Laughter Is Powerful, Personal, and Political
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.It’s no secret that laughter works miracles. It stimulates and relaxes muscles, reduces pain, and improves moods and immune systems. Laughter sustains us. But sometimes when we, women of color, need it the most, it’s hardest to come by. And we need…
62 Years Later, the Most Iconic Photo in American Music Inspires Celebration and Recreation
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.The power of a single photo to galvanize generations of artists has never been more clearly captured than in the one taken 62 years ago today on the sidewalk of 126th Street between Fifth and Madison in New York City. It’s the…
A Native American Artist’s Stunning Protest Mural Wins the “Art on the Streets” Award
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.The 66-foot-tall painting depicts the artist’s 14-year-old daughter, her face covered by a handprint that symbolizes missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, on the side of a downtown Colorado Springs building. Painting as an act of protest and education is artist…
A Military Veteran Sentenced to Life in Prison for Selling $30 of Weed Will Finally Be Freed
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.After spending nine years in prison for selling $30 of weed—0.69 grams—to an officer in Louisiana 12 years ago, Derek Harris will be released. He’d initially faced 15 years for the sale, but a life sentence came down under a habitual offender…
Abbey Lincoln, Who Would’ve Turned 90 Yesterday, Embodied Her Recording “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite”
Frans Schellekens/Redferns via Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Abbey Lincoln was told, again and again, who to be, by Hollywood promoters and imagemakers, scriptwriters and producers, all eager to sculpt her career and influence what she’d wear and when, how she’d sing and to which audiences,…
Rep. Barbara Lee, the Progressive Powerhouse and Longtime Lawmaker, on the Election, the Coronavirus, and Racial Justice
Mother Jones reporter Jamilah King in conversation with US Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on August 6, 2020Mother Jones For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Nearly four full years after the 2016 presidential election, US Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) still can’t bring herself to call Donald Trump her president.…