A federal district court’s order on Thursday allowing South Carolina to use a racially discriminatory congressional map for the 2024 election cycle is a gut punch to Black voters. “For over a century, the NAACP has worked fervently to protect Black Americans’ access to the ballot box. Make no mistake — these discriminatory maps are […]
Congress
Posted inPartner Content, Politics & Policy
New York Could Elect the Second Black Republican Woman to Congress
Originally published by The 19th Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Jewish, Ethiopian-born immigrant and mother of seven, is campaigning to keep New York’s swingy 3rd Congressional District red in a special election on Tuesday. If elected, she would be the second Black Republican congresswoman. The relative newcomer is facing Democrat Tom Suozzi — who previously represented […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
The Black Harvard Alumni Who Rallied to Defend the School’s President
On Sunday morning, five Black Harvard University alumnae jumped into a group chat to figure out how to build momentum around the school’s president, Claudine Gay, after she received backlash over her handling of antisemitism on campus. The sound bites floating around social media and reported in news outlets didn’t accurately reflect who Gay is, […]
Posted inRural Issues
Digital Redlining and the Black Rural South
This is the first 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. Aaron Sankin, investigative reporter for The Markup, […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
What a Proposed Ban on Some Chemicals in Hair Straighteners Means for Black Women
As research stacks up pointing to the long-term health risks of chemical hair relaxers, aka “creamy crack,” many Black women have long ditched the lye and are sticking with their natural hair textures. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent proposed ban on cancer-causing formaldehyde, a key ingredient in some products, has been called a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
End to Solitary Confinement Act Is a Step Toward Rehabilitation, Survivors Say
For 20 years, Monica Cosby had been placed in and out of solitary confinement for up to eight months at a time in an Illinois prison. She didn’t realize how much those long stints really affected her until one day when she was in the prison’s yard and spotted a guard walking in her direction. […]
Posted inRural Issues
How Alabama and the Politics of Retribution Limit Black Representation
Alabama is becoming fertile ground for the dilution of Black voters’ political power, experts say. Last week, the state’s Republican leaders refused to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to redraw a congressional map to include two majority-Black districts. Gov. Kay Ivey approved a map with just one majority-Black district. While Black Alabamians make […]
Posted inEconomy, Money
What the Debt Ceiling Deal Means for Black Americans
Though the U.S. Senate passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling for two years, the federal plan to impose stiffer work requirements on food stamp recipients and mandate an end to the student loan repayment freeze could create an outsized financial burden for Black Americans, some experts say. The proposals are part of a […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Proposed Bill Treats Environmental Justice as a Civil Rights Issue
Almost two years to the day of its last introduction, progressive leaders are reinvigorating a push to pass the Environmental Justice For All Act, a potential landmark bill that aims to address environmental disparities in majority Black, Latino and Indigenous communities. Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, the proposal hopes to address public health […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
How Gerrymandering Hurt Black Voters in the Midterms
A record number of Black candidates ran for seats in Congress this week, hoping to increase representation in a predominately white legislature. But only a fraction of Black candidates won their races on Nov. 8. One possible explanation: gerrymandering. In Florida, incumbent Rep. Al Lawson, a Democrat who served in Congress since 2017, lost his […]
