State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China

March 2019

JANUARY

   January 1

   AP reported that on January 1, a U.S. drone missile slammed into a farm in Bayda province of Yemen, killing two civilians.

   January 10

   The Gallup website reported 46 percent of women in the United States said they were very or somewhat dissatisfied with their position in society, up from 30 percent in 2008, when Gallup last asked the question.

   January 11

   For more than 10 years, Texas state government had set a "target" for the maximum percentage of students who should receive special education services, leading to the denying of therapy, tutoring and counseling to about 150,000 children with disabilities.

   January 17

   The Hill newspaper website reported the United States saw gerrymandering and a continued decline in the protection of political rights over the past year.

   January 18

   The U.S. government announced it had withheld a pledged 45 million dollars in food aid to Palestinians.

   January 19

   The Columbia Journalism Review website reported that journalists were arrested 34 times in the United States in 2017. Nine of these journalists were charged with felonies. Fifteen journalists had their equipment seized. Forty-four reporters were physically attacked.

January 20

The New York Times website reported that millions of people participated in Women's March 2018 to protest against the policy of the current administration.

January 23

British newspaper The Independent reported that the number of anti-Muslim groups in the United States had trebled since the 2016 presidential election.

 

FEBRUARY

February 1

According to a report by Al Jazeera News, the U.S. administration decided to keep the notorious Guantanamo military prison in Cuba open using an executive order which also gave the secretary of defense the authority to transfer more detainees to the prison camp. There were still 41 detainees being held in the prison, the majority of whom had not faced trial.

February 5

When looking at the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S.-- including cancer, stroke and heart disease -- mortality rates among African Americans are higher than among white Americans, according to a report by the Huffington Post. Compelling evidence suggests both individual- and institutional-level discrimination causes such racial disparity in health.

February 6

The New Yorker reported that Edward Garry from Bronx, the New York City, was jailed on murder charges in 1995. After 23-year quest to clear his name, Garry was finally acquitted.

February 13

According to a report by the Hill, disability rights advocates were arrested for demonstrating against a House Rules Committee hearing to prepare legislation.

February 14

A shooting occurred at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz, equipped with a gun and multiple magazines of ammunition, entered the school, pulled the fire alarm and opened fire at students who came pouring out of the classrooms, killing 17 people and injuring at least 14.

February 21

National Public Radio cited an online survey, saying that 81 percent of women in the United States had experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime, 51 percent said they had been sexually touched without their permission, and 27 percent said they had survived sexual assault. The survey found that 66 percent of women said they'd been sexually harassed in public spaces while 38 percent of women said they experienced sexual harassment at the workplace.

February 22

According to a report by Pew Research Center, the median wealth of white households was almost 10 times the wealth of African American households. In 2017, 81 percent of African Americans said racism was a big problem in society, up from 44 percent eight years prior, and 92 percent of African Americans said whites benefited at least a fair amount from advantages that blacks did not have.

February 26

According to a report by Economic Policy Institute, African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites. The unemployment rate for African American workers is consistently about twice as high as it is for white workers. African Americans are about six times as likely as whites to be in prison or jail. African American infants are about 2.3 times as likely to die as white infants, and an African American born today, on average, still expect to live about 3.5 fewer years than a white person born on the same day.

 

MARCH

March 10

The Los Angeles Times website reported that attack planes and other aircraft have been added to U.S. forces in Afghanistan since January, 2018. The U.S. is bolstering its military presence in Afghanistan, more than 16 years after the war started.

March 14

A month after the school shooting in Parkland that left 17 dead and 14 injured, tens of thousands of students from nearly 3,000 schools across the United States took to the streets to protest gun violence, demanding stricter government legislation on gun control.

March 18

Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old African American, was shot 20 times in his grandmother's back yard by two Sacramento policemen who were searching nearby for a man who had broken a car window. The only object found next to Stephon's body was a mobile phone. "They gunned him down like a dog," Stevante Clark, the victim's brother, said of the police shooting. "They executed him." "Twenty times. That's like stepping on a roach. And then stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping." Stephon Clark was the sixth person shot dead by Sacramento police since 2015, five of whom were African Americans.

March 19

The New York Times reported that Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm largely funded by a wealthy Republican donor and hired by the 2016 election campaign, gained access to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users. The firm offered tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior.

March 19

According to reports by National Public Radio and the New York Times, a study conducted by researchers at Stanford, Harvard and the Census Bureau, found that in 99 percent of neighborhoods in the United States, African American boys earned less in adulthood than white boys who come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. "One of the most popular liberal post-racial ideas is the idea that the fundamental problem is class and not race, and clearly this study explodes that idea," said Ibram Kendi, a professor and director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. "But for whatever reason, we're unwilling to stare racism in the face."

March 25

The Washington Post reported that beginning with Columbine in 1999, more than 187,000 students attending at least 193 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus during school hours. Less than three months into 2018, there had been 11 shootings.

 

APRIL

April 1

The National Partnership for Women & Families website reported that black women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid just 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. More than 4 million households in the United States are headed by black women – and nearly one in three of those households live below the poverty level.

April 4

A survey on the Pew Research Center website pointed out that 59 percent of women in the United States say they have personally received unwanted sexual advances or verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. When asked about sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace today, half of Americans think that men getting away with this type of behavior is a major problem.

April 12

Two African American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, went to a Starbucks in the Center City district of Philadelphia and asked to use the restroom. The employee refused and demanded them leave. As the two refused to leave, the employee called the police, and the police arrested them. The act of discrimination triggered wide demonstrations.

April 19

The ABC News website reported that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross has apologized to two black men who were arrested at a local Starbucks. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that arrest caused "many Philadelphians" to witness and relive "the trauma of racial profiling."

April 23

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a report, saying that the American federal government agencies have instigated more than a third of all anti-Muslim bias incidents in 2017. Of those, 464 incidents were related to the administration's unconstitutional "Muslim Ban" executive orders. The new report also shows a 17-percent increase in anti-Muslim bias incidents and a 15-percent increase in hate crimes in 2017 over the previous year.

April 25

The Case Western Reserve University website reported that its research showed that in the United States, an estimated 15.5 million children each year are exposed to at least one episode of intimate partner violence, with more than 25 percent of children exposed to domestic violence in their lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reports that 27.3 percent of women have experienced physical violence, sexual violence or stalking by intimate partners at least once in their lives.

April 26

Pew Research Center's report, The Public, the Political System and American Democracy, shows that 53 percent of the public say they are not in the opinion that "the rights and freedoms of all people are respected" in America. Most Americans think that those who donate a lot of money to elected officials have more political influence than others.

April 27

Pew Research Center's analysis of the data from U.S. Census Bureau found that 30 percent of solo mothers and 17 percent of solo fathers and their families are living in poverty.

April 30

The U.S. Department of Justice website reported that the former Arkansas State Senator and State Representative Henry Wilkins was found guilty of accepting briberies and voting in accordance with the intensions from the lobbyists.

