500 years after the start of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade a new class action lawsuit on behalf of migrant workers in Canada is calling out the nation's abuse of Black and Brown migrants. Activists are calling for reforms of the migrant system, but abolition could be the only radical response.
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Posted inARTS & SOUL
Ashes, Ashes
Grief can take us to our knees—right back to the dirt, dust, and the earth, from which all things grow. Nnenna Freelon consults Mother Nature—and a Black woman hemp farmer—to lean into the possibility of growth in harsh environments and bitter seasons.
Posted inRACE & PLACE
Disaster capitalism, climate change, and the campaign to sell Black New Orleans
The 2007 'Forever New Orleans' advertising campaign was intended to celebrate the city's rich and diverse culture and history. In reality, it commodified the Black culture bearers who shaped the city for centuries as tourism bait.
Posted inSCALAWAG UPDATES
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.
Posted inRACE & PLACE
New Orleans has a trash problem. Thanks to climate change, your city probably will, too.
Some New Orleans neighborhoods went without trash pickup for over a month following Hurricane Ida. Climate change is making post-disaster waste management an urgent problem.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
New Urbanism sells faux sustainability as a luxury on Florida's 30A
The Florida beach highway that highlights how money, sustainability, and survivability intersect as the climate crisis unfolds.
Posted inSCALAWAG UPDATES
Mellon Foundation announces Scalawag as an inaugural Humanities in Place grantee
Through their new Humanities in Place program, the Foundation will invest $350,000 in Scalawag over the next two years, allowing us to further concretize and grow our transformative work.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
Celebrity chefs cook up joy at the polls in the South
People in long waiting lines at the polls are hungry for more than change. They gotta eat. Meet the celebrity chefs feeding voters.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
High stakes for the climate in Louisiana elections
Louisiana politics will play a big role in the future of climate change. But only a few bold candidates in down-ballot races are talking about the crisis.
Posted inRACE & PLACE
South Padre Island: A crash course in fatherhood and patriarchy
Dowdy asks what it means to father under conditions of patriarchy. He refuses easy answers, turning a critical eye toward both the father acts that shaped him and his attempts to break out of the patriarchal mold and parent his daughter otherwise.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
North Carolina's strange election
North Carolina's partisan politics are moving—like the nation's—toward the extremes. The power "redistribution" orchestrated by North Carolina's GOP flies bluntly in the face of American traditions of democratic rule and respect for electoral results
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
In the Chesapeake Bay, signs of native oysters' comeback
Once one of its most valuable resources, Maryland's oyster population almost disappeared—before suddenly jumping three years ago and reviving a struggling industry.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE
Death and politics
We need to face the tragedies of American history with a full accounting.