remove a statue of George Rogers Clark. George Rogers Clark was William Clark’s older brother and fought against the British army and its Native American allies during the Revolutionary War, seizing swaths of Native territory for the young nation. “The statue will be placed into storage as the University (of Virginia) continues to work with a committee to determine a suitable location,” a school spokesman told AFP.