Journalism

6 Tips for White People Who Want to Celebrate Black History
Journalism

6 Tips for White People Who Want to Celebrate Black History

We’ve come a long way from Negro History Week to Black History Month and yet too often the celebrations that are planned in predominantly white spaces are nothing short of lackluster, rarely bringing a modern-day context to the celebration or acknowledgement that Black history is a continually evolving living history in which we all play a role. Part of the problem is that for non-Black people, too often there is a sense of being a passive celebrator. Yet, in this current climate there is immense opportunity. We can make real racial change by moving from passive observation to active engagement if we move past our own internal roadblocks and fears of messing up. Black history is more than just the named activists, agitators and changemakers—it encompasses the full scope of Black humanity...
Driving As A Black Person In America Was So Dangerous Black Folks Had To Publish A How-To Manual For Simply Surviving On The Road
Journalism

Driving As A Black Person In America Was So Dangerous Black Folks Had To Publish A How-To Manual For Simply Surviving On The Road

America was a dangerous place when Jim Crow mandates ruled the land. Laws separated blacks and whites, the KKK was alive and well, and lynchings were far too common. One white woman's lie even started the 1923 Rosewood Massacre - an event that completely destroyed the lives of many black citizens. Racial discrimination after the Civil War was so severe and potentially life-threatening for blacks that Victor Green developed a book that helped navigate the racist waters. Green's original 1936 Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual pamphlet that focused on safe spaces in New York City, but it eventually expanded to include the whole country. The innovative work suggested travel destinations and establishments that weren't racist so that African Americans could avoid the danger and humiliati...
South African government wants to know why Trump thinks its people are ‘undesirable’ immigrants
Journalism

South African government wants to know why Trump thinks its people are ‘undesirable’ immigrants

South Africa is among a growing number of countries taking action against President Donald Trump’s remarks last week that Haiti, El Salvador and African nations are “s---hole countries” whose inhabitants are not desirable for U.S. immigration. South Africa’s government called for a meeting Monday with acting U.S. Ambassador Jessye Lapenn in Pretoria as part of a diplomatic protest of Trump’s “disturbing” comments, the Department of International Relations said in a statement Sunday. While officials acknowledged Trump’s denial of the exact language used, they said the president’s denial was “categorical, referring only to Haiti and not addressing the entirety of the statement attributed to him.” Trump in a tweet Friday appeared to deny using the term “s---hole” to refer to those countrie...
Traveling while black: Why some Americans are afraid to explore their own country
Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Traveling while black: Why some Americans are afraid to explore their own country

Her mom always smiled - except when the family made its annual summer drive to visit the grandparents in Magnolia, Arkansas. “The smiles were gone while we were traveling,” said Gloria Gardner, 77. It was the 1940s, and traveling to her parents’ home town was not approached lightly after the family moved to Muskegon, Michigan, during the Great Migration. Stopping for food or bathroom breaks was mostly out of the question. For black families, preparing for a road trip required a well-tested battle plan in which nothing could be left to chance. There were meals to cook and pack in ice. Sheets were folded and stacked in the car to use as partitions if they were left with no choice but to take bathroom breaks roadside. And there was another item that Gardner recalls her parents never forgo...
It’s More Than a Church Parking Lot. It’s a Safe Zone for Homeless Women and Families
Journalism

It’s More Than a Church Parking Lot. It’s a Safe Zone for Homeless Women and Families

On April 5, Jen pulled her leaking 1998 station wagon into a church parking lot. Three years earlier, she had lost her human resources job. Unable to land another one, she eventually had been evicted from her apartment. Living out of her car ever since, the 41-year-old can’t remember how she heard about the church, but calls it a blessing that she did. The church she’s referring to is Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Kirkland, Washington. It launched the Safe Parking program in 2011 to give homeless women and families a safe place to park and sleep overnight. It now also provides them with 24-hour parking and access to the church’s bathrooms and kitchen. The church lends out laptops for guests to use its Wi-Fi to apply for jobs or seek additional support services. And when it’s...
The New Co-op Helping Ex-Inmates Find Work—and Recover
Journalism

