Beverly Steele didn’t realize her hometown could be recognized for its historic significance. It’s one of the only two African American homesteading communities left in the nation. In Royal, Florida, Black families are still holding onto the inherited 40-acre plot passed down nearly two centuries ago. It’s a rare reality in America today, given the […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Alabama Voters Lose Again as Supreme Court Greenlights Map
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a map that eliminates a district where Black voters had the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. “The Supreme Court’s decision gives cover to Alabama and others to deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any consequence,” Deuel Ross, the […]
Posted inEconomy, Elections, Politics & Policy
What a New Poll Reveals About Black Women in Mississippi and America’s Future
Over the years, Gabrielle Wyatt has heard directly from Black women nationally who described wealth as not only earnings, but about the conditions to live fully with financial freedom, abundance of choice, belonging, and thriving health. With the attack on Black economic and political power, Black women have been hit the hardest, disproportionately suffering from […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Climate Change, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Housing, Politics & Policy
As the Sea Rises and Rents Triple, Miami’s Black Neighborhoods Are Disappearing
This is the second story in a series on “climate gentrification.” 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. MIAMI — By the time Latonya Floyd came outside, the photographer’s lens […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Louisiana Republicans Cut Black Voting Power With New House Map
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana Republicans on Friday approved a new congressional map that erodes Black voting power in the state — eliminating a majority-Black district established in 2024 that gave residents there an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. Friday’s move comes one month after the U.S. Supreme Court found that the lines of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics & Policy
Cross Burning, Federal Charges, and the State That Still Won’t Call It a Hate Crime
Monica Williams’ phone notifications wouldn’t stop dinging while in class. During her free moment from teaching, she checked her text messages. She learned that her former neighbor, Worden E. Butler had been indicted in April. Williams and her husband, Shawn, have accused Butler, who is white, of burning a cross in his backyard. “You are […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Jim Clyburn’s District Is at the Center of a New Fight Over Black Voting Power
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — To Jasmine Broadwater, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina isn’t some distant power broker in Washington, D.C. He’s a hometown fixture. Broadwater, 32, grew up in Columbia, the state’s capital, and she said that Clyburn would sometimes “just randomly pop up at school.” His daughter Jennifer Clyburn Reed was one […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Voters in the South Want Leaders Who Fight but Also Deliver
Farmer Jeremy Peaches spends his days thinking about food: not only how to grow it and where to send it — but also whether people can afford it. The owner of the Fresh Life Organic Produce Co., he manages 25 acres of vegetables for restaurants, food banks, and residents in the largely Black community of […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Rural Issues
Sapelo Island Residents Won a Major Vote, but Their Fight Continues
Sometimes, Josiah “Jazz” Watts can’t remember a time when he and other Gullah Geechee descendants weren’t fighting for their homeland. It’s been four months since McIntosh County, Georgia, voters overwhelmingly rejected a zoning ordinance that could have resulted in higher taxes, attracted more developers, harmed local businesses, and led to Geechee displacement. The January referendum […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Young Black Men Are ‘Politically Misread,’ Not Absent, New Survey Finds
Michael Bland has a message for political campaigns: Young Black men aren’t politically checked out. They’re just being ignored. “Black men are not politically absent, they are politically misread,” said Bland, executive director of Black Men Vote, a nonpartisan organization focused on mobilizing Black male voters. That assessment comes from new polling his organization commissioned, […]