Texas Teen Courts Keep Youth Out of Prison
“If [students] are being told not only by teachers but by the system and everyone around them that they’re ‘bad kids,’ you’re sort of putting them on a path where they have no other choice but [to go]...
View Article“We the People” Includes We the Incarcerated
This story was originally published by Prison Journalism Project in partnership with Reckon News, a national news organization that covers the people powering change, the challenges shaping our time,...
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How Pet-Friendly Homeless Shelters Heal
“First, my brother passed away and then my mother,” says Charles Jones, sitting on a blue metal folding chair in Philadelphia’s Breaking Bread Community Shelter. “I needed somebody to take care of....
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What to Expect When You’re Expecting an Abortion
The morning of Renee Bracey Sherman’s abortion, the thing she fretted about the most was what to wear to her procedure. Should I wear comfy clothes that are easy to remove? But what if I look...
View ArticleSimple Steps to Make Voting Easier
The United States consistently underperforms on a critical measure of the health of its democracy: voter turnout, meaning the percentage of eligible voters who actually cast a vote in elections. Voter...
View ArticleCómo Apoyar a Las Personas Que Enfrentan el Duelo a Larga Distancia
Cuando Amrita Chavan abordó su avión en Mumbai, India, lo último que tenía en mente era el duelo. Éste era un nuevo comienzo. A sus 19 años, se dirigía a Canadá. Ella sería la primera de su familia...
View ArticlePrisoners Deserve to Survive Natural Disasters, Too
The United States have been rocked by two major hurricanes this month, Helene and Milton. In both instances, as the skies darkened and flood waters rose, thousands of incarcerated people were either...
View ArticleTurn Anger into Climate Activism This Election, Says Jane Fonda
Young people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming...
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Weather Data by and for the People
Weather forecaster Chad Gimmestad leans toward an oversized computer screen to jab at double-digit rainfall totals. These data were recorded by volunteers who braved Hurricane Milton’s 55 mph gusts to...
View ArticleMurmurations: What the Whales Whispered
A note from adrienne maree brown: Michaela Harrison is a whale singer; she sings to them and she listens to their songs for wisdom. And when we are blessed, she sings to us. Let me make it clear at...
View ArticleNewly Naturalized and Ready to Vote
After 37 years of living in the United States, Gastón Garcia overcame anxiety over the naturalization process and became a citizen in Tucson, Arizona, in late September 2024. He has another milestone...
View ArticleTrump Is Pulling From White Feminism’s Playbook
As it becomes increasingly likely that women will decide this presidential election, both parties are scrambling for women’s votes. Kamala Harris continues to position herself as the “girls’”...
View ArticleImmigrants Prepare for the Worst (Again)
Despite campaign promises to pursue a pro-immigrant agenda, the Biden administration quickly retreated as Republicans, backed by sensational media coverage of the southern border, commandeered the...
View ArticleWhat If 16-Year-Olds Could Vote?
Thousands of high school students in Oakland, California, will be voting for the first time this November after a successful ballot measure gave 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in local school...
View ArticleHope Is All We Have Today
Today, as the United States votes on the next president and other elected officials, I am reflecting on what civic engagement meant to me when I was 18 and how that meaning has evolved in my 30s....
View ArticleThe Possibility of Noncitizen Voting Rights
Marcela Rosas has lived in Santa Ana, California, for more than a decade. Her three children have grown up in the local schools, and Rosas is a long-time volunteer at school programs and community...
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Can We Fix Our Democracy?
Democracy is a simple concept: People exercise their collective agency to rule themselves so they can ensure their own well-being. Democracy is the opposite of autocracy, serving as a disavowal of...
View ArticleDivest From Death from Appalachia to Gaza
On Friday Sept. 27, 2024, the residents of Asheville, North Carolina, awoke to the devastation of a once-in-a-thousand-year storm. We awoke to houses destroyed, massive downed trees blocking roads,...
View ArticleOur Power Goes Beyond the Ballot Box
For the past year we have been strapped into a seemingly never-ending roller coaster of vicious propaganda, vitriol, racism, sexism, queerphobia, and a smug complacency in the face of a bloody...
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A Return to Leftist Self-Defense
“We heard there are some antifa over here!” The shout came from a group of Proud Boys, a far-right street gang, while they approached a picket line organized by the Industrial Workers of the World...
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