Summer 2015 – Make it Right
Summer 2015

Table of Contents

Make It Right

From the Editors

After Baltimore: It’s Time to Make Things Right‏

From slavery to police brutality, reconciliation begins with the truth‏.

Read more
duo.jpg

His Ancestors Were Slave Traders and Hers Were Slaves. What They Learned About Healing from a Roadtrip

We embarked upon a journey to test whether two people —could come to grips with deep, traumatic, historic wounds and find healing. We had no idea where we would end up.
Sharon Leslie Morgan & Thomas Norman DeWolf

40 Acres and a Mule Would Be at Least $6.4 Trillion Today—What the U.S. Really Owes Black America

Slavery made America wealthy, and racist policies since have blocked African American wealth-building. Can we calculate the economic damage?
Jeff Neumann & Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz
Alicia Garza and Bay Area Black Lives Matter photo by Kristin Little

Meet the Woman Behind #BlackLivesMatter—The Hashtag That Still Fuels a Civil Rights Movement

Alicia Garza and two friends first tweeted #BlackLivesMatter to spark a conversation after the death of Trayvon Martin.
Liz Pleasant
Image from Confederate 100-dollar bill.

A Rabbi’s Plea: We Need Slavery Reparations In Order to Move Forward

It’s clear that the trauma of slavery continues to impact the contemporary American psyche.
Shmuly Yanklowitz
Sand creek massacre

150 Years Later, Two Universities Answer for Their Founder’s Role in the Sand Creek Massacre

Under pressure from students and community members, Northwestern University and University of Denver take the first steps towards righting historic wrongs.
Ned Blackhawk
A police officer speaks with kids in North Charleston. Photo by Ryan Johnson.

The US Has Spent $14B on Community Policing—What Have We Learned So Far?

Gauging whether a community policing program has been successful ultimately depends on how you define success.
Christopher Moraff
Tutu

Can America Heal Its Racial Wounds? We Asked Desmond Tutu and His Daughter

South Africans surprised everyone by transitioning to a relatively peaceful post-apartheid society. Here’s what Americans can learn.
Sarah van Gelder & Fania Davis
Woman with flowers

Things White People Should Never Say

Let’s start with “I’m not racist., but ..."
Robert Jensen
YES! illustration by Julie Notarianni

The Indigenous Rituals That Heal Us

How the Medicine Wheel can guide us to transform communities that have suffered from racial injustice
Patricia St. Onge
truth_reconciliation_650.jpg

Truth and Reconciliation at Work: How These Commissions Help Heal Wounds From Racial Injustice

Fania Davis explains how Truth and Reconciliation Commissions can help communities heal from a history of racial violence and oppression.
Fania Davis

Solutions We Love

Explore Section

One Poem That Saved a Forest

How the friendship between a poet and a timber baron kept a grove of California redwoods from clear-cutting.
Jacqueline Suskin
Spivak

Meet the Scientist Breeding More Resilient Bees (And 4 Other People Working to Save the Pollinators)

With honeybee populations on the decline, scientists, lawyers, and even artists have set out to save humanity's most important pollinators.
Miles Schneiderman
Sweden_650_2.jpg
The Page That Counts

Less than 1 Percent of Sweden’s Garbage Ends Up at the Dump

How the country heats its homes, and another 23 facts about our world today.
Miles Schneiderman

Culture Shift

Explore Section
Hayes_196729736.jpg

Swapping Screen Time for Getting Dirty: Why Kids Need to Spend More Time Outside

In his book “How to Raise a Wild Child,” Dr. Scott D. Sampson argues that the current disconnect between kids and the natural world is a threat to their physical, mental, and emotional health.
Shannon Hayes
Photo from "Kumu Hina"

What Native Hawaiian Culture Can Teach Us About Gender Identity

As the documentary Kumu Hina reveals, living between both genders is the more powerful “mahu" way.
Jade Snow
Allen_graceoneill_full.jpg

Finding a House That Fits Is About More Than Just Size

Going from a suburban Versailles to a cabin in the woods was just what I needed to find home.
Norman Allen
Herbs

5 Medicinal Herbs Already Growing in Your Backyard

These herbs aren't just for cooking—here's how you can use them to treat ailments from asthma to anxiety.
Miles Schneiderman
populist_movement_occupy_sign_650.jpg

Is Populism Making a Comeback? What You Need to Know About Its History—And Its Future

The 19th century populists gave us co-ops and workers' rights. Here's how we can build on their work to solve 21st century problems.
Fran Korten