WASHINGTON — A few years ago, Blake Spencer explored the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington with two of his friends. The Howard University graduate wanted to check out the area and learn more about the abolitionist who, some 150 years ago, had been a towering figure on the school’s board of trustees. Their […]
Donald Trump
Posted inIncarceration, Politics & Policy
After a DUI Stop, He Vanished Into the ICE System
Kléya Rice says her phone rings every other day from unknown numbers. She answers in a panic, unsure if it’s Rony Dieujuste — her partner and the father of her two children — calling from an undisclosed detention center with only minutes to talk. The usual recording that reveals a caller’s location hasn’t played on […]
Posted inLGBTQ, Voices of Change
WorldPride 2025: Finding Joy During a Season of Political Backlash
On a cloudy June afternoon along 14th Street in Washington, baton-twirling marchers strutted in thigh-high boots and rainbow fans clacked and snapped in revelers’ hands. Hundreds of thousands had flocked to the nation’s capital — or, as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently boasted, the “gayest city in the world.” Welcome to WorldPride, where for several days […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Criminal Justice, Incarceration, News, Policing
Black Undocumented Migrants Face Far Higher Deportation Rates
One of the most underreported aspects of life for Black undocumented migrants can be summed up in one statistic: They’re deported at a rate four times more often than their numbers would suggest, according to an analysis of federal data by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. The analysis showed that while Black migrants make […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Trump’s Travel Ban Targets Black Migrants as Protests and Deportations Spread
As demonstrations against the California immigration crackdown continue across the country, President Donald Trump’s new order banning travel to the U.S. for citizens of a dozen countries — most of them in Africa and the Middle East — went into effect on Monday. Since protests against deportation raids started in the Los Angeles area this […]
Posted inCulture, Politics & Policy
For Some Black Angelenos, ICE Raids Reopen the Wound of Displacement
When federal immigration agents swept through Los Angeles’ Fashion District, Boyle Heights, and Pico-Union neighborhoods last week, arresting dozens of migrants in coordinated raids, Bryant Odega was transported back into his childhood memories. In elementary school, Odega’s first airport visit was to watch his father, an immigrant from Nigeria, get deported back to his birth […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health, Politics & Policy
COVID Guidelines Just Changed. Black Americans Could Pay the Price.
The Trump administration has declared an end to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people, and health experts have a warning: This is a threat to Black communities. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced the decision on May 27 and […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Dismissed by DEI: Trump’s Purge Made Black Women With Stable Federal Jobs an ‘Easy Target’
This story was originally published by ProPublica. In February 2020, President Donald Trump’s first education secretary issued a memo to employees emphasizing the department’s policy “to ensure that diversity, inclusiveness, and respect are integral parts of our day-to-day management and work.” “Diversity and inclusion are the cornerstone of high organizational performance,” Betsy DeVos continued, adding […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
FEMA Cuts Hit as 2025 Hurricane Forecast Predicts Brutal Storm Season
As the temperatures rose across Louisiana during Memorial Day weekend, the heat index, a measure of air temperature and humidity, approached triple digits. Bayou State residents seeking relief from the extreme temperatures turned up their fans and air conditioners, pushing an aging electrical grid to the breaking point. And by nightfall, more than 100,000 people […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Larry Hoover’s Federal Sentence Commuted. How Have Chicago Streets Changed?
Larry Hoover, founder of a notorious Chicago street gang who has spent the past three decades in solitary confinement in federal prison, was granted clemency by President Donald Trump on Wednesday — but his legal troubles are far from over. Hoover’s six life-term federal sentences have been commuted to time served, but he will serve […]