With many states pursuing ill-advised COVID-19 reopening plans in defiance of scientific recommendations and their own surging infection numbers, in recent weeks it’s become clear the pandemic hasn’t loosened its grip on the United States. In case you missed it, here are a few of Prism’s recent
In California prisons, only those with essential jobs have been allowed to work since mid-March. There are no stimulus or unemployment checks for incarcerated people. For Michael Calvin Holmes, who is serving a life sentence at San Quentin State Prison, the extended lack of an income threatens to leave him
For Trey Taylor, moving to New York City was nothing short of a dream come true. The Canadian citizen had worked tirelessly for about two years to secure a work visa that allowed him to work freely within the country. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, the young journalist was
For Rick Vila, HIV will always be associated with roses. Vila became infected with HIV in the 1980s in San Francisco. The day he was diagnosed, a friend of Vila’s asked him to come over to his house so he wouldn’t be alone. As they worked in his
Cesar Aguirre has spent incalculable hours tracking air pollution levels around Kern County, California. In the region responsible for an estimated 75% of the state’s oil production, Aguirre, a community organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), says it’s not uncommon to encounter houses, schools, and
This piece is published in collaboration with Migrant Roots Media. Click here to read it in Spanish. Prism’s coverage of COVID-19 outbreaks in North Carolina poultry processing plants began with an online tip, but soon multiple workers came forward—risking their livelihoods—to talk about the unsafe working conditions
With the pandemic hitting countries regardless of gross domestic product, COVID-19 is front and center in our lives, and thus, our newsfeeds. Given financial pressures to publish “clickworthy” news, media is behaviorally rewarded for narrowing reality to what the white gaze has been trained to want, further propagating ingrained biases
On May 1, tenants of 81 Bowery in New York City released a black and white banner from the top of their apartment building that said “Rent Strike!” in both English and Chinese. They joined thousands of tenants across the city and country who are demanding that landlords cancel rent.
May typically marks the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month—a month filled with festivities that honor the histories and heritages of AAPI communities. This year’s AAPI Heritage Month feels much more somber, however, as the nation enters its fifth month of the COVID-19 pandemic,
In the weeks since the novel coronavirus began to spread across meatpacking plants nationwide, families in places like Worthington, Minnesota, have had their health, resources, and patience tested. Like many rural areas where there have been large COVID-19 outbreaks, Worthington’s largest employer is a meatpacking plant. JBS, the nation’
On April 28, Darlene “Lulu” Benson-Seay, a woman incarcerated in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, became the first woman in a New York state prison to die of COVID-19. While Benson-Seay’s story has come to expose varying forms of government and facility negligence—from the failure to release those who
While some have said no one could have seen this pandemic coming, I know one person who could have: my 84-year-old grandmother. My grandmother grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the 1930s. At that time, Native Americans were oppressed by the government, which removed their children and
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