Dawn M. Turner
Nieman Reports
Chicago, IL, United States
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Past articles by Dawn:
What Journalists Can Learn from “Black Panther” and “Get Out”
Cast member Chadwick Boseman poses at the premiere of "Black Panther" in Los Angeles Mario Anzuoni/Reuters This is a story about heroes and we’ll talk about journalism in a minute, but first let’s go to the movies. A lot has been said about “Black Panther” being a groundbreaking superhero film with a predominately African-American cast that has shattered box office records. Since its release a… → Read More
Remembering Nailah Franklin
It has been nearly two years since Nailah Franklin's story captured the heart of this city. She was the 28-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative who was reported missing on Sept. 19, 2007. Hers was the lovely face that smiled broadly on the thousands of fliers that family members and friends distributed while praying for a positive outcome. But within a few days, she was found dead in… → Read More
Polyamorous relationships and the 'messes' of love
Can a polyamorous relationship — one in which consenting adults openly have several intimate, monogamous-like relationships — really work? → Read More
The job of an abortion doula
Gaylon Alcaraz serves as an abortion doula, supporting women going through the procedure just as a birthing doula would do in a delivery room. → Read More
Popular culture's embrace of Emmett Till
Emmett Till's story is the subject of several new films, documentaries and books. → Read More
'Urban fiction' makes readers blush, cringe
Years ago, I hoped urban fiction — which has titles such as "Thugs and the Women Who Love Them" — would be short-lived → Read More
Mom takes on college for her right to breast-feed during breaks
A Concordia student wants to pump breast milk while on breaks during her 4-hour class and is told, instead, to take the class online. → Read More
When women call themselves the G-word
New CBS drama "Supergirl" inspires my look at why grown women are calling themselves "girls." → Read More
What red light cameras may reveal about racial profiling
A recent study examining red light cameras explains why we have to dig deeper to understand race → Read More
Ex-gang member talks about rap music's influence
A former gang member talks about how rap music influenced his gangbanging. → Read More
The rage of Trump fans isn’t new. I’ve dealt with it for years.
As a Chicago Tribune columnist, I saw how angry white people became when the racial order was threatened. → Read More
Goodbye, dear Tribune readers, until we meet again
A few weeks ago, I saw the movie "The Martian." Its multiracial cast brought to mind the way Hollywood (think: "Star Wars" and "The Hunger Games" franchises) often depicts the distant future as a time when race and ethnicity recedes into the background and is kind of an accessory. → Read More
Similar conditions help radicalize youth in Chicago, Paris
Andrew Diamond lives near the Canal Saint Martin in Paris' 10th Arrondissement, a five-minute walk from a popular intersection that's home to a Cambodian restaurant, a pizzeria and a bar with an expansive terrace frequented by tourists and the neighborhood's "Bobos," or artsy bourgeois bohemians. → Read More
Maybe Obama library's economic promise can inspire city to tackle gun violence
In the past, I have criticized President Barack Obama for not saying enough about urban gun violence, and mostly mentioning it in a tacked-on, ornamental way after there had been a mass killing on a college campus or in a small town movie theater. → Read More
Ex-gang member talks about rap music's influence
I was talking to a woman who's an on-air personality for one of Chicago's most popular urban radio stations recently when she argued that rap music, even the hardcore kind, plays a negligible role in violence. I vehemently disagreed. → Read More
What red light cameras may reveal about racial profiling
A recent red light camera study published in Police Quarterly is utterly fascinating and at first blush may seem counterintuitive, bumping up against what our brains have been hard wired to think about race. You might not readily understand the results — I certainly didn't — but I dare you to try. → Read More
Mandatory minimum sentencing is a stopgap for preventing gun violence
Last week, I wrote about a common-sense gun law that southwest suburban Lyons hammered out with a local gun shop owner, and a reader wanted to know my thoughts on a law Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed three years ago. → Read More
Lyons ordinance a model for commonsense gun laws
A couple of hours before the Lyons Village Board met late Tuesday afternoon to approve a new gun control law, President Barack Obama was about 13 miles away in Chicago speaking at the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. → Read More
'No-brainer': Fire the deputy who attacked teen in video
When I saw the video of the South Carolina girl being thrown around in her chair by the sheriff's deputy because she refused to surrender her cellphone in math class this week, it made me angry. → Read More
Extreme sentencing of children needs to end, advocate says
By the time Xavier McElrath-Bey was 13, he'd been shuttled back and forth between several homes, including that of his mother and stepfather, a foster mother and a group home. He had lived on the streets in his Back of the Yards neighborhood and in abandoned buildings where he felt safest among his fellow gang members. → Read More