In 2013, one out of every 266 people in Illinois was in prison. For African-American residents, it was one in every 68 people. That’s just one of the shocking facts illustrating the serious racial disparity in Illinois’ criminal justice system. About 60 percent of the state’s prison population is black, despite African-American people making up […]
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Posted inOpinion
Latino voting soars in Illinois
Back in 1992, Latinos made up about 8 percent of Illinois’ population, yet only 1 percent of that year’s total Election Day voter pool was Latino. The trend continued for years. Latinos just didn’t vote. Twenty years later, things have changed in a big way. According to exit polling, 12 percent of Illinois voters last […]
Posted inNews
New election district may benefit Springfield’s east side
A new election map approved by the Illinois General Assembly could result in better representation for Springfield’s east side. Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner testified at a May 24 hearing of the Illinois House and Senate redistricting committees, telling lawmakers that a new election district joining Springfield’s east side with much of Decatur could aid […]
Posted inNews
Why are there so few black farmers?
Urging his fellow lawmakers to release funding for a discrimination lawsuit originally settled more than a decade ago, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris last month pointed to the increasingly homogenous culture that is Illinois farming. The still unreleased funding would go to farmers, or former farmers, who had been affected by systematic racial bias in the […]
Posted inNews
Census shows more minority businesses
When Michael Pittman first began publishing the Capital City Courier newspaper in Springfield in 2006, he wanted to address issues facing an African-American audience – issues he says often aren’t important to mainstream media. “It was something I always wanted to do,” Pittman says. “The emphasis for me was being an alternative source of news […]
