Posted inEnvironmental Justice

How Slavery and Sharecropping Created a Sewage Crisis in Alabama’s Black Belt

In Alabama’s Black Belt, many residents have to hold their breath every time they attempt to flush their toilets because there’s a great chance that sewage will be sent back through their toilet bowls, bathtubs, and sinks.  A group of environmental justice organizations filed a civil rights complaint last week against the state of Alabama, […]

Posted inPolitics & Policy

Five States Are Voting Whether to Outlaw Slavery (Yep, You Read That Right)

Update: Four states — Alabama, Tennessee, Oregon and Vermont — voted Nov. 8 to amend their constitution to close the “slavery loophole,” an exception clause that legalized the treatment of convicted individuals like slaves. Polling showed the measure failed in Louisiana, but the results were expected by voting rights activists, who were concerned that the […]

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