Saving the Planet Means Fighting Bipartisan Corruption

| Aug 21, 2019 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyBurning fossil fuels boils our planet — that much is generally well known.  But often these fuels do serious damage before they ever get to market. They spill out of pipelines, poison groundwater, or explode on trains. Even when they don’t, building new pipelines and...

What It’s Like to Grow Up Hunted

| | Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Peace / Security|Rights / DemocracyIt was a quiet Sunday night when my dad told me to hide in a closet — and stay there until he said to come out. As I sat in the dark, I knew this was part of my life, part of my identity. The darkness and fear slowly penetrated my heart. I tightened up my fist, as if...

Trump’s Re-election Strategy: Pit Us Against Each Other

| | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Peace / Security|Rights / DemocracyYou would think after a white nationalist murdered 22 people and injured dozens more in El Paso, Donald Trump would lay off the hate, even just for a moment. Apparently he’s not capable. Or not willing.  Whether it’s immigration raids, cutbacks on legal immigration,...

Red States Cut Worker Pay by $1.5 Billion

| Aug 14, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyOver the summer, the House voted to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. If the Senate had passed the bill, it would have been the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade — far too long for residents of the 21 states that don’t have...

Candidates Need a Moral Vision

| | HP Subfeatured|Peace / Security|Rights / Democracy“Yes we can,” went Barack Obama’s presidential campaign slogan, inspired by labor rights activist Dolores Huerta. After mass shootings killed 31 people in Texas and Ohio, I can’t help but recall how those three words — “yes we can” — encouraged hope and unity. Nearly...

Race Is a Social Construct, But It Still Matters

| Aug 13, 2019 | Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyWhen I teach about race in sociology classes, I often begin by asking students how and when the idea of race came about. Lesson one? Race is not a biological reality — it’s a social construct. That doesn’t mean there’s no biological basis to it at all — anyone can...