National

NATIONAL

Moot Court Arguments (5/21)
By Mr. Murphy's Constitutional Law Class
Introduction by Emma Caridad Perez J.D. Class of 2023 YLS

On April 23, students in Mr. Murphy’s constitutional law class participated in a moot court competition with students across New Haven Public Schools. A moot court is a simulation of a legal argument before an appellate court. Typically, orators address a novel constitutional question and try to convince the court to rule in their client’s favor. Though this could easily become a bland recitation of legal rules, effective advocacy requires creativity.
Our case for this year involved a student who graffiti’ed and flyered her school with a singular message: “Police reform now.” The hypothetical message is a timely one, and one that resonated deeply with our class. Some of us were assigned to represent the student; others, the school who suspended her for her speech. We were tasked with preparing five-minute remarks, peppered with questions from the judges, to convince the court that our respective clients should prevail.
From the first words that you utter to the court, you are given an opportunity to frame the issues in terms that are compelling. You can introduce your argument as, “This case is about whether a school should be allowed to censor student speech,” or as, “This case is about the political rights of a public school student using her voice to bring awareness to injustice in her community.” Selecting a narrative is an especially convincing way to get the facts across; facts, not the law, win cases. It is the orator’s task to spin the facts into a story that is cohesive and gripping, elevating the details that point to why your client is right. The same can be said for precedent, or the body of case law we rely on to support our version of the facts. We are given a limited universe of cases upon which to draw and we have to make those cases fit our arguments. This requires reading between the lines of judicial opinions and extending their reasoning to a situation that the judges who wrote the opinion may not have even considered.
There is also an inherently performative aspect to moot court. You become a lawyer arguing before the Supreme Court. Aside from using honorifics such as “Your Honor” and “Justice,” effective advocacy requires you to play a part. Because your client cannot argue before the court, you must embody them and the wrongs they have suffered to remind the court of the stakes of their decision. Often, we are asked to defend positions with which we do not agree. In those cases, to preserve our artistic, lawerly, and personal integrity, we find nuanced ways to argue for our client without compromising our beliefs.
Perhaps the most creative thing about moot court is that it asks you to imagine a new rule, a new regime, relating to one another. This process of imagination requires us to set aside that which we know in favor of novel approaches. Such advocacy is inherently creative, and we have engaged in extensive re-imagination of schools and students’ rights throughout this process.

Below are some examples of our most creative advocacy.

Kanye Armour
5/4/21

Art is seen in a ton of things throughout history such as the painting Titus Kaphar described, but it also could come from the reversal side of injustice. It’s found in gentrification where artifacts of history are taken down like statues and thrown away due to the racist history it had before. And to go back to the paintings, it’d even show slight messages that fly over people’s heads like Titus said. Small details from the smallest golden necklace to a bronze statue of a man riding a horse.
Bryan Stevenson says we need something that represents truth and reconciliation, and I think the best way to use art while also helping engage in the truth is propaganda. It’s never really shown on the opposite side of an injustice, but if we were to take an example like “BLACK LIVES MATTER”, it’s used as a reminder and announcement to people that black lives face injustices too often that it’s starting to feel like it happens on purpose. Art comes in as messages and actual physical art about others that were murdered along the way, such as George Floyd.

Lihame Arouna:

Q: You argue that Jordan Washington did not create a material and substantial disruption yet there were complaints about her stopping a class to explain her t-shirt. Isn't that a material and substantial disruption?
Ms. Washington used her voice to promote awareness of social injustice at school. As the President of the schools Young People's Coalition- a school sponsored organization focused on social justice and planning direct actions- this was common for her. I consider material and substantial disruption to be something that actively interrupts learning from happening at school. In this case, Washington's speech was educational and promoted civic engagement. She was enhancing the learning environment with this important political speech centered around current events in the country. In Tinker the court agreed that Personal Intercommunication is an inevitable and necessary part of the education process. Protesting the Vietnam war was controversial, but the school could not censor Tinkers speech. A student may express their opinion no matter where they are, even on contentious subjects. This ruling tells us that students are allowed to express themselves and their political beliefs. It also shows that speech like Jordan's is essential to the education process.

