Archives - Sampan

Metro December 9, 2023 0

Massachusetts Has One of the Lowest Rates of Gun Violence in the U.S. But it’s Rising and Now Lawmakers Are Starting to Take Action

Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States and consequently is among the states with the lowest rates of gun violence and gun deaths. Meanwhile, in contrast, in the last decade, gun homicides and suicides have been trending upwards in the US. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen weakened state gun control laws and particularly set back state legislation in place to protect their residents from […]

Front Page December 9, 2023 0

Biweekly Immigration News: Federal and State Updates

by Jeff Millman

Migrant families continue to arrive in Massachusetts. They are sheltering at Logan Airport because they have nowhere else to go. Just before Thanksgiving, state officials announced a plan to house k in need of shelter in the second-floor conference rooms of the State Transportation Building in Boston. The Massachusetts House has discussed using Hynes Convention Center as another site. Few details have emerged regarding new overflow shelters however, as the weather gets colder the calls for action will grow more […]

Health December 9, 2023 0

Believing There’s an ‘Average’ Asian American is a Dangerous Assumption

by Jeff Millman

In a collection of his autobiographical writings published in 1907, the American writer Mark Twain cited approvingly a little aperçu that there are three kinds of lies – lies, damned lies, and statistics. Would you cross a river that is four feet deep on average? Hopefully not, since it might be a foot deep in parts and seven feet deep in other parts: four feet deep on average, surely, but not necessarily safe to cross.What if you are diagnosed with […]

Boston December 8, 2023 0

Asian American Civic Association Hosts Talk on Violence in Boston

by Brandon Wong and Yizhen Zhang

The Asian American Civic Association hosted Violence In Boston, another in its ongoing series of community forums on November 30, 2023. In a packed room of residents from Chinatown, South End, Quincy, Springfield, South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Malden, East Boston, Chelsea, Charlestown, Brookline, Brighton, Newton, Somerville, Arlington, and Cambridge, they came to meet MBTA Superintendent of Transit Police Richard Sullivan; Deputy Superintendent of Community Engagement for the Boston Police Nicole Grant, Chief of the Civil Rights […]

Education December 8, 2023 0

Quincy Upper School to Open by Summer, Says Principal Chang

by Derek He

The new Josiah Quincy Upper School faced several challenges during its development — the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and a $30 million cost increase. But now the opening is near. To find out about the planned opening, Sampan spoke with Richard Chang, principal of the Josiah Quincy Upper School about the project to date. Sampan: How is the construction progressing as we close out 2023? Are there any structural changes from the original plans?Chang: The project management team anticipates […]

Immigration November 18, 2023 0

Immigration News: Federal and State Updates

by Jeff Millman

As Congress works to avoid yet another government shutdown, immigration funding and legislation have been top of mind. Multiple states, including Massachusetts, have experienced the strain of a lack of funding and emergency shelter space for an unprecedented number of individuals and families traveling to the U.S. from Central and South America, India, China, and other countries. Last week, multiple immigration advocacy groups jointly released a memo demanding that Congress pass “common sense, bipartisan measures” to address the immigration system […]

Front Page November 18, 2023 0

Four Months After the Supreme Court Ruled Against the Use of Race in Admissions

by Zoe Liu

It all began with U.S. Supreme Court justices hearing two cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. These lawsuits argued that affirmative action was actively discriminating against Asian American applicants and, in the case of UNC, white students as well. For decades, colleges and universities have debated the consideration of race or ethnicity in the admission process for higher education. In June of this year, […]

Leisure November 18, 2023 0

Sunshine Brings Science to the Screen

by Harmony Witte

The Coolidge Theater screened Sunshine (2007) on November 6th as part of their “Science on Screen” programming, including a talk by Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Katharine Reeves. The talk that accompanied the Sci-fi/horror film was on the topic “What It’s Like to Fly Through a Solar Eruption.” The audience laughed along with Dr. Reeves throughout the entire half-hour presentation as she gave a humorous and accessible lecture to a room full of moviegoers. It provided a nice introduction to the very […]

Leisure November 18, 2023 0

Killers of the Flower Moon Is a Painful Descent Into Historical Injustice

by Yizhen Zhang

In the vast expanses of the Oklahoma Hills, where the blooming flowers succumb to the shadows of taller plants in May, a grim chapter of American history unfolds in the 2023 epic Western crime drama, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The film meticulously chronicles the chilling series of murders that plagued the Osage Tribe during the Osage “Reign of Terror” in May 1921. The narrative roots itself in the aftermath of the Osage Allotment Act of 1906 and the Burke […]

Front Page November 18, 2023 0

Hate Crimes Against Muslims and Jews

by Jeff Millman

A little over a month ago, on October 7th, a decade of tenuous normalization came to an end. The Sunni Islamist military organization Hamas invaded southern Israel and killed over a thousand people, taking over two hundred forty hostages. The Israeli government responded with an airstrike campaign and later a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory of Gaza. A new war has begun, and already over 11,000 Palestinians are thought to have been killed. In the United States, the Israel-Hamas […]

404 Not Found