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Bridging Academia and Activism: Meet the 2024 Freedom Scholars
From poetry to policy, these scholar-activists are illuminating a path toward a more just future.
Sep 18, 2024
Today, Marguerite Casey Foundation welcomes the 2024 Freedom Scholar cohort. This year we are celebrating visionary scholar-activists at the forefront of transformative social change as well as a total of $9.5 million in awards to 38 scholars over the last five years—a powerful investment in ideas that accompany movements for collective well-being and social change.
Our Freedom Scholar awards, launched in 2020, are a testament to the critical role scholarship plays in supporting social movements. By awarding $250,000 in unrestricted funds to each scholar, Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF) is supporting research, writing, and teaching that bolsters our collective belief in a better, more just world.
Freedom Scholars: Bridging Scholarship and Social Movements
The Freedom Scholar awards are more than simply an acknowledgment of academic excellence—they are part of MCF’s mission to build a country where our government prioritizes the needs of excluded and underrepresented people. These scholars play a vital role in bridging the gap between academic theory and grassroots organizing.
Consider the recent surge in student-led protests on campuses across the U.S. From Princeton to UCLA, Freedom Scholars have been key supporters of student-led efforts to demand divestment and win a cease-fire, bringing with them years of research and strategic thinking to help activists push for transformative demands and envision systemic change. Their work is fundamental to contesting power and developing new models of governance that serve the many, rather than the few.
The 2024 Freedom Scholars continue this tradition. These are no ordinary academics—they are change-makers who understand that the work of liberation doesn’t begin and end in the classroom.
Meet the 2024 Cohort: Visionaries for Justice and Equity
This year’s Freedom Scholar cohort reflects extensive expertise across disciplines and is united by their collective commitment to a more just world.
Take Natalie Diaz, for example, a poet and professor at Arizona State University whose work examines the intersections of Indigeneity, language, and power. She invites us to rethink how language can either perpetuate violence or reclaim histories. In a time when Indigenous languages and cultures are under threat, Diaz’s scholarship is particularly urgent, illuminating the vital role language plays in advancing collective liberation.
Then there’s Dr. Daniel Martinez HoSang from Yale University, whose research unpacks the politics of multicultural right-wing extremism. Dr. HoSang’s work sharpens our understanding of how racist dynamics operate within seemingly inclusive frameworks, highlighting the deep-rooted systems of inequality that continue to shape society. His work is not just a critique but a call to action, urging movements to confront these structures wherever we see them.
The Freedom Scholars of 2024 are not just theorists—they are strategists, organizers, and visionaries.
Dr. Nadine Naber from the University of Illinois Chicago brings to the cohort a community-engaged scholarship that draws important connections between global struggles for liberation, with a particular focus on Palestinian freedom. Dr. Naber’s work in solidarity movements teaches us the power of linking our struggles—showing that the fight for justice is always interconnected, whether it’s in Chicago, Gaza, or beyond.
Finally, Dr. K. Sabeel Rahman, a legal scholar at Cornell Law School, has been instrumental in helping policymakers and organizers engage more critically with the concept of public goods. His research explores how we must rethink public goods—such as healthcare, education, and housing—not as commodities, but as essential components of a thriving, equitable society. By leveraging legal theory for practical policy solutions, Dr. Sabeel’s work helps movements craft a vision for governance that prioritizes the well-being of our communities over corporate profits.
A Commitment to Transformative Change
The Freedom Scholars of 2024 are not just theorists—they are strategists, organizers, and visionaries. Their work represents the bold ideas and imaginative thinking essential for any social movement to succeed. And it’s precisely this kind of visionary work that Marguerite Casey Foundation is committed to supporting.
What sets the Freedom Scholar awards apart is the financial freedom they afford recipients. The $250,000 prize comes with no strings attached, allowing scholars to invest in the work that matters most to them. Some have used MCF funding to launch nonprofit organizations, while others focus on building movement infrastructure by supporting existing nonprofits, publishing movement-oriented literature, or opening retreat houses where organizers can strategize and recharge. This flexibility ensures that the scholars can meet their needs and goals in real time, without the bureaucratic constraints that often accompany traditional funding models for academics.
