Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 2d

This week: @corbintrent.bsky.social on "America's Undoing" and why Democrats are being too timid in pushing for a popular, populist progressive agenda. Also: How the right-wing media outrage machine works, and a memoriam for the late great Arkansas drag queen and club owner Norman Jones.

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 24: 'America's Undoing' and the Right-Wing Message Machine

SYNOPSIS: In the South, the prospects for progressive causes and candidates can be daunting. But Corbin Trent thinks the answer is not to back down or dilute their messages — it’s to take strong, bold...

sites.libsyn.com

1

Reposted by The Progressive South

Arkansas Times @arktimes.bsky.social · 8d

Arkansas native Norman Jones, a towering drag performer who won the first-ever Miss Gay America pageant and the driving force behind some of the state’s most beloved gay clubs, died Monday at the age of 79.

Norman Jones, drag legend and gay bar proprietor, has died - Arkansas Times

Arkansas native Norman Jones, a towering drag performer who won the first-ever Miss Gay America pageant and the driving force behind some of the state’s most beloved gay clubs, died Monday at the age ...

arktimes.com

5 13 80

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 8d

Good news from Georgia, although a referendum is still to come.

Southern Poverty Law Center @splcenter.org · 8d

Tuesday, Georgia’s highest court sided with Black landowners in a fight over zoning changes that weakened long-standing protections for one of the South’s last Gullah Geechee communities founded by emancipated Black people.

Read more: https://bit.ly/486yuuv

Georgia's highest court sides with slave descendants fighting to protect threatened island community

Georgia's highest court is siding with Black landowners in a zoning dispute affecting a historic Gullah-Geechee community.

apnews.com

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 10d

sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-23...

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 23: Alexis Okeowo on Alabama

SYNOPSIS: Writer Alexis Okeowo grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and then moved away from the state for college. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has reported from Africa and Mexico....

sites.libsyn.com

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 10d

On this week's HEADLIGHTS: an interview with the reporter and author Alexis Okeowo, a contributing writer for The New Yorker who has a great new book out called BLESSINGS AND DISASTERS: A STORY OF ALABAMA. Part memoir, part history, part deeply reported consideration of her complex home state.

1 1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 10d

"Literacy is much more than the ability to read. Literacy is what results from repeatedly exercising that skill with a wide range of books. Learning. Empathy. A broader understanding of the world and the people in it.

The Alabama Public Library Service Board does not seem to like that."

Alabama's state library board seems hostile to literacy | Alabama Reflector

The Alabama Legislature is trying to raise reading scores as the Alabama Public Library Service is trying to limit what you can read.

alabamareflector.com

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 14d

A Georgia journalist was detained while reporting on an anti-ICE protest, and DHS has reopened an old immigration case against him. He now faces deportation.

georgiarecorder.com/2025/09/23/i...

ICE officials, attorneys for Mario Guevara spar over the Georgia journalist’s immigration history • Georgia Recorder

Mario Guevara's lawyers asked a federal court on Monday for his release and to halt any potential deportation while in ICE's custody.

georgiarecorder.com

2

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 14d

None of the reports from DHS so far have even mentioned the names of the actual people shot — one killed — at the Dallas ICE facility yesterday. This is because humanizing detainees in any way works against the desensitization and dehumanization necessary to sustain the mass deportation project.

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 17d

Great conversation this week with Leah Song of Rising Appalachia — on music, activism, and bringing people together in tough times.

Also: What the National Guard deployment to Memphis signals for cities in Southern states.

youtu.be/4O4zUEgjT1g

Ep. 22: Rising Appalachia

YouTube video by The Progressive South

youtu.be

2 2

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 22d

Thanks to contributor Glenn Daigon for this account of a successful union action by school bus drivers in Richmond, Va.

theprogressivesouth.org/learning-fro...

Learning From a Union Win in Richmond – The Progressive South

theprogressivesouth.org

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · 23d

This week: Guns and gun violence in the South, and why the right never wants to talk about it. Also: Great conversation w/Katie Blankenship of Sanctuary of the South, on providing legal help to immigrants in our chaotic moment.

sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-21...

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 21: Guns and Sanctuary in the South

SYNOPSIS: In the wake of the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, blame flew in multiple directions. As usual, nobody on the right wanted to talk about guns. But Kirk’s wasn’t even ...

sites.libsyn.com

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Sep 9

Good news for Cop City protesters! The racketeering charges were a clear overreach that tried to frame political protests as an illegal conspiracy. But this is a mostly procedural ruling, and prosecutors will probably appeal.

