How Durham, North Carolina, became the first US city to ban police exchanges with Israel
Media for good trouble.
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Southern politics
To the other 98%: Lessons from the nation's Black male educators
Students at the Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education interviewed Black male educators to learn how they are innovating in the virtual classroom.
Meet the 5 women uprooting white beauty standards and white supremacy in West Virginia
After a rally in support of the CROWN Act, five Black women gather in a beauty salon to talk about why America needs a law to protect natural hair.
Bad medicine in Louisiana prisons
The majority of doctors working for the Louisiana Department of Corrections have histories of sexually assaulting patients, writing under-the-table narcotic prescriptions, possession of child pornography, and drinking alcohol on-duty.
The BAmazon Loss and the Road Ahead
What can union activists across the country take away from the high-profile defeat in the union vote at Amazon in Alabama?
Arts & Soul
Author Anjali Enjeti reckons with Asian American identity in white-dominant culture
South Asian organizer Anjali Enjeti, author of two new books—Southbound and The Parted Earth—discusses the model minority myth, white Evangelical extremism, and developing radically inclusive movements.
A Prophet Without Eyes: Pauli Murray's Moment
Pauli Murray is having a moment. The potent but undersung 20th-century Civil Rights activist, legal scholar, poet, and priest suddenly seems to be everywhere—110 years after her birth.
In the face of anti-trans bills, 'Mama Gloria' is a blessing
As many Black trans women struggle to imagine life after 40 due to the violence they face, a new documentary by Black filmmaker Luchina Fisher honors the life and work of Black trans activist, elder, and legend Gloria Allen.
Freedom wasn't given—it was seized
Survivors of slavery share their experiences through Reconstruction in the new podcast series "Seizing Freedom" by Virginia Public Media and Witness Docs, featuring voiceover retellings of Black folks' courageous efforts to reconstruct life on their own terms.
Race & Place
How HBCUs are keeping us safe
A combination of strict screening practices, off-campus instruction, and additional student support have left HBCUs with some of the lowest COVID-19 transmission rates across college campuses.
Salt, Soil, & Supper: Meet Ko Bragg, Scalawag's new Race & Place editor
As Southerners, this is our moment. We have an opportunity to rethink our communities' foodways and reliance on the corporate agriculture structure, interrogate our response to the climate crisis on the Gulf Coast, […]
The fall and rise of North Carolina's first Black school
C.S. Brown may no longer formally labeled a school for Blacks, but its at-risk students were mostly Black—a symbol of the story education data tell about our Black youth, recognized more for trouble than for promise.
A New Crop: Portraits of Houston's Black urban farmers
Texas is home to the largest number of Black farmers in the country. A new crop of Black urban farmers are continuing traditions and pioneering innovative solutions to address food insecurity and nutritional wellness in Houston.
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In Arkansas, falling behind on rent could mean jail time
Only Arkansas permits criminal consequences for nonpayment of rent—and it has enforced the law during the pandemic. Now, some legislators want to revoke the statute.
Ending white supremacist violence will take all of us
A letter from Scalawag's Executive Director-Publisher: White supremacy is the reason that six Asian women and two others were murdered in Atlanta this week. It is the reason that Flint and Jackson don't have clean water. It is the reason Texas was without power during a deadly winter storm. It is the reason George Floyd […]
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The majority of Alabamians want Medicaid expansion
Uninsured, working Alabamians are forced to choose between their well-being and financial security. But politicians are holding out on an easy fix.
The Southern Tenant Union Playbook
Tenant unions are innovating solutions during this housing crisis, but in the South, they're also relying on tried and true methods.
Jackson's water crisis: How you can help
The same winter storm that rocked Texas and much of the Gulf coast caused catastrophic infrastructure failures in Jackson, Mississippi, forcing the city under a water boil notice first issued on February 16. Here's what organizers on the ground want you to know.
POC-led. Women-run. Southern.
Consuming Blackness in 'progressive' West Virginia
A memory of a charity event that showcased just what's wrong about West Virginia progressives' ideas about race.
'Pure America': Eugenics past and present
Elizabeth Catte wrote the official takedown of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, placing it in a tradition of whitewashed poverty porn. In her follow-up, she traces the history and influence of eugenics from her backyard across the country.