Betsy Brown
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betsybrown.bsky.social
Betsy Brown
@betsybrown.bsky.social
Poet, writer, editor, author of Year of Morphines(LSU Press).
Reposted by Betsy Brown
The federal government does and should have the authority to deploy troops into our cities—even without local consent—*when the circumstances actually warrant it.*

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com, me on why the real issue in Portland, Chicago, and elsewhere is the missing / contrived factual predicate:
Opinion | No, Trump Can’t Deploy Troops to Wherever He Wants
www.nytimes.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
NEW in WashPost: As funding for CVT’s life-saving programs was abruptly halted, “Some clients were suicidal and found it ‘difficult to start to be hopeful & see the future’ after the violence of war,” said Solyana Gebru, who was assoc trainer in Ethiopia.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
After 100 days, the toll of Trump’s foreign aid cuts has begun to sink in
Here’s how programs on the ground in countries around the world have been upended by President Donald Trump’s swift dismantling of most U.S. international aid.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 1, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
Poet Kevin Young, director since 2021 of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been placed on leave.

news.artnet.com/art-world/di...
Smithsonian Museum Director Placed on Leave Amid Pressure Campaign
Poet Kevin Young, director since 2021 of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been placed on leave.
news.artnet.com
April 4, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”
What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced
Exclusive photos of the arrival of Venezuelan detainees deported from the U.S.
time.com
March 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“Sending these men to face abuse is appalling and shameful. It is also against the law.” Sending Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador violates non-refoulement principle. New: @justsecurity.org by @scott-roehm.bsky.social & @becingber.bsky.social
www.justsecurity.org/109284/non-r...
Non-Refoulement Obligations Under the Alien Enemies Act
Non-refoulement prohibits states from removing from their jurisdiction any person who could be at risk of human rights violations.
www.justsecurity.org
March 20, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“They don't know if they can feel safe here, and they came to the U.S. specifically to feel safe," said Sara Nelson, program mgr, in this news segment about the climate of fear that CVT's clients are experiencing. On @wcconews.bsky.social
www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/vi...
Center for Victims of Torture looks to connect refugees with medical care
As the federal government ramps up deportation efforts, an area organization says it’s striking fear into the wrong hearts
www.cbsnews.com
March 15, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
NEW on BBC: Medhanye Alem, who was clinical program director, CVT Ethiopia, until U.S. funding cuts, speaks about the enormous need for mental health services: "They know our main agenda is to bring healing, to restore their dignity. Nothing else.” www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
March 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“This sudden disruption is having a huge impact on the healing of traumatized people,” said Yohannes Fisseha, who served as training manager in CVT Ethiopia. The article notes CVT had to halt counseling, physiotherapy & training for health workers.
apnews.com/article/ethi...
'We will just die in silence': US aid cuts hit Ethiopia's fragile Tigray region
Aid agencies distributing U.S. food aid in Ethiopia's war-affected Tigray region say they have had to stop feeding millions of people because of the Trump administration's restrictions on foreign aid.
apnews.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“Those who are impacted the most by these closures are people who have already suffered at the hands of some of the world’s worst human rights abusers.” @simonadams.bsky.social in the @startribune.com on impacts of funding cuts on survivors of torture.
www.startribune.com/ceo-of-cente...
CEO of Center for Victims of Torture: Ending foreign aid slams the door on hope
Our organization, which started 40 years ago at the University of Minnesota, has lost 75% of its budget and had to furlough or lay off 430 employees.
www.startribune.com
March 4, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Orange moonrise over Superior.
February 14, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“You were the food for our soul, heart and body,” said a survivor of torture to counselors at CVT Ethiopia as they were forced to abruptly end healing care. Read more about CVT's emergency response:
www.cvt.org/articles/eme...
Emergency Response to Forced Halt of CVT’s International Programs
CVT has just been through the darkest weeks in our 40-year history. Beginning January 24, CVT was forced by the U.S. government to halt our operations in the large majority of our international progra...
www.cvt.org
February 11, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
New in the @nytimes.com: “’We are in disbelief,’ said Medhanye Alem of the Center for Victims of Torture, which treats survivors of conflict-related trauma at nine centers in northern Ethiopia, all now closed.” By @declanwalsh.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/w...
‘We Are in Disbelief’: Africa Reels as U.S. Aid Agency Is Dismantled
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
CVT's clients: “Some were imprisoned & tortured, some have survived persecution & atrocities, some had loved ones taken from them & ‘disappeared.’ And some are children.” @simonadams.bsky.social writes about impacts of halting care programs for torture survivors.
www.cvt.org/articles/whe...
When Life-Saving Psychosocial Care Programs are Forced to Stop Work
For 40 years the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) has supported survivors. Those who come to our clinics include people who suffered unspeakable horrors and lost everything, many because they oppos...
www.cvt.org
February 4, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
We’ve received stop-work orders from the U.S. requiring us to halt multiple international programs and furlough the majority of our staff. These closures impact safety, health and wellbeing of the people we serve. You can help: www.cvt.org
January 28, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
A word from on the Gaza ceasefire from @simonadams.bsky.social: “There can be no lasting peace without addressing both the symptoms and the underlying causes of the conflict.” Read the statement:
www.cvt.org/statements/t...
January 16, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
CVT has been working with Syrian refugees living in Amman for more than a decade. There is hope. Story by Brittney Ermon at @kstptv.bsky.social
kstp.com/kstp-news/to...
Local group giving hope, creating community for Syrian refugees
After over a decade of civil war, Bashar Assad is no longer ruling Syria, giving refugees some relief after years of trying to heal.
kstp.com
December 24, 2024 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“There’s lots of states that use torture, but the Assad regime did it on an industrial scale.” @simonadams.bsky.social comments on Assad, “a world leader in institutional cruelty and widespread and systematic use of torture.”
www.startribune.com/syrians-emer...
Rash: Syrians emerge from an Arab Spring turned nightmarish winter
Simon Adams of the Minnesota-based Center for Victims of Torture on Assad’s ‘industrial-scale’ human-rights abuses.
www.startribune.com
December 18, 2024 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Betsy Brown
“In failing to confront the truth of its post-9/11 actions, the United States perpetuates a culture of impunity,” writes CVT’s Yumna Rizvi at the 10th anniversary of the CIA torture report.
thehill.com/opinion/nati...
10 years later: The CIA ‘Torture Report’ and America’s accountability deficit
With respect to post-9/11 torture, the U.S. has persistently dodged its obligations.
thehill.com
December 9, 2024 at 1:19 PM
The great woods of upper Minnesota.
November 29, 2024 at 3:26 PM