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DC Police Now Have to Learn Black History. Will It Curb Brutality?
On Friday morning, on the steps of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced that D.C. police officers will be required to take a critical-race-theory program. “We are committed to accountability,” Bowser told reporters, “to strengthen the bonds of trust between MPD and our residents.” As…
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‘Unapologetic’ White Nationalist Podcast Host and Middle School Teacher Resigns
Nearly a month after HuffPost first outed Florida middle school teacher Dayanna Volitich as the host of a white supremacist podcast, Unapologetic, Volitich has submitted her resignation. The Citrus County School District removed Volitich from her classroom on March 2, reports the Citrus County Chronicle, as the district investigated claims that Volitich had moonlighted as…
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Say Their Names: The Father and the Musician Whose Lives Were Cut Short by the Austin, Texas, Bomber
Much of the headlines in the past week concerning the bombings in Austin, Texas, have focused on bomber Mark Conditt and the terror he inflicted. And rightly so—as Austin officials reckon with Conditt’s motivations and techniques, the rest of the country is having a much-needed conversation (though one too often repeated) about who gets to…
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Former Texas Prosecutor Withheld Email That Could Have Prevented Innocent Man From Landing on Death Row: Report
In an announcement late Friday, Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Kim Ogg revealed that a former prosecutor withheld a key email that could have prevented Alfred Dewayne Brown from receiving the death penalty. As the Houston Chronicle reports, the email helped establish “a clear alibi” for Brown, who was convicted in a high-profile murder case…
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2 Employees Fired for ‘Racially Insensitive’ Black History Month Meal Were White, Student Group Says
Updated Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, 9:15 a.m. EST: A student group advocating for minority and marginalized students at New York University has issued a statement clarifying what happened at the university last week following a controversial Black History Month meal at the school. On Sunday afternoon, the Governance Council of Minority and Marginalized Students at…
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PTA in NYC Catches Heat for Using Blackface Photo for Fundraiser Message in the Year of Our Lord 2018
The Facebook post seemed innocuous enough. The parent-teacher association for Public School 118, The Maurice Sendak Community School, in Brooklyn, N.Y., had settled on a theme for its fundraiser: “Speakeasy.” The announcement, posted in January, came with an image broadcasting the date of the event and some 1920s Prohibition-era photos for the themed event. The…
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Yes, the MLK Estate Did Approve That Trash Dodge Super Bowl Ad
Updated Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, at 1:40 p.m. EST: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S., which owns Ram, has made it all too clear that Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate was well aware of that Super Bowl ad and was “a very important part of the creative process every step of the way.” The statement was quoted…
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H&M Hires ‘Diversity Leader’ After Global Backlash to the Racist Monkey Hoodie
Fashion retailer H&M, more than a week after a photo of a black boy in a “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie caused an international backlash, announced Wednesday that the company has appointed a diversity leader. The Swedish-based company announced its decision on its Facebook page: The recent incident was entirely unintentional, but it demonstrates…
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In Nod to Shirley Chisholm, Cincinnati Councilwoman Brings Her Own Seat to the Table at Swearing-In Ceremony
Shirley Chisholm, the trailblazing New York congresswoman who was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first black candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket, once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” The phrase served as a mantra and rallying…
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Washington, DC’s Only Public Hospital Just Decided to Close Its Maternity Ward
In a closed-session vote Wednesday, the board of Washington, D.C.’s only public hospital decided to close its nursery and delivery rooms. As the Washington Post reports, now the women of Southeast D.C. (which is predominantly black and low-income) have even fewer maternal-health options. Not only is the decision potentially devastating to pregnant women in Southeast,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
