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Kwame Opam

@kwameopam

Deputy Managing Editor, News @ Chicago Sun-Times

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09.05.2023
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Latest posts by Kwame Opam @kwameopam

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Illinois prisons were ordered to improve health care for inmates. They've spent seven years failing. Even though the Illinois Department of Corrections has been under a consent decree since 2019, the state continues to fail to provide adequate medical and dental care to incarcerated people, according...

Johnnie Flournoy, a 74-yr-old man incarcerated in IL, says he's nearly blind bc for years he has been denied a simple treatment for glaucoma. He's not at all alone. His story of medical neglect is a common one in IL prisons. @chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

02.03.2026 17:41 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Illinois prisons were ordered to improve health care for inmates. They've spent seven years failing. Even though the Illinois Department of Corrections has been under a consent decree since 2019, the state continues to fail to provide adequate medical and dental care to incarcerated people, according...

Johnnie Flournoy is 74 years old. He's been incarcerated since the early 1990s, and he's been going blind for much of that time. And Illinois prisons have just been letting it happen. chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

01.03.2026 14:21 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Renee Good memorial site in south Minneapolis doused in gasoline Damage was minimal but police are investigating.

Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.

18.02.2026 16:50 πŸ‘ 2312 πŸ” 1196 πŸ’¬ 210 πŸ“Œ 324
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Lights, camera, Jackson: Civil Rights leader also became a pop culture presence Jackson's decades of civil rights efforts and running for president in 1984 and 1988 are his most important and lasting work. But that he did this while also forging a position in the nation's pop cul...

Took a break from architecture today to write a column about the Rev Jackson as a presence in pop culture, from Sesame Street to SNL. "The combination of politician and preacher just made him a magnetic force," Charles Whitaker, dean of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism said.

18.02.2026 12:26 πŸ‘ 34 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Today's print Chicago Sun-Times is wrapped with a 20-page special section on the death of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Here's where to look for the paper. www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...

18.02.2026 14:34 πŸ‘ 32 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Israeli Soldiers Accused of Using Polymarket to Bet on Strikes The country’s internal security agency indicted a reservist and a civilian for security offenses, bribery and obstruction of justice in connection with the bets.

This is really, really dark.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

12.02.2026 15:56 πŸ‘ 1795 πŸ” 742 πŸ’¬ 46 πŸ“Œ 120

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

12.02.2026 02:26 πŸ‘ 15830 πŸ” 7769 πŸ’¬ 520 πŸ“Œ 299
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CNN: "Another photograph - these are notes AG Bondi brought to the hearing today. This shows a list of Rep. Jayapal's search history. Lawmakers are allowed to go to a DOJ facility to search unredacted files. We learned from this photo that the searches are apparently being tracked & read by the DOJ"

11.02.2026 21:27 πŸ‘ 12414 πŸ” 5508 πŸ’¬ 559 πŸ“Œ 507
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Evidence shows feds lied about Marimar Martinez's shooting in Chicago, attorney says Martinez plans to pursue a Federal Torts Claim Act complaint against Homeland Security and the agent who shot her.

Evidence shows feds lied about Marimar Martinez's shooting in Chicago, attorney says

@chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

11.02.2026 19:13 πŸ‘ 322 πŸ” 131 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 6

Was going to ask, OK then

11.02.2026 04:26 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad β€” the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years

11.02.2026 03:43 πŸ‘ 25568 πŸ” 7253 πŸ’¬ 411 πŸ“Œ 541

Oh no...

10.02.2026 22:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol agent, expected to file lawsuit, release evidence Body-cam video, text messages and other evidence tied to shooting during Operation Midway Blitz is set for a Wednesday release.

JUST IN: Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol agent, expected to file lawsuit and release evidence Wednesday

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

10.02.2026 21:40 πŸ‘ 1007 πŸ” 286 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 13
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ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.

NEW: ICE has a plan to lease offices across the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign.

Today, @wired.com is publishing dozens of those locations. Many are near schools, medical offices, and places of worship.

Vital work from @leahfeiger.bsky.social that I'm proud to publish.

