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 […]
South Carolina
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Alabama Voters Lose Again as Supreme Court Greenlights Map
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a map that eliminates a district where Black voters had the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. “The Supreme Court’s decision gives cover to Alabama and others to deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any consequence,” Deuel Ross, the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics & Policy
Cross Burning, Federal Charges, and the State That Still Won’t Call It a Hate Crime
Monica Williams’ phone notifications wouldn’t stop dinging while in class. During her free moment from teaching, she checked her text messages. She learned that her former neighbor, Worden E. Butler had been indicted in April. Williams and her husband, Shawn, have accused Butler, who is white, of burning a cross in his backyard. “You are […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Jim Clyburn’s District Is at the Center of a New Fight Over Black Voting Power
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — To Jasmine Broadwater, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina isn’t some distant power broker in Washington, D.C. He’s a hometown fixture. Broadwater, 32, grew up in Columbia, the state’s capital, and she said that Clyburn would sometimes “just randomly pop up at school.” His daughter Jennifer Clyburn Reed was one […]
Posted inHistory, Money
Charleston’s Gullah Geechee Community Demand 7,000 Acres in Reparations
Marcus McDonald’s roots run deep on both his sides of his family in Charleston, South Carolina. He’s a descendant of the Boone Hall Plantation, where his ancestors in his father’s family were once held captive. They come from a line of Gullah Geechee people, the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved […]
Posted inHBCUs, Politics & Policy
An HBCU Canceled Its MAGA Commencement Speaker, Now Republicans Want to Defund It
Less than two weeks before graduation day, students at South Carolina State University learned that a MAGA-supporting politician had been invited to speak at their upcoming commencement ceremony. The students wasted no time in taking their grievances about South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to the school’s president and provost. Three days after the news […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Black Elders Without Birth Records Could Lose Vote Under SAVE America Act
When Courtney Patterson was born on his family’s farm in Lenoir County, North Carolina, 80 years ago, he was fortunate that a country doctor recorded his birth, ensuring that he would have a document later. “But many other people who grew up with me didn’t even have that,” Patterson recalled. Babies were usually delivered at […]
Posted inCulture, History, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy
As Chicago Celebrates Jesse Jackson’s Life, Those He Inspired Confront What’s Next
Jeanette Taylor, the alderwoman of Chicago’s 20th Ward, first met the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 2012. At the time, she was an organizer with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, and her executive director insisted that she meet him. Taylor was nervous: She knew his national stature, his speeches, his mystique — and “sometimes when you […]
Posted inCourts, Culture, History
S.C. Court Victory Grants Gullah Geechee Temporary Access to Blocked Cemetery
Julia Scott is disappointed. Despite a judge granting her and other Gullah Geechee residents in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, access to the centuries-old Big House Cemetery, they must give the property owners — who put up a gate to block the entrance — written notice first. “It’s a start, but I am not pleased […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
A Rural S.C. County Quietly Approved a $2B Data Center During the Winter Storm
As a rare winter storm bore down on South Carolina, bringing conditions that historically paralyze the state for days, local officials in a rural county quietly pushed through a massive $2.4 billion data center without most residents knowing it was even on the table. “There was a public meeting, which most were unaware of,” Jessie […]
