This story was produced in partnership with High Country News. Like many residents of Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains, Jacques Powers wears clothes and boots painted with dirt and mud and gets around in a humming monster truck. But no matter where he goes, whether in these mountains or elsewhere in the state, Powers rarely […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, Environmental Justice, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy, Reproductive Health
What Trump’s Second Term Could Look Like for Black Americans
The dread many Black Americans feel about Donald Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential election isn’t misplaced: He organized his reelection campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris around revenge — around how he and his allies can inflict the greatest amount of suffering on vulnerable groups and on those he considers enemies. Making things worse, […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Health, Maternal Health
Toxic Air and a Maternal Mortality Crisis in America’s Steel Town
This series was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship. Kimmie Gordon sat in her car, watching the sky darken as she waited for her 15-year-old son, Kaleb, to finish football practice. It is one of five sports her teenager plays despite living with chronic asthma. Over an hour stretched on, but […]
Posted inExtreme Weather, Housing
From Hurricanes to Homelessness: Black Renters at Risk as Evictions Soar
A little over two weeks after Hurricane Helene turned living rooms into murky, debris-filled pools, washed away homes, and caused upward of $50 billion in damage, dozens of renters and homeowners stood outside the Buncombe County Courthouse on Oct. 17 in Asheville, North Carolina. With winter approaching and temperatures dipping into the 40s, they gathered […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Feds Resolve Civil Rights Complaint Brought by Rural Black Alabama Community
On a Sunday in early October, 16 people, mainly elders, met under Timothy Williams’ gazebo. The ground was still soaked from a recent downpour in rural Alabama. It has become a routine gathering in their historic Black community over the past six years as they’ve battled through a flooding crisis brought on by a highway […]
Posted inExtreme Weather
Black Florida Residents Face a ‘Scarcity of Resources’ as Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall
Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a dangerous Category 3 storm on Wednesday night and weakened to a Category 1 as it ran east through the state and moved offshore. While the Tampa area escaped the worst possible outcome, Milton dropped more than a foot and half of rain over the metro […]
Posted inExtreme Weather, Politics & Policy, Voting
Hurricane Helene’s Black Survivors Face Floods, Disinformation, and a Threat to Their Vote
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Robert Thomas’ home is still standing after the coffee-colored floodwaters of Hurricane Helene rushed through his community, but everything that made up his life has been swept away. Thirteen days after Helene first made landfall in the U.S., it is known that at least 230 people died during the storm’s surge, with […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
Small Town’s Trash Policy Has Left Black Moms Criminally Charged Over Unpaid Garbage Fees
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. CHICKASAW, Ala.—Shaquala Jackson’s three-year-old daughter screamed. A rat was scurrying across the bathroom floor. “I grabbed the kids and ran out of the house,” she said. Jackson said that was the day she knew she and her three young children could no longer live in Chickasaw, a […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather
Potential NOAA Cuts May Make Storms Like Helene Even More Devastating
As Hurricane Helene barrels across the Southeast, Black communities in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama face devastating floods and power outages, with concerns mounting over inadequate post-disaster resources. All but one of Florida’s counties were placed under a state of emergency, and tens of thousands of people living in the state’s coastal communities, which are disproportionately […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Rural Issues
Black Communities Left to Sink as Insurance Companies Abandon the South
On Sept. 29, Pastor Timothy Williams will lose the property insurance coverage for his home in rural Elba, Alabama. It’s another mark on a long list of recent letdowns for him in the aftermath of a persistent flooding crisis born by the expansion of a highway next to his home. Since the state raised and […]