human rights

The University of Connecticut’s Muslim Student Association is hosting a virtual art show and contest Thursday evening to raise awareness about the plight of China’s Uighur population.

Native Americans exerted their political power in the 2020 election. A record-breaking six Native-Americans were elected to Congress and Native American votes tipped the scales in Arizona - which went blue for only the second time in seventy years. And U.S. Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) is on President-elect Biden's short list to be Secretary of the Interior. 

Are we on the verge of societal collapse? We tend to worry about the big explosive stuff like nuclear war, asteroids, and solar flares when we consider end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenarios. The reality is that most "fallen" civilizations gradually decline over many decades with a banality that can barely register. 

We often remember the decline of civilizations as the fault of poor leaders or natural disasters but it's more like death from a thousand cuts from conditions like inequality, corruption, and political dysfunction. That's (partly) what happened to the Roman Empire. 

As a teenager, Albert Woodfox had his first encounter with the criminal justice system. After being sentenced to prison for robbery, he would go on to spend more than 40 years of his life in solitary confinement.

Woodfox is the recipient of the 2020 Stowe Prize, which is awarded to books that illuminate a critical social justice issue in our society.

We hear about his experience surviving solitary in the Louisiana State Penitentiary—known as Angola—one of the nation’s most notorious prisons.

In the wake of resistance to Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice in cities like Portland, Oregon; Kenosha, Wisconsin; and others, we decided to take a look at race relations in the small towns and suburbs of Connecticut. What we found was disturbing. 

Race is a myth; racism is not. I'm stealing this line from Gene Seymour, one of our guests on our show today. 

We're reairing a show with three people who discuss what it's like to be Black in America. The show originally aired in 2017.

We chose to reair it today to coincide with the memorials this week for Congressman John Lewis, who will be the first Black congressman to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, after fighting his entire life for social justice.

Social structures, in almost all cases, are defined by some form of hierarchy. Whether in academics, sports, religion, business, or politics, there's usually someone at the top and others whose goal it is to get there. But while it's easy to think that we've designed our world to be this way, the truth may be that we had no choice.

From veterans returning from Iraq, to survivors of mass shootings, to those putting together the pieces after a hurricane--we know that the emotional and psychological scars of violence and tragedies sometimes last even longer than physical wounds.

But what is the psychological toll on those who help victims of traumatic experiences?

Constantin Mutu was four-months-old when he was separated from his father, Vasily. The elder Mutu was arrested while seeking asylum at the southern border. So far, Constantin is the youngest child to be separated from his family.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang wants to give everyone a Universal Basic Income to offset the effects of automation. The plan resonates across a broad spectrum of voters from his "Yang Gang" to the alt-right and it has catapulted him to a spot in this week's Democratic primary debate alongside frontrunners Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris. Who is this guy? 

Tens of thousands have died in Yemen as a Saudi-led bombing campaign continues to fuel a devastating civil war. And the U.S. has been fueling military efforts by Saudi Arabia in this four year conflict.

This hour, we ask Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy: what are the next steps to address this humanitarian crisis, now that the senate has failed to override the president’s veto of a resolution to end American involvement in the war?

People in Nicaragua took to the streets today to mark one year since deadly protests there. Events in solidarity are planned in cities around the U.S. later this week. 

Unity – the power and strength of women who come together to effect change -- was the message at the 2019 Women’s March in Hartford.

Adriana Falcón Trafford is a West Hartford resident who came to Connecticut from Chile in 1974 to escape the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. This week marks the 45-year anniversary of the military coup in which brought Pinochet to power.  Connecticut Public Radio's Where We Live reflected on the events and what they meant for Chile and for the world. 

In the summer of 2018, the Colin McEnroe Show and the entire talk show team at WNPR had the honor in selecting Jason Perez for an internship at Connecticut Public Radio. Perez worked with Colin McEnroe Show senior producer Betsy Kaplan to produce an episode, aired August 8, that focused on what the general public typically gets wrong about people who have a disability. Along with guests Lila Call and Maysoon Zayid, the three opened up and discussed their lives living with their respective disabilities and how they’re often mistreated.

On a national “Day of Empathy” for those in the criminal justice system, Governor Dannel Malloy proposed a law to recognize the unique needs of women in prison.