The inaugural UC Juneteenth 2021 initiative comes in the wake of a global pandemic that exposed widespread health inequities in marginalized communities, political tumult, demand for an end to police brutality, and an overall resurgence of the Black Lives Matt... More »
Marvin Slaughter contributed to this piece.The killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by officers of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has led to renewed calls for improved police training. But no amount of training can fix the institution of policing; we need a... More »
With promising advances in the COVID-19 vaccination effort and a new administration in the White House, 2021 has felt hopeful for many reasons. For me, an Iranian-American immigrant who has maintained an emotionally split home for the past eighteen years, the ... More »
The time to pass universal student loan forgiveness is now. To date, more than 45 million current and former students are burdened with student debt, with collective debt exceeding $1.6 trillion. The current global pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis, an... More »
The murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Elijah McClain have drawn national attention to policing issues throughout the U.S. One reform in the wake of these murders that is gaining attention is the Counseling Not Criminalization Act. This act proposes ... More »
On February 3, 2020, I stood outside the Drake University building where one of the Iowa Caucuses was taking place. That morning, I had driven up from Humboldt Park, Chicago, squeezed into a rental van with a group of four other members of the Puerto Rican Age... More »
Introduction: A regular day in the life of an American Jennifer is on her way to work when she makes her daily stop at the local coffee shop in Chicago to pick up her iced coffee for the day, served in a coffee cup with a single-use plastic straw. As an Americ... More »
In the internet age, middlemen of all stripes have found themselves out of a job. But there is one type of middleman that seems immune from disruption: the legislator. Each election cycle, these grifters regale us with fantastical promises. Then, their campaig... More »
On Thursday September 17, the United States celebrated Constitution Day—a holiday celebrating the signing of the Constitution in 1787. In the intervening 233 years, the document has undergone 27 revisions that have aimed at making the United States and its ins... More »
President-elect Joe Biden is forming a transition team to assume office in January, but the outcome of some Senate elections are still outstanding. While the exact congressional makeup is unclear, more is known about the Biden-Harris transition team, which now... More »
The idea for a Universal Basic Income gained a lot of press during the Democratic primary debates when Andrew Yang pitched a “Freedom Dividend” plan to give every American $1,000 a month. Since the world didn’t end after most Americans received $1,200 as a par... More »
Jimmy Miotto examines how currently proposed police reforms would be in vain without a reckoning of law enforcement’s past and present status as a haven for white supremacists.It goes without saying that when the history of America in 2020 is written, COVID-19... More »