SOUTHERN POLITICS Archives – Scalawag

In this November 2005 file photo, Larry Greene, public information director of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, demonstrates how a curtain is pulled between the death chamber and witness room at the prison in Lucasville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File) Author Keith LaMar's execution date was moved to 2027 after 30 years on Death Row in Ohio, awaiting the death penalty.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

A Death Row Reprieve: One man's bittersweet reflection

by Keith LaMar November 16, 2023November 15, 2023

After 30 years awaiting the death penalty on Ohio's Death Row, Keith LaMar's scheduled 2023 execution date was moved to 2027. 'Here I was, again, being reminded that my days on this earth are numbered, and the only thing I could feel was gratitude.'

A boarded up abandoned house is graffitied with a "Stop Cop City" tag, Thursday, July 20, 2023, in Atlanta. Activists with the Stop Cop City Vote Coalition are trying to get the signatures of more than 70,000 Atlanta residents by Aug. 14 to force a referendum allowing voters to decide the fate of a proposed police and firefighter training center. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Mutual aid allows movements to resist and transform oppressive systems. It could also be what ultimately sustains us against climate change.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Mutual aid strengthens ATL's abolitionist organizing work

by Julian Rose September 28, 2023September 28, 2023

Dakerri Rhone of the Human Rights Campaign speaks during a news conference held by the Human Rights Campaign to draw attention to anti-drag bills in the Tennessee legislature, on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. (John Amis/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign) The mental health toll of anti-LGBTQ+ bills on Tennessee students. Tennessee has passed a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills attacking students' rights, mental health, and well-being.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

LGBTQ+ students in Tennessee have never been more terrified

by Lauren Barton September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

Young people gather during a rally held by Fairness Campaign to advance LGBTQ rights, Wednesday, February 19, 2020, in the Rotunda at the State Capitol, Frankfort, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) Finding hope and solidarity for LGBTQ Kentucky youth. A trans student on how they and other LGBTQ Kentucky youth are dealing with the mental health fallout of Senate Bill 150 in schools.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

For LGBTQ+ young Kentuckians, community matters for mental health

by Ray Loux September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

Southern youth are speaking out on the mental health crisis, the challenges they face, and anxieties they hope to overcome.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Notes on 'In Their Own Words,' a series on the youth mental health crisis

by Rainesford Stauffer September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Young Southerners speak out: Reflections on the youth mental health crisis

by Scalawag Community September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

The author, Mira Ugwuadu, posing for a portrait in the months after graduating from high school in Marietta, Georgia. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Funding, education, and safety are at the top of the list of demands to dismantle the youth mental health stigma in Georgia schools.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

In Georgia, we need proactive—not reactive—mental health support in schools

by Mira Ugwuadu September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

A wheelchair standing between other chairs in a school classroom. Disabled students are overlooked in the youth mental health crisis. How navigating an impossible system drove one disabled student to activism in their quest for solutions to the youth mental health crisis.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Young people struggle within a capitalist, ableist system. We can change it.

by Marrow Woods September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

Men from the Brevard County Jail fill sand bags for local residents to combat flooding caused by high water levels from Hurricane Irma on October 5, 2017 in Sharpes, Florida. Credit: Paul Hennessy/Alamy Live News.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Florida's jails put incarcerated people's lives at risk during hurricane season

by Angel D’Angelo September 12, 2023September 27, 2023

Prison workers making uniforms at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard) Rehabilitation stops being a priority for officials when it conflicts with prison labor—abruptly shutting down programs, citing labor costs.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

The Profitable Prisoner

by Antoine Davis September 6, 2023September 5, 2023

Henry Drake was convicted for a 1975 murder he didn’t commit—twice. Even after another man confessed to the crime, he still spent 12 years on Death Row seeking exoneration and battling the classism and legal misconduct of Georgia's judicial system.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

A Close Shave with Death

by Lillah Lawson September 1, 2023September 1, 2023

Federal receiver Robert Sillen in the prison yard at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California, on June 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Prop 66 doesn't dismantle California's Death Row—it expedites our executions

by Timothy James Young August 30, 2023August 29, 2023

Alim Braxton and Sabur Tyler have served a combined 53 years on Death Row. Six years ago, they found a profound friendship with each other—one that provides hope, solace, purpose, and companionship amidst the unique injustices they each face.

