Stories
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
SPLC launches Alabama Advocacy Institute to train, inspire grassroots activists
Castleberry is a town of 486 people in south-central Alabama where strawberries grow big and sweet. It is where life took Alesia Thomas, a Black military veteran, when her best friend needed her help, and it is where the Indiana native intends to grow old. The community known as Chestnut lies about 50 miles away,…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Teacher fights Florida anti-LGBTQ+ law, says ‘state can’t deny my existence’
When Katie Wood interviewed for the position of math teacher at Lennard High School in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 2021, she told the principal that she was a transgender woman and wanted to work only in a school that would make her feel welcome. “I told her that as a transgender woman, it’s really important…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Georgia Voter Challenges: Know Your Rights
Background Since the passage of Senate Bill 202 in 2021, voter challenges against Georgia citizens have run rampant. Fortunately, most of the challenges have been dismissed. But most recently, Governor Kemp signed Senate Bill 189 which makes changes to Georgia’s voter challenge process and increases the likelihood that county election boards will sustain more voter…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Ousted Black Alabama mayor will return to office under settlement agreement
Editor’s note: This is the third part of a four-part series. Read previous entries here: Part 1. Part 2. After almost four years of legal wrangling, rekeyed locks, dueling town councils, backroom intrigue and viral media coverage, the first Black man to become mayor of Newbern, Alabama, is a judge’s signature away from finally serving the remainder of…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
The South’s Got Now | Decidimos campaign spotlights power of every vote
Black voters in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, were outraged when a state judge ruled last December that their favored candidate for sheriff, Henry Whitehorn, had to submit to a third election after he won a runoff by one vote and a recount confirmed his one-vote margin of victory. Throwing out the election results particularly stung because…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
- News
Descendants of last slave ship arriving in US share history with students
Earlier this spring, a group of college students from Auburn University, Chicago’s Governors State University and members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn traveled by boat to a narrow stretch of the Mobile River, just north of the Mobile Bay Delta in Alabama. Along with them were a journalism professor and a handful…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Newbern, Alabama, election debacle highlights bigger, fundamental issues
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a four-part series. Read part 1 here. Loretta, a lifelong resident of Newbern, Alabama, likes to walk in the morning. “It’s already getting hot,” she said as she finished up her daily ritual. It was not yet 10 a.m., but already the April sun was creating a…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Alabama group continues fight to help women obtain reproductive care
Jenice Fountain could not believe what she was hearing. Was that Steve Marshall, the attorney general of Alabama, on talk radio, threatening to go after her tiny organization, which is dedicated to supporting pregnant Alabamians seeking legal abortion care? Indeed, it was the state’s top law enforcement official – on the airwaves less than two…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Florida Voter Guide
En Español IN THIS GUIDE How to Prepare to Vote Key Election Dates Voter Resources We stand at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, and it’s an exciting time because we have the power to shape our future in crucial issues such as voting rights, education and much more. This power lies in our…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Community groups provide frontline defense against rising hate and extremism
When the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, branch of the NAACP received word from members of the community that a patrol deputy in Plaquemines Parish was a member of the Proud Boys, a known anti-Muslim and anti-woman group, the branch leadership took action. “Our tactics are pretty much always the same,” said Jarret Luter, political action committee…
