OKLAHOMA CITY — The most exciting thing about Lindel Fields, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, is how boring he is. Sitting in a state education office conference room recently while his office was under renovation, Fields described his work as “building a foundation” for a strong public education system. “And the foundation of a house […]
The post Can Oklahoma make public…
OGDEN, Utah — The syllabus in 18-year-old Madelynn Wells’ introductory film studies class assigned “Jaws” first, and then the Spanish dark comedy “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” She said she watched those, and did the written assignments with no problem. Around the third week of the term, the assignment was a film […]
The post A new law in Utah allows students to opt out of…
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Claire Galloway-Jones stepped up to lead the Brookline school district’s Office of Educational Equity in July 2023 at a time when families, staff and students were losing trust. The wealthy, coveted district on Boston’s edge faced allegations of repeatedly failing to address incidents of racial bullying and harassment, including a case in […]
The post As school districts cut…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and sharply narrowed how the Voting Rights Act can be used to challenge discriminatory election maps.
In a 6-3 decision in __Louisiana v. Callais__ , Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the conservative majority that Louisiana did not need to create a…
A teacher who was fired for reading a book about tolerance to children has appealed her case to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Cobb County school officials fired Katie Rinderle in 2023 after she read _My Shadow Is Purple,_ a picture book for children, to her fifth-grade students at Due West Elementary School. While she fought the termination, the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the…
Your Right to Vote from Abroad: A Civil Right for Americans in Italy
For millions of Americans who live, work, serve their country and study overseas, the right to vote does not stop at the border. It is a core civil right that continues wherever you are in the world, including here in Italy.
Americans abroad: Still part of the electorate
Under U.S. law, American citizens aged 18 or older remain…
In the 1950s, TV screens beamed out a single picture of “family”: a married straight white couple, two biological kids, and a neat white picket fence. That socially sanctioned image never told the whole story, and it certainly doesn’t reflect reality for many today. Less than 18 percent of U.S. households resemble that so-called nuclear family, yet our laws continue to be built around it.
In…
This is not a defense of Pam Bondi.
Like Kristi Noem before her, Bondi aligned herself with a political project that has shown little regard for human life, institutional norms, civil rights, or government independence. She didn't merely orbit that project, she helped animate it, defend it publicly, and carry it forward as one of its most visible faces. That kind of proximity can look like…
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed a new law prohibiting local governments from protecting transgender Iowans’ civil rights.
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The law comes a year after Iowa became the first state in the country to roll back its civil rights code by removing gender identity from…
In most of New England, the question of whether transgender people may use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity has largely been settled. In New Hampshire, lawmakers are reopening it.
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The Republican-controlled New Hampshire House voted 181–164 on…
The world is always changing, but is it ever for the better? Sometimes that's hard to tell. But there are always movies about people trying to make the world a better place to inspire you and to shake you to your core.
These films not only entertain but also educate meaningful conversations about the change we wish to see in the world.
I picked ten essential movies about political activism…
The Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday morning after being hospitalized for some time. He was 84.
He died with his family at his side, a statement from the family said.
"Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world," the family said. "We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our…