Olivia Paschal

Staff Reporter

Olivia is a staff reporter with Facing South whose work focuses on democracy, money in politics, the census, and agriculture. She previously worked at The Atlantic and was a Facing South intern in the summer of 2017. Her reporting has also appeared in Scalawag, Southerly, and Civil Eats, among other outlets. Olivia holds a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University.

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Articles by Olivia

How to reverse the rural South's rising incarceration rate

By Olivia Paschal

July 2, 2020 - As the incarceration rate in urban America falls, it's still climbing in rural communities. Here's why it's rising — and how some academics and activists suggest reversing the trend.

Families of Tyson workers with COVID-19 condemn company's labor practices

By Olivia Paschal

June 24, 2020 - As novel coronavirus cases rise in poultry plants near the meat-processing giant's headquarters in Northwest Arkansas, family members of workers say the company takes better care of their chickens than they do their employees.

As Southern police budgets rise, activists press for defunding

By Olivia Paschal

June 18, 2020 - Police funding across 47 of the South's largest cities has risen as a share of total expenditures in the past three decades, even as funding for other essential services has plateaued. With city councils planning their 2021 budgets, citizens are demanding a reallocation of those funds.

History

The bitter history behind the highways occupied by protesters

By Olivia Paschal

June 5, 2020 - Demonstrators protesting police brutality in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd are occupying highways that were built by destroying black communities.

Protesters demand closure of Arkansas' COVID-19-affected poultry plants

By Olivia Paschal

June 1, 2020 - Poultry plants in Northwest Arkansas are seeing a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus. Worker advocates are demanding they be shut down, despite President Trump's executive order that they remain open.

Demographics

Here's what's driving the rural South's COVID-19 outbreaks

By Olivia Paschal

May 19, 2020 - A new analysis by Facing South finds that counties with prisons and meatpacking plants are particularly vulnerable to intense COVID-19 outbreaks. So are the region's majority-black counties.

Experts warn that the 'sky is falling' for rural health care in the South

By Olivia Paschal

May 14, 2020 - Hospitals in many rural Southern counties with COVID-19 outbreaks were financially vulnerable even before the crisis. What happens next?

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