Category Archives: Voices

Nigerian Man Connects with African American and Caribbean Cousins Through AncestryDNA

Posted on 04/25/2016 by LaKisha David

“My maternal grandmother told me … that way back in time, we had family members who went to the stream to fetch water and never returned. This stuck in my psyche for all those years,” said Ade. As a young … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, DNA Testing, International | Comments Off

Youth Poetry

Posted on 04/25/2016 by Public i

MY CURLY HAIR by Amina Alamin My curly hair can do anything it can be in big braids and in little braids and curled in to ringlets and many more things. Some people don’t like my hair and some people … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Community Forum, Education, Policing, Youth | Comments Off

Radical Women-An Historical Perspective

Posted on 04/25/2016 by Julie Laut

“Women have to find a script, a narrative to live by, because all other scripts are likely to depict them in roles that fit the conventional stereotypes.” Mamphela Ramphele Last month in these pages I wrote about my personal journey as … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

#BlackLivesMatter Founder Opal Tometi Visits C-U

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Brian Dolinar

Posted in African Americans, Politics, Women | Comments Off

“Old” Urban Renewal in Champaign-Urbana, 1960-1969

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Natalie Prochaska

Forcing people to move from their homes is one of the most intrusive exercises of state power. It is difficult to overstate the combined financial and psychological impacts that the loss of a home has on an individual. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Homelessness, Politics | Comments Off

The Right to Pray Movement and Feminist Politics in India

Posted on 03/11/2016 by India Watcher

by India Watcher The women’s movement in India entered a new phase in late 2015 and early 2016 under the banner of the Right to Pray movement. During this time, large numbers of women protested that they were barred from … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, International, Women | Comments Off

Courtwatch Victory

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Courtwatchers

By Courtwatchers Courtwatchers is a group of citizens who volunteer to attend criminal proceedings by request of the defendant,a family member or a concerned party. We are there as witnesses to criminal justice in Champaign County, to figure out how … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Policing, Women | Comments Off

Rantoul Jr. High Hosts 1st NAAPID Event

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Neil Parthun

National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) is a national event that started in 1995 as the brainchild of long time Michigan principal Joseph Dulin. He was inspired to take action after attending the Million Man March and a speaker … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Education | Comments Off

Where is My Radical Gender Equality?

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Julie Laut

In my youth I had a sense that my generation was perfectly poised to make a leap toward gender equity. A child of the 1970s, I admired the strength of my grandmothers’ generation, which had negotiated the Depression and World … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Forum, Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Women | Comments Off

Supporting the Voices Inside: The Freedom Archives

Posted on 01/28/2016 by Nathaniel Moore

“When the prison doors are opened the real dragon will fly out.” -Ho Chi Minh The movements to end mass incarceration were re-invigorated in early September as a settlement in the class action lawsuit Ashker v. Governor of California was … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Policing, Prisoners, Uncategorized | Comments Off

New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Offers Hope to Canada’s First Nations Populations

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Berenice Ruhl

Outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper was nearly universally viewed by First Nations (known in the US as “indigenous” or “native” people), Métis and Inuit peoples as, at the least, insensitive to their concerns and, at worst, actively hostile towards Canada’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Indigenous, International, Politics, Section | Comments Off

Children With Incarcerated Parents Played Key Role in Phone Justice Victory!

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Brian Dolinar

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted recently to cap the rates of phone calls from prisons and jails after years of profiteering by telecommunications companies that have made millions off of those incarcerated and their families. In her comments before … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Human Rights, IMC, National, News, Policing, Politics, Prisoners, UC-IMC, Voices of Color | Comments Off

Mother Nature EP by Klevah and T.R.U.T.H: The Elements Personified

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Ruth Nicole Brown

There is no greater time to be a hip hop head in Champaign-Urbana. While the towns have always boasted superb talent―there is deep hip hop history here―that two emcees joined forces to create something new is newsworthy. Shasta Knox a.k.a … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Voices of Color | Comments Off

Hometown Dedication

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Coco Harmon

The below poem was read by Coco Harmon at the 15-year anniversary celebration for the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. You can watch it online here thanks to UPTV. — Have you been there? You know, that moment when your legs … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, IMC, Voices of Color | Comments Off

The Criminalization of Poverty

Posted on 11/19/2015 by James Kilgore

When most people think of mass incarceration they think of massive prisons–Stateville, Sing Sing, Angola. But mass incarceration has a local face: jails. In our own county Build Programs, Not Jails has fought for three years to halt plans to … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisoners | Comments Off

Art Contest for People Incarcerated

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Public i

TMK Cleaning service is announcing an art contest for those incarcerated! We will accept submissions from January 1, 2016 through April 4, 2016. This is a contest to enter your best art through poetry, short writing, painting etc. Only published … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisoners, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Money and Otherness

Posted on 10/08/2015 by Raha Behnam

I was an immigrant child growing up in Vancouver. I spent a lot of time walking alone, to and from school, through the forested neighborhoods and along the suburban roads. Every day a new experience floating in my mind. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, Women | Comments Off

Culture, Liberation, and #BlackLivesMatter

Posted on 09/03/2015 by Amira Davis

During the early 70s, Amilcar Cabral wrote extensively on the theme of liberation and the collective persona of subjugated people expressed as culture. His libratory praxis offered a context to dialectically engage notions of freedom and strategies for its attainment. … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Education, Women | Comments Off

This Black Life Matters

Posted on 09/03/2015 by Teresa Barnes

Michael Brown was killed a year ago. They used to say, “It’s been a long, hot summer” but it’s been another long, hot, horror-filled year in the US; every single day another Michael Brown. This is someone I know. In … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Justice, Policing | Comments Off

Thank You, Mr. Walton

Posted on 09/03/2015 by Chris Evans

On June 23rd, longtime homeless man Bill Walton passed away at age 69. He spent many of his last days on the steps on the Independent Media Center. Upon thinking of the passing of Bill this week, one of Bill’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Homelessness, UC-IMC | Comments Off