The Wolverine Wake-up

Friday morning at 6:39 in morning the heavily used Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed. It is located in Pittsburgh. The east end of the bridge collapsed with five cars and a bus on it injuring five people. That same day President Biden was scheduled to arrive to discuss repairing the bridge. A 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure package was recently signed into law. The bridge was built in 1970 and for years received a bad safety rating. In 2019 the report on the bridge was said to have problems with the deck and superstructure. Two researchers documented that it would cost about 458 million dollars to repair all the bridges in the city. 29 bridges in the city are considered to be in poor condition. At least 53 bridges in Pittsburgh are poorly rated but not yet considered to be in poor condition.

https://tinyurl.com/4u7zd8dt

-Taylor Jones

An Asian woman named Vilma Kari was attacked on her way to church. A stranger came up to her and started cursing at her and beating her violently. So violently that she sustained serious head and pelvic injuries. The man was also yelling at saying” You do not belong here, You Asian.” Later Vilma found out that the video of her assault was posted and had gone viral. Which put her in the center of a media storm over anti-Asian attacks during the pandemic and being constantly reminded of what happened made it very hard for her to move on “Vilma and her daughter Elizabeth are among thousands of families across the United States grappling with a surge in anti-Asian violence fueled by misinformation linking the virus with Asian countries or people.” There was a spike in hate crimes in New York where Vilma’s assault happened. Sunday community members and activists are holding rallies across six major cities to honor victims of anti-Asian racism. “A nationwide survey of more than 1,000 AAPI ( Asian American and Pacific Islander), respondents from September to October found that roughly one in five had experienced a hate incident in the past 12 months, according to Stop Hate AAP, a center that tracks reports of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.” The rise in attacks has led to even more fear in the community people are scared to leave their homes because of what might happen to them. Some so many people live in fear Asian businesses have been closing down so that they don’t have to walk home in the dark, that is how scared people are, they have also started organizing self-defense classes and gathering volunteers for patrols. There are many like Vilma who have been attacked and so many others who have been attacked and didn’t come forward because they did not trust the police or the government. Vilma was one of the few to see her attacker arrested. The NYPD and the mayor have tried to help by donating 3 million dollars to fight hate crimes and by setting up Asian Hate Crimes Task Force, but it still isn't enough “ the underlying racial hatred and systemic problems that led to the attacks haven't been substantially addressed, say activists and survivors.”