Looking Ahead: Building a Future of Justice and Liberation
As we celebrate the contributions of the 2024 Freedom Scholars, it’s clear that their work will have a lasting impact not just in academia, but in the communities they serve. Their scholarship is grounded in real-world struggles and solutions, and their commitment to justice is unwavering. They are the thinkers and doers helping to fuel the next generation of liberation movements.
I look forward to seeing the ongoing impact of the 2024 cohort and am proud that MCF remains steadfast in its commitment to amplifying transformative scholarship for meaningful change.
Together, with these visionary scholars, we are building a future where equity, justice, and liberation are not just ideals but lived realities for all.
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The Coming Eclipse Shines a Light on What Our Government Does for Us
While total eclipses are not common, what is common are the governmental institutions that provide services to make us safer and healthier, offer and maintain green space, and allow us to make giant leaps in knowledge.
Apr 05, 2024
As most people know, there is a total solar eclipse arriving next week, Monday, April 8, 2024. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration tells us we won’t see another one in the contiguous United States for another two decades (August 23, 2045).
The eclipse will be visible in its totality in a broad band that stretches, in the United States, from Texas to Maine.
For those looking for a place to view the eclipse, there are literally thousands of public spaces available, many with special programs surrounding the event.
Unlike an eclipse, government is an everyday occurrence—ubiquitous and yet often invisible.
That includes the many National Parks and Forests in the path, such as the Solar Eclipse Festival on the National Mall, presented in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with the Smithsonian, NASA, NOAA, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The NSF is also sponsoring “Sun, Moon, and You Solar Eclipse Viewing Event” in downtown Dallas (free, but you’ve got to register). The Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri offers a handy list of best viewing spots within the forest.
Additional locations include state parks along that path with viewing opportunities and programs, such as those of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Arkansas State Parks, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Kentucky State Parks, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Vermont Department of Forest, Parks, and Recreation, and New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Your local regional and municipal park might provide the perfect spot, close to home, and some are running programs in the days leading up to the eclipse, such as a ranger-led hike exploring how animals will react to the eclipse.
Of course, even those in the path of totality might have challenges seeing the eclipse clearly if there’s cloud cover. Luckily, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information has that covered with its interactive map.
If you’re planning to be above the clouds to see the eclipse in the skies, you might want to view this video produced by the Federal Aviation Administration and aimed at pilots, warning of larger than normal traffic of air craft and drones along the eclipse’s totality path, and limiting parking spots at runways.
Ground traffic and parking spots for cars can also slow eclipse viewers on their way to their viewing spots. For them, state and local officials have also provided portals for updates about ground traffic—spots for congestion and road closures to increase public safety.
You’ll want to keep it safe. NASA offers guidance on eye safety for viewing the eclipse, and state emergency management agencies are providing a wide range of tips to have a safe and enjoyable eclipse experience, with everything from taking care of pets to creating a family communications plan for those attending large events.
And even if you’re not in the path of totality, you still might get something out of the eclipse: NASA is launching sounding rockets to study disturbances in the ionosphere created when the moon eclipses the sun.
While total eclipses are not common, what is common are the governmental institutions and agencies at every level that provide services to make us safer and healthier, offer and maintain green space for mental health and recreation, and allow us to learn and make giant leaps in human knowledge.
We often rely on government, but we don’t always recognize its role. Unlike an eclipse, government is an everyday occurrence—ubiquitous and yet often invisible. But it is important, every now and then, to shed light on that role and remind us that government is—or at least should be—for and by all of us.
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Forget the Billionaire Saviors of Journalism
The start of 2024 has been catastrophic for news outlets all over the country, even the ones owned by billionaires. What could an alternative look like?
