Young Kwak photo One thousand three hundred miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the Greyhound Bus Station in Spokane allowed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents to indiscriminately target undocumented immigrants. I
have been accused of being a radical leftist professor. A self-centered academic, perched on an ivory tower, looking down on those who don t hang on my every word. As a critical race education scholar, my teaching is centered on transformational dialogue. This method of teaching and learning invites my students to a deeper understanding of meaning because it gives us many different perspectives of the world we share. It intentionally centers the voices of those historically marginalized, including queer women of color, Indigenous people, Latinx, African Americans, and the working poor to name several. Co
COVID-19 was the crucible that shaped our year, as everyone’s, in 2020. The pandemic caused us to shift plans, cancel travel, and work remotely. But it also inspired creativity and resulted in powerful and important journalism.
As coronavirus cases began to soar in March, our reporters immediately started reaching out to prison officials in all 50 states and the federal system to track the number of prisoners and staff who tested positive for the virus and those who died. The tracker, updated weekly, has become an essential resource for other journalists, scholars and even prisons themselves.
Beyond the pandemic, we collaborated with journalists in Alabama, Indiana and Chicago on a ground-breaking investigation into the devastating injuries caused by the misuse of police dogs nationwide. Our year-long reporting led us into this hidden world, where maulings are common and oversight is rare.