Eileen Rivers
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Writer, dancer, veteran, editor, journalist. Author of "Beyond the Call."
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Articles by Eileen Rivers
Perspectives: Billie Jean King on Title IX 40th anniversary
Women's tennis pioneer Billie Jean King on the 40th anniversary of Title IX, her Women's Sports Foundation, which she says helps "keep girls in the game," and her now famous "Battle of the Sexes" against Bobby Riggs.
Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols boldly went where civil rights movement needed her to go Original
It feels like America, and specifically Black America, has lost its last great connection to Hollywood's civil rights movement. Lt. Uhura. Nichelle Nichols. The iconic star whose sheen never tarnished, died Saturday at the age of 89. As a Black girl born in the 1970s, the original run of "Star Trek" was long over by the time I knew anything about television. But I came to know Uhura.
A police officer killed her 14-year-old son. Now, this mom is fighting to save others.
Play Pause ClosedCaption Open Share Enter Full Screen Exit Full Screen Greta Willis' son would have turned 31 this year. On a sunny morning in June, Willis points to the street named after her child – Kevin L. Cooper Way – while posting a Father's Day message from her church. She stands at the epicenter of two worlds – the street named after her son a block away in one direction and the church, Pillar Worship Center, that fuels her faith and activism a few feet away in another.
'We're going to fight to the finish': Tulsa Race Massacre survivor on lawsuit and struggle Original
Wednesday marks the second day, 101 years ago, that a white mob massacred a Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma – killing citizens, running residents away from their homes, burning buildings and destroying wealth that had been built over decades in what was known as Black Wall Street. The destruction began May 31, 1921, and lasted through June 1.
Why do young whites kill out of hate? Schools aren't teaching nation's racist past. Original
In a matter of minutes at a supermarket in a mostly Black area of east Buffalo, New York, a shooter ended the lives of 10 people. Among them: Pearly Young, 77, who handed out food to the needy; Aaron Salter, 55, a former police officer; and Katherine Massey, 72, a writer who pushed for civil rights. Three people were injured. Add one more to the list of lives that were thrown away. If the suspected shooter is found guilty, he could face life in prison for what authorities have called a hate crime.
Emmett Till's cousin: 'Very grateful' for newly signed law but 'it doesn't stop our fight'
Deborah Watts, a cousin of Emmett Louis Till, has been working for years to bring justice for her cousin. She said she is also honoring Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley, who died in 2003, by keeping the fight going. Till, a Black teenager, was killed in 1955, accused of flirting with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in rural Mississippi. He was 14. Bryant's husband and her husband's half-brother were tried and acquitted of the vicious attack.
'It has been an exciting, emotional day for the Emmett Till family'
'It has been an exciting, emotional day for the Emmett Till family' Deborah Watts, a cousin of Emmett Till, on being present during the president's signing of the anti-lynching legislation written in her cousin's name.
Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed: Black female strength tells an all-American story
The most moving moment during the hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation came when Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke of the historical significance of the judge's ascent. And Jackson, in response, had no words. Instead, she wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. "You got here how every Black woman in America who's gotten anywhere has done (it)," Booker said to the first Black woman nominated for the nation's highest court. By working harder and being stronger.
'It's about time' pop cultural reflects blended, mixed-race families
There are three generations in my household, explains Opinion operations editor Thuan Elston. More on the changing American family.
'Sometimes I forget that we're a gay couple'
'Sometimes I forget that we're a gay couple' My husband is my family, our close extended friends are my family, says assistant opinion editor Steven Porter. More on the changing American family.
Rep. Boebert's State of the Union heckle disrespected the president and veterans like me
How disconcerting. How angering. How disappointing. During his first State of the Union address Tuesday, as President Joe Biden spoke about coffins, dead veterans and the passing of his son, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., found a way to lower America's discourse, and sow the very division Biden spent much of his speech pushing against. She heckled the president. She bragged about her comment – a scream from the House floor – on Twitter: "When Biden said flag draped coffins I couldn't stay silent.
Rep. Boebert's State of the Union heckle disrespected the president and veterans like me Original
How disconcerting. How angering. How disappointing. During his first State of the Union address Tuesday, as President Joe Biden spoke about coffins, dead veterans and the passing of his son, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., found a way to lower America's discourse, and sow the very division Biden spent much of his speech pushing against. She heckled the president. She bragged about her comment – a scream from the House floor – on Twitter: "When Biden said flag draped coffins I couldn't stay silent.
Rep. Boebert's State of the Union heckle disrespected the president and veterans like me
How disconcerting. How angering. How disappointing. During his first State of the Union address Tuesday, as President Joe Biden spoke about coffins, dead veterans and the passing of his son, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., found a way to lower America's discourse, and sow the very division Biden spent much of his speech pushing against. She heckled the president. She bragged about her comment – a scream from the House floor – on Twitter: "When Biden said flag draped coffins I couldn't stay silent.
