‘A lot of wealth and rocket scientists’: Why Huntsville is now unaffordable for so many
Edy Aguilar works in and has friends in Huntsville, Ala., and is excited to get involved in the city’s ever-growing community. But finding an affordable place in the city is just beyond her reach. Huntsville is a hotspot for technology and aerospace jobs, with more jobs coming to the city every year. The city has expanded [...]
Sha’Carri Richardson teaches us to love all Black women’s colored hair, long nails, lashes and tattoos
One of my favorite ways to wear my hair is in long red knotless braids. At one former workplace, the hairstyle drew offensive questions and statements from my employer. Are you in a gang? I don’t think that color is appropriate for our workplace. You normally look so professional. What [...]
How my HIV status inspired my fashion business and saved my life
Each week the Honey newsletter includes a column from women and LGBTQ folks in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. We’re always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published. By Daniel Grier “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” -- [...]
Reckon’s 2021 Southern Summer Reading list
As we head into the July 4 holiday weekend, here’s a quick recap of some of the books we’ve talked about this season on the Reckon Interview podcast.
Shunned by church and family, he started his own LGBTQ support group
Six years ago, Bryan Fuenmayor’s family disowned him. He came out as gay at 31, spurring his departure from the Jehovah Witnesses and the loss of his family and most of the friends he’d made since coming from Venezuela as a child. “It got a point where it was either [...]
How an Appalachia youth coalition is creating a region where people can and want to STAY
Young Black, Latinx, and queer people in Appalachia don’t have what they need to live a safe and sustainable life in their regions. Groups like The STAY Together Youth Appalachian Project, a diverse youth coalition in Central Appalachia, are providing young people in Appalachia an opportunity to challenge systems of [...]
Do the people stressing over critical race theory even know what it is?
Over the last few months, you’ve probably read about the latest political brawl in the never ending culture wars: Critical Race Theory. It’s a complicated concept that largely explores how race and racism is experienced in the U.S. and how it intertwines with the functions of society. One of the [...]
Why I don’t celebrate ‘coming out’ stories
Each week the Honey newsletter includes a column from women and LGBTQ folks in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. We’re always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published. By Kiwi Lanier For most people, coming out is nothing like it [...]
‘What most kids need’: How one school community got SMART when its rural hospital closed
The only hospital in rural Pickens County, Ala., closed its doors for good just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It was March 2020. The west Alabama county sits along the Mississippi state line, its landscape dotted with small towns. When the hospital closed in the county seat of Carrollton (pop. 1,000), Pickens County [...]
The miseducation of Black, queer, southern youth
Marginalized folx are often lauded as being brave, as if there is any survivable existence that doesn’t necessitate it. And so often, we are the only ones left to reconcile the cost of that bravery. Survival does not come without compromise.
Need an abortion in Appalachia? ‘Holler’ at this West Va. group
Holler Health Justice launched in 2018 to fund abortions in West Virginia and Appalachia. Since, its mission has expanded to include providing free emergency contraception and harm reduction services. In 2020, the organization provided $111,415 in abortion funding and other support. The group dispersed more than 6,000 units of emergency [...]
How one survivor is standing up for sexual abuse victims in the Southern Baptist Convention
Hannah Kate Williams was raped by her father, a Baptist minister, then endured a forced abortion she says a deacon at her church helped perform. Now, she is asking the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Christian church denomination in the U.S., to hold sexual abusers like her father accountable. In [...]
The gap between home buying and renting lower in the South
Should you rent or buy? That question has become increasingly difficult to answer over the last year as home prices have soared and rents in major metropolitan areas tumbled as residents escaped strict pandemic lockdowns. In all 50 of the country’s largest metropolitan areas, the monthly cost of renting is [...]
Nashville is growing like crazy. Rents have skyrocketed. How can regular people afford to live there?
Nashville is booming, and so are rent prices. The scenic town of 670,000 grew by 10% in the past decade, making it one of the South’s most rapidly growing cities. It also fueled 17% growth of the metro overall in the same time period. As a result, city officials have scrambled [...]
Reckon hosts ‘Juneteenth: Joy is Liberation’ weeklong event
The nation’s longest running Black holiday was born in the South. It’s been 156 years, since freedmen, women and children celebrated the first Juneteenth. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom from a Union general two and half years after the [...]
Queer Cobbler: A recipe for being gay in the South
Each week the Honey newsletter includes a column from women and LGBTQ folks in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. We’re always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published. By Tyler S. Hatcher Preheat the oven. 350 is fine. [...]
The Anti-Black origins of the Second Amendment debate
In the last 100 years, the National Rifle Association and other lobbying groups have mythologized the history of the Second Amendment as a celebration of the rights of the people against the government, but that obscures the complicated context of the time.
Why this Mississippi physician wants to see more doctors, fewer ER visits
Reckon talked with young doctors who live and work in communities across the South. We asked them what they think are the biggest problems facing rural healthcare in the South, and how they’d fix those problems if they had unlimited resources. Read on for their real-world solutions. Check out our [...]
Wanna be a drag queen? Alabama’s Champagne Munroe shares resources to get you started
When Champagne Munroe wanted to try drag back in July 2014, she turned up at B-Bob’s bar in downtown Mobile with a few old Halloween costumes, a little makeup, and a promise to herself to get on stage and have fun. “When I first started coming up, being gay and [...]
Why the $300 child tax credit could be a step toward universal basic income — and happier families
Next month, millions of American families will begin receiving monthly direct cash payments, and unprecedented foray into the idea of a universal basic income. A new expanded child tax credit, part of the American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March, will give low- and middle-income families monthly payouts of $300 per child under age 6 [...]
How I finally stopped wondering if I’m ‘queer enough’
Queerness isn’t a competition. Evan saw me in a way that I desperately needed to be seen at the time and it made me more confident in my bisexuality over the years. When I did come out a few years later in college, I did so on my terms.
Black farmers’ leader: Why the USDA should do more about racism in agriculture
John Boyd, a fourth-generation farmer from Virginia, bought his first farm at age 18 and quickly lost it after falling behind on mortgage payments and the federal government denied him several loans he needed to catch up. “It’s tough for all farmers, but when you throw in discrimination and racism [...]
How Hogoè Kpessou built a ‘fashion empire of one’ in Florida
A 22-year-old fashion mogul is on the rise in Jacksonville, Fla. Hogoè Kpessou is breaking through the luxury industry by designing and selling handbags and apparel, like swim swear. Customers have been snatching up her merchandise. Since launching the brand in October, she’s had more than 7,000 sales. The majority [...]
Confederate memorials persist at Southern military bases, SPLC says
Dozens of symbols celebrating the Confederacy remain at U.S military installations throughout the South, according to a report released Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The report noted that an additional 64 memorials had been added to the SPLC’s military section of its Confederate symbol database, adding to the [...]
Will I ever wear shoes again? Dressing for work post-pandemic
I’ve had no reason to wear heels or dressy boots or even fancy flats. And I’ve tried to wear mules or loafers a few times just to see if I could. But the hard soles just seemed so … hard and the leather stiff and unforgiving.
How Southern segregationists created a law used to charge George Floyd protestors
A little under a year ago, near the remnants of an 18th century colonial fort and not far from where ships exported cotton that funded the Confederates in the Civil War, a line of Mobile police officers came face to face with Black Lives Matter activists. Among the protestors was [...]
How Chattanooga artist Ali Waller is casting sexual assault survivors in a new light
At an installation that’s recently toured the country, each plaster bust has a story. The creation of Chattanooga-based artist Ali Waller, the “/200” project features 940 busts of women, including Waller herself, who are sexual assault survivors sharing their story through sculpture. The 22-year-old artist started working with plaster in 2020 after seeing the “Filthy Rich” documentary series, which explained how Jeffrey [...]
Sarah Jarosz draws on Texas singer-songwriter roots for new music
The mandolin and banjo are staples of bluegrass but Sarah Jarosz points to the Texas singer-songwriter tradition as inspiration for her newest work.
As a human trafficking survivor, my story is bigger than myself
Each week the Honey newsletter includes a column from women and LGBTQ folks in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. We’re always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published. by Esperance Uwayirege Taylor with Laura Secord Early that morning I was [...]
Dr. Ellen Eaton: Reading, watching, listening on COVID vaccines and teens
Recently, COVID vaccines were approved for children ages 12 and up. Vaccines for younger children are under evaluation in clinical trials. But even for infectious disease experts, the amount of information available to parents about COVID vaccines can be overwhelming. Dr. Ellen Eaton is assistant professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases at [...]
Abortion advocates warn of confusion amid Mississippi case going to SCOTUS
Despite a recent move that could severely erode reproductive rights, abortion advocates are stressing the need to educate the public that abortions remain legal in the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would review a 2018 Mississippi abortion ruling banning all abortions after 15 weeks post conception, setting [...]
Shariya Pryor: Reading, watching, listening on mental health
Shariya Pryor is in the business of healing families. The 26-year-old Troy, Ala. native is a marriage and family therapist at Kaleidoscope Family Therapy in Atlanta, who specializes in self-confidence, attachment, depression, anxiety and life-transitions. Pryor was inspired join the mental health workforce as a preschool teacher. She found herself [...]
