Scalawag (https://www.scalawagmagazine.org/)
Unearthing nearly 200-year-old compositions by free people of color in New Orleans, daughter-mother opera singers Aria Mason and Givonna Joseph built a monument to these composers’ musical legacies—creating one of their own in the process.
While a three-week reprieve to the 35-day government shutdown is easing some of the pain, the month-long spat between President Trump and Democrats in Congress threatened the livelihoods of people receiving government assistance all over the country. Local economies are still feeling the ripple effects, and many fear the new negotiations could lead to another damaging impasse. In central Appalachia, where one in four residents live below the federal poverty line, the shutdown adds urgency to a long-standing debate about what a safety net in rural America would look like, and whether there are ways to construct programs that would be more immune to the politics of the moment. One solution increasingly becoming a part of the mainstream political discourse: Universal Basic Income. UBI—a federally-provided, no-strings-attached monthly payment to all U.S. adults, similar to Social Security—has been proposed as a potential solution to rampant poverty since Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Artist Masud Olufani discusses his impetus and process behind developing a permanent memorial to enslaved persons at Atlanta’s Five Points MARTA station.
Celebrated author Kiese Laymon considers economic and intellectual class, white supremacy, and Black Southern art in this lyrical essay, exclusive to Scalawag.
Families are left to pick up the pieces when a loved one is taken away with no warning.
