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Kavitha Rajagopalan

@kxraja.bsky.social

1.2K followers 870 following 1K posts

Founding director, Asian Media Initiative @ccmnewmarkj.bsky.social. Writer. Previously Sr Fellow Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affrs. Global migration + Asia-Pacific. Pediatric transplant mom.

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thrilled to kick off this series! Community journalism has long advanced democracy in immigrant communities and is a bulwark against digital authoritarianism — but today faces escalating threats and revenue loss.

This series showcases Nepali, Indonesian, Chinese, and Filipino media. Follow along!

steve-npq.bsky.social @steve-npq.bsky.social · Sep 8

Today @npquarterly.bsky.social starts a 6-part weekly series, "The New Asian Diaspora Media: Defending Democracy Locally and Globally." First up: @kxraja.bsky.social. [Amid anti #immigrant backlash], "AAPI community journalism is more important than ever." See: nonprofitquarterly.org/how-asian-di...

How Asian Diaspora Digital Community Media Advance Democratic Practice - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

Asian American community news media help their audiences participate in civic life, a role that has become even more important as immigrants face increased repression.

nonprofitquarterly.org

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 51m

They’re you have it. They have stated they can just commit extrajudicial killings against those they designate(with no evidence / due process) as terrorists, and they are calling anti-ICE protestors, most of whom are private individuals and liberal / progressive voters, terrorists.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1h

Noem: “We are hoping…we will get more and more information about the network and how we can route them out and eliminate them from the existence of American society…Antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA, as ISIS, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them. They are just as dangerous.”

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 1h

So we can’t see their faces, they’re afraid of being doxxed, but they’re recording themselves committing atrocities and racially profiling people?

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 6h

ICE is not only chasing down every random brown person in Chicago, they have a cameraman following them to film this for social media. Cruelty and inhumanity as content.

Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

AAUP @aaup.org · 2h

“If we aren't free to pursue research and teaching based on wherever the knowledge leads us, we are not truly working in the service of the public.”

— Rana Jaleel, associate professor at UC Davis & Chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure

How Academic Freedom in Universities Generates the Greatest Value for Society

Academic freedom is at the foundation of one of the most powerful and fundamental ideas about universities. Learn about how academic freedom has contributed to broad benefits in society and UC Davis f...

lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu

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Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

Capital B @capitalb.bsky.social · 2h

Tyesha Long’s attorneys are appealing the decision. capitalbnews.org/tyesha-long-...

She Got 27 Years for Killing Her Abuser. Judge Rules Oklahoma’s Survivors Act Won’t Free Her.

A judge will submit a written decision in Tyesha Long’s hearing next month.

capitalbnews.org

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2h

As I told @josephcox.bsky.social for this piece, if DHS is concerned that the actions of their own officers might inflame public opinion against the agency, they should work to increase oversight and accountability at the agency — rather than seek to have the evidence banned.

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 3h

New: Apple banned an app that simply archived videos of ICE abuses. Rather than other apps that record ICE official's real-time location, Eyes Up is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." Videos from TikTok etc. Every submission manually reviewed

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 5h

We know more about the massive military-style raid on a Chicago housing complex thanks to the reporting of @southsideweekly.bsky.social, @blockclubchi.bsky.social, and neighborhood resident Eboni Watson who chronicled the event. Among the emerging questions: what's real estate's role in this?

section of text from South Side Weekly's coverage, which says: "The building was purchased by Wisconsin-based investor Trinity Flood in January 2020, according to Cook County records. On October 1, the day after the raid, a judge reviewed an emergency motion from Wells Fargo seeking to appoint Matthew Tarshis of Frontline Real Estate Partners as the property’s receiver.

Flood purchased three multifamily properties in South Shore in 2020. The neighborhood, which had the highest number of eviction filings in Chicago from 2015-2019 according to the Law Center for Better Housing, has seen a rise in outside real estate investors since the 2017 announcement of the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in the neighboring Jackson Park.

Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the building in mid-2024, bringing a $27 million lawsuit against Flood for missed loan payments. In late 2024, the City began closing its largest migrant shelters and, through state funding assistance distributed via Catholic Charities and moving support from New Life Church, relocated many families to buildings such as this one."

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Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 4h

President Trump said Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson should “be in jail” for not protecting ICE agents. blockclubchi.co/4nS4lE0

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 8h

This very very very bad. I cannot stress this enough. I said that they crossed the Rubicon with arresting Ras Baraka several months ago. This is very bad and portends more bad things for regular people.

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 9h

The President of the United States is calling for the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois to be jailed.

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Julia Rose Kraut @juliarosekraut.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Banned Books Week! 🗃️

For more information on Book Bans, check out this recent report from @penamerica.bsky.social

pen.org/report/the-n...

