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Category Archives: Section
The U of I’s Micro-Modular Reactor Should Be in Another Location
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
761 total views
Posted in Nuclear Power, Section, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tagged nuclear power, UIUC
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Taking the Band-Aid Off of Mass Incarceration
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
1,184 total views, 2 views today
Posted in African American, BLM, Champaign County, incarceration, Justice, Police brutality, Policing, Section, State Government
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Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity
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
849 total views
Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, Policing, Racism
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What’s Understood Need Not Be Explained
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
881 total views
Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, Justice, Local Arts, Police brutality, Racism, Section, Voices
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Filmmaker Raoul Peck: “Do We Wish for a Common History?”
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
852 total views
Posted in Arts, film, Imperialism
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It’s Not a Labor Shortage, It’s a Workers’ Rights Shortage
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
1,401 total views
Posted in labor, Labor militancy, Labor/Economics
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There’s Something Happening Here
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
993 total views
Posted in Crime, Gun violence, Police, Policing, Violence
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Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers
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
855 total views
Posted in African American, African Americans, civil rights, Crime, Gun violence, Justice, police accountability, Policing, Violence
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Illinois Responds to “Code Red” Climate Alarm
IPCC Issues a Code Red for Humanity “Code Red for Humanity” has become the new rallying cry for climate action. The phrase was coined by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in reference to the August climate report, released … Continue reading
886 total views
Posted in Climate Activism, Climate Justice, Environment, Environment
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The Border We Build Every Day: Guatemala in Champaign-Urbana
The border mechanisms that capture headlines—the roundups, the cages, and the deportations—deserve attention, but this human sorting isn’t confined to the moment or space of the frontier crossing. It is part of the food we buy, the clothes we wear, … Continue reading
1,294 total views
Posted in Foreign Policy, Immigrants, Immigration, Indigenous, Refugees, Violence
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A Conversation with Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files
The Public i recently talked to Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files Please tell our readers a little about yourself. “I am a wife, mother, and registered nurse. I currently work in mental health and addiction services. I enjoy reading, writing … Continue reading
1,004 total views, 1 views today
Posted in African Americans, Arts, Community, Local Arts, Poetry, Voices of Color, Women
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Victory! Dynegy Will Move Its Ash
No More “Cap and Run” After a multi-year campaign calling for the clean-up of coal ash along the Middle Fork of the Vermilion, Illinois’ only National Scenic River, Dynegy Midwest Generation, owner of the coal ash, has finally agreed to … Continue reading
1,682 total views, 2 views today
Posted in Environment, Environment, IL, Politics
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How the Campus Becomes the Border
In August, 2020, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) opted for a hybrid in-person/online semester. The decision to partially reopen was made possible by the innovative SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell initiative. A crucial part of this program was … Continue reading
1,617 total views, 2 views today
Posted in COVID-19, Immigrants, Students, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing
Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading
1,718 total views
Posted in African Americans, Community, Justice, police accountability, Police Brutality, Policing, Voices of Color
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Police Brutality is Not Uniquely American: Try France
While we are rightly preoccupied with abuse by the police in the United States, almost no Americans know anything about policing and justice in other countries. France offers a particularly interesting case. In January, six nongovernmental organizations, including Amnesty International … Continue reading
1,048 total views, 1 views today
Posted in 1968 Revolt, France, International, Justice, Police, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Students
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The WTO Vaccination Charade
It’s not an accident that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the site for the battle over the pandemic and the health of the world. Many critics of corporate control of international trade, and of most of everyday life, have … Continue reading
1,679 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Big Pharma, COVID-19, Foreign Policy, International, pandemic, Politics, Public Health, World-wide death and suffering
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Moving to End Anti-AAPI Hate
Despite May having been the month to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage, the preceding year saw the increase of violence and hate towards Asians and Asian Americans that ranged from attacks on Asian and Asian American elders … Continue reading
1,921 total views
Posted in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, bigotry, Racism, violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Voices of Color, Women
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Yemen: A War of Many Fronts
Journalists describe the conflict in Yemen as a sectarian proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but that fails to capture the complexity of the war: in October, 2020, Human Rights Watch reported more than thirty battle fronts between various … Continue reading
891 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Arab Spring, Foreign Policy, International, International, Islam, Middle East, War
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Ubuntu, Hope, and Respect: Socially Conscious Music from the African Continent, the Indian Ocean, and North America
Music is often a reflection of struggles for social change, and a source for joy and hope for the future. This can be heard in the songs noted in my first music review article in the February 2021 issue of … Continue reading
1,298 total views
Posted in Africa, African American, African American women, Arts, International, Music
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Slightly Out of Focus: A Review of One Night in Miami and Judas and the Black Messiah
For more than 70 years and over a century, respectively, television and cinema have presented demeaning images of Black people. And for equally as long, African Americans have responded with boycotts, pickets and alternative visions that “depict[ed] our men and … Continue reading
984 total views, 2 views today
Posted in 1968 Revolt, African American, African Americans, Arts, cinema, film, Politics, Racism, Voices, Voices of Color
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