Articles By: Guest Author

Trafficking from a racial justice advocate’s point of view

By Ejim Dike, As a long-time racial justice advocate, I am often thinking of the intersections between my work and that of related movements. We all know that race, gender, class, and immigration status do not operate in a vacuum, but at times it can be difficult to find ways to incorporate even more...

January 13th, 2011 | Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

Women and children first?

By Grace Chang, Recently in U.S. media and public policy discourses alike, the term “human trafficking” has become synonymous with “trafficking into sex work,” and this in turn has been equated with “sexual slavery” and “prostitution.” Human trafficking, while primarily an issue of...

January 12th, 2011 | Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

Moldova, a hot bed for human trafficking

By Nikki Junker, Executive Director, With More Than Purpose, Even amongst abolitionists, Moldova is unheard of which is unfortunate considering that this small country, the poorest in the EU, is a major source country for Human Trafficking, which means that mostly individuals are taken from Moldova...

January 12th, 2011 | Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

Slavery in the home and out in the fields

By Ivy O. Suriyopas, The 250-year legacy of slavery continues to permeate throughout contemporary United States. However, these days, the images we see are likely to be those of immigrants from the global South. Instead of state-sanctioned ownership and exploitation of workers inside the home or...

January 12th, 2011 | Featured, Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

Close to home: Complications in the domestic anti-trafficking discourse

By Sienna Baskin, The U.S. anti-trafficking law was signed by President Clinton in October, 2000, ushering us into an era where this issue has become a hot topic around the world. After 10 years of lawmaking and public debate around the problem of human trafficking, the central conversations on the Hill...

January 11th, 2011 | Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

Today’s efforts to combat human trafficking reflect historical racism and sexism

By Melissa Ditmore, Current efforts to address trafficking in persons are both reminiscent of and informed by the history of slavery and trafficking in the United States and elsewhere. In fact, trafficking in persons is often referred to as “modern-day slavery.” Historical grounding confirms that...

January 11th, 2011 | Slavery/Human Trafficking | Read More

The summer of ‘10: Federal power, local autonomy, and the struggle over immigration policy

By Michael J. Wishnie, “The legislature declares that the intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona. The provisions of this act are intended to work together to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence...

November 3rd, 2010 | Featured, Politics, US | Read More

Why the Conservative Party?

By Philip Young, From the title I know that I will receive automatic negative responses and knee jerk reactions to what I about to say without even reading the material. There is an ever growing lack of respect for alternative viewpoints and an impatience that has reached near manic proportions. Having...

November 1st, 2010 | Politics, US | Read More

Why I don’t want to go back

By Meridith E. Rode, Ph.D., University of District of Columbia, When I hear the cries for “going back to the real America” or “taking the country back” I wonder where back is and how far away it is from now. I fear “back” is white reveries of a mythical past which was in reality racist and...

October 25th, 2010 | African Americans, Featured, Talk About Race | Read More

The open veins of the south

By Wendy Ake, Last week’s UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals concluded with the adoption of another action plan intended to put the target date of 2015 back on course and strengthen commitments for women, children and other initiatives. In September 2000 when the MDGs were first penned,...

September 30th, 2010 | Featured, World | Read More

Women, the face of poverty: UN needs to redevelop anti-poverty strategy

By Elizabeth Parisian, Ten years have passed since the UN member nations approved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which represent an ambitious commitment to alleviate poverty and increase wellbeing amongst the least well-off in all corners of the globe. The eight goals each address an aspect...

September 30th, 2010 | Featured, Women, World | Read More

Racial discrimination should not trump voting rights

By Dorsey E. Nunn The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco will hear argument today (Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010) in a lawsuit challenging the State of Washington’s denial of the right to vote from people with felony convictions. The legal issue in the case is whether the Voting...

September 21st, 2010 | African Americans, Criminal Justice, Featured | Read More

Supporting leadership that promotes racial justice

By Deborah Meehan, Executive Director, Leadership Learning Community, Oakland made the headlines again this summer when a jury delivered a verdict of involuntary manslaughter in the trial of Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle, a BART police officer, was on trial for shooting Oscar Grant, a young, African...

September 14th, 2010 | Featured, Racial Equity, Youth Activism | Read More

Anti-anti immigration: Principles to make migration work

By Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Carola Suarez-Orozco, Originally posted on Huffington Post The most comprehensive overview of illegal immigration in the United States since the economic crisis began its downward spiral concludes that the flow of unauthorized immigrants into the country has significantly...

September 8th, 2010 | Featured, Immigration, Latinos | Read More