July 10, 2020

Energizing Words of Insight and Hope From Alicia Garza, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter

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After this marathon week of fireworks, and last week’s, and those of every week and minute, the inspiring words of Alicia Garza are both timely and timeless. Garza co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement when she wrote “Black lives matter” in a Facebook post almost seven years ago, and she’s featured in an insightful, wide-ranging interview this week by NatGeo’s Rachel Hartigan. Since launching the Black Lives Matter Global Network with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, Garza has rallied and amplified the voices and lives of countless people who drive change, bearing witness to what has changed and what still needs to. Her interview touches on the construction of the phrase “Black Lives Matters,” the basis for maintaining hope, the ways a movement for change can stay its course, and the unifying threads of collective action. Catch it here, and have a safe, healthy, strengthening weekend. Let us know how you plan to, and stories you’d like boosted, at recharge@motherjones.com.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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