Quentin Beans

On September 18, 2019 Honor roll Jordan Washington at Metro City high school was suspected of Graffiti and paintings. She wears T-shirts promoting defunding the police and is known for speaking out against SRO Ball’s presence at the school, calling for his replacement with a counselor. SRO ball saw Jordan down the hall, posting flyers on the wall that said, “POLICE REFORM NOW”. the T-shirt said the same message. SRO Ball asked, “Jordan, did you mark that wall with graffiti?”Jordan replied, “No, that was not me. He demanded to see the contents of her purse. He found an empty can of green spray paint. After seeing the message on the wall, Principal Thompkins decided to call Jordan’s father and the police. At the police station Jordan confessed to tagging the wall. Principal Thompkins suspended her for ten days, another five days for the sign-up sheet and flyers, and an additional day for her T-shirt, citing that the offenses were a violation of the school’s Anti-Vandalism and Posting Policy.
I believe the facts of the case display your creativity of your oral argument because you can set it up in a way that helps your side. You are thinking of ideas to use great words and sentences that's going to help your case. Also I believe I was displaying creativity because I made the facts very short. Having long facts is very bad because no judge wants to hear the facts for 2 or more minutes. I believe me answering the tough judge questions represent my creativity because me creating answers that will correctly answer the judge questions and give them a response shows my creativity.

Lizamishel Boateng

How you choose to describe your client in the resuscitation of the facts and throughout the argument as a whole is key to making your side favorable/winning your argument. In my oral argument for the Marshall Brennan National Moot Court Competition, I described my client as “high achieving honor roll student” and explained her involvement with social activism and organizing at the school.
“Ms. Washington is a high achieving honor roll student at Metro city high school and is an advocate in the school environment that promotes awareness of social injustice issues. Being that she is the president of the Young People’s Coalition, an organization that specifically focuses on social injustice and direct action, Ms. Washington knows how to actively use her voice for positive change and exercise her first amendment rights. She was wrongfully punished.” -Lizamishel Boateng

Kiana Flores

Description: This excerpt describes my second point on behalf of the school administration. I discuss the overt disruption Jordan Washington caused to the school environment. I also have a mix of different case precedents to justify my stance. I’ve bolded the word “second” and the cases, “Morse,” “Pyle,” and “Pinard,” so I wouldn’t lose my place when answering the judges during a hot bench. In my argument, I had to creatively interpret these past cases and create a nexus between these case details and the facts of our case Washington v. Metro City.
Second, Washington substantially disrupted her teacher’s class with her T-shirt. Washington stood in front of the class and began disrupting the class, despite the teacher instructing her several times to sit down. Here, the facts are different from Pyle, as Washington’s shirt caused a significant disruption when Washington took active steps to delay instruction leaving the teacher unable to begin class. Washington’s advertisement of a walkout, not approved by school administration, caused a material and substantial disruption to the school and threatened the safety of students. Like the administration in Morse, who had an interest in preventing illegal drug use, MCHS had a compelling interest in preventing students from unexcused absences and keeping them safe from the inherent risks of an unsupervised group of teenagers. It is the school’s prerogative to keep the students safe, and there is no telling the consequences of having a group of students outside of the secure building. These students would not only be disrupting school processes but also putting their own well-being at risk. Unlike the petition in Pinard, Washington’s was linked to an action that would foreseeably cause a material and substantial disruption and would risk the students’ safety. In this case, all her speech ties to her active efforts to disrupt the school environment.

