Northern America

 Justin Simien, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch, is the writer/director of the critically acclaimed film Dear White People, which won the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at Sundance 2014. In addition to producing and directing online companion pieces for The Help, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Middle of Nowhere campaigns, he has […]

Abstract This paper presents the findings of ArchCity Defenders’ study of municipal courts; documents challenges to that system following the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; and proposes next steps for comprehensive reform. The paper shows how the poor and communities of color are disproportionately stopped, fined, and jailed for nonviolent traffic stops in […]

Background Recent events that have taken place in Florida, Missouri, New York, and Texas all have one common theme: an unnecessary killing due to racial profiling. The history of law enforcement in America is deeply embedded with a presence of racial profiling, often used to maintain the status quo through practices that were biased against […]

The Protest I was thumbing through my Facebook timeline on my cell phone on a warm summer weekend afternoon when I first saw it. The picture of Mike Brown’s dead body, his blood on the concrete in a long red line. It made me sick to my stomach. My mind started playing the song “Strange […]

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), much like women’s health, is a point of frequent contention in Washington and the courts. On June 30, 2014, those two points converged when the Supreme Court, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, dealt a blow to an ACA provision specific to women’s health: the birth control benefit. i The ACA […]

When it comes to climate change and its impact on U.S. Latinos, the facts usually tell a bleak story full of bad news and mounting threats. While there’s no question that climate impacts are real and growing, and that Latinos are on the front lines of those adverse impacts, the story doesn’t have to end […]

BY YASIR GOKCE The United States has been employing preemptive self-defense as a justification for use of force as it carries out its war on terror. Preemptive use of force became a national security strategy under the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As part of this strategy, there have been many instances […]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has many implications for Asian Pacific Islander American (API) women’s reproductive and sexual health, including provisions calling for preventive services, increased funding for mental health and community health centers, and ethnically disaggregated data collection. The political climate following the passage of the ACA has given rise to […]

“Western rational thought is not an innate human characteristic; it is learned and is the great achievement of Western civilization.  In the villages of India, they never learned it.  They learned something else, which is in some ways just as valuable but in other ways not.  That’s the power of intuition and experiential wisdom.”  –Steve […]

Today, more Latinos are attending college than ever before. During the 2012 academic year, there were 2.4 million Latinos enrolled in college, comprising 19% of the total college-going population. Despite this surge in college enrollment, only 9% of the total Latino population between the ages of 25 and 29 holds a bachelor’s degree. This paints a bleak picture for Latinos as they strive for the American Dream, as enrolling in college without attaining a degree will not necessarily facilitate upward socioeconomic mobility. Further, Latino college students are also grappling with this generation’s greatest financial burden—student loan debt.

BY CAITLIN RYAN How will Americans say “I love you” this Valentine’s Day? Through $18.9 billion in gifts to our darlings, according to the National Retail Federation. Over half of us will purchase candy, including an estimated 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. Yet as we hand our honeys that box of tasty morsels, do […]

There is a general optimism that the American economy is on an upswing, slowly recovering as it emerges from one of the worst recessions since the 1930s. Yet, one of the fundamental factors that caused the recession—housing finance—continues to be a barrier rather than an opportunity for millions of Americans, especially Latinos.