Few people perceive America as being a land where child marriage occurs. But it does. I did not know what a persistent problem it was until I came upon Sherry Johnson, who was raped repeatedly at 8, had a baby at 10 and was forced to marry one of her rapists at 11. It happened …
Continue reading “Yes, child marriage still happens in America”
Lost in the diversity controversy at the Oscars Sunday night was this: The only woman of color who won was Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Who? That’s the problem. Very few people in America know who she is. But they ought to. Obaid-Chinoy, 37, has two Academy Awards to her name; her latest was in the best documentary …
On a bright December afternoon in Kolkata, I watched a handful of young women throw their arms in the air, swirl the scarves of their salwar kameez and leap from one end of the courtyard to the other. They danced their cares away. Literally. The women had all been forced into prostitution or into abusive relationships. …
I met Maya Angelou in 1983. I worked for the Center for Participant Education at Florida State University and we had invited Angelou to speak on campus. I went with my friend Graciela Cuervo to fetch her at the Tallahassee airport, shook her hand and said: “Maya, I am so happy to finally meet you.” She was …
Continue reading “'I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise, I rise, I rise'”
Tarun Tejpal. Tehelka. Maybe my friends here in America have never heard those names. But in India, they stand synonymous with investigative journalism. Tehelka has lived up to its name, which means sensation in Hindi, since it entered the Indian media scene in 2000. Early on, the startup almost brought down the Indian government by …
I have reported difficult stories before. It was never easy to tell tales of tragedy from places like Iraq. But a piece that published on CNN.com today is the hardest story I’ve ever told. Because it became very personal. Because it was raw. The producer, the photographer, the cameraman who went with me to Maharashtra …
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