Headlines hit last summer about Black nursing home residents being neglected and left unbathed, without clothing, and sometimes without the medications they needed at an Alabama nursing home after a lawsuit was filed. What it outlined was an allegedly discriminatory environment at a facility toward both patients and staff, who were called “n****,” “slave girls” […]
racism
Posted inHealth, Mental Health
Does Money Buy Happiness for Black Americans?
When Shelisa Demuth moved to a new home a few months ago, she paused as she packed to sift through boxes of old birthday cards and letters. She held onto the ones she felt were really important, and melted as she read the once stashed-away letters from her mom. The relationship had weathered many seasons. […]
Posted inCulture, History
The Sacred Ground Where Black Americans Search for Their Roots
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Exactly where the bodies lie underneath Jacqueline Hayes’ feet on the acre of land at 2698 South Drive is somewhat of a riddle waiting to be solved. Most of the graves are unmarked, and although published obituaries name some of those buried at the site, it’s impossible to know precisely where. Still, Hayes […]
Posted inMoney, Partner Content, The Workplace
In Communities of Color, Most Oil and Gas Jobs Still Go to White Workers
This story was produced by Floodlight, a nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on climate accountability. There’s an unspoken promise when an industry moves into any community: We will disrupt your lives, but in exchange we will provide good-paying jobs. Except, according to new research shared exclusively with Floodlight, in Louisiana’s majority-Black communities in the area known as […]
Posted inEducation, HBCUs, Partner Content
HBCU Underfunding Stretches More Than a Century, Morgan State Professor argues
America’s historically Black colleges and universities have been vastly underfunded compared to institutions that serve predominantly white students. The government has estimated the disparity between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions to be about $12.6 billion. There are numerous factors at play, but racism is at the center, says Steven Mobley, an associate professor at Morgan […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
A Detroit Community Fights to Survive as Its Industrial Neighbor Grows
DETROIT— For decades, Detroit has been a poster child for the economic drain of decreased manufacturing across the Midwest. The city has lost hundreds of thousands of mostly Black residents and experienced bankruptcy. Its East Canfield neighborhood hasn’t been spared — but in a rarity, its demise has been caused by industrial growth, not decline. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
How the Country’s Largest Climate Bill Threatens to Leave Black Communities Behind
One year after the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest bill in U.S. history aimed at mitigating climate change — examples of the bill’s key policies harming Black communities continue to surface. Capital B has reported on several, including: Experts like Rhiana Gunn-Wright, climate policy director at the Roosevelt Institute, contend that […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
In Chicago, Environmental Justice Was Birthed by a Black Woman. A New Podcast Tells Her Story.
Like many Black women throughout the history of social movements, Hazel Johnson’s contributions to bettering her community on the South Side of Chicago — and the rest of the country — are often forgotten. But in the 1970s and 1980s, when industrial polluters largely evaded consequences, the Altgeld Gardens public housing resident was one of […]
Posted inCulture, History
Racist Policies, Racist Attack: Jacksonville Deplores Lack of Black History Education
JACKSONVILLE — Just after 6 p.m. Monday, chants rang out from James Weldon Johnson Park. Black fists waved in the air as cheers and claps mobilized the crowd that had gathered downtown for a rally against white supremacy. “Black lives matter!” they yelled from underneath trees that provided little shade from Florida’s summer heat. It had […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
‘We Can’t Live Our Lives in Fear’
JACKSONVILLE — Darlene Neal was at a Saturday luncheon to mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington when she heard the police sirens and saw rescue teams swirling past. Then, her phone started buzzing, again and again. “Ms. Darlene,” one of her messages said, “it’s near you.” Three Black people were killed after a […]