Rural America

An Open Letter to Biden from Indigenous Peoples

Trump wrecked the relationship between the U.S. government and Native nations. Here's how the Biden Administration can repair this damage.

Rural America In These Times

From Mad Cow Disease To a Failed Pandemic Response

Health officials did too little, too late to control an outbreak of mad cow disease in the 80s. Sound familiar?

Frank Carber

Here’s How Biden Could Help Fix the Rural Healthcare Crisis

Since long before Covid, rural health has suffered from federal misunderstanding and neglect.

Lauren Hughes and Sameer Vohra

Growing Food in Self-Defense

For years, Black folks in this small South Carolina town have tended gardens and raised animals to build personal resilience and protect their culture.

Gillian Richards-Greaves

Is the Walmart Family Capturing the Colorado River?

The Walton Family Foundation has been pouring millions into nonprofit groups concerned with the Colorado River — including media outlets that cover the issue.

Dave Marston

Remembering Charley Pride — and Country Music’s Long-Obscured Black Roots

Pride stood out as one of the very few Black superstars in a whitewashed genre.

Liam Kennedy

2020 Was The Year the Mask Came Off

We learned some things this past year that we shouldn’t forget. Here’s a roundup of stories from Rural America In These Times that bear re-reading.

Joseph Bullington

“This Is Why We Don’t Drink the Water”

Fracking threatens drinking water on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Meet the locals who are fighting back.

Elena Bruess

Our Food System Is Broken and Biden’s USDA Pick Won’t Fix It

Tom Vilsack showed his pro-corporate colors when he served as Obama's ag secretary. To build a just food system under his leadership, we will have to push from below.

Jim Goodman

There Are Only 300 Wolverines Left in the Lower 48. Why Won’t the Government Protect Them?

The Fish and Wildlife Service downplayed the threat of climate change and deferred to industry groups in a recent decision not to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, according to two lawsuits.

Johnathan Hettinger

‘Buy It or Else’: How Monsanto and BASF Forced a Toxic Weed Killer on Farmers

Internal records show the companies knew crop damage from their weed killer would be extensive. They sold it anyway.

Johnathan Hettinger

Recognition of Native Treaty Rights Could Reshape the Environmental Landscape

The U.S. has largely ignored the nearly 400 treaties signed with tribal nations, but that may be starting to change. And some think that could prevent, or even reverse, environmental degradation.

Alex Brown

On Environment, Biden Needs to Do a Lot More than Roll Back the Rollbacks

President Trump gutted almost 100 environmental protections. Here’s a list of the ones Biden should undo first and why he must not stop there.

Jonathan Thompson

Regrowing Indigenous Agriculture Could Nourish People, Cultures and the Land

European settlement, government policies and monoculture have nearly eradicated Native American farming practices. A growing movement is reclaiming them.

Christina Gish Hill

Meatpacking Workers Say Attendance Policies Force Them to Work With Covid-19 Symptoms

As the pandemic rages, punitive attendance policies at corporate meat plants coerce sick workers into showing up, according to activists, experts and the workers themselves.

Heather Schlitz

Trump's Online SNAP Program Helps Amazon and Walmart, But Leaves Rural People Behind

The government's online food assistance program doesn’t include independent grocers and ignores the gaps in rural infrastructure.

Bryce Oates and Debbie Weingarten

How Right-Wing Groups Created an Atmosphere in which Kidnapping the Michigan Governor Made Sense

The alleged militia plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was only the most shocking episode in the campaign to undermine and politicize the state’s response to Covid-19.

Jacob Wheeler

Rural Minnesota Is Getting Less White. Meet the Progressive Women Running to Make the Government Less White, Too.

Immigrants, come to work meatpacking and farm jobs, have rejuvenated Nobles County. These women aim to make sure they're represented.

Sarah Lahm