Nike to reevaluate use of Uighurs in China factories - The - The Washington Post |
- Nike to reevaluate use of Uighurs in China factories - The - The Washington Post
- Ever Wonder What That Extra Lace Hole on Your Gym Shoes Is For? We Found Out - gearpatrol.com
- Local organization provides over 160 children with shoes - KOLR - OzarksFirst.com
- Metro elementary students gearing up to Run to Remember with new shoes, socks - KFOR Oklahoma City
- This artist’s red shoes stand in for all the women lost to violence - PBS NewsHour
| Nike to reevaluate use of Uighurs in China factories - The - The Washington Post Posted: 11 Mar 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Nike had been "conducting ongoing diligence with our suppliers in China to identify and assess potential risks related to employment of people from" Xinjiang, the statement said. "Nike remains dedicated to ethical and responsible manufacturing and we are deeply committed to ensuring the people who make our product are respected and valued," it said. The Post reported last month on labor practices at the Taekwang factory in Laixi, China, which has been a Nike supplier for more than 30 years and produces about 8 million pairs of athletic shoes annually. About 700 of the factory's workers are members of the Uighur ethnic minority from the western region of Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been on a campaign to strip the mostly-Muslim population of their culture, language and religion. More than 1 million Uighurs have been put through reeducation camps aimed at "deradicalizing" them, according to Chinese authorities, and have now "graduated" from the camps. In what appears to be the latest iteration of that campaign, at least 80,000 Uighurs have been dispatched in groups of 50 to work at factories throughout the country, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in a report published this month. Chinese state media contains numerous reports about groups of young people being sent to work at factories where they live in dormitories and attend ideological training at "Pomegranate Seeds" schools — so called because Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants all ethnic groups to stick closely together. On the Chinese Internet, middlemen advertise the workers like chattel. "They will be under semi-military style management, and the staff turnover rate is low," said one middleman who posted on Tieba, a forum like Reddit. Another notice asked: "Do you want Xinjiang Uighurs? One year contract. Government management with police stationed at factories." A Post reporter who visited the Taekwang factory saw dozens of Uighur workers, mostly women in their early 20s, walking around the factory area. The women were too afraid to talk, but local residents who interact with them said that they did not come to the factory freely but were sent there. While ASPI could not confirm that the labor was forced, their report said there was clear evidence of "highly disturbing coercive labour practices" that was consistent with the International Labour Organization's definition of forced labor. When first contacted by The Post, Nike said that its suppliers are "strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured labor." Taekwang said the workers offset local labor shortages, and it was not aware of any requirements that the workers undergo ideological training. In a new statement, Nike said that Taekwang's Qingdao facility had not recruited new employees from the Xinjiang region since last year. Taekwang "is currently seeking expert advice on the best and most responsible approach to conclude the employment of remaining employees" from Xinjiang, Nike said. "Taekwang has confirmed that their employees from [Xinjiang] have the ability to end their contracts at any time without repercussion, and historically many have chosen to do so," Nike continued. On Tuesday, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) accused American companies of deliberately turning a blind eye to "horrific" forced labor conditions in China's Xinjiang region. This related to companies that use workers inside the region, not to labor exports like the ones to the Nike supplier. This is a particular problem for clothing and garment manufacturers because 84 percent of Chinese cotton comes from Xinjiang, Menendez wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. "There are consistent reports that U.S. companies fail to undertake basic labor and human rights assessments in Xinjiang, in essence willfully ignoring the horrific conditions of forced labor in Xinjiang," he wrote. "In failing to uphold their responsibilities to vet their supply chains, these companies may be complicit in the mass repression of Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups," he said. Asked about Menendez's letter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that "there is no such thing as forced labor in Xinjiang." "We hope certain people in the U.S. will take off their tinted glasses, and keep normal economic cooperation and trade between the two countries in perspective," Geng told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.  |
| Ever Wonder What That Extra Lace Hole on Your Gym Shoes Is For? We Found Out - gearpatrol.com Posted: 11 Mar 2020 02:59 AM PDT Welcome to Further Details, a recurring column where we investigate what purpose an oft-overlooked product element actually serves. This week: a hole in your shoe that's there for a reason. There's a concept in psychology called flashbulb memory that describes how we tend to remember exceptionally vivid experiences. The assassination of JFK and the 9/11 terrorist attacks are regular examples that illustrate flashbulb memories — we all seem to remember precisely where we were when these events occurred. Flashbulb memories don't have to be traumatic, though, which explains why I recall exactly where I was when I learned how to tie my shoes. I learned the bunny ears method in the mudroom of the first house I grew up in. Then, once I realized that everyone in my class had graduated beyond bunny ears, a friend taught me the more advanced loop, swoop and pull in his mudroom. (Before picking up these skills, I even remember the principal of my future elementary school telling me that I'd "need to learn how to do that on my own" when I asked her to help tie my shoes during a visit; maybe that experience is linked to trauma though.) And yet, nobody ever told me what the extra lace eyelets at the top of my sneakers were for. Not when I was five, not when I was twenty-five. To be fair, I never asked. As it's only present on athletic footwear, I assumed it was there for an extra crisscrossing of the laces, either to take up excess length or to provide an additional band of tightness over the very top of the foot. A running-addicted colleague recently revealed that the latter guess was partially correct. That extra eyelet is the key to employing a heel lock, also called a lace lock or a runner's loop. Tied properly, it holds the heel tightly in place, providing support and preventing excess rubbing that might cause blisters.