Arkansas has a booming Hispanic population. Meet one group that’s been at the center of it
In Northwest Arkansas, close to the state borders with Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, a cultural metamorphosis has been taking place over the last 30 years. Nearly 40% of the residents in the small city of Springdale, once an overwhelmingly white city back in 1990, can trace their heritage to a [...]
How Rodney Scott discovered the secret to whole hog barbecue in South Carolina
Rodney Scott joins the Reckon Interview to discuss the whole hog empire he started in Hemingway, South Carolina.
Alabama pediatrician: Keep kids healthy by helping parents access, afford healthcare
How should we fix rural healthcare? Reckon went to the front lines of the rural health crisis in the South, talking with young doctors who live and work in communities across the region. We asked them what they think are the biggest problems facing rural healthcare in the South, and how [...]
How a Black violinist in Texas is decolonizing music in the classroom and beyond
When 12-year-old Armond Vance first picked up a violin, he wasn’t inspired by the classical notes of Bach or other European composers. He was jiving to a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” performed by DSharp, a Black Atlanta-based violinist, singer and producer. Now 24, Vance not only entertains listeners on [...]
Purity culture: Why the Josh Duggar case is about sexual violence not sin
The latest scandal involving Josh Duggar, a former reality TV star turned conservative political operative and business owner, highlights how patriarchy and purity culture allows abuse to continue unchecked, says a noted licensed psychologist and human sexuality expert. Dr. Camden Morgante, who practices in Knoxville, Tenn., said the Duggar case is complex but shows how several myths of purity culture play out in real life. [...]
Black women care for everyone. When will Georgia care for us?
Childcare providers in Georgia and across the country are expected to always work, with no relief or support, and these providers are mostly Black women.
Mississippi doctor: Fix rural health by focusing on preventative care, boosting insurance access
This month, Reckon talked with young doctors who live and work in communities across the South. We asked them what they think are the biggest problems facing rural healthcare in the South, and how they’d fix those problems if they had unlimited resources. Read on for their real-world solutions. Check out [...]
These young docs know how to fix the South’s rural health crisis. Will anyone listen?
The rural healthcare crisis is not new, but it is particularly pronounced in the South. Rural areas are less likely to have enough primary care physicians. Rural residents also tend to be poorer, according to the National Rural Health Association. More than half the nation’s rural hospital closures since 2010 were in the South. Many of those are clustered [...]
Why ending the federal eviction ban could send shockwaves to renters in the South
For Southerners who struggled to pay rent during the recession, a recent federal court ruling could have a devastating effect in a region of the country where eviction rates are already high. The ruling comes as low-income and working-class families continue to recover from the economic turbulence caused by the [...]
Medical marijuana: Alabama OKs it, but not for menopause and PMS
Medical cannabis just cleared a big hurdle in Alabama, drawing the state closer to approving its use for Alabamians with chronic conditions. The state House OK'd a bill that has been the source of controversy. In a late night vote, the Senate also gave the bill its stamp of approval. [...]
I like my queerness southern fried
Each week the Honey newsletter includes a column from women and LGBTQ folks in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. We’re always looking for more stories from you. Click here to learn more about how to get published. By Joi Miner Southerners like their food deep fried, their [...]
How one small town Arkansas mayor wants to keep young workers and grow jobs
Bald Knob, a wisp of a city in central Arkansas, is slowly coming out of the economic turmoil brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The hiring signs are up around the streets of this city of less than 3,000 people – 90% of whom are white and nearly a third [...]
Meet the South’s new cannabis activists
Legal cannabis is finally coming to the South. But the legislators across the South now debating cannabis decriminalization for adult and medical use didn't just have a sudden change of heart. In states across the South, advocates and entrepreneurs have been pushing for the change in the region that historically been most [...]
More diverse, higher poverty: What babies tell us about the future South
In states across the Deep South, children of color make up about half of the child population. And those children are now two to three times more likely to live in poverty than their white counterparts, according to a new report issued this month, forecasting a potential for growing economic inequality across the region. “Looking at how babies are [...]
Pollution injustice plagues the South. Its deadliness is revealed in new reports
Just a week after President Joe Biden promised to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, a move that he hopes will create more green jobs and alleviate pollution in regions he said have been left behind, a new comprehensive pollution study has revealed the stunning racial inequalities that exist throughout [...]
Meet the Montgomery native who got a Beyoncé-funded scholarship to diversify the jewelry industry
You might not think of fashion and social justice as related. Audriana Osbourne may change your mind about that. The 24-year-old Montgomery, Ala., native is one of three recipients of a more than $20,000 scholarship offered by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and world-renowned jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz to study at the California-based [...]
Mission Reconcile helps Southern churches dismantle racism through food, fellowship
What do you get when you mix great Southern food, Jesus and anti-racism work? The New-Orleans based nonprofit Mission Reconcile. Mission Reconcile works to create racial reconciliation between predominantly single-race churches through shared worship, intentional conversations on understanding racism, and of course, food and fellowship. Established in 2017, the organization facilitates conversations and fellowship between churches [...]
On weathering seasons of change after the pandemic
Just over a year ago, I had just finished filling out my schedule for the month of April when all of my plans went astray. The pandemic hadn’t really affected my daily life up to that point. I continued to do my regular job in person since we did parts for the railroad and I worked in an office alone anyway.
Confederate-named buildings persist on Southern campuses
In the 11 months since George Floyd was murdered, a moment that galvanized Black Lives Matter and similar movements throughout the country, powerful institutions were forced once again to reflect on their own questionable pasts. Colleges not only became a focal point for racial change, but they also became the [...]
Minnie Bruce Pratt on being targeted by anti-LGBTQ laws in North Carolina
This week on the Reckon Interview, Minnie Bruce Pratt describes what it’s like to be targeted by anti-LGBTQ laws.
Black Adventure Crew inspiring families to reconnect with nature
A north Alabama family of five is encouraging more Black explorers to take up space outdoors as they trek through trails and mountains of the Tennessee Valley. Known as Black Adventure Crew, Zenovia Stephens, her husband, George, and their three sons, don’t travel far from their Huntsville, Ala., home to [...]
A George Floyd protest leader on the Chauvin verdict, protecting her peace and the joy of roller skating
Tiffany Trotter was a teenager when she helped lead historic protests in the aftermath George Floyd’s murder. In the 11 months since, she gave a stirring speech in front of thousands in her hometown of Mobile, Ala., she has used that momentum to continue her activism and organizing around the [...]
Rachel Pearson of Engage: Reading, watching, listening on women’s economic security, policy
Rachel Pearson founded women’s economic policy organization Engage, www.engagewomen.org, after working for years in Washington, D.C., and growing frustrated at the lack of bipartisanship in Congress. “Women outlive, outnumber and out vote men,” Pearson said. “The political power should be ours, and we should have a much larger impact on [...]
The choice between art and violence in the stories of the South: Minari was an opportunity for Asians in the South to tell their stories. The Atlanta shootings changed that.
Minari, through its brilliant storytelling and cinematography, paid attention to the nuances of a Korean immigrant story in the South.
Emily Joy Allison: Reading, watching, and acting on purity culture
America and the evangelical church is wrestling with the ramifications of purity culture: a teaching that tells people they should not have any sexual contact before heterosexual, monogamous marriage. In some circles, purity culture also demonizes masturbation, sexual fantasies and even simply being attracted to or aroused by someone else. [...]
Fear and hope: The Alabama Amazon plant unionizing effort through a worker’s eyes
Last summer, Amazon worker Darryl Richardson was fed up with how he and his colleagues were being treated at work. Every part of their day was being tracked and recorded. Even going to the bathroom had become an ordeal. Too long off the job in a single day could result [...]
For Tennessee lawmaker, Black Maternal Health Week is personal
In 2019, less than a year after London Lamar was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, she suffered a devastating late-term pregnancy loss. Lamar herself nearly lost her life. Since then, the Memphis-born Democrat has gained attention as a champion of maternal health issues in her role as a state legislator. Most recently, she introduced a resolution recognizing the [...]
Elizabeth Spiers on her Southern roots, the ‘Bubble’ and the future of media
How did a woman from small town Alabama become a key player in New York media? It’s part of a long tradition of Southern expats playing a role in shaping the national conversation.
North Carolina lawmakers propose Black maternal health legislation
A group of North Carolina legislators filed their own “Momnibus” act this month, a collection of state-level bills meant to address Black maternal health and the factors that contribute to disparities in health care, particularly for women of color. The act was inspired by the federal Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021, introduced in Congress earlier [...]
Fight over Mississippi medical cannabis gets airing in state’s high court
The saga of medical cannabis in Mississippi just won’t end, but we’re one step closer to knowing the fate of the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis provision, Initiative 65. The Mississippi Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments from lawyers representing Mary Hawkins Butler, mayor of Madison, an affluent suburb north of [...]
No matter how many degrees I earn, my imposter syndrome never goes away
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. by Tina Bausinger I grew up working class poor. My parents moved to Springdale, Arkansas in 1980, and our house only [...]
Beautiful, sacred and powerful: Inside the roller coaster fight for trans kids in Arkansas
When Arkansas became the first state to ban healthcare for transgender youth, Rumba Yambú felt both hurt and hope. A trans organizer, Yambú has spent the past four years creating a refuge of resources for Black, brown and immigrant trans people after co-founding InTRANSitive in Little Rock, Ark. The trans [...]