'We need more empathy': What to leave behind in 2021, do better in 2022
The year started in a way no one could have predicted – with hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters attempting to overthrow an election. Capitol-police-officer-turned-American-hero Eugene Goodman guided rioters away from the Senate floor and almost certainly saved lives. It ended with, among other things, the death of an international hero – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Between Jan. 6 and Dec.
'We need more empathy': What to leave behind in 2021, do better in 2022
The year started in a way no one could have predicted – with hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters attempting to overthrow an election. Capitol-police-officer-turned-American-hero Eugene Goodman guided rioters away from the Senate floor and almost certainly saved lives. It ended with, among other things, the death of an international hero – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Between Jan. 6 and Dec.
'We need more empathy': What to leave behind in 2021, do better in 2022
The year started in a way no one could have predicted – with hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters attempting to overthrow an election. Capitol-police-officer-turned-American-hero Eugene Goodman guided rioters away from the Senate floor and almost certainly saved lives. It ended with, among other things, the death of an international hero – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Between Jan. 6 and Dec.
Joe Biden's winter COVID plan, Supreme Court debates abortion, punk Taylor Swift: ICYMI
In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback. — USA TODAY Opinion editors 1.
Reparations call is a moral reckoning white Americans can no longer delay
When I called Georgetown University community engagement associate Melisande Short-Colomb on a recent weeknight, I had a few questions about a piece she had written for "Repairing America," a USA TODAY project exploring reparations and the fight for social justice in the United States. I was helping Meli finish a first-person narrative that involved the trafficking of young slaves, records of her family's deportation to Louisiana, and Georgetown's reckoning with its slave history.
REPAIRING AMERICA
As we hit the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, we define reparations and the fight for Black equity across the United States As the federal government gets closer than ever to moving on H.R. 40 — a bill that would designate a committee to study racism in America and propose reparative measures — and local, county and state governments across the country make similar moves, we wanted to track the nation’s progress on making amends for its history of inequity.
Shatner's flight was 'unbelievable.' Expand opportunity to truly democratize space travel. Original
It's hard not to pay attention to William Shatner going into space, at least for people like me. I am a Trekkie. As a young, Black girl, I hung onto Shatner's every move as Capt. Kirk. I indulged in the original Star Trek (and nearly every version that came after), fascinated by the possibilities of its quirky, campy science fiction becoming science fact.
Biden Still Not Doing Enough to Eradicate Covid
Biden Still Not Doing Enough to Eradicate Covid
Biden is frustrated? I'm frustrated. He is still missing the mark on COVID-19.
When it comes to fighting COVID-19, our best option shouldn't be better late than never. But in his speech Thursday – during which he laid out stronger vaccine mandates for federal workers and put pressure on teachers to follow suit – President Joe Biden finally provided some of the force that the nation's fight against COVID-19 has been missing. Near the beginning of his speech, Biden stated that "many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated." True.
Abortion, Afghanistan, COVID-19, the opioid epidemic and climate change: Top opinion reads
In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback. — USA TODAY Opinion editors 1.
Apologies, committees, but little action on reparations: Database on state, city progress
Just about 10 miles north of where the Arkansas River divides Oklahoma's Wagoner and Muskogee counties sits a dilapidated brick structure – a once thriving general store in the all-Black town of Tullahassee. Now occupied by about 100 people, Tullahassee used to be Native American country. It belonged to the Creek Nation until 1881, when freed slaves quickly turned it into a place of opportunity. Years ago, this building's front windows weren't bricked over.
Nearly two dozen Black massacres in American history. Reparations? Rarely.
Deliberate burning of an African American home in Rosewood, Florida, on January 4, 1923. The 1921 destruction in Tulsa wasn't the first or the last race massacre that leveled homes, usurped land or destroyed livelihoods for Black Americans. One of the first was in 1863 – sparked by a draft law. One of the last happened in 1923 in Rosewood, Florida. Whatever the precipitating event, the desire was generally the same: to destroy Black upward mobility.
Reparations, slavery trauma: My teacher's lack of empathy was generations in the making
These slaves were considered "contraband" as they were being held by the Union Army. In the 1980s, at a school in Maryland, a teacher introduced an eager group of students to the rigors of history by stating that slavery was not that big of a deal. Most people, this person said, only had one or two. Those comments, while shocking, didn't come from a place of isolation. Sadly, more than a third of adults don't know how widespread slavery was in America, according to a 2019 Washington Post-SSRS poll.
Reparations, slavery trauma: My teacher's lack of empathy was generations in the making
In the 1980s, at a school in Maryland, a teacher introduced an eager group of students to the rigors of history by stating that slavery was not that big of a deal. Most people, this person said, only had one or two. Those comments, while shocking, didn't come from a place of isolation. Sadly, more than a third of adults don't know how widespread slavery was in America, according to a 2019 Washington Post-SSRS poll.
In 'Repairing America' USA TODAY looks at nationwide reparations fight
ILLUSTRATION: VERONICA BRAVO, USA TODAY As the federal government gets closer than ever to moving on H.R. 40 — a bill that would designate a committee to study racism in America and propose reparative measures — and local, county and state governments across the country make similar moves, we wanted to track the nation’s progress on making amends for its history of inequity.
In 'Repairing America' USA TODAY looks at nationwide reparations fight
One sentence from Viola Ford "Mother" Fletcher, the oldest living Tulsa race massacre survivor at 107, sums up the Black experience in America better than any other: "Greenwood should have given me the chance to truly make it in this country." The nation's history is riddled with movements and moments that have thwarted the safety, upward mobility, political progress and sometimes mere existence of Black America.
Is this small town in Athens, Ga., a model for reparations? Original
Most people probably haven't heard of Linnentown – a small community in Athens, Georgia, whose 22 acres of shotgun houses and tree-lined streets were bulldozed in the 1960s, replaced by dorms for students at the University of Georgia. Linnentown, like so many other Black communities of that decade, was destroyed by urban renewal. The city sold it for the equivalent of $1.8 million.
What are reparations? Defining the fight for Black equity in America. Original
One sentence from Viola Ford "Mother" Fletcher, the oldest living Tulsa race massacre survivor at 107, sums up the Black experience in America better than any other: "Greenwood should have given me the chance to truly make it in this country." The nation's history is riddled with movements and moments that have thwarted the safety, upward mobility, political progress and sometimes mere existence of Black America.
Nearly two dozen Black massacres in American history. Reparations? Rarely. Original
The 1921 destruction in Tulsa wasn't the first or the last race massacre that leveled homes, usurped land or destroyed livelihoods for Black Americans. One of the first was in 1863 – sparked by a draft law. One of the last happened in 1923 in Rosewood, Florida. Whatever the precipitating event, the desire was generally the same: to destroy Black upward mobility. Illustrations from Harper's Weekly show the New Orleans race massacre of 1866. Sketched by Theodore R. Davis from Harper's Weekly.
Is this Georgia town a model for reparations?
Most people probably haven't heard of Linnentown – a small community in Athens, Georgia, whose 22 acres of shotgun houses and tree-lined streets were bulldozed in the 1960s, replaced by dorms for students at the University of Georgia. Linnentown, like so many other Black communities of that decade, was destroyed by urban renewal. The city sold it for the equivalent of $1.8 million.
AAPI pride: Asian and Pacific Islander heritage helps lift America to what it must be
The Asian American and Pacific Islander community is in the spotlight now more than ever: Activists are taking to the streets demanding expansion of hate-crimes laws after devastating attacks; filmmaker Chloé Zhao recently became the first woman of color to win an Oscar for directing; and Kamala Harris, who is of African American and South Asian descent, made history as the first female vice president. The protests are changing the nation – just as the accomplishments are uplifting it.
AAPI pride: Asian and Pacific Islander heritage helps lift America to what it must be
The Asian American and Pacific Islander community is in the spotlight now more than ever: Activists are taking to the streets demanding expansion of hate-crimes laws after devastating attacks; filmmaker Chloé Zhao recently became the first woman of color to win an Oscar for directing; and Kamala Harris, who is of African American and South Asian descent, made history as the first female vice president. The protests are changing the nation – just as the accomplishments are uplifting it.
Is Chauvin guilty verdict a guarantee? It should be, but Black America knows why it's not
I can still hear the cries of George Floyd, pleading to breathe. The sound is deafening. I, like more than 80% of the rest of Black America, have paid attention to the trial of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin — the man who put his knee on Floyd's neck. I watched as much of it as I could stomach.
Kamala Harris makes history. Her swearing-in as vice president shows ‘strength of our democracy.’
At noon, on Jan. 20, America will usher in a new administration. Despite attempts by pro-Trump rioters (and the president himself) to overturn the electoral process, American democracy has prevailed. The swearing-in of the president-elect and vice president-elect is one of many affirmations of our system. Every four years, the ceremony reminds all watching that it’s the voices of the cooperative electorate that count, not the actions of the few who might try to override them.
Kamala Harris makes history. Her swearing-in as vice president shows ‘strength of our democracy.’