 Using the eyelet to create a heel lock is simple: 1. Lace up your shoes normally. My colleague has known how to tie a heel lock since her high school track days. She typically ties new shoes this way to provide a snug, secure fit. As will I, flashbulb ignited. Note: Purchasing products through our links may earn us a portion of the sale, which supports our editorial team's mission. Learn more here. |
| Local organization provides over 160 children with shoes - KOLR - OzarksFirst.com Posted: 11 Mar 2020 04:46 AM PDT  JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE)— Local organizations team up with an international group to provide more than 160 children with a new pair of shoes. Samaritan's Feet partnered with local athletes and philanthropic organizations to pair the kids with their new sneakers. All the children who received the shoes are a part of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Missouri. Samaritan's Feet understand many kids may be wearing too small or worn down shoes. And this project helps take the financial burden off families to get their kids new kicks. Graham Gibbs, Samaritan's Feet, said, "The psychology of a new pair of shoes, I mean it's listed as one of the top items kids have to have to be really prepared to learn or in an environment to learn and so we understand the benefit of that and being able to help families with the economics of it." Since their start 30 years ago, Samaritan's Feet has donated more than 7 million shoes worldwide.  |
| Metro elementary students gearing up to Run to Remember with new shoes, socks - KFOR Oklahoma City Posted: 11 Mar 2020 06:34 AM PDT  OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – 200 students from a metro elementary school are gearing up to Run to Remember with help from Oklahoma Cleats for Kids (C4K) and the Oklahoma City Memorial Kids Marathon. On April 26, 2020, thousands will run in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. 200 Shidler Elementary School students will be participating in the Kids Marathon. Each student received a pair of New Balance running shoes and a pair of running socks. Each runner's registration for the Kids Marathon is sponsored by the Inasmuch Foundation. The group from Shidler Elementary will complete 25 miles over the course of the semester, saving the last 1.2 miles of the marathon for Race Day. C4K and the Memorial Kids Marathon equipped 175 runners at Santa Fe South Elementary School in 2019. "In recognizing the 25th Anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and running in the 20th Annual Run to Remember, it's important we Look Back and Run Forward to remember and teach this story about how our community came together, to the next generation," said Kari Watkins, Executive Director, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. "The Oklahoma Standard is truly evident today." Suggest a Correction |
| This artist’s red shoes stand in for all the women lost to violence - PBS NewsHour Posted: 10 Mar 2020 03:46 PM PDT Editor's note: This story contains graphic details of violence. Elina Chauvet's red shoes are worldly. They've been in Milan, Italy, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Not just one pair, but hundreds — red boots, red heels, red toddler shoes. They're not there to see the sights, but to take up space. Especially when the women or girls who would have worn them no longer take up any space, except in the lives of their loved ones. For more than a decade, Chauvet has staged her "Los Zapatos Rojos" installation in cities around the world. In January, the 60-year-old Mexican artist helped activists paint 300 shoes red and laid them out in pairs in an open, public place: inside Mexico City's historic square. Some of the pairs — four of them — had once belonged to women who had been victims of gender-based deadly violence. To mark their absence, two mothers had personally painted and placed their daughters' shoes inside the plaza. For Chauvet, red takes on several meanings. It represents bloodshed, but also change and hope and love, according to the artist.  Wearing a luchador mask, artist Elina Chauvet (L) poses for a photo amid the hundreds of pairs of women's red shoes inside Mexico City's famous Zocalo plaza. The photo on the right shows Chauvet's installation that was displayed on Grand Valley State University's Pew Campus in March 2017. Photos courtesy of Elina Chauvet On Monday, nearly two months since Chauvet's installation, Mexican activists launched a nationwide, 24-hour women's strike, known as #UnDiaSinNosotras (A Day Without Us) on social media. There were fewer women and girls in work places, schools, the streets and other public spaces to demonstrate what it would be like if there were no women. Activists hoped the action will further pressure government officials into taking action against femicide in the country. Mexico officially made "femicides" — the killings of women because of their gender — legally distinct from homicides in 2012. That change was meant to lead to tougher penalties and a greater support system for victims. On average, 10 women and girls are killed each day in Mexico, according to an oft-cited statistic. That number has risen since 2016, when official government figures put the number at eight per day. But not all female murder victims are classified as femicide — that can differ in each country according to their specific legal definition.  