ST. LOUIS — The tapping sound drew Jeffrey Bingham to his front window. Outside, the world was folding in on itself. Trees bent sideways. Power lines snapped. Across the street, a two-story brick house crumbled and disappeared instantly. Then his windows blew and the front door ripped open. He ran for the basement as pressure […]
Money
Posted inHistory, Money
Charleston’s Gullah Geechee Community Demand 7,000 Acres in Reparations
Marcus McDonald’s roots run deep on both his sides of his family in Charleston, South Carolina. He’s a descendant of the Boone Hall Plantation, where his ancestors in his father’s family were once held captive. They come from a line of Gullah Geechee people, the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved […]
Posted inHousing, Politics & Policy
In America’s Poorest State, Unhoused People May Soon Be Jailed
NEW ORLEANS — As the Louisiana state Senate debated what the National Homelessness Law Center says is “one of the cruelest anti-homeless bills in the country,” more than 50 mainly Black unhoused people sat and lay on the sidewalk in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood. The bill, which already passed overwhelmingly through the state’s Republican-dominated […]
Posted inClimate Change, Criminal Justice, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Policing, Politics & Policy
Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Makes a Black Neighborhood a Testing Lab for AI Policing
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 […]
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 […]