“When the western people came”
Eating local is often something for the privileged where I’m from. But in the Yukon Flats, it’s a necessity—it’s fundamentally about health, subsistence, and survival.
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Culture SWAP: Art Is As Much About Power As It Is The Craft
Too often - even with good intentions - activists focus solely on the problem and external conditions facing our communities, leaving many with a sense that nothing can be done.
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The Danger of the One Story
Some of you may be familiar with the concept of the “danger of the single story” from talks by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie, where exposure to people from communities and cultures—typically nonwhite—via one source is a dangerous way of painting a picture of and generalizing an entire people. This is also the case when it comes to the media.
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Food for the Soul
What's on National Organizer Steven Renderos' playlist for the revolution? Find out what our resident DJ likes to listen to and get a crash course in some of the songs that inspire social justice movements around the world.
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Making “Illa-Noise” in Chicago Against NATO and the Afghanistan War
CMJ Network Manager Betty Yu provides a comprehensive report on NATO, the work of anti-war protestors and activists on the ground level in Chicago, the role local MAG-Net organizations played in preparing and supporting progressive journalists, and tells us why she's proud and honored to have made her own contribution.
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Prison Phone Justice Campaign Roundup
Hearing your stories really drove home how important the Prison Phone Justice fight is. Over the course of our Mother's Day Action, we saw stories from the mothers, children, journalists, advocates and activists who are leading the fight for phone justice. Here's our roundup of some of the articles and blogs generated.
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Keep Pushing – The Mother’s Day Action Goes Through this Monday
Our Mother's Day Action will be continuing through Monday. Thanks to all of you we've collected over 500 stories for the FCC. But we can go further - this Sunday thousands of mothers will be disconnected from their families because of egregiously high prison phone rates. Please keep pushing - the FCC needs to hear your voice.
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Why I Support the Prison Phone Justice Campaign
The calls with my cousin while he was incarcerated weren't just for him; they were for all of us as a family. They were a balm for my mother's hurt and his mother's. For as long as they lasted, three minutes or thirty, they were a message of love and hope sent and received by both sides, connecting our hearts and lifting our spirits.
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Jason Bourne, Being “Tough on Crime” and Prison Phone Justice
Corporate media with the help of the right has done a superb job of creating popular—and fundamentally flawed—frames that play on the emotions, and deeply embedded racism—internal or otherwise—of the average American. Some familiar ones are “tough on crime,” “do the time,” “prisons keep ‘us’ safe,” “the law is just,” and “justice is blind.” The tricky thing about these frames is that they aren’t based on facts.
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Q&A with Karlos of CMJ
Here's your chance to get to a little more about our staff at the Center for Media Justice - what excites us about our work? What dirty secrets are we hiding? What tips do we have for you? Get it all here. First up is Karlos Gauna Schmieder.