Breaking News! History in the Making

screen_shot_20151005_at_12.04.49_pm_1.png.CROP.rtstoryvar-large.04.49_pm_1

Racist Jokes About This Photo Got People Fired and Sparked the Hashtag #HisNameIsCayden

By Dian Ozemebhoya Eromosele, The Root There is a man who goes by the name of Geris Hilton on Facebook (reportedly not his real name) who used to have a job. “Hilton” used to work at Polaris Marketing Group, according to AtlantaBlackStar, but his employment status changed after he posted a photo on Facebook Sept.…

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 14:  (L-R) Black Lives Matter Co-Founders Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi at the The New York Women's Foundation. May 2015. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The New York Women's Foundation)

Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Reflects On The Origins Of The Movement

How the movement began on social media, how it grew, and how it answers critiques that it provokes violence.

People take part in a rally on April 29, 2015, at Union Square in New York City, held in solidarity with demonstrators in Baltimore demanding justice for Freddie Gray, who died of severe spinal injuries sustained in police custody.  

(Photo by EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Is This the End of the 2nd Reconstruction?

Henry Louis Gates Jr questions whether recent anti-Black violence by police is a symptom of the end of an era of progress.

Christopher Owens, serving as a school resource officer in 2008.

Former officer files suit claiming discrimination in arrest by fellow officers

“They were assaulted, arrested, handcuffed and placed in the rear of police cars due to the color of their skin and because they are African Americans. One officer remarked that all he saw was a big black guy,” the suit says.

The mural commissioned by Detroit’s N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art. Huffington Post

A White Artist Wrote ‘Black Lives Matter’ 2,000 Times. But His Mural Almost Said ‘All Lives Matter.’

What happened when a black gallery owner in Detroit commissioned a large mural from a white artist as an homage to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Parade participants march with a tribal-themed group wearing colorful face paint. (Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Why It Isn’t Possible For Black Americans To Appropriate African Culture

Julia Craven explains why Black Americans have a right to explore the roots and homes from which they were forcibly removed years ago.

Jeb_Bush

Jeb Bush, ‘Free Stuff’ and Black Folks

NY Times columnist Charles Blow’s take on Jeb’s statement: “This line of reasoning also infantilizes black thought and consciousness and presents an I-know-best-what-ails-you paternalism about black progress.” Read his full analysis here.

whitesonly

Art Student Hangs ‘Black Only’ And ‘White Only’ Signs Around University Campus

An art installation at the University of Buffalo was designed to provoke emotion and encourage students to confront racist social structures.

rs25-hero-official

Richard Sherman Says He Supports Black Lives Matter, But ‘Black-On-Black’ Crime Needs To Stop First

The Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback wants to highlight the controversial topic of black-on-black crime, which others say doesn’t exist.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates To Write New Black Panther Comic Book Series For Marvel

“Through comic books’ first and greatest Black super hero, Ta-Nehisi will shed unique insight into the world in which we live.”

viola_davis

Viola Davis Becomes 1st Black Woman to Win Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama

During Davis’ emotional acceptance speech, her words particularly resonated with every black actress in Hollywood.

NAACP flyer showing that John Hartfield's lynching was planned ahead.

Horror Drove Her From South. 100 Years Later, She Returned.

In 1915, Mamie Kirkland and her family fled Ellisville, Miss., in fear that her father would be lynched. She swore she would never return. But at age 107, she made the journey. Video, story, and pictures.

Suit Alleges ‘Scheme’ in Criminal Costs Borne by New Orleans’s Poor

A lawsuit filed against New Orleans criminal district court alleges that it runs a “scheme” in which the poor are jailed if they fall behind paying fines. “The extent to which every actor in the local New Orleans legal system depends on this money for their own survival is shocking,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a founder of Equal Justice Under Law, a civil rights group, and one of the lawyers who filed the suit….

childcare

Racial Bias Affects How Children Are Treated For Pain

Race appears to affect the odds that a child or teen will get pain medication, particularly opioid medication, according to a new study.

Payton Head, President of the Missouri Students Association

MSA president speaks out about racist incident

“Some guys in the back of a pickup just started yelling the ‘N-word’ at me,” Head said Monday. This time, his response was a Facebook post on Saturday that brought it to the attention of the community.

Kamilah Brock

Woman Says She Endured 8 Days In Psych Ward Because Cops Didn’t Believe BMW Was Hers

Kamilah Brock says the New York City police sent her to a mental hospital for a hellish eight days, essentially because they couldn’t believe a black woman owned a BMW.

In this image from video, police officer Michael Thomas Slager checks on Walter Scott after he was shot by Slager in Charleston, S.C., on April 4, 2015. (Feidin Santana via AP Images)

Michael Slager’s Lawyers Want Him Out Of Jail Because Walter Scott Had Drugs In His System

– An unarmed black man fatally shot by a white former patrolman in South Carolina in April had used cocaine and alcohol in his system when the police officer said he wrested control of his stun gun and pointed it at him, court documents filed on Tuesday show.

Freddie Grey, who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody after his arrest on April 12, 2015.

Baltimore reaches $6.4 million settlement with Freddie Gray’s family

Baltimore officials have reached a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, an agreement they say is the right step for a city still recovering from riots and demonstrations sparked by the 25-year-old’s death from an injury suffered in police custody.

Display at the Antioch Baptist Church on the Whitney Plantation (Elsa Hahne)

The Only Museum Solely Memorializing Slavery

America needs more symbols memorializing slavery and John Cummings, a white southerner, has helped to make that happen.

slave_trade_game

Slave Trade Video Game Edited After Backlash

The creators of “Playing History: Slave Trade” removed a level Monday which featured black slave characters being dropped into a ship.

Deputy Darren Goforth

Officials were wrong to jump to conclusions in deputy’s slaying

Harris County’s top law enforcement officials hadn’t turned a white deputy’s death, allegedly at the hands of a black man, into yet another wedge between police and communities of color.