In a rural Alabama town, young Southerners have created their own ‘magical community’
Sarah Cole, 32, is relaxing on the front porch swing with her partner, Robert Fitzpatrick, when her phone buzzes. It’s a text from their friend, Tim Higgins, inviting them over. Tim and his partner, Aaron Head, live just across the street. The spring breeze ruffles at least half a dozen different windchimes strung along the porch [...]
Biden gun control plan: Why reducing firearms in the South will be tough
President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order that would close a loophole that allows the sale of untraceable guns and accessories, and proposed new legislation for the states that would prevent high risk people from obtaining guns. The order comes in the wake of mass shootings in Atlanta and, [...]
How the Biden infrastructure plan addresses racial disparities
In the 70 years that have passed since the sprawling interstate highway system was built, which destroyed many Black and brown communities throughout the country and prompted decades of ignored protests, there has been little effort by the federal government to reverse the damage. A massive new federal program could [...]
This Alabama nonprofit is fighting ‘period poverty’ and restoring dignity to menstruating people
Aiko Pickering, a recent college graduate and Mobile, Ala., native, started Monthly in November 2020 to raise awareness about period poverty and provide menstrual products to people who need them. Researchers found that 64% of women were unable to afford period products in 2017, according to a study conducted in [...]
How self-care and blogging changed my life
By Cherith Fluker I could start this essay by griping about how terrible 2020 was to me. But that probably wouldn’t grab your attention because I’m sure you’d have a comeback for every single complaint or problem that I listed. Your response would probably match or exceed whatever gruesome event [...]
Arekia Bennett: Reading, watching, listening on voter suppression
Right now, the situation in Georgia involving a freshly signed set of new voting restrictions, Gov. Brian Kemp, the Atlanta Braves, Major League Baseball and Stacey Abrams and other ballot-access advocates has all the dramatic tension of one of The Sandlot gang smacking a baseball into Hercules' domain. The fate [...]
Black Southerners and vaccination rates: Why transportation access is key
The racial inequities of the COVID-19 pandemic have been well documented over the last year. A disproportionate number of African Americans have died from the disease, while the subsequent economic and social impact hit Black people much harder than their white counterparts. And in solving the crisis, people of color [...]
Southern Black queer icons you should follow along with Lil Nas X
Black Joy is a weekly round up of how Black people are finding and cultivating joy in their lives in a world that is dedicated to oppressing them. How are you celebrating your Black Joy? Send me an email at jdunigan@reckonsouth.com and share your happiness and laughter with us! Also, take a minute to [...]
What my first mammogram taught me about sisterhood
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Caryn Bell Mammograms are not fun. I had my first one recently. A COVID screening check-in served as a vivid [...]
Finding therapists, mental health resources that don’t break the bank
Depression alone is a $210.5 billion annual burden on the U.S. economy. For most, healing comes with a large price tag. And with unemployment hitting record highs during the pandemic, mental health resources and therapy sessions might hit the back burner. But Chelsea Goldman, a therapist in South Carolina, believes [...]
Dr. Patience Hodges Claybon: A medical pioneer, advocate for Black med students in Alabama
Born May 24, 1946, Patience Hodges Claybon was a physician and the first African American woman to graduate from the UAB School of Medicine. When Claybon was a child, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood became the first Black students to attend the University of Alabama. After graduating from Burrell [...]
Why payday loan use is up in the pandemic, and how you can avoid them
Payday lenders targeting low-income people is nothing new. The short term, high interest loans, which are often catered to minorities in rural areas, have the potential to create a spiral of debt that many struggle to free themselves from. In 2018, for example, over 33,000 payday loans were taken out [...]
Gladys Love Avery Tillett: A N.C. native who encouraged political activism among women
Gladys Love Avery Tillett was an American organizer and activist born in Morgantown, N.C., in 1891. She graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1917 with a political science degree and eventually went on to continue her education at Columbia University. She was an early supporter of the Equal [...]
I moved during the pandemic. Will my stimulus check find me?
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of Americans continued to move around the country in 2020. Aside from packing up your life and throwing it into a van, you also have the laborious task of changing your address on all the many important on and offline accounts we’ve all opened throughout [...]
How Birmingham’s Thank You Books created community, found success through pandemic
Laura Cotten, Kristen Iskandrian and Elizabeth Goodrich wanted a home for Birmingham’s literary and author community. They were proud of the city’s rich history of storytellers and avid readers and felt like something was missing within the city limits. The three friends opened Thank You Books in mid-December 2019, just [...]
Black Joy: Southern hip hop history and creating your own getaway at home
Ready to jive, y'all? I've known from a very young age that music is a powerful tool. It's not only a medium where we can talk about our own triumphs, traumas and hoe tales (lol). Music is an energy magician that can lift entire moods. OutKast members André "3000" Benjamin [...]
Tips on using your stimulus when your funds are already low
Since the most recent Covid stimulus bill was enacted earlier this month, the U.S. government has already provided around 90 million Americans with all or some of $1,400 payment. This week 20 million more will receive the money via mailed check and prepaid debit cards. The next big question is, [...]
Black Power Heals: DeJuana Thompson sees travel as a love language
The “Black Power Heals” series exploring how our Southern Black freedom fighters from both past and present found peace and joy. You can click here to read more about how Black Southern women incorporated self-care techniques like yoga and meditation into their activism. Also, take a minute to check out and join the Black [...]
Beverly Wright: She’s spent a lifetime sounding the alarm on environmental racism
Born close to a highly polluted area along the Lower Mississippi River in Louisiana, Dr. Beverly Wright’s childhood experiences helped shape her research on the racial inequalities created by climate change. In 1992, she founded the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University in New Orleans. The organization, [...]
Growing Up Asian in Alabama
When I was a child, I grew up seeing essentially no one who looked like me in Alabama. I’m a transracial adoptee, so my family is white and we lived in very white neighborhoods. It was also a time when there was very little representation of Asian American and Pacific [...]
The Reckon Interview delivers the Southern stories that shape America
The Reckon Interview is for the people who know that Southern stories don’t just shape the South. They shape America.
How Alabamians are rallying to protect trans youth
Not far from Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, where Alabama state troopers once attacked voting rights activists, a Black and transgender-led nonprofit is fighting off attacks on the lives of transgender youth. The strategy for The Knights and Orchids Society, Inc., known as TKO, takes many forms. On social media, TKO [...]
Black Joy: Black magic shows out at the Grammys and meditations
Alexa, play “Crown” by Chika It’s my first Black Joy of me being 29 and twenty-fine. I thought walking into the last year of your 20s would put me into some type of headspace during my recent birthday. But with Miss Rona shutting down my birthday plans last year and [...]
Racism and purity culture: Atlanta shootings show how they’re linked
When Angie Hong heard about the purported “sex addiction” of the Atlanta mass shooting suspect and his so-called need to “take out that temptation,” she thought about purity culture and the blame-shifting that men embedded in it use to justify their behavior, including violence. Ministers and activists say the [...]
Pauli Murray: A civil rights leader, writer and queer trailblazer
Pauli Murray was born in 1910 in Baltimore. Yes, Maryland is considered the South, but stay with us. We want to claim this woman as a Southern icon. She became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1938 and attempted to integrate the University of North Carolina School of Law. [...]
Phyllis Hill: Atlanta organizer advocating to end mass incarceration, reduce gun violence
Phyllis Hill was born in 1979 in Hazelhurst, Ga., a small predominantly white city of 5,000 people. Her grandmother, a staunch missionary Baptist and an educator, primarily raised her and inspired her to become a prominent Black leader and organizer in the South, as well as having a deep appreciation [...]
Moms and daughters: What Birmingham public servants Crystal and Carole Smitherman learned from each other
Reckon Women’s series on Southern mothers and daughters who share the same profession is part of Reckon’s celebration of Women’s History Month. Crystal Smitherman, 27, is a Birmingham city councilor for District 6, the same district where her mother Carole Smitherman served as city councilor in the early 2000s. She’s also an attorney, like her mother, who is now a Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge. [...]
Combating anti-Asian hate: Here’s a list of resources across the South
The killing of eight people in Atlanta Tuesday, which included six Asian women who worked at massage parlors, has come amid growing discrimination and violence against the Asian community across the country since the pandemic began a year ago. While official FBI data documenting hate crimes from 2020 will not [...]
‘Please don’t leave me alone:’ More than the baby blues
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Eleanor Billington “Please, please don’t leave me alone.” These were the words I spoke to my spouse as he headed [...]
Fred Hampton’s deep Southern ties
Many American schools usually keep their Black History curriculum on the Civil Rights Movement narrowed to just a handful of people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks — of course — John Lewis and his heroic act on Bloody Sunday and maybe a brief mention of Malcolm X. Most students never learn about Fred Hampton, whose story is the subject of the recently [...]
Moms and daughters: What Toyota plant workers Angela and Destini Stewart learned from each other
Reckon Women’s series on Southern mothers and daughters who share the same profession is part of Reckon’s celebration of Women’s History Month. Angela Stewart and her daughter, Destini Stewart, try to eat lunch together whenever they can. The two women work at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Huntsville, Ala. Angela began working at the plant in [...]
