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There is no healing in an antiblack world
'We know what it means to be profiled, criminalized, incarcerated, and murdered by police. That trauma doesn't die with us.'
Media for good trouble.
Liberation lives here.
Southern politics
Successors and failures: Adulting after death
A Black Millennial homeowner navigates complex feelings after inheriting the family home, grieving the mighty loss of the woman who left it to her.
Illustrated: The South isn't so anti-abortion after all. Kentucky proved it at the polls.
Activists across Kentucky organized voters against an amendment that would have prevented a right to abortion or abortion funds in the state constitution. In illustration, meet three folks who were part of the movement to defeat Amendment 2.
Blue County, Purple State
While the county might remain an uphill battle for Republicans, North Carolina as a whole is a political toss-up.
On abortion, count on Gen Z for more than votes
For all the debate on how young voters will show up in 2022, there's a mismatch between campaigns to engage them and their experiences organizing for reproductive justice on the ground.
How we save ourselves: Interventions beyond the ballot box
Groups that employ continued, year-round civic engagement in the South walk us through the connection between electoral power and creating real opportunities for our communities to thrive.
Arts & Soul
Haunting the archive
What happens when the child of a slave writes over the texts that conspired to kill their mother? Haunted by the headlines that dehumanized their mother even after her death, poet Victoria Newton Ford scrapes the media record in order to answer the question.
Why your new diet is antiblack
The author of 'Belly of the Beast' weighs in on racism, fatphobia, and diet culture.
In the soil, in the sound: Houston's Jamal Cyrus gets to the root of Southern Black aesthetics
Houston-based visual artist Jamal Cyrus' first career-survey exhibition 'The End of My Beginning' comes to the Mississippi Museum of Art, showcasing his decadeslong exploration into the aesthetics of Black radical expression.
Bookmobiles to the rescue
In 26 states, students' access to books in school is under attack. Texas leads the nation with 16 districts enacting 713 individual bans.
'beyond a better hell' / talking to ghosts: a mixtap/e/ssay
History is a groove according to hip-hop scholar A.D. Carson. But when the soundtrack of Black grief continues to be remixed and sampled without meaningful change, Black folks are forced to compare this current hell to the last one.
Race & Place
Silent Night: When grief doesn't take a holiday
Holiday cheer doesn't cancel out sorrow—sometimes, it augments it. This condolence guide is a gentle reminder: Even though your journey is your own, you're not alone.
Abolition on TV: Pop Justice Wrapped
The top shows of 2022 crafted new realms, drew parallels to social issues and, whether intentionally or not, illuminated many elements within broader policing structures.
Grief, a (grand)mother tongue
How do you communicate love—much less grief—when you don't speak the same language? First-generation writer Mele Girma offers a makeshift grammar.
Scalawag's top stories of 2022
Amid the chaos that this year wrought, we here at Scalawag kept doing what we do best: Showcasing Southerners being their full selves, telling their own damn stories, and fiercely loving their people.
There are 'Stranger Things' than abolition, but the show won't go there.
The show promotes an implicitly abolitionist message: You shouldn't need police to keep you safe, or to solve problems that you and your community can solve with more nuance on your own.
pop justice: the 'chicken salad' pipeline
Y'all better come up here and get one of these—it's a fat politic.