Two separate posters about femicide by Mexico City-based artist Sofia Weidner were spotted in Mexico City. The one on the left cites a now-outdated statistic that, on average, 9 women are killed each day in the country. That number has since risen to 10. Photos by Cynthia Arvide (L) and Joshua Barajas (R) The Mexican government labels a killing as a femicide when there are certain "reasons" for the violence, including whether the victim suffered degrading injuries or mutilations before or after their death, if the victim's body is displayed in a public place, or if there's a history of violence in the family, workplace or at school against the victim. Calls for widespread protests ramped up after a series of grisly killings. Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was found stabbed in Mexico City, her body skinned and missing several organs. Police said Escamilla's husband confessed to the killing. Photos of her body were then spread on social media and websites. One national newspaper, Pasala, ran its story of Escamilla's death with the headline: "It was Cupid's fault." In a separate case, 7-year-old Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett was abducted from her school in Mexico City and later found dead in a plastic bag. Police found her body days after news of Escamilla's death. Despite a 2012 claim by a Mexican delegation to the United Nations that the country was "gaining ground" on ending femicide in the country, the numbers have since continued to climb. The year 2019 was Mexico's most violent year overall in recent recorded history. Mexican officials recorded 35,558 homicides. Of those, 3,825 victims were women. And the number of killings that were investigated and classified as femicides is 1,006. The year before, that number was at 912. The government's repeated statements to investigate and prosecute the cases have not been borne out. The number can vary, but fewer than 10 percent of femicide cases are solved.  A mural spotted in Mexico City that pays tribute to several women who were killed due to gender-based violence. This part of the mural depicts an image of Campira Camorlinga Alanís, who was killed in 2016. The mural also says that 95 percent of femicide cases go unpunished. Compared to other countries, the violence against women in Mexico "does not a reach the most extreme levels," a 2017 report from researchers at the University of San Diego said, but "it represents an intractable problem" that has been made more complicated, in part, by authorities' "half-hearted measures" to address the killings. The report, co-written by lead author Michael Lettieri, found that the violence caused wider cultural damage than simply to the women who were murdered. "Femicides terrify, denying women equal access to public space and opportunities, and further shredding a social fabric already torn by a decade-long drug war," the report said. Lettieri told the PBS NewsHour that some of the underlying causes of femicide, including police re-victimizing people or policymakers' general disregard for the gender-based killings, are factors that ought to be addressed before it leads to impunity. He also said Mexico has become a "global reference point" for examining femicides. Part of this was the media attention around the unsolved murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez during the 1990s and 2000s. But the problem is larger than Juárez, said Lettieri, who's now a fellow at University of California, San Diego's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. Lettieri said, for Mexicans, Juarez isn't their reference point for femicide. "They look around the corner," he said, referring to the violence that exists in their own communities.  Pairs of women's red shoes seen in the Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico, for the Jan. 11 protest. Photo by Gustavo Graf/Reuters Chauvet and other activists are quick to name what they believe is the largest hurdle to ending femicides: impunity, and a fractured response from the Mexican police and government. She said it's a "constant battle" for mothers to get their daughters' cases solved or investigated. "It's getting worse … because the laws — even though they exist — they are not upheld by the government, the local authorities, the judges," Chauvet said. "It's a patriarchal system that protects the murderer and blames the victim." Chauvet said she first put together the red shoes installation in 2009 after her sister was killed by her husband in a domestic violence case in Ciudad Juárez. Her sister was 32 years old. "Her death was more than an inspiration," Chauvet said. "This was a way to take away the pain through the art." The project is also "a direct message to the [Mexican] government," she said. "If it had given more attention to this issue years ago, these women would be with their families, at home right now." Chauvet said she's seen a huge change from when she first started this project. Then, women weren't willing to speak up about domestic violence, she said, adding that the violence had been a "taboo subject in Mexico for a very long time." The long walk to justiceInside a small office in Mexico City, Norma Andrade shows a small poster of her daughter Lilia Alejandra García Andrade. At the top is a photo of a smiling Alejandra, with "¡Justicia!" written out below in big red letters — a demand for justice for her daughter's killing in Juarez in 2001.  