While other 7-year-old boys were dressing up as superheroes or their favorite video game character for Halloween, Jackson Black went trick-or-treating as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, dressed full on in a white robe and a pointed white hood, with a red-and-white cross emblazoned on his chest. “It was cool,” the little boy…

There is no doubt as to whether Arthur James Martin shot Javon Abdulla Daniels to death while he was sitting in a car outside an apartment in Jacksonville, Florida in late 2009, according to court documents the Florida Times-Union reports. While the shooting isn’t disputed, whether or not Martin’s intelligence is too low to be…

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, is taking her fight in her son’s memory to a Senate panel on Tuesday, demanding that states clarify their “Stand your ground” laws in self-defense cases, according to the Associated Press.  The laws are known for excusing…

The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania are looking to take back their name and culture by seeking royalties for the unauthorized commercial use of their name, Bloomberg reports.  According to the news site, approximately 10,000 companies around the world are profiting by selling products using the tribe’s name, six of them earning an estimated…

(The Root) — Rising Republican superstar Dr. Ben Carson slammed Obamacare in a speech on Friday, comparing it to one of the worst periods in U.S. history. Speaking at the conservative Values Voter Summit on Friday, the famed neurosurgeon told delegates, “I have to tell you, Obamacare is, really, I think, the worst thing that…

(The Root) — It is a sentence more associated with murder than political corruption, but many in Detroit say former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick deserved the 28-year sentence he got for kickbacks, bribery, extortion and fraud, which cost the city millions. Even though a contrite and remorseful Kilpatrick pleaded with the judge for leniency, his detractors…

(The Root) — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick received a 28-year prison sentence for corruption on Thursday, bringing a definitive end to the scandal that has rocked the city for years. “I really, really, really messed up,” Kilpatrick said before his sentence was handed down, according to CBS Detroit. “I apologize to the citizens of…

(The Root) — Howard University President Sidney Ribeau is stepping down, expected to officially leave his post at the end of this year.  The news, which broke Tuesday afternoon, came as a shock, even as the university has struggled recently.  Howard alumnus Wayne Frederick, 42, has been named interim president. In 2012, when Frederick was…