Moms and daughters: What attorneys Elizabeth and Wesley Smithart learned from each other
Reckon Women’s series on Southern mothers and daughters who share the same profession is part of Reckon’s celebration of Women’s History Month. The first time newly minted attorney Wesley Smithart attended a meeting of the Women’s Section of the Alabama Bar Association, she got to watch her mother, Elizabeth Smithart, lead the meeting as chair. The two women, both graduates of the University [...]
Black Power Heals: Alice Walker
The “Black Power Heals” series exploring how our Southern Black freedom fighters from both past and present found peace and joy. You can click here to read more about how Black Southern women incorporated self-care techniques like yoga and meditation into their activism. Also, take a minute to check out and join the Black [...]
Black Joy: Piping hot British tea and the power of Black holistic healing
Y’all had fun trying to take down the British royal family? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s chat with Oprah Winfrey was aired on Sunday and y’aaaallll, the tea was piping hot. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex exposed a lot of the racism and colorism that harmed their family and left them unprotected in multiple ways (they have [...]
Ronni Mott: She broke the story about Mississippi’s last attempted execution
Ronni Mott (neé Beate Veronika Frisch) was a reporter and editor in Mississippi. Born in Germany to Austrian parents on July 12, 1956, she was raised in New York City and Fairfax, Va., where she graduated from high school. She attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Mott [...]
Black Power Heals: Angela Davis
The “Black Power Heals” series exploring how our Southern Black freedom fighters from both past and present found peace and joy. You can click here to read more about how Black Southern women incorporated self-care techniques like yoga and meditation into their activism. Also, take a minute to check out and join the Black [...]
Future of Mississippi medical cannabis hazy after bill goes down in flames
The hotly debated and evolving Mississippi SB 2765 failed today as the house of representatives failed to take up the bill before today's legislative deadline. After the bill was declared dead, a late afternoon amendment to HB 119 - "Harper Grace's Law" - means SB 2765 could be resurrected from [...]
More than cookies: The importance of Girl Scouts in my life
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Millie Jackson Long before Women’s History Month was established in 1981, I was involved in celebrating the achievements of girls [...]
Black Power Heals: Rosa Parks
The "Black Power Heals" series exploring how our Southern Black freedom fighters from both past and present found peace and joy. You can click here to read more about how Black Southern women incorporated self-care techniques like yoga and meditation into their activism. Also, take a minute to check out and join the [...]
Black Power Heals: Southern self-care is activism
Southern activists have shown how self-care is activism throughout out our nation’s history. Their autobiographies, family memories, poetry and prose detail how Black women found self-care as an act of liberation. Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans, professor and director of the Institute for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State [...]
Black Joy: Rosa Parks’ yoga practice
Black History Month is over, but Black girl magic has strutted into the chat because it is Women’s History Month. I think there is no end when it comes to honoring the power of Black women. When they march, fight or break glass ceilings, they take everybody with them. My [...]
Virginia just abolished the death penalty. Is there a path for other Southern states to do the same?
About a decade ago, Virginia Republican state Sen. Bill Stanley made a decision that cost him three years of his political career. He helped kill a Republican-sponsored bill that would have expanded the death penalty to include accomplices of the so-called “triggerman.” In other words, a person who hadn’t killed [...]
Why I’m teaching Black history all year long
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Janelle Graham Last month, around the third week of February, I sat down with my 9th grade students to discuss [...]
Will my stimmy be taxed? Nope, but your unemployment might
It’s March, which means tax season is in full swing. Filing your 2020 taxes could get complicated (what else is new about 2020?) Virtually no one was untouched by major financial changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay-at-home orders forced businesses to close, leading to layoffs and the largest number [...]
Black Joy: We are more than our resilience
Well y’all, we may have reached the end of the Blackity-Blackest month of the year. Our Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok feeds were awash with Black history – and, oddly, facts about my favorite Black sitcoms. We sat through webinars honoring the movement workers of today and yesterday. Our children [...]
Self-care is your crown
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Toya Poplar The word “self-care” is thrown around a lot these days. But what exactly is self-care? Self-care is care [...]
New PPP federal stimulus could boost women, minority businesses. Here are the details
After being shut out of early coronavirus relief, minority business owners are set for a major boost over the next two weeks after President Joe Biden’s administration opened a window of opportunity aimed at helping America’s smallest and neediest businesses. Starting February 24, there will be new rules for the [...]
The execution that did not happen: How Alabama’s Christian Nationalism unwittingly saved Willie Smith’s life
The morning after Willie Smith was not executed by the state of Alabama, his attorney Spencer Hahn shared a video he said encapsulated his reaction to learning that the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the stay of execution. It stars Bob Odenkirk as a salesman so terrible he has never [...]
Black Joy: How Mardi Gras good times rolled – through snow, sleet and ice
I said burr! It’s cold in here. There must be some Black Joy in the atmosphere! Alright, let’s chill with the “Bring It On” vibes. 2021 is already looking to be a wild card type of year. But a pandemic and a rare winter snowstorm couldn’t shut down the spirit [...]
Medical cannabis in Mississippi: Here’s where things stand
Last Friday, the Mississippi state Senate approved a medical cannabis bill, SB 2765, during a 1 a.m. vote. But, doesn't Mississippi already have a medical cannabis program? The legitimacy of voter-selected Initiative 65 is being debated in the Mississippi Supreme Court, but medical cannabis advocates are pushing forward with preparing [...]
So you’re vaccinated. What will you do next?
As the COVID-19 vaccination becomes more readily available to Southerners, more questions arise. We asked our Reckon followers about their plans after getting their vaccines, and the responses were varied. Southern states have received the lowest number of vaccinations so far. In Georgia, only 9.8% of residents have received their [...]
Purity culture and the perception of singleness
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By JP Austin Picture yourself at a large Southern family gathering, surrounded by more than a few of your closest relatives [...]
Black Joy: Girl Scouts patch up a hole in the telling of Black history
When your school lacks Black history, give us…..Girl Scout cookies? Not exactly, but y’all should really support Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama because one of the nonprofit’s alumnae created a patch honoring Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair – Birmingham’s four little girls who were [...]
Workplace pregnancy protections proposed by Alabama lawmakers
Alabama lawmakers are eyeing several proposals that could have significant impact on the rights of pregnant people and, specifically, pregnant workers. Here’s a quick look at the proposed bills: Pregnant workers The most comprehensive is the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, HB 352, sponsored by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham. It would require all employers to provide reasonable accommodations for [...]
Taking a stand for love next Valentine’s Day
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Carla Youngblood As Valentine’s Day approaches, I reflect on my love life (well, the lack thereof) and wonder how I [...]
Sweeping Black maternal health reforms proposed in Congress
African American moms could get better health care under a series of proposals recently introduced in Congress. This week, the congressional Black Maternal Health Caucus introduced a sprawling legislative package aimed at improving health outcomes for mothers and addressing glaring racial disparities in maternal health. Dubbed the Black Maternal Health [...]
Tuskegee to COVID: A Black doctor on medical racism and overcoming vaccine skepticism
You might have heard of the Tuskegee experiment. It was initially pitched as a six-month study of Black men with syphilis who, in exchange for their cooperation, were told they would be treated for free by the federal government. They never received treatment and the experiment continued for 40 years. [...]
Virginia could become first Southern state to ‘legalize’ cannabis
Virginia could become the first state in the South to decriminalize adult use of cannabis. Two bills legalizing adult possession of cannabis and creating a structure for the cultivation, testing, sale and tax of cannabis products in Virginia were approved by the House of Delegates and Senate last week. The [...]
How Alabama activists pushed a major bank to cut ties with a private prison firm
When Cara McClure met with Regions Bank executives on Jan. 26 in Birmingham, she felt inspired to tell them a story illustrating how a bank can contribute to the destruction of Black communities. She took them back to 1993, when she was stuck at home while pregnant with her son. [...]
The Black joy in Black History Month
Happy “Move, I’m Black” month, y’all! While our melanin magic shines year-round, it’s that time of the year when we flex our Blackness extra hard while honoring our ancestors, celebrities, past and present movement workers and current history makers. I particularly loved this story from Black With No Chaser, a Black-centered multimedia website, about [...]
Southern states pushing anti-abortion bills despite Biden’s vow to protect Roe
President Joe Biden has promised to codify Roe V. Wade on the 48th anniversary of its passing, but states across the South show no signs of letting up on anti-abortion-related bills this legislative season. According to Planned Parenthood, more than 100 bills targeting abortion and abortion access.have been introduced in [...]
Dry January: I gave up alcohol and took up cheesecake
Alcohol is sort of like a social utility. We use it to make friends, to ease awkward situations, or to diffuse arguments, say. It’s ever present at family gatherings, if only to make them more bearable. It can make you happy, sad, angry and anxious, among other things. Ernest Hemingway [...]
Southern states, high in STI and teen births rates, eye sex-ed changes
Sex ed is on the mind of legislators across the South. Florida, Alabama and Mississippi are considering bills that could bring major changes to the type of sex education taught in their classrooms. Every Southern state requires all sex education to emphasize abstinence-until-marriage as the best choice for young people. Under these state laws, schools must emphasize that [...]