 

MAY

May 2

Article 19, an international non-governmental organization, reported on its website on May 2, 2018, the hostile climate to the U.S. press had worsened. Journalists' ability to report was being undermined by attacks, arrests, border stops and restrictions on the release of public information. By openly and aggressively accusing journalists and media outlets of lying and producing "fake news," the current U.S. administration risked creating a culture of intimidation and hostility. Thomas Hughes, executive director of Article 19, said threats to press freedom in the United States saw alarming rise over recent years.

May 4

The USA Today website reported, a study of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed domestic violence occurred more often in minority communities. About 45 percent of black women had been physically or sexually abused by intimate partners.

May 12

The USA Today website reported, bullying had become an epidemic in U.S. nursing homes and senior housing. About one in five seniors encountered bullying, it reported.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that the U.S. government separating migrant children from their parents had drawn public outcry. More than 2,000 migrant children had been separated from their parents.

May 18

A shooting rampage took place at the Santa Fe High School near Houston, Texas. A 17-year-old student named Pagourtzis, armed with a pistol and a shotgun, killed 10 people and wounded 13 others. Explosive devices were found inside the school and at locations off campus.

May 22

The National Catholic Reporter website reported, Catholics were among the more than 100 participants demonstrating in Washington, D.C. to demand an end to systemic racism and voter suppression laws. Since 2010, 23 states had passed some type of voter suppression laws, while 17 had voter suppression laws that target Native Americans and indigenous people. Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-founder of the Poor People's Campaign, said, "We condemn ongoing, proven acts of racist voter suppression, of racial voting district gerrymandering that undermine our democratic process. Voter suppression has a consistent, negative impact on our nation's poorest residents."

May 23

The Independent website reported there had been a startling increase in the number of instances where U.S. Border Patrol officers had abused children seeking shelter in the United States. A total of 116 incidents were disclosed where officers were alleged to have physically, sexually, or psychologically abused children between the ages of 5 and 17.

May 27

The Los Angeles Times reported, according to data from the federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, black applicants were rejected at more than double the rate of non-Hispanic white applicants on all types of loans. Black and Hispanic applicants were also charged higher interest rates more often. They carried annual percentage rates that were at least 1.5 percentage points above the "average prime offer rate" for loans of a similar type.

May 29

The NBC reported that a poll showed 64 percent of the respondents said racism remains a major problem in American society and 45 percent said race relations in the United States were getting worse. About 30 percent of them thought race was the biggest source of division in America today. Four in 10 African Americans said they had been treated unfairly in a store or restaurant because of their race in the last month.

May 30

The Washington Post website reported that according to organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate crimes and hate groups had increased. Racists might feel emboldened to publicly vent their hatred because they saw senior government leaders doing something similar.

 

JUNE

June 1

The San Francisco Chronicle website reported that three women had filed a sexual-assault lawsuit in federal court against renowned film producer Harvey Weinstein.

June 5

The Guardian website reported that the United Nations had urged the United States to immediately halt its controversial practice of separating asylum-seeking Central American children from their parents at the southern border. The UN human rights office said it was deeply concerned over the zero tolerance policy introduced by the U.S. government to deter illegal immigration, noting that the practice of separating families amounted to arbitrary and unlawful interference in family life and was a serious violation of the rights of the child. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman of the UN human rights office, said: "The use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles. The US should immediately halt this practice." She expressed regret that the United States was the only country in the world not to have ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child and urged it to hold children's rights in high regard.

June 6

The National Alliance to End Homelessness website reported that African Americans represented 13 percent of the general population but made up more than 40 percent of the homeless population. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders accounted for 0.2 percent of the general population but 1.3 percent of the homeless population.

June 7

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that suicide rates in the U.S. have risen nearly 30 percent since 1999 and nearly half of people who died by suicide had a known mental health condition.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that only one officer had faced prison time as of late 2017 in 15 high-profile cases involving deaths of black people.

June 8

The Houston Chronicle reported that Texas Republican senator Joan Huffman had used her influence to try to halt investigation into a bar she owned.

June 15

The Associated Press reported that Department of Homeland Security figures showed that 1,995 minors were separated from their families at the U.S. southern border between April 19 and May 31, 2018.

June 19

The USA Today website reported that 17-year-old unarmed black teenager Antwon Rose was shot multiple times and killed after fleeing from a car stopped by police. Reggie Shuford, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said officers seemed to have disregarded the basic humanity of this boy when they chose to use lethal force.

On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced at a joint press conference that the United States was withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council. The move came one day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.

June 23

The Guardian website reported that United Nations human rights experts said U.S. policy of detaining children may amount to torture. The report also said there are 2,300 babies and kids who were ripped away from their parents by the government in detention centers around the United States, calling the policy "functional equivalent in kidnapping."

June 25

The Guardian website reported that Latino man Esteban Guzman was racially abused in California by a white woman, who pointed her finger in Guzman's face and called Mexicans "rapists, animals, drug dealers." The language closely echoed abusive words used by some U.S. politicians against Mexicans.

June 28

A gunman opened fire in the newsroom of Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five people and injuring two others in what police called a "targeted attack" on the newspaper. It was the most violent crime targeting media staff in several decades in the United States.

The Chicago Tribune website reported that 575 protesters, most of whom were women, were arrested in their mass demonstration at the Washington, D.C. against U.S. immigration policy.

June 29

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) reported that new data showed "hate crime totals for the 10 largest cities rose for four straight years to the highest level in a decade." The report said racially-motivated crimes had comprised nearly 60 percent of overall crimes and African Americans remained the most targeted group.

The Guardian reported that jailhouses and prison cells across the U.S. were so appallingly managed that imprisoned women were trafficked out of criminal justice institutions into illegal captivity, forced into sex trade under the control of narcotics and brutal beatings, and trapped in an endless loop of criminalization and exploitation.

June 30

Hundreds of thousands of people joined the "Families Belong Together" march to protest the U.S. government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which had led to the separation of at least 2,300 children from their parents. In Los Angeles alone, over 10,000 people took to the street in protest.

 

JULY

July 11

The website of the U.S. Department of Justice reported that Eric Scott Kindley, a former prisoner transport officer, was indicted for crimes related to his sexual assaults of females in his custody and possessing his firearm in furtherance of the sexual assaults on multiple occasions, causing serious physical and mental injuries to the victims.

July 12

The USA Today website reported that secret donors financed more than four out of every 10 television ads that outside groups broadcast in 2018 to influence congressional elections. Two groups accounted for more than one-quarter of the House and Senate advertising from groups that don't disclose their donors. An analysis found a 26-percent increase in airings by similar "dark money" groups in federal races since the 2014 midterms.

On the same day, the USA Today website reported that 32 percent of American households are cost burdened and housing is a basic need that is becoming increasingly difficult to meet in the United States. According to "The State of the Nation's Housing 2018," a report compiled by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, there is a serious shortage of affordable housing in the United States. Housing has become unaffordable for millions of Americans, particularly those in lower- and middle-income brackets.

