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Over the course of the last few months, the movement for racial justice has reignited the call for racially insensitive mascots and team names to be replaced. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign retired their race-based mascot 13 years ago, yet the depiction continues to endure, with some even calling for the mascot to be restored.
Summer is a time for road trips — but COVID-19 is limiting options. The 21st explores safe getaways in a time of a pandemic.
In light of the racial justice movements in Illinois, statues honoring Confederate figures like Jefferson Davis, are coming down around the South — either by protestors or local governments. Here in the Midwest, some student groups at the University of Wisconsin in Madison are also calling for the removal of an Abraham Lincoln statue.
As we begin the month of August, the 21st speaks to two reporters from Illinois to check-in with some under reported communities about the effects of COVID-19 and how they’re reacting to back to school plans.
In the late 1990s, a photographer named Chris Strong stood in front of a house on the sidewalk of West High Street in Urbana, Illinois and snapped a peculiar photograph of a white-framed house. The 21st talked with three guests to learn more about the house and the significance it holds to certain alternative music fans around the world.
