Sumita Chakraborty
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notsumatra.bsky.social
Sumita Chakraborty
@notsumatra.bsky.social
www.sumitachakraborty.com • poet, scholar, general doer of things with words, faculty at the University of Virginia • wherever I am, I'm not Sumatra • opinions mine, including that nobody’s free until everybody’s free
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Why isn't this getting maximum attention? MSNBC report that 300,000 Black women have left the workforce in the last three months--targeted by DOGE www.msnbc.com/know-your-va...
300,000 Black women have left the labor force in 3 months. It’s not a coincidence.
For decades, the public sector has been a lifeline for Black women shut out of economic opportunity. It’s no surprise that Trump's federal downsizing targeted them first, explains gender economist Kat...
www.msnbc.com
July 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Every diaspora Palestinian I know has been living with survivor’s guilt for 655 days. Guilt & shame for every glass of water, every bite of food, every shower, every daily annoyance, every moment of joy, every booboo we can kiss better, every sleep in our own beds. Our people are being slaughtered.
July 23, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
If my reporting today has been helpful, please consider supporting my work.

Venmo: @ emgunter127
July 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
🚨 BREAKING: Trump admin refuses to release Mahmoud Khalil, despite judge's order
Trump admin refuses to release Mahmoud Khalil, despite judge's order
The Trump admin argued that the judge's injunction "does not interfere" with authority to detain Khalil on other grounds.
www.axios.com
June 13, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Freedom Flotilla Coalition update: "The [Madleen] volunteers are currently being held in a detention facility at Ben Gurion International Airport, where they are expected to face hearings before their deportation to their home countries."
June 10, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨

Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs:

Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate

LA Jail Support / Bail Fund:
account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor...

Unión del Barrio:
uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...
June 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Walid often sends me videos of his daughters. This morning he sent me this video of his daughters with a shell that didn’t kill them. Let’s help them survive another day. chuffed.org/project/1253...
May 28, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Over 100,000 people are marching through The Hague against Israel's war on Gaza.

Wearing red clothing and forming a line, they are demanding the government draw a red line in its stance against Israel.

It's the largest protest in the Netherlands in 20 years.
May 18, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza attacked by drones, NGO says, and at risk of sinking after its generator targeted with 30 human rights activists on board
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
Ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza attacked by drones, NGO says
Ship issued SOS distress call after being hit 31.5km east of Malta
www.irishtimes.com
May 2, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Easter in the genocide. Again.
April 20, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Georgetown scholar Dr. Khan Suri, who was abducted by ICE, was refused food/water to break Ramadan fast, housed in a room without a bed, and issued *used* underwear.

His child cried for days after he was taken and has since stopped speaking.

ccrjustice.org/home/press-c...
April 8, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
“My detention at Guantanamo changed me. The isolation, the deprivation… it broke us down.”

A Venezuelan man who entered the US for a CBP One appointment on Jan. 19, 2025—and violated no laws—describes the horrors of Guantanamo detention aka imprisonment.

ccrjustice.org/sites/defaul...
April 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
They did it. They terminated my NEH grant. Their letter went to my junk mail. This is an active grant that would have finished on June 30.

“Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government”

They are so afraid of us.
April 4, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Massive, unarchivable datasets of cancer, covid, and Alzheimer's research could be lost forever

🔗 www.404media.co/nih-archives...
Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever
Days before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that 10,000 HHS staffers would lose their jobs, a message appeared on NIH research repository sites saying they were "under review."
www.404media.co
April 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
AAUP has just published a memo laying out the many legal reasons why universities should not hand over the names & nationalities of their students or faculty, as the Trump admin has asked. Please share freely with your friendly university admin! @aaup.bsky.social www.aaup.org/news/institu...
Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info To Enable Deportations
In response to news reports that the Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Education has requested the names and nationalities of students and faculty who may have been involved in alleged T...
www.aaup.org
April 2, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Columbia student: "How are we obstructing if this gate has been closed since the start of the semester?”

Columbia admin: “Because if we were to open it, you would be obstructing that entrance."
Jewish pro-Palestinian protesters chain themselves to gates outside St. Paul’s Chapel and Earl Hall
<i>Updated April 2 at 4:38 p.m.</i>
www.columbiaspectator.com
April 2, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
Crowd gathers downtown to protest detention of U of M student by ICE
Crowd gathers downtown to protest detention of U of M student by ICE
The student was reportedly arrested Thursday at an off-campus residence.
bringmethenews.com
March 30, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
“The Penn investigation, which remains open, is one of svrl across the 🇺🇸 in which universities have turned to more sophisticated tech + shows of police forces” — here, tracking 📱 + raiding an off-campus apt — “to investigate student vandalism + other property crimes related to pro-🇵🇸 demonstrations.”
How Colleges Are Surveilling Students Now
Colleges are using surveillance videos and search warrants to investigate students involved in pro-Palestinian protests. Experts say it’s a new frontier in campus security that could threaten civil li...
www.nytimes.com
March 30, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
This exciting resolution from Rutgers University Senate is exactly the kind of model I think higher ed needs: a mutual defense pact of, in this case, Big 10 schools. They call for member institutions to create a joint defense fund and make resources available to any member institution under attack.
March 30, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Sumita Chakraborty
NYU canceled a planned speech by the former president of Doctors Without Borders because she planned to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and cuts to US AID.

This is what actual campus censorship looks like.
‘Climate of fear’: Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation
A Montreal doctor says her presentation at NYU was abruptly cancelled and believes the university did so out of fear of being pressured by the Donald Trump administration.
www.ctvnews.ca
March 30, 2025 at 5:07 PM