To keep or not to keep: on things that spark joy
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Jane Patten I could never claim to be like Marie Kondo, the decluttering guru who recommends giving away items that [...]
How queer Southerners find community through social media
“People kind of look at it like ‘queer’ and ‘Southern’ are on opposite ends of the same spectrum. They are not. They are wildly different. One is a social community and one is your family and heritage.”
For these Southern Republicans, the future of conservatism isn’t on Fox News
Mississippi native Mandy Gunasekara scoffs at the notion that the GOP is in disarray. In fact, Republicans are more energized than ever, said the veteran Republican strategist Gunasekara, who most recently served as chief of staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump Administration, now runs a political consulting firm, Section [...]
Be ‘kool’ and embrace Black joy
What were you known for in elementary school? Were you known as the weird one? The cool cat? Teacher’s pet? The teacher’s turmoil? Whoever you were back then, 9-year-old Brendan “BJ” Boggus want you and every other kid to know that you’re “kool”. So much so, the future entrepreneur and his mother, [...]
‘If I want settled, I have to choose settled. It starts in my heart’
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Kathryn Lang Every time I got it all together, someone seemed to move the middle, and I was left starting [...]
Pandemic got you numb? Therapists have a word for it: Compassion fatigue
We've lived through too many "unprecedented events" in 2020 and now, in 2021. Feeling numb? There's a term for it, and Reckon spoke to the expert who coined it.
Reckon with us: Our fellowship offers a paid master’s degree and full-time job opportunity
How would you like to earn a paid master’s degree while working at one of the hottest media companies in the country? Reckon and Advance Local Media are offering an exciting and unique opportunity for you to pursue a paid online master’s degree with the Newhouse School of Communications within Syracuse University, while [...]
QAnon, Pizzagate and the Deep State: How to talk to the conspiracy theorists you love
Does it feel like the last 12 years have been thoroughly dominated by conspiracy theories? We’ve had President Barack Obama’s birth certificate conspiracy, Pizzagate, QAnon and now disproven theories that the election was stolen. Before that, conspiracy theories about such events as the assassination of JFK, the moon landings and [...]
The inauguration of Black Joy
Biden who? Oh, that’s right. President Joe Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday, but the parade of Black magic stole the show historically, fashionably, poetically. Alla that! It spilled into our homes as Black and brown women slipped on their pearls and Chucks to watch the inauguration with their daughters. And I am banking on a theory those Bernie memes got their start [...]
From life-mate to playmate: how Alzheimer’s transformed my marriage
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Renée Brown Harmon, MD The world my husband, Harvey, embodied “before” was quiet, reflective, thoughtful, and responsible. Harvey’s world “after” [...]
Ga. factory worker, fired after miscarriage scare, sues ex-employer over attendance policy
Seven days after Georgia mom Kaytiara McAlister learned she was pregnant, that pregnancy cost her job, according to a new federal lawsuit.. McAlister claims she was fired from her job at a manufacturing center in west Georgia after leaving her shift early due to severe abdominal pain and heavy bleeding related to her pregnancy. Her employer, TydenBrooks, claims in court documents the company did nothing wrong. But McAlister, in court documents and an interview with [...]
Rev. James Woodall: Georgia isn’t blue. It’s Black
The same day two Democratic senators secured their U.S. Senate seats, the Georgia NAACP tweeted: Georgia is not blue. It’s Black. Black ballots helped President-elect Joe Biden win his campaign. Black women and grassroots activists reinvigorated voter engagement, which led to record-breaking voter turnout. Young Black Georgians like 26-year-old the Rev. James Woodall are [...]
‘Dry January’ isn’t just a challenge, it’s about taking back control
Coronavirus has severely limited the amount of time we can spend around other people. But it hasn’t all been good news. It’s also turned us into a bunch of drunks, heightened by the booze-heavy holiday season. For many, January represents a period of reflection, a reset of sorts. It's an [...]
The legacy of Black Joy
The first two weeks of 2021 have felt like a whole month to me. But I managed to catch a theme despite the chaos this week, and that is: What is your Black joy legacy? While we often talk about legacies when our folks are no longer with us, it’s important to note how our words and actions build our legacies in the present day. [...]
The ‘hate buffet’: Why designating hate groups is harder than ever
As the country continues to reflect on the deadly armed riot at the U.S. Capitol building last week, an event that stirred anger throughout the country and in Congress, it also appeared to highlight an uncomfortable alliance: the relationship between mainstream politics and far-right hate groups. Several known hate groups [...]
Reframing purity culture, step by step
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By: Lea Ervin Growing up, I didn’t have a purity ring, nor did I attend an elaborate ball pledging my purity [...]
Gabrielle Perry: Progressing criminal justice reform for Black women
Gabrielle Perry found some of the nicest women she has ever met within the pink-walled holding cells of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in January 2014. Then 21, the Louisiana native was arrested for committing payroll fraud during a time when her father’s death left her scavenging for money to pay for bills and medical expenses for her ill mother. Her charges have since been expunged, [...]
Was the attack on Congress un-American? Yes and no, historians say
In the minutes after pro-Trump rioters breached the halls of Congress, members of Congress and other elected officials took to social media to express their disappointment in the pro-Trump demonstrators' actions. “America is so much better than what we’re seeing today,” President-elect Joe Biden said in a tweet. The tweet [...]
Rep. Mo Brooks has sponsored just one bill that became law. What else has he done in Congress?
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks has sponsored just one bill that made it into law during his decade in Congress: the renaming of a U.S. Post Office in Alabama. Brooks, the embattled and unapologetic congressman from northern Alabama, has come under pressure after helping mobilize a contentious challenge of the recent [...]
Capitol riot: The 48 hours that echoed generations of Southern conflict
Hours after Mississippi legislators took the final step of removing a Confederate emblem from their state banner, a violent white mob waved the rebel flag as it ransacked the U.S. Capitol. The ratification of a new Magnolia flag followed a year in which white Southerners were forced to confront the [...]
‘Do it scared’: 8 tips by a Southern Black yogi to get you together
So, let’s be real for a moment. Did seeing white fragility on full display at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday distract you from your goals this year? No judgment if all that craziness threw you off. That’s understandable. Consider this inspiring story about Birmingham’s Black yogi, Adi Devta Kaur, to get you back on track. This time last year, Kaur, also known as [...]
Medical cannabis proposals blaze across the South
Three more Southern states could soon create medical cannabis programs. State legislators in Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina have filed or pre-filed bills establishing such programs. These states would join Mississippi, the latest state to adopt a medical cannabis program, making it the 35th state to legalize medical cannabis. Mississippi used a ballot measure to get medical [...]
Ain’t nothing too big for Black Joy
I’ll be honest with y’all. I didn't know how to open this week’s Black Joy. I've considered multiple angles. Like, should I start this off funny by saying “If this year had a headline, it would read ‘2021: See, what had happen was….’” Or should I lead with some poignant [...]
‘This is exhausting’: Therapists speak up about the pandemic, the weight they carry
Thousands of Americans have tried out therapy in the wake of 2020. Mental health awareness is up, but therapists are slammed.
Georgia officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Georgia officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Louisiana officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Louisiana officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Mississippi officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Mississippi officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prominent Alabamians on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Alabama officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Arkansas officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Arkansas officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Florida officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Florida officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Kentucky officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Kentucky officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tennessee officials on the U.S. Capitol breach
This is how Tennessee officials responded to the mob raid at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Which lives matter? Police response to Capitol mob and BLM vastly different
On Jan. 6, 2021, the routine effort from the U.S. Congress to certify the 2020 presidential election turned into an afternoon filled with chaos, death and what incoming President Joe Biden called borderline sedition. Pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in reaction to the election results. Four people died and [...]
Feeling some type of way? Contact your lawmaker
Education. Taxes. Healthcare. Zoning ordinances. Roads. Benefits. Your elected officials make a lot of decisions that affect your life at the local, state and federal levels. And you have the power to influence their decisions – whether it’s through your personal story, your expertise or your persistence. The 2021 legislative [...]
Electoral College showdown: How Southern Congress members voted on confirming Biden’s win
The vote of whether to confirm the Electoral College's 2020 election results happen on Jan. 6, 2020. Here's how it went.
Noah Harris: How to give people a reason to stay in Mississippi
Like his home state, Mississippi native Noah Harris caught attention in November when he became the first Black man to be elected to serve as Harvard University’s student body president. The 20-year-old junior and government major and his running mate, Jenny Gan, ran a campaign to make sure no Harvard student was left behind during the roller coaster ride of 2020. The pair rented a local warehouse [...]
Southern therapists on preparing for colder, darker days
Self-care doesn't have to cost $39.99 plus tax. It can be as simple as intentional breathing and taking a walk.
Some voted Trump, some backed Biden. What are their hopes for the future?
Both President Trump and the Biden/Harris campaign touted coalitions of voters supporting their campaigns. There were Climate Voters for Biden. Sportsmen for Trump. Latinos for both. With Congress set to certify the election results and the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president, [...]