Rough Draft @roughdraftatlanta.com · Sep 9

Judge will dismiss racketeering charges against ‘Cop City’ protesters

A Fulton County judge said Tuesday he will dismiss racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of trying to stop construction of Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center, commonly referred to by critics…

Judge will dismiss racketeering charges against ‘Cop City’ protesters

A Fulton County judge said Tuesday he will dismiss racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of trying to stop construction of Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center, commonly referred to by critics as “Cop City.” According to the Associated Press (via GPB News), Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer ruled that Republican Attorney General Chris Carr lacked the authority to bring the sweeping 2023 indictments under Georgia’s RICO law without authorization from Gov. Brian Kemp. The case was believed to be the largest racketeering prosecution ever brought against protesters in U.S.

roughdraftatlanta.com

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Sep 9

New episode of Headlights: Steve Smith of @cleanenergy.org on solar and wind energy progress in the South, and how it's under threat from the Trump admin and massive new power-sucking data centers; and an update on Texas' ever-more-aggressive anti-abortion laws.

sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-20...

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 20: Fossil Fuels and an AI Bubble

SYNOPSIS: Up until January of this year, several Southern states were among the leaders in clean energy production, with big investments in solar and wind power in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Then c...

sites.libsyn.com

2 3

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Sep 1

From slavery to convict leasing to Jim Crow to "right-to-work," the Southern economy has always depended on extracting labor as cheaply as possible. A Labor Day look at what @epi.org calls the "Southern Economic Development Model."

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 19: Labor Day in the South

SYNOPSIS: It’s Labor Day, even in the South — the region of the country that has long been most hostile to workers’ rights. From slavery through Jim Crow, from “Right to Work” laws aimed at weakening ...

sites.libsyn.com

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Sep 1

Holiday greeting from @rickbaldwin.bsky.social. #EditorialCartoons

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 26

The latest from @rickbaldwin.bsky.social: School vouchers.

2 1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 25

Very happy this week to talk to writer, thinker, educator and Progressive South board member @sotoalfred.bsky.social about Florida politics — how they got so bad, how they can maybe get better.

sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-18...

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 18: What happened to Florida?

SYNOPSIS: Florida was once the swing state that presidential elections hinged on. But over the last few decades, it has turned redder and redder. This week we’re joined by writer, educator and Progres...

sites.libsyn.com

1 1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 20

The latest from Rick Baldwin: on restoring the Confederacy. (More at rickbaldwincartoons.com)

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 19

The generally conservative 5th Circuit blocks West Texas A&M's drag ban.

FIRE Attorney Adam Steinbaugh: “We’re overjoyed that our clients will now be able to express themselves freely, and we’ll be watching to make sure that President Wendler obeys the laws of the land while the case proceeds."

Fifth Circuit halts West Texas A&M drag show ban as free speech lawsuit continues

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the school’s prohibition on drag performances, finding students are likely to prove it violates the First Amen...

www.texastribune.org

Reposted by The Progressive South

Progress Texas @progresstexas.bsky.social · Aug 19

We are beyond proud of Fort Worth State Rep. Nicole Collier for standing up to ridiculous GOP bullying! Full talk: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

28 170 560

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 18

Listen here: sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-17...

Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South: Ep. 17: The Undead Confederacy

SYNOPSIS: The Confederacy ended in 1865, but it never really died. The iconography of the slavers’ secessionist rebellion has returned again and again through the succeeding 160 years, particularly in...

sites.libsyn.com

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 18

The conversation in HEADLIGHTS this week is with Dom Kelly of @newdisabledsouth.org: "The South has 1/3 of all disabled people in the entire country — the majority of whom are Black. We also have the legacy of eugenics, of slavery, of Jim Crow, that all inform our policies and our systems today."

1 1 4

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 18

It's baaaaaack. This week: Why the Confederacy never really died, and why it's making another one of its zombie resurgences now under the Trump administration. Listen here: sites.libsyn.com/576820/ep-17...

Part of the poster for the movie "Confederate Zombies."

1

The Progressive South @progsouth.bsky.social · Aug 16

Thanks to our friends at Inside of Knoxville for a great write-up and interview about The Progressive South!

insideofknoxville.com/2025/08/jess...

Jesse Fox Mayshark Puts The Progressive South on the Map | Inside of Knoxville

Podcasting is a natural fit for Jesse Fox Mayshark. He’s a talker, but it’s the sort of top-shelf pontification that makes you look down and wonder when your beer got warm. After all, Jesse’s built a ...

insideofknoxville.com

1

Reposted by The Progressive South

Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · Aug 15

A newly formed City of Jackson housing task force promises to hold the city’s landlords accountable for neglect.

New Housing Task Force to Provide Oversight of Jackson Landlords

A newly formed City of Jackson housing task force promises to hold the city’s landlords accountable for neglect.

buff.ly

8 25