Danielle Gordon

*I picked this section because it was my longest section yet most of the time the judges had no questions and they would comment on my responses; I don’t mind if it’s submitted but it’s not the most creative*
Here, the Tinker case clearly states school officials are allowed to justify the prohibition of a student’s expression when they show there was more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that accompanies an unpopular viewpoint. This ruling can show that Jordan’s actions were above the ideals of mere discomfort due to Jordan’s conduct to disrupt the school environment. When Jordan vandalized the public school walls with her unsettling diction, it grasped multiple student’s attention away from their student responsibilities. Her on-campus transgression granted several students to gather in the hallway prompting students to be late to class. In MCHS’s Student Handbook the Attendance and Tardiness section clearly states a student will lose student privileges for tardiness which approves the height of the distraction. The ruling of Tinker involves that schools must have the power to create and maintain an environment where learning can take place and Jordan’s disruptive speech is not protected with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. Tinker’s main focus on protected and unprotected political speech is relevant beyond the facts I mentioned. It’s a case that focuses on political speech more than a specific piece of clothing.
The Pyle case even assists Tinker with allowing the school to show that Jordan caused her teacher to delay her class when explaining the message on her T-shirt. Furthermore, she disrupted a class unrelated to politics or history when asked to sit down multiple times which means the shirt’s meaning introduced a distraction to remove attention from mandatory class studies. The Pyle case even states that the First Amendment does not prevent schools from prohibiting clothing that does not cause a disruption or disorder.

Chloe Lomax Blakwell

First, I will discuss why Jordan Washington’s First Amendment rights were not violated. The school did not violate Jordan’s First Amendment rights because she went against the school handbook by vandalizing the walls, following more disruption when she posted sign up sheets for a walk-out. The First Amendment does protect freedom of speech, but not when that speech is a disturbance within a school environment. Jordan immediately lost her protection of free speech when she marked up the walls of that school with bright green graffiti paint. Looking back at the ruling of Morse, the court ruled that the school had every right to suspend Fredericks’ free speech on illegal drug use because under the First Amendment, Morse has the constitutional right to restrict student speech at a school event when the speech could be reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use. Similar actions have also been used in the ruling of Bethel. Fraser brought suit in federal district court challenging his suspension as a violation of his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The school board has the constitutional right to determine that Fraser’s speech is not an example of good citizenship, and to punish him with suspension, making Fraser’s speech unprotected. Here, we can see that even though Jordan’s speech was neither vulgar or lewd, it was a disruption. Her intentions were to create a school-wide walkout. We know these are her intentions because she made it known school-wide, hence the graffiti and flyers. Therefore, Principal Thompkins did not violate Jordan’s First Amendment rights when she decided to suspend Jordan for her disruptive behavior.

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Dear America
Diego Mejia (4/21)

Dear America,
Your so-called “dream” no longer exists. Any dreams and/or goals that many people want to achieve in this country aren’t possible without being very lucky or white.
My mom came to the U.S. hoping she would get to experience the American Dream people were talking about back in her home country of Guatemala.
I was born into poverty and grew up with no family but my mom. My poor mom never climbed up the economic ladder and throughout the 17 years she has lived here, the only jobs she’s worked were at minimum wage jobs working 40+ hours a week. Even now, she’s working at a low paying job. You’d imagine after 17 years she would be working at a decent job, but unfortunately she’s not. I thought she could climb up the ladder, but she can’t. It’s not even because there’s a language barrier or that she lacks an education. She would still be working at a dead end job barely making enough to make end’s meet because she’s an immigrant, and because she’s Hispanic.
I know for sure, I’ll climb up the ladder further than my mom ever could and will. Even then, I can only climb so high myself, because I am Hispanic. I know for sure if I was white, I could do so much better in life.
No matter how hard you work for something, it’s not always going to work out because your system makes it so hard. Maybe if my mom was able to climb that economic ladder that you always talk about, maybe I would have hope in the American Dream.

Life Changed for Us All
Corie Thomas (3/21)

What would life be like if COVID-19 never came? Would life be like it was before? Would classes be easier this year? I say that because COVID-19 affected all of us, whether it was mentally or we physically had it. We all feel separated now and haven’t really seen each other. We mentally lose ourselves or see someone we know die. I haven’t physically seen someone die from COVID-19, which I'm grateful for, but it must be terrible for the people who have.

Then there are people who aren’t mentally okay from what they saw or went through over this year, even if it wasn’t related to COVID-19. People have anxiety, depression, loneliness, and terrible moments they regret cause they can’t change them. Life caused lots of heartbreaking moments and left us all lost during this year. No one deserved this. Some people are not fortunate enough to continue their entire lives. Some can’t forgive or be forgiven. Life is a mystery book to us and a puzzle to others.

So what I’m saying is that life changed all of us this last year, but are we gonna stay down and give up or get back up and try again?

