Carissa Wyant

Carissa Wyant is a former MintPress columnist specializing in faith, race and social justice issues. She has been published in the Huffington Post, Patch.com, American City Business Journals and various local publications around the American Midwest.

New Labor Secretary Has Workers’ Rights Advocates Feeling Optimistic

Thomas Perez, who joins the Department of Labor after heading the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has an excellent track record on workers’ issues.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

“Today is my first day as the secretary of labor, and I couldn't be more eager to get down to work,” newly appointed Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said last week. Perez is the first and only Latino appointed to President Obama's second-term cabinet. Formerly Assistant U.S. Attorney General, his nomination yielded much optimism given his prior work

Read Full Article

Are The Boy Scouts Perpetuating Bullying?

Discriminating against gay and obese Scouts isn’t simply deplorable in a vacuum — it goes against the very idea that Scouting should shape good character.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

Last week the Boy Scouts organization announced that children who were considered to be obese would be banned from this year’s National Scout Jamboree. The event, occurring every four years, is considered a highlight for youth participants. Additionally, the Boy Scouts said that scouts with lower levels of obesity would have to provide medical

Read Full Article

The Road To Justice Includes Fighting Corruption

A new report shows that more than half of people, in countries both poor and rich, believe corruption is on the rise.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

Corruption is everywhere. And with corruption comes injustice. As American civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Which is especially unfortunate given the findings of a new survey detailing that the world is indeed becoming more corrupt on a global scale, and thus

Read Full Article

Why Are Middle-Aged White Women Overdosing On Prescription Painkillers?

A new report has found that women in the U.S. are dying from overdoses of pain medication at an alarming rate.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

New information from the Centers for Disease Control has found that women in the U.S. are dying from overdoses of pain medication at an alarming rate. A sharp increase in the deaths of women from drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methodone has been reported, according to findings released last week. “Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are

Read Full Article

Supreme Court Ruling Perpetuates The Oppression Of Native Americans

A 5-4 decision will weaken a 1978 law that aimed to end assimilation policies forcing Native American children from their families.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

In a recent child custody case, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to side with a 3-year-old child’s adoptive parents over the legal claim of her biological father. One justice called it “heartbreaking.” The case has raised eyebrows as some justices expressed skepticism in the ruling, which concerned a 1978 federal law intended to prevent the breakup

Read Full Article

‘I Don’t Think I Can Explain’: The Anti-War Lesson Of Michael Karkoc

The media recently pounced on allegations that a 94-year-old Minnesotan committed war crimes during WWII. But are reporters ignoring the greater tragedy?

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

Recently news broke that a 94-year-old man, Michael Karkoc, who has resided in a quiet northeast Minneapolis neighborhood for almost 70 years, is suspected of being the former leader of a Nazi unit accused of committing war crimes in World War II. The story set off a media frenzy, with reporters from across the globe descending on Minneapolis,

Read Full Article

Biological Xenophobia Threatens Environmental Diversity

What makes a so-called “invasive” species unworthy of environmentalists’ compassion?

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

“In San Francisco, on the Channel Islands, all across the United States, plants and animals are being trapped, poisoned, hunted, burned and destroyed by people who claim the mantle of environmentalism; by groups like the Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra Club. When Illinois spent $3,000,000 dumping tons of chemicals into Lake

Read Full Article