In 2023, Capital B profiled the film festival opening of The Aunties, a short film about a Black couple who own and preserve Harriet Tubman’s family lands. On Monday, February 17, 2025, the film publicly premiered on the Black Public Media YouTube Channel for Black History Month. On murky nights, when dullness stole the sky […]
environment
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
How Black Farmers Are Navigating Climate Change With Limited Federal Support
Six months ago, Anthony “AJ” McKenzie, a 30-year-old cool vegetable crop and livestock farmer in North Carolina, stopped farming on his 40 acres. Last year, a drought killed at least 85% of his crop, which caused him to lose income. Usually, he’d grow his cabbage and turnip, mustard, and collard greens twice in the fall […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Combating Climate Change Begins With Reparations, Bay Area Residents Say
Freda Linder walks daily past a small sign donned with 20 words in Crescent Park Apartments, a majority-Black housing complex in Northern California’s Bay Area. “WARNING,” the placard reads. “This area contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.” Linder lives in Richmond, a city of […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
As Heat Scorches Texas, Lawmakers Loosen Worker Protections
Eugene Gates worked for the U.S. Postal Service for nearly 40 years before dying on his route in Dallas. On that day in mid-June, the heat index hit 115 degrees, the highest since 1980. The exact cause of death has yet to be confirmed, but his wife and others attribute it to the brutal heat […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
How Will Climate Change Affect the Search for a New Black Mecca in the South?
Rhiana Gunn-Wright knows Black life in America is fragile — by design. The idea of “home” has constantly been threatened: Slavery and segregation legally dictated where Black Americans could live for centuries, and the residual effects of those racist institutions continue to guide where they plant their roots. When you think about it, Gunn-Wright says, […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
These Maps Show the Risks of the New Great Migration
When the coronavirus began its deadly sweep through the streets of New York City, Pilar Johnson knew she needed an escape route. The convergence of rising living costs, growing segregation, and a tight job market had already pushed out more than 200,000 Black residents since 2000. The pandemic was the last straw for Johnson. Once […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Black Advocates Say Biden Is Overpromising and Underdelivering on Climate
A whirlwind of issues has defined Joe Biden’s first 14 months in office: the constant rise and fall of COVID-19 cases and deaths, wavering levels of support for police and prison reform, a generation-defining battle over reproductive rights, and America’s tumultuous role in conflicts in Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, and Ukraine. The administration and media’s focus […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voices of Change
Meet the 24-Year-Old Climate Activist Trying to Shake up Los Angeles Politics
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Capital B is talking to newsmakers across the country who want to reshape American politics or galvanize Black voices in government. Our “Voices of Change” series will update periodically with insights from the candidates, activists, lawmakers, and political insiders whom you should know. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Bryant Odega wanted […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Concentration of Oil and Gas Drilling in Black Neighborhoods Is Deliberate, Study Suggests
For decades, state governments and private companies have asserted that oil production sites were chosen solely by natural factors: where oil was most abundant, easiest to drill, and cheapest to procure. But a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley identifies more pernicious motivations, suggesting that social factors — namely race — […]