July 17

An article by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said that the United States has more income and wealth inequality than at any time since the 1920s. As the American middle class continues to collapse, it was reported that 40 percent of Americans lack 400 U.S. dollars in disposable income to pay for an unexpected expense like a medical emergency. In America, 43 percent of households live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to pay for their housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and their cell phone without going into debt. About half of older Americans have no retirement savings. In terms of American young people, hundreds of thousands are unable to go to college because of the cost.

July 21

The NBC News website reported that the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it will no longer require most non-profit organizations to report their donors to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Previously non-profits had to report the name of donors who gave them more than $5,000 per year to the IRS. This new policy will make elections less transparent, resulting in a rise of so-called "dark money" in political campaigns.

July 26

The USA Today website reported that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, an estimated one in four children in America experience maltreatment at some point in their lives. In an appalling criminal case in Michigan, five young children, including one with cancer, were locked in what a local police officer described as a "dungeon" and whipped for punishment on and off for at least six years.

July 27

The Los Angeles Times website reported that a Pakistani was mistaken for an extremist and had been detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay for almost 14 years, having withstood a lot of torture which had caused serious physical and mental trauma.

 

AUGUST

August 7

The Guardian reported on its website that according to the campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets, an overall 6.5 billion U.S. dollars was spent by presidential and congressional candidates in 2016, and the average cost of winning a Senate seat was 19.4 million U.S. dollars.

August 9

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, several hundred people were murdered every year in Chicago in recent years, but the prosecution rate for homicide cases was only 17.5 percent. At least 74 people were shot on the weekend of August 4 and 5, 12 of them fatally. Tens of thousands of young Americans were fleeing cities with frequent and serious violence cases.

August 14

The Washington Post said on its website that more than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades, protected by a hierarchy of church leaders who covered it up.

August 14

The USA Today reported that when dozens of homeless people set up camp near the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio, Robert Ruehlman, a local judge, declared homeless camps a public nuisance and banned them in the affected part of downtown.

August 22

The ACLU website said in an article that it was a common occurrence that the NSA, FBI and CIA gather and search through Americans' international emails, internet calls, and chats without obtaining a warrant. It said PRISM is a warrantless wiretapping program that operates around the clock, vacuuming up emails, Facebook messages, Google chats, Skype calls, and the like.

August 27

Business Insider US reported that according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average gender pay gap in the United States is around 19.5 percent, meaning that, on average, a woman earns 80.5 percent her male counterpart earns.

August 30

American Immigration Council said on its website that the Atlanta City Detention Center was accused of an unsanitary environment, and rampant use of lockdown and isolation.

August 31

The United States government announced that it would no longer contribute to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, and threatened to cancel the assistance programs to Palestine worth over 200 million U.S. dollars in the West Bank and Gaza, aggravating the already serious humanitarian situation in the area.

 

SEPTEMBER

September 2

The website of National Partnership for Women & Families reported that among full-time, year-round workers, women with associate's degrees are paid less than men with just a high school diploma, and women with master's degrees are paid less than men with bachelor's degrees.

September 6

The Hill reported on its website that U.S. Capitol Police arrested 212 people over three days amid protests surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings.

On the same day, the website of the New Yorker reported that seven men were killed in a bloody prison riot in April 2018 at a prison in South Carolina.

September 10

A website owned by ABC News said in an article that collectively, U.S. House candidates raised more money by August 27 than House candidates raised during the entire 2014 midterm election cycle. Ad volumes are up 86 percent compared to that previous midterm. Dark money -- flowing to political action committees from undisclosed donors -- is up 26 percent. For House seats, more than 90 percent of candidates who spend the most win.

September 11

BBC reported that the U.S. military was alleged to have committed torture at secret detention sites in Afghanistan.

September 12

U.S. News & World Report reported that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 39.7 million people were poor in 2017, about 12.3 percent of the population or 1 in 8 Americans.

September 20

Pew Research Center posted on its website that about 70 percent of the female interviewees say they would like to see more women in top leadership positions – not only in politics, but also in the corporate world.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that James Harris Jackson, a white Army veteran, fatally stabbed a 66-year-old black man with a sword in March 2017 and said the slaying was "practice" for the murdering of several black men -- preferably younger black men in the company of white women -- because of his hatred of interracial dating.

September 24

The USA Today reported on its website that according to a survey, based on responses from more than 160,000 secondary students in 27 states, nearly 40 percent of middle-schoolers said they'd been bullied; 27 percent of high-schoolers said the same. Students of color in these schools experienced a steeper increase in bullying over last year.

September 26

The USA Today reported that sexual harassment and assault had become a systemic issue in Hollywood. Based on an industry-wide survey, 94 percent of women surveyed said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault over the course of their careers.

On the same day, CNN reported that French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a fiery rebuke of U.S. isolationist policies at the UN General Assembly on September 25. At times directly referring to the United States, Macron rapped the U.S. government for its policies on Iran, climate change, the UN, migration and the Middle East peace, among others.

 

OCTOBER

October 5

The website of CNN reported that more than 300 protesters were arrested by U.S. Capitol Police in demonstrations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

October 18

Houston Chronicle reported that 12 inmates died at 10 Texas prisons during heat waves.

October 22

The website of the Guardian reported that the 2018 midterm elections have seen a dramatic rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric. A report found that conspiracy theories targeting Muslims have increasingly entered the political mainstream. "More than a third have claimed that Muslims are inherently violent or pose an imminent threat," and "Just under a third of the candidates considered have called for Muslims to be denied basic rights or declared that Islam is not a religion."

October 25

Pew Research Center's website reported that 47 percent of Latinos said their situation in the U.S. has worsened over the past year, and 55 percent said they are worried that they, a family member or close friend could be deported.

October 27

Robert Bowers, 46, stormed into a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with rifle and handguns, shouting hate for Jews and killing worshipers in a 20-minute attack. The Caucasian male killed 11 and wounded six, making the attack the deadliest on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

 

NOVEMBER

November 7

To stop the follow-up questions of a CNN reporter at a White House news conference, a White House intern tried to take the microphone away from the correspondent and the reporter's press pass was also revoked.

November 8

Former Marine Ian David Long opened fire inside a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, killing 12 and injuring a lot.

On the same day, U.S. Department of Justice reported on its website that Daniel Davis and other officers at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana were found guilty of willfully depriving an inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, beating the inmate who was unable to resist, leaving the inmate with severe injuries. They were also convicted of conspiring to cover up the beating.

The website of the Center for Responsive Politics reported that during the 2018 midterm election cycle, the Texas race between incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke is the most expensive congressional election ever in terms of spending by candidates. O'Rourke himself holds the record for the most money raised by a congressional candidate at 69.1 million U.S. dollars.

November 12

BBC website reported that Jemel Roberson, 26, an armed African security guard at a bar in suburban Chicago was killed by police as he detained a suspected gunman. Everybody was screaming out "security, he was a security guard," a witness said, adding that the police saw a black man with a gun and opened fire on him.

