Stevie Wonder’s new album, Hotter Than July, had been burning up the charts for months by Jan. 15, 1981. But something bigger than music was on the artist’s mind that day. Along with other Black cultural giants, the 30-year-old was leading a rally of approximately 100,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Years […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Why Afro-Venezuelans Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela
Interviews in Spanish were conducted and transcribed by Annika Hom. The first blast rattled Christian Pich Ortiz’s bedroom before sunrise, sending his mother and siblings into tears as detonations boomed over their community in Miranda, a state along Venezuela’s central coast. To protect themselves, they dragged their mattresses off the beds and hid beneath them. […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Safety
Calls for Justice Grow After ICE Shooting of Minneapolis Mom
Jacob Davis suspected that nothing positive would come from the Trump administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it had deployed some 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. One day later, Renee Nicole Good was dead. The mother of three was in her car when a U.S. Immigration and […]
Posted inEducation, Politics & Policy, Student Loans
Student Loan Wage Garnishment Is Coming. What Borrowers Need to Know.
The U.S. Department of Education is expected to begin garnishing wages to pay for defaulted student loans in the coming weeks. This move could affect millions who are 270 days or more past due, and have major ramifications for Black borrowers. Due to ongoing racial inequality, Black students aren’t only more likely to rely on […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A City-by-City Breakdown of Trump’s Immigration Raids and Troop Deployments
A Minneapolis shooting that left a motorist dead comes as the Trump administration has launched its latest immigration crackdown. Minneapolis officials’ worst fears came true on Wednesday when 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good was shot in the head by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. It’s a shooting that Mayor Jacob Frey has called “reckless.” […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
After a White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area
In December, on a two-lane road not far from the ACE Basin, a protected ecosystem and wildlife refuge in South Carolina, Paul Black drove past St. Paul AME Church and the cemetery where his wife’s grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-grandmother are buried, then slowed as the trees opened onto the piney tract. Black is an environmental […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Venezuelan Oil Brought to the U.S. Would Be Refined in Black Gulf Communities
On Saturday morning, John Beard woke up to news that he’d been dreading, but preparing for: A global oil crisis could hit closer to home in Texas. The southeastern part of the state is home to more than a dozen oil refineries, and he’d spent decades working at one of them. But after attending more […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Nicki Minaj’s Embrace of Trump-Era Politics Has Fans Asking Questions
Nicki Minaj’s increased support of Donald Trump, his administration and conservative groups has had Black social media in an uproar and wondering what happened to Minaj, anyway? In December, she sat on stage at Turning Point USA’s annual conference, AmericaFest, for an interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, praising Trump […]
Posted inClimate Change, Housing, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues, Wealth Gap
This Mississippi Delta Home Could Collapse Before Help Arrives
SIDON, Mississippi — Malissa Whitehead is known for making tea cakes and blueberry pies during the holidays — but as Christmas approaches, she’s uneasy about baking anything in the house she’s lived in for 40 years. The kitchen ceiling wood is peeling, revealing small holes and chipped paint. On the outside, the roof is covered […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Politics & Policy
Deportations of African Migrants Triple Under Trump’s Second Term
African migrants in the United States are being arrested and deported at rapidly escalating rates under President Donald Trump’s second term, even though most have no criminal record. Deportations of people from African countries are on pace to nearly triple this year compared with the annual average during the Biden administration, according to a Capital […]