Category Archives: Voices

The Prison Economy from the Inside

Posted on 04/01/2024 by Shamar Betts

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 →

Posted in African Americans, incarceration, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged incarceration, local African American voices, memoir, prison life | Comments Off

Black History: Is This Really 2024?

Posted on 04/01/2024 by Mrs. Marilynn Dean Cleveland

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 →

Posted in African American, African American history, African American women, African Americans, Section, Voices, Voices of Color, Women | Tagged African American women, local stories, Memory, trauma | Comments Off

Who is Un-American?

Posted on 02/11/2024 by Aimee Rickman

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 →

Posted in Feminism, labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged feminist history, labor history, Memory, monuments, women | Comments Off

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

Posted on 02/11/2024 by Audrey Wells

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 →

Posted in Arts, Feminism, film, Girls, Section, Voices, Women, Women | Tagged feminism, film review, gender roles, girls, women | Comments Off

At the Feds

Posted on 11/18/2023 by Shamar Betts

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 →

Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, incarceration, Prison Arts, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged BLM, George Floyd protests, incarceration, memoir | Comments Off

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

Posted on 11/18/2023 by Mrs. Marilynn Dean Cleveland

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 →

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, children, Poetry, Section, Violence, Voices | Tagged African American, children, Poetry, violence | Comments Off

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

Posted on 11/18/2023 by Pat Simpson

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 →

Posted in abortion rights, Feminism, film, Reproductive Justice, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged abortion rights, feminism, film, reproductive justice, women | Comments Off

The Danville Abortion Clinic Troubles

Posted on 08/28/2023 by Barbara Kessel

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 →

Posted in abortion rights, health care, Healthcare, Reproductive Justice, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged abortion rights, anti-abortion violence, reproductive justice, women's rights | Comments Off

Code Blue: Suffering through DWB in Rantoul

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Kevin Williams

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 →

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, police accountability, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Section, Voices | Tagged African Americans, Driving While Black, local community, police harassment, policing | Comments Off

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

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Marilena Prisco

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 →

Posted in Community, Cooperative, Homelessness, Housing, Students, Voices, Youth Services | Tagged community, cooperatives, homelessness, housing, housing crisis, student housing, youth housing divide | Comments Off

The Kingfisher is Flying to Illinois

Posted on 08/27/2023 by The Kingfisher Task Force

In 2007 the UIUC Board of Trustees acknowledged the opposition of faculty, student organizations, and NCAA guidelines prohibiting the use of race-based mascots in intercollegiate athletics, and voted to eliminate “Chief Illiniwek” as the campus mascot. Tired of waiting for … Continue reading →

Posted in Section, Students, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged campus activism, mascot, UIUC | Comments Off

Anti-Abortion Centers Mislead People at Their Most Vulnerable

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Julie Laut and Celia Barbieri

Reproductive justice: the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. This past January, on the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, SisterSong … Continue reading →

Posted in abortion rights, Feminism, Healthcare, Reproductive Justice, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights, Youth | Tagged abortion rights, anti-abortion, feminism, reproductive justice, women's rights | Comments Off

Diesel Therapy

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Shamar Betts

The odyssey of Urbana resident Shamar Betts continues. Betts was arrested for authoring a Facebook post at age 19 in the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and charged … Continue reading →

Posted in African American, African Americans, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged African Americans, Black Lives Matter, incarceration, US Marshals | Comments Off

UIUC GEO Wins a Progressive Contract

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Essam A. B. Elkorghli

Graduate workers across the US have been hard-hit by the skyrocketing inflation induced by federal mismanagement of monetary policy that is being felt by all too many working-class people. The laughable wage increases that were “handed” to many low-paid workers … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, Labor/Economics, Public Universities, Section, Students, union soldarity, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged bargaining, campus labor, Campus organizing, GEO, UIUC, union solidarity, unions | Comments Off

The Lavenders: Past and Present Queer Journalism in Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Public i

On February 23, UCIMC Executive Director Miriam Larson hosted a virtual conversation with representatives of two generations of activists in Champaign-Urbana. Mary Lee Sargent, former director of Parkland College’s Women’s Studies Program (now residing in New Hampshire), was one of … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Feminism, LGBTQ, Media, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged feminism, Illinois activism, local independent media, women's rights | Comments Off

Slaves—Our Ancestors

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Mrs. Marilynn Dean Cleveland

We give praise to those who came before us, fighting for the right to be free. Who were they? They are our ancestors, who suffered unendurable pain. Pain, from the snake-like whip that mutilated their flesh as it bit into … Continue reading →

Posted in African American history, African American Women in Champaign-Urbana, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Section, Violence, Voices, Women | Tagged African American history, African American women, local African American voices, local arts, Slavery | Comments Off

Illinois Correctional System: What Is It Really?

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Kevin Stirnichuk

The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing completed by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Education, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Section, Voices | Tagged education, incarcerated people, incarceration | Comments Off

Urbana-Champaign Reproductive Justice Week: Educate, Elevate, Act!

Posted on 04/23/2023 by Julie Laut

SisterSong: The National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective defines reproductive justice as the “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.” Many … Continue reading →

Posted in abortion rights, Reproductive Justice, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged abortion rights, community action, reproductive justice, women | Comments Off

Woman – Life – Freedom: Interview on Resistance in Iran, Part 2

Posted on 02/10/2023 by Public i

Part 1 of this interview was published in the December 2022 issue. The text has been substantially shortened and edited. Public i: I want to shift the discussion to the US now, and ask what can or should the US … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Foreign Policy, International, International, Section, Voices, Women | Tagged feminism, human rights, Iran, protest | Comments Off

Frustrations of Peer-to-Peer Education in Prisons

Posted on 02/10/2023 by Mathew Laird

The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational programming … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Education, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Section, Voices | Tagged incarceration, prion arts, prison education | Comments Off