The Rev. Randall Harris: A man of service
By Emine Yücel Medill Reports The Rev. Randall Harris is vacuuming the Faith Community Church floors before his weekly Wednesday night Bible study for the East Garfield Park and North Lawndale communities. After a minute or two, the 70-year-old slowly lowers himself into one of the 60 red chairs facing the pulpit. The tiny church […]
Not only the youth: These unexpected voters also want Sanders’ America
By Gurjit Kaur Medill Reports In 2016, Paula and David Grapes voted for Donald Trump. But this year the married couple hope that Senator Bernie Sanders becomes the next leader of the United States. “He’s the last honest politician,” said Paula Grapes, 54. In March, she and an estimated 15,000 others gathered at a Chicago […]
Ernest in our time: The Hemingway Birthplace Museum and the woman aiding its growth
By Hannah Farrow Medill Reports Carla Mayer walks up to the three-story 1890 Victorian home nestled on a quiet, tree-lined street in Oak Park and climbs the six front wooden steps and opens the left French door. Inside the foyer, she greets the intern working the desk and the elderly volunteer waiting for his tour […]
Blackness in Puerto Rico
By Grace Asiegbu Medill Reports Driving down the winding roads of Piñones, cars are greeted with green leaves and bold flowers. Between barrios, roads are marked with bright, lively signs informing drivers of their current location. Soon the view shifts from natural vegetation to sights and smells of restaurants lining the strip. People are buzzing […]
South Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution limited by lack of computer literacy, access
By Amy Sokolow Medill Reports Thabo Malatji, 29, commutes an hour from Alexandra, a township north of Johannesburg, to Tembisa, another township even farther north, every day for work. His office is inside a cluster of vibrant blue, green and orange converted shipping containers, which pop against their dusty surroundings. The neighborhood is dotted with […]
Then and now: The legacy of Bantu education in South Africa
By Briana Garrett Medill Reports For most of the twentieth century, South Africa functioned under the system of apartheid, a system that segregated South African peoples in every aspect of life, privileging whiteness above all. Through a series of laws, apartheid created deep economic disparities, immense political disenfranchisement and social divides with rippling effects across […]
Environmental racism and the fight against it
By Briana Garrett Medill Reports Environmental justice and food justice may seem mutually exclusive. But the two go hand in hand. In Cook County, one in seven people are food insecure. That means nearly 750,000 children and adults in the county go hungry during parts of the year and often lack access to nutritious foods, […]
Entertainer Cyril Rabbath juggles his priorities
By Amy Sokolow Medill Reports With low-slung string lights, posters of 20th-century French vixens on the exposed brick walls, tiny, expensive drinks with their names printed on tarot cards, and wait times up to two hours, The Drifter is buzzing with chatter on a Friday night but falls silent as Cyril Rabbath takes the stage. […]
NFL teams are tackling injuries with acupuncture and cupping
By Emine Yücel Medill Reports Ifeadi Odenigbo, a defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings, limps into the treatment room following a Sunday night game against the Chicago Bears. He just pulled his hamstring, but he needs to be out on the field, ready to go in less than 48 hours. “You’re just always trying to […]
International Women’s Day conference brings community and knowledge to Chicago’s female founders
By Ruiqi Chen Medill Reports Startup incubator 1871’s International Women’s Day conference started with a call-to-action from CEO Betsy Zeigler. “Fund, found and scale tech companies,” Zeigler said to the crowd of roughly 200 women, many of whom were female startup. According to research company Startup Genome, over a quarter of Chicago’s startups are female […]