Sneakers and Mutual Aid

LGBTQ+ rights advocates in South Carolina wanted to start a movement, even when coming out meant risking their relationships, their jobs, and their personal safety. So activists like Harriet Hancock built safe spaces that Queer and Trans people could call their own. A simple picnic in the late 1980s started a fight for LGBTQ+ equality in South Carolina that continues today.

Mutual aid requires many skills: organization, tracking inventory, cleaning and maintaining supplies, and most of all building relationships. But what if you could practice all those skills—by collecting sneakers? KJ visits Harlem's Closet sneaker shop in Columbia, SC, and the Rock Hill Community Fridge to learn how two business owners are using their hobbies to practice community care.

Climate change impacts our natural environment, but it's also a racial justice issue. Communities of color in the US and globally are impacted first and worst by flooding, heat, and pollution. That's why environmental justice advocates from these communities in South Carolina are working toward solutions—from monitoring the water in their neighborhoods to lobbying their local legislators.