Nearly 4 out of 5 Black people in America say that economic inequality is a very big problem in the United States. It’s an issue that Capital B has reported on extensively, from how it has stunted health outcomes and access to health care for Black folks, increased rates of incarceration, and led Black communities to be oversaturated […]
Adam Mahoney
Adam Mahoney is the climate and environment reporter at Capital B. He can be reached by email at adam.mahoney@capitalbnews.org, on Bluesky, and on X at @AdamLMahoney.
Posted inHistory
Black and Indigenous Activists Unite to Eradicate Racist Landmarks
The waters in and around the United States have had a long history of claiming Black life since the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Along the Kansas and Missouri border, a small, unassuming creek is a part of this lineage, researchers say. For years, Johnson County, Kansas, residents believed the Big Negro Creek that cut through their […]
Posted inFood Access, Money
Freddie Gray’s Life Ignited a Movement for Black Food Sovereignty
In death, Freddie Gray’s life sparked a movement. After the 25-year-old was killed in the spring of 2015 by Baltimore police, nationwide, Black folks fought for children to receive the support and resources that he lacked while living. In his hometown, it laid bare how environmental factors — toxic contamination and poor access to fresh […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
This Black Artist Is Using Farming to Heal Herself — and the Land
If you were to drive down Interstate 70 in St. Louis’ predominantly Black North Side today, you’d be greeted by a billboard with the phrase “Listen to your Elders.” Behind those words, a 1970s-era photo of Dail Chambers’ aunt and uncle, Mary and Dubell, illustrates one of the thorny realities of Black history and the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Will FEMA’s New Rules Shorten Black Communities’ Road to Recovery?
EDGARD, La. — Flapping in the wind, blue roof tarps still mark Hurricane Ida’s wrath. It has been 29 months since the second-most damaging storm to hit Louisiana, bringing gaps in the country’s federal aid and recovery process to the forefront. Beneath the tarps, idle homes sag into the earth as the shadowy bloom of […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
The Black-Led Movement to Stop ‘New Cancer Alleys’ From Being Built in Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS — Weeks before Mardi Gras, hundreds two-stepped and wobbled to the beat of a full jazz ensemble through the city’s historic French Quarter. Mixed among them were signs reading “Resist The Fossil Fuel Death Cycle” and “No More Blood For Oil And Gas.” Climate and environmental activists gathered to protest Louisiana’s newfound designation […]
Posted inCourts
An Upcoming Supreme Court Case Threatens to Criminalize Homelessness
As America’s affordable housing crisis grows, especially for those of retirement age, Black folks continue to be pushed into homelessness at a disproportionate rate. Advocates argue that an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling may make it even more dire. Earlier this month, the court announced that it would hear a case that will essentially decide […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Why Biden’s Hallmark Environmental Program Has Been Slow to Take Root
Naomi Davis’ dream is not too different from the one that took her grandparents from being sharecroppers in Mississippi to living on the South Side of Chicago: the vision of being a part of an autonomous Black community. Utilizing millions of dollars in grants, including $10 million from the federal government’s Justice40 initiative, Davis’ organization, […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
‘What Corruption Gets You’: How Utility Companies Bought Support in the Black South
Former Florida state Rep. Joe Gibbons sat in the library of the Faith Community Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, trying to convince its pastor to quit promoting rooftop solar. With a lobbyist’s charm, Gibbons told the Rev. Nelson Johnson that rooftop solar, which allows customers to generate their own renewable electricity, was bad for people […]
Posted inBlack Migration
Reading List: This Generation’s Great Black Migration Is Worth a Closer Look
Black Americans are moving more than they ever have over the past 50 years, and just as during the Great Migration of the 20th century, they’re reshaping the entire fabric of the United States as they do. As Black folks leave the West, Midwest, and North, the South has been the only region with more […]