| Feb 4, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyWhen I was growing up, my older Mexican-American relatives had an expression: “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.” It was my family’s way of making me careful about choosing my friends. Even then, I could see they were right. The smart kids...
| | Rights / DemocracyWhen I worked as a community organizer in New Mexico, I once overheard several women talking about a 2012 executive action on immigration. Known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the order made young, undocumented adults eligible for work permits and...
| | Cartoon|Rights / Democracy
| Jan 28, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyWhen I decided to write a column about Leelah Alcorn, I initially tried to do it without using singular pronouns. The Cincinnati teen killed herself by jumping in front of a tractor trailer late last year. “I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body,” she...
| | Rights / DemocracyWhen the Senate released its shocking report on CIA torture late last year, it renewed a debate from the Bush years about the merits of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Polls released afterward suggested that most Americans thought that...
| Jan 21, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyWhatever happens over the next two years, you can bet that 22nd century school children will know more about President Barack Obama than kids learn today about, say, Calvin Coolidge. He made history just by being the first non-white man to occupy the White House. What...