Category Archives: Voices

Popular University for Gaza at UIUC

From Friday, April 26 through Friday, May 10, we established a branch of the Popular University for Gaza at UIUC, joining the national student movement for Palestine. This encampment was just one small piece in the long movement for Palestinian … Continue reading

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Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Section, Students, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Popular University for Gaza at UIUC

Remembering Irfan Ahmad

Longtime Urbana resident Irfan Ahmad passed away on May 2 due to complications from a chronic lung condition. He was 66. Ahmad immigrated from Pakistan in 1989 to pursue his graduate education in agricultural engineering at the University of Illinois. … Continue reading

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Posted in Community, health care, Immigrants, Islam, Local Resources, Peace movement, social services, Voices | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Remembering Irfan Ahmad

May/June Issue Front Cover

The Suffering in Gaza is Our Community’s Concern!  990 total views,  1 views today

 990 total views,  1 views today

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City Business is Whatever the Community Cares About

Americans have been in the streets since October 8 demanding an end to the US-backed Israeli attack on Gaza. They’re at sporting events and camping out in front of top politicians’ homes. They were at tree-lighting and caroling events over the … Continue reading

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Beyond Abortion: Reproductive Justice Envisions More

The human right to choose to have children or not to have children is a foundational principle in the vision of Reproductive Justice (RJ). Thus the increase in legal attacks on abortion rights and trans rights is understandably central to … Continue reading

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Posted in abortion rights, Feminism, Human Rights, Reproductive Justice, Section, Voices, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Beyond Abortion: Reproductive Justice Envisions More

Healing Culture in Wartime

Forty-one years ago when we organized the Common Differences conference on the UI campus, I was a young professor, already quite engaged in women’s issues, which had led to my research, writing, travels, and overall commitment. When I retired from the University of … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism, International, Middle East, Section, Voices, War, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Healing Culture in Wartime

Coalition of Labor Union Women for Champaign County

On the evening of March 27 more than 30 people representing about a dozen labor unions and community groups gathered at the Plumbers Local 149 Union Hall in Savoy to launch a chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism, Labor, Labor/Economics, Section, union soldarity, Voices, Women, Women | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Coalition of Labor Union Women for Champaign County

The Case for Reparations: Champaign County

According to the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation, Black people in America own 10 cents of wealth for every dollar a white person owns, have lower life expectancies and higher unemployment, will earn $1 million less during their lifetimes, are … Continue reading

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Posted in African American history, African Americans, African Americans, Inequality, Labor/Economics, Racism, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Case for Reparations: Champaign County

What is the Radical Black Church?

How Do We Define the “Black” Church? In some sense, the Black Church can be readily defined by its music, style of preaching and sounds. Yet these are only surface definitions—it is so much more. The Black Church was born … Continue reading

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Posted in Africa, African American history, African Americans, African Americans, civil rights, Justice, Religious radicalism, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on What is the Radical Black Church?

Criminology Mixology

Criminalization, abolition, and prison reform have long been third-rail issues in America. The only benefit to this impasse of ideologies is the mountain of research that has been collected in the interim. Those of us in camp reality, camp humanity, … Continue reading

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Posted in African Americans, incarceration, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Criminology Mixology

The Prison Economy from the Inside

Nineteen-year-old Shamar Betts of Urbana had no previous criminal record when he was arrested for “inciting a riot” via a Facebook post he wrote after witnessing the video of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. He was sentenced to three years … Continue reading

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Black History: Is This Really 2024?

I am a mother of three sons and a grandmother of 83 years of age. This incident happened on Wednesday, January 31, in the middle of the afternoon. I was going to visit a friend and on the way, I … Continue reading

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Posted in African American, African American history, African American women, African Americans, Section, Voices, Voices of Color, Women | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Black History: Is This Really 2024?

Who is Un-American?

This article, commissioned for the Public i, appeared first in a longer version in Monthly Review on November 29, 2023, under the title “Gender, Labor, Democracy, and Americanism: U.S. History in the (Un)Making”; reprinted with permission. In the early hours of Monday, May 15, … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism, labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Who is Un-American?

She’s Everything and Everywhere: Riffs on Barbie and the Barbie Movie

Barbie deserved her own biopic. More than one billion Barbie dolls have been shipped and sold around the world since her premier in 1959, and factories in Asia are still spewing her out. From her hair down to the pink … Continue reading

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Posted in Arts, Feminism, film, Girls, Section, Voices, Women, Women | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on She’s Everything and Everywhere: Riffs on Barbie and the Barbie Movie

At the Feds

Shamar Betts had no previous criminal record but was sentenced to three years in federal prison for “inciting a riot” through a Facebook post he wrote after witnessing the video of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. He was also made … Continue reading

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Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, incarceration, Prison Arts, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on At the Feds

There Is Only Old People Here. All the Children Are Gone

There’s no hope for a better tomorrow. There’s no vision or dream for a better reason. The paths are darkened by fear and evil forces that dwells in the darkness that roams the corners of the street. There is only … Continue reading

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Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, children, Poetry, Section, Violence, Voices | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on There Is Only Old People Here. All the Children Are Gone

Pre-Roe Reproductive Rights Underground: The Story of the Janes

We are back in pre-Roe Chicago. A doctor speaks about sepsis, the emergency rooms overflowing daily with feverish women dying from botched efforts to rid themselves of unwanted pregnancies. Another woman recalls her phone interactions with a mob operative. Yes, … Continue reading

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The Danville Abortion Clinic Troubles

Mary Catherine Roberson, chair of the Danville chapter of Personal Pac, warns, “do not take it for granted that because you live in Illinois, you are safe. If the anti-abortion forces start organizing in your town, reach out to Personal … Continue reading

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Posted in abortion rights, health care, Healthcare, Reproductive Justice, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Danville Abortion Clinic Troubles

Code Blue: Suffering through DWB in Rantoul

This essay, submitted to the Rantoul Press in 2009, was never published. The author shares it now to give context to community concerns with policing in Rantoul in the wake of recent police shootings of young Black men. “You were … Continue reading

 1,407 total views,  2 views today

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, police accountability, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Section, Voices | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Code Blue: Suffering through DWB in Rantoul

Community of Urbana-Champaign Cooperative Housing to Reduce the Post-Pandemic Youth Housing Divide

Housing cooperatives have a long history in the US. In university towns like C-U, those laboratories of young people assume new importance in the post-pandemic city. Escaping the logic of a typical landlord-tenant agreement, members self-manage and maintain the houses … Continue reading

 756 total views,  1 views today

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