Light from the sun beamed down onto Twyla Stallworth’s black sunglasses as she approached microphones on a podium in front of an Alabama federal courthouse. Tears instantly rolled down the Andalusia native’s cheeks as she thought about that day in February when she and her son could have lost their lives because of an arrogant […]
Alabama
Posted inRural Issues, Technology
Millions May Lose Internet Benefits if Lawmakers Don’t Act
For years, Leon Hudson struggled to get high quality home internet in the countryside of Selma, Alabama. If he wanted the service, he would “have to get a petition, go to the neighborhood, and get people to sign it for them to put their stuff there,” the 50-year-old recalled last fall about what internet service […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
Prayers to End Sewage Crisis in Alabama’s Black Belt Go Unanswered
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— As federal officials continue their civil rights investigation of the Alabama Department of Transportation, a White House environmental adviser says more could be done for Black Alabamians. Robert Bullard, a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, traveled to Washington on Wednesday […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
‘Control the Narrative’: How an Alabama Utility Wields Influence by Financing News
In the more than a decade since Alabama regulators allowed a landfill to take in tons of waste from coal-burning power plants around the U.S., neighbors in the majority-Black community of Uniontown frequently complain of thick air so pungent it makes their eyes burn. On some days, it can look like an eerily white Christmas […]
Posted inRural Issues
How Black Rural Americans Navigate Internet Issues
This is the second story in Capital B’s “Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide” project, which explores the disparate effects of broadband accessibility on Black Americans in the rural South. This project is made possible by a grant from The Center for Rural Strategies and Grist. You can read our first story, “Digital […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
New Fed Report Outlines the Unequal Burden of Climate Change
Athens, Alabama, isn’t unique – and that’s the issue. Streetlights are nonexistent, homes aren’t connected to the city’s sewage lines, and streets are poorly maintained. But in the town, which is the third-fastest growing in Alabama, residents say this reality disproportionately impacts Black people, contributing to residents being expected to live shorter lives than 94% […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Years of Water Woes Could Cost Alabama Residents Their Homes
PRICHARD, Ala. — On a hot afternoon in September, Angela Robinson Adams walked to her backyard, where the recent rain showers created “her own swimming pool.” Adams’ yard rarely floods, but the streets in her Alabama Village neighborhood often do. She had little water pressure in her home, so she called the Prichard Water Works […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
How a Flooding Crisis Unearthed Another Environmental Injustice in Rural Alabama
Brought on by years of incessant flooding, Timothy Williams’ home is sinking — and fast. Over the past few years, it’s sagged nearly 2 feet deeper into the constantly swelling and shrinking clay soil across rural Coffee County, Alabama. He’s not alone. Roughly a dozen of his neighbors in the historically Black community have spent […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
A Tree Grows in Birmingham
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Sometimes Thomasine Jackson can’t get to work. Jackson, 65, said if there’s been a hard rain, water covers her entire street, leaving her […]
Posted inMoney, The Workplace
From Racial Slurs to Lynching Jokes, New Lawsuit Details Alleged Racism in Nursing Home
Courtney Love was a few months into her job as a nursing assistant at Florala Health and Rehabilitation in Alabama when it became clear that the racism and abuse ran deeper here than the other facilities she had worked in. The insults piled on, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week, coming to a […]