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Baltimore City School Officials Investigating Video Showing Cop Slapping Young Man
The head of the Baltimore City Public School Police Force, Marshall Goodwin, was placed on administrative leave, and two officers were reassigned, after video started circulating of an officer repeatedly hitting and kicking a young man, CBS Baltimore reports. The profanity-laced incident at Reach! Partnership High School has left viewers of the footage outraged and in…
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Melissa Harris-Perry Refuses to Go on Her MSNBC Show Following Pre-Emptions
MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry has confirmed that she will not be appearing on the self-titled show she hosts this Saturday after several weeks of pre-emptions and what she says is a loss of editorial control, the New York Times reports. The Times reports that it obtained an email that was sent out this week to…
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2 Chicago 911 Dispatchers Suspended Without Pay in Quintonio LeGrier Case
Two Chicago 911 dispatchers have been suspended without pay for not sending authorities to the residence where Quintonio LeGrier was requesting assistance, the Chicago Tribune reports. The 19-year-old called 911 from his father’s apartment three times the morning of Dec. 26 requesting assistance and was hung up on twice. However, when authorities were finally dispatched, one…
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Wellesley College Appoints 1st African-American President
Wellesley College named Dr. Paula A. Johnson, a Harvard Medical School professor, as president, making her the first African American to ever head the school, the Boston Globe reports. Johnson in July will officially replace H. Kim Bottomly, who announced in April that she would be stepping down after nine years of service. Johnson, who…
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NC Students Plan Demonstration After Girls Told to Take Off African Head Wraps
A handful of students at Durham, N.C.’s School for Creative Studies had planned to kick off Black History Month with a bang by wearing colorful head wraps reminiscent of those worn by many women across the African continent. However, parents and students are now planning a protest after an administrator told the students that they…
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Father Pens Book to Explain Protest to Kids in the Time of Black Lives Matter
“What’s protesting?” It was this innocent question last year from Kenneth Braswell’s then-6-year-old son that acted as a catalyst for the community activist to write a children’s book. “I had an adult answer for that, but I did not have a 6-year-old answer,” Braswell told The Root. “And I fumbled with trying to explain to…
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UN Experts ‘Extremely Concerned’ About the State of African Americans in the US
The United Nations is once again tackling racism and the human rights of black people in America, detailing several concerns, from police brutality to mass incarceration to housing crises to the school-to-prison pipeline. In a preliminary statement to the media published last week, the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent listed…
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Report: Boko Haram Burned Children Alive in Attack in Nigeria
Members from the terrorist group Boko Haram firebombed huts and burned children to death in a vicious attack that left 86 people dead, the Associated Press reports. A survivor hidden in a tree saw the brutality unleashed and heard the screams of children in the latest attack by the Islamic extremists. According to the report,…
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Family of Ramarley Graham, NYC Teen Fatally Shot by Cop, to US Attorney’s Office: ‘Foot-Dragging Is Unacceptable’
The family of Ramarley Graham, a black teen who was gunned down in his Bronx, N.Y., home by a police officer, is demanding justice in the teen’s case, telling the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara that the “foot-dragging is unacceptable,” the New York Daily News reports. Tuesday will mark…
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Video of Fla. Police Officer’s Response to 911 Call About Basketball Game Goes Viral
A video of a Gainesville, Fla., police officer responding to a 911 call about kids playing in the streets “too loudly” has gone viral. In it, the officer can be seen dealing with the complaint by joining in on the game. On Jan. 15, around 5 p.m., a 911 call went out complaining about some…