Decades after Billie Holiday’s death, ‘Strange Fruit’ is still a searing testament to injustice – and of faithful solidarity with suffering

By Tracy Fessenden, Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University

Sixty-five years ago, on July 17, 1959, Billie Holiday died at Metropolitan Hospital in New York. The 44-year-old singer arrived after being turned away from a nearby charity hospital on evidence of drug use, then lay for hours on a stretcher in the hallway, unrecognized and unattended. Her estate amounted to 70 cents in the bank and a roll of bills concealed on her person, her share of the payment for…

Read complete article

~	China: Authorities must end interference in Tibetan religious practices as Dalai Lama announces succession plan

~	Girls, Women Under Constant Threat in South Sudan

~	Supervision gaps can lead to child abuse – what can be done?

~	Politics with Michelle Grattan: Kerrynne Liddle on seizing more opportunities with Indigenous Australians

~	Redefining freedom of creativity in captivity: The art of Ukrainian prisoners

~	Cambodia: Mother Nature Activists in Prison One Year

~	Guatemala: Water Law Urgently Needed

~	What is aflatoxin, the toxic chemical behind Coles’ peanut butter recall?

~	Parents are feeling anxious about men in childcare centres. Stronger rules would make everyone feel safer

~	Australians will soon need their age checked to log into online search tools – here’s why