This week, some of the most important stories you missed from the URL Media network reveal a deeper pattern about who holds power and how communities fight back. From 1960s Black revolutionaries broadcasting from Cuban exile to modern student organizers creating safety networks for immigrants, we see the same thread of grassroots resistance against systems designed to silence marginalized voices. Whether it’s tribal nations battling over citizenship rights, police foundations using corporate dark money to build surveillance infrastructure, or Hollywood recycling racist stereotypes in glossy new packaging, these stories expose how power operates behind the scenes. They remind us that real change doesn’t come from boardrooms or studios, but from ordinary people refusing to accept the status quo and creating their own solutions when institutions fail them.
- Muscogee (Creek) Nation fights freedmen ruling: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is fighting a court ruling that would grant tribal citizenship to freedmen, descendants of enslaved people. The tribe’s Citizenship Board filed a petition asking their Supreme Court to rehear the case, arguing that only tribal members can change citizenship rules, not courts. The controversy centers on whether an 1866 treaty requiring freedmen citizenship still applies today, despite the tribe’s 1979 constitution limiting membership to “Indian by blood” descendants from historical government rolls. Read more at The Oklahoma Eagle.
- Police foundations’ secret influence: Police foundations largely escape public scrutiny because people aren’t aware of what they do. Case in point: The Atlanta Police Foundation is quietly pulling strings behind the controversial Cop City project through lobbying, corporate funding, and propaganda campaigns. After getting sued, 287 pages of records revealed how they lobbied against a community referendum with over 116,000 signatures. These shadowy nonprofits use “dark money” from major corporations like Coca-Cola and Amazon to buy surveillance tech and spread pro-police messaging while claiming to make cities safer. Read more at PushBlack.
- Netflix show demeans Asian men: Netflix’s hit “K-Pop Demon Hunters” may look like Asian representation, but it’s actually recycling old tropes. The show features badass Asian girl idols hunting demon-possessed Asian boy bands, literally making Asian men the villains to be destroyed. While Asian women get to be heroes, Asian men are reduced to threats, comic relief, or martyrs. It’s the same tired formula of elevating one group by tearing down another, just wrapped in shiny K-pop packaging. Read more at AsAm News.
- Volunteers drive undocumented neighbors: After Laken Riley’s murder sparked anti-immigrant hostility at the University of Georgia, graduate student Alondra López launched Athens Rides, a volunteer driver network helping undocumented residents who can’t get Georgia driver’s licenses. The grassroots program connects people needing rides to work, immigration court, or medical appointments with nearly 100 volunteer drivers who’ve provided about 65 rides. López, whose family are carpet factory workers, says the service protects human rights in a system that criminalizes the Latinx community. Read more at palabra.
- How these fugitive DJs inspired people fighting for civil rights: Robert and Mabel Williams were Black revolutionary communists who fled the racist violence of 1960s North Carolina and found asylum in Cuba. From exile, they launched Radio Free Dixie, a weekly radio show that broadcast radical Black music and political commentary across America. The program connected Black liberation struggles to global anti-capitalist movements, proving that revolutionary media could reach hearts and minds even from thousands of miles away. Read more at Scalawag.
This content was created with AI collection or assistance.
