Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

P​rotesters find common cause at Democratic convention

Abortion rights advocates demonstrate alongside pro-Palestinian counterparts in Chicago

Sign reading "Reproductive Freedom For All"

Protestors' signs calling for reproductive rights were attached to masts of Palestinian flags during Sunday's march.

Malavika Ramakrishnan

Ramakrishnan is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

This article is part of a week-long series on the Democratic National Convention, written by graduate students at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism who are covering the four-day convention in Chicago.

CHICAGO — A sea of abortion rights signs and Palestinian flags swamped Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago on Sunday, punctuated by the black, blue and yellow of police officers’ uniforms and vests. Signs reading “Reproductive Freedom for All” were attached to the masts of Palestinian flags and abortion rights activists wore t-shirts calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Sunday’s protest was the first of many shadowing this week’s Democratic National Convention. Organized by the Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws coalition, it brought together supporters of two different causes who have found common ground. The march came a week after the coalition — made up of several abortion rights, LGBTQ+ and pro-Palestinian groups — received a permit, which it had to sue the city to obtain.


Despite reproductive rights being one of presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ talking points, there were posters that read “Baby killer Kamala” speaking to thethousands of Palestinian children killed in Gaza since Hamas-led groups killed and kidnapped Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. Protesters expressed disappointment in the Democratic Party for not doing enough to protect abortion rights even though they acknowledge the Republican Party is the bigger enemy on this issue.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The march began with a rally on Wacker Drive beside the Chicago River. Speakers addressed those gathered and the sound of drum beats filled the air.

Criage Althege, a longtime resident of Chicago, sat curbside and held a sign that read “Stop the Genocide!Stop Apartheid! Ceasefire Now!”

Althege, wearing a purple top and skirt, shiny black boots and dark sunglasses, seemed to enjoy herself despite not being at the heart of the action. She is a member of Chicago for Abortion Rights, one of several groups that organized Sunday’s protest.

“I believe it all ties together from choosing to have children or not. It’s about bodily autonomy,” Althege said. “Right now, people in Gaza are being bombed with their children and that is not bodily autonomy.”

Several abortion rights groups present that day expressed support for Palestinians, called for an arms embargo and an immediate ceasefire, and demanded Harris include it in her policy proposals as she campaigns. (Israel has agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal brokered in part by the United States, but Hamas has not done so.)

Guy Miller was part of the 1968 protests at the DNC that still cast a shadow over this city and the 2024 convention.

“Not that I have faith in the Democratic Party to accomplish anything, but they are here and we’re a major force. They were not able to pass an abortion-granting law and they’re complicit in the ongoing genocide and we have to let them know what we think,” said Miller, who is also part of Chicago for Abortion.

As the protesters marched along Michigan Avenue, onlookers stopped to catch moments on their smartphones. Lines of bicycle-riding law enforcement officers formed barricades on either side of the march.

One protester said she had a lifesaving abortion and that, irrespective of the candidate, people need to talk about abortion rights every year. Her friend then handed over a box of “morning after” pills with a smile.

Some groups at the protest had traveled from other states, likeAbortion Access Front, which is based in Mississippi.

AAF’s communication director, Cara McLane, was flanked by four protesters cosplaying as abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol.

“This is Mife and Miso-tones – an all-pills singing group giving out factual information on abortion medication,” McLane said.

The group’s goal is to educate the public on how abortion medication works, what the drugs are called and how they can be accessed.

“We use joy and humor to get people interested to talk about something that could be uncomfortable to discuss,” McLane said.

In October 2023, the International Planned Parenthood Foundation released a statement saying its only clinic in Gaza was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. “Over 50,000 pregnant women will be forced to give birth with no electricity or medical supplies in Gaza in the coming months, risking life-threatening complications without access to delivery and emergency obstetric care services,” the statement said.

Protesters said they would continue demonstrating after the election irrespective of its outcome.

“It was amazing to see the diversity of people who attended the protest. We had Palestinian feminists, labor workers, social workers and others! It felt good,” said Lina Loew, a leader of Chicago for Abortion Rights.

Read More

Latino man standing at the counter in a bakery

"Trump wants to bring jobs back to America. For us, this means more work here and for our community,” says Joge Sactic, who owns a bakery just outside Washington, D.C.

Beatrice M. Spadacini

Small-business owner prioritizes immigration in this year’s election

Spadacini is an Italian American freelance journalist who writes about social justice and public health.

The Fulcrum presents We the People, a series elevating the voices and visibility of the persons most affected by the decisions of elected officials. In this installment, we explore the motivations of over 36 million eligible Latino voters as they prepare to make their voices heard in November.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debating

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debate on Sept. 10.

Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The state of our nation: Polling Americans’ priorities for election 2024

Originally published by The 19th.

This is the third annual poll from The 19th and SurveyMonkey, designed to shed light on what women, particularly women of color, and LGBTQ+ people think about the issues animating our politics. It comes as Americans face another critical election, one that could make Democrat Kamala Harris the first woman to hold the country’s highest office or give Republican Donald Trump a second term. Here’s what we learned about how Americans view the candidates, as well as opinions on abortion and on reproductive care more broadly, the ability to access gender-affirming care and more.

Keep ReadingShow less
Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift made another call for peopleto register to vote at the Video Music Awards on Thursday.

Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

What will Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris mean?

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

On Sep 11, we reported in The Fulcrum thatTaylor Swift had entered the political fray by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States. I ended the article by stating that “the full extent of her impact remains to be seen.”

Now only a few days later, some data is already suggesting the impact could be significant. The day after Swift endorsed Harris there was a significant surge of visitors to Vote.gov, the U.S. government website that helps citizens understand how they can register to vote. According to a spokesperson for the Government Services Administration, Swift’s endorsement on Instagram led directly to 337,826 people visiting the site.

Keep ReadingShow less
I Voted stickers
BackyardProduction/Getty Images

Voters cast ballots based on personal perceptions, not policy stances

The Fulcrum and the data analytics firm Fidelum Partners have just completed a nationally representative study assessing the voting intentions of U.S adults and their perceptions toward 18 well-known celebrities and politicians.

Fidelum conducted similar celebrity and politician election studies just prior to the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Each of these found that perceptions of warmth, competence and admiration regarding the candidates are highly predictive of voting intentions and election outcomes. Given this, The Fulcrum and Fidelum decided to partner on a 2024 celebrity and politician election study to build upon the findings of prior research.

Keep ReadingShow less
Latino attendees of the Democratic National Convention

People cheer for the Harris-Walz ticket at the Democratic National Convention.

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Harris’ nomination ‘hit a reset button’ for Latinas supporting Democrats

As the presidential race entered the summer months, President Joe Biden’s level of support among Latinx voters couldn’t match the winning coalition he had built in 2020. Among Latinas, a critical group of voters who tend to back Democrats at higher levels than Latinos, lagging support had begun to worry Stephanie Valencia, who studies voting patterns among Latinx voters across the country for Equis Research, a data analytics and research firm.

Then the big shake-up happened: Biden stepped down and Vice President Kamala Harris took his place at the top of the Democratic ticket fewer than 100 days before the election.

Valencia’s team quickly jumped to action. The goal was to figure out how the move was sitting with Latinx voters in battleground states that will play an outsized role in deciding the election. After surveying more than 2,000 Latinx voters in late July and early August, Equis found a significant jump in support for the Democratic ticket, a shift that the team is referring to as “the Latino Reset.”

Keep ReadingShow less