Category Archives: Section

Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Al Kagan

Book bannings are very much in the news these days. They are happening mostly in more rural school districts and in the South, but not only in these places. The American Library Association (ALA) issued a statement in November of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Censorship, Education, Education, Free Speech, Libraries, Literature | Comments Off on Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Two Stories from Statesville Prison

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Leo Cardez

Saving Your Mind: Mental Health in the Age of Corona “This is some next-level shit. I thought I’d seen it all in my 20 years in prison,” said Murder (no real names used), my Quarantine Sanitation Specialist co-worker, as we … Continue reading →

 999 total views

Posted in Arts, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners | Comments Off on Two Stories from Statesville Prison

Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners’ Mission to Bring Books (and Bibliophilia) Behind Bars

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Katherine Langdon

When it comes to helping people make a fresh start after incarceration and avoid returning to prison, few approaches are as effective and vital as education. Many people who wind up in the prison system do not have enough literacy … Continue reading →

 812 total views

Posted in Education, incarceration, Libraries, UC-IMC, UCIMC | Comments Off on Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners’ Mission to Bring Books (and Bibliophilia) Behind Bars

“It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons

Posted on 05/12/2022 by Brian Dolinar

If you’re from inner-city Birmingham, Alabama, there’s a “99-percent chance” you have a family member or friend who has been incarcerated, according to Veronica Johnson, deputy director for the Alabama Justice Initiative, which has been fighting against a proposal to … Continue reading →

 663 total views

Posted in African Americans, COVID-19, incarceration, Justice, Police, police accountability, Policing | Comments Off on “It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons

Local Emergency Rally for Reproductive Rights

Posted on 05/12/2022 by Public i

 Local citizens gather in front of the Urbana Courthouse on May 3 to protest the likely coming Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade and endangering women’s right to choose.  560 total views

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Posted in abortion rights, Back Cover, health care, Women | Comments Off on Local Emergency Rally for Reproductive Rights

March Issue Front Cover

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

WOMEN”S HISTORY MONTH ISSUE  746 total views

 746 total views

Posted in Front Cover, Labor, Labor militancy, Section, Women | Tagged , , | Comments Off on March Issue Front Cover

I Love My Job, But . . .

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Del Jacobs

The University of Illinois is part of the US land-grant university system. Each state has a land-grant university that operates a Cooperative Extension Service, which provides non-formal education to agricultural producers and communities in each county in Illinois. I work … Continue reading →

 1,095 total views

Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Section, social services, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , | Comments Off on I Love My Job, But . . .

Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Jim Barrett

I recently watched one of the most beautiful and perhaps also one of the most significant movies I have seen in a long time. Passing, based on a 1929 novel by the Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larson (1891–1964), is a … Continue reading →

 675 total views

Posted in African American women, African Americans, Arts, film, Racism, Section | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?

SB 148 and the Assault On Teaching Black History

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Florida’s SB 148 represents the surging wave of white supremacist fascism sweeping across the country. Entitled “An Act Relating to Individual Freedom,” it symbolizes the deceptive, authoritarian, and racist motivations that characterize the white nationalist Republican Party. By making the … Continue reading →

 727 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, Education, Education, Section, Voices, White Nationalism | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on SB 148 and the Assault On Teaching Black History

Rally for Ukraine

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

 643 total views

 643 total views

Posted in Imperialism, International, International, Section, Ukraine, War | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Rally for Ukraine

Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

Former Champaign Police Chief Robert T. Finney was hired in August, 2020 to teach Community Policing as well as Introduction to Criminal Justice at Parkland College. “Unbelievable” is what one African American community member thought on hearing the news; “Shocking,” … Continue reading →

 1,295 total views

Posted in African Americans, Education, Justice, police accountability, Police brutality, Policing, Section | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College

What’s With All That Socialism in South America?

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Michael Brun

The past twenty or so years in South America have seen several powerful electoral victories of socialist-aligned candidates and parties, followed by years of reform. Eventually the momentum for change slowed, however, to be followed by disappointment and defeat. This … Continue reading →

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Posted in Economics, Imperialism, International, Latin America, Politics, Section, socialism | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on What’s With All That Socialism in South America?

The U of I’s Micro-Modular Reactor Should Be in Another Location

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Bruce Hannon

The University of Illinois wants to install a test nuclear reactor (“micro-modular reactor”) at the Abbott Power Plant on the UIUC campus. It has submitted a letter of intent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) advising that it intends to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Nuclear Power, Section, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , | Comments Off on The U of I’s Micro-Modular Reactor Should Be in Another Location

Taking the Band-Aid Off of Mass Incarceration

Posted on 02/10/2022 by Brian Dolinar

On a bad day, those of us seeking justice can find little to be hopeful about. The recent acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse again reminds us that the law is designed to protect white lives. Even after widespread protests and demonstrations … Continue reading →

 1,120 total views

Posted in African American, BLM, Champaign County, incarceration, Justice, Police brutality, Policing, Section, State Government | Comments Off on Taking the Band-Aid Off of Mass Incarceration

Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity

Posted on 02/10/2022 by Durl Kruse

In 2004 the State of Illinois required all law enforcement agencies to report their annual traffic stop data to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The Urbana Police Department’s (UPD) data shows they have enforced traffic laws inequitably every year … Continue reading →

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Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, Policing, Racism | Comments Off on Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity

What’s Understood Need Not Be Explained

Posted on 02/10/2022 by Crushion Stubbs

I’m curious to know, as a reading eye and listening ear, what are you expecting to hear from me? That the feds were somehow wrong, and Shamar was right? Or that he was justified in putting out some call to … Continue reading →

 835 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, Justice, Local Arts, Police brutality, Racism, Section, Voices | Comments Off on What’s Understood Need Not Be Explained

Filmmaker Raoul Peck: “Do We Wish for a Common History?”

Posted on 02/09/2022 by Audrey Wells

Pristine wilderness. Sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? A place untouched. But does the phrase “pristine wilderness,” connoting unsullied land, serve as a cultural myth that ironically reeks of genocide? Raoul Peck makes this case and many others in … Continue reading →

 788 total views

Posted in Arts, film, Imperialism | Comments Off on Filmmaker Raoul Peck: “Do We Wish for a Common History?”

It’s Not a Labor Shortage, It’s a Workers’ Rights Shortage

Posted on 11/15/2021 by Pat Simpson

The Great Uprising, the Great Resignation, even the unofficial General Strike: analysts and pundits—left, right and center—speak of mounting worker unrest in the US in awestruck terms. What these labels certainly do capture is the expansive scale of this unrest … Continue reading →

 1,354 total views

Posted in labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics | Comments Off on It’s Not a Labor Shortage, It’s a Workers’ Rights Shortage

There’s Something Happening Here

Posted on 11/15/2021 by Chris Evans

Gun violence in Champaign-Urbana has certainly dominated public discourse of late. As a city council member, I hear a lot of it. Here are some common myths being thrown around about local gun violence and law enforcement: “The libs on … Continue reading →

 943 total views

Posted in Crime, Gun violence, Police, Policing, Violence | Comments Off on There’s Something Happening Here

Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers

Posted on 11/15/2021 by Ubuntu Project

The Ubuntu Project Urbana-Champaign is disappointed to learn that the Champaign City Council is considering voting to purchase license plate readers. Considering the well-documented controversial reputation and questionable value of license plate readers, the Champaign people need more information on … Continue reading →

 810 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, civil rights, Crime, Gun violence, Justice, police accountability, Policing, Violence | Comments Off on Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers