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Racial Justice

Examining Race and Racism in America

388 stories published since 2008

How We Identified the Frat Brothers Holding Guns in Front of an Emmett Till Memorial

This Lawyer Fought Housing Segregation. Now Wealthy Suburbanites Want to Fire His Firm.

Chicago City Council Approves Ticket and Debt Collection Reforms to Help Low-Income and Minority Motorists

He Spent Years Infiltrating White Supremacist Groups. Here’s What He Has to Say About What’s Going on Now.

Trump Called Baltimore “Vermin Infested” While the Federal Government Fails to Clean Up Rodents in Subsidized Housing

Federal Government Wants to Hear From Heirs’ Property Owners

She’s Risked Arrest by Driving With a Suspended License for Seven Years. This Week She Got Some Big News.

We Found Photos of Ole Miss Students Posing With Guns in Front of a Shot-Up Emmett Till Memorial. Now They Face a Possible Civil Rights Investigation.

“How in 2019 Do We Not Have Enough Spanish-Speaking Caseworkers?”

Illinois Lawmakers Demand Child Welfare Officials Better Serve Spanish-Speaking Families

Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.

How to Close Heirs’ Property Loopholes

Digital Jail: How Electronic Monitoring Drives Defendants Into Debt

Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes

How a Top Chicken Company Cut Off Black Farmers, One by One

How to Clean Up the “Hot Mess” That Is Chicago’s Ticketing and Debt Collection Practices — According to a City Task Force

A Lawsuit Over Ferguson’s “Debtors Prison” Drags On

“Enough Is Enough”: Native Leaders Ask William Barr to Help Fix Alaska’s Law Enforcement Crisis

Separated by Design: How Some of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing

New York City’s Early Voting Plan Will Favor White, Affluent Voters, Advocacy Groups Say

“I Now Have the Perspective of Both Sides”: 18 Voting Officials Take Civil Rights Tour

More Than Me Still Lacks Adequate Systems to Protect Children in Its Care, New Report Says

What Will Come of the More Than Me Rape Scandal?

More Than Me Founder and CEO Katie Meyler Resigns

TSA Agents Say They’re Not Discriminating Against Black Women, But Their Body Scanners Might Be

HUD Sues Facebook Over Housing Discrimination and Says the Company’s Algorithms Have Made the Problem Worse

Facebook Won’t Let Employers, Landlords or Lenders Discriminate in Ads Anymore

The Tragedy of Baltimore

The Ticket Trap: Front to Back

Chicago Public Schools Monitored Social Media for Signs of Violence, Gang Membership

“Get Out”: Black Families Harassed in Their Own Homes

U.S. to Investigate Discrimination Against Native American Students on Montana Reservation

6 Young Men, Given Adult Sentences for “Minor” Infractions, Are Freed in Illinois

District of Despair: On a Montana Reservation, Schools Favor Whites Over Native Americans

On a Reservation, a Second Chance for Prisoners and Their Warden

He Drew His School Mascot — and ICE Labeled Him a Gang Member

Documenting Hate in America: What We Found in 2018

Chicago Task Force Will Take on Ticket and Debt Collection Reform

Chicago Throws Out 23,000 Duplicate Tickets Issued Since 1992 to Motorists Who Didn’t Have Vehicle Stickers

“I Don’t Want to Shoot You, Brother”

Member of White Supremacist Group Pleads Guilty to Assaults at 2017 Rally

An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down. What Path Officials Took Is a Mystery.

Brothers Whom Authorities Linked to Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Had Flyer Supporting Neo-Nazi Group, Officials Say

How HUD’s Inspection System Fails Low-Income Tenants Nationwide

Nearly All the Officers in Charge of an Indiana Police Department Have Been Disciplined — Including the Chief Who Keeps Promoting Them

Brothers Who Were Online Friends With Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Had Ties to Violent Neo-Nazis

Chicago City Council Approves Modest First Reforms on Ticketing and Debt

Top Chicago Alderman Adds to Growing Momentum for Ticket and Debt Reform

Why Jeff Sessions’ Final Act Could Have More Impact Than Expected

These Voters Had to Wait for Hours: “It Felt Like a Type of Disenfranchisement”

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

Photo of Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

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    Texas Overhauls Anti-Abortion Program That Spent Tens of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars With Little Oversight

    After a ProPublica and CBS News investigation revealed that Texas’ funding pipeline for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers is riddled with waste, nonprofits in the program must now provide a detailed accounting of their expenses.

    The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come

    Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.

    Trump’s FEMA Proposals and Feud With Gavin Newsom Could Devastate California’s Disaster Response

    California frequently suffers some of the costliest disasters in the country. Now state officials fear they’ll be left to face them without federal funding.

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    Rx Roulette

    FDA Layoffs Could Compromise Safety of Medications Made at Foreign Factories, Inspectors Say

    Beyond staff cuts, the departures of some longtime investigators in recent months have left less experienced people tasked with rooting out dangerous manufacturing practices.

    “The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention

    One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism.