Our Constitution guarantees the right to an attorney to those accused of a crime, as upheld in the landmark Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright. But for those at risk of losing their homes, there’s no such guarantee. …

Originally published at www.montgomeryadvertiser.com This past month marked the 53rd anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. On July 30th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation establishing the Medicare and Medicaid programs guaranteeing access to health care for America’s poor, elderly and disabled. Instead of recognizing Medicaid’s role in helping lift…

Originally published on AL.com Alabama’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has come a good way in only three years. In 2015, a federal judge in Mobile struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, giving way for Alabama’s same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. …

Originally published in The Hoya I almost missed out on my dream job because of $400 in medical debt. After receiving a job offer, I agreed to undergo a credit check as part of a routine background investigation. My credit report showed two debts from visits to urgent care centers…

I was born and raised in a working-class family in Chickasaw, Alabama, a small shipbuilding company town just outside of the port hub of Mobile. My father dropped out of school before the ninth grade and immediately went to work as a sandblaster at a naval shipyard. My mother worked…

Originally published on AL.com Last week a 13-year-old boy in Trussville took his own life after battling with depression and anxiety. Jay Griffin, a seventh grader at Trussville Middle School, was transgender. Jay's mother, Erin Georgia, said she began realizing her son was born in the wrong body half way…

A 2,200 word final feature story for my journalism class. There’s a painting outside of the Montgomery County Executive’s office in Rockville, Maryland of a beloved local landmark. The average visitor to the county seat would pass it by without giving it a second glance. …

Fifty-two years ago on a Sunday afternoon, civil rights activists, led by a young John Lewis, marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to demand the right to vote, only to be dragged to the ground and brutally beaten by white Alabama state troopers. The blood that flowed from…

Originally published on AL.com Last month a missing Alabama teen was found dead in an illegal dump site in Walker County. 19-year-old Nick Hawkins of Dora was on his way home from a beauty pageant on the night of February 13 when he called his mother and told her, “Someone…