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This pandemic Labor Day, it’s still a ‘Jungle’ in Kansas
Grilling this Labor Day weekend? Then take a moment to reflect on the meatpacking workers who have made your barbecue feast possible. You see, the history of Labor Day has a surprising connection to the Sunflower State, and it’s a legacy that is still playing out in meatpacking plants today. As a society we continue […]
In solidarity with protesters, Kansas cops should surrender military hand-me-downs
The problem with the militarization of the police isn’t the gear. It’s the mindset. The Fort Hays State University Police Department, a few years ago, received 14 rifles, including nine M-16s and two sniper rifles, that the U.S. Department of Defense no longer needed. Fort Hays is one of 117 campuses across the nation that […]
Kansas lawmakers’ reliance on ‘personal responsibility’ poisons well of public health
Imagine a well in the middle of town pumping out contaminated water that’s making people sick. There are other wells in town, but nobody is sure which one is the source of the disease, which has reached epidemic proportions. People are dying and doctors are desperate to locate and stop the source of the infection. […]
We need to see more names and faces of Kansans lost to COVID-19
When Fern Chester Meek, a 22-year-old former high school teacher from Coffey County, Kansas, succumbed to the pandemic, the pain his community felt was heartbreaking. A local paper reported that the last time Meek had visited Lebo, he’d umpired a baseball game. Another piece recalled that he’d been active in debate in high school and […]