The New York Times reported on its website that Esteban Manzanares, a Border Patrol agent in Texas, came into three undocumented female immigrants, including two minors, who surrendered to him for help. He drove them to an isolated, wooded area 16 miles from the border. There he sexually assaulted a teenager, viciously attacked the other two, and left them, finally, to bleed in the brush. Over the past four years, at least 10 people in South Texas have been victims of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping or rape -- all, according to prosecutors and officials, at the hands of Border Patrol agents.

November 20

The website of the New York Times reported that the Los Angeles district attorney announced that the nine people had been charged with paying homeless people off -- with one dollar bills and stray cigarettes -- in exchange for signing fake names on voter registration forms.

November 22

In a gunfire at an Alabama mall on the Thanksgiving night, Emantic "EJ" Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., an 21-year-old African American, helped other shoppers to safety. He was mistaken for the gunman and killed by police officers. The Bradfords' lawyer, Ben Crump, said that "EJ's senseless death is the latest egregious example of a black man killed because he was perceived to be a threat due to the color of his skin."

November 24

CNN reported that Harvard University had been sued for intentionally discriminating against Asian-American applicants over the years. The trial of the case at a U.S. District Court drew wide public attention.

November 26

Al Jazeera America reported that U.S. authorities used tear gas on migrants and refugees, including children, who approached the border fence near the El Chaparral crossing. Rights groups have accused to the U.S. government of stalling the processing of asylum claims.

November 28

The New York Times reported that Raimundo Atesiano, former police chief of Biscayne Park, Florida, was found guilty of framing three African Americans in 2013 and 2014.

The Guardian reported that at least 30 Afghan civilians have been killed in U.S. air strikes in the Afghan province of Helmand. Women and 16 children were among the dead. It also cited UN statistics that the number of civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of 2018 was already higher than in any entire year since 2009.

November 30

The USA Today reported that a survey found more than 230,000 aged or disabled people in the United States were abused in 2017. In recent years, the number of such maltreatment cases has been on the rise.

 

DECEMBER

December 3

According to a report by The Huffington Post, latest figures showed that out of more than 2,600 children who were separated from their parents, 171 were still in government custody, as a result of the U.S. government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

December 6

As reported by The Huffington Post, a research examined federal data on gun deaths between 2000 and 2016, and found that gun violence has shortened the life expectancy of Americans by nearly 2.5 years. It said black Americans have lost 4.14 years of life expectancy due to gun violence, while white Americans lost 2.23 years.

As reported by CNN, six inmates died in correctional facilities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, between June and October of 2018, three from accidental overdose and three by suicide. The investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service revealed inhumane conditions in the county's jails, from severe overcrowding to disordered management.

December 7

According to Los Angeles Times, health departments of Ohio revealed that the number of infant deaths in the state decreased overall from 2016 to 2017, but deaths among black infants increased. The number of black infants who died was three times the rate of white infants.

On the same day, a Jehovah's Witnesses house of worship was destroyed by a fire, which was the fifth attack targeting the religious group in Washington state in 2018.

December 8

Eight members of a neo-Nazi skinhead group assaulted a black man at a bar in Washington state, while yelled racist slurs during the incident.

On the same day, a 7-year-old girl named Jakelin Caal from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock less than 48 hours after she was taken into Border Patrol custody. She reportedly "had not eaten or consumed water for several days."

December 9

As reported by Fort Worth Star Telegram, more than one hundred church leaders of independent fundamental Baptist churches were accused of committing sexual crimes against children, spanning 40 states.

December 10

A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly plotting to kill worshipers in a Jewish synagogue in Toledo.

On the same day, a total of 32 religious leaders and activists were arrested at the U.S. border fence in San Diego during a protest to support the Central American migrant caravan.

December 11

As reported by WFAA.com, an African-American employee of Zodiac Seats U.S. sued his employer for discrimination in work environment. White employees used racial slurs against him by calling him "black monkey." He received retaliation after reporting the issue, with a noose left in his workplace by two white women.

December 12

As reported by CNN, anti-Semitic pamphlets were spread throughout the city of Pittsburgh, with Nazi-themed posters found in various locations around the State University of New York.

BBC reported on the same day that the year 2018 has seen the highest number of school shooting incidents in the United States ever recorded, in figures going back to 1970, which also saw the most casualties. According to figures from the U.S. Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 94 school shooting incidents were reported in 2018, with 163 casualties, compared with a previous high of 97 in 1986.

According to the Atlantic, the U.S. administration in 2017 began pursuing the deportation of many long-term immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries, who the administration alleges are "violent criminal aliens."

December 14

Felipe Gonzalez Morales, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, expressed his concern of the death of the 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, who died in the U.S. Border Patrol custody. He called on the U.S. government to conduct comprehensive investigation into the case, stressing that the U.S. government should stop detaining child migrants.

On the same day, the U.S. Death Penalty Information Center's figures showed that among the cases of interracial crimes that involved death penalties since 1976, 290 African Americans were sentenced to death for murdering the whites, but only 20 white people received death penalties for murdering African Americans.

December 16

As reported by CNN, Yemen was facing large-scale famine and cholera outbreak due to war, with more than 22 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection. An estimated 85,000 children under the age of 5 in Yemen might have died from starvation and disease. "The United States is enabling war that has made Yemen a hell on earth for civilians," U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said. "There is a U.S. imprint on each of these civilian deaths."

December 17

According to American Broadcasting Company, Texas lacks the ability to support its health care. It has 4.7 million uninsured residents under age 65, accounting for 19 percent of the state's population. The state's maternal mortality rate has increased 9 percent since 2016.

December 18

According to an AP report cited by New York Daily News on its website, two prison guards assaulted and intimidated several young inmates at a south Florida facility where they worked, severely damaging the detainees' personal rights.

According to the Guardian, the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, often used high-powered electric shocks as a form of punishment on the students. The students were zapped with electric currents far more powerful than those discharged by stun guns. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a rare formal notice that called for immediate cessation of the electric shocks.

On the same day, the USA Today reported that suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Since 1999, the suicide rate had climbed 33 percent, with 47,000 people killed themselves in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

December 19

As reported by Chicago Tribune, 690 Catholic priests were accused of sexual abuse against children in Illinois, according to a report issued from Attorney General of the state. Some dioceses did not conduct proper investigations into allegations and even used personal information against the person making the allegation.

According to the Washington Post website, a Baltimore City man was convicted of first-degree murder, and the local police ignored the testimony, did not investigate his alibi or tips that another man was the shooter, which led to his 27 years in prison.

December 24

Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy, died on Christmas Eve in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which was the second Guatemalan child to die in the agency's custody that month.

December 31

According to the Washington Post, 998 people had been shot and killed by the U.S. police in 2018. By month, 99 were shot and killed in January, 80 in February, 111 in March, 100 in April, 83 in May, 82 in June, 89 in July, 74 in August, 56 in September, 75 in October, 78 in November, and 71 in December.Chronology of Human Rights Violations of the United States in 2018

State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China

March 2019

 

JANUARY

January 1

AP reported that on January 1, a U.S. drone missile slammed into a farm in Bayda province of Yemen, killing two civilians.

