Racial Justice
Examining Race and Racism in America
Listen to the “Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars” Podcast
“Salmon Wars,” produced by ProPublica and OPB, tells the story of one Yakama Nation family who has spent generations fighting for salmon. The series uncovers who is to blame for the fish vanishing and why their disappearance affects all of us.
Local Reporting Network
The University Uprooted a Black Neighborhood. Then Its Policies Reduced the Black Presence on Campus.
Black enrollment at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University fell by more than half under longtime president Paul Trible, a former Republican senator who wanted to “offer a private school experience.” By 2021, only 2.4% of full-time professors were Black.
Local Reporting Network
“Uprooted” Explores How University Expansion and Eminent Domain Led to Black Land Loss
Watch this examination of a Black community’s decadeslong battle to hold onto their land as city officials wielded eminent domain.
Local Reporting Network
Virginia’s Public Universities Have a Long History of Displacing Black Residents
Schools including Old Dominion and the flagship University of Virginia have expanded by dislodging Black families, sometimes by the threat or use of eminent domain.
Local Reporting Network
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities
The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.
Local Reporting Network
Task Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion
Spurred by our “Uprooted” series, a task force created by the city of Newport News and Christopher Newport University will reexamine decades of city and university records shedding light on a Black neighborhood’s destruction.
Local Reporting Network
Virginia Lawmaker Calls for Commission to Study State Universities’ History of Uprooting Black Communities
In response to our reporting, state Delegate Delores McQuinn said a task force could shed light on the impact of college expansion in Virginia. Officials are also calling for displaced families to receive redress, from scholarships to reparations.
Local Reporting Network
Series
Series: Uprooted : Virginia Universities Have Expanded by Dislodging Black Communities
Series: The Repatriation Project : The Delayed Return of Native Remains
Series: Juvenile Injustice, Tennessee : Where Kids Meet the Rule of Law
Series: Schoolyard Sheriffs : Policing Kids in Antelope Valley Schools
Series: Unwatched : A Louisiana Law Department That Polices Itself
Series: Black Snow : Big Sugar’s Burning Problem
Series: Polluter’s Paradise : Environmental Impact in Louisiana
Series: Dispossessed : How Black Families Are Losing Their Land
Series: Invisible Walls : Connecticut’s Separate and Unequal Housing
Series: Unprotected : Rape at an American Charity in Liberia
Series: Driven Into Debt : How Tickets Burden the Poor
Series: Walking While Black : Pedestrian Enforcement and Racial Profiling
Series: Too Broke for Bankruptcy : How Bankruptcy Fails Those Who Need It Most
Series: Lost Mothers : Maternal Care and Preventable Deaths
Series: Documenting Hate : Tracking Hate Crimes and Bias Incidents
Series: Segregation Now : Investigating America’s racial divide in education, housing and beyond.
Series: Busted : Examining Chemical Field Tests
Series: Machine Bias : Investigating Algorithmic Injustice
Series: Nuisance Abatement : The NYPD’s Aggressive Enforcement of a Little-known Law
Series: Dispatches from Freedom Summer : Race Then and Now
New Documents Prove Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Getting Worse