11 Twitter handles to guide you through the Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs
Notwithstanding a tight race or maybe a last-minute phone call from the outgoing U.S. president, the good people of Georgia will find out in the next 36 hours which two candidates will represent them in the U.S. Senate. Should voters in the Peach State disrupt the status quo and elect [...]
New year, same Black Joy
On the last day of 2020, I read jokes on social media going around about black-eyed peas. A tried-and-true tradition was turned into a cautionary tale: Don’t soak them peas this year. They didn’t bring us a lick of luck of 2020. We’re walking into 2021 with new traditions. I laughed and [...]
New documentary highlights a year in the South we’d love to forget, but shouldn’t
The short film is now streaming on Youtube, and you can read more about the process of filming here.
A look back at Reckon Women Voices essays that will inspire you to write your own
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from women in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to join the Reckon Women Facebook group. By Javacia Harris Bowser I love a good superhero story. On December 25, I sported a Wonder Woman Christmas sweater to [...]
Mimi Cole: The South’s lovely becoming through healing
With 2020 coming to a close, Mimi Cole can sense a deep healing coming for the South. She has watched the South shift and change as she spends her formative years throughout the region. A Virginia native, Cole went to Vanderbilt University, where she was inspired to be a therapist focusing on eating disorders and obsessive [...]
How to Have a Perfectly Imperfect Christmas
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By: Linda Lyle In 1994 I was teaching English in Seoul, South Korea [...]
The Reckon List 2021: These people are fighting to build the future South
Chokwe Lumumba, the late mayor of Jackson, Miss., used to say, "To change America, you have to change the South." That's been true since the first enslaved Africans were delivered to Virginia in 1619, a year before the Pilgrims landed up North, since the federal government was forced to cut [...]
At this COVID-19 unit, things were getting better. Now, its nurses fear a ‘tsunami’ is coming
Working in a hospital COVID-19 unit right now feels a little like being in a disaster flick, said Jake Perkins. A 24-year-old registered nurse in a medical intensive care unit at UAB, he’s caring for the hospital’s sickest COVID-19 patients. “It reminds me of a movie about a tsunami,” he told Reckon. “You turn around and you see this wave coming at you.” Recently, UAB Hospital hit a [...]
Black Joy: Black women, future Olympian winning during pandemic
Reach deeeep into the depths of your memory and see if you can recall when you were asked this question: What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you remember what age you were or what your answer was? Fireman? Astronaut? Yeah. I feel like kids aren’t even waiting to be asked that question anymore. [...]
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Janelle Graham Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas Day will look [...]
New cannabis trade group hopes to ‘revolutionize’ Mississippi economy
Mississippi now has a trade association to provide information and support to those hoping to participate in the state’s soon-to-be medical marijuana program. The newly formed Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association aims to help people interested in growing, cultivating and distributing medical cannabis, said founding member Melvin C. Robinson III. “Mississippians are known for agriculture. [...]
Mississippi teacher shortage fueled by student loan crisis, report shows
Over the last seven years, Mississippi’s public education system has seen a sharp decline in the number of students graduating from in-state teaching programs and pre-qualified teachers coming from different states. This is exacerbated by low and stagnating salaries and the rising cost of college education, according to a new [...]
Amber Scales: Help Black women create a new South
While growing up in Georgia, Amber Scales learned that politics wasn’t so much about red and blue parties: it’s about the people and the movements that are making sure everyone is represented and heard. Her lessons came from watching what she calls “community care practitioners” in her family. Among them, her mother, Juliette, an attorney-turned-Fulton County juvenile court judge. Scales started her journey as next generation movement worker at the University of Alabama where she challenged “The Machine,” [...]
The Black joy of Black excellence
Turn to your neighbor and say: “Your black excellence is magic.” Notice I said “your” Black excellence, which doesn’t have to be this big, golden star achievement. You kept your business afloat despite the pandemic? Black excellence. You learned about the liberating power of rest this year? Black excellence. Your day went all [...]
Purity culture followed me into marriage. Here’s why I wish it didn’t.
I wore a purity ring until my wedding day. On my wedding night, I was so nervous and scared I broke out in hives, much to the confusion of my husband. I grew up in a Christian household and attended a Christian school. I was taught that if I [...]
Congress could decriminalize marijuana, but that won’t make it legal everywhere
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that decriminalizes cannabis on the federal level. The bill will now go to the Senate, where its fate could be determined by which party has the majority. U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris are the [...]
10 HBCU grads making boss moves in the South
By Abbey Crain Reckon staff writer The 2020 election gave HBCU graduates a chance to shine, bringing to the forefront the fruits of historically Black institutions. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a Howard University graduate, became the first woman and first Black woman elected vice president. Stacey Abrams, a Spelman College [...]
Looking for better sex education? Try these resources
If you read our series on purity culture and sex education in the South and you’re hoping to make sex education better for your children and community, we’ve complied a list of resources to help you have better conversations about sexuality and relationships. For parents Talking to your children about their bodies and sex can be [...]
These people are making sex education better in the South
Toy Rollins knew she had to find some way to talk to her two older daughters about sex after she learned her children’s Atlanta-area charter school wasn’t planning to teach a robust sex education curriculum. Rollins, who also grew up in Georgia, said she expected her children to get the same sex [...]
After my dad quit his job, I received the best Christmas gift ever
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Caryn Bell The memory of being 10 years old is foggy [...]
Purity culture can impact long-term sexual health
This story is part of a series about purity culture, sex education and the role of family, faith and communities in addressing the lasting impacts of purity culture’s teachings. Cultural norms surrounding sex in the South can lead to long-lasting physical effects such sexual dysfunction, sexually transmitted infections and gynecological cancers, experts say. Many [...]
Experts say purity culture teaches boys an unrealistic view of sexuality
The gender roles assigned to men via purity culture further perpetuate sexual dissatisfaction and unrealistic relationship expectations, sex educators say. While a large portion of research on purity culture has focused on how the ideology has affected women and girls, these same gender expectations enforce an unrealistic view of [...]
David and Devin: Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance
The South has always been the stage of many forms of the country’s progress. Theatre creatives Devin Franklin and David Parker want more nuanced Black, queer narratives in the spotlight. Between finishing classes at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and doing groundbreaking work with other creatives of color, 21-year-old Devin Franklin and 22-year-old David Parker, who both use he/they pronouns, host a podcast called “The Queer Code.” The themes range from humorous quarantine takes to emotionally raw rants [...]
Student loan debt hits Black students hardest. Is help on the way?
James Craig, a 31-year-old Black man from Prichard, in South Alabama, has a complicated history with education. His father wouldn’t allow him to attend the local Black-majority high school, instead sending him to a school with better resources 10 miles away, where he was one of the few students of [...]
‘Come to church, we have the best sex:’ Christian leaders rethink purity culture messaging
This story is part of a series about purity culture, sex education and the role of family, faith and communities in addressing the lasting impacts of purity culture's teachings. John Paul Basham remembers, when he was a teenager, participating in a sexual abstinence program called True Love Waits at his Southern Baptist [...]
A conversation with Joshua Harris on “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”
This story is part of a series about purity culture, sex education and the role of family, faith and communities in addressing the lasting impacts of purity culture's teachings. Joshua Harris’ book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” was published in 1997. More than 1 million copies of the book have [...]
Purity culture: How sex was taught to a generation of Southerners
This story is part of a series about purity culture, sex education and the role of family, faith and communities in addressing the lasting impacts of purity culture's teachings Rings promising chastity passed from fathers to daughters. Virginity pledges signed at school assemblies. Flower petals torn from stems to symbolize the [...]
Biden will extend student loan forbearance to Sept. 30. Here’s what you need to know.
In one of his first actions as president, newly sworn President Joe Biden will ask the Education Department to extend the student loan forbearance to Sept. 30, 2021. This extension replaces the previous Jan. 31 expiration date for student loan forbearance enacted by Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The original [...]
Unjustifiable Chapter 5: Who is George Sands?
Who is Officer George Sands? The Birmingham police officer had amassed more than a dozen complaints before fatally shooting Bonita Carter.
Steven McIntyre: Serving up southern progress on a plate
Steve McIntyre is making a career of whipping up poetry on a plate. The 27-year-old Mobile, Ala., native gives his French-style fine dining training southern flare at Birmingham’s Eat At Panoptic food truck. Braised oxtails seasoned with the “Cajun Holy Trinity” of onion, bell pepper and celery perched atop a bed of sweet potato gnocchi and shrimp and grits [...]
Black Joy: Finding healing, meaning and solutions through art
It’s time to move our beautiful bodies with your weekly dose of Black Joy. Kicking things off with a video of Rachel Simonne performing an empowering, black-fist raising dance she dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Sustainable fashion continues Alabama sock entrepreneur’s family business
Reckon Women partnered with seven women-owned small businesses and creators whose stories illustrate the grit, innovation and creativity we admire, and together we curated holiday gift boxes for our readers to purchase. Click here to support these women creators with your purchase.. Gina Locklear was not planning on getting into the [...]
How I applied my PR strategies to survive my own life crises
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By: Chasiti Shepherd Amid a global pandemic, I sit back and reflect on another [...]
