This story was published in partnership with Counterstream Media for The AI issue of Peace & Riot. ATLANTA — When he drives through his neighborhood now, Brian Page passes rows of police cars and AI‑powered cameras that track nearly every movement. For most of his life, Page, who goes by “Scapegoat Jones,” felt safest in […]
Money
Posted inEconomic Development, Rural Issues
Railroad Wins Appeal to Take Generations-Old Land in Rural Georgia
Months ago, Blaine Smith was afraid that the Georgia Court of Appeals would allow a railroad company to seize part of his family’s generations-old land. That fear came true Wednesday when the court upheld a lower court’s decision to let Sandersville Railroad exercise eminent domain to take properties from several landowners in Sparta, Georgia, to […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Housing, Rural Issues
In Rural Mississippi, a Black Town Bets on New Homes to Build Wealth
JONESTOWN, Mississippi — Felisha Stevenson has lived her whole life in this all-Black town of 852 people where everybody knows everybody. “My family, my mom, my cousin, my uncles, we’re just close,” the 40-year-old said. “In the neighborhood that I stay in right now, my sister is next door. My uncle is across the street.” […]
Posted inEquity, Politics & Policy
Black Service Members Warn Military Is Moving Backward
A troubling notion has gripped some Black current and former service members: The U.S. military — long seen as a pathway to opportunity in Black communities — seems to be drifting backward, toward a more segregated time. “[Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] came into office promising to turn the military into a color-blind meritocracy — it is […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Climate Change, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Housing, Politics & Policy
The Black Mecca’s Climate Plan Is Costing Black Atlanta Residents Their Homes
This is the first story in a series on “climate gentrification” in Black neighborhoods. Support for this series was provided by The Neal Peirce Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting journalism on ways to make cities and their larger regions work better for all people. ATLANTA — By the time Atlanta hosts a World Cup […]
Posted inHousing, Politics & Policy
Georgia Lawmakers With Real Estate Ties Are Writing the State’s Housing Laws
This article was produced in partnership with the nonprofit newsroom Type Investigations, where Chauncey Alcorn and Adam Mahoney are 2025-2026 Ida B. Wells fellows. When Kenneth Porter moved to Atlanta from Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2016 to advance his career in the entertainment industry, he rented part of a two-bedroom townhouse on Atlanta’s eastside for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Economic Development
Why ‘Sinners’ Is Bigger Than the Oscars for Mississippi Residents
Check out Capital B’s Beyond ‘Sinners’: The Stories of Clarksdale, Mississippi, a yearlong project highlighting Black residents reclaiming power and ownership in an area where Blues tourism and development have long excluded them. Clarksdale, Mississippi, resident Chandra Williams is ecstatic that Sinners won big at the Academy Awards on Sunday. The film had a record-breaking […]
Posted inEquity, Money, Public Services, Wealth Gap
Hidden Profits in Power Bills Are Hitting Black Southerners Hardest
Brionté McCorkle opened her latest Georgia Power bill and started doing some math to try to understand where her money was going. The total was $233 — steep, but familiar for her and her neighbors living just outside Atlanta. Then she plugged the number into a new calculator built off a national analysis of investor‑owned […]
Posted inEconomy, Environmental Justice
Congo Miners Keep Dying for Minerals That Power U.S. Tech
When the earth caved in eastern Congo last week, more than 200 Congolese miners were buried alive. Those who survived spent the next several days pulling hundreds of bodies from the red clay that has become increasingly essential to powering the evolution of technology within the U.S. The collapse came less than a month after […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Housing
Insurance Crisis Leaves Black Homeowners One Disaster Away From Homelessness
The insurance check to rebuild Zaire Calvin’s family properties came in at just under $300,000, a drop in the bucket compared to the roughly $2.1 million they had been worth. His family had five homes sprawled across two lots in the leafy suburb of Altadena, California, before the Eaton Fire unleashed its wrath, leveling both […]