Where Do Israel and Hamas Go From Here? Let’s Hope Their Negotiators See Oslo.

After another deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls Palestinian territories, change is coming to the top of the Israeli government.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 8, 2021Israel, Hamas, Palestine, Oslo, Norway, PLO, Yasir Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Clinton, Foreign Correspondent, Fafo Institute

Preserving Black Cemeteries to Save History

Two weeks ago, I stood in Onisha Burks Memory Gardens Cemetery, an old graveyard behind the main cemetery in Canton, a central Mississippi city with a large Black population.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 2, 2021Onisha Burks Memory Gardens, Black Cemeteries, Black history, Mississippi history, Dr. Mignon Chinn, burial grounds, African Americans, slaves, plantations, Unmarked, unmarked graves, Monticello

U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at Roe V. Wade by deciding to hear Mississippi Case

By considering Mississippi’s 2018 law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the U.S. Supreme Court is tipping off its plans to chip away at the right to abortion, experts says.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 26, 2021Dobbs v. Jackson, abortions, Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, South, heartbeat laws, TRAP laws, Pro-life, rape

As Hate and Hardship Rise, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Seek Support from Non-Asians

In March 2021, Lisa Sun, a young Asian American fashion CEO in New York City, was concerned about her Asian immigrant seamstresses.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 17, 2021Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month, attacks on Asian Americans, AAPI hate, hate crime, China virus, Kung Flu

On Mother’s Day, Native American Families Are Missing Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Daughters, Granddaughters

Mother’s Day is a complicated holiday. There are children who have lost their mothers, and there are mothers who have lost their children. For those who have only memories, seeing Mother’s Day cards, flowers and balloons all over can be very painful.

Missing or Murdered in Indian Country, Gone Without Justice

Resplendent in her Southern Ute of Colorado garb, Diane Millich told a harrowing story. In the late 1990s, at 26, she had married a White man who she said slapped, kicked, punched and abused her emotionally, beginning on the third day of their marriage.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMay 4, 2021Diane Millich, tribal police, Native American, Violence against women act, VAWA, Native women, Native children, Alaska, domestic homicide, domestic violence, domestic abuse

After the Chauvin Verdict: Police Reform, Not Defunding

All over the country, violent crime has spiked almost everywhere, including Mississippi, during the pandemic.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 28, 2021violent crime, police defunding, restorative justice, Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Police reform, police training, New Jersey

A Hidden Cost of Domestic Violence: How Big Is This Secret Epidemic?

An abusive man may stomp on his partner’s head and neck, wearing his heavy work boots. Or he might hit her head repeatedly against a wall, at least twice a week, for a year. Maybe he pushes her so hard she falls and knocks her head against a massive piece of furniture, giving her a concussion.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 21, 2021Domestic abuse, domestic violence, head injuries, concussions, Brain injury awareness month, Center on partner-inflicted brain injury, dr. Julianna Nemeth, Pink concussions, Rachel Ramirez, Dr. Eve Valera, NIH

MCIR LIVE Explores 1963 Bombing in Birmingham: ‘It Is Never Too Late for a Man To Be Held Accountable For His Crimes.’

Four people who contributed to a major chapter in civil rights history joined MCIR founder Jerry Mitchell last week to talk about justice achieved after almost 40 years.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 14, 2021MCIR Live, Birmingham Church Bombing, KKK, four little girls, Sen. Doug Jones, Lisa McNair, Andy Sheldon, Bill Baxley, Jerry Mitchell, civil rights movement

A Sentence of Six Seconds: How Prison Rodeos Buck the System

Burl Cain, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, used to be warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellApril 5, 2021Burl Cain, Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Parchman, commissioner, Angola Prison rodeo, The Wildest Show in the South, Parchman Farm

A Mass Shooting Often Starts At Home Against a Woman

A new week, a new mass shooting. Just seven days after a gunman killed eight people in Atlanta, including six women of Korean or Chinese descent, another shooter killed 10 people in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 29, 2021domestic violence, abuse, women killed, Asian Americans, mass shooting, Atlanta, Boulder shooting, columbine, femicide, Rachel Louise Snyder, Violence against women act, the boyfriend loophole

