Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is the sixth year of the essay contest sponsored by the University of Illinois Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium. Since 2003, over 1400 local students have written essays about the living legacy of Dr. King as they experience … Continue reading →

Se wo were fina wo san kofa ayenki. (It is not taboo to go back and fetch what has been lost.) Akan proverb A couple of years ago during a combined 80th birthday celebration for my mother and the first … Continue reading →

November 4, 2008 should have been a day of celebration for Obama supporters, but for many who live in Champaign County’s campus precincts, it was a day of frustration and anger over unreasonable obstacles to their voting rights. Less than … Continue reading →

Statistics on racial profiling collected by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) were released this year with no local fanfare. Although covered for the last three years, the 2007 numbers went unreported by the News-Gazette, which has a virtual monopoly … Continue reading →

ON JANUARY 18, 1808, A FEDERAL LAW ended the trans- Atlantic importation of slaves intp the United States. So, as a woman descended from a motherline of Black women, I am compelled to bear witness to this bicentennial of the … Continue reading →

IN ITS JUNE/JULY 2007 ISSUE, the Public i published an article on a lawsuit that Henry Bell III brought against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 601, the headquarters of which are in Champaign. Bell, an African American … Continue reading →

ALFRED D. IVY, III, DEMOCRAT 1. What are your qualifications and why did you decide to run for the office? Greetings Champaign County, My name is Alfred D. Ivy, III and I am running for State’s Attorney of Champaign County … Continue reading →

I WAS ONE OF OVER 25,000 WHO participated recently in the demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning, in Columbus, Georgia, where the School of the Americas (SOA) is located. The annual demonstrations, this year on Saturday–Sunday, November 17–18, are … Continue reading →

NEARLY 3 AND A HALF YEARS after felony criminal charges were filed against Patrick Thompson, the founder of Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults (VEYA), the case is again scheduled for a third jury trial in late January or early February. … Continue reading →

AT THE HEART OF THE PROTEST THE AERIAL VIEW had to have been breath-taking: an estimated 10,000 people forming a disorganized rainbow, our muscles pulsing with the weight of PVC pipes and sticks, holding up signs and banners that spoke … Continue reading →

The following is a talk given by Terry Davis, investigator with the legal defense team for Mychal Bell, one of the members of the Jena 6 on trial in Louisiana. Davis was in Jena for three weeks and was present … Continue reading →

Dear Chancellor Herman: I just finish reading the media advisory notice that states: “As administrators planned this year’s Homecoming parade, they created a policy that they interpreted was in keeping with the retirement directive. In reviewing that policy, Chancellor Richard … Continue reading →

AS A PROFESSOR, IT IS IMPORTANT that I publish my research in academic and professional journals that will lead to tenure, but as a Native parent and former schoolteacher, I know that those journals are not readily available to people … Continue reading →

U OF I GRADUATE SAMSON RAPHAELSON is enjoying a nice little comeback, a quarter of a century after his death. Members of the marching band might recognize the name. A song that he co-authored in the 1920s has recently turned … Continue reading →

MEDICAL PHYSICIAN, CHEMIST, CLASS PRESIDENT, writer, independent media publisher, activist, caricaturist, and Indian are but a few of the roles and identities held by the University of Illinois’ first Native American graduate of the Class of 1884. Carlos Montezuma, Yavapai … Continue reading →

WITH STRIKES REACHING THE VANISHING POINT in the United States, a fascinating David and Goliath drama is unfolding on the University of Illinois campus, with little fanfare or media attention. THE CONTENDERS In the far corner, wearing the orange and … Continue reading →

ON OCTOBER 9, 2007, Champaign officials turned back the clock on efforts to protect the city’s most vulnerable citizens from discrimination in housing. By a 6-3 vote, the City Council amended Champaign’s Human Rights Ordinance, thereby allowing landlords to refuse … Continue reading →

In September, the university brought to campus N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk: The Race Play, touted as an effective educational tool for engaging difficult issues of race. Many across the country herald this production as a grass-roots phenomenon. But it seems that … Continue reading →

At more than a dozen campuses around the U.S. and Canada, students have taken the college orientation process into their own hands, by publishing a series of alternative student guides. Each publication specifically addresses its own campus, in an effort … Continue reading →

A rally was held to make the UIUC community aware that the system by which the University of Illinois gets its apparel is horribly flawed and rife with human rights violations. Companies like Nike, which make Illinois apparel, demand that … Continue reading →