COVID-19 highlighted the need for universal access to no-excuse vote by mail. For many voters with disabilities, vote by mail has always been the safest and most accessible way to cast a ballot, because it allows them to avoid the challenges of getting to …
As people across the country ready themselves to celebrate America’s “independence,” there are few symbols more strongly associated with the holiday than flags. Flags have great meaning — particularly on July 4. This week, after decades of dispute and …
In the last month, protests have erupted across the country calling for justice for Black lives, a wholesale restructuring of policing, and a greater racial reckoning across all facets of American society. “All of these things are interconnected,” Brittany …
Since the inception of this pandemic, it has been clear that incarcerated people are particularly at risk from COVID-19. In addition to the clear, consistent guidance from public health experts, incarcerated families, corrections staff, and data scientists …
As a Buddhist priest to a man on death row, I have prepared myself for the difficult, yet necessary role of attending the execution of a man I’ve been advising for 11 years in order to provide support as he crosses over from this life. I want nothing more …
In 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered a speech best known as“Ain’t I A Woman?” to a crowded audience at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. At the time, slavery remained in full force, a vibrant enterprise that fueled the American economy. Various laws …
When COVID-19 first reached the U.S., the epicenter was a single nursing home in Washington State, where 45 people died. That nursing home outbreak was a precursor of what was to come. Ever since, the virus has been devastating nursing homes across the …
Today, in an unprecedented decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Montana must provide funding for religious education as part of its school voucher tax credit program — despite the fact that the Montana Constitution forbids government aid for …
After a month of unprecedented protests against police brutality across the country, in which encrypted communications have been essential for organizers and protesters to communicate safely, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to take up a bill that will …
For well over a year, the U.S. government has held Adham Hassoun in a detention facility without trial, without criminal charge, and without end in sight. Today, a court ordered the government to release him and expressed contempt for the government’s …
As cases of COVID-19 in immigration detention facilities have exploded in recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has continued to argue that it has done all that it possibly can to manage this crisis. A new report by the Department of …
This piece was originally published in Slate. Just one month ago, the world saw a video of Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneel on George Floyd’s windpipe with an eerily calm demeanor, while officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane acted …
If there were ever a moment for police body cameras to prove their worth, this month’s protests against police violence should be it. Instead, the protests are revealing the technology’s limitations even as numerous voices call for expanding cameras, …
For activists across the country who have taken to the streets to demand racial justice and police accountability, the sound of protest has been not just the sound of chants, but the sound of helicopters. For many police departments, these protests have …
In January, Michigan resident Robert Williams was arrested for shoplifting from a watch store in downtown Detroit a year ago—a crime he did not commit. Police thought he was connected to the crime because of a face recognition search that found …
Early this year, Detroit police arrested Robert Williams — a Black man living in a Detroit suburb — on his front lawn in front of his wife and two little daughters (ages 2 and 5). Robert was hauled off and locked up for nearly 30 hours. His crime? Face …
COVID-19 has ripped through nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, and other congregate settings for people with disabilities. People living in these settings make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, but nearly 50 percent of COVID-19 deaths. …
When Kishon McDonald saw the video of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of four officers from the Minneapolis Police Department, he could tell it was going to turn the country upside down. “I knew it was going to catch fire,” he said. McDonald, a …
Every time another Black person is murdered by the police, it’s easy to point to a single officer as the culprit. George Floyd was killed under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin — we saw it ourselves. But Chauvin is just one officer in a culture of police …
In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, we are seeing a massive popular political realignment around the role and scope of policing in the United States, led by Black organizers and Black-led movement groups. More than ever before, this movement is …