January 10

The Gallup website reported 46 percent of women in the United States said they were very or somewhat dissatisfied with their position in society, up from 30 percent in 2008, when Gallup last asked the question.

January 11

For more than 10 years, Texas state government had set a "target" for the maximum percentage of students who should receive special education services, leading to the denying of therapy, tutoring and counseling to about 150,000 children with disabilities.

January 17

The Hill newspaper website reported the United States saw gerrymandering and a continued decline in the protection of political rights over the past year.

January 18

The U.S. government announced it had withheld a pledged 45 million dollars in food aid to Palestinians.

January 19

The Columbia Journalism Review website reported that journalists were arrested 34 times in the United States in 2017. Nine of these journalists were charged with felonies. Fifteen journalists had their equipment seized. Forty-four reporters were physically attacked.

January 20

The New York Times website reported that millions of people participated in Women's March 2018 to protest against the policy of the current administration.

January 23

British newspaper The Independent reported that the number of anti-Muslim groups in the United States had trebled since the 2016 presidential election.

 

FEBRUARY

February 1

According to a report by Al Jazeera News, the U.S. administration decided to keep the notorious Guantanamo military prison in Cuba open using an executive order which also gave the secretary of defense the authority to transfer more detainees to the prison camp. There were still 41 detainees being held in the prison, the majority of whom had not faced trial.

February 5

When looking at the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S.-- including cancer, stroke and heart disease -- mortality rates among African Americans are higher than among white Americans, according to a report by the Huffington Post. Compelling evidence suggests both individual- and institutional-level discrimination causes such racial disparity in health.

February 6

The New Yorker reported that Edward Garry from Bronx, the New York City, was jailed on murder charges in 1995. After 23-year quest to clear his name, Garry was finally acquitted.

February 13

According to a report by the Hill, disability rights advocates were arrested for demonstrating against a House Rules Committee hearing to prepare legislation.

February 14

A shooting occurred at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz, equipped with a gun and multiple magazines of ammunition, entered the school, pulled the fire alarm and opened fire at students who came pouring out of the classrooms, killing 17 people and injuring at least 14.

February 21

National Public Radio cited an online survey, saying that 81 percent of women in the United States had experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime, 51 percent said they had been sexually touched without their permission, and 27 percent said they had survived sexual assault. The survey found that 66 percent of women said they'd been sexually harassed in public spaces while 38 percent of women said they experienced sexual harassment at the workplace.

February 22

According to a report by Pew Research Center, the median wealth of white households was almost 10 times the wealth of African American households. In 2017, 81 percent of African Americans said racism was a big problem in society, up from 44 percent eight years prior, and 92 percent of African Americans said whites benefited at least a fair amount from advantages that blacks did not have.

February 26

According to a report by Economic Policy Institute, African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites. The unemployment rate for African American workers is consistently about twice as high as it is for white workers. African Americans are about six times as likely as whites to be in prison or jail. African American infants are about 2.3 times as likely to die as white infants, and an African American born today, on average, still expect to live about 3.5 fewer years than a white person born on the same day.

 

MARCH

March 10

The Los Angeles Times website reported that attack planes and other aircraft have been added to U.S. forces in Afghanistan since January, 2018. The U.S. is bolstering its military presence in Afghanistan, more than 16 years after the war started.

March 14

A month after the school shooting in Parkland that left 17 dead and 14 injured, tens of thousands of students from nearly 3,000 schools across the United States took to the streets to protest gun violence, demanding stricter government legislation on gun control.

March 18

Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old African American, was shot 20 times in his grandmother's back yard by two Sacramento policemen who were searching nearby for a man who had broken a car window. The only object found next to Stephon's body was a mobile phone. "They gunned him down like a dog," Stevante Clark, the victim's brother, said of the police shooting. "They executed him." "Twenty times. That's like stepping on a roach. And then stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping." Stephon Clark was the sixth person shot dead by Sacramento police since 2015, five of whom were African Americans.

March 19

The New York Times reported that Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm largely funded by a wealthy Republican donor and hired by the 2016 election campaign, gained access to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users. The firm offered tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior.

March 19

According to reports by National Public Radio and the New York Times, a study conducted by researchers at Stanford, Harvard and the Census Bureau, found that in 99 percent of neighborhoods in the United States, African American boys earned less in adulthood than white boys who come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. "One of the most popular liberal post-racial ideas is the idea that the fundamental problem is class and not race, and clearly this study explodes that idea," said Ibram Kendi, a professor and director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. "But for whatever reason, we're unwilling to stare racism in the face."

March 25

The Washington Post reported that beginning with Columbine in 1999, more than 187,000 students attending at least 193 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus during school hours. Less than three months into 2018, there had been 11 shootings.

APRIL

April 1

The National Partnership for Women & Families website reported that black women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid just 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. More than 4 million households in the United States are headed by black women – and nearly one in three of those households live below the poverty level.

April 4

A survey on the Pew Research Center website pointed out that 59 percent of women in the United States say they have personally received unwanted sexual advances or verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. When asked about sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace today, half of Americans think that men getting away with this type of behavior is a major problem.

April 12

Two African American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, went to a Starbucks in the Center City district of Philadelphia and asked to use the restroom. The employee refused and demanded them leave. As the two refused to leave, the employee called the police, and the police arrested them. The act of discrimination triggered wide demonstrations.

April 19

The ABC News website reported that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross has apologized to two black men who were arrested at a local Starbucks. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that arrest caused "many Philadelphians" to witness and relive "the trauma of racial profiling."

April 23

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a report, saying that the American federal government agencies have instigated more than a third of all anti-Muslim bias incidents in 2017. Of those, 464 incidents were related to the administration's unconstitutional "Muslim Ban" executive orders. The new report also shows a 17-percent increase in anti-Muslim bias incidents and a 15-percent increase in hate crimes in 2017 over the previous year.

April 25

The Case Western Reserve University website reported that its research showed that in the United States, an estimated 15.5 million children each year are exposed to at least one episode of intimate partner violence, with more than 25 percent of children exposed to domestic violence in their lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reports that 27.3 percent of women have experienced physical violence, sexual violence or stalking by intimate partners at least once in their lives.

April 26

Pew Research Center's report, The Public, the Political System and American Democracy, shows that 53 percent of the public say they are not in the opinion that "the rights and freedoms of all people are respected" in America. Most Americans think that those who donate a lot of money to elected officials have more political influence than others.

April 27

Pew Research Center's analysis of the data from U.S. Census Bureau found that 30 percent of solo mothers and 17 percent of solo fathers and their families are living in poverty.

April 30

The U.S. Department of Justice website reported that the former Arkansas State Senator and State Representative Henry Wilkins was found guilty of accepting briberies and voting in accordance with the intensions from the lobbyists.