Read Banned Books under a shelf of books.

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Jewish Currents @jewishcurrents.bsky.social · 6h

"Yesterday, the world’s calendars turned their neat page to October 7th, yet here in Gaza the clock broke long ago. Under the roar of planes, time folds in on itself."

A new piece by the Palestinian writer from Gaza, Abdullah Hany Daher
jewishcurrents.org/a-time-that-...

A Time That Refuses to Pass

While the world marks two years since October 7th, 2023, those of us in Gaza have been living inside one long night.

jewishcurrents.org

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 10h

Good morning from the line outside the courthouse in the Eastern District of Virginia, where former FBI director James Comey is set to be arraigned on federal charges.

I’m here for @lawfaremedia.org.

Follow along for updates ⬇️

Federal courthouse in EDVA, with line of people out front and a guy holding a “show trial” sign

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 12h

Meanwhile in Myanmar. Begs the question why we were funding food aid in internment camps but were never able to leverage the closing of said camps and safety for genocide survivors.

apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

The Continent @thecontinent.org · 13h

For five months after Israel’s war on Gaza began, Sherif Naim couldn’t open his laptop. Now, he runs Taqat — a solar-powered co-working hub helping 700+ freelancers survive war. Others like Gaza Talents are doing the same: rebuilding, even under bombardment.

Employment is resistance in Gaza

Remote-work platforms take root in Palestine as freelance tech and creative workers navigate the wartime economy.

continent.substack.com

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Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · 13h

📣 🎙️ New episode of "Saffron Siege: The RSS at 100", writer Aakar Patel and journalist Rana Ayyub examine, with Harsh Mander, whether India under Narendra Modi has transformed into a Hindu Rashtra.
buff.ly/j8qf51f

Aakar Patel, Rana Ayyub and Harsh Mander on the RSS and Hindu Rashtra today

In this episode, writer Aakar Patel and journalist Rana Ayyub examine with Harsh Mander whether India under Narendra Modi has transformed into a Hindu Rashtra or and to what extent does India’s…

youtu.be

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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 1d

The scenes out of Chicago should outrage us all. These federal agents are out of control, committing senseless acts of violence & putting everyone at risk.

American citizens are being detained & brutalized.

This kind of immigration "enforcement" shouldn't be acceptable to anyone.

Immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

www.pbs.org

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onion person @junlper.beer · 20h

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 1d

INBOX: The Chicago News Guild joined others in suing ICE for attacking journalists at the Broadview facility.

“Our members have a right, protected by the First Amendment, to do their jobs and report the news. They should not be targeted, injured or arrested for doing their jobs.”

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19h

The First Amendment explicitly guarantees:

-the right of the people peaceably to assemble
-to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
-the free exercise of religion
-freedom of speech

If this priest had also been press, ICE would have violated all five 1A freedoms at once.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 22h

Here’s video of the incident

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Drilled @drilledmedia.bsky.social · 6d

In this week's episode, we dig into the psychology of mis/disinformation and why it works so well. We thought we knew a lot about disinformation, and then we talked to these experts!

drilled.media/podcasts/dri...

S14, Ep3 | The Psychology of Misinformation: Why Does It Work So Well?

Investigating the obstacles to action on climate change.

drilled.media

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 21h

A great way to celebrate @lataco.bsky.social, manifesting the realest community media power pivot from serving foodies to serving their vulnerable community with real time coverage at a moment of paralysis and terror.

L.A. TACO @lataco.bsky.social · 21h

Whether you’re in need of a restock or looking to spice things up, this taco sauce has the L.A. TACO seal of approval! 🌶️💥

Grab your bottle at shop.lataco.com

Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

Eman Abdelhadi @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social · 1d

Actually, it really matters whether your electeds are progressive. We are often frustrated on the left at what electeds can deliver, but we have to remember moments like this. Paul Vallas would NOT have created ICE free zones.

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 2d

HAPPENING NOW — This morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones.”

“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson said to applause.

thetriibe.com/2025/10/mayo...

Mayor Brandon Johnson signs executive order establishing ‘ICE-free zones’ • The TRiiBE

Johnson is calling for a full investigation into “all of the brutality” that federal agents have conducted this past week.

thetriibe.com

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 21h

It is unconscionable what innocent Palestinian people have been made to suffer in retaliation for the vicious attack of 10/7. They didn’t have anything to do with it. Many of the dead hadn’t even been born yet, or were old people sipping tea at home.

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 21h

Careful! The injera expands!!

Reposted by Kavitha Rajagopalan

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 21h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Kavitha Rajagopalan @kxraja.bsky.social · 21h

Ahaaahaaaa