James Baratta
About
James is a Brooklyn-based journalist and writer. He is currently a writing fellow at The American Prospect magazine. His most recent work can be viewed on prospect.org. Send comments, tips and pitches to jbaratta [at] prospect [dot] org.
The American Prospect is a daily online and bimonthly print magazine promoting informed discussion on public policy from a progressive perspective. While based in Washington, D.C., the Prospect maintains a small but dedicated team of journalists and contributors from across the country. James has been a writing fellow at the magazine since Spring 2025.
Read the Prospect. Get the news first.
"‘I Know I Couldn’t Live Here’: Standing Up to a Data Center in Alabama’s Black Belt"
The American Prospect
October 2026
Lowndes County is rural and impoverished, and its scars are in plain view. Residents have been plagued with a decades-old raw sewage crisis so horrible that a United Nations special representative traveled to Alabama to investigate.
We spent this past summer getting to know the residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who are pushing back against a planned hyperscale data center and demanding transparency. Hearing directly from a local pastor who fears displacement, an environmental lawyer fighting to hold the county government accountable, a prominent local activist with deep roots in the community, and many more made the concerns among many Lowndes residents unmistakably clear: they say the data center is the wrong development for exactly the wrong location. It’s our hope that this story illustrates the people-driven power that has defined Lowndes’ longstanding tradition of fighting back in the face of injustice.
Across the country, communities have banded together to resist the development of data centers in their neighborhoods. But they’re often zoomed-out versions, which don’t display the unique circumstances of the communities slated to be impacted.
That’s what we wanted to show here.
—Naomi Bethune and James Baratta
By the time this year’s primary season was winding down, corporations had already shelled out more than half a billion dollars in support of congressional candidates, exceeding the previous record of $461 million set during the 2024 election cycle.
Lucas Waterfill, a 35-year-old comedian based in Indianapolis, bought his 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on the city’s southeast side five years ago.
Electricity is a public good, dating back to when rural electrification was a pressing need for the nation during the New Deal era.
Public ownership is more prevalent in the minor leagues of sports.
Santa Cruz County, Arizona, is the smallest county in the Grand Canyon State, but its location makes it significant.