 

MAY

May 2

Article 19, an international non-governmental organization, reported on its website on May 2, 2018, the hostile climate to the U.S. press had worsened. Journalists' ability to report was being undermined by attacks, arrests, border stops and restrictions on the release of public information. By openly and aggressively accusing journalists and media outlets of lying and producing "fake news," the current U.S. administration risked creating a culture of intimidation and hostility. Thomas Hughes, executive director of Article 19, said threats to press freedom in the United States saw alarming rise over recent years.

May 4

The USA Today website reported, a study of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed domestic violence occurred more often in minority communities. About 45 percent of black women had been physically or sexually abused by intimate partners.

May 12

The USA Today website reported, bullying had become an epidemic in U.S. nursing homes and senior housing. About one in five seniors encountered bullying, it reported.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that the U.S. government separating migrant children from their parents had drawn public outcry. More than 2,000 migrant children had been separated from their parents.

May 18

A shooting rampage took place at the Santa Fe High School near Houston, Texas. A 17-year-old student named Pagourtzis, armed with a pistol and a shotgun, killed 10 people and wounded 13 others. Explosive devices were found inside the school and at locations off campus.

May 22

The National Catholic Reporter website reported, Catholics were among the more than 100 participants demonstrating in Washington, D.C. to demand an end to systemic racism and voter suppression laws. Since 2010, 23 states had passed some type of voter suppression laws, while 17 had voter suppression laws that target Native Americans and indigenous people. Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-founder of the Poor People's Campaign, said, "We condemn ongoing, proven acts of racist voter suppression, of racial voting district gerrymandering that undermine our democratic process. Voter suppression has a consistent, negative impact on our nation's poorest residents."

May 23

The Independent website reported there had been a startling increase in the number of instances where U.S. Border Patrol officers had abused children seeking shelter in the United States. A total of 116 incidents were disclosed where officers were alleged to have physically, sexually, or psychologically abused children between the ages of 5 and 17.

May 27

The Los Angeles Times reported, according to data from the federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, black applicants were rejected at more than double the rate of non-Hispanic white applicants on all types of loans. Black and Hispanic applicants were also charged higher interest rates more often. They carried annual percentage rates that were at least 1.5 percentage points above the "average prime offer rate" for loans of a similar type.

May 29

The NBC reported that a poll showed 64 percent of the respondents said racism remains a major problem in American society and 45 percent said race relations in the United States were getting worse. About 30 percent of them thought race was the biggest source of division in America today. Four in 10 African Americans said they had been treated unfairly in a store or restaurant because of their race in the last month.

May 30

The Washington Post website reported that according to organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate crimes and hate groups had increased. Racists might feel emboldened to publicly vent their hatred because they saw senior government leaders doing something similar.

 

JUNE

June 1

The San Francisco Chronicle website reported that three women had filed a sexual-assault lawsuit in federal court against renowned film producer Harvey Weinstein.

June 5

The Guardian website reported that the United Nations had urged the United States to immediately halt its controversial practice of separating asylum-seeking Central American children from their parents at the southern border. The UN human rights office said it was deeply concerned over the zero tolerance policy introduced by the U.S. government to deter illegal immigration, noting that the practice of separating families amounted to arbitrary and unlawful interference in family life and was a serious violation of the rights of the child. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman of the UN human rights office, said: "The use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles. The US should immediately halt this practice." She expressed regret that the United States was the only country in the world not to have ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child and urged it to hold children's rights in high regard.

June 6

The National Alliance to End Homelessness website reported that African Americans represented 13 percent of the general population but made up more than 40 percent of the homeless population. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders accounted for 0.2 percent of the general population but 1.3 percent of the homeless population.

June 7

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that suicide rates in the U.S. have risen nearly 30 percent since 1999 and nearly half of people who died by suicide had a known mental health condition.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that only one officer had faced prison time as of late 2017 in 15 high-profile cases involving deaths of black people.

June 8

The Houston Chronicle reported that Texas Republican senator Joan Huffman had used her influence to try to halt investigation into a bar she owned.

June 15

The Associated Press reported that Department of Homeland Security figures showed that 1,995 minors were separated from their families at the U.S. southern border between April 19 and May 31, 2018.

June 19

The USA Today website reported that 17-year-old unarmed black teenager Antwon Rose was shot multiple times and killed after fleeing from a car stopped by police. Reggie Shuford, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said officers seemed to have disregarded the basic humanity of this boy when they chose to use lethal force.

On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced at a joint press conference that the United States was withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council. The move came one day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.

June 23

The Guardian website reported that United Nations human rights experts said U.S. policy of detaining children may amount to torture. The report also said there are 2,300 babies and kids who were ripped away from their parents by the government in detention centers around the United States, calling the policy "functional equivalent in kidnapping."

June 25

The Guardian website reported that Latino man Esteban Guzman was racially abused in California by a white woman, who pointed her finger in Guzman's face and called Mexicans "rapists, animals, drug dealers." The language closely echoed abusive words used by some U.S. politicians against Mexicans.

June 28

A gunman opened fire in the newsroom of Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five people and injuring two others in what police called a "targeted attack" on the newspaper. It was the most violent crime targeting media staff in several decades in the United States.

The Chicago Tribune website reported that 575 protesters, most of whom were women, were arrested in their mass demonstration at the Washington, D.C. against U.S. immigration policy.

June 29

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) reported that new data showed "hate crime totals for the 10 largest cities rose for four straight years to the highest level in a decade." The report said racially-motivated crimes had comprised nearly 60 percent of overall crimes and African Americans remained the most targeted group.

The Guardian reported that jailhouses and prison cells across the U.S. were so appallingly managed that imprisoned women were trafficked out of criminal justice institutions into illegal captivity, forced into sex trade under the control of narcotics and brutal beatings, and trapped in an endless loop of criminalization and exploitation.

June 30

Hundreds of thousands of people joined the "Families Belong Together" march to protest the U.S. government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which had led to the separation of at least 2,300 children from their parents. In Los Angeles alone, over 10,000 people took to the street in protest.

 

JULY

July 11

The website of the U.S. Department of Justice reported that Eric Scott Kindley, a former prisoner transport officer, was indicted for crimes related to his sexual assaults of females in his custody and possessing his firearm in furtherance of the sexual assaults on multiple occasions, causing serious physical and mental injuries to the victims.

July 12

The USA Today website reported that secret donors financed more than four out of every 10 television ads that outside groups broadcast in 2018 to influence congressional elections. Two groups accounted for more than one-quarter of the House and Senate advertising from groups that don't disclose their donors. An analysis found a 26-percent increase in airings by similar "dark money" groups in federal races since the 2014 midterms.

On the same day, the USA Today website reported that 32 percent of American households are cost burdened and housing is a basic need that is becoming increasingly difficult to meet in the United States. According to "The State of the Nation's Housing 2018," a report compiled by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, there is a serious shortage of affordable housing in the United States. Housing has become unaffordable for millions of Americans, particularly those in lower- and middle-income brackets.

