Antidemocratic behavior is permeating U.S. society at an alarming speed and scale, from restrictions on classroom instruction to bills limiting voting rights to systems of surveillance built to ban abortions — and Black Americans must remain vigilant, a new report suggests. The National Urban League’s “Democracy in Peril: Confronting the Threat Within” arrives at a […]
racism
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
As Disasters Pile Up, Louisiana’s Hurricane Victims Wonder if They’ll Ever Recover
Nearly two years after Hurricane Ida gutted her home, Maria Populis cries every day because she’s lost everything – and fears she’ll be homeless. “I’m not supposed to be living on nobody’s street,” the 60-year-old grandmother says. “I feel like a failure.” The record-breaking storm destroyed her Edgard, Louisiana, home – which had been in […]
Posted inCulture, Sports
How Angel Reese and Other Black Female Athletes Are Pushing Back Against the Criticism
The NCAA’s “Most Outstanding Player,” Angel Reese, is unapologetically who she is — and she’s among the next generation of Black female athletes refusing to let double standards command the narrative around how they compete. The Louisiana State University basketball player and others are not only playing in a fresh manicure and lashes while embracing […]
Posted inCulture, History
The Fight to Stop the Erasure of Historic Black Towns
The Rev. Darryl Johnson rejoiced when he received a text message that a deal to sell the remaining 100 acres of the historic Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School property in Eatonville, Florida, fell through a week ago. After hearing the news that a developer dropped out of the controversial plan to buy the land, the […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
History of Racism Leaves Black Californians Most at Risk from Oil and Gas Drilling, Research Shows
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. Decades before movie moguls produced celluloid heroes, oil claimed the spotlight in Los Angeles. California’s oil industry took off in the mid-1870s just 30 miles […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
What This Historic Moment Reveals About Trump, the GOP, and Accountability
Some Republican lawmakers are calling a Manhattan grand jury’s decision to indict Donald Trump a politically motivated witch hunt. But, really, the move is a measure of accountability that could return legitimacy to a justice system that unfairly punishes Black people. “The question,” explained Marcia Chatelain, a professor of history and African American studies at […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
What Happens When a Black Enclave Is Built by Big Oil
When Tara Bettis is at her home in Beaumont, Texas, the 57-year-old doesn’t need a clock to know what time it is. Her body instinctively knows based on the pitches of whistles and bells ringing from her neighbor’s property: a massive, land-gobbling oil refinery and chemical plant owned by ExxonMobil. “Everybody knows the whistles — […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
What Trump’s Legal Woes Mean to Black Americans
The wait is over: A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump. It’s a historic move that caps off years of anxiety and uncertainty about whether Trump’s Teflon coating of white privilege would ever lose its power. Details of the felony indictment are expected to be announced in the coming days, The New […]
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 inCriminal Justice
Rasheem Carter’s Death Shows the Fault Lines of Jim Crow Still Run Through Mississippi
The investigation into the killing of Tiffany Carter’s son sheds light on a rigid pattern in which Black Americans find themselves at odds with the very institutions they’re supposed to trust. While Rasheem Carter’s death wasn’t the result of officer-involved violence — and while there are many unknowns about what happened — the case has […]