The Iowa Senate Education Committee approved legislation Monday to change state law defining bullying in schools, keeping it alive ahead of this week’s committee deadline. The panel also sent five other bills to the Senate floor dealing with topics ranging from National Guard scholarships to attendance policies. The anti-bullying legislation was the only bill that […]
racism
Posted inCommunity/News
MAGA goes harder on Nixonian politics than Tricky Dick ever did. Can democracy be ‘saved’ for another 50 years?
“A week is a long time in politics.” It’s a phrase both politicians and journalists like to use when they want to avoid giving a firm answer to a question, but still want to sound smart. But this year there really was a week that fit that description. On Saturday, July 20, President Joe Biden […]
Posted inCommunity/News
UI racial discrimination lawsuit settled for $4.2 million; Auditor Sand demands Gary Barta be held accountable
The University of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Regents have agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by eight Black former Hawkeye football players. Because Iowa law requires lawsuit settlements against state agencies be paid from the state’s general fund, Iowa taxpayers will be providing $2 million to settle […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Vandals spray-paint racist and anti-Semitic graffiti in Marion
A four-block stretch of 10th Street in Marion was vandalized with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas, during the early hours of Thursday morning. “At least one vehicle was spray-painted, as were city streets, city sidewalks, light posts, and some businesses and homes between the 700 block and the 1100 block of 10th Street right […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘A denial of history’: Bill restricting racism and sexism discussions in diversity training passed by Iowa House
After more than four and a half hours of floor discussion on Tuesday night, the Iowa House of Representatives voted along party lines to approve a bill that imposes restrictions on diversity training offered by any state or local government agency and prohibits any instruction in public schools or universities on certain “divisive concepts” related […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Revolution and Beatitudes of Black Liberation: A video essay by Stacey Walker
Produced by Little Village in partnership with Witching Hour and Englert Wavelength Below is an excerpt from Walker’s essay, published in Little Village’s February 2021 issue. What is Black Liberation? What does it mean to be free? Black people have been fighting for liberation since we arrived on the shores of what would come to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Freedom Riders: Nobody deserves prison, including the man who could have killed us
“That’s bullshit.” “This is not justice.” “Disappointed, but not surprised.” “What he did is a terroristic act and should be in prison for it.” The news that Michael Ray Stepanek, an Iowa City man who intentionally drove through a crowd of racial justice protesters on Aug. 21 in order to give them an “attitude adjustment,” […]
Posted inCOVID-19
‘Our state has never been stronger’: Reynolds calls for accelerated tax cuts and full-time in-person school, despite pandemic
More than 4,200 Iowans have died from COVID-19, and food insecurity in the state has been pushed to it highest level in living memory by economic damage from the pandemic. Still, Gov. Kim Reynolds told the Iowa Legislature at the beginning of her Condition of the State speech on Tuesday night that “the condition of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The ‘demure white supremacy of the Midwest’
Beneath a veneer of “niceness,” the Midwest is among the very worst places to live in the United States if you’re a person of color. That’s what historian and University of Iowa history professor Colin Gordon discovered while completing a report for the Iowa Policy Project titled “Race in the Heartland: Equity, Opportunity, and Public […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Artist Jordan Weber explores the intersection of climate and racial violence in collaboration with Cedar Rapids museums
Jordan Weber first began meditating when he was a junior in high school, with visions of professional basketball in his future. He read the book Sacred Hoops by long-time NBA player and coach Phil Jackson, which in turn led him to seminal Western practice text Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. “I was extremely lucky to find […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Eight former Hawkeyes demand firing of Ferentzes and Gary Barta, $20 million in restitution
Uncertainty over whether the Big 10 conference would compete this fall football season has dominated conversations in the past few months. But this week, with the Iowa Hawkeyes preparing for a postponed season opener in West Lafayette, Indiana on Saturday, a potential lawsuit has shifted focus back to allegations of racial discrimination within the University […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Des Moines-area group stages ‘Back the Blue’ march in Iowa City
The Facebook post promoting the “Back the Blue” march in Iowa City on Friday evening said the event would have a “special guest” — it didn’t mention the tractor, or the bagpiper. But the approximately 75 people who gathered for the event marched from College Green Park to the Pentacrest, and back again, following a […]
