Nonprofits face challenges in making transportation accessible to aging Wisconsinites with disabilities
On an unseasonably warm October morning in northeastern Wisconsin, Steve Maricque crisscrosses Brown County in a gray minivan. Orange-red foliage draws the gaze of passengers as overnight rain gives way to clear skies. A smart tablet guides Maricque along his route. A...
Story of Nearest Green: When a Black distiller was credited for teaching Jack Daniel how to make whiskey
By Stefanie Benjamin, Assistant Professor of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, University of Tennessee When you hear the name Jack Daniel, whiskey probably comes to mind. But what about the name Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Green? In 2016, The New York Times...
Graves of Black ancestors: How government officials and developers worked to erase the Moseley Cemetery
Nobody working to bring a $346 million Microsoft project to rural Virginia expected to find graves in the woods. But in a cluster of yucca plants and cedar that needed to be cleared, surveyors happened upon a cemetery. The largest of the stones bore the name Stephen...
Reggie Jackson: The beating death of Tyre Nichols asks unanswered question of when will police abuse end
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” – MLK’s “I Have a Dream”...
Blind spots in color blindness: Black police officers are infected by same anti-Black bias as White society
By Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died. Some details in the latest...
Demise of liberal democracy: We are living in the final stage of Reaganism’s dystopia
Back in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in and implicitly promised to destroy our government because it was “the problem,” many of us who strongly opposed him wondered what the final stage of Reaganism would look like. Now we know. We are there. Violence toward...
An infatuation with darkness: The character of the far-right can be seen in their hideous heroes
You can learn a lot about the people who make up a political party by identifying their heroes. So, who are the heroes of today’s Republicans? If your first thought was Ronald Reagan, you’re showing your age. Reagan was the answer of an earlier time, when we had a...
Social media never forgets: Why the digital experience of daily life makes it hard to move on from a breakup
By Kate G. Blackburn, Post Doctoral Researcher, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts; Leah E. LeFebvre, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Alabama; and Nick Brody, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of Puget...
The loss of “Black Twitter” would make it harder to discuss racism and publicize police brutality
By Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson College Before the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Sandra Bland were propelled into the media spotlight, their names were Twitter #hashtags. In 2020,...
Disney’s Magic: When people come close to crossing the boundaries between consumerism and religion
By Hannah McKillop, Doctoral Student in Religious Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa Disney has been making the headlines lately, but it has not been about blockbusters. Recently, people have been up in arms over a ruined Disney park proposal and a...
Simmering Tensions: Why talking across the political aisle helps reduce hostility
By Dominik Stecuła, Assistant professor of political science, Colorado State University; and Matthew Levendusky, Professor of political science, University of Pennsylvania Simmering tension in American politics came to a head two years ago, when a mob of Trump...
Race, Ethnicity, and Age: Why employers are forced to be more flexible as workplace diversity grows
By Adia Harvey Wingfield, Professor of Sociology, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis Increased immigration, longer life expectancy and a decline in birth rates are transforming the U.S. workforce in two important ways. The people powering this...
