Civil Rights
Adkins taps into anxiety of IRS audit surge, criticizes Kansas Democrats’ focus on abortion
GOP congressional candidate Amanda Adkins stokes fear of IRS audits, while U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids questions Adkins' position on abortion rights.
Kansans with disabilities face too many barriers. Help is available, but more needs to be done.
Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Rebecca Lyn Phillips is a published author, speaker and mental health advocate. I didn’t know much about disabilities or advocacy groups like the Disability Rights Center of […]
A conspiracy-fueled push to count ballots by hand gains traction
Nye County, a rural enclave in Nevada, has positioned itself as the epicenter of a Donald Trump-fueled conspiracy about the security of electronic vote tabulators. The Nye County Commission voted in March to make the county one of the first to act on the false narratives that machines that count votes are rigged. County Clerk […]
Without asking for it, transgender kids have been swept up into Kansas political imbroglio
Kansas politicians and school districts have contorted themselves in fury recently over simple requests of transgender students. Treat us fairly and inclusively. Call us by our names and treat us with respect. Value our lives. We saw it recently in Gardner Edgerton School District, as a proposed policy covering trans students would have forbidden teachers […]
At Nicodemus reunion, familial and Kansas history converge
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Patricia E. Weems Gaston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the Lacy C. Haynes Professor at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. […]
Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott pull from segregationist playbook with anti-immigration stunts
As a historian of racism and white supremacy in the United States, I’ve become accustomed to callous actions like those of Republican governors who organized transportation for Latin American migrants to states run by their political opponents. Governors Greg Abbott in Texas and Ron DeSantis in Florida are following the playbook of segregationists who provided one-way bus tickets to Northern cities […]
Faith leaders urge minimum wage hike, expanded child tax credit as Congress nears recess
WASHINGTON — Faith leaders pressed Congress to pass voting rights legislation, a $15 minimum wage and a permanent expansion of the child tax credit during a Thursday briefing on Capitol Hill. “Poverty is a policy choice,” Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said to lawmakers. Barber, who is the pastor of […]
Legal advocacy group files ethics complaint against Schmidt tied to 2020 election lawsuit
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt expects an ethics complaint questioning Schmidt's role in a 2020 election case to be dismissed.
‘Crisis pregnancy centers’ that oppose abortion questioned by U.S. Senate Democrats
Seven U.S. Senate Democrats questioned a leading Ohio-based anti-abortion group Tuesday about its practice of collecting personal information from patients seeking abortions. So-called crisis pregnancy centers — facilities that often mirror abortion provider aesthetics but actually provide services to discourage abortion — collect sensitive data from patients. That presents troubling new complications as states move […]
This early-1900s law revoked married women’s citizenship. Why don’t Kansans learn about it?
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Diana B. Carlin is a retired communication professor and author of political communication books and articles. She is a proud second-generation American from southeast Kansas. When […]
An ‘unprecedented flood’ of book bans engulfs U.S. school districts, PEN report says
WASHINGTON — More than 1,600 book titles across 32 states were banned from public schools during the 2021-2022 school year, with the bulk of the ban requests coming from a handful of right-wing groups pushing for censorship of books that feature LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color, a new report issued Monday said. “What I […]
With another Sept. 11 passed, let’s dedicate ourselves to faith without fear in Kansas and world
Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Inas Younis was born in Mosul, Iraq, and emigrated to the United States as a child. She is a writer and commentator who has been widely published […]