Dominika Parry never stopped fighting for Jackson, Mississippi, residents even after the Trump administration terminated a multibillion-dollar program last year meant to help the Black city still reeling from a water crisis. For years, if water did flow out of Black households’ faucets in Jackson at all, it was often brown. It left elders and […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, History
Ida B. Wells’ Family Is Debunking a Viral Claim About Nolan Wells
The messages came suddenly, and in great numbers. Friends. Colleagues. Acquaintances. Even strangers on Facebook and X. People kept asking Michelle Duster the same question: Was Nolan Wells — the Black 18-year-old from Mississippi whose death this month has triggered national outrage and demands for justice — really a descendant of Ida B. Wells? “I […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content
A Mental Health Crisis, a Call for Help, and a Death in Police Custody
SIKESTON, Missouri — Not everyone at Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral knew him well. One woman, who had ironed her clothes two days in advance, said she just wanted to be there for his family. School-age children, guided by their parents, approached his open casket in the sanctuary of Cornerstone Baptist Church and peeked inside. Other people […]
Posted inCourts, History, Rural Issues
How One Woman Landed in Jail Over a Fight to Protect Her Family’s Land
Jennine Labuzan spent two weeks in federal custody in June — shuttled from her residence in Georgia to Tennessee to Mississippi — after refusing a judge’s order to sign away more than 1,300 acres of land she says her family has owned for generations. Her arrest and release came after a legal battle she never […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Criminal Justice, Violence Against Women
How ‘Is God Is’ Is Changing the Conversation About Black Women and Domestic Violence
NEW ORLEANS — When Gretta Gordy Gardner was a prosecutor, she asked a domestic violence victim’s mother why she had testified for the man who hurt her daughter. The answer stopped her cold: It’s better to have a man who beats you than no man at all. “That made me understand the survivor so much […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics & Policy
How Jackson’s Former Mayor Went From Progressive Star to Guilty Plea
Jackson, Mississippi, resident and social justice organizer Danyelle Holmes saw up close the scrutiny and efforts by the state’s top leaders to remove her friend and former Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba from office during his tenure. Lumumba consistently fought back against lawmakers and the governor for refusing to fix the city’s crumbling infrastructure, she said, […]
Posted inHealth Equity, Partner Content, Public Safety
Florida Hospitals Act Fast to Discharge Gun Victims — Especially if They’re Not Insured
This story was originally published by KFF Health News and The Trace. Alea Bates wasn’t ready to leave Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s main hospital four days after a stranger shot her seven times at close range. Miraculously, hospital records show, none of the bullets damaged her internal organs. But after surgery, Bates said, she couldn’t get […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Culture, Incarceration, Religion
The Legal Fight Over Locs in Prison Is About More Than Hair
A year after Brittany Martin was released from a South Carolina women’s prison, she obtained 11 videos from inside the facility that captured what she calls one of the most traumatic moments of her life. Prison guards can be seen pinning her to the ground in a video dated Jan. 23, 2023. As she remained […]
Posted inCourts, Culture, Politics & Policy
World Cup Joy Gave Way to Deportation Fears for Haitian Families
For one night this past Wednesday, Miami’s Little Haiti forgot to be afraid. Haiti was on the field — its first World Cup appearance in more than half a century — and the neighborhood came alive in the way it used to: loud and together, Ruth Jeannoel recalled. Then Thursday arrived. The U.S. Supreme Court […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content, Policing
1-Year-Old Shot by Mississippi Police Officer; Community Demands Action
This story was originally published in the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit journalism multimedia network reporting on the causes of and solutions to the social, political, and structural challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. A Mississippi police officer shot 1-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley while responding to a shoplifting call on Sunday, killing him and […]