Some Domestic Violence Takes Place Behind Two Sets of Closed Doors: At Home, In the Bedroom, In Secrecy

Since the mass shooting in Atlanta last week that killed six women of Asian descent, Asian Americans, especially women, are sick at heart, angry -- and afraid.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 23, 2021domestic violence, abuse, women killed, Asian Americans, mass shooting, Atlanta, attacks on Asian Americans, Tanya Selvaratnam, Cathy Park Hong, immigrants, sexual assault, Eric Sneiderman, Kiese Laymon

What Should a Memorial to Victims of Intimate Partner Violence Be Like?

Whatta win! At the 2021 Grammys on Sunday night, rapper, singer and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion, wearing a spectacular strapless orange dress with a train, won Best Rap Song and Rap Performance and Best New Artist.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 16, 2021Megan Thee Stallion, domestic violence, Tory Lanez, abuse, Why I speak up for Black Women, women killed, misdemeanor, Quanda Johnson

‘A New Sheriff’ Will Make History at the Interior Department

March is Women’s History Month and Native American Heritage Month, too.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 9, 2021Women's History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Deb Haaland, President Biden, Secretary of the Interior, New Mexico, Laguna Pueblo nation, Mississippi Republican senators, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, First Indigenous woman

Will the Violence Against Women Act Go On Saving Lives?

The Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994, makes possible local advocates’ ability to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 2, 2021Violence against women act, domestic abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, VAWA, The House, Ann McLane Kuster, Congress, Lizzie Fletcher, abuse, President Biden, Oliphant Decision, Senate, MCconnell

More Heroism, Just Outside the Arctic Circle: How Alaskan Sled Dogs Saved Diphtheria Patients in Nome

February 2021: It’s snowing again in the Northeast, and we still endure a pandemic.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellFebruary 23, 2021Alaska, Alaskan sled dogs, mushers, Iditarod race, Siberian huskies, Nome, diphteria, antitoxin, Balto, Togo, Central Park statues, dogs, heroic dogs

All Bundled Up During Black History Month? Remember The Black Man Who Was First At The North Pole

The Arctic has invaded the lower 48: The arrival of its cold air means that half of America is walking around dressed like the Inuit man on the tails of Alaska Airlines’ planes.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellFebruary 16, 2021Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, North Pole, Black History Month, Arctic expedition, Explorers' club

A Police Force: The Last Frontier for Women

On Monday, PBS’s documentary series Frontline aired Women in Blue, a documentary about the Minneapolis Police Department. In May 2020, actions by a male policeman from this department led to the death of George Floyd, triggering peaceful Black Lives Matter protests nationwide, including in Mississippi.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellFebruary 9, 2021racism, Black Lives Matter, Frontline, Women in Blue, BLM, Minneapolis police department, women officers, misogyny, Jane Harteau, Alice White

Mysteries of the Confederacy: The Fates of Spies and of Statues

In spring 2020, respected documentarian Pamela Mason Wagner was in the field in Richmond, Virginia, working on a new piece for the Smithsonian Channel’s series, America’s Hidden Stories. Wagner already had produced a program for the series that aired in January 2021, called Madam President, about First Lady Edith Wilson, who took over the White House behind the scenes after President Woodrow Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellFebruary 2, 2021racism, Pamela Mason Wagner, First Lady Edith Wilson, Madam President, America's hidden stories, Southern Women, Union Spies, Richmond, Elizabeth Van Lew, Mary Bowser, Jefferson Davis, Monument Avenue, Black Lives Matter, confederate monuments, Edward Valentine

MCIR LIVE: Two Writers for The New Yorker Talk About Race in America

In New York City, Jelani Cobb and Calvin Trillin had talked to each other at a dinner party given by The New Yorker’s current editor.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJanuary 26, 2021Jelani Cobb, Calvin Trillin, The New Yorker, Deadline Poet, The Nation, civil rights movement, race in America, Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, MCIR Live, Columbia University School of Journalism, Fight Fair Action, Frontline, racism