Arthur is a musician, community activist and veteran of many performances under Hackman’s baton, including previous performances of the Resurrection Mixtape at the ISO.
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In 2023, Louisville passed a first-of-its-kind bill to make sure no more city subsidies help build new housing that displaces existing residents. Earlier this year, the city introduced a new tool to implement the law. The open-source tool analyzes whether any given project meets the neighborhood’s housing needs and income levels, ensuring that rents match local residents’ income. If the development does not meet these standards, then the city cannot subsidize it.
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Like many workers in the U.S., artists often make ends meet in non-traditional and resourceful ways, holding multiple jobs, cycling in and out of roles, and engaging in artistic practice through self-employment. These ways of working in turn may limit artists' financial security and their ability to access workplace protections and employer benefits. They also make it difficult to identify artists in existing research. To better serve artists, we must see the full complexity and reality of how they earn a living and piece together support for their creative lives.
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In order to meet the dire challenges that face us, social movements are going to need new and creative strategies. We are going to need groups that are willing to escalate and take risks. And when breakthrough “movement moments” arrive, we are going to need organizations nimble and adaptive enough to jump into the fray, heighten the impact of mass mobilizations and create mechanisms to help absorb the energy created.
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“The date 13 May will be forever etched in my mind,” former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode wrote in an article for The Guardian this past May. In the piece, Goode called on the city of Philadelphia to formally apologize for the infamous MOVE bombing that took place on May 13, 1985, which targeted the commune owned by members of the militant Black liberation group MOVE. “There can never be an excuse for dropping an explosive from a helicopter on to a house with men, women, and children inside and then letting the fire burn,” he wrote.
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The pausing of SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown has low-income families worried about getting food and scrambling for help. Many food pantries now say they are being stretched to the limit, and need help staying stocked. If you'd like to help, several pantries in the Louisville region are asking neighbors for donations, either through drop-offs, drives or via online donation.
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If the Black entertainment world is any kind of barometer of the state of Black America, something is amiss. Black athletes today are getting record NBA and NFL contracts. Black musicians like Kendrick Lamar and SZA are raking in millions — in their case, hundreds of millions of dollars — from globe-spanning tours. And after years of being denied film and TV’s top roles and highest honors, Black actors and actresses are now regularly cast in major projects as well as nominated for (and actually winning) major awards. On top of this, many of today’s top influencers are both young and Black, attracting legions of followers and large, coveted corporate sponsorships.
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In 2019, the union representing over 30,000 Los Angeles teachers went on strike for six days. United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) wanted to transform the city’s school system to make it work for not just teachers and students, but also for the community. Central to this vision was the union’s demand for community schools.
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On Monday, President Donald Trump ordered 800 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital — a move Princeton University professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad described as “a slide towards fascism” and “textbook” authoritarianism. Claiming emergency powers from the D.C. Home Rule Act, Trump also announced a takeover of the Metropolitan Police.
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From time to time, researchers, policy makers, philanthropy and practitioners all join together in a coordinated response to address the most pressing issues facing America’s youth. I’ve been involved with this process for long enough to have participated in each of these roles. I recall during the early 1990s experts promoted the term “resiliency,” which is the capacity to adapt, navigate and bounce back from adverse and challenging life experiences. Researchers and practitioners alike clamored over strategies to build more resilient youth.
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When Jesse Hagopian first encountered Malcolm X, it wasn’t in a textbook or classroom lecture. It was through Spike Lee’s iconic 1992 film. “I realized I needed to learn more,” Hagopian, educator and director of the Teaching for Black Lives campaign at the Zinn Education Project, tells Word In Black. “Reading his autobiography in college was transformative — like it has been for so many. But it also left me feeling betrayed. Why hadn’t I learned about Malcolm in school?”
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Celebrate Thurby night at the The Bluegrass Ball, a homegrown event featuring the very best performers from the Bluegrass region and beyond. Featuring Amythyst Kiah, Jecorey Arthur, Ben Sollee, and surprise guests. Patrons are encouraged to wear their finest Appalachian-chic to walk the bluegrass carpet, enjoy special, cocktails, cigar bar featuring local cigar maker Gary Smith, and dance under the spare parts chandelier. A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit Fund for the Arts.
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Some of Ashley Jackson's earliest memories took place at church services she attended with her grandmother. The rising harp player leaned into those experiences for her sophomore album Take Me to The Water. Spirituals, and their coded messages of freedom for the enslaved, are at the heart of her arrangements of works by Alice Coltrane, Margaret Bonds and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
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Each of the organizations Prism spoke to acknowledged the importance of resource provisions around language access, child care, and meals to reduce barriers to entry by making community engagement more convenient and appealing. But not every organization has the resources to achieve goals around accessibility, especially groups that are entirely volunteer-run. Volunteers and funding dollars are drying up across mutual aid communities, making matters more difficult for these groups and limiting capacity even further.
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Protest songs have been part of American history for centuries — from “Yankee Doodle” during the Revolutionary War period to “Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” — and these tunes have covered all sides of the political and social spectrum. However, the history of protest music is often associated with men. Musicians like Woody and Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan are lauded for their issue-focused songs, yet women have played a key role in this American tradition as well.
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The American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) Advocacy Foundation is a grassroots organization that arose in response to a national landscape rife with yawning racialized gaps.
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It’s not often in mainstream media that the topic of Black liberation overlaps with issues concerning environmental activism. Yet, if we take a closer look, it becomes clear that these two themes can often be interconnected, helping to weave a fascinating tapestry of Black history and present struggles. The short film The Aunties poetically touches on this union while showcasing elder Black gay women activists through their work and romantic partnership.
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This group from Russell that we interviewed, these are folks who’ve lived in the neighborhood for a couple of years, for 10 years, 50 years, 80 years. Whose first job was at the McDonald’s at 28th and Broadway or at the old Winn-Dixie at 12th and Broadway. Who grew up in Beecher Terrace, spent lots of time in their great-aunt’s beauty shop and answering service, graduated from Central High School, own businesses, run nonprofits.
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Councilman Jecorey Arthur, who served Louisville Metro Council District 4 from 2021 to 2024, is calling on more Louisvillians to take action in their communities. “The United States Constitution starts with, ‘We the people.’ That means all of us have a role to play in fighting for a better future. I ran for Metro Council, but you don't have to be an elected official to make change. Our history shows us that government action starts with community action.”
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SZA’s new album, Lana, the expanded edition of SOS, has finally arrived. To nobody’s surprise, the eternal perfectionist was still tweaking the record when fans expected it to drop at midnight on Friday (December 20). Now, it is here in all its 38-song glory. The deluxe LP features 15 additional songs—including one titled “30 for 30,” featuring SZA’s friend and future tour mate Kendrick Lamar. The new album’s cover features a photo of SZA taken by Cassidy Meyers. Listen to SOS Deluxe: Lana in full below.
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