Dear Elizabeth from Knoxville, Tennessee,
Axel Gay (2/21)

What made you believe that going into the Capitol building was a good idea? And then after, when you got maced, why did you victimize yourself, when you committed a crime? Just because you’re a white Trump supporter doesn’t mean you can just waltz right into the Capitol building. Your ignorance disgusts me. The delusion in your voice and in your face the whole time the Yahoo reporter talked to you proved just how cultish supporting Trump is.
   Trump acts like a child and there are still people like you backing him up. How could you back someone like that up when, as president, he was trying to take basic human rights away from some people just because they’re different from him? He was trying to take away a woman’s right to get an abortion when there are thousands of children in the fostercare system already. He was trying to take away transgender rights and even trying to limit their ability to get basic needs met. He makes fun of gay people and he mocks everything that America promised to stand for. Equality. Freedom. Safety.
   America is supposed to be a melting pot for anyone and everyone, but now if you aren’t a straight, white, and cis man, you have to fight for your voice to be heard. When the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) was going on, people were killed and tear gassed just for standing around. The protests were met with violence and hatred from the police. People like you started saying blue lives matter, but did they matter when you were invading the Capitol? Breaking windows and pushing guards back? The white privilege was so apparent. The audacity Trump supporters had when he had already lost the election was overwhelming. You had no consideration for the lives of others; you weren’t even wearing a mask. The BLM protestors wore masks.
   Times are changing, and it's so sad to see people like you lagging behind and not getting the memo. People can be whoever they want to be and people like Trump don’t like that. He can’t control us anymore and people like you can’t change the fact that he lost.

What Happened in Washington
Opinion by Thomas Small (1/21)

The events that transpired on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. simply were terrible. I’m very confused: How did these Trump extremists get into the building? Why weren’t they stopped? What did they feel like they would achieve by doing this?
For one thing, what they did was hypocritical in every sense. The Republican party, their leader’s party, tends to choose conservative solutions to our nation's problems, but their rioting and destruction was anything but conservative. If people on the opposite side of the political spectrum did this same thing, specifically proponents of Black Lives Matter, they would have called them terrorists. Websites such as Al Jazeera and The New Haven Register reported a police officer died in the hospital as a result of the chaos that occurred. Conservative news outlets would’ve hung other “protests” turned into riots that resulted in a dead cop. Instead, they chose to focus on how President Trump stated that he condemned the ‘heinous attacks’ and also stated that this is now a ‘time to heal’ in this country.
The things the extremists did and how law enforcement handled them were possibly the best representation of white privilege in all of modern American history. If the same number of people tried to attack the Capitol, but instead they were Black or Middle Eastern, many more people would have died. The truth is they wouldn’t have even made it onto the building stairs. They would’ve been met with police in riot gear, tear gas, rubber bullets, and real bullets.
Trump has practically formed a cult, one that’s heavily armed and prepared to do anything to keep him in power. If his followers weren’t lacking melanin, they wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything without being cut down.

I Write America Poem
Gavin LaRock (4/21)

I write America for the red, white and blue,
black, brown and Asian too.
I write for the poor to have more and to end
all this political war.
I write for the sad and depressed that they can
rest and do their best to not be mad.
I write to accept the world's up and downs,
and the clowns that fill the towns.
I pray for the day that we can say “let us all
get along and play.”

I Write America
Chante Weston (4/21)

I write America because of dark shadows and tears,
I hate to say that depression is near.

I write America because I've reached 16,
I know Black kings who couldn’t see past the age of 13.

I write America because COVID-19 is still here,
When is this virus ever going to disappear?

I write America because white people can raid the Capitol,
But a Black person can’t get a Snapple?

I write America because the school system is messed up
Wants kids to learn through screens to get their grades up,

But never took the time to do a check up and make sure
The children aren’t messing their lives up.

I write America because I care for my people and community
It’s not hard for you to do the same so we all can be in unity.

America, I want you to be great for me,
We can’t do that unless we stop the violence and hatred,

Black on Black crime needs to end
and so does Black on white

Because in the future the kids minds won’t be right
if we keep trying to make everything a fight.