Norma Andrade holds a photo of her daughter, who was killed in 2001. Photo by Joshua Barajas Alejandra was 17 when she went missing after she walked toward a bus stop after her shift at work. Seven days later, authorities found her body in an unlit lot in between her work place and the bus stop, a pathway she often took on her way home. Alejandra had been tortured, raped and killed. Speaking through tears, Norma Andrade said it's been 19 years since Alejandra's death, and the case has remained unsolved. "I carry around this pain, this anger, this impotency, because in spite of having a suspect, nothing is being done. That's why whenever I'm told there's going to be a meeting, or there's going to be this protest, I go to everything."  Andrade's body was found a week after she was abducted. There were signs of strangulation on her body. Photo by Joshua Barajas Andrade, one of the mothers who attended the red shoes installation in January, co-founded the nonprofit Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa, or "May Our Daughters Return Home," after her daughter's death. The organization, backed by a team of lawyers, fights human rights violations, rape cases and murders in different parts of the country. Inside the nonprofit's Mexico City office, there are shelves full of white binders that show how protracted the process is for families of femicide victims to seek justice. For just a single case, there might be many binders. Andrade, who's there to support the families, said that "there aren't enough words to quell or contain the pain of a mother whose daughter has gone missing." In those moments, Andrade hurts too. "When you feel like you can begin to, in a sense, 'heal the wound,' another girl goes missing, her mother approaches you seeking help, and you go back to feeling the same way," she said.  On the left is the notice seen at the bus stop in Juarez that explains the 2001 murder of Andrade. On the right, Andrade's two children celebrate what would have been her 31st birthday in 2014. Photos courtesy of Norma Andrade In Juarez, there's a notice — ¿Quieres saber que pasó aquí?, or "Do you want to know what happened here?" — alongside Alejandra's old bus stop. Next to a photo of Alejandra is text about her initial abduction and then death days later. The notice is outlined in pink, a color long associated with the deaths and disappearances of women and girls in Juarez. Andrade was also relocated to Mexico City, with the government's assistance, after she was shot five times in the chest and shoulder in her hometown in 2011. But when she was transferred to the capital, she said government officials then washed their hands of the matter and went away. In the 19 years since Alejandra's death, Andrade has raised her daughter's two children, Jade and Caleb. Both of the children were young when their mother was killed; Caleb, the youngest, was 5 months old. Every year, they celebrate Alejandra's birthday and also mark the anniversary of her death, Feb. 21. Now, Caleb is a sophomore in college and wants to be a physical education teacher. Jade, also in college, is studying fashion design. Andrade said she has seen changes, including a Mexican law that codified the term "feminicidio" and the various organizations that have cropped up to support the families of victims. But she then referred to the Mexican expression "Dar atole con el dedo" to describe the situation. The expression is akin to putting your finger in a cup of atole — a hot beverage — instead of maybe a spoon, turning things around, but not really doing anything. Mexican officials are "really not interested," she said. Today, the parking lot where Alejandra's body was discovered is now lit, no longer a darkened path to get to the bus stop.  Pairs of women's red shoes seen during the March 9 "A Day Without Us" protest, outside the National Palace in Mexico City. Photo by Gustavo Graf/Reuters Back in Mexico City, in the same Zocalo where Chauvet's red shoes protest was held, about 80,000 women participated in a march on Sunday to mark International Women's Day. On the pavement, activists stenciled the names of 3,000 women whose lives were claimed by femicide. "Now, we see women come out in masses … now having much more awareness about the violence and a stronger desire to put an end to it, and change society," Chauvet said. In April, her installation will be staged in Brazil. No matter where it's shown, Chauvet said, the installation can take the form of a protest or as a work of art. She added that Mexican women have felt a freedom to speak up and not be silent anymore to help change societal attitudes about women. "In the long run, it will take generations for this to be visible," she said. Cynthia Arvide, Patty Gorena Morales and Susana Seijas contributed to this report.  |
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