Category Archives: bigotry

Why I Called Herschel Walker Coonish: The Right of Black People to Call Out their Traitors

Editors’ Note: This article has been held until after the Georgia runoff election so there would be no suggestion of a political endorsement. Since Donald Trump’s incursion into US politics in 2015, deprecation and intimidation have become pervasive. Trump and … Continue reading

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How The Issue of Representation Impacts Central Illinois

The issue of unequal representation of cultures has plagued the nation since its birth, often resulting in the perversion of people’s natural rights. In central Illinois, it extends that perversion through aggressive discrimination. Although minorities have seen more representation on … Continue reading

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Moving to End Anti-AAPI Hate

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

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The Haters Among Them

The number is thirty so far, thirty police officers charged with the act of participating in the Capitol insurrection last January. Many, many Americans felt shock, and media analysts expressed particular outrage, to find men in blue—perhaps even waving blue-line, … Continue reading

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Chalk It Up to Protecting Property Over People

In July Michael Long, owner of the Rogue Barber Co. in downtown Champaign, implemented a discriminatory “membership only” policy. The issue came to public attention on July 23, when a female Champaign resident shared screenshots on social media of a … Continue reading

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Emma Scott Bridgewater: Lived Experience Marked by Race and Discrimination

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

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Chief Illiniwek: A Brief History and Call to Action

On March 13, 2007, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, after approximately 20 years of debate on the Illiniwek tradition, directed “… the immediate conclusion to the use of Native American imagery as the symbol of the University of … Continue reading

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The value of community

By Molly Zupan, representing UIUC Urban Planning 478 Spring 2019 students This spring semester, a group of urban planning and architecture students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have collaborated on creating visual, physical and written representations of the … Continue reading

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On the Topic of Islamophobia and Nationalism

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

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For a World Without Borders

Speech by Tariq Khan at the UIUC Ayuda Rally at Anniversary Plaza, November 29, 2018. UIUC Ayuda was a student group/campaign to raise awareness about and material support for the Central American caravans made up of people seeking asylum. I … Continue reading

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Illiberal America: A Report Card

I never thought I would live to see the U.S. turn into the illiberal, authoritarian, populist, white-nationalist country it has already increasingly become in early 2019. Illiberalism Turns Liberal Democracy on its Head “Liberal democracy” is characterized in theory by … Continue reading

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The Chancellor’s Massmail on Free Speech Who Is It Talking About?

Returning from a meeting of the American Association of Universities (AAU), Chancellor Jones shared a joint statement that was crafted at the meeting in regard to free speech on campus. The statement starts out by saying that people whose views … Continue reading

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The Alt-Right Extends Its Reach—Edited (Print) Version

  Max Levchin, a UIUC 1997 graduate in computer science, will deliver the keynote at commencement in May, Chancellor Robert Jones has announced, terming Ukrainian-born Levchin “an inspiring entrepreneur.” After four start-up failures during college and immediately after, Levchin moved … Continue reading

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The Alt-Right Extends Its Reach—Long Version

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Trump Pardons Jack Johnson

On May 24, 2018, President Donald Trump officially signed a posthumous pardon for heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson. As a radical and a sports fan, it was a surreal moment on a number of levels. But to explain how, it is … Continue reading

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Interview with Kristina Khan

Interviewed by David Prochaska, February 20, 2018. Edited for clarity. Kristina Khan is a local activist, mother of three married to Tariq Khan, and the primary author of “Young Fascists on Campus: Turning Point USA and its Far-Right Connections,” Truthout (February … Continue reading

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The Alt-Right Comes to Town

by David Prochaska TARIQ KHAN INCIDENT Last November 16, on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election, Tariq Khan, a 39-year-old Ph.D. student in history, was just finishing speaking at a rally when hecklers, including Joel Valdez, called out, “No … Continue reading

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Is Chancellor Jones in the ‘Sunken Place’?

by Kurtis ‘Sunny’ Ture Kurtis ‘Sunny’ Ture is a music producer, organizer, and graduate student at UIUC. As a founding member of Black Students for Revolution and the Speak Truth Collective, Sunny seeks to raise political consciousness, celebrate Black culture, … Continue reading

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The Power of a Word

(Eleanor Clark Ray is a 93-year-old resident of Champaign who taught school in Monterey, California.) Having a very long past to remember, I find that bits of that past rise into conscious memory unbidden and usually not welcome. For example, … Continue reading

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