Human Rights on the Ballot

July 9, 2026

Plus: Mara Brock Akil on ’90s Essence ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 26, 2026

Greetings, Meteor readers,

Lots of ground to cover today. First up, is abortion on the ballot in your state? We’re checking. Then, a quick news cruise before we ask television icon-turned-author Mara Brock Akil three questions about her new novel.

Let’s hop to it,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Human rights on the ballot: We really cannot stop talking about just how important this year’s midterms are going to be. But don’t worry, this isn’t about the latest Democrat hotshot riding in on a white horse to save us—those are only fairytales. Instead, we’re taking a look at some crucial abortion-related ballot initiatives that may be flying under the radar given all the madness building up to November.

So far, there are abortion measures on the ballot in Nevada, Missouri, and Virginia—all states that allow for abortion until viability (generally 21-24 weeks). In Nevada and Virginia, voters will get to decide on whether or not reproductive rights should also be enshrined in their states’ constitutions. In Missouri, Amendment 3 is on the table—voters will decide whether or not to repeal the constitutional right to reproductive freedom that voters approved in 2024 and prohibit all abortions except in emergency cases. Amendment 3 would also prohibit gender-affirming care for minors. It’s a double whammy of cruelty.

Two other ballot measures are waiting for their respective secretaries of state’s approval: an anti-choice one in Colorado that would void the newly added right to abortion in the state constitution, and a pro-choice one in Idaho to reverse the state’s extremely restrictive abortion ban.

Before we go further, a side thought on abortion-related ballot initiatives. In a perfect world, if you ask us, basic healthcare and bodily autonomy wouldn’t even be up to voters. Other forms of medical care aren’t; we would balk if, say, cancer patients’ right to chemotherapy were up for debate. In a fundamental sense, it shouldn’t matter that abortion access is popular—it’s a human right, full stop.

But given our current political reality, the fact that it is popular has been crucial—a key strategy for restoring and preserving reproductive freedom in a post-Dobbs world. (Which is why, after decades of pushing their own anti-choice measures, Republicans are now trying to make the process of ballot initiatives more onerous.)

Back to what’s on deck for this fall: Ballot measures, especially constitutional amendments, are often written to intentionally confuse voters, so if you want to check if there are any measures in your specific state, click here.

AND:

On Tuesday morning, ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man who had been in the U.S. for more than 30 years and was in the process of legal immigration. ICE officers allege (as they did the last time they killed someone) that Araujo was trying to evade arrest and attempted to run over an agent with his car.
Graham Platner has officially dropped out of the U.S. Senate race, and Maine Democrats are in a hurry to find his replacement. One option? Former Maine state senator Troy Jackson, who allegedly threw a water bottle at a woman. So like…what’s up with the men of Maine?
And speaking of Platner, did you catch that his campaign blamed “out of state establishment operatives” for “coach[ing] and coordinat[ing]” Jenny Racicot’s allegations of sexual assault? Well, those “operatives” include attorney and former executive director of Gen-Z for Change Cheyenne Hunt, who also played a key role in exposing the alleged abuse of Rep. Eric Swalwell earlier this year. She’s in the process of launching an organization meant to provide resources, including legal aid and therapy, for victims like Racicot.
Last month, devastating twin earthquakes struck Venezuela. The official death toll is over 3,000—although unofficial estimates are in the tens of thousands and the numbers are expected to rise as relief efforts continue. Our Meteor colleague, Eli Garcia, was in Venezuela when the earthquakes hit and recounted her experience to the BBC, noting the egregious lack of government response. Hundreds more have echoed her frustration in the last few weeks. You can support medical relief efforts here.

It’s been one year (can you believe it?) since the Big Beautiful Bill was passed, slashing millions of dollars from food assistance programs like SNAP. How have Americans been faring? As bad as we feared.
Cheryl Reeve is officially the winningest coach in WNBA history.
SCOTUS can learn a lot from Erling Haaland.
How many times are they going to beat this dead, buried, biodegraded horse?
OH MY GOD!! IT’S HAPPENING!!!! CHEETAHS ASSEMBLE!

Three Questions About…Black Women in the ’90s

BY REBECCA CARROLL

(PHOTO BY EMMA FEIL)

Most Black women who were trying to figure out their lives during the ’90s know acclaimed TV writer and showrunner Mara Brock Akil for her shows like “Girlfriends” and “Being Mary Jane.” Younger ones may know her from her 2025 Netflix adaptation of the Judy Blume novel “Forever.” But now everyone will know her as an author. In her debut novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, Akil brings us on a very ’90s journey with magazine beauty editor Dionne, as she waits out the 14 days after taking an HIV test—no rapid tests, no internet, no iPhones. We had questions.

Even though this novel takes place in the ’90s, it also feels current. Why did you choose Dionne to tell this particular story?

What I love about Dionne is that she is one of the early pioneers of living the American dream. She’s a character who would have been born with her full rights as a human being in this country, packed with the dreams of her mother and grandmothers. She knows her history; she’s educated, and so she feels ready to take on the world. But she can’t really launch forward until she turns around and faces her past. And during the ’90s, we had this very looming disease, HIV, and taking that test, that two-week wait, was one of the necessary pauses that allowed you to literally reflect on the choices of your life while you waited for the result of your life.

Dionne is a beauty editor at Essence. Why was it important for you to name a real magazine, along with its real longtime editor-in-chief, Susan L. Taylor?

Essence was real for us. I remember it being almost like the holy grail of imaging for Black women and the spectrum of us. We could be all things in Essence. And the beauty that was reflected back—it wasn’t always celebrity-driven. [The models] were just these women, I didn’t know their names, and I saw myself in their image, style, and concerns. Essence was the place that was actually informing us because nobody else really cared about the issues that impacted us. The HIV story broke for Black women in Essence, when they started writing about the Down Low, and how it could affect us. That was a new conversation back in the ’90s. And Susan Taylor led that.

At one point in the book, Dionne says that silence has been both her protector and her oppressor. In this current political climate, people love to float this mantra of “Listen to Black women,” when in fact, right now, we are roundly being silenced. How has silence been both our protector and/or our oppressor as Black women in America?

In some cases, the silence has been put upon us because no one values us or will listen, but that silencing has led us to write and read and look and examine. Black women are some of the most educated in this country, so yeah, you should be listening, but also we are carrying the weight [of that knowledge]. In our silence, we have used that time to really evaluate.

The oppressing part is not finding ways for people to understand the complexity of us, and how we see the world, what the world has done to us, and how we have alchemized that as a way through. Breaking through the silence can be the thing that frees us as well. But in Dionne’s case, her silence was literally how she moved through life [after being sexually assaulted]. The silence helped her move through that dark period in her life, and reach for what the ‘90s was promising her.