One month before Martin Luther King Day, I left the cold, clouded skies of New Hampshire for the heat and blinding sun of the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. I left behind the cold case of Nickenley Turenne, a young man killed by Manchester police on Dec. 6 after they found him asleep in his car and gunned him down as he tried to flee.
One of my daughters, a professional scuba diver in Bonaire, wished to gift her niece, my granddaughter, the opportunity to earn her open dive certification so she could experience the beauty of the island’s marine life. My granddaughter packed a book I had given her, “The Devil’s Half Acre” by Kristen Green on the history of the American slave trade. Born in 1832 and enslaved by a brutal trader, Mary Lumpkin lived at his Richmond, Va. slave jail. In this destitute setting, she eventually freed herself and her children, inherited her husband’s jail and transformed it into “God’s Half Acre,” a school to educate Black students. It exists today as Virginia Union University, one of the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
In 1854, an enslaved man named Anthony Burns had escaped Richmond only to be captured in Boston and delivered south to said Lumpkin’s jail in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act. Though a warrant for his arrest was secured, Boston had an extensive network of free Black people, white abolitionists and the Boston Vigilance Committee to protect fugitives. Neither the fliers they plastered (“The Kidnappers are Here!”) nor the 5,000 supporters gathered at the courthouse crying “Rescue him!” were enough to save Burns who was told, “You must go back. There isn’t humanity, there isn’t Christianity, there isn’t justice enough here to save you; you must go back.”
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I read avidly, seated at the site of the “slaves cabins” on Bonaire Island, “kasnan di katibu” in Papiamentu, the Bonairian language, where from the 1600s to the 1800s a notorious slave trade flourished under Dutch rule. Considered government property the enslaved labored in the saltpans — vast, pink hued pools where seawater evaporated leaving behind crystallized salt they broke up with pickaxes and shovels, then carried further onto the beach for export.
The plaque near the huts, far from being historically accurate, reads like a romanticized story with no names and no mention of the violent conditions endured under the blazing sun or the Dutch role in Atlantic slavery. According to Dutch historian, Anne van Mourik, “The information provided at significant historical sites is not only lacking and outdated. It often manipulates history by sanitizing it, without perpetrators, only faceless victims … It suggests that Bonaire’s colonial past has faded into obscurity, as if it has been forgotten or worse, that it does not matter.”
The belief that Black people, at best, hold little significance or, at worst, are expendable has been loudly countered by the Black Lives Matter slogan “say their names.” Anthony Poore, president and CEO of the NH Center for Justice and Equity, and Tanisha Johnson, executive directive of Black Lives Matter, NH, released the following statement in response to the dehumanizing conduct by police who, unprovoked and without evidence, assumed Nickenley Turrene to be a dangerous criminal:
“We must continue the conversations that will result in rejecting the narratives that continue to criminalize Black existence. It is not a crime to be unhoused. It is not a crime to sleep in a car. These are conditions created by systemic failures, not individual wrongdoing. Responding to police presence with fear is not irrational or suspicious. It is a survival response shaped by generations of racial profiling, over policing, and violence against Black communities. No nonviolent behavior, no perceived noncompliance, and no expression of fear should result in death.”
When time and space collapse, we continue to feel the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act in our current overpolicing and the frightened response of those like Burns and Turenne running for freedom as a perpetual threat punishable by death.
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Ultimately, Bonaire is a stark contrast between privilege and poverty. The Dutch continue to profit from a luxurious lifestyle while Bonairians, descendants of former slaves, live as lower class citizens in shacks without electricity or running water. I, older and grey, and my granddaughter, young and Black, leave the island with contrasting memories. She has thoroughly enjoyed swimming peacefully beside turtles and pods of dolphins undisturbed in calm waters. On land, however, the turbulence of an intolerant world remains ever present.
As we return home to honor MLK Day, we’re reminded of the painfully slow progress toward equity and justice. Tragically, in the case of Nick Turenne and countless others, “there was no justice enough to save him.” And in the words of Martin Luther King, until that day comes, “justice delayed is justice denied.”
Authorities allege Joseph Sawyer brandished what appeared to be a handgun during a robbery at St. Mary’s Bank in Nashua, N.H., on June 12.Boston FBI
A Townsend man was arrested Wednesday night in connection with two armed bank robberies in New Hampshire and New Jersey last month, federal authoritiessaid.
Joseph Sawyer, 52, was arrested by FBI Albany’s SWAT team after the bureau’s Boston office and Nashua, N.H., police learnedhe might bein upstate New York, FBI Boston said in a statement Thursday.
Investigators said thealleged robberies happened at St. Mary’s Bank on Northwest Boulevard in Nashua on June 12 and at a Chase Bank in Boonton, N.J., on June 27.
