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Gun threat at New Brunswick Middle School follows Florida shooting RYAN STIESI Associate News Editor
Two students from New Brunswick Middle School have been arrested following false gun threats. This comes on the heels of the shooting that occurred in Parkland, Florida, which made national headlines earlier this month. GOOGLE MAPS
Two students at New Brunswick Middle School have been arrested over the past four days — both for making false statements about having a gun in their backpack. The second charge, issued to a 12-year-old student of the school, was for “Creating a False Public Alarm” and came Monday afternoon, according to a statement from the New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD). The threat came at the end of the school day when a teacher was made aware of the comment, NBPD detectives and school officials determined the student did not have a gun in his bag or bring one to school. A follow-up investigation took place at the student’s home which determined there was no gun there either, according to the statement. “The New Brunswick Police Department and the New Brunswick Public Schools take these threats very seriously,” the department said in the statement. “Even if students perceive them as jokes, the consequences can be serious.” This incident and following consequences mirrored a threat that was made on Friday by a 14-year-old male student at the school. The student made a comment about having a gun in his bag at the end of the school day, a teacher was made aware of the comment and authorities and school officials worked
to determine that there was no gun, according to an earlier statement. Investigators then conducted a similar follow-up at the student’s home where they determined no threat of gun possession existed. The 14-year-old was charged with “Creating a False Public Alarm” — the same offense. When interviewed by detectives, the student claimed he was just joking, according to the earlier statement. These false alarms ride the heels of the shooting that occurred at a Parkland, Florida high school earlier this month, which killed 17 people. In the week that followed the Feb. 14 shooting — Thursday Feb. 15 to Friday, Feb. 23 — each school day recorded more than 50 threats of school-based violence in schools across the country, according to a fact sheet released by The Educator’s School Safety Network, an advocacy organization that tracks recent reports of threats. In response to recent gun violence, a nationwide school walkout is scheduled on March 14, according to an article from The Daily Targum. The purpose of the walkout is to bring attention to issues regarding student safety on campus and to push leaders in Congress to update gun legislation. The NBPD said in a statement that, “The New Brunswick Police Department reminds everyone … If you see or hear something suspicious, report it to an authority so it can be properly investigated.”
Rutgers exhibits NJ labor conditions during WWII Andrew Petryna Correspondent
A group of students at Rutgers are shedding light on a prominent page in U.S. history — the oppression, incarceration and exploitation of Japanese Americans during the World War II era. “States of Incarceration” is a national exhibition that investigates the history of mass incarceration in the United States. Participants from Rutgers focused on the history of Seabrook Farms — a frozen and canned vegetables company in Cumberland County, New Jersey that offered a captive work-release program to 2,500 Japanese Americans who were on parole from internment camps and searching for their shot at freedom, according to Rutgers Libraries. Rutgers Today reported that workers in the program were poorly treated, marginalized and worked long hours for little compensation
that was often paid back to the company for food and housing costs. “Seabrook Farms is an interesting case study that shows how detention has been used to target Americans who at certain historical moments have been deemed undesirable,’’ said Andrew Urban, an assistant professor in the departments of American Studies and History, according to a Rutgers Today article. Urban brought the project to New Brunswick and said that it highlights how unpopular demographics in America are treated during a specific time. During World War II, thousands of Japanese Americans were deemed threats to the country, stripped of their rights and incarcerated in isolation campus, according to the History website. In reaction to Pearl Harbor, from 1942-1945, it was woven into U.S. policy that any citizen of Japanese descent should be held captive.
The “States of Incarceration” exhibit is an exploration of Japanese-American workers during World War II. Seabrook Farms, a frozen and canned vegetables company in Cumberland County, New Jersey, was a common work site for these workers. STATES OF INCARCERATION Just hours after the attack on Hawaii, the FBI unlawfully removed 1,291 Japanese community and religious leaders from their homes, froze their assets and denied them due process. Workers recounted their time at Seabrook Farms as appalling. They were paid as low as 30 cents an hour, according to an NJ Advance Media article.
Ginzo Murona, a worker there, said his wife’s time there was “ver y sad that she had to be living this way through no choice of her own.” Detainees there often worked 12hour work days and six-day work weeks, according to the article. Urban said the exhibit’s goal is to resuscitate this often hidden histor y, analyze how Seabrook
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Farms used Japanese oppression as an opportunity to capitalize for its own financial interests and spark a conversation about the parallels of U.S. racial isolation then and now. “There are so many clear lines of connection to the history of detention practices used against See conditions on Page 4