How Food Changed the Course of the #EndSARS Protests in Nigeria

Zainab Onuh-Yahaya

February 23, 2021 |

Life & Thyme |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

During Nigerians' protests against the brutality of the Nigerian Police Force's Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a single tweet for donations to feed protesters grew into a movement that sustained the protests both physically and emotionally, while also giving supporters a way to connect to the protests. As the food network grew more elaborate, it inspired Project F.E.E.D: Lagos, a network of soup kitchens that extended beyond the government's brutal crackdown on the EndSARS protests. “In a country characterized by a lot of lack, food became the one thing that was abundant during these protests."

Read More

Go to Original Story

The Creative Repurposing of Plywood From Boarded-up Stores

Linda Poon

February 17, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Paul, Minnesota

In the months after businesses covered their storefronts with plywood as cities erupted in social-justice protests, environmental and other community groups in many cities organized recycling campaigns to reuse the plywood rather than see it end up in landfills. Twin Cities Plywood Rescue in Minnesota, the heart of the protests, collected 642 sheets of plywood and donated it to nonprofits for use in building construction. Other cities' collections have ended up as voter registration booths, outdoor-dining furniture, and animal enclosures.

Read More

Go to Original Story

Boosting Voter Turnout: Seth Flaxman

Richard Davies Jim Meigs

February 13, 2021 |

How Do We Fix It? |

Podcast |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

Democracy Works has a suite of programs that make it easier to vote. TurboVote helps its 7 million subscribers easily register to vote by taking them to their state's online registration site or by sending them the paperwork with envelopes pre-addressed to their county election office. The service also sends emails and texts to remind users to vote, as well as with other deadlines and their polling location. Their Voting Information Project provides data for all districts in the U.S. that groups, such as Google and Facebook, use to provide their users with their polling place location information.

Read More

Go to Original Story

American Democracy Is Only 55 Years Old—And Hanging by a Thread

Vann R. Newkirk II

February 11, 2021 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Mississippi

The federal Voting Rights Act required states to ensure access to the polls for Black voters and created federal enforcement mechanisms. The law worked well in the Jim Crow South, but it wasn't built to deal with racial disenfranchisement more broadly. Congress and the courts have stripped important provisions from the bill over time, like those ensuring enforcement. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling dismissed the need for preemptive measures to protect Black voters, which created an opening for states to pass more restrictive voting laws that have created unfair burdens for Black, Latino, and Indigenous voters.

Read More

Go to Original Story

The Next Best Thing

Ilyne Junuén Castellanos

February 05, 2021 |

Voices of Monterey Bay |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Monterey Bay, California

Efforts aimed at recruiting student poll workers, some of whom aren’t yet eligible to vote, increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monterey County ran registration drives, spoke in classrooms and other student-oriented events, and participated in California’s High School Voter Education Weeks, ultimately recruiting 107 students. The Georgia Youth Poll Worker Project used social media to recruit 1,000 young poll workers across the state. The organization is compiling “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Starting a Poll Worker Project” to help other organizations similarly recruit and train young poll workers.

Read More

Go to Original Story

With free print newspaper, Indian farmers record their protest

Rina Chandran

February 04, 2021 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, New Delhi

Because of internet shutdowns, six friends created a bilingual newspaper to document and record the farmer protests in India. Thousands of farmers have been protesting for weeks about the government’s new agricultural laws. Since there are many older farmers and the government has blocked the internet, they give out free print copies of their biweekly “Trolley Times” newspaper with information on speeches, medical aid, and community kitchens. While producing the newspaper has become harder, they are able to print about 5,000 copies for the farmers.

Read More

Go to Original Story

A GOP Governor and BLM Activists Agreed on Restoring Voting Rights to Felons. Will It Last?

Kaila Philo

February 04, 2021 |

Politico |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

More than 3,000 Iowans voted in the 2020 presidential election thanks to an executive order signed by the Republican governor after a protest campaign by activists to erase Iowa's permanent ban on voting by people with felony records. But that number was just a fraction of those newly eligible to vote, due to limitations in the order and a lackluster effort to inform the public. Iowa has a disproportionately high number of disenfranchised Black citizens who could be helped by a more permanent constitutional fix. That fix has now been stalled by the choice to act by executive order.

Read More

Go to Original Story

Minneapolis Is Funding Artists' Community Healing Projects With Police Dollars

Emily Nonko

February 03, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Through its Creative CityMaking program, the city of Minneapolis pays artists to use their skills to promote healing and community-building in projects they design on their own. The program had existed for seven years when the George Floyd case roiled Minneapolis. The city council carved $150,000 out of the police budget to add to its artist-led community healing work. One of the 10 most recent grantees, Rising From the Ashes, produced a series of online gatherings for local queer artists and artists of color, concluding with an online exhibit of art made during the 2020 uprising.

Read More

Go to Original Story

How grass-roots efforts by Georgia's Latinos helped tip the Senate races

Rachel Hatzipanagos

February 03, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

Black and Latino organizers with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) knocked on over 300,000 doors in between the general election and Senate runoffs. Canvassing in predominantly Latino neighborhoods, they also reached out to ineligible voters to encourage them to urge their U.S. born family members to vote in their family’s interests. Latino support of Democratic candidates increased in the Senate runoffs adding to narrow Democratic victories. GLAHR also helped elect the first Black sheriff of Gwinnett County, who quickly ended a program that allowed the county jail to collaborate with ICE.

Read More

Go to Original Story

‘Make no mistake': Drag queens are leading a racial reckoning in Chicago's famous LGBTQ neighborhood

Jake Wittich

February 03, 2021 |

The GroundTruth Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Black Drag Council launched after a series of protests that called on Chicago’s LGBTQ neighborhood to address racial discrimination and oppression. A handful of businesses quickly agreed to a live-streamed town hall to discuss ways to increase inclusivity. As a result, a prominent host of popular drag shows was ousted for racial discrimination and the business chamber dropped the neighborhood’s nickname, “Boystown,” from marketing materials because it is not inclusive. The Drag Council has also raised tens of thousands of dollars in cash and supplies to support Black- and trans-led initiatives.

Read More