The New Co-op Helping Ex-Inmates Find Work—and Recover

The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with more than 2.2 million people in prison. And within the United States, the highest incarceration rate belongs to Washington, D.C. There, a new worker-owned business cooperative hopes to reverse those numbers, offering former prisoners opportunities for employment and healing. Though co-ops that employ formerly incarcerated people already exist, Tightshift Laboring Cooperative is the first Washington, D.C., co-op formed and operated by ex-prisoners. The co-op offers an array of manual labor services, including residential and commercial cleaning, hauling and moving, and landscaping. It also uses eco-friendly products to provide customers with affordable, high-quality cleaning services. Unbeknownst to his family, Reid becam...
Meet the Man Bringing Cheap Renewable Energy to His Hometown
Journalism

Meet the Man Bringing Cheap Renewable Energy to His Hometown

When Highland Park, Michigan, a predominately Black city surrounded by Detroit, had its streetlights repossessed in 2011, because of a $4 million unpaid street lighting bill, Ryter Cooperative Industries L3C stepped in to help install solar-powered streetlights in the city’s neighborhoods. Energy cost inequality is a problem in many areas throughout the country. Low-income households spend 10% of their income on electricity—four times higher than the average household, according to a recent report. So while the median electricity bill in the United States in 2013 was around $114 a month, many low-income families paid more than $200 a month. Some renewable energy advocacy organizations have attributed the cost inequality to the lack of community engagement and awareness of renewable en...
A Populism of Hope Begins When People Feel Their Own Power
Journalism

A Populism of Hope Begins When People Feel Their Own Power

The waning years of the 1800s bore an uncanny resemblance to the present. The U.S. economy was transforming and globalizing, leaving behind many hardworking people. Then, as now, a populist uprising was underway in national politics against politics as usual. Then, as now, tough-talking contenders tried to position themselves as spokesmen for the people. That earlier populism shared many of the complaints about widespread economic stagnation and urban elites that animated voters in 2016. But, rather than in the apocalyptic preaching of a reality TV star, the movement’s backbone lay in feats of economic self-help. And this made all the difference. The proposals those populists sought called for fuller democracy, not authoritarian retrenchment. This was a populism of hope, not a populi...
Make your sweetheart swoon with Oprah’s Favorite Things
Journalism

Make your sweetheart swoon with Oprah’s Favorite Things

Oprah’s Favorite Things list for 2017 has 102 wonderful items and many are just right for Valentine’s Day. Our expert gift guru picked out some special items we just love to get you started on the road to making your sweetheart swoon on February 14! For the past 20 years, Oprah has offered up her Favorite Things -- innovative, unique gifts to give on holidays, birthdays and special occasions to the people you care about. Her new list for 2017 has 102 wonderful items in categories like Beauty Crush, Foodie, Techie and more. Many of these gifts are just right for Valentine’s Day and our expert gift guru picked out some special items we just love to get you started on the road to making your sweetheart swoon on February 14! Treats for your Sweetheart Chocolate is a traditional gift on Valen...
Lawyer: OJ Simpson is golfing a lot, staying in Las Vegas for now
Journalism

Lawyer: OJ Simpson is golfing a lot, staying in Las Vegas for now

O.J. Simpson is not planning to move from Nevada to Florida like he told state parole officials before he was released in October from Nevada state prison, his Las Vegas lawyer said Thursday. The 70-year-old former football hero, acquitted murder defendant and armed robbery inmate has not filed paperwork with parole officials to move to a different state, attorney Malcolm LaVergne said. “Mr. Simpson has no immediate plans to return to Florida,” LaVergne told The Associated Press. “He’s very much enjoying his time here in Vegas. It’s January, he gets to play golf every day.” A Nevada state parole and probation officer handling Simpson’s case did not immediately respond to messages, and Florida prisons spokeswoman Ashley Cook said her agency has not received documents from Simpson seeking...