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YES! Article archive

Books+Film+Music

Monumental Shifts Stonebreakers explores what it means to remove statues that honor historic—and ongoing—injustice in the U.S.
From The Current Issue

Monumental Shifts

The demands of the racial justice uprisings of 2020 were never solely about policing. Stonebreakers (Awen Films, 2022), a documentary that chronicles the battles over historical memory that emerged during
James Tracy    |   Sep 4, 2024
Fran Murphy's illustration of a book with a vampire on the left page, and 'House of Aunts' on the right page

Revamped

What the evolution of vampire fiction tells us about modern society.
S.E. Smith    |   May 18, 2023
An illustration shows four Indian faces wearing headscarves of red, orange, pink, and yellow. The faces are set against a green pyramid that goes from light to dark, mirroring the caste pyramid infographic displayed in the article.
Caste

Confronting Caste

A Dalit American leader offers a profound meditation on the violence of caste apartheid, pathways to abolition, and collective healing.
Sonali Kolhatkar    |   Nov 21, 2022
Hollywood Desonier, left, played by Omar J. Dorsey, sits on a porch next to on-screen squeeze Violet Bordelon (“Aunt Vi”), played by Tina Lifford, in Queen Sugar. Aunt Vi's is smiling as her hand cradles Hollywood's face.

All the Sexy Older Ladies

From “Hacks” to “Queen Sugar,” pop culture begins spotlighting the sexuality of women over 50.
Sari Botton    |   Nov 21, 2022

Shortchanging Harriet

From Doodle to a future $20 bill, Harriet Tubman is a cultural icon. But comforting images don’t show the disabled Black woman who was not only a guide, but a freedom fighter.
Treva B. Lindsey    |   Nov 21, 2022
Activism

On Becoming a Somatic Abolitionist

Resmaa Menakem intersperses political commentary and predictions about American democracy with explanations of how racialized trauma presents in our bodies, and offers body-focused exercises to deal with it.
Ruth Terry    |   Aug 16, 2022

Degrowth Gains Ground

Degrowth invites us to envision a much deeper societal transition than simply swapping energy sources to maintain the status quo.
Jared Spears    |   Aug 16, 2022
Climate

Climate Debt and American Dreams

Bill McKibben has been a leading advocate for climate change action since he wrote the first popular book about global warming in 1989. In his new memoir, “The Flag, The Cross and the Station Wagon,” he connects the climate crisis to his suburban American boyhood and wonders “What the hell happened?”
Larry Parks Daloz    |   May 18, 2022

Why Not Pass?

“The Vanishing Half” deals with the theme of racial “passing” in the 1950s. Passing is different today, but still presents a choice between safety and authenticity.
Gila K. Berryman    |   May 18, 2022
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