Mar 02, 2024
America’s media institutions have had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start to 2024. The unfolding crisis has been headlined by The Messenger dissolving after less than a year, major layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, and Sports Illustrated falling into licensing limbo.
The over 500 media jobs eliminated so far this year reflect a broader, worrying trend. By this year’s end, according to one recent estimate, America will have lost one third of all its newspapers and two thirds of all its newspaper staff since 2005.
The losses have been particularly acute in poor and remote communities, leaving ever expanding news deserts all across the nation.
The collapse of news outlets – especially local papers – is robbing our communities of indispensable watchdogs. The disappearance of reporters from city council meetings and public safety hearings is creating oversight vacuums that leave citizens in the dark and breed ever more shady dealings that let the wealthy exercise undue – and undetected – influence.
How did we get here? How did a country once chock-full of influential newspapers morph into a land of news deserts? One major factor, says University of Pennsylvania media studies scholar Victor Pickard, has been the disintegration of the advertising model that media has relied on for well over a century.
The media we have left are increasingly resorting to variations on the subscription model to make up for lost ad revenue. Some early paywalls appeared at the turn of the millennium, but the practice truly picked up steam a decade later.
Good reporting simply takes far more resources to produce than it can possibly recoup in digital ad dollars. The answer? A real commitment to public media funding.
Charging users for access to content has worked well for some outlets, but subscriptions haven’t been enough to replace ad funding in most cases, especially for larger publications or outlets that serve less wealthy audiences.
Other media efforts have counted on the benevolence of billionaires to fill in the gaps left by departing ad dollars. But resorting to billionaire help creates real concerns about the influence of exorbitantly wealthy owners on content, and the richest among us have increasingly been unwilling to foot the bill for quality journalism. The Washington Post, owned by the third-richest man alive, offered buyouts to bring its headcount down by 240 this past fall after laying off 20 staffers at the start of 2023. L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s net worth of nearly $6 billion did not save the jobs of the 115 workers that the paper laid off in January.
Fifty years ago, well ahead of the advent of the internet, if a local business wanted to get their message out to the public, they often had only one option: the local newspaper. That same business now has a whole host of options, from buying ads on podcasts to native advertising on social media.
Newspapers haven’t just lost their monopoly on print advertising. They face a new, lucrative digital ad marketplace that Google and Facebook have almost entirely captured. The digital first media ventures that looked poised to take over in the 2010s – think BuzzFeed, Vice News, or Complex – now all find themselves, at best, struggling on life support.
We have, to be sure, recently seen some exciting developments in nonprofit and worker-owned journalism, but these proposals remain limited in scope. The nonprofit model has its own flaws, and these assorted fixes also do little to address the fundamental tension between the profit motive and providing important information to the public. Given all this, a growing number of voices are calling for a fundamental rethinking of how we value journalism.
“Another way of looking at it is that the information produced by journalism should always be and should have always been treated as a public good,” Victor Pickard recently told Inequality.org. “And that, by its very nature, is not something that’s easily monetized.”
Good reporting simply takes far more resources to produce than it can possibly recoup in digital ad dollars. The answer? A real commitment to public media funding.
The United States does, of course, invest some money in public media. Last year’s federal appropriations allocated $535 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private nonprofit corporation tasked with investing in public radio and television.
And some promising experiments are taking place at the state level, with governments including California, New Mexico, and Washington devoting public tax dollars for local news coverage.
But that funding amounts to no more than a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed to revitalize and sustain news. A 2022 study comparing funding globally found the U.S. spends just $3.16 per capita on public media, compared to $142.42 per person in Germany and $110.73 in Norway. Spending as much on journalism as the United Kingdom does on the BBC would mean $35 billion a year going to sustaining coverage.
We need, as The Nation’s John Nichols recently argued, a “Marshall Plan” for journalism. Absent a major spike in funding, our depressing current media trends appear bound to continue as ad dollars dry up and greedy hedge funds essentially sell off outlets for parts.
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