Charles Davidson: Foster’s Pie Pan
He was a kind and gentle old fellow with a smudged face and scruffy beard. On his best days he appeared as tarnished and weather-beaten as his tin pie pan still does even now.
Lisa Fay Coutley | Shelter: Michigan
He wants me
to believe he met Jesus in Memphis
after his car went dead & he forgot
& forgot & forgot to feed his dog.
Andrew Bacevich: What Would Martin Say?
The attention given to racism of late has had exactly that unintended effect — relieving Americans of any obligation even to acknowledge the insidious implications of materialism and militarism. In that sense, even now, two of King’s giant triplets barely qualify for lip-service. In the political sphere, they are either ignored or, at best, treated as afterthoughts.
Elizabeth Romero: The Sisters Who Raised Me
Now I thank the black butterflies, the Sisters who raised me.
Sister Jane, who taught me how to garden and identify weeds.
Sister Marie Therese, kind and soft. Sister May Bride
Who defied authority to comfort me when I was disgraced.
Jake Johnson: Poor People’s Campaign Readies ‘Massive, Nonviolent’ Effort to Save Democracy
“We are not in this for a moment, but for a movement,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. “Our deadline is victory.”
Richard Hoffman: Good Will and Salvation
hold your tongue
so nobody ever knows
or suspects your real
origins, your actual class
Video: America’s Native Prisoners of War
Aaron Huey’s effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people — appalling, and largely ignored — compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later, his haunting photos intertwine with a shocking history lesson.
Video: Nadine Burke Harris | How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain.
Sushma Subramanian: Suffering the Heat of Climate Change, Cities Seek Retribution
Baltimore is suing major oil and gas companies for spurring the climate crisis and the rising temperatures that have an outsized impact on low-income, urban areas.
Video: Hurray For the Riff Raff | PA’LANTE
Winner of the 2019 Jury Award at SXSW, Director Kristian Mercado Figueroa’s music video PA’LANTE performed by Hurray for the Riff Raff takes us inside the Puerto Rican experience of life post Hurricane Maria and the pressures facing an estranged family attempting to reconnect amid the wreckage.
Mel Packer: Angie’s Place
Where back in the corner, there’s always some guy in a Pirates ballcap with skin like an old leather shoe who’s nursing the cheapest beer on tap….
Joya Misra: Millions of American parents will soon get a monthly allowance — 4 questions answered
Child poverty is extremely high in the U.S., relative to other rich countries, primarily because for decades it has spent less on supporting families with children. Nearly 1 in 5 American children live in poverty.
Video: Black Owned — Jackson
Introducing Black Owned, a film series exploring the Black entrepreneurial spirit and its essential contribution to the American economy through the perspectives of business owners.
Video: A Sister’s Hope
Jamira Burley should be another product of the system. Instead, she has used the tragedies of her life to reshape her community, and disrupt the status quo.
Vox Populi 