To dream, or not to dream: Friendship, innocence, and redemption on Death Row

by Alim Braxton and Sabur Tyler August 28, 2023August 29, 2023

SOUTHERN POLITICS

A Man Alone

by Ahmed Jallow, The Assembly July 11, 2023June 29, 2023

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Imprisoned in Gaza, Imprisoned outside of Gaza

by Maram M. AbedAlBari June 29, 2023November 14, 2023

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Illegal migration from Gaza by sea

by Rami Almeghari June 29, 2023November 14, 2023

How Israel exiles Palestinian prisoners to Gaza: Three Palestinian prisoners who were banished to Gaza as a condition of their release from Israeli prisons share their stories of exile.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Palestine on lock: Israeli occupation

by Basma Adham Albayed June 27, 2023November 14, 2023

When Israel imprisons a Palestinian, it imprisons entire families.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

When Israel imprisons a Palestinian, it imprisons their whole family

by Eman Hillis June 27, 2023November 14, 2023

Untreated injuries and denied surgeries in prison.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Cruel and unusual punishment: Denied surgeries behind bars

by Jacob Goethe June 26, 2023September 27, 2023

SOUTHERN POLITICS

(Super) Maxed Out

by Kriston Dowdell June 26, 2023September 27, 2023

The devastating impact of environmental racism in prisons.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Poisoned Inside

by C. Dreams June 23, 2023September 27, 2023

A visitor uses the video visitation system at the Fort Bend County Jail to speak with an inmate, in Richmond, Texas on May 5, 2015. Prisoners’ rights advocates were worried at the time that the growing use in of video technology to facilitate visits was part of a trend to eliminate the more traditional in-person visit. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) The hidden cost of 'free' tablets in prison

SOUTHERN POLITICS

The hidden cost of 'free' tablets in prison

by Ezzial Williams June 21, 2023September 27, 2023

State conspiracies and censorship of the incarcerated in prison.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Conspiracyz, Scum Pigz, & the Dept. of Censorship

by G. Z. June 21, 2023September 27, 2023

Scalawag's 2023 Abolition Week theme: The Bars We Can't See.

SCALAWAG UPDATES

Introducing Abolition Week 2023: The Bars We Can't See

by Scalawag Editors June 19, 2023November 14, 2023

The headquarters of New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Musicians' Clinic. Every month, the Foundation pays Bethany Bultman and her husband Johann $4,094 in rent for its use of the building for its offices. Photo by Trenity Thomas for Scalawag.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Plantation Politics: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic's crisis of credibility

by Drew Hawkins June 1, 2023September 27, 2023

Pack City Hall: Rev. Keyanna Jones speaks while community members attend the city council meeting to protest against the controversial "Cop City" project, inside the city hall in Atlanta on May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Megan Varner.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Out Loud on the Gate City Front

by Tea Troutman and Da'Shaun Harrison May 22, 2023May 22, 2023

GSU Cop City student demands: Protesters gathered outside of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta in protest of Cop City as the clear cutting of trees began on March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Georgia State students demand the University denounce Cop City, end carceral investments

by GSU Student Coalition Against Policing & Militarism May 19, 2023November 13, 2023

Demonstrators march near Atlanta police during a protest over plans to build a new police training center, Thursday, March 9, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz) Cop City protestors now face felony stalking, intimidation, and domestic terrorism charges.

SOUTHERN POLITICS

Cop City protesters face felony charges for distributing flyers

by Candice Bernd, Truthout May 8, 2023May 8, 2023

Reverend Keyanna Jones

SOUTHERN POLITICS

To Save the Soul of Weelaunee

by Zoey Laird May 4, 2023May 3, 2023

The Taking of Peachtree-Pine and the Dawning of Cop City

by Ariana Brazier May 3, 2023November 14, 2023