Category Archives: Voices

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

First Class Justice vs. “the Cattle Call”

Posted on 09/03/2015 by Public i

By a Courtwatcher Courtwatch is a group of citizens who volunteer to attend criminal proceedings by request of the defendant or a family member of a jailed defendant. We are there as witnesses to criminal justice in Champaign County, to … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Justice, Policing | Comments Off

Islam and the Inmate: Mislabeled “Menaces”

Posted on 07/08/2015 by Public i

By Anatta Oknokwo “Allahu Akbar!” Mack Trimble, Jr. enthusiastically calls his fellow inmates to prayer. Soon the chapel of Jackson State Prison will hum with the melodic recitation of the Holy Qur’an as the community of Muslim males prostrate before … Continue reading →

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

International Women’s Day Drawing by Maya Bauer

Posted on 03/29/2015 by Public i

Posted in Arts, Women | Comments Off

A Running List of CU Businesses Supporting White Supremacy

Posted on 02/13/2015 by Ryan Kenji Kuramitsu

Offensive imagery is a big problem on our campus. That is, the entrenched white supremacy that formed and birthed my institution of higher learning resists erasure in powerful ways. Each year we see a familiar slew of problems – in residence halls, some students hang Confederate … Continue reading →

Posted in Indigenous, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off

Groundswell Organizing and Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration

Posted on 01/30/2015 by Aaron Johnson-Ortiz

After President Obama signed his executive action on immigration last November, immigrant activists commended the president for his decision, which might help up to 4 million undocumented immigrants normalize their status, and at the same time emphasized that this action … Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, Latino/a, Politics | Comments Off

Chuco’s Justice Center in Los Angeles: Home of “College Prep, Not Prison Prep”

Posted on 10/01/2014 by James Kilgore

In August I travelled to California as part of my research into the use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system. My first stop was a converted factory along the border between South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, Chuco’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, Voices of Color, Youth | Comments Off

The Rosenwald Schools

Posted on 10/01/2014 by Belden Fields

This May I took a trip to Savannah, Georgia, and to the southern coast of South Carolina. In Savannah, I took a “Freedom Tour” that included visits to the oldest Black church, the black cemetery that contains a whip-scarred “whipping … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Education | Comments Off

Racism and Freedom of Speech: Framing the Issues

Posted on 10/01/2014 by Al Kagan

Two of the more volatile issues in our society are racism and freedom of speech. This article is about an interesting case that severely divided the American Library Association in the late 1970s, and was recently revived. Readers ought to … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Education, Human Rights | Comments Off

The Community Saturday School and the Ongoing Campaign for Literacy

Posted on 01/31/2014 by Amira Davis

“History has shown that, up to the present time, revolutionary regimes have been the only ones capable of organizing successful mass literacy campaigns. From the Soviet Union to China, from Vietnam to Cuba, all revolutionary governments have given high priority … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Education | Comments Off

The Economic and Political Context of Student Debt

Posted on 01/31/2014 by David Green

Alan Collinge, author of “The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back,” recently spoke to students at Lincoln Hall on the UI campus. His argument is detailed, persuasive, and heartbreaking; it … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Politics, Youth | Comments Off

Transgender Justice and Prisons

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Onni Gust

Onni Gust (Onni Gust is originally from London, UK, where she took part in social justice activism and education, particularly on LGBT rights and racism. Onni arrived in Champaign-Urbana in August 2013 and is a post-doctoral fellow at the Illinois … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, LGBTQA, Transgenders, Uncategorized | Comments Off

“Inside Voices”: Poetry from the Champaign County Jail

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Rachel Storm

INSIDE VOICES In a class facilitated by educators, Rachel Lauren Storm, Becca Sorgert, and Meadow Jones, incarcerated men have participated in a weekly poetry lab offered at the Champaign County Jail since January of 2012. Inside Voices is a ongoing column … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisoners | Comments Off

How Privatization Destroyed Award-Winning Suicide Prevention Program in Champaign County Jail

Posted on 08/01/2013 by Brian Dolinar

Several years ago, while working at our local Books to Prisoners, I met a volunteer who had formerly worked as a mental health counselor in the local jail. This was just after there had been three jail suicides within a … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, Prisoners | Comments Off

Racism in the Land of Lincoln

Posted on 08/01/2013 by Belden Fields

From: Jim Allen <jimallen@consolidated.net> Sent: 06/18/13 10:59 PM To: dibendahl@mail.com Subject: 13th Congressional District reply Rodney Davis will win and the love child of the D.N.C. will be back in Shitcago by May of 2014 working for some law firm … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Human Rights, Politics | Comments Off

A Poem by T’Aari D. Hunter, “ME”

Posted on 05/24/2013 by T'Ari D. Hunter

ME by: T’Ari D. Hunter They said I wasn’t Pretty, They Lied. To be like them, I tried. But being like them wasn’t for me. Being like them, I didn’t feel pretty. I felt ashamed, Like I was a follower. … Continue reading →

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

Poetry by Robin Arbiter

Posted on 05/24/2013 by Robin Arbiter

Adoption Stories By Robin Arbiter One mother is still convinced, And one is still assured, And I must deal with history, The dawn of which was painful, The end of which approaches. In the face of stories More certain than … Continue reading →