Just One American’s Opinion
Alexia Diggs (3/21)

Why does America,
“The Land Of The Free,”
not feel free to me?
Why are we all different shades
but still racist?
How can we be diverse
and still small minded?
How can schools teach us
about the factors of racism
and still allow it within the walls?

America, so beautiful but so shallow

Is this because we neglect you?
We walk all over you
not valuing our freedom
Yelling/Fighting
Littering/Polluting
We should be united
What will it take for us
to just be “American?”
Not labeled as a Black person,
Spanish person,
Asian person,
Just an American person.

The color of our skin does not define us
So, why are we not equal?
America, so respected but so unjust.
Injustice. Will we conquer?

It’s Time to Care
Jayla Madera (3/21)

I dream that
Black Lives Matter will finally be resolved
and my skin would no longer be a threat to other colors.
I dream that people would no longer lose their loved ones
due to police brutality and would be able to receive justice for all.
We shouldn’t be getting treated like this.
This is not back in the day, it’s 2021.
Guns should have very restricted laws
and police should pay the price for firing for no reason at all
I dream Covid will end because lots of people died from it
and still some are getting sick.
We need to stay in the house, quarantine if we need to,
and have faith to put an end to all of this
till a cure can be put out to save others from dying or getting sick.
Hopefully Joe Biden will show us something new about the virus
that Donald Trump never did.
I dream that more hospitals will be built
rather than restaurants and clothes stores for people’s help and needs.
I dream that people will pay more attention to the earth
because many things are happening like the oceans
are getting overflooded with trash that doesn't belong in there.
Polar bears are losing where they live to global warming.
Things like this matter and nobody cares.
We need less careless people and more people who are actually aware.

I write America
Jhosean Rivera (3/21)

To tell the truth, the entire world doesn’t revolve around you
Countless, countless wars fought
Stolen freedom is merely what we sought
Fog in our minds? Oh yes, that’s called pride
So much, we couldn’t prevent genocide
Climate change, the increase in the planet's heat?
Who cares, we have politicians to beat
White privilege not new, but not fair
You can’t touch us, and certainly not our hair
Women so strong, so beautiful in all hues
There’s literally nothing the can not do
Earning money has become obsolete
Yet we can’t feed the poor people dying in our streets?
For us it’s hard, it isn’t for the opposite
We have to hide, in something like a closet
I won’t stop you can’t convince me to crawl
Instead I’ll walk through


Hoping for something new
Dariana B. Pallasco (2/21)

My family came here
Hoping for something new
Yet they were given
Unequal chances
Treated like the only
Thing they knew was how
To mow the grasses
And the women were
Treated like their worth
Depended on what
Little clothes they had on
They were expecting
A whole lot more than
Discrimination
Misogyny
Homophobia
Xenophobia and
Racism from people
Who bleed the same as them
And walk the same earth
What makes us so
Different from each
Other? Besides our
Skin and our features
We are one and the
Same
We even treat the
Women of the earth
Like they are some kind
Of trophy and that
What we do wrong to
Them is justified
Rape and abuse is
Seen as a what did
They do to deserve
It situation
We are all the same
And deserve the same
Opportunities
Rights and respect as
Human lives on this
Earth.

Dear America,
Ashley Camarillo Contreras (2/21)

I didn’t know what to say to you at first. I don't have anything to say to you. I’m not angry at what you have made this land to be, I’m not sad, I’m simply disappointed.
How could you let the people who were originally here be under the heel of those who came and tried to destroy them? They treated the originals like animals, dismembered their roots and washed their beloved culture out of them. Many more horrible things have happened that led to this point. Deaths, dishonesty, cruelty.
But don’t you worry; all of your darkest secrets are coming out to the light. People are realizing that all of the tales and stories of the “heroic white man” you’ve fed to us were all lies. Behind the scenes, blood, sweat and fear was drawn out of minorities for the benefit of the white man. We were the ones doing all of the heavy lifting, earning 10 cents a day to survive, while the white man was out rejoicing.
We rightfully earned our respect, yet none was given. To this day, we don’t have the respect we deserve. We are reliving history all over again. But don’t you worry. Soon we Will have the respect we deserve, we Will prevail, we Will claim what is truly ours.
Just wait and see; it’ll be well worth waiting for.

