Hours before heading to Chicago and days ahead of the second PeoriaCon, Jason Johnston leads onlookers through a display of comic and other artwork on display at Studios on Sheridan. The 41-year-old Peorian, who formerly worked trade shows with Events…
Arts Beat | March 2020
March 9-April 17: 7th Central Time Ceramics exhibit. Bradley University’s Heuser Art Gallery & Hartmann Center Gallery. March 12: “African American Art in Bronzeville.” Lecture by Juarez Hawkins, Chicago artist, curator and professor. 10-11 a.m. Peoria Riverfront Museum; and 6-7…
Real Talk | A Republic, if we can keep it
What happened to the purist Republican Senate during the trial of Bill Clinton? In 1999, President Clinton was charged and impeached by the House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstruction of justice. The independent counsel who brought the…
Reflections From The Clergy | What Does It Mean to Be A People of Resilience?
On Oct. 29, 1999, former Archbishop Desmond Tutu officially presented President Mandela the five volumes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report. Tutu, head of the TRC, had heard long hours of personal testimony from the victims of atrocities…
West Peoria News | Residents’ Association needs volunteers
The Residents’ Association has experienced some recent resignations and needs volunteers. The group meets on the third Thursday each month excluding July and December. For more information call Nick Baker at 696-4280. Time is rapidly approaching for the 2020 census.…
Labor Roundup | March 2020
Journalists unionizing at Sports Illustrated, alternatives in Phoenix, Miami. Arbitrary firings by a new management firm with no sports news experience, plus an uncertain future relying on “stringers” led more than 90% of the remaining 80 full-time staffers of Sports…
Discrimination and “The Politics of Hair”
“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…
ISU Professor: Peoria vulnerable to killer heat waves
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…
Potential health risks of recreational marijuana
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…
Cordoba Clinic turns no one away
Muslims in Peoria alarmed; NGOs fear genocide in India
“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 Lion’s Den | I Am Not My Hair
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…
Straight Talk | Bradley’s Chris Reynolds in running for A.D. at Indiana University
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…
Bill Knight | Trump and Iran
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…
Editorial | 2019: A year of hate; 2020: A year redressing hate
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…
Letter to the Editor | And click! I became a feminist
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…
OpEd | Proton Beam cancer treatment in Peoria at OSF
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…
The Watch | Cemetery and housing reports
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…
Nature Rambles | Low bird counts
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.…
Inland Art | African American art in Chicago
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!”
“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…
Art and Justice | Ryan Rashad Reed
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…