Category Archives: Section

Nigerian Man Connects with African American and Caribbean Cousins Through AncestryDNA

“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

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Youth Poetry

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

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Radical Women-An Historical Perspective

“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

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Citizens Divided: the Presidential Campaign and Film

Audrey Wells (Audrey Wells is a retired educator, freelance writer, and co-author of The Art of Theater: Playing Movies for 100 Years.) In an important film from the 2008 presidential race, Ann Coulter warns of Hillary Clinton: “She’s far more … Continue reading

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UIUC is Balancing a False Budget “Crisis” on the Backs of Students and Faculty

Illinois has not yet passed a state budget for higher education, and schools like Chicago State have been left in the lurch. According to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago State will not be able to pay employees after April. Similarly, the … Continue reading

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#BlackLivesMatter Founder Opal Tometi Visits C-U

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20-Plus ICE Raids Reported in Champaign County

A longer version of this article originally appeared in Truthout. Reprinted with permission. Four men in unmarked cars showed up at the Shadowwood trailer park, where many Latinos reside in Urbana-Champaign. It was 8 a.m. one cool morning this past … Continue reading

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Cuba Libre?

By David Prochaska President Barack Obama visited Havana March 2016. Perhaps even more important, the Rolling Stones played a free concert right after. Commercial airline flights to Cuba are likely to begin in October. Even as the US moves to … Continue reading

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Barbara Kessel Accepts Humanitarian Award

Barbara Kessel’s acceptance statement of the 2016 James R. burgess, Jr.-Susan Freiberg Humanitarian Award given by the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Countywide Celebration Committee: “I am happy for this opportunity to remind the audience that as we sit here … Continue reading

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Fraternities, Sororities and Racism at Illinois’ Flagship Land-Grant Institution

Efad Huq, Stacy Harwood and Ruby Mendenhall Research from the 2011-2012 Racial Microaggression online survey indicates that one area of concern expressed by students of color is the explicit racism they experience when interacting with largely White fraternity and sororities. … Continue reading

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The Right to Pray Movement and Feminist Politics in India

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

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Courtwatch Victory

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

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Rantoul Jr. High Hosts 1st NAAPID Event

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

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The Struggle for Tuition-Free Education

By Mary Grace Hebert A breathtaking piece by Black Students for Revolution in the January 2016 Public i called for tuition to be eliminated because it perpetuates an unjust system. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has called for free college; similarly, Republicans … Continue reading

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The Racial Justice Task Force Bursts Onto the Scene

The Champaign County Racial Justice Task Force met for the first time on Thursday, February 11 at the Brookens Administrative Center.  The task force consists of 21 members, just one person shy of the number of Champaign County Board members.  … Continue reading

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Where is My Radical Gender Equality?

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

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Supporting the Voices Inside: The Freedom Archives

“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

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Terrorism and Endless War

Terrorism is the use of violence to achieve political ends. Terrorism can be used by both non-state and state actors. Non-State Terrorism This is how non-state terrorism works: a weak group tricks a stronger adversary into defeating itself. Terrorist-provoked fear … Continue reading

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Picture Yourself Watching a Painting Dry and Loving It

Ready for a brain change? Try watching a languorous, lovely film. Skill is required. But like a meditation practice, it is worth the effort. Or travel the world through imagination and time. I suggest four vehicles below from South Korea, … Continue reading

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France: The Power of Le Pens

The Left has done well in some recent elections in Southern Europe- in Greece, Portugal, and, most recently, Spain. But not in France. The Socialists, who are now in power, took a terrible beating in the December 2015 regional elections. … Continue reading

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