Features

11 hours ago 0

MIT ‘Bans’ Student Over Essay

by Ava Belchez and Harmony Witte and Adam Smith

Attorney Calls Action ‘Chilling’ Threat to Free Speech The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has banned a South Asian American grad student from campus and is threatening to boot him from the university for an article he published related to pro-Palestinian protesting, according to the student and his lawyer, who calls the punishment a threat to free speech. MIT banned Prahlad Iyengar, a second-year electrical engineering doctoral student, earlier this month for an academic essay he penned in “Written Revolution,” a […]

11 hours ago 0

AAPI Arts Summit Inspires ‘Hope’

by Harmony Witte

Organizers of the 2nd Annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Arts & Culture Summit on Nov. 15 at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston say they see the event as bigger than enhancing the arts community itself: It’s about providing hope. “I think in times of uncertainty and crisis, people have always looked to the arts as a source of light and hope,” Danielle Kim, executive director of the Asian Community Fund, told the Sampan during the event.Hosted by […]

11 hours ago 0

Review:‘The Vegetarian’ Is a Brilliant Parable of Existence and Purpose in Troubled Times

by Christopher John Stephens

Sometimes the most memorable fictional characters make silence their weapon of choice. In 2024 Nobel Laureate Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, which first appeared in Korean in 2007 and was translated into English eight years later by Deborah Smith, silence is the weapon of choice. Kang’s novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2016 and the writer herself was awarded the Nobel Prize this fall for what the selection committee called “… her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and […]

11 hours ago 0

Immigration Attorney: Trump’s Plans Dire, But Not Unstoppable

by Adam Smith

The incoming administration of Donald Trump has vowed to purge the nation of undocumented immigrants and others, using unprecedented strategies. It’s promised to implement mass deportations, threatened a little-known concept of “remigration,” and even called for expanded efforts to denaturalize some groups of U.S. citizens. Trump’s pick for “Border Czar,” Thomas Homan, for example, recently said in a “60 Minutes” interview that one way to carry out mass deportations without separating families is to have families of mixed immigration and […]

11 hours ago 0

The Suppressed Speech of Wamsutta (Frank B.) James

by Editorial Team

Editor’s note: The following is being reprinted with permission for two reasons. One, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, and, two, as a celebration of free speech and the right to freedom of expression and thought. The speech was to have been delivered at Plymouth in 1970. Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the land of the Wampanoag, their “American” descendants planned an anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of friendly […]

11 hours ago 0

Some Immigrant Families Fear 2nd Trump Presidency

by Esther Wang

Central to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 5 was his harsh stance on immigration.Now that Trump is due to regain the presidency in January, anti-immigrant sentiment has dominated much of the news. Trump has pledged to hire 10,000 more border patrol agents—and it looks like the president-elect will hold true to his promise, as he and his team moves forward on a plan to divest certain Americans of their citizenship, part of a so-called “denaturalization” project has been in […]

12 hours ago 0

Remembering the Life and Work of N. Scott Momaday, First Native American to Win Pulitzer

by Kristen Si

N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist and poet, was a leader and trailblazer for modern Native American literature, with his award-winning novel, “House Made of Dawn” — the first work written by a Native American author to win the Pulitzer Prize. The book inspired a generation of Native American writers. As the U.S. celebrates the contributions of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples for National Native American Heritage Month, we reflect on Momaday’s life, work, and lasting impact both on […]

November 8, 2024 0

Author Charles Yu Talks About His Work on ‘Interior Chinatown,’ His Start as a Lawyer

by Harmony Witte

Writer Charles Yu has seen his career transform from law, to book author and now to television. That latter shift will be further proven when “Interior Chinatown” – his award-winning book – airs on Hulu and Disney Plus on Nov. 19. Produced by Taika Waititi, with a pilot that is also directed by Waititi, the edgy, fast-paced show tackles weighty themes of race, class, and immigration with a sense of humor that left the audience at the recent screening at […]

November 8, 2024 0

Muslim Teacher Doxed, Harassed Online

by Ava Belchez

Among untold number in state subjected to false claims of antisemitism Throughout the past 13 months, claims of antisemitism have erupted locally and nationwide leading to high profile civil rights complaints, congressional outrage and news reports claiming a crisis of hate. But a parallel story of discrimination has gone largely hidden from public view: The stories of Muslim and Arab Americans and others who have had their careers and livelihoods thrown into jeopardy by baseless and defamatory claims of antisemitism. […]

November 8, 2024 0

Many in Boston Area Express Unease Over Election Results

by Ryan Lundgren

After former U.S. Pres. Donald Trump secured enough votes for a second term as president, defeating Vice Pres. Kamala Harris, many in the Greater Boston area and Chinatown showed strong emotions about the results. Massachusetts voted heavily for Harris, as she won over 60% of the vote in the state, so it’s no surprise many were upset with the results. Immigration was a center of the Trump campaign, and his rhetoric was widely described as racist and xenophobic, and had […]

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