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San Francisco school board reconsiders decision to paint over murals depicting slaves and a dead Native American man, both preserving the historic mural and acknowledging the impact such depictions have on students who walk past the mural every day. At a speech in New Hampshire, Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders alleges that there is a link between his criticism of Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, and the newspaper’s coverage of his campaign; executive editor suggests this is a ‘conspiracy theory’ in his response. Members of Joe Biden’s campaign team also criticize media coverage of his recent gaffes. Promotional video for Louisiana Tech University alumni omits the school’s segregated past; history professors seek to correct the record. Following a question from an NPR reporter, top immigration official offers a rewrite of poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty more closely aligned with the Trump administration’s policies. Journalists gain access to and report on conditions at an immigrant detention facility in McAllen, Texas, previously closed to press. (PEN America has previously called for greater access to detention camps for members of the press, arguing that the American public has a right to know about the inhumane conditions at these facilities.) -Anoosh Gasparian, External Relations Manager

The most pressing threats and notable goings-on in free expression today

U.S.

San Francisco School Board May Save Controversial George Washington Mural
The San Francisco school board is reconsidering a decision to destroy a series of historic Depression-era murals depicting slaves and a dead Native American, following widespread complaints that the move amounted to censorship.
NEW YORK TIMES

Washington Post Editor Responds to Bernie Sanders: Your ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Is Wrong
The executive editor of The Washington Post hit back at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ suggestion that the paper’s coverage of the presidential candidate is linked to its owner’s business interests, calling the accusation a “conspiracy theory.”
CNN

Biden Advisor Symone Sanders Clashes with CNN’s Keilar over Biden Gaffes: It’s ‘a Press Narrative’
“This is a press narrative, not a voter narrative,” Symone Sanders said. “If you were to look at the coverage in Iowa this weekend and juxtapose the local newspapers and local television coverage to national media coverage you would have thought these reporters were at two different events.”
MEDIAITE

‘If You Call It History, You’ve Got to Do History’: Historians Chafe at a Video That Omitted Their University’s Whites-Only Origins
There’s a growing movement among colleges and universities, especially in the South, to grapple with their racist legacies, rooted in chattel slavery and perpetuated in its aftermath. Scholars, along with students and community activists, are often the ones driving universities to acknowledge this history.
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Trump Immigration Official Offers Rewrite for Statue of Liberty Poem
“Give me your tired and your poor—who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” The administration recently announced a “public charge” regulation letting federal officials deny green cards to legal immigrants who have received certain public benefits or who are deemed likely to do so in the future.
POLITICO

A Glimpse inside the Central Processing Center, at the Heart of the Border Crisis
During the tour, journalists were not permitted to talk to the migrants in custody, and most shied away from the cameras. Many retreated deeper within their pens and turned away.
WASHINGTON POST
*See PEN America’s statement

 
Global

In Russia, Days of Fake News and Real Radiation After Deadly Explosion
The explosion killed at least seven people, released radiation that briefly elevated readings in a city 25 miles away and set off a scramble by Western experts to ascertain what happened. The military and a state nuclear energy company announced the deaths but few details of the accident.
NEW YORK TIMES

Kashmir Times Editor Seeks Urgent Hearing of Plea for Removal of Media Restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir
The Supreme Court asked Kashmir Times Editor Anuradha Bhasin to hand over the memo for urgent listing of her plea, which seeks the removal of restrictions on the media in Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of the provisions of Article 370.
INDIA POST
*See PEN America’s statement

Across Europe, Museums Rethink What to Do with Their African Art Collections
According to the most commonly cited figures from a 2007 UNESCO forum, 90% to 95% of sub-Saharan cultural artifacts are housed outside Africa. Many, like the works from Benin, were taken during the colonial period and ended up in museums across Europe and North America.
NPR

Artists Demand Removal of Work from Aichi Trienniale Following Censorship Controversy
In an open letter sent to ARTnews on Tuesday morning, a group of artists called on the Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, Japan, to remove their work from the show. The open letter comes a week after the triennial took work off view, in a controversy that some have alleged is censorship.
ARTNEWS

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