racial disparities

September 17, 2021 - Though a lawsuit seeking to restore the voting rights of North Carolinians on probation or parole suffered setbacks in recent court rulings, the broader movement to re-enfranchise people with felony convictions has made gains in Southern states in recent years.

September 3, 2021 - Even before the pandemic, evictions disproportionately hurt Black people living in the South. Now, with the moratorium lifted, Black communities will be hit even harder. Meanwhile, Southern states have been slow to distribute federal aid aimed at avoiding evictions. 

July 16, 2021 - Drawing on federal COVID-19 relief money and other resources, historically Black colleges and universities are canceling debt for a student population that's disproportionately burdened by it.

July 2, 2021 - Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was suing Georgia over its restrictive new voting law, part of a recent wave of such legislation passed by Republican-led state legislatures. But a July 1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a Voting Rights Act case out of Arizona makes the lawsuit's future even more uncertain.

June 16, 2021 - Home care workers, most of whom are women of color, are among the most underpaid workers in the U.S., and the situation is especially dire in the low-wage South. In North Carolina, care workers recently rallied to call on federal lawmakers to support President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which would increase their pay and on-the-job protections.

June 11, 2021 - The Emory law professor and author of "The Whiteness of Wealth" calls for returning to a progressive income taxation system and establishing a tax credit as compensation for systemic racism. She also argues that simply publishing tax data by race could make the public angry enough to want to change the federal tax system.

May 27, 2021 - Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed into law a bill that would bar Georgia's many licensing boards from denying credentials to people on probation or parole for many crimes. That's an important step toward fair chance licensing, says DJ Sims, a reentry organizer in Georgia — but additional reforms are needed to ensure that people who've served their time are able to make a living.