During both robberies, prosecutors allege Sawyer brandished what appeared to be a black semiautomatic handgun, ordered everyone inside the banks to get on the ground, and demanded their cell phones before stealing cash, according to a criminal complaint filed in New Hampshire federal court.
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The complaint alleges Sawyer stole $6,000 from the Nashua bank before fleeing in a Honda minivan. Investigators say he discarded a shopping bag containing the bank manager’s cell phone in a nearby parking lot before driving away.
Investigators linked the two robberies through surveillance footage and license plate reader data, according to court filings. Authorities allege the minivan was driven with stolen New Jersey plates during the Boonton robbery that were later replaced with Massachusetts plates registered to Sawyer’s late father.
Sawyer was charged with one count of bank robbery in New Hampshire, court records show. It was not immediately clear Thursday night if he is being represented by an attorney.
The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s office for the District of New Hampshire, the FBI said.
Breanne Kovatch can be reached at breanne.kovatch@globe.com. Follow her @breannekovatch.
Fighting the transgender sports ban is ‘utterly misogynistic’: Riley Gaines
Fox News discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold transgender sports bans. Former NCAA All-American Riley Gaines states it’s ‘insane’ to challenge biological sex in sports, asserting boys should not compete in girls’ sports. She calls the opposing movement ‘misogynistic,’ advocating for female athletes’ rights and fair competition, a view echoed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon. This highlights the contentious issue in women’s sports.
A pair of trans athletes in New Hampshire have dismissed their lawsuit to challenge the state law that protects girls’ sports after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Title IX ruling on June 30.
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The trans teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit in 2024 to challenge a current New Hampshire state law prohibiting trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. The lawsuit later expanded to add President Donald Trump’s administration to the defendants after Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, 2025.
The lawyers for the trans athletes claimed Trump’s executive order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money from being used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.
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A transgender athlete and the Supreme Court(Getty Images)
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire then ruled last year that female athletes represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys were permitted to intervene in the case to defend the state’s women’s sports law and the administration’s executive orders.
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Now, after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, which protects state laws that ensure only females compete in girls’ sports, there is no room for the trans teens to fight the law in New Hampshire.
“Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and equal opportunities. That can’t happen when males are competing in women’s sports, taking spots on women’s athletic teams, and winning women’s championships,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
USA POWERLIFTING, ONCE IN TRANS ATHLETE LAWSUIT, SUPPORTS SCOTUS RULING: ‘LAW HAS CAUGHT UP WITH THE SCIENCE’
“President Trump’s executive orders and New Hampshire’s law recognize common sense and track Title IX, the federal law that ensures equal opportunities for women in athletics. We are grateful this case is coming to an end and that New Hampshire is free to protect its female athletes.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Tirrell and Turmelle’s attorneys at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) for a response.
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A protester waves a transgender pride flag outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Advocates organized a rally in response the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in US v. Skrmetti, in which the justices ruled to uphold state bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The SCOTUS rulings in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, the high court upheld state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity, in a 6-3 decision.
However, there are still 23 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, that don’t have any such laws, and some of those have laws to protect trans athletes in girls’ sports.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.
New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte (Getty Images)
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed legislation requiring public school employees to disclose information about transgender students to their parents or legal guardians, reversing a 2024 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld students’ privacy rights in certain circumstances.
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Ayotte’s office announced on 2 July that the legislation had been signed into law. Under SB 430, educators must respond to written requests from parents for “material information” about their child, even if a student has asked that the information be kept confidential or fears negative consequences at home.
Supporters of the legislation, such as Republican state Senator Tim Lang, argue the measure strengthens parental rights and enables families to better support children who may be struggling. “If you don’t tell the parent, the parent can’t watch for the signs of self-harm,” Lang told New Hampshire Public Radio.
Educators and LGBTQ+ advocates, however, say the law places teachers in an impossible position by forcing them to choose between complying with the law and protecting vulnerable students. Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that the legislation is “vaguely written and risks putting educators in a position of outing a student.” She added that schools should remain places where every student feels “safe, seen, and free to be themselves.”
Aimee Terravechia, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group 603 Equality, warned the law could erode trust between students and educators while speaking with New Hampshire Public Radio. “Schools should be a place of learning… and a place of critical self-examination,” she said. “Placing educators into a role of monitoring and reporting removes the trust necessary for a thriving academic environment.”
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The legislation also effectively overturns a 2024 New Hampshire Supreme Court decision, in which justices ruled that keeping a student’s gender identity confidential did not unlawfully interfere with parents’ rights, noting that parents still retained numerous ways to support and communicate with their children outside the classroom.
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