At noon on Jan. 20, America will usher in a new administration. Despite attempts by pro-Trump rioters (and the president himself) to overturn the electoral process, American democracy has prevailed. The swearing-in of the president-elect and vice president-elect is one of many affirmations of our system. Every four years, the ceremony reminds all watching that it’s the voices of the cooperative electorate that count, not the actions of the few who might try to override them.
Kamala Harris makes history. Her swearing-in as vice president shows ‘strength of our democracy.’
At noon on Jan. 20, America will usher in a new administration. Despite attempts by pro-Trump rioters (and the president himself) to overturn the electoral process, American democracy has prevailed. The swearing-in of the president-elect and vice president-elect is one of many affirmations of our system. Every four years, the ceremony reminds all watching that it’s the voices of the cooperative electorate that count, not the actions of the few who might try to override them.
Kamala Harris makes history. Her swearing-in as vice president shows ‘strength of our democracy.’
At noon on Jan. 20, America will usher in a new administration. Despite attempts by pro-Trump rioters (and the president himself) to overturn the electoral process, American democracy has prevailed. The swearing-in of the president-elect and vice president-elect is one of many affirmations of our system. Every four years, the ceremony reminds all watching that it’s the voices of the cooperative electorate that count, not the actions of the few who might try to override them.
Kamala Harris makes history. Her swearing-in as vice president shows ‘strength of our democracy.’
At noon on Jan. 20, America will usher in a new administration. Despite attempts by pro-Trump rioters (and the president himself) to overturn the electoral process, American democracy has prevailed. The swearing-in of the president-elect and vice president-elect is one of many affirmations of our system. Every four years, the ceremony reminds all watching that it’s the voices of the cooperative electorate that count, not the actions of the few who might try to override them.
A mayor, a filmmaker, a Navajo Nation president: Our take on Leaders of Change
Who is the next John Lewis? That question quickly became the directive for this Leaders of Change project: Find the hardworking small-town activist, compelling national thought leader, outspoken public figure who is pushing for change — a person with the ability to rise up and lead the nation through the chaos of today's civil rights fight.
A mayor, a filmmaker, a Navajo Nation president: Our take on Leaders of Change
Who is the next John Lewis? That question quickly became the directive for this Leaders of Change project: Find the hardworking small-town activist, compelling national thought leader, outspoken public figure who is pushing for change — a person with the ability to rise up and lead the nation through the chaos of today's civil rights fight.
Video of George Floyd pinned by Minneapolis cops is shocking but not surprising
The images are shocking, even for those of us who have been steeped for years in coverage of police brutality. George Floyd, 46, was handcuffed and pinned down by Minneapolis cops. One officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as three others stood by. Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. Then he died. Shocking, but for black people in America, sadly, not surprising. Weeks before, the name of a different young black man became a household one for similar reasons.
Video of George Floyd pinned by Minneapolis cops shocking, but not surprising
The images are shocking, even for those of us who have been steeped for years in coverage of police brutality. George Floyd, 46, was handcuffed and pinned down by Minneapolis cops. One officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as three others stood by. Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. Then he died. Shocking, but for black people in America, sadly, not surprising. Weeks before, the name of a different young black man became a household one for similar reasons.
Eileen Rivers | USA TODAY
Eileen Rivers Digital content editor Eileen Rivers joined USA TODAY's Editorial Board in 2008, and works on video, social media, web editing and other digital projects for the department. She's founder and editor of USA TODAY's online vertical, Policing the USA. Before coming to USA TODAY she was a copy editor and freelance reporter at The Washington Post. She also covered city and county government, cops, education and the arts for the August (Ga.) Focus newspaper.
John Oliver: On coronavirus, hamster is doing a better job than Trump
President Donald Trump has become known, during this COVID-19 pandemic, for contradicting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both in words and actions. His latest bungle: He recently came in contact with several world leaders who have tested positive for the virus, yet he continues to shake hands with nearly everyone he meets.
John Oliver: On coronavirus, hamster is doing a better job than Trump
John Oliver: On coronavirus, hamster is doing a better job than Trump What's the latest on the pandemic? The comics give us a roundup in Best of Late Night. Eileen Rivers, USA TODAY Opinion
Noah is afraid of 'crazy' coronavirus side effects happening in Thailand
Noah is afraid of 'crazy' coronavirus side effects happening in Thailand News on the virus is changing rapidly. Comic Trevor Noah and politician-turned-host Pete Buttigieg explain in Best of Late Night. Eileen Rivers, USA TODAY Opinion
Noah is afraid of 'crazy' coronavirus side effects happening in Thailand
The nation's response to coronavirus has changed quickly over the past week. Just today, President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency. On Thursday, several states closed all schools and a growing number of employers are requesting that employees work from home. But perhaps the most shocking discovery of the week, at least according to late-night comic Trevor Noah, comes from Thailand. Apparently monkeys are taking over the streets in search of food.
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