Peace & Riot Issue No. 5


Cover Story

The Data Center Down the Street, and the Activist Next Door

E.N. West in conversation with
Vernice Miller-Travis

Summer 2026

Issue 05

Letter from Peace & Riot

Who pays the price when powering the digital world? By Frankie Orona.

Read more.

The Data Center Down the Street, and the Activist Next Door

In Maryland, organizing against dirty data centers is an act of community power. E.N. West in conversation with Vernice Miller-Travis.

Read more.

Jamming the AI Hype Machine

Cutting through the myths, marketing, and manufactured inevitability of AI. Amirio Freeman in conversation with Jai Dulani.

Read more.

In Atlanta, Cop City Swaps Shade for Surveillance in a Black Community

In America’s most surveilled city, a Black neighborhood loses forest and gains a network of AI-enabled cameras. By Adam Mahoney and Madeline Thigpen.

Read more.

Policing the Planet

How ICE and AI-powered surveillance threaten people and movements everywhere. By Julia Luz Betancourt.

Read more.

How Ai Fracks Our Minds

AI is an attention and environmental disaster. By D. Graham Burnett & Peter Schmidt.

Read more.

AI’s Fossil Fuel Future

In the Gulf South, AI’s growth is being built on the same fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructure that has long defined Cancer Alley. By Shilpi Chhotray.

Read more.

TOOLS & TACTICS FOR DATA DEFENSE

By Katya Abazajian & Emelia Williams of The People’s Data Project.

Read more.

Artmaking as Resistance and Reclamation

Yessenia Funes and Kumi Naidoo on art, activism, and attention.

Read more.

Cousins

A poem by Dr. Kelsey L. Smoot

Read more.

Youth Organizers in Texas are Pushing Back Against AI Data Centers

Alexia Leclercq on fighting resource abuse and environmental injustice in her home community. By Aina Marzia.

Read more.

Peace & Riot Picks

Resources to help strengthen skills that AI undermines, like critical thinking and contemplation.

Read more.

The Camera as a Tool for Empowerment

Arielle Bobb-Willis is this issue’s featured photographer.

Read more.

Summer 2026 - Issue 05

CrEDITS

This issue was made possible with support from

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mindy Ramaker

EDITOR

Kate Weiner

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Shilpi Chhotray

Contributors

Katya Abazajian

Arielle Bobb-Willis

D. Graham Burnett

Shilpi Chhotray

Abre’ Conner

Jai Dulani

Amirio Freeman

Yessenia Funes

Alexia Leclercq

Davante Lewis

Julia Luz Betancourt

Adam Mahoney 

Aina Marzia

Vernice Miller-Travis

Kumi Naidoo

Marianella Nuñez

Frankie Orona

Peter Schmidt

Patrice Simms

Kelsey L. Smoot

Madeline Thigpen

E.N. West

Emelia Williams


FALL/WINTER 2025

Issue 04


SPRING/SUMMER 2025

Issue 03

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates from Peace & Riot.