Sincerely,
Ashley Camarillo

Life on Hold! Please Stand by.
Luis Alderman (2/21)

Eyes follow the clock as the hands slowly move
Sitting in a cube, the cube of my design
Keeping alone is easy, but it always seems so hard
My mind becomes as fragile as a brittle diamond shard
I watch and see the news, how chaos always ensues
Watching the house burn down, with no hose or hydrant
All for the man who calls himself a “leader”
But is nothing but a tyrant
I could step outside and swim in the great red ocean
But everywhere I go starts a pitiful commotion
If I drop a quarter down a well I’ll never hear it fall
All one can do is sit and stay
In their cube and slowly decay

I Write America
Jaiden Shoulders (2/21)

How I feel about America is I feel that it’s very not equalized. What I mean by that is there is a lot of white privilege and not enough black privilege. But what I mean by that is that white people get away with a lot of more stuff than black people get away with. That’s not fair.
Just look at what happened at the U.S. Capitol a couple days ago. What happened a couple days ago is that white people (a.k.a. Trump supporters) raided the U.S. Capitol. If that was black people they would’ve got shot down and you’d be saying Rest In Peace.
Black people are really scared. I’m really scared of the cops. Why white people are not scared of the cops is because they don’t have to be, because it’s mainly black people who get shot by police.
America hasn’t been an equalizer together since Obama was in office. Trump made it worse than what it ever was, so now as a young black man, I hope that Joe Biden can fix it.
I hope I didn’t offend anybody, but this is how I feel about living in America as a black young man.

Dear America,
Ariana Morera (2/21)

    Do you actually know what’s going on in your country? There’s poverty, animal cruelty, COVID-19, animals going extinct because of our greedy needs. I could go on but I won’t, because there is no need to.
    I write America because of poverty. People left in the streets because they don’t have money or they were kicked out of the places they called home.
    I write America because animals are being starved and/or beaten in their homes for no reason. Because animals are left on the streets to fend for themselves. Because animals that thought they were safe are abandoned.
    I write America because of a worldwide pandemic called COVID-19 or what most people have called the Corona Virus. A virus that has left us to stay in our homes since the beginning of 2020, because of a worldwide fear of losing a family member.
    I write America because animals are going extinct. Because a lot of the time human beings are the cause of a species’ extinction. Because of our selfish needs to use animal skins (and other parts of their bodies, like their teeth, their horns, etc.) for clothing and for other things.
    I write America because there are problems that need to be fixed and only a few out of the many are trying to fix these problems. These people are trying as hard as they can to fix the problems that your society has created. These people are trying to spread the word out that we need to fix things and yet they don’t get to everyone.
    I write America because I am aware these problems need to be fixed.
    I write America because I am aware that I can’t do anything to help fix America.
    I write America because I am aware America will never be fixed.
    I write America because I am aware that America is like me.

I write America
By Nelson Colon (1/21)

When I think of America I think freedom
But it’s hard to say, some of that meaning can be true
But sooner or later we notice we are not fools
America lives a lie
We come here for peace
We come to America and presidents have beef
and from that racism is the problem
Black and Hispanic people are trying to blossom
Brutality is towards them, getting pepper sprayed and beaten
That’s some way that nobody should be treated
The Capitol got put down from Trump supporters all around
The police did something by doing nothing
What is this America?
What have you done?
This is going to make people stunned
We are Americans; we should treat each other
With respect; we need the peace and love for one another
What happened to that?
At t the end of the day, people are going to chat
We are all humans
All of our blood is red
Let’s not grab people by the thread
I write America
Let’s drop the drama and the fighting
And not have revenge
Let us have peace again

How to Fix America
Jenibelle Ramos (1/21)

I know we don’t like to listen
To those we disagree with, as if it’s competition
But perhaps now we should try to make this better
Even if it leaves us feeling bitter

The world is a mess
But we should progress
By learning that listening
Won’t kill us
But just give us
A better view

By now we should listen to other sides
So we can start to coincide
To manage to learn how to meet on middle ground
So we can figure out something more profound

In order to achieve the kind of peace
We believe will leave us feeling appeased
We have to learn to find something we agree on
Even with those we disagree with

The Ultimate Breach
Nadia S. Gaskins (1/21)

They breached your borders.
And climbed over your walls.

