A national group of experts focused on building an inclusive society laid out a set of characteristics they are seeking in the next nominee for Supreme Court Justice. The Experts of Color Network calls for a constitutional visionary with a deep appreciation for the nation’s diversity and an understanding of how historical laws, policies and practices have shaped opportunity and adversity today.

In 2014, there were some 11.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. If you are, or have met someone from a mixed-status family, you likely know the constant stress and strain it can put on people. The recently published book, Dreams Deported: Immigrant Youth and Families Resist Deportation, lifts the stories of the undocumented immigrants who are facing the injustice of deportation. 

Governor Rick Snyder was inaugurated on January 1, 2010. Coming from big business and venture capital, he only took six weeks in office to propose a radical redistribution of the state’s shrinking tax base.

Lead, racism and poverty poisoned the Flint water supply. Add in a tablespoon of media silence and a gallon of government denial, and you’ve got a two year crisis that Michigan Governor Snyder has called, “…his Katrina” – alluding to the Bush administration’s disaster of hurricane management.

An emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder triggered the crisis in 2014. Attempting to fund corporate hand-outs through cuts to Flint, Snyder’s emergency manager switched Flint from Detroit’s water supply to the polluted Flint River.

After the switch, the story, and the water, got darker. Since January 2015, state workers in Flint have been receiving bottled water instead of being obligated to drink contaminated water. Despite government knowledge, hundreds of citizen complaints were ignored, email pleas from health officials passed over, and an outbreak of rashes overlooked.

New movements call for new solutions. And this year, we’re taking a new approach to our annual State of the Dream report.