“I don’t know if I’ve started ignoring everything because I got used to the ugliness, or because the smell of cannabis makes it easier not to care.” With these words, Ftoun, 15, a Syrian refugee working in cannabis fields in the plains…
Big Tech must take a page from the auto industry
When I was born in 1979, my parents brought me home in a bassinet that sat, unsecured, on the back seat of their Honda hatchback. They did this not out of reckless disregard for my safety, but because it was…
Two myths that must be discarded
In this moment in American history, two dominant myths must be discarded. This is especially true in light of the shocking revelations about leadership of some Young Republican groups and their “private” text messages. First, the myth that private speech…
Pregnancy as probable cause: Policing pregnant bodies
This past summer, two federal actions sent a similar menacing message. In Washington, D.C., the National Guard was deployed to remove unhoused people under the guise of “public safety.” Additionally, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it will end abortion care for…
Change fed efforts, treat trafficking survivors as humans
I started my career in 2011 working with trafficking victims. Most days were mundane, cutting rent checks, helping people apply for benefits, going with them to the consulate to get necessary paperwork. I built relationships with survivors in those long…
What’s the law got to do with it?
Immigrant survivors of domestic abuse are more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen in my 20 years of working as a lawyer, thanks to the flurry of confusing and conflicting executive orders issued by the Trump administration. However you feel about undocumented migrants, everyone…
The Perfect Victim Myth undermines bodily autonomy
AI-enhanced perfection, whether by fashion magazines or Hollywood, is perpetuating unattainable standards for what it means to be a person, but this new model isn’t new. For generations, marginalized people have been subject to the myth of the perfect victim….
Here’s why DEI is good medicine for training doctors
I’m a DEI educator at an academic medical center. Pull up a chair. “This is Dr. Black — she’s a physician and does a lot of DEI work,” my colleague said, introducing me to a friend. “Oops,” she said almost…
When the burden for ending sexual assualt is left only to girls
“Girls are raped all the time.” “Girls as young as 10 are raped in the community.” “Girls get pregnant as early as 13 — mostly due to rape.” These were the matter-of-fact statements I heard, over and over, during focus…
Ending homelessness is a humane priority
The Trump administration recently issued a sweeping executive order on homelessness that dismantles support for the “housing first” model. The order pushes communities back toward punitive approaches, tying housing to mandatory treatment or abstinence, expanding involuntary institutionalization and even encouraging the criminalization…
The Age of Digital Punishment and the call for trauma-informed nonprofits
The work of justice always has been a struggle against forces that seek to label, condemn and exclude. But in our digital age, a new form of punishment has emerged that clings to people long after their official debt to…
Attacks on Zohran Mamdani defy religious liberty
Recent events reveal some of our politicians have forgotten America was founded on religious freedom that included respect for those whose religious beliefs differ from our own. Zohran Mamdani faces a flurry of anti-Muslim attacks after his New York City…