Breaking News! History in the Making

Attorney Ben Crump and Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – The policing reforms in the Breonna Taylor settlement, explained

From revised search warrant protocols to contracting social workers, the policy changes are a start but could go much further.

Breonna-mural

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Breonna Taylor’s Family to Receive $12M Settlement From Louisville

In the aftermath of the botched police raid in which Ms. Taylor was killed, the city also agreed to institute changes aimed at preventing future killings by officers.

City records show how officials sought to frame the narrative around Daniel Prude’s death in the hours and days after his encounter with the police.

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet

A Black man, Daniel Prude, died of suffocation in March after police officers had placed his head in a hood and pinned him to the ground. The public had never been told about the death, but that would change if police body camera footage of the encounter got out. A mass of city documents released on Monday show how prominent Rochester officials did everything in their power to keep the troubling videos of the incident out of public view.

8 year old boy reading Hidden Figures

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black lives matter in children’s books, too.

“When a child sees themselves reflected in the books that they read, when the books are a mirror to them, they feel valued.” Black main characters are slowly growing more prominent in children’s books research shows. The Roseman’s Young, Black & Lit is making certain free books that feature black characters reach children.

Slave memorial in Zanzibar

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter but slavery isn’t our only narrative

Our historical understanding of Blackness is most commonly shaped by the story of the Atlantic slave trade, in particular to the Americas. But this is a linear narrative that is dominated by American voices. It’s not just potentially exclusory; it doesn’t adequately take into account the diversity of black people worldwide. Aretha Phiri asks Michelle M. Wright about her work in disrupting the slavery narrative.

Activist Frank Nitty

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Interview with Frank Nitty on Showtime’s ‘The Circus’

In an episode of Showtime’s The Circus entitled “Law And Disorder,” the show visited Kenosha, WI, the site of civil unrest after the shooting of Jacob Blake. Watch this gripping interview with Activist Frank Nitty.

The aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

The Exception to Exceptionalism: Why marginalized communities feel a collective guilt in America

When the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995, the authorities and all media outlets immediately blamed it on “Islamic terrorists.” Members of the Muslim community around the country were attacked, verbally and physically. When Black people protest and one sets a building on fire, all Black people are blamed collectively.For White people the rules are generally the opposite.

Leimert Park sidewalk

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter brings new vitality to LA neighborhood

The police killing of George Floyd and the surge of activism around Black Lives Matter has suddenly made this LA shopping district once again a destination for discussion, gatherings and commerce.

Photo caption here (include photo credit)

Court blocks DeVos from diverting COVID-19 relief from public schools

A federal court ruled that Secretary of Education DeVos violated the language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – by siphoning off relief funds to private schools, to the detriment of underserved children in public schools, including children from low-income families, children with disabilities, children of color and English language learners.Now public schools will receive the full federal emergency aid to which they are entitled.

Top 25 University heads

Faces of Power: 80% Are White, Even as U.S. Becomes More Diverse

The most powerful people in the United States pass our laws, run Hollywood’s studios and head the most prestigious universities. They own pro sports teams and determine who goes to jail and who goes to war. A review by The New York Times of more than 900 officials and executives in prominent positions found that only about 20 percent identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, multiracial or otherwise a person of color.

Oxford BLM protester

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter protest in Oxford to demand reparations

Crowds of activists from Black Lives Matter will gather in the heart of Oxford to call for reparations to be made to African nations and descendants of slaves.

Laramie Eppler, left, Brad Pitt and Tye Sheridan in “The Tree of Life.” Though the film is about a white family, the behind-the-scenes talent would satisfy Oscar rules for diversity.Credit...Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Oscars’ New Diversity Rules Are Sweeping but Safe

#OscarsSoWhite hashtag became a rallying cry, the academy began taking great strides to diversify a membership that had been largely white and male for nine decades. This week, the academy unveiled an even more ambitious diversity initiative with the intention of reshaping not just how movies are rewarded, but also who’s hired to make them in the first place.

HR & BLM

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – 89% of HR employees expect solidarity with Black Lives Matter

As Black Lives Matter protests continue to rage on, companies are under immense pressure to declare their support – with press silence speaking volumes in itself.

Ron Graham’s father, Theodore Graham, center, as a youth with his youngest sibling, Rowena, on his lap, in a photograph from around 1912. Mr. Graham spent decades assembling documentation showing that he is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Black, Native American and Fighting for Recognition in Indian Country

Thousands of African Americans were once enslaved by Native Americans in the South. Post-Civil War, they were promised tribal citizenship, but promises were broken. Now a Supreme Court decision has breathed new life into their fight.

Illustration by Arsh Raziuddin

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority

The best analogue to the current moment is the first and most consequential American racial awakening—Reconstruction in 1868. The story of that awakening offers a guide, and a warning.

South African Rugby team reflection against racism before match

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter forces South African sports to face racist past

The Black Lives Matter movement has forced South African sports to take a hard look at its post-apartheid history and the dissension between former teammates in a county still trying to heal from its racist past.

BLM supporter takes a knee

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Unions threaten nationwide work stoppages in support of BLM

Ahead of Labor Day, unions representing millions across several working-class sectors are threatening to authorize work stoppages in support of the Black Lives Matter movement amid calls for concrete measures that address racial injustice.

Protesters in NY after James Blake shooting

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – 93% of BLM Protests Have Been Peaceful

The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests—more than 93%—have been peaceful, according to a new report published by a nonprofit that researches political violence and protests across the world.

Yes! presents marketing image

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – How to Make Black Lives Really Matter, with Michael Harriot & Jamon Jordan

Join YES! and Colorlines for “This Uprising: How to Make Black Lives Really Matter,” a virtual discussion with Michael Harriot of The Rootand historian Jamon Jordan.

Signage for an Old Navy store stands at the entrance to a store in Times Square, March 1, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Old Navy to pay employees to work election polls

Old Navy is giving their 50,000 workers paid time off to serve as poll workers on Election Day 2020. Huge poll worker shortages are expected due to the coronavirus keeping retired poll workers away.

historical open housing march in WI

Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – The Rich History of African American Activism in WI

While today’s demonstrations in Kenosha are distinctly modern, with activists holding Black Lives Matters signs and cellphones recording violence as it unfolds, Wisconsin’s protests for racial justice have roots starting in the 19th century.