Laura Washington

Neha Baig, a co-owner of the BP gas station at 4359 N. Pulaski Rd. in the Albany Park neighborhood, walks to a pump as volunteers give out free gas, which was donated by businessman Dr. Willie Wilson, Thursday morning, March 17, 2022. Hundreds lined up for free gas, some starting before 6 a.m. Wilson, a former mayoral candidate, said he would give each driver up to $50 worth of gas, totaling $200,000 in multiple gas stations across the city.

Willie Wilson’s gas giveaways could be a model for elected officials

Wilson’s latest philanthropic play — free gas — is a way “to alleviate some of the pain that Chicagoans are experiencing because of the highest fuel prices in 14 years,” he said.

By Laura Washington

Actor Jussie Smollett is led out of the courtroom after being sentenced at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on March 10, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Jussie Smollett was found guilty late last year of lying to police about a hate crime after he reported to police that two masked men physically attacked him, yelling racist and anti-gay remarks near his Chicago home in 2019.

Columnists

Even at his sentencing, Jussie Smollett played the victim

The “Empire” actor could have owned a deception that diverted precious police resources from solving real crimes against people of color and his LGBTQ sisters and brothers.

By Laura Washington

Columnists

‘There’s no need for us to ask why. We know why.’ Racism.

Guards allowed Ukrainians to cross but blocked foreigners.

By Laura Washington

A product stall filled with free N95 respirator masks, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sits outside the pharmacy at this Jackson, Miss., Kroger grocery store, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. The Biden administration is making 400 million N95 masks available for free to U.S. residents. Authorities note the masks’ offer better protection against the omicron variant of COVID-19 than cloth masks.

Columnists

My mask is not coming off

People who continue to wear masks in public spaces are just neurotic, my husband says. “You look goofy,” he admonishes me.

By Laura Washington

Joseph Igartua, 37, was charged with stalking Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Columnists

When some of us become ‘the other,’ all humanity is in danger

Some refuse to accept that women of color have a right to belong, even the right to be human. They try to deny our humanity. If they see you as “the other,” then they can say — and do — anything to you.

By Laura Washington

Leslie Brown Simmons, 68, of Maywood, receives a Pfizer vaccine booster shot against COVID-19 at Cook County’s Forest Park Community Vaccination Site on Jan. 18, 2022.

Columnists

For African Americans, can the pandemic spark a national conversation about good health?

Surviving COVID-19 would then be the beginning, not the end.

By Laura Washington

State Representative Lashawn Ford speaks at a press conference held by a coalition of Cannabis Activist and Social Equity Applicants on June 2021.

Columnists

Will La Shawn Ford run for Chicago mayor again in 2023?

His supporters may be clamoring, but for Ford, 2023 could be another tall order.

By Laura Washington

Columnists

Readers respond to my column on Florida’s ‘white discomfort’ bill

Most of the readers who wrote to me about my column on the Florida bill about teaching and discussing racism were angry.

By Laura Washington

Gov. Ron DeSantis listens to a reporter’s question during a press conference at NeoCity center in Kissimmee, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022.

Columnists

Burying history to protect white people’s feelings won’t work

Ron DeSantis and his GOP allies are pushing a bill in the Florida legislature that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from teaching or training about racism in ways that make white people squirm.

By Laura Washington