No one protected you from their callousness.

They invaded your core.
And violated your privacy.

No one comforted you after the damage.

They ripped you open,
And stole your purity.

You were defenseless against them.

The soles of their boots
Stained your heart,
And crushed your lungs.

You were not sacred enough.

Thoughts About the Inauguration
Emmanuella Mwilelo (1/21)

   Joe Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday, January 20th, making him the 46th president of the United States. The celebration was virtually focused, due to the pandemic, as well as for the protection and security of the attendees, because of the pro-Trump mob breaching the Capitol on January 6th. Well known stars like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Garth Brooks, Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Jones, Eva Longoria, and Tom Hanks performed and made an appearance at Joe Biden's inauguration Festival.
   On Wednesday, my sister turned on the TV so she could watch the Joe Biden inauguration Festival. I wasn't paying attention to any of it but what caught my attention was when I heard a young lady speaking on TV and her voice drew me in. I didn't know who she was but when I looked at the screen her name was presented--Amanda Gorman. I was so proud to watch her recite her poem, a young black woman speaking with power and dignity.

Weekly News Roundup with Astoria Davis
11/13-11/19/20

Starting off with Friday, the U.S stock market surged to close the week with a record high. The Trump administration had court setbacks. Trump’s law firm stepped back from his lawsuits regarding Pennsylvania ballots. The federal appeals court rejected his effort to not count 9,300 mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day.
Miami Marlins hires Kim Ng, breaking the baseball gender barrier. Ms. Ng has been an assistant general manager twice before; now, after a 30-year career in the baseball industry, she is the first woman to manage a major league baseball team.
Saturday: Thousands of cars formed lines to collect food in Texas. A food bank in the state distributed 600,000 pounds of food to 25,000 people.
Massachusetts prisons restrict visitation for two weeks because of the rise in Covid-19 cases. During this time they will test every inmate and prison staff for Covid-19. While visitations are restricted inmates will have increased access to phones and will be able to email their loved ones.
Sunday: The U.S. hits 11,000,000 Covid-19 cases and 246,000 deaths. 45 out of 50 states have reported higher infection rates this past week.
The U.S. is left out of the RECP trade deal with Asian-Pacific countries; this trade deal is the largest free trade agreement. This deal holds 30% of the world’s economic output. The countries participating in this deal are Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This means that America is losing its influence on Asian-Pacific countries.
Monday: Another new Covid-19 vaccine has been announced by the company Moderna. Their Covid-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing Covid-19. This is 4.5% more than the Pfizer vaccine, which is only 90% effective.
Space X sends the first full team of astronauts to the international space station.
Tuesday: Hate crimes in America are the highest they have been since 2008, which was 7,783. According to the FBI’s statistics, the hate crime rate has gone up every year for the past 4 years. In 2018 there were 7,120 hate crimes and in 2019 there were 7,314 hate crimes, which is an 3% increase from 2018.
Street fentanyl surges in the western U.S. leading to thousands of deaths. NPR reports that fentanyl pills are coming from China.
The Trump administration rushed to sell oil rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Starting 11/17/20 oil and gas companies can pick which part of Alaska’s wildlife refuge they’re interested in drilling.
Wednesday: The U.S. surpasses 250,000 Covid-19 deaths as the mortality rate surges. In the last four weeks there has been a 42% increase in Covid-19 deaths.
The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer must be stored at -112° F. This is so cold that rubber would shatter, metals would become brittle, and exposed skin would freeze almost instantly. This vaccine is only 90% effective, while the competition Moderna’s vaccine is 94.5% effective and it is stable at regular refrigerator temperatures and is stable at room temperature for 12 hours.
Georgia had to hand recount 5,000,000 votes. The votes had to be recounted because there were 2,600 uncounted ballots found.
Thursday: Federal judge blocks the Trump administration from expelling migrant children at the southern border.
The Senate confirmed Trump’s youngest judge nominee yet. Kathryn Mizell, age 33 at the time of her nomination, is yet another Trump nominee to receive a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association and be confirmed as a federal judge. She will be the federal judge for the middle district of Florida, which is a lifetime appointment.
President Trump fired Chris Krebs who is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director.
Pfizer’s vaccine has been approved by the U.S. and is ready to start being shipping out.
Connecticut news: Two people killed in an explosion at the West Haven Veterans Association (V.A.) hospital; three others were injured. Neither of the deceased has been identified. The V.A. says the cause of the explosion was a steam pipe which two workers were working on at the time. The explosion is still under investigation.
Over 35,000 power outages were reported in the past week due to Tropical storm Isaias.
Lastly, a lawsuit has been filed against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for racial segregation in Hartford. The claim is that they failed to help poor Black and Hispanic families living in dilapidated, federal subsidized housing and to move them to better neighborhoods. This claim was filed by ten former residents of three different housing complexes on the north end of Hartford. HUD terminated contracts with the building owners in 2018 and 2019; the quality of the complexes was so bad that they deemed them inhumane, which led to these results.

