This week we bring you two sources — one from the domain of global supply chains, the other from Gen Z Muslim media. 

As you’re purchasing gifts this holiday season, you might notice the tiny “Made in ____” labels on items. The following source can help you understand the global supply chain — and the human rights abuses and unethical labor practices that come with it.

Sheela Ahluwalia is the senior labor analyst at Transparentem, a nonprofit that works to expose environmental and human rights abuses in global supply chains. She investigates where and how companies source their products, looking for abuses such as forced labor, child labor and human trafficking. 

Prior to joining Transparentem, Ahluwalia served in the U.S. Department of State for nearly a decade, where she helped develop and implement human rights policy across Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. In the department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, she advised senior U.S. and foreign officials on policies and programs; produced country assessments for the annual Trafficking in Persons Report; and exposed previously hidden forms of forced labor.

Gen Z Muslims grew up in the post-9/11 world seeing persistent misrepresentations of the American Muslim community in U.S. media. Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh saw a desire in his generation, and in millennials, for content that reflected their lived experiences, faith and values. 

Al-Khatahtbeh is the founder and editor-in-chief of Muslim.co, an online community and media outlet created for and by millennial and Gen Z Muslims.

Since 2019, Muslim.co has grown from a pitch for the Asian American Journalist Association's Catalyst program into a platform with more than two million followers across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat; most of its content resides on social media. Its viral infographics have covered the Yemen crisis and the contentious use of an Islamic prayer during a Savage X Fenty show. 

Other sources of interest this week.

Consumer prices rose 6.8% in November —  the highest jump in four decades — and the impact is felt disproportionately by less financially resourced households.
 
Amir Sufi is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Sufi is an expert on finance and macroeconomics, and has studied interest rates and their effect on economic activity. 

Sources of the Week on the news

Read:

• Mehrsa Baradaran wrote a guest essay in The New York Times on the partisan dispute over the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
• WBEZ Chicago asked why there aren’t any federal Indian reservations in Illinois; Patty Loew helped to craft a timeline that explains the historical context.
• In Medical News Today, Tonia Poteat offered explanations for why HIV prevalence is so high in the trans community.  
• Lawrence Yun spoke to The Denver Post about the highest consumer inflation pace in the past 38 years.

Watch:

• Anita Chandra spoke to ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV about the public's perception of COVID-19’s racial disparities.
• On MSNBC’s The Sunday Show, Neal Katyal spoke about the newest findings from the January 6th Committee investigating this year’s insurrection at the Capital.

Listen:

• Ron Hira spoke to KQED about a report he co-authored alleging that a loophole in H1-B visas allowed companies to take advantage of migrant tech workers. 
• Dr. Kavita Patel spoke on All Things Considered about the barriers of fast and frequent COVID-19 testing, especially for poor patients.
• Vicente Fernandez died Sunday, and All Things Considered interviewed Leila Cobo about his legacy as a Mexican cultural icon.
• Eboo Patel spoke on the role of religious leaders to encourage vaccinations with Arizona Public Media. 
• Robert D. Bullard spoke with Vox about the future of fighting environmental racism.