10.02.2026 16:13 πŸ‘ 2350 πŸ” 1519 πŸ’¬ 73 πŸ“Œ 143
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"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

10.02.2026 10:09 πŸ‘ 8381 πŸ” 4443 πŸ’¬ 161 πŸ“Œ 473

This doesn't bode well, does it?

10.02.2026 14:55 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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β€˜He’s not the same’: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...

Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.

β€œHe can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, β€˜Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.

10.02.2026 01:10 πŸ‘ 13918 πŸ” 5359 πŸ’¬ 374 πŸ“Œ 525

I'll bite. Who's Jake Paul?

09.02.2026 19:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Bar Complaint Filed Over Search of Washington Post Reporter’s Home

Bar Complaint Filed Over Search of Washington Post Reporter’s Home

A press group says a prosecutor broke ethics rules by not flagging a law that limits searches for reporting materials.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

09.02.2026 18:43 πŸ‘ 267 πŸ” 66 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 1
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The Kids Trump Sent to ICE’s Dilley Detention Center ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of...

I hope you spend some time with this story today. It's incredibly important and a small window into what's happening behind the federal government's detention center doors. www.propublica.org/article/life...

09.02.2026 17:00 πŸ‘ 267 πŸ” 121 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 5

I say this regularly. People use performative as a substitute for 'inauthentic' and we could all just say the words we mean to say. Erving Goffman helps us to understand that we perform all of the time in real life. Life itself is often a performance of self.

09.02.2026 15:57 πŸ‘ 1276 πŸ” 319 πŸ’¬ 26 πŸ“Œ 0

Group chats all over the diaspora peeped this immediately. We exist, we remember, and this erasure only highlights the historical shame and complicity.

07.02.2026 16:01 πŸ‘ 46 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass. As Europe moves to address its shame, it’s highlighting the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.

When I check on the British politics page for @the-independent.com, my politics reporter colleagues are all Epstein all the time (as they should be). But in the U.S., the closest thing to accountability is... Bill Clinton testifying before Congress.
www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

07.02.2026 16:04 πŸ‘ 288 πŸ” 137 πŸ’¬ 14 πŸ“Œ 11
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The Washington Post just laid off its entire award-winning photo team. They were our eyes in places we'll never see. It's a horrifying loss at a time when lying governments, propaganda and AI slop are on the rise.

06.02.2026 18:59 πŸ‘ 4833 πŸ” 1755 πŸ’¬ 109 πŸ“Œ 92
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Live updates: White House blames 'staffer' for racist Obamas post shared by Trump Trump administration live updates: New Jersey's special House primary too close to call

Haven't seen this angle mentioned, but it's an extraordinary national security risk to have an anonymous "staffer" impersonating the president of the United States, posting racist memes, from his personal accounts, at 10 PM.

06.02.2026 20:27 πŸ‘ 3384 πŸ” 880 πŸ’¬ 187 πŸ“Œ 67

There's so much going on that's dreadful and important, so I'll submit a small thing that doesn't matter except in the way that good art matters and is essential.

I think A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms might be the best Game of Thrones property ever made.

06.02.2026 19:08 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Local Ukrainian group fighting to keep murals of slain woman out of Chicago A second mural of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed in August was proposed for the Ukrainian Village. Some Ukrainian immigrants hope to keep it out of their com...

Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the UCCA’s Illinois chapter, said she was outraged when she learned of the request for a new mural. She said no one contacted Iryna Zarutska’s family before using her photo for the mural. chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/05/l...

06.02.2026 17:51 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by Border Patrol agent who shot her U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis pointed out that Martinez is "presumed innocent of any offense of which she has not been convicted." Martinez's attorney said the text messages and other evidence ...

DEVELOPING: Federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by Border Patrol agent who shot her

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/f...

06.02.2026 17:18 πŸ‘ 2535 πŸ” 703 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 26
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Trump Shares Video Portraying the Obamas as Apes The White House press secretary dismissed criticism of the clip’s racist content, shared by the president’s Truth Social account, as β€œfake outrage.”

President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes, the latest in a long pattern by Trump of promoting offensive stereotypes about Black Americans and others. The White House press secretary dismissed criticism as β€œfake outrage.”

06.02.2026 16:25 πŸ‘ 426 πŸ” 147 πŸ’¬ 155 πŸ“Œ 75

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04.02.2026 21:41 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0