Category Archives: Section

Taking the Band-Aid Off of Mass Incarceration

Posted on February 2022 by Brian Dolinar

On a bad day, those of us seeking justice can find little to be hopeful about. The recent acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse again reminds us that the law is designed to protect white lives. Even after widespread protests and demonstrations … Continue reading →

625 total views

Posted in African American, BLM, Champaign County, incarceration, Justice, Police brutality, Policing, Section, State Government | Comments Off

Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity

Posted on February 2022 by Durl Kruse

In 2004 the State of Illinois required all law enforcement agencies to report their annual traffic stop data to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The Urbana Police Department’s (UPD) data shows they have enforced traffic laws inequitably every year … Continue reading →

482 total views

Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, Policing, Racism | Comments Off

What’s Understood Need Not Be Explained

Posted on February 2022 by Crushion Stubbs

I’m curious to know, as a reading eye and listening ear, what are you expecting to hear from me? That the feds were somehow wrong, and Shamar was right? Or that he was justified in putting out some call to … Continue reading →

501 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, Justice, Local Arts, Police brutality, Racism, Section, Voices | Comments Off

Filmmaker Raoul Peck: “Do We Wish for a Common History?”

Posted on February 2022 by Audrey Wells

Pristine wilderness. Sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? A place untouched. But does the phrase “pristine wilderness,” connoting unsullied land, serve as a cultural myth that ironically reeks of genocide? Raoul Peck makes this case and many others in … Continue reading →

366 total views

Posted in Arts, film, Imperialism | Comments Off

It’s Not a Labor Shortage, It’s a Workers’ Rights Shortage

Posted on November 2021 by Pat Simpson

The Great Uprising, the Great Resignation, even the unofficial General Strike: analysts and pundits—left, right and center—speak of mounting worker unrest in the US in awestruck terms. What these labels certainly do capture is the expansive scale of this unrest … Continue reading →

1,101 total views, 1 views today

Posted in labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics | Comments Off

There’s Something Happening Here

Posted on November 2021 by Chris Evans

Gun violence in Champaign-Urbana has certainly dominated public discourse of late. As a city council member, I hear a lot of it. Here are some common myths being thrown around about local gun violence and law enforcement: “The libs on … Continue reading →

596 total views

Posted in Crime, Gun violence, Police, Policing, Violence | Comments Off

Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers

Posted on November 2021 by Ubuntu Project

The Ubuntu Project Urbana-Champaign is disappointed to learn that the Champaign City Council is considering voting to purchase license plate readers. Considering the well-documented controversial reputation and questionable value of license plate readers, the Champaign people need more information on … Continue reading →

512 total views, 1 views today

Posted in African American, African Americans, civil rights, Crime, Gun violence, Justice, police accountability, Policing, Violence | Comments Off

Illinois Responds to “Code Red” Climate Alarm

Posted on November 2021 by Amanda Pankau

IPCC Issues a Code Red for Humanity “Code Red for Humanity” has become the new rallying cry for climate action. The phrase was coined by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in reference to the August climate report, released … Continue reading →

507 total views

Posted in Climate Activism, Climate Justice, Environment, Environment | Comments Off

The Border We Build Every Day: Guatemala in Champaign-Urbana

Posted on November 2021 by Janice Jayes

The border mechanisms that capture headlines—the roundups, the cages, and the deportations—deserve attention, but this human sorting isn’t confined to the moment or space of the frontier crossing. It is part of the food we buy, the clothes we wear, … Continue reading →

629 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Immigrants, Immigration, Indigenous, Refugees, Violence | Comments Off

A Conversation with Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files

Posted on November 2021 by Public i

The Public i recently talked to Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files Please tell our readers a little about yourself. “I am a wife, mother, and registered nurse. I currently work in mental health and addiction services. I enjoy reading, writing … Continue reading →

628 total views

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Community, Local Arts, Poetry, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

Victory! Dynegy Will Move Its Ash

Posted on September 2021 by Pam and Lan Richart

No More “Cap and Run” After a multi-year campaign calling for the clean-up of coal ash along the Middle Fork of the Vermilion, Illinois’ only National Scenic River, Dynegy Midwest Generation, owner of the coal ash, has finally agreed to … Continue reading →

1,162 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Environment, Environment, IL, Politics | Comments Off

How the Campus Becomes the Border

Posted on September 2021 by Daniel Gonzalez and Alex Sager

In August, 2020, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) opted for a hybrid in-person/online semester. The decision to partially reopen was made possible by the innovative SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell initiative. A crucial part of this program was … Continue reading →

996 total views, 1 views today

Posted in COVID-19, Immigrants, Students, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off

The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing

Posted on September 2021 by Alex Horton

Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading →

1,077 total views

Posted in African Americans, Community, Justice, police accountability, Police Brutality, Policing, Voices of Color | Comments Off

Police Brutality is Not Uniquely American: Try France

Posted on September 2021 by Richard Esbenshade and Belden Fields

While we are rightly preoccupied with abuse by the police in the United States, almost no Americans know anything about policing and justice in other countries. France offers a particularly interesting case. In January, six nongovernmental organizations, including Amnesty International … Continue reading →

669 total views

Posted in 1968 Revolt, France, International, Justice, Police, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Students | Comments Off

The WTO Vaccination Charade

Posted on September 2021 by Paul Mueth

It’s not an accident that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the site for the battle over the pandemic and the health of the world. Many critics of corporate control of international trade, and of most of everyday life, have … Continue reading →

862 total views

Posted in Big Pharma, COVID-19, Foreign Policy, International, pandemic, Politics, Public Health, World-wide death and suffering | Comments Off

Moving to End Anti-AAPI Hate

Posted on August 2021 by May Kao Xiong

Despite May having been the month to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage, the preceding year saw the increase of violence and hate towards Asians and Asian Americans that ranged from attacks on Asian and Asian American elders … Continue reading →

1,415 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, bigotry, Racism, violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

Yemen: A War of Many Fronts

Posted on August 2021 by Valerie Hoffman

Journalists describe the conflict in Yemen as a sectarian proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but that fails to capture the complexity of the war: in October, 2020, Human Rights Watch reported more than thirty battle fronts between various … Continue reading →

544 total views

Posted in Arab Spring, Foreign Policy, International, International, Islam, Middle East, War | Comments Off

Ubuntu, Hope, and Respect: Socially Conscious Music from the African Continent, the Indian Ocean, and North America

Posted on August 2021 by Al Kagan

Music is often a reflection of struggles for social change, and a source for joy and hope for the future. This can be heard in the songs noted in my first music review article in the February 2021 issue of … Continue reading →

697 total views

Posted in Africa, African American, African American women, Arts, International, Music | Comments Off

Slightly Out of Focus: A Review of One Night in Miami and Judas and the Black Messiah

Posted on August 2021 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

For more than 70 years and over a century, respectively, television and cinema have presented demeaning images of Black people. And for equally as long, African Americans have responded with boycotts, pickets and alternative visions that “depict[ed] our men and … Continue reading →

614 total views

Posted in 1968 Revolt, African American, African Americans, Arts, cinema, film, Politics, Racism, Voices, Voices of Color | Comments Off

The Quiet Strength of Bamboo: Three Wonderful Films from the Pacific to Stream

Posted on August 2021 by Audrey Wells

Add these three visually stunning and thoughtful films to your watch list. Each, to varying degrees, tells a story of indigenous culture from an insider’s point of view, and each offers the special pleasure of real people playing themselves in … Continue reading →

552 total views

Posted in Arts, cinema, film, International, International, Pacific films | Comments Off