Category Archives: African Americans

Countering Violence in Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 02/10/2022 by James Kilgore

The uptick in murders in 2021 represents a national crisis. In 2020, the FBI counted 21,750 homicides in the US, a 30 percent increase over 2019 and the largest percentage increase since 9/11. The total number of murders rose slightly … Continue reading →

1,195 total views

Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Gun violence, racial segregation in Champaign/Urbana, Youth Services | Comments Off

Ending Gun Violence Requires Long-Term Investments in People and Communities

Posted on 02/10/2022 by Helen A. Neville and Nickholas Grant

Quansay L. Markham (17 years old), Jonathon McPherson (17), Jadeen Moore (19), Acarrie Ingram-Triner (19), and Jordan Atwater-Lewis (17) are among the people who were shot and killed in Champaign-Urbana in 2021. Are there things we could have done as … Continue reading →

870 total views

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Champaign County, Gun violence, Voices, Youth Services | Comments Off

Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity

Posted on 02/10/2022 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 →

772 total views, 1 views today

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

The Unacknowledged and Ongoing Genocide: Violence against African Americans

Posted on 02/09/2022 by Gordon Brown

I began writing this reflection on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021, a national holiday created by President Lincoln in the hopes of healing the wounds following the Civil War. Yet for many the wounds still run deep. One of the … Continue reading →

860 total views

Posted in African Americans, Racism, Violence | Comments Off

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

Posted on 09/22/2021 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 →

1,622 total views, 1 views today

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

Scapegoating and the 2020 Marketplace Mall Riots

Posted on 08/04/2021 by Janice Jayes

I watched the legal machinery eat further into the life of a young man this past month. On June 14, I joined others at the sentencing hearing for Shamar Betts at the federal courthouse in Urbana. Betts is accused of … Continue reading →

2,716 total views, 1 views today

Posted in African Americans, Justice, Police | Comments Off

Black Art Politicized: A Discussion with Leslie Smith

Posted on 05/26/2021 by Drake Materre

I had the amazing opportunity to interview Leslie Smith, a board member of the Urbana–Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) and the founder of Black Voices Theater Production. As someone who grew up in a household with a father who is … Continue reading →

Posted in African American Women in CU, African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

“It’s Scary Having a Fifteen-Year-Old Son”: Community Voices on Gun Violence in C-U

Posted on 12/06/2020 by FirstFollowers

In the midst of the global pandemic, Champaign-Urbana has its own local epidemic: gun violence. As of July 20, police had received 95 reports in 2020 of shooting incidents in Champaign alone. This is more than double the total for … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Gun violence, incarceration, Poetry, Violence, Voices of Color | Comments Off

The Decline of African Languages at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Posted on 10/26/2020 by Fatou Jobe

The University of Illinois used to be one of the best universities for learning African languages. Emeritus professor of Linguistics Eyamba Bokamba would always say, “here in Illinois we offer African languages from A to Z, Arabic to Zulu.” Unfortunately, … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African Americans, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off

We Don’t Live in a Food Desert, We Live under Food Apartheid: Interview with Dawn Blackman

Posted on 07/17/2020 by Fatou Jobe

Dawn Mosley Blackman, a Chicago native, moved to Champaign in April, 1993. She is the current steward of the Randolph Street Community Garden and a pastor at the Church of the Brethren. As a military wife she lived in Europe … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community, Food Insecurity, health, Poverty | Comments Off

Emma Scott Bridgewater: Lived Experience Marked by Race and Discrimination

Posted on 09/20/2019 by Vanessa Rouillon

I met Mrs. Erma Pauline Scott Bridgewater (1913-2013) in Spring, 2009, during my research visits to Bethel A.M.E. Church. She led a life of service, racial work, and local activism in Champaign, being, arguably, the most interviewed and celebrated local … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, bigotry, Women | Comments Off

FirstSteps Community House

Posted on 09/20/2019 by James Kilgore

“Our community needs a transitional house … we’re gonna reach out and help people get employment, help them bond back with their families and be able to give back to the community.” — Casandis Hunt, peer mentor at FirstFollowers, talking … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community, Housing, incarceration | Comments Off

Attacks on the Campus Left Then and Now: Fighting Student Activists on Illinois’ Campus in the 1930s

Posted on 05/09/2019 by Nick Goodell

In the 1930s, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was home to a thriving anti-war and anti-imperialist community of different radical, socialist, and communist groups. The National Student League (NSL), later called the American Student Union (ASU), the Communist Youth … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Alt-Right, military, Students, University of Illinois | Comments Off

On the Topic of Islamophobia and Nationalism

Posted on 05/09/2019 by Marihah Muhsinah

From the time we are little until we are fully grown, most of us are taught the basic saying “treat others the way you want to be treated.” It represents the action of being courteous and kind, to not disrespect … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, bigotry, China, civil rights, Islamophobia, Israel/Palestine, Xenophobia | Comments Off

Mayor Harold Washington: Champion of Race and Reform in Chicago

Posted on 12/12/2018 by John Palen

If you’ve read Robert Caro’s biographies of Lyndon Johnson, you know what it’s like to be kidnapped by a historian who’s also a great story teller. The reading lamp burns late. I’ve just finished a new book on Illinois history … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Chicago, Politics | Comments Off

A Muslim on the Inside

Posted on 11/14/2018 by Isra Rahman

“Praise the Gods, Martin Luther King is dead.” Monroe Haynes was an 18-year-old in Vietnam fighting a war he did not understand, with people he did not know, when he heard his commander proclaim this statement. Just barely an adult, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Islam, Prisoners | Comments Off

1968 – Not Really So Long Ago or Far Away

Posted on 11/14/2018 by Janice Jayes

“I want kids to see that it wasn’t just Martin Luther King making things happen in the 1960s, it was local folks here as well. Just as it is today.” Katie Snyder, Education Program Specialist, Museum of the Grand Prairie … Continue reading →

Posted in 1968, African Americans, African Americans, Environment, University of Illinois, Vietnam War, Youth | Comments Off

Artist Spotlight on Charlotte Prieu

Posted on 11/14/2018 by Public i

Tell me a little about yourself and your past creative work. I am a French native and a PhD student in French Linguistics at the University of Illinois. I am very passionate about social justice, especially regarding anti-racism and intersectional … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Justice, Police | Comments Off

Goodbye, Ms. Franklin

Posted on 09/10/2018 by Patricia Simpson

Aretha Franklin’s musical talents were legion. Incomparable singer that she was, it is hardly surprising that multiple critics have identified her as the greatest voice in popular music of the 20th century. Labeled the “Queen of Soul,” she was in … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Feminism, Music | Comments Off

History Matters: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Fight for Economic Justice

Posted on 05/04/2018 by Stephanie Fortado

By Stephanie Fortado Dr. Stephanie Seawell Fortado is a Lecturer at the University of Illinois Labor Education Program, providing workshops and extension programming for unions and the general public on the Champaign-Urbana campus and throughout Illinois. Before joining the University, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Economy, Justice, labor, Voices of Color | Comments Off