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Video Released Showing Police-Shooting Death of Laquan McDonald
Video was released Tuesday night of the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officers in October 2014. Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the case. The video shows Laquan being shot 16 times as he turns away from several officers who surround him. City officials tried unsuccessfully to…
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New White House Initiatives Are Great for Girls but Don’t Compare to My Brother’s Keeper
Blink and you would have missed it. Lost in much of the coverage of the Paris attacks, student protests and police shootings, more than a week ago, the White House announced a new series of initiatives meant to help women and girls of color. There was a daylong forum for it, a forum focused on…
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Chicago’s Black Youth to Mobilize Over Video Release in Police Shooting Death of Laquan McDonald
Organizer Charlene Carruthers has no plans to watch the latest video showing a police shooting death of yet another black person. She won’t watch it. She doesn’t need to watch it. She already knows what this is about. “I don’t need to watch a video to know how the Chicago Police Department treats black people,”…
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911 Call: ‘I’m Hiding in the Office,’ Says Jewelry-Store Clerk When Bucks Player Comes to Shop
Time to add another item to the already long list of things that black people cannot do: buy a Rolex. Buying a Rolex is supposed to be a happy occasion. Especially for the Milwaukee Bucks’ John Henson. He’s 24. He’s a baller. He has some cash to burn. And it would have been his first…
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Prison Kids Film Brings Awareness to Plight of Children Put in Solitary Confinement
It’s time to end the practice of putting juveniles in solitary confinement. That was the message the makers of the new Fusion Investigative Unit documentary Prison Kids had for Washington, D.C., Wednesday as they held screenings on Capitol Hill and at the Motion Picture Association of America’s theater space in downtown D.C. Right now the…
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Empire’s Back and So Is Jussie Smollett
Empire is going to be crazier this season. That’s what one of the Fox show’s stars, Jussie Smollett, promises. That Empire will be much crazier than last season is a feat that sounds impossible, but Smollett swears the writers, actors and producers embraced the craziness challenge and kicked the drama up beyond a few notches, going…
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No, DeRay Mckesson Is Not Getting $40,000 to Speak at Yale
The headlines may say that activist DeRay Mckesson was offered a teaching position at Yale; they may say he’s getting paid $40,000 for it—but don’t believe the hype. Mckesson, best known for his prolific voice on race and black liberation on Twitter and his work as an outspoken activist, is not Yale’s newest professor. He’s…
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Jussie Smollett Talks Cleaning Floors, Just Like You Like It
He’s really into cleanliness. And you all are lucky (or unlucky, depending on your POV) he wasn’t naked. That’s what Jussie Smollett told The Root about a viral video of him mopping floors while his co-star Gabourey Sidibe cheered him on. The video popped up on Aug. 6 and has been retweeted more than 3,000…
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Ava DuVernay on Moving Beyond the Black-Film ‘Trend’ and Becoming the Norm
It’s hard out there for a black filmmaker. But it’s also hard out there for an Asian filmmaker. And a Latino movie director. And a female director or screenwriter. It’s hard, period, if you don’t fit the standard mold of white and male in Hollywood. But Selma director Ava DuVernay is determined to change that.…
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Black Lives Matter Backlash Gets Real
In the Black Lives Matter movement, the only “weapons” protesters wield are their mouths, but you wouldn’t know that from the way the activists and organizers are being spoken about by some in the press. Suddenly, Fox News pundits are talking as if Black Lives Matter is responsible for a recent shooting of a police officer…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
