Category Archives: Voices

Women Singing Not to Forget in Post-war Ivory Coast

Posted on 03/13/2013 by Carol Spindel

Defeated at the polls in November 2010, former president of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down and held onto power by force for over four months. About three thousand people died in the post-electoral violence. Gbagbo was arrested … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, International, Women | Comments Off

Education Justice Project Poets (First Installment)

Posted on 03/12/2013 by EJP

The mission of the Education Justice project is to build a model college-in-prison program that demonstrates the positive impacts of higher education upon incarcerated people, their families, the communities from which they come, and society as a whole. We provide upper-division college … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Prisoners, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Inmate Poetry

Posted on 02/24/2013 by Books to Prisoners

These poems were written by Illinois prison inmates and collected by Urbana Champaign Books to Prisoners. The Public i thanks Books to Prisoners for making them available. We will be publishing more inmate poetry in upcoming issues. For more information, … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged prisons | Comments Off

Motivating High School Students to Become Future Builders

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Belden Fields

In 2007, I met Tanya Parker, now the publisher of the local magazine, Unity in Action, at a demonstration in front of the County Court House in Urbana. We were both protesting what we felt was racial inequality in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Labor/Economics, Youth | Comments Off

A Tale of Two Cities: Public Access to Police Complaints in Champaign and Urbana

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Belden Fields

Backstory: Champaign Over the course of 2012, several pieces have been published in the Public i and the News Gazette regarding the city’s continued practice of ignoring Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding complaints against the police and its … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Policing, Politics | Comments Off

Political Memory at Work in Latin America

Posted on 10/07/2012 by Richard Esbenshade

My recent trip to El Salvador and Argentina focused heavily on ‘sites of memory,’ locations where events of massive political violence had occurred and where attempts to learn from them are underway. These two countries have experienced extreme social conflict—military … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, International, Latino/a, Politics | Comments Off

CU-Immigration Forum Holds Immigration Justice Month

Posted on 09/27/2012 by Franciso Baires

Several local religious congregations will be holding various faith-based and immigration-themed events throughout the month of October in what is sure to be an inspiring series of local community gatherings. The Allies of Faith is an interfaith coalition of … Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, Latino/a | Comments Off

The Fruits of Our Labor: Champaign’s Summer Youth Jobs Program

Posted on 09/08/2012 by Jelani Saadiq

Jelani Saadiq is a senior at Piney Woods School in Mississippi. He participated in Champaign’s summer youth employment program this summer. This summer I was bamboozled; I thought that the summer employment program would be a boring 9am-1 pm job, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Youth | Comments Off

Kudos to Our Own Brian Dolinar

Posted on 07/10/2012 by Belden Fields

Researcher, teacher, and editor/writer for the Public i, Brian Dolinar, has just made two major contributions to the world of knowledge. Both of them are books about the contributions of African Americans to the intellectual, cultural and political life of … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans | Comments Off

Close Tamms Supermax Prison

Posted on 06/28/2012 by Belden Fields

Belden Fields “A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide; while those … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisoners | Comments Off

WOMANSPEAK | Feminist Poetry and Poetics

Posted on 05/19/2012 by admin

R A C H E L L A U R E N S T O R M The Gendering of Cotacachi With each fragmented patch of earth, that Andean sun-god catches her step until she is falling … Continue reading →

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A Bad Idea: The County Board’s Proposal to Spend $20 Million on Jail Construction

Posted on 04/24/2012 by Public i

Over the last few months a classic political power struggle has been taking place at Champaign County Board meetings. At the center of it has been a Board proposal to spend $20 million on jail construction. People from Champaign-Urbana Citizens … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, Politics, Prisoners | Comments Off

CUCPJ Public Forum on New Jail Proposal

Posted on 04/22/2012 by Public i

Champaign Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice Present A Public Forum on: The County Board’s Proposal to Spend $20 Million on a New Jail Speakers: Carol Ammons, County Board member who opposes the jail proposal Members of Decarcerate Monroe County, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Policing, Politics, Prisoners, Voices of Color | Comments Off

WOMANSPEAK: Feminist Poetry and Poetics

Posted on 03/22/2012 by Public i

WOMANSPEAK | Feminist Poetry and Poetics R A C H E L L A U R E N S T O R M The Gendering of Cotacachi With each fragmented patch of earth, that Andean sun-god catches her … Continue reading →

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Preparing Youth for Democracy

Posted on 03/22/2012 by GaryStorm

Preparing Youth for Democracy (edited) By Gary Storm My wife, Jamie, and I were recently invited to participate in an international conference sponsored by “Initiatives of Change” (IOC) in Panchgani, India. The conference was called “Making Democracy Real–A Dialogue”, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Youth | Comments Off

Pre-1968 Foundations of African American Recruitment at the U of I

Posted on 03/22/2012 by Belden Fields

(767 words) Pre-1968 Foundations of African American Student Recruitment at the U of I (edited) Joseph H. Smith Joseph H. Smith served the U of I as an administrator and English professor from 1964 to 1994. He … Continue reading →

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

Winning the Bread

Posted on 03/04/2012 by admin

By Nancy Dietrich Dietrich works for the University of Illinois and lives in Urbana. This piece (which has been slightly modified) was originally published as a Guest Commentary in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. Awhile back, a male friend disclosed to me … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Labor/Economics, Women | Comments Off

“Shut Down the Mills!”: Women, the Modern Strike, and Revolution

Posted on 03/03/2012 by Belden Fields

By Berenice Carroll Women’s nonviolent direct action has a more extensive history and has been more influential in the history of political action for social change than is generally recognized. One of the most important contributions of women to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics, Women | Comments Off

Red Tails, A Historically Accurate Film?

Posted on 03/01/2012 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

By Sundiata Cha-Jua Dr. Sundiata Cha-Jua is a Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies and History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previously published at: http://illinois.edu/lb/article/72/59144 America’s first unit of African-American fighter pilots, the highly decorated Tuskegee … Continue reading →

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

Performing the Vagina Monologues

Posted on 03/01/2012 by Marya Burke

Dawn Bangert, History Student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Performing in the Vagina Monologues was an empowering experience that allowed me to connect with an amazing group of women on campus. Not only did I have the opportunity to … Continue reading →

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