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Category Archives: Section
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
Posted in Immigration
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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
Posted in Arts, Cuba, International, Politics
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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
Posted in Education, Human Rights, Justice
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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
Posted in Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices of Color
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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
Posted in Human Rights, International, Women
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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
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
Posted in African Americans, Education
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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
Posted in Community Forum, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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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
Posted in Community Forum, Policing
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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
Posted in Community Forum, Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Women
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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
Posted in African Americans, Policing, Prisoners, Uncategorized
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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
Posted in International, Politics
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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
Posted in Arts
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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
Posted in International, Politics
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New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Offers Hope to Canada’s First Nations Populations
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
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Children With Incarcerated Parents Played Key Role in Phone Justice Victory!
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
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Mother Nature EP by Klevah and T.R.U.T.H: The Elements Personified
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
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Cuba-US Relations: New Beginning or New Offensive?
The US has opened up talks with Cuba and reestablished formal diplomatic relations so that the two countries’ “interest sections” are now embassies. Could this be a full normalization of relations, or is it just a new US offensive for … Continue reading
Posted in Cuba, International
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Hometown Dedication
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
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History Matters: Compromising How We Teach Slavery
If you checked your Facebook feed early in October, there is a good chance you saw a news story about a textbook controversy in Texas. In case you missed it, here is what happened. A ninth grader opened his World … Continue reading
Posted in Community Forum, Uncategorized
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