OPINION | It’s time to address the trauma of adoption
Contributed By Mila Konomos and Rebecca Seung-Bickley Another November has passed us by. For those not already aware, November is designated as National Adoption Awareness Month, or as adoptees like myself prefer to call it, National Adoptee Awareness Month (NAAM). I do not think it is coincidence that the month [...]
Women-owned printmaking studio creates space for Alabama artists to make a statement
Reckon Women partnered with seven women-owned small businesses and creators whose stories illustrate the grit, innovation and creativity we admire, and together we curated holiday gift boxes for our readers to purchase. Click here to support these women creators with your purchase.. Rachel Lackey fell in love with printmaking in college [...]
Unjustifiable Chapter Four: Catching the devil on all sides
Just sixteen years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched through Birmingham, the election of 1979 would prove pivotal for Black residents exercising their voting power.
5 ways to shop smarter this holiday season
The holidays are here, which means you’re already getting holiday catalogs in the mail and seeing holiday sale commercials on TV. It’s tempting to pull out that department store credit card to make the magic happen at the holidays, but is the debt worth it? Reckon video producer Kavolshaia Howze talked to Callie Jowers, a certified [...]
Kat Files: Stop sleeping on Black southern talent
Birminghamian Kat Files doesn’t appreciate people side-eyeing Black creatives from the South. It’s a problem 28-year-old Files has bumped into multiple times as a professional dancer, model, and actress in New York City. Her passion for the arts has guided her to many opportunities, like being accepted into to the prestigious Fordham University/Ailey School BFA program [...]
All I want for Christmas is Black Joy
It’s beginning to look a lot like a Black Joy Christmas. Please, tell me you sung that. Ok, the tempo may be a little off, but you get the gist. It’s finally time to break out the sparkling tinsel and lights and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year without being side-eyed for [...]
8 women activists minding the gap in the South
The South is home to the most diverse people, landscapes and culture in the country. We have so much to be proud of. But our governments are often stagnant, disproportionately stocked with white men and ineffective when it comes to taking care of vulnerable communities. But minding the gap are [...]
Jacqueline McMillan finds healing in wood-carving after losing limbs to sepsis
Reckon Women partnered with seven women-owned small businesses and creators whose stories illustrate the grit, innovation and creativity we admire, and together we curated holiday gift boxes for our readers to purchase. Click here to support these women creators with your purchase.. Jacqueline McMillan likes to watch customers browse in [...]
Learning to live in the present even in a pandemic
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Jane Patten I thought I had been managing [...]
Skipping Friendsgiving: Why so many are passing on the tradition this year
Friendsgiving decision: Some say cancel everything. Some say it's worth the risk. Everyone is struggling.
Reckon Women curations: Unique gifts featuring Alabama makers
Throughout the year, we meet Alabama women almost everywhere who help us see the world differently, who write their own narratives and who craft beauty and art despite odds. And we want to introduce them to you, too -- through their creations. Welcome to our first curation of creations [...]
Jamie Lowe: The consequences of stereotypes
With a knack for listening and passion for both people and politics, Opelika’s Jamie Lowe may remind you of Barack Obama – if the former president had a southern twang. It’s a comparison the humbly confident Lowe may not accept, but he has built a pretty impressive political resume for himself. A 20-year-old legal mediator at the Lee County Justice Center, Lowe ran for a [...]
Black Joy: Believe in your own dopeness – and pass the (vegan) mac and cheese
Words of affirmation. Physical touch. Quality time. Acts of service. Receiving gifts. Those are the five love languages according to Gary Chapman who literally wrote the book about these types of things. You know what really should be its own love language? Food. We communicate love and comfort through food, and I’m excited to taste those [...]
Southern states lead U.S. in preterm births
The South leads the nation in babies born too early, according to a new report from the March of Dimes, a national organization that funds research and advocates for healthy mothers and babies. The only states to earn F ratings for their high rates of preterm birth were Alabama, Georgia, [...]
Making a name for myself as a Shunnarah
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Mandy Shunnarah They think they know me based [...]
South leads U.S. in young people living with parents
Young people are bearing the weight of the financial crisis caused by COVID-19 and will continue to suffer from the financial fallout for years to come, recent reports suggest. People between the age of 15 and 25 are 2.5 times more likely to have become unemployed due to the pandemic [...]
Fitz Webb: Building a more LGBTQ-inclusive South
Fitz Webb didn’t see a lot of people who looked like them while growing up in Georgia. But Webb, who uses the pronouns they, them and theirs, wants to change the representation by becoming Georgia’s first non-binary senator in the future. Currently, Webb is an Auburn University graduate student, vice [...]
Maternal mortality panel finds 70 percent of Alabama pregnancy deaths preventable; urges Medicaid expansion
Nearly 70 percent of pregnancy-related deaths of Alabama women were preventable in 2016, according to the state’s first report on maternal mortality since officials began collecting data last year. The report also recommended that Alabama expand Medicaid, calling a failure to do so “an underlying, yet significant factor” impacting the maternal deaths covered in the report. [...]
Alexus Cumbie: ‘We can’t leave anyone behind’
Welcome to the first edition of Young, Southern and Black, a series by Reckon that lends the microphone to Black southerners under 30 who are crafting the futures they want to see in the region they call home. First up to have the mic, University of Alabama graduate student Alexus [...]
How do young Black people see the future of the South?
While growing up in Alabama, I was warned often: If you want to grow, get out of the South. For a minute there I daydreamed about snatching up opportunities while living in the glamor of New York City. But now that I’m noticing the stigmatizing statements people make about the South, I’m like, “Nah.” Because the [...]
Biden eyes student loan relief as Southerners bear $330 billion debt burden
There could be relief on the horizon for the millions of people with student loan debt across the country and in the southeast. Recently, the incoming president and a top Democrat on Capitol Hill signaled a desire to address the student loan debt crisis. During a recent interview with The.Ink, [...]
Black Joy: Kamala’s success prompts twirling, dancing in the streets
Dear Black family, we showed out this week! From praising Black women who have spent years slaying voter suppression (I already got you covered with a list of Black women led initiatives you can support today) to the first Black Miss Mississippi securing the top crown of Miss USA – that’s a lot of powerful Blackness to cover for [...]
How to build wealth from basically nothing
If you’ve been following the Money Talks series, you know it addressed some of the ways wealth is unequally distribution in America. Now, we want to share some advice from financial experts about how to build your wealth. Buy life insurance outside of your job Millions of Americans lost their [...]
Speak up for women’s health all year long
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Millie Jackson In the early 1970s months were [...]
8 Black women fighting for voting rights in the South
Georgia quickly became a meme during election week as mail in ballots slowly flipped the state blue for the first time in 1992. Social media identified voting rights queen and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as one to thank for helping Joe Biden inch pass the 270 seats needed [...]
Mississippi’s medical marijuana law: What you need to know
Mississippi voters chose to create a medical marijuana program. Now that the initiative has received the voters’ seal of approval, what happens next? The now-approved Initiative 65 outlines the conditions for which marijuana can be prescribed as a treatment, sets possession limits, tax rates and establishes the Mississippi Department of Public Health [...]
How this Alabama couple bought a house for $8,000 cash
During the first walkthrough of their new home, Eddie and Katie Burkhalter looked around at piles of garbage, drug paraphernalia and graffiti-scrawled walls noting the previous tenants’ drug of choice. Calling the house, which the Burkhalters bought with $8,000 cash, a fixer-upper would be an understatement. But with some work and a lot of saving, they turned [...]
Young Southerners leaned Democratic — until they hit their 30s
The conventional wisdom in the U.S. is the younger the voter the more likely they are to cast a ballot for Democrats. If you’re older, you’re more likely to lean Republican. But in the South, the voting trends are not as easily divided by age. Here, we take a look [...]
Black Joy: Strolling to the polls, Black firsts and curing election exhaustion
Whew, y’all. We made it. I don’t care if you’ve cried all week long, if your anxiety is high-key, on 10, or you're acting as cool as a cucumber. Lift up your hands and shout because you made it to the end of the week. Which means you made it [...]
What is a ‘cured’ ballot? How could they affect the election?
Elections in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada may come down to a few thousand ballots. As election managers and county boards of registrars scan and count absentee ballots, some voters are being contacted and asked to “cure” their ballots. But what is “ballot curing"? The process, also called ballot remediation, is [...]
The South leads nation in new business applications
Even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause economic uncertainty throughout the country, people are starting new businesses in record numbers, with most new applications coming from the South. More than 1 million new business applications were filed in the Southeast between the beginning of April and the end of [...]
The threads of privilege are all over me
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from an Alabama woman, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Donna Eich Brooks Imagine an almost invisible shining thread. It’s [...]
Mississippi has medical marijuana: What does that mean for the rest of the South?
Mississippi voted on Tuesday to create a medical marijuana program, becoming the 35th state in America to legalize marijuana for medical use. Now that one of the reddest states in the nation gave the OK to to medical MJ, what does that mean for the rest of the South? This [...]
Reckoners respond: Who are you honoring with your vote?
We asked the Reckon audience who they were honoring with their 2020 vote. Here's how they responded.
Ala. sorority revvs up to overcome rural transportation shortages
As tens of millions of Americans descend on polling stations all over the country Tuesday, a determined group of volunteers will be helping thousands of people exercise their right to vote by driving them directly to the ballot boxes in rural areas. Rolling to the Polls, a Montgomery, Ala.,-based group, [...]
