ROUNDUP: HISD parent dress code, militia detains migrants and former comedian wins Ukraine presidency

In April, most of us were consumed with finishing our classes and some making graduation plans. Here are some important stories you may have missed from Texas, the United States and around the world.

Texas:

Houston school implements dress code for parents – April 9, Principle Carlotta Brown of James Madison High School sent a letter to parents implementing a dress code parents were to abide by to be permitted on campus. It drew criticism from parents and the community with some calling it racist and/or classist. University of Houston professor Roni Burren said, “This sort of goes against what we know about what’s sound in educational research — that we want parents in our schools helping, supporting and being on a part of the educational team.” HISD has not made a public statement on the policy change.

Creek flowing into Colorado River turns black:
Two months since photos and complaints of Skull Creek’s showing the water blackened and smelling like chemicals, as well as dead fish appearing on its banks, has prompted Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue Inland Environmental and Remediation (IER). The oil and gas waste facility, IER, is located near Skull Creek which feeds into the Colorado River, one of Texas’s major rivers. The company denied blame and said the color is coming from “natural sources.” A toxicology report done by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found high levels of hazardous chemicals associated with oil and gas.

John Williams King executed: White supremacist John William King was executed April 24 for the murder of James Byrd Jr. In 1998, King and two other white men chained Byrd to the back of a pickup truck in Jasper County and dragged him to death for miles before dropping him off in front of the church. He is the second person of the three men to be executed from this case with the third serving a life sentence in Brazoria County.

United States:

New Mexico militia detains migrants –  A video sourced from a Facebook group calling themselves “United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops” shows an armed militia detaining families crossing the border and turning them over to Customs and Border Patrol(CBP). The state’s governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Hector Balderas and CBP said citizens are not to act as law enforcement and detain anyone. Leader Larry Hopkins was arrested. In 2018 Newsweek published a leaked government document that read “[an] estimated 200 unregulated armed militia members currently operating along the southwest border. Reported incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments.”

Rapist of teen girl gets no prison time – Shane Piche received a sentence of 10 years probation and must register as a Level 1 sex offender. This means he will not appear on a public registry after admitting to raping a 14-year-old girl. He met the girl through his job as a bus driver and convinced her and two other children to meet elsewhere by providing them alcohol. A public outcry about the leniency of the charge led to an online petition demanding justice. Those involved with the case, including Judge McClusky, say that he is “low-risk” because there was only one victim and he has no priors so he is “well within” sentencing range.  

Students walkout over blackface – On April 30 about 1,000 students walked out of Homewood Flossmoor High School, located in Illinois, at noon to protest viral social media posts coming from other students. The posts included videos of students in blackface and making disparaging remarks about African American women at a drive-thru. One student said the boys involved were escorted to class by security early to their classes that Monday. Some students felt inspired by the actions of civil rights leaders in their history class. The walkout garnered mostly praise from their community for walking out including from their Superintendent Von Mansfield.

International:

Bangladesh student burned alive after reporting sexual harassment – What started as 18-year-old Nusrat Rafi reporting to the police she had been sexually harassed by her principal in March, ended with her being doused in kerosene and lit on fire on campus on April 6. Teachers told her to keep quiet and the police illegally posted the testimony online. The principle, Ud Doula, was arrested, male students protested for his release and her family began receiving death threats up until her attack. Five days after the attack, she died. Since her death, thousands across the country have protested calling for justice and the use of the ‘#MeToo’ led for people around the globe demanding the same.

IAAF rules in favor of testosterone limits – The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruled that female runners with higher levels of testosterone must medicate themselves in order to compete. This case was in responses to South African Olympic champion Caster Semenya. Since 2009, her gender has been challenged. Her lawyers stated that “her unique genetic gift should be celebrated, not regulated.”  South Africa plans to appeal the decision.

Comedian wins Ukraine presidency –  On promises to end corruption, actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy won Ukraine’s presidential election with over 70% of the votes. In his acting career, Zelenskiy played history teacher, with similar platforms he ran on in real life, that ends up winning the presidency on the television show “Servant of the People.”

On the bright side: Somali American model Halima Aden became the first Muslim model to don a hijab and burkini for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Aden told Good Morning America, “I want to continue to show girls, these spaces you think ‘are not for me’, I want to show them ‘yes you can, you’re a queen, yes you can.’” Aden became the first contestant to be fully covered, competing in a hijab and burkini, in the Miss Minnesota USA Pageant at age 19 in 2017.