Sources:

Weekly News Roundup: 11/7-11/12/20
By Astoria Davis

Starting off with Saturday, 11/7/20, Joe Biden won the presidential election, making him the second Catholic president since John F. Kennedy. This also made Kamala Harris the first Black, Asian, mixed-race woman in the White House.
On Sunday, Montana, New Jersey, Arizona, and South Dakota made marijuana legal. And Oregon decriminalized small amounts of heroin and other drugs, hopefully slowly ending the war on drugs.
Monday, Florida had 3,924 new cases, with 58 dead. There are 10 million Covid-19 cases in America with 243,000 deaths. In other Covid-19 news, there was a new mutation found in Denmark which makes Covid-19 potentially spreadable through animals. It was discovered in mink, which resulted in Denmark farmers killing over 17 million mink.
Tuesday, the FDA approved a drug by Eli Lilly to treat Covid-19 but only for emergencies. There are some worries about it since it takes an hour to infuse into the body, then another hour of observation, which in some hospitals cannot be possible. There has been talk about having a vaccine ready by the end of this month, and the American government is planning to have a general vaccination program by spring.
Wednesday was Veterans Day. Also, a contract was signed to develop the aforementioned Covid-19 vaccine.
Thursday, there were discoveries that the Covid-19 vaccine may have some unwanted side-effects, like muscle aches, fever, and sore arms for days. Also for the vaccine, people would need to get two shots weeks apart.A tropical storm hit Florida. There was major flooding and school closings. Many Veterans Day celebrations were canceled.
In Connecticut news, a spike in Covid-19 deaths led Governor Ned Lamont to extend Order 9K till February. Order 9K is an order to go back to phase two of reopening; the curfew is back, restaurants can’t serve anyone past 9:30 pm and everything must be closed by 10:00 pm. Movie theaters and performing arts theaters are still open but only allowed to be at 50% capacity with social distancing and masks.
A car was stolen in Hartford which had two children in it. Also, a firefighter in New London tested positive for Covid-19. Another thing, Cracker Barrel in East Windsor had to issue an apology after a noose was found hanging at the location. Lastly, half a dozen schools closed due to staff shortages from Covid-19 infections.

Sources:https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/coronavirus-us-officials-warn-of-challenges-administering-eli-lillys-antibody-drug.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-19-vaccines-may-have-potentially-unpleasant-side-effects-n1247485
https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/Governors-Actions/Executive-Orders/Governor-Lamonts-Executive-Orders
https://portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Coronavirus-Business-Recovery/Sector-Rules-and-Certification-for-Reopen
https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-eta-fort-lauderdale-florida-bf2b212680a0aa7d1509aa4d8efdc513
https://www.ctpost.com/policereports/article/Police-Car-stolen-in-Hartford-with-teen-baby-15715185.php
https://www.google.com/search?q=election+2020+results&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS777US777&oq=election&aqs=chrome.4.0i131i433j69i57j0i131i433l4j0i433j0.5432j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/04/politics/marijuana-legalization-2020-states/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/oregon-decriminalize-drugs-trnd/index.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/11/933864908/novavax-posts-coronavirus-vaccine-contract-that-government-didnt-disclose

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