Five Days in the Life: Single, Minimum-Wage Fast Food Working Mom in Chicago
Name: Adriana Alvarez, 23 City: Cicero, Illinois Child: Manuel, three Job: I’ve worked at a McDonald’s franchise for almost five years. I do everything in my store: cashier; kitchen; runner; drive-through. Wherever I’m needed, I’m there. When I’m not at work, I’m with my son — and sometimes [...]
Choosing Queer: I Was Not Born This Way, And That’s Ok.
I don’t remember the first time I found a boy attractive. I do know that in my earliest memories, when I was 4 or 5, this attraction felt natural and innate. I know, too, that there was a first time I found a girl [...]
#FightForDyett in Voices from the Frontlines Today [Videos]
After 34 days, the Hunger Strike may have ended, but the commitment has not waned. The "conversations" with Chicago Public Schools remain. Through the video presentations [below] we invite you to the Dyett Hunger Strikers Press Conference held at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. [We apologize for [...]
Police Are Granted Abusive Powers By a System That Condones Their Actions
The following is a Truthout interview with Kristian Williams, Author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America. MARK KARLIN:Your book, Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, is nearly six hundred pages, thoroughly documented and cogent. Let's [...]
Growing Up Muslim in a Post-9/11 World
My sister put on the hijab when she was 20 years old. I remember the color of her first scarf—a pale blue green, maybe chiffon, crinkling at the corners of her smiling eyes, enveloping the circumference of her perfect moon shaped face. My sister was one [...]
I Don’t Act Like An ‘Angry Black Woman’ – But I’m Read That Way If I Broach Race
“Why are you so angry?” my mother asked me during her recent visit to Brooklyn. It’s the first time my mother has ever asked me that question, and I know that she is lovingly unaware of its ramifications as a nocuous cliche, despite its power as [...]
When a Compromise Is Not a Compromise “The Hunger Strike Continues!” #WeAreDyett
Once again Chicago Public schools has demonstrated that they don’t respect community voice, they don’t respect the voice of black parents, young people and community residents. And do not have the highest expectations for our children. We don't only have "leaders" who betray the people [...]
A Candlelight Vigil in the #FightForDyett — Day 16 [Videos]
It has been a long and arduous journey, this Journey for Justice. It began in 1999. It is no wonder that the hunger strikers today are tired. Not only is there the physical strain of going without food, the emotional drain of [...]