To Solve America’s Immigration Woes, We Need to Think, Act, and Work Locally

Individuals and Communities Are Able to Connect with Newcomers Even as Policymakers Work to Drive Us Apart

The Zócalo event “Could Immigration Unite Americans?” comes at a time when much of the world has actually come together in support of one group of immigrants. But, as New York Times national correspondent Miriam Jordan reminded Zócalo’s virtual audience, the global embrace of displaced Ukrainians contrasts sharply with the welcome (or lack thereof) received by refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and Central America.

“What can we say about that in this moment?” Jordan asked National Immigration Forum president and CEO Ali Noorani.

Noorani, who is also the author of the …

by Sarah Rothbard | March 25, 2022

Why We Need to Name the Dead

Descendants and Surviving Family Insist That Ordinary People Had Lives Worth Noting

By Thomas W. Laqueur | December 18, 2015

Almost 3,000 migrants have drowned this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe. Many of their bodies have washed ashore without names. These are bodies of …

Lessons From a Fishmonger While the Twin Towers Fell

On Sept. 11, 2001, I Was Driving around L.A., Collecting Dirty Mops, and Contemplating the Nature of Ignorance

by Jose Luis Gonzalez | September 9, 2015

The story goes, my grandpa was sitting on his recliner watching TV when the news broke. JFK had been shot and killed. My mother was seven years old. She’d been …

L.A.’s Shifting Skyline Will Be More Spiraling, Imaginative—and Safer

Updated Building Codes Mean Boxy Helipads Will No Longer Cap the City’s Skyscrapers

by Kheir Al-Kodmany | October 16, 2014

For 40 years, Los Angeles’ building code has required all buildings 75 feet and taller to have a rooftop emergency helicopter landing facility in a location approved by the fire …

The Triumph of 9/10

The Day that was to Change Everything Didn't

by Andrés Martinez | September 5, 2011

September 11th was the only day I was ever invited to breakfast at Windows on the World, atop New York City’s World Trade Center. I had no intention of going, …

Death by Seal

My Brother’s Killer’s Awesome Demise

by Jordan Wallens | May 4, 2011

“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” – George Orwell

‘Twas a scene serene …

9/11