Verda Byrd recently found out after about seven decades of living as a black woman that she was born to white parents. Although some may view Byrd’s situation as vaguely similar to that of Rachel Dolezal’s recent outing as white by her parents after several years of her passing as black, Byrd is vehement that…

South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham is expected to add his voice to the growing number of lawmakers demanding that the Confederate flag be removed from state grounds, CNN reports.  Graham, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, is expected to appear alongside Gov. Nikki Haley late Monday afternoon to make his announcement calling for the flag’s removal.…

The president of a white supremacist group that was referenced in a manifesto attributed to accused Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal shooter Dylann Roof donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns, including those of former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania) and Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Kentucky), all of whom are running for…

President Barack Obama underscored the persistence of racism in the United States, pointing out, for example, that just because it’s no longer considered polite to say the n-word in public doesn’t mean the country is not still suffering the aftereffects of systemic discrimination, the Associated Press reports.  “Racism, we are not cured of it,” Obama…

The notorious alleged Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal shooter is now being held on a $1 million bond for a weapons charge in the crime that left nine people in Charleston, S.C., dead and a community reeling.  Appearing before a magistrate judge via video on Friday, Dylann Storm Roof spoke only when asked direct questions and remained…

Updated Friday, June 19, 10:10 a.m. EDT: Dylan Storm Roof told authorities that he “almost didn’t go through” with the horrific shooting spree at a South Carolina church Wednesday night “because everyone was so nice to him,” sources told NBC News.  Despite the welcome he received at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roof concluded that he…

Updated Thursday, June 18, 1:36 p.m. EDT: A South Carolina news station, WLTX, is reporting that law enforcement has apprehended Dylann Storm Roof in Shelby, N.C.  According to the report, the 21-year-old was taken into custody at approximately 11 a.m. after a traffic stop. Charleston, S.C., Police Chief Greg Mullen said that a citizen called…

Shots were fired into a Memphis, Tenn., church early Thursday morning during a choir rehearsal, WMC Action News reports.  There was a bullet in the wall of St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church, the news station reports. No one was present at the time of the shooting. A pastor noticed the bullet in the front door,…

The city of Wichita, Kan., released a copy Tuesday of the full claim document that a grieving family filed against the city claiming that Icarus Randolph, a Marine veteran struggling with his mental health, was needlessly and wrongly shot by a police officer who ignored the Wichita Police Department’s policy on engaging mentally ill individuals,…

Before Rachel Dolezal started passing as a black woman, she reportedly once sued her alma mater, HBCU Howard University, accusing it of discriminating against her because she was white, the Smoking Gun has uncovered.  According to the report, Dolezal filed the lawsuit for discrimination in 2002, the same year she graduated with a Master of…