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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: A federal judge has ordered New York City’s Rikers Island jail and the entire city jail system to be overseen by an independent officer due to unconstitutional conditions.
👥 Who’s Involved: Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the NYC Department of Correction, Mayor Eric Adams, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and federal court-appointed monitors.
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📍 Where & When: Rikers Island, New York City; new ruling stemming from a 2011 federal lawsuit.
💬 Key Quote: “The unsafe and dangerous conditions in the jails… have become normalized despite the fact that they are clearly abnormal and unacceptable,” Judge Swain wrote.
⚠️ Impact: An independent officer will now manage Rikers, with authority to overhaul policies on staffing, discipline, and security.
IN FULL:
A federal judge has taken control of New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, appointing an independent officer to oversee the facility and the city’s broader jail system. The decision follows years of controversy over allegedly dangerous and unconstitutional conditions at the facility, which houses around 7,000 inmates.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order in a 77-page ruling, stating that the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) had failed to implement court-mandated reforms. “The unsafe and dangerous conditions in the jails… have become normalized despite the fact that they are clearly abnormal and unacceptable,” Swain wrote.
The ruling stems from a 2011 federal lawsuit, Nunez v. City of New York, in which inmates alleged excessive and unnecessary use of force by jail staff. The city entered into the Nunez Consent Judgment in 2015, agreeing to reforms, but Swain noted that little progress had been made. In November, the court held the DOC and the city in civil contempt for failing to comply with 18 provisions meant to reduce violence and dysfunction.
The independent officer, the Nunez Remediation Manager, will report directly to the court and have the authority to alter policies on use of force, staffing, discipline, and security to address the city’s violations.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who opposed federal intervention, said his administration would comply with the ruling. “If the federal judge decided that they want to do something else and they don’t like what we’re doing, it’s a federal judgment. We’re going to follow the rules,” he stated.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2017 a plan to close Rikers within a decade and replace it with smaller borough-based jails. However, delays have pushed the timeline back, with the first facility not expected to open until 2029. Adams argues that the City Council’s prohibition of capital investments in Rikers has hindered improvements, though he claims conditions have improved under his leadership.
The move comes just months after President Donald J. Trump‘s administration announced plans to take over the overhaul of New York’s iconic Pennsylvania Station after years of promises and inaction by local politicians.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized white Afrikaner refugees for leaving the country, labeling their departure as “cowardly.”
👥 Who’s Involved: President Cyril Ramaphosa, Afrikaner refugees, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel.
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📍 Where & When: South Africa; comments made at an agricultural convention following the arrival of 49 Afrikaner refugees in Washington, D.C., on May 13.
💬 Key Quote: “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act, and I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.” — President Cyril Ramaphosa.
⚠️ Impact: The remarks highlight tensions over South Africa’s racist land redistribution policies and the U.S. granting refugee status to Afrikaners.
IN FULL:
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced white Afrikaner refugees who recently emigrated to the United States, describing their departure as an act of cowardice. His comments came after the first group of 49 Afrikaners, granted refugee status by the U.S., landed in Washington, D.C. Reports suggest up to 70,000 additional Afrikaners have applied for refugee status under the policy.
Speaking at a surprise appearance at an agricultural convention on Tuesday, Ramaphosa addressed the issue, stating that those leaving South Africa were unwilling to accept the government’s “transformation” policies. New “expropriation without compensation” laws aim to forcibly redistribute land and wealth along racial lines.
“They may be feeling excited they’ve left the country, they’ve got somebody like President Trump, but in the end, it’s a group of South Africans demonstrating that the changes and transformation that we are embarking upon here, they are not favourably disposed to it, and that’s why they are running away.”
He continued, “When you run away, you’re a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act. I expect every South African to stay here, and we work together, and we solve our problems.”
Afriforum, a group representing Afrikaners, pushed back against Ramaphosa’s statements. CEO Kallie Kriel issued a strong response on social media, accusing the South African government of fostering an unsafe environment for Afrikaners. The group often highlights threats and violence, including deadly violence, targeting white farmers in the country, even before the government’s moves to seize their land.
President Donald J. Trump has accused the South African government of presiding over a “genocide” against Afrikaners. Tensions between the governments of the two countries have been high in recent months over the mistreatment of white Afrikaner people, who have been in southern Africa since the 1600s—which is as long as some of its black African ethnic groups, with roots in tribes that migrated to the territory from further north, at least in some areas.
South Africa is a country where the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party, led by extremist Julius Malema regularly sing a song calling for the killing of Afrikaner farmers. Malema himself has not ruled out murdering white South Africans if his extremist party—already the fourth-largest in the South African legislature, out of 18 with representation there—ever comes to power.
“We’ve not called for the killing of white people, at least for now. I can’t guarantee the future,” he said in an interview in 2018.
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