Human Rights

April 12, 2023 - The expulsion of two Black lawmakers from the Tennessee House for participating in a nonviolent protest recalls an earlier expulsion of dozens of Black lawmakers from Georgia's General Assembly because of their race. Here's the defiant speech delivered in response by one of those expelled lawmakers, the Rev. Henry McNeal Turner.

April 7, 2023 - This week the Republican-controlled Tennessee House voted to expel two young, Black Democrats who from the chamber's floor had joined a vocal protest calling for stricter gun laws following a deadly mass shooting at a Nashville school. We share the powerful Easter-themed statement Rep. Justin Pearson delivered to the chamber before his expulsion.

March 31, 2023 - Dan Berger, a scholar of the Black Power movement, has written a remarkable intergenerational story about the Simmons family's long involvement in the Black freedom struggle, from Zoharah's and Michael's SNCC organizing and human rights work to Aishah's anti-rape activism. The title comes from lyrics to a civil rights anthem that for them has been more than a slogan — it's been a guide to a life of service to the people.

February 23, 2023 - Goat in the Road Productions of New Orleans recently presented an immersive play about a family of Sicilian grocers deciding whether to make common cause with Black/Creole grocers during the city's 1892 general strike. They were joined by community partners Step Up Louisiana and the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice to help raise awareness about the history behind the drama.

February 16, 2023 - In a collaborative report highlighting bipartisan policy proposals for North Carolina to combat current threats to democracy, leading state and national voting rights advocates call for legislative action to ensure that elections are free, fair, accessible, and secure.

February 10, 2023 - While public support for labor unions in the U.S. is at its highest level in a half-century, the portion of Southern workers in unions did not grow last year, even though unions added new members. But strikes and other workplace protests in the region jumped by over 20%, showing growing labor activism.

February 9, 2023 - This week the family of Manuel "Tortuguita" Páez Terán, the Atlanta forest defender shot to death by Georgia state troopers, held a press conference to demand more details into the investigation of the incident. Here is the statement made by their older brother, Daniel Páez, a veteran of the U.S. nuclear Navy who was stationed in Georgia.