Arkansas
December 8, 2020 -
Employees of a Springdale, Arkansas, processing plant owned by George's, one of the top U.S. chicken producers, are pressing the company to re-implement staggered shifts and make social distancing possible. The walkout, which the workers plan to continue until their demands are met, was the first such action by poultry workers in the state, which leads the nation in poultry production.
November 19, 2020 -
Large poultry processors like Tyson have come under public fire for failing to protect their workers from COVID-19. But smaller poultry companies have had the same problems — and much less scrutiny.
November 4, 2020 -
Joyce Elliott would have been the first Black representative Arkansas ever sent to Congress. But the Democratic state senator's 10-point loss to incumbent Republican French Hill in the state's 2nd Congressional District reveals a political reality that one observer calls "redder than ruby red."
November 4, 2020 -
Though the South trended red in this year's general election, voters in Southern states approved progressive ballot measures that raise the minimum wage, reject Jim Crow-era election laws and flag symbolism, and relax drug laws. They also turned down measures that would have impeded this kind of direct democracy.
October 30, 2020 -
The South is where most Black Americans live, but the region has sent just one Black senator to Congress since Reconstruction. That could change in 2020.
October 15, 2020 -
COVID-19 struck Arkansas' small Marshallese community hard, in part because of their limited access to health care. We spoke with community leader Albious Latior about the power the first generation of Marshallese Americans eligible to vote has to advocate for health care for themselves and their elders.
October 7, 2020 -
It has been 101 years since one of the deadliest instances of racist violence in U.S. history took place in the Arkansas Delta. Descendants of its victims are pushing for concrete steps towards restorative justice — and a seat at the table.