Meet some of the people fighting for your right to vote
Feelin' anxious about tomorrow's vote? We feel ya. Here are a few non-partisan voter organizations working to make your vote count.
Where are Alabama’s elected Republican women?
Republican women are a key GOP voting bloc. Why do so few of them successfully run for legislative and statewide offices?
The Gender Wealth Gap
The women’s wealth gap is not the same as the women’s wage gap, but it may be a better measure of the financial health of women in America. You’ve likely heard of the women’s wage gap. Women are paid 82 cents for every $1 a white man is paid. Women [...]
Black Joy: Blacktober reanimates mostly white world with fun and Black culture
It’s time for a little Moon prism power (with a sprinkle of melanin magic)! Welcome back to Black Joy, a series by Reckon’s Black Magic Project focuses on Black empowerment of all types – including those conjured up by Black artists, cosplayers, illustrators from across the South. Started off with [...]
How a Southern military community is converting to a renewable economy
In an Alabama city teeming with engineers and STEM talent, some are leaving the defense economy for the green one, creating an industry that's good for the environment and for workers.
Under 45 and running for high office in the South
Millennial participation in politics is growing. The Millennial Action Project, which tracks millennial participation in politics, estimates from 2018 to 2020, there has been a 266% increase in millennials running for office. The group reports that there are 236 candidates under the age of 45 running for Congress in 2020. [...]
Meet the Arkansas mom, grad student and political candidate who’s now a TikTok hit
Kelly Krout, a stay-at-home mother running for office in Arkansas, is going viral on TikTok.
Finding my new normal after cancer
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October’s essays will all be [...]
Aimée Castenell: The campaigns after the campaign
Fun fact: The election that's coming up, the one that has us kind of missing the zany local car salesman whose low-budget TV commercials have been replaced by wall-to-wall political ads, is not the last election there'll ever be. In fact, as soon as this campaign is over, organizers will [...]
‘Rushed and undemocratic’: Hundreds of Ala. women decry Ivey’s support of Amy Coney Barrett
More than 800 Alabama women cosigned a letter this week, denouncing Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s support of what they called the “rushed and undemocratic” confirmation process of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ivey, along with two other women Republican governors, had written a public letter [...]
These Southerners risked everything to launch small businesses mid-pandemic
Not long after losing their jobs to the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacksonville residents Carlos Gil and Reggie Williams found themselves drinking wine and doing their own mock version of the show Shark Tank while hanging out on a porch in the idyllic mountain town of Banner [...]
‘The million-dollar question’: When should entrepreneurs slow down?
Thousands of small-business owners have had to make tough decisions about changing or shuttering their businesses in the wake of COVID-19. Here's how one Southern entrepreneurial couple has shaken things up.
Reefer Madness: Mississippi has two medical marijuana questions on the ballot. How are they different?
Mississippi voters face two choices to legalize medical marijuana for certain patients this November. Officially, these measures — both of which will appear on ballots — are called Initiative 65 and Alternative 65A. How medical marijuana ended up on Mississippi’s ballot Just 26 states have the option of allowing ballot [...]
Black Joy weekly: Finding comedy in the church, bringing Black power to environmental justice
Laughter really is medicine we can pull from within. It sweetens bitter moments. Like when I read in the Commercial Appeal that a Tennessee election worker turned away voters at the polls for wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts and masks, I just laughed at their ignorance. And clapped when I [...]
Deep South millennials prefer Biden to Trump, new study shows
For the 2020 presidential election, younger voters trend blue even in deeply red states like Alabama and Mississippi, according to a new survey. The new data on candidate preferences come from SurveyMonkey-Tableau, in partnership with news website Axios and could spell trouble in the future for the Republican Party, showing [...]
Becoming the one-breasted lady
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October’s essays will all be [...]
Young, first-time Florida voters cast ballots with social justice, healthcare and economy in mind
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Lillian Ekiss, a 19-year-old first-time voter, waited over an hour and a half to cast her ballot at Pensacola State College on the first day of early voting in the Sunshine State. She is eager to see big changes on a variety of social justice issues that [...]
Lilly Ledbetter’s urgent warning about the Supreme Court
Lilly Ledbetter knows what it’s like to lose a Supreme Court case and to keep fighting. She shares her experience with Reckon and her concerns about the 2020 election and confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.
Catherine Flowers, ‘genius grant’ winner, credits Black power activism for success
When the Earth is ill, so are its people. Catherine Flowers saw hints of that sickness growing up during the 1960s in Lowndes County, Ala., a predominantly Black rural area with fewer than 10,000 people. She noticed how both animals and vegetation bowed and browned in death after farmers sprayed clouds of DDT, a pesticide eventually found to be lethal to the environment. “If this is [...]
Black Joy weekly: Voting, Black-woman owned apps and…babies?
Let me warn you right now. I'm probably about to get on your nerves. Because this is probably the millionth time you have read about your voting power. But with so much oppression placed upon Black people, showing us smiling and laughing in Black Magic Project's weekly series about Black [...]
Breast cancer taught me what it means to ‘woman up’
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman in the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October’s essays [...]
How the Alabama Democratic Party is picking up the pieces and rebuilding
This week on the Reckon Interview, we’re examining “the Doug Jones Effect.”
Level up your anti-voter suppression game with these tips
When votes aren’t counted, the voter’s voice is silenced. This is why organizations like Black Voters Matter are continuing a long-standing Southern tradition of doing the groundwork to increase Black voter registration. The organization started in 2016 in Selma, Ala., the stomping grounds for many civil rights giants like John Lewis. The group has since expanded its footprint [...]
Islamic mortgages: A less risky way to buy a home
Buying property can be a formidable process. Aside from the so-called fundamentals of looking for a home — dealing with a bank, arranging inspections and signing piles of paperwork — you also have to think about the long-term financial risks involved. Will your house lose value? Will you end up [...]
Black Joy this week: Empowering Black sons and a Black Lives Matter activist’s self-care ritual
Breathe in deeply. Hold your breath for four seconds. Breathe all the way out. Hold for another for another four seconds. Now return to your regular breathing and welcome yourself back to Black Joy, a weekly series by the Black Magic Project that’s all about bringing peace and love to [...]
How breast cancer ruined and restored my confidence
By Javacia Harris Bowser Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from a woman with ties to the South, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness [...]
Black woman-owned rideshare app launches in Atlanta to offer female, LGBTQ safety
Late-night rideshare journeys shouldn't be dangerous or worrisome. Two young entrepreneurs in Atlanta want to make sure women get home safe with their new female-friendly rideshare app, HERide.
Conservatives confront an increasingly populist Republican Party
The Republican Party is changing, how do conservatives navigate the changes?
Black Joy this week: A new ‘Black Magic Project’ series
Hiya, y’all! Welcome to your weekly dose of Black joy from the Black Magic Project. You may have paused there to be like, “Black Magic Whaaaaat?” Don’t worry. Let me explain. While chasing breaking news as a night reporter, I heard these words often: “You only come when we are [...]
The South still lags U.S. on paying women fairly
Alabama still has one of the widest gender wage gaps in the nation, and most of the South follows suit, a Reckon analysis shows. Nationally, women make 82 cents for every dollar paid to men, with an annual gap of $9,774. Southern women earn less, around 78 cents on average. Women in [...]
Say what? Millennials have a better shot at retiring early than Boomers
In an earlier story, which you can find here, Bruce and Calley Coldsmith, a Mobile, Ala.,-based father and daughter financial planning team, talked about how to retire early, how much money you should be putting into your 401(k) and why it’s still possible to have fun and save at the [...]
The doctor is out: A snapshot of women’s health in the 21st century
Each week the Reckon Women newsletter includes a column from an Alabama woman, in collaboration with See Jane Write. Click here to sign up for the newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Reckon Women Facebook page. By Mikkaka Overstreet I never thought I’d get a hysterectomy at [...]
Amanda Shires confronts ‘The Problem’ with abortion in the South through new song
Amanda Shires wants people who have had abortions to feel less alone in their decision. The Grammy-winning singer and songwriter released “The Problem,” about a couple navigating the decision to have an abortion, on International Safe Abortion Day. All proceeds will benefit Alabama’s Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund and [...]
Want to retire early and still have fun? With aggressive investing and frugal living, it’s possible
As the global pandemic continues to heap financial concerns upon millions of Americans, including mass unemployment and fears over an economic recovery, retirement may not be your biggest concern right now. But the stock market, which holds most of our retirement hopes in its mind-boggling numbers and graphs, continues to [...]
New prisons won’t fix Alabama’s prison problem
Alabama has a prison problem.
As women suffer more under the financial strains of COVID-19, The Wealth Edit is stepping up to help
Cassandra Leibensperger gave birth to her daughter Tzipporah in January. She was supposed to start a new engineering job with a government contractor in Huntsville, Ala. when her maternity leave ended in April. But her employer was not able to safely accommodate her work accommodations, required due to her [...]
Hobby to side-hustle: How the pandemic blues inspired Southern creatives
Amidst loss and poor mental health in a global pandemic, creative industry and side-gigs are at an all-time high.