July 17

An article by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said that the United States has more income and wealth inequality than at any time since the 1920s. As the American middle class continues to collapse, it was reported that 40 percent of Americans lack 400 U.S. dollars in disposable income to pay for an unexpected expense like a medical emergency. In America, 43 percent of households live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to pay for their housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and their cell phone without going into debt. About half of older Americans have no retirement savings. In terms of American young people, hundreds of thousands are unable to go to college because of the cost.

July 21

The NBC News website reported that the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it will no longer require most non-profit organizations to report their donors to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Previously non-profits had to report the name of donors who gave them more than $5,000 per year to the IRS. This new policy will make elections less transparent, resulting in a rise of so-called "dark money" in political campaigns.

July 26

The USA Today website reported that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, an estimated one in four children in America experience maltreatment at some point in their lives. In an appalling criminal case in Michigan, five young children, including one with cancer, were locked in what a local police officer described as a "dungeon" and whipped for punishment on and off for at least six years.

July 27

The Los Angeles Times website reported that a Pakistani was mistaken for an extremist and had been detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay for almost 14 years, having withstood a lot of torture which had caused serious physical and mental trauma.

 

AUGUST

August 7

The Guardian reported on its website that according to the campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets, an overall 6.5 billion U.S. dollars was spent by presidential and congressional candidates in 2016, and the average cost of winning a Senate seat was 19.4 million U.S. dollars.

August 9

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, several hundred people were murdered every year in Chicago in recent years, but the prosecution rate for homicide cases was only 17.5 percent. At least 74 people were shot on the weekend of August 4 and 5, 12 of them fatally. Tens of thousands of young Americans were fleeing cities with frequent and serious violence cases.

August 14

The Washington Post said on its website that more than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades, protected by a hierarchy of church leaders who covered it up.

August 14

The USA Today reported that when dozens of homeless people set up camp near the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio, Robert Ruehlman, a local judge, declared homeless camps a public nuisance and banned them in the affected part of downtown.

August 22

The ACLU website said in an article that it was a common occurrence that the NSA, FBI and CIA gather and search through Americans' international emails, internet calls, and chats without obtaining a warrant. It said PRISM is a warrantless wiretapping program that operates around the clock, vacuuming up emails, Facebook messages, Google chats, Skype calls, and the like.

August 27

Business Insider US reported that according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average gender pay gap in the United States is around 19.5 percent, meaning that, on average, a woman earns 80.5 percent her male counterpart earns.

August 30

American Immigration Council said on its website that the Atlanta City Detention Center was accused of an unsanitary environment, and rampant use of lockdown and isolation.

August 31

The United States government announced that it would no longer contribute to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, and threatened to cancel the assistance programs to Palestine worth over 200 million U.S. dollars in the West Bank and Gaza, aggravating the already serious humanitarian situation in the area.

 

SEPTEMBER

September 2

The website of National Partnership for Women & Families reported that among full-time, year-round workers, women with associate's degrees are paid less than men with just a high school diploma, and women with master's degrees are paid less than men with bachelor's degrees.

September 6

The Hill reported on its website that U.S. Capitol Police arrested 212 people over three days amid protests surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings.

On the same day, the website of the New Yorker reported that seven men were killed in a bloody prison riot in April 2018 at a prison in South Carolina.

September 10

A website owned by ABC News said in an article that collectively, U.S. House candidates raised more money by August 27 than House candidates raised during the entire 2014 midterm election cycle. Ad volumes are up 86 percent compared to that previous midterm. Dark money -- flowing to political action committees from undisclosed donors -- is up 26 percent. For House seats, more than 90 percent of candidates who spend the most win.

September 11

BBC reported that the U.S. military was alleged to have committed torture at secret detention sites in Afghanistan.

September 12

U.S. News & World Report reported that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 39.7 million people were poor in 2017, about 12.3 percent of the population or 1 in 8 Americans.

September 20

Pew Research Center posted on its website that about 70 percent of the female interviewees say they would like to see more women in top leadership positions – not only in politics, but also in the corporate world.

On the same day, the New York Times website reported that James Harris Jackson, a white Army veteran, fatally stabbed a 66-year-old black man with a sword in March 2017 and said the slaying was "practice" for the murdering of several black men -- preferably younger black men in the company of white women -- because of his hatred of interracial dating.

September 24

The USA Today reported on its website that according to a survey, based on responses from more than 160,000 secondary students in 27 states, nearly 40 percent of middle-schoolers said they'd been bullied; 27 percent of high-schoolers said the same. Students of color in these schools experienced a steeper increase in bullying over last year.

September 26

The USA Today reported that sexual harassment and assault had become a systemic issue in Hollywood. Based on an industry-wide survey, 94 percent of women surveyed said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault over the course of their careers.

On the same day, CNN reported that French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a fiery rebuke of U.S. isolationist policies at the UN General Assembly on September 25. At times directly referring to the United States, Macron rapped the U.S. government for its policies on Iran, climate change, the UN, migration and the Middle East peace, among others.

 

OCTOBER

October 5

The website of CNN reported that more than 300 protesters were arrested by U.S. Capitol Police in demonstrations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

October 18

Houston Chronicle reported that 12 inmates died at 10 Texas prisons during heat waves.

October 22

The website of the Guardian reported that the 2018 midterm elections have seen a dramatic rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric. A report found that conspiracy theories targeting Muslims have increasingly entered the political mainstream. "More than a third have claimed that Muslims are inherently violent or pose an imminent threat," and "Just under a third of the candidates considered have called for Muslims to be denied basic rights or declared that Islam is not a religion."

October 25

Pew Research Center's website reported that 47 percent of Latinos said their situation in the U.S. has worsened over the past year, and 55 percent said they are worried that they, a family member or close friend could be deported.

October 27

Robert Bowers, 46, stormed into a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with rifle and handguns, shouting hate for Jews and killing worshipers in a 20-minute attack. The Caucasian male killed 11 and wounded six, making the attack the deadliest on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

 

NOVEMBER

November 7

To stop the follow-up questions of a CNN reporter at a White House news conference, a White House intern tried to take the microphone away from the correspondent and the reporter's press pass was also revoked.

November 8

Former Marine Ian David Long opened fire inside a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, killing 12 and injuring a lot.

On the same day, U.S. Department of Justice reported on its website that Daniel Davis and other officers at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana were found guilty of willfully depriving an inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, beating the inmate who was unable to resist, leaving the inmate with severe injuries. They were also convicted of conspiring to cover up the beating.

The website of the Center for Responsive Politics reported that during the 2018 midterm election cycle, the Texas race between incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke is the most expensive congressional election ever in terms of spending by candidates. O'Rourke himself holds the record for the most money raised by a congressional candidate at 69.1 million U.S. dollars.

November 12

BBC website reported that Jemel Roberson, 26, an armed African security guard at a bar in suburban Chicago was killed by police as he detained a suspected gunman. Everybody was screaming out "security, he was a security guard," a witness said, adding that the police saw a black man with a gun and opened fire on him.

