The descendants of those once enslaved by tribes continue to push for equality.
Communities
Posted inArticles
LA girls behind the lens
The Las Fotos Project empowers youth of color to tell their stories.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Albuquerque’s racist history haunts its housing market
Policymakers and activists fight to remove pro-segregation, anti-immigrant provisions from property deeds.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Montana trans, two spirit and non-binary activists fight anti-trans legislation
Their advocacy network is striving for a more equitable state while building power across issue lines.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Idaho state lands could end up in private hands
How a developer’s proposed large land swap ignited a fight in small but growing McCall.
Posted inArticles
The long Western legacy of violence against Asian Americans
‘History is repeating itself.’
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
Did James Plymell need to die?
How homelessness is criminalized in small cities and towns across the West.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
Foreign-born doctors fill physician shortages in the West
Some find a permanent home; others languish in a visa holding pattern.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
Despite discrimination and drought, Punjabi Americans farm on
As America’s food basket dries out, Punjabi American growers fear the loss of their hard-earned farmlands.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Honoring Montana’s first Black librarian
Carrying on the legacy of Alma Smith Jacobs requires representation and education.
Posted inArticles
Bozeman’s sole multicultural enclave faces evictions amid a housing crisis
For some residents, the displacement signals the loss of affordable housing — and the only diverse neighborhood in the Montana city.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Bridging the digital divide in Indian Country
A new report focuses on internet infrastructure on tribal lands and how tribes can use it to strengthen their sovereignty.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
The fight for an equitable energy economy for the Navajo Nation
Diné activist Nicole Horseherder’s long quest for equity from the rise and fall of the coal economy.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
How Wyoming’s Black coal miners shaped their own history
Many early Wyoming coal towns had thriving Black communities.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Is it time to decolonize the housing market?
In California, COVID-19 is exacerbating housing inequities. Indigenous activist Jackie Fielder believes she has a solution.
Posted inArticles
Rural communities grapple with COVID-19 immunization rollout
Far-flung populations and limited cold-storage resources present challenges to clinics.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Workers reflect on Oregon’s first and last coal plant
‘The people here made the plant. What we did is something that was needed.’
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Meet the gun-toting ‘Tenacious Unicorns’ in rural Colorado
How a transgender-owned alpaca ranch in Colorado foretells the future of the rural queer West.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
When COVID hit, a Colorado county kicked out second-home owners. They hit back.
How a group of nonresident homeowners tried to influence a rural Colorado election.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
Rebel eviction-enforcers are helping tenants stay in their homes
In Tucson, a group of constables went rogue and stopped enforcing evictions.