Civil Rights

Madison 365 broke the story of a white teacher assaulting a black student. Authorities in the Wisconsin city’s school district investigated, the teacher was forced to resign, and after a series of racist incidents in the schools, the district superintendent resigned a few months later. Read the Story »

Scrutiny of a state decision to flag nearly 100,000 voters for citizenship checks led the Texas Tribune to dozens of stories showing deep flaws in the process. The Tribune focused on those who would be adversely affected, gave them tools to check if they were flagged, and posted audio interviews with some. Legal challenges scuttled the review, and the secretary of state who presided over it departed when the legislative session ended without confirming his nomination. Read the Story »

Photo illustration credit: Jacob Villanueva/Texas Tribune

 

The Chicago Reporter collaborated with nine other local news organizations to create an interactive municipal election guide with profiles, campaign finance data, newsfeeds on more than 200 candidates, election night results, and more. The guide was also fully available in Spanish. Read the Story »

Following mass shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, and a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, The Highlands Current asked, “Where does the hate come from?” The answer was closer than expected as shown through the story of a man from the area who lived openly as a white supremacist in a nearby town. Read the Story »

The Texas Observer dug out the tragic details behind the mob massacre of dozens (and perhaps more) African-Americans in Slocum, Texas, in 1910. Read the Story »

High Country News examined the white supremacist past — and present — within government and policing in Portland, Oregon. The reporting focused on a resident’s ultimately successful quest to rid a popular nightclub of a racially discriminatory dress code. Read the Story »

Sam Thompson, a social worker who moonlights as a show promoter, poses for a portrait outside the Dirty nightclub in Portland, Oregon, which he was barred from entering, allegedly for wearing the red sweatshirt (pictured here) with red shoes. He sued the club for discrimination. Photo credit: Leah Nash for High Country News

 

Spotlight PA found the Pennsylvania State Police had quietly stopped reporting the race of drivers stopped by troopers, making racial profiling far more difficult to detect. A nationwide survey by reporters found the agency was one of 11 statewide law enforcement agencies not collecting such data, and by far the largest. In response, the State Police reversed course and said the data collection would resume. Read the Story »

Graphic credit: Daniel Simmons-Ritchie/ Spotlight PA

 

Charlottesville Tomorrow set out to make sure all voices were heard during spending of millions of taxpayer and private dollars on the Virginia city’s largest construction of low-income housing in more than two decades. Residents stigmatized by generations of racist government policy and neglect expressed concerns about being displaced physically or culturally as new, likely higher-income, residents move in. Read the Story »

Belt Magazine reported on how prison gerrymandering is distorting democracy in states across the Midwest and nationwide, leaving incarcerated people with inequitable representation — or none at all. Read the Story »

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most diverse regions in the country and is widely seen as a hotbed of progressive politics, but white men still hold much of the local political power. A Bay City News Foundation series published at LocalNewsMatters.org highlighted mismatches between power and population trends. Read the Series »

A City Bureau project called “The Cord” examined racial inequity in maternal and infant health and told stories of community solutions and resilience in Chicago. The Cord was taken over by a community group so it can continue to deliver news and resources directly to pregnant women and mothers in a county where a disproportionate number of black women die in childbirth. Read the Series »

Photo credit: Caroline Olsen/City Bureau