The New York Times reported on its website that Esteban Manzanares, a Border Patrol agent in Texas, came into three undocumented female immigrants, including two minors, who surrendered to him for help. He drove them to an isolated, wooded area 16 miles from the border. There he sexually assaulted a teenager, viciously attacked the other two, and left them, finally, to bleed in the brush. Over the past four years, at least 10 people in South Texas have been victims of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping or rape -- all, according to prosecutors and officials, at the hands of Border Patrol agents.

November 20

The website of the New York Times reported that the Los Angeles district attorney announced that the nine people had been charged with paying homeless people off -- with one dollar bills and stray cigarettes -- in exchange for signing fake names on voter registration forms.

November 22

In a gunfire at an Alabama mall on the Thanksgiving night, Emantic "EJ" Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., an 21-year-old African American, helped other shoppers to safety. He was mistaken for the gunman and killed by police officers. The Bradfords' lawyer, Ben Crump, said that "EJ's senseless death is the latest egregious example of a black man killed because he was perceived to be a threat due to the color of his skin."

November 24

CNN reported that Harvard University had been sued for intentionally discriminating against Asian-American applicants over the years. The trial of the case at a U.S. District Court drew wide public attention.

November 26

Al Jazeera America reported that U.S. authorities used tear gas on migrants and refugees, including children, who approached the border fence near the El Chaparral crossing. Rights groups have accused to the U.S. government of stalling the processing of asylum claims.

November 28

The New York Times reported that Raimundo Atesiano, former police chief of Biscayne Park, Florida, was found guilty of framing three African Americans in 2013 and 2014.

The Guardian reported that at least 30 Afghan civilians have been killed in U.S. air strikes in the Afghan province of Helmand. Women and 16 children were among the dead. It also cited UN statistics that the number of civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of 2018 was already higher than in any entire year since 2009.

November 30

The USA Today reported that a survey found more than 230,000 aged or disabled people in the United States were abused in 2017. In recent years, the number of such maltreatment cases has been on the rise.

 

DECEMBER

December 3

According to a report by The Huffington Post, latest figures showed that out of more than 2,600 children who were separated from their parents, 171 were still in government custody, as a result of the U.S. government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

December 6

As reported by The Huffington Post, a research examined federal data on gun deaths between 2000 and 2016, and found that gun violence has shortened the life expectancy of Americans by nearly 2.5 years. It said black Americans have lost 4.14 years of life expectancy due to gun violence, while white Americans lost 2.23 years.

As reported by CNN, six inmates died in correctional facilities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, between June and October of 2018, three from accidental overdose and three by suicide. The investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service revealed inhumane conditions in the county's jails, from severe overcrowding to disordered management.

December 7

According to Los Angeles Times, health departments of Ohio revealed that the number of infant deaths in the state decreased overall from 2016 to 2017, but deaths among black infants increased. The number of black infants who died was three times the rate of white infants.

On the same day, a Jehovah's Witnesses house of worship was destroyed by a fire, which was the fifth attack targeting the religious group in Washington state in 2018.

December 8

Eight members of a neo-Nazi skinhead group assaulted a black man at a bar in Washington state, while yelled racist slurs during the incident.

On the same day, a 7-year-old girl named Jakelin Caal from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock less than 48 hours after she was taken into Border Patrol custody. She reportedly "had not eaten or consumed water for several days."

December 9

As reported by Fort Worth Star Telegram, more than one hundred church leaders of independent fundamental Baptist churches were accused of committing sexual crimes against children, spanning 40 states.

December 10

A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly plotting to kill worshipers in a Jewish synagogue in Toledo.

On the same day, a total of 32 religious leaders and activists were arrested at the U.S. border fence in San Diego during a protest to support the Central American migrant caravan.

December 11

As reported by WFAA.com, an African-American employee of Zodiac Seats U.S. sued his employer for discrimination in work environment. White employees used racial slurs against him by calling him "black monkey." He received retaliation after reporting the issue, with a noose left in his workplace by two white women.

December 12

As reported by CNN, anti-Semitic pamphlets were spread throughout the city of Pittsburgh, with Nazi-themed posters found in various locations around the State University of New York.

BBC reported on the same day that the year 2018 has seen the highest number of school shooting incidents in the United States ever recorded, in figures going back to 1970, which also saw the most casualties. According to figures from the U.S. Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 94 school shooting incidents were reported in 2018, with 163 casualties, compared with a previous high of 97 in 1986.

According to the Atlantic, the U.S. administration in 2017 began pursuing the deportation of many long-term immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries, who the administration alleges are "violent criminal aliens."

December 14

Felipe Gonzalez Morales, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, expressed his concern of the death of the 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, who died in the U.S. Border Patrol custody. He called on the U.S. government to conduct comprehensive investigation into the case, stressing that the U.S. government should stop detaining child migrants.

On the same day, the U.S. Death Penalty Information Center's figures showed that among the cases of interracial crimes that involved death penalties since 1976, 290 African Americans were sentenced to death for murdering the whites, but only 20 white people received death penalties for murdering African Americans.

December 16

As reported by CNN, Yemen was facing large-scale famine and cholera outbreak due to war, with more than 22 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection. An estimated 85,000 children under the age of 5 in Yemen might have died from starvation and disease. "The United States is enabling war that has made Yemen a hell on earth for civilians," U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said. "There is a U.S. imprint on each of these civilian deaths."

December 17

According to American Broadcasting Company, Texas lacks the ability to support its health care. It has 4.7 million uninsured residents under age 65, accounting for 19 percent of the state's population. The state's maternal mortality rate has increased 9 percent since 2016.

December 18

According to an AP report cited by New York Daily News on its website, two prison guards assaulted and intimidated several young inmates at a south Florida facility where they worked, severely damaging the detainees' personal rights.

According to the Guardian, the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, often used high-powered electric shocks as a form of punishment on the students. The students were zapped with electric currents far more powerful than those discharged by stun guns. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a rare formal notice that called for immediate cessation of the electric shocks.

On the same day, the USA Today reported that suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Since 1999, the suicide rate had climbed 33 percent, with 47,000 people killed themselves in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

December 19

As reported by Chicago Tribune, 690 Catholic priests were accused of sexual abuse against children in Illinois, according to a report issued from Attorney General of the state. Some dioceses did not conduct proper investigations into allegations and even used personal information against the person making the allegation.

According to the Washington Post website, a Baltimore City man was convicted of first-degree murder, and the local police ignored the testimony, did not investigate his alibi or tips that another man was the shooter, which led to his 27 years in prison.

December 24

Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy, died on Christmas Eve in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which was the second Guatemalan child to die in the agency's custody that month.

December 31

According to the Washington Post, 998 people had been shot and killed by the U.S. police in 2018. By month, 99 were shot and killed in January, 80 in February, 111 in March, 100 in April, 83 in May, 82 in June, 89 in July, 74 in August, 56 in September, 75 in October, 78 in November, and 71 in December.