August 29, 2010, marks the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Even now, survivors still face devastation and daily reminders of the governmental system that failed them. Hurricane Katrina raises the opportunity for all of us to question the role of government in communities, especially black communities. It also provides an opportunity to evaluate the use of storytelling in media and justice. Continue reading
Just weeks after conservative Scott Brown was elected to replace Senator Ted Kennedy in a Massachusetts special election, and the Supreme Court squashed restrictions on corporate campaign contributions, the health care bill appeared dead. Pundits across the country warned of the end of the progressive agenda. Meanwhile in Oregon, hundreds of volunteers poured into union halls to collect the canvass materials to educate voters on tax fairness and the need to preserve social services. The result? Oregonians stood up to say that they valued social services and didn’t mind asking those who have weathered the storm of the recession to finally pay their fair share to keep them around. Continue reading
In 2007 millions of people took to the streets to demand comprehensive immigration reform. Despite these strong numbers, we were unsuccessful in getting legislation passed that year. But we did learn one key lesson from this fight: in order to win immigration reform, we need to reach out to non-immigrant communities and educate them about how the system is broken—and what they can do to become allies in this important fight. Montana is a state with a small immigrant population in a sparsely populated space, making it easy for its lawmakers to feel that they don’t need to take a stance on the issue. As a result, residents and citizens fall victim to the barrage of hateful language and misinformation that is so prevalent in the immigration debate. Continue reading
