“The Politics of Hair” is a storytelling campaign planned by Ill. Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth to highlight the discrimination African-Americans experience due to hairstyles including natural, braids and dreadlocks. Many people in America who deny racism still exists need to hear…
Everyone who has watched Australia burn and Jakarta flood need look no further than Peoria for dangerous, life-threatening changes due to climate change. William Rau, Illinois State University emeritus professor of sociology, said communities in central Illinois need detailed emergency…
Editor’s Note: Community Word ran an editorial in our September 2014 edition advocating for the legalization of recreational marijuana, not because we need more mind-altering drugs but because criminalization disproportionately impacted African Americans even though use is equal between whites…
“Preparation for a genocide is definitely under way in India,” said Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch, speaking to an audience of U.S. Congressional and government officials at a briefing titled “Ground Reports on Kashmir and NRC (National Register…
The California-based legislation, The Crown (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act, SB-188, is designed to prevent discrimination toward African Americans based on their hair. This law is housed under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act and…
Chris Reynolds, Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics at Bradley University, reportedly is one of four finalists for the job as Athletic Director at Indiana University. The popular Reynolds certainly has the credentials to get the job. He was a basketball…
A local monthly commenting on acts of war from weeks earlier may seem no longer timely, much less local, but war is always local since family and friends are used, and war is tragically timeless. Plus, many reckless, feckless developments…
Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked a steady rise in hate groups from 892 in 2015 to 917 in 2016 and 1,020 groups in 2018. The numbers for 2019 won’t be released until next month, but news accounts document an…
The independent film “The First Rainbow Coalition” was shown by WTVP. It was also screened at ICC, sponsored by Community Word, WTVP-TV, ICC’s Department of Diversity & Community Impact and the West Central Illinois Labor Council. It was a memorable…
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center has filed an application with the Illinois Health Department for licensing to construct and operate a comprehensive cancer center and proton beam radiation facility in Peoria. The center is expected to cost $237 million and…
There’s a bit of a winter lull for many governmental bodies. Budgets are finished or far off. Meetings are cancelled for holidays or bad weather. Key volunteers are down south for weeks or months at a time. But this is…
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count season is over and volunteer compilers are busy uploading data. This is the 120th year for the Christmas Bird Counts, and local count circles in our region include Peoria, Chillicothe and Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge.…
Although Chicago’s art schools and museums attract thousands of students and visitors annually, emerging and even mid-career artists have always struggled to capture an appropriate degree of that attention. There wasn’t always a deep reservoir of writers, venturesome collectors, or…
“Remember Her, Peoria!” is a new art installation designed to bring attention to the number of women and girls murdered and missing in Peoria County. One estimate puts the number at 88 over the past two decades. Opening on Valentine’s…
Peoria artist Ryan Rashad Reed uses his art to convey justice, beauty, triumph and struggle. Many people consider Reed, 40, to be one of Peoria’s most accomplished young artists. He is quick to say he strides for mastery but hasn’t…
Feb. 6: Nick Sizemore. 9 p.m. Tartan Inn. 966-2444. Feb. 6: “Winter Jam 2020,” featuring Christian recording artists crowder, Hillsong Young & Free, Andy Mineo, Building 429, Red, and more. 7 p.m. Civic Center Arena. 673-3200. Feb. 7-8: New Cats…
The U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dated Nov. 21, 2019 objecting to the Trump Administration’s decision declaring Israeli settlements on the West Bank are legal and permanent. The Trump administration decision is…
When I was a teenager, my family hosted a refugee family from Iran. They had fled persecution, forced to abandoned their homeland because they were members of the Baha’i Faith, the largest minority religion in Iran. Since the faith’s inception…
Peoria County Sheriff’s Deputy JR Kester will bring Quincy, his K9 partner, to the Neighborhood Watch meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at City Hall. Deputy Kester will speak about experiences with a canine partner. The West Peoria Book Club…
Something about winter makes me exceedingly sentimental and rather emotionally fragile. It begins around Thanksgiving, escalates through February then starts tapering off, especially if March’s weather is sunny. During those contemplative times, I love going through treasured papers and keepsakes,…
Some 400 bills, many important to workers remain stalled in the GOP-majority Senate, where right-wing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t schedule them to be heard. Besides the blockade of legislation approved by the House of Representatives or passed out of…
