YES! Magazine

01/08/2025

The Palestinian solidarity movement within Planned Parenthood is an example of how working-class power can be used to clarify connections between struggles, even when they seem to be disconnected from our own workplace, geographically or otherwise.

Read the full story below 👇

Planned Parenthood workers organized to expose the limits of the nonprofit industrial complex.

12/26/2024

Minnesota could be setting the framework for adopting a universal free breakfast program at the federal level.

In March 2023, the state’s governor Tim Walz signed the Free School Meals for Kids bill into law. The law reimbursed public schools and school districts for meals purchased through the National School Lunch and the School Breakfast Programs.

That same year, a few representatives in Congress introduced the Universal School Meals Program Act, which would provide students with free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack each day, without needing to prove eligibility.

But now, with a Republican president-elect and a Republican majority in the Senate and the House, Project 2025 is a real possibility.

It is going to require intense coalition-building to bring Minnesota’s approach to universal school meals to the national level, writes Torsheta Jackson for YES!

Read the full story👇

Free meals for all school children is an essential element of education.

12/23/2024

While many of us might be putting up trees and decorations, planning family dinners and holiday parties, there’s one population in the U.S. for whom the holidays may not be filled with joy: the millions of people impacted by family separation because their loved ones are incarcerated.

Dortell Williams is an incarcerated father and grandfather who has spent more than three decades behind bars. He is also a special correspondent for YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali.

”For every 40 adults, there’s one child who is affected by incarcerated parenting,” Williams says.

Held at Mule Creek State Prison in California, Williams is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. In this interview, he opens up about the impact of family separation on incarcerated people and their loved ones, and how to mitigate it.

🎥 Watch the full interview below.

Millions of incarcerated people will be spending the holidays away from their relatives.

12/16/2024

"It seems as though every time we get close to healing from a massacre, we are bombarded with the pain of the next one and propelled into an endless cycle of gun violence," writes Marium Zahra for YES!

Despite being part of a generation regularly faced with gun violence in schools, Zahra and other students believe it is possible to protect them instead of guns.

🔗 Read what they have to say: https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/truth/2024/09/04/choose-us-over-guns

12/10/2024

Indigenous communities are already solving climate crises, but they need global funding to act decisively.

Indigenous communities need global funding to act decisively on climate change.

12/10/2024

Rest in power, Nikki Giovanni!

In this excerpt from “Beginning Again,” Nikki Giovanni offers an ode to the great people who call Appalachia home.

12/10/2024

While tourists flock to Grenada for Carnival, lifelong residents are holding closely to Jab Jab, which symbolizes rebellion and liberation.

12/10/2024

Inside a maximum security prison in Argentina, Liberté offers more than education and recreation for incarcerated people—it offers lessons in solidarity.

12/09/2024

Care-centered organizations are helping people process loss, remain rooted, and imagine new futures.

Three care-centered organizations are helping people process loss, remain rooted, and imagine new futures.

12/09/2024

Both of these crises require new systems and structures that reflect our commitment to our blood and chosen families.

Both of these crises require new systems and structures that reflect our commitment to our blood and chosen families.

12/03/2024

Art and storytelling have *always* been catalysts for transformation.

As we face the onslaught of attacks from a new presidency that is sure to threaten the livelihoods of so many of us, we have to remember that stories like the ones YES! publishes will be the key to surviving the next four years.

❤️ DONATE NOW to ensure YES! can continue publishing stories on communities who are working toward true transformation—a society free from authoritarianism, free from political and social injustice, free from war and genocide, and free from bigotry.

The first 50 people who donate $100 or more today will receive this limited-edition YES! poster!

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12/03/2024

On Giving Tuesday, people around the world are called on to donate to the causes they care about. For us, it’s a day where we call on our community to support independent journalism that works to end injustice.

While you read this caption, authoritarian leaders are preparing to take their places in the White House in the coming weeks. Fossil fuel companies are getting the green light to continue polluting the air you breathe. Politicians are strategizing how to do even more damage to reproductive rights.

If there was ever a day for readers like you to show how much you care about independent journalism, it’s today.

TAKE ACTION NOW to help YES! remain the independent voice movements count on:

❤️ Donate NOW so that we can raise $5,000 by midnight tonight! The first 50 people who donate $100 or more today will receive a limited-edition YES! poster!

📣 Access our YES! Supporter Toolkit to learn how you can raise your voice in defense of independent media. https://www.yesmagazine.org/supporter-toolkit

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Help us build a people-powered press. Learn how to raise your voice in defense of independent media with our YES! Supporter Toolkit.

11/20/2024

🧩 Ready for a brain workout? Dive into this crossword that blends a touch of rebirth with a dash of renaissance. Perfect for sparking your creativity and taking a mindful moment. Can you crack it? Give it a try and share your “aha!” moments! 🧠✨

Discover insightful articles on The YES! Crossword: ReBIRTH. Join us in exploring solutions for a just, sustainable, and compassionate world. YES! Crossword: ReBIRTH

11/19/2024

In Gaza, artists and cultural workers are fighting back against genocide with the transformative power of creativity. Through poetry, visual art, and performance, they’re amplifying voices, preserving identity, and inspiring global solidarity. Their work is a powerful reminder of art’s role in resistance and survival. 🌍

Artists, writers, and cultural workers are fighting the genocide in Gaza on another front.

11/19/2024

California’s election results reflect a shift toward fear-based politics: harsher penalties for petty crimes, rejection of rent control, and the defeat of progressive leaders like George Gascón. But all is not lost—leaders like James Woodson of the California Black Power Network are rallying coalitions to counter this rightward tilt. What’s next for California in Trump’s second term? Read the full analysis below.

A newly formed coalition vows to take on the MAGA multitudes in California.

11/14/2024

Does Donald Trump’s election mean his ideas resonate strongly among the United States electorate? Or is his victory the result of Democratic Party failures?

Longtime community organizer and YES! contributor Kamau Franklin is convinced it’s the latter. Founder of Community Movement Builders in Atlanta, Georgia, Franklin spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar about the organizing work needed over the next four years.

Rather than conclude Trump won over masses of voters, Kamau Franklin wants to examine why Democrats failed so badly.

11/14/2024

"Each aspect of the hide represents a different generation of storytelling and art. The first generation is the hide itself, the traditional material. The second generation is the black-and-white photography that captured the first accounts of reservation life. The third generation is the contemporary style of bright colors and stylized plants."

Traditional buffalo hide painting memorializes matriarchs who lived their medicine.

11/13/2024

A second Trump term could herald a massive increase in fossil fuel use, leading to faster, more catastrophic climate change; the firing of large numbers of federal government workers; the dismantling of the regulatory state; and a mass deportation of immigrants.

Jenn M. Jackson, Ph.D., is a YES! contributor, assistant professor at Syracuse University’s Department of Political Science, and author of Black Women Taught Us. They reflected on the election results on Nov. 6, 2024, with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali.

Dr. Jenn Jackson reflects on the collective blow that Trump’s reelection brings to marginalized communities.