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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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HCN has covered the lands, wildlife and communities of the Western U.S. for more than 50 years. Get to know the West better by signing up to receive HCN’s on-the-ground reporting and investigations in your inbox.

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Race & Racism

Jade Stevens rests near Lake Putt on land in California’s Tahoe National Forest that is owned and managed by the 40 Acre Conservation League.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

Can land repair the nation’s racist past?

by Adam Mahoney December 1, 2024November 26, 2024

California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.

Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

Can Farmington hide from its legacy of anti-Indigenous violence?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster December 1, 2024December 2, 2024

It’s a reservation border town problem, not just a local one.

Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing

Venezuelan migrants use social media to counter xenophobia

by Anthony J. Wallace September 1, 2024August 30, 2024

In the face of anti-immigration rhetoric, content creators show the ‘good outnumber the bad.’

Posted inArticles

The hunt for a great third place

by Stephanie Cher August 26, 2024August 28, 2024

The significance of discovering a place with charm, wit and different flavors of personality.

Kyle Wheeler at Dancing Swallows Big Gay Bird Sanctuary and Memorial Pond in Chehalis, Washington.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness

Hate groups in western Washington echo the past

by Leah Sottile June 1, 2024June 17, 2024

The bigotry displayed when white supremacists disrupted a Pride celebration in Centralia repeats a pattern that dates back to 1919.

Posted inArticles

An environmental justice coalition for all

by Erin X. Wong May 3, 2024August 22, 2024

How has Biden’s record on conservation served communities of color?

Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys

The untold history of Japanese American bird pins

by Susan Shain April 5, 2024April 5, 2024

They were one of the most ubiquitous crafts to come out of Japanese incarceration camps. But few knew their back story — until now.

Posted inArticles

Who are the real Black superheroes?

by Nikia Chaney March 22, 2024March 21, 2024

A photo exhibition captures the courage of Mamie Till surrounding the lynching of her son, Emmett Till.

Posted inArticles

Fighting climate change by fighting racism

by Susan Shain March 21, 2024May 8, 2024

Hop Hopkins, the new executive director of WildEarth Guardians, explains how the two movements are connected.

Documents and diaries from the Issei Poetry Project at the Japanese American Community & Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.
Posted inMarch 2024: Fertile Ground

Issei poetry between the world wars

by Kenji C. Liu March 1, 2024March 4, 2024

The rich history of Japanese-language literature challenges assumptions about what counts as U.S. art.

Posted inArticles

In Northern California, Asian residents say they are being targeted by traffic stops

by Theo Whitcomb January 17, 2024May 1, 2024

The Siskiyou County sheriff’s department has been accused of racial profiling in the past.

Posted inArticles

Nyob Rau Qaum Teb California, Cov pej xeem Esxias hais tias tub ceev xwm tsom lawv tib co neeg dub hau nres nram kev xwb

by Theo Whitcomb January 17, 2024February 1, 2024

Siskiyou County Lub Hoob Kas Tub Ceev Xwm raug liam los lawm hais tias lawv tsom lwm haiv neeg xwb.

“The Beginning of the End” is a quilt by Diné quiltmaker, Susan Hudson, which speaks to the legacy of Indian boarding schools in the United States and Canada (where they are known as “residential schools”).
Posted inArticles

Washington works to reconcile its history of Indigenous boarding schools

by Shana Lombard December 12, 2023January 31, 2024

An all-Indigenous committee will identify the state’s responsibility of rectifying harm caused to boarding school survivors and their descendants.

Bass Reeves, the first Black man to serve as a U.S. deputy marshall west of the Mississippi River.
Posted inArticles

The era of the Black Western has arrived. Is it here to stay?

by Alaina E. Roberts November 10, 2023January 31, 2024

The miniseries, ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves,’ doesn’t fully live up to its potential to showcase a multifaceted Black identity.

Roman Rain Tree poses for a photo just outside a tribe community event on Sept. 23. Rain Tree, a member of the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians and the Choinumni tribe, has been advocating for Fresno County to acknowledge a federal decision to remove a racist and sexist slur from the name of a Fresno County foothill community.
Posted inArticles

An Indigenous slur persists in Fresno County despite renaming efforts

by Omar Shaikh Rashad/Fresnoland October 9, 2023January 24, 2024

When the feds remove offensive names, local jurisdictions don’t have to follow along.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice

Seattle’s Black Farmers Collective nurtures communities and crops

by Syris Valentine September 1, 2023January 24, 2024

At Small Axe Farm, producers learn how to tend vegetables and grow their businesses.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice

My beloved lemon squeezer

by Marie Myung-Ok Lee September 1, 2023January 24, 2024

A simple tool becomes a form of self-defense.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice

Revisiting the Rock Springs Massacre

by Teow Lim Goh September 1, 2023January 24, 2024

In 1885, white coal miners in Wyoming Territory, murdered at least 28 Chinese men and ran the rest of the Chinese out of town at gunpoint. These artworks bring that history back to the present.

Posted inAugust 1, 2023: In the Line of Fire

Oregon’s Greater Idaho movement echoes a long history of racism in the region

by Leah Sottile August 1, 2023May 21, 2024

Instead of fixing Oregon, the Greater Idaho movement seeks to leave it. White supremacists are on board.

Posted inAugust 1, 2023: In the Line of Fire

Consoling spirits

by Noriko Nakada August 1, 2023January 24, 2024

A visit to the sacred Ireichō at the Japanese American National Museum.

Posts pagination

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