Breaking News! History in the Making
Who Gets Food Stamps? White People, Mostly
Nationally, most of the people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are white. According to 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, 40.2 percent of SNAP recipients are white, 25.7 percent are black, 10.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.1 percent are Asian and 1.2 percent are Native American.
Changes in Wikipedia Pages on Police-Brutality Cases Linked to NYPD: Report
The NYPD’s computer network at 1 Police Plaza headquarters has been used to make changes or attempt to delete Wikipedia pages about controversial cases from Sean Bell to Eric Garner.
Ferguson police chief resigns after scathing Justice Dept. report
The police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, resigned on Wednesday, following a scathing U.S. Justice Department report that found widespread racially biased abuses in the city’s police department and municipal court.
‘Bloody Sunday’ Anniversary Commemorated With March Across Selma Bridge
Tens of thousands of people paraded across a Selma, Alabama bridge on Sunday to commemorate the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” march, not waiting for dignitaries who had planned to lead them in marking the 50th anniversary of a turning point in the U.S. civil rights movement.
Culture of Abuse and Racism Revealed in Ferguson Police Department
The Department of Justice’s investigation into law-enforcement practices in Ferguson, Mo., is nearly complete, and the full findings could be released to the public as early as this week… Information that has leaked out… appears to confirm allegations of long-standing abuses by Ferguson police against the town’s residents. Specifically, the DOJ reportedly found evidence of excessive use of force, rampant racial profiling, as well as an undercurrent of racism that extended beyond the police force and to the local court system.
These Two Teens Aren’t Just Sisters — They’re Twins
When Lucy and Maria Aylmer tell people they are twins, disbelief is one response. While their other siblings have a blend of features from their parents, Lucy and Maria are opposites: Lucy has fair skin and red hair, while Maria has caramel skin and dark hair.
Don’t fight with police, Detroit chief advises youth
A two-hour program organized by the B.A.L.L. (Bridging Athletic, Learning and Life Skills) Foundation held today in Detroit brought about 50 people, including officers from Detroit Police, parents and children to the East Campus of Triumph Church on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit.
Attorney General Nominee Loretta Lynch Clears Senate Judiciary Committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to confirm Loretta Lynch as the next U.S. attorney general, bringing her one step closer to becoming the first African-American woman to hold the post.
103-Year-Old Civil Rights Icon: ‘Thank God I Learned That Color Makes No Difference’
Amelia Boynton Robinson was nearly beaten to death in 1965 during the first march in Selma, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr. She was 53 years old at the time. A graphic photo of Boynton Robinson, severely beaten and collapsed, spread around the world and became an iconic image of the civil rights era. “Thank god I learned that color makes no difference,” Boynton Robinson said Friday at a private luncheon at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. “My parents [were] an example for what they wanted their children to be.”
John Legend Uses ‘Glory’ Best Original Song Win To Discuss America’s Prison Problem
John Legend and Common accepted the Best Original Song award after performing a moving rendition of the song to a tearful audience. “‘Selma’ is now because the struggle for justice is right now,” Legend said.
Can Reforming Culture Save Black Youths?
In a new book, Harvard sociology professor Orlando Patterson explores the way in which culture can be used to understand and improve the lives of young African Americans.
A Kaffeeklatsch on Race
The constantly called-for “national conversation on race” is not some grand conclave. We need to stop calling for the it and realize that we are already in it. Charles Blow analyzes FBI Director James Comey’s recent speech re: 3 hard truths – history of law enforcement as oppression, unconscious racial bias and lazy thinking/cynicism by police.
1 Year Later: Student’s Vigil Over Ole Miss Noose Goes On
In 2014, three white students put a noose around the neck of a statue commemorating the first African-American student to attend the University of Mississippi. For almost a year, student Correl Hoyle has maintained a protest in front of the statue.
Graphic Design Company Receives Backlash After Naming New Product ‘The Hanging Tree’ and Using Noose Imagery
A new company has decided that naming its new graphic design set “The Hanging Tree” and using a noose in advertisements for its set of thematic photographic images isn’t offensive to anyone at all.
Tonight: Premiering on BET, “The Book of Negroes” mini-series
Based on the award-winning novel by Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes tells the story of Aminata Diallo after her capture and the pain she endured as part of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Starring Aunjanue Ellis as well as Cuba Gooding Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr., The Book of Negroes will premiere as an epic miniseries that highlights Aminata’s powerful journey.
For South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Generation, Discontent Grows
The “born frees” have begun to question their country’s leadership amid rampant unemployment, limited opportunity and entrenched political corruption.
Workers Awarded $15,000,000 After Bosses Called Them ‘N–gers’ and Separated Them by Race
Seven Denver warehouse workers were awarded some $15 million after a federal judge found that bosses separated the blacks from other workers because of their race and called them n–gers and “lazy, stupid Africans.”
History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names
On Tuesday, the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., released a report on the history of lynchings in the United States, the result of five years of research and 160 visits to sites around the South. The authors of the report compiled an inventory of 3,959 victims of “racial terror lynchings” in 12 Southern states from 1877 to 1950.
3 White Mississippi Men Sentenced For Hate Crimes, Including Running Over Black Man
Three white men who pleaded guilty in Mississippi to hate crimes that included a black man’s death after he was beaten and run over were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday to between seven and 50 years in prison.
