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Why This Season’s Underground Should Be in Every Conversation About the War on Drugs
Over the last few years, I have spent a lot of time thinking, talking and writing about the war on drugs, particularly how it affects black women. And it is clear that the writers of WGN’s Underground, the exceptional runaway hit show that tracks the movements on the Underground Railroad, have been, too. There are…
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Sean Spicer, Joe Walsh and Bill O’Reilly: Your Hatred for Black Women Is Showing
There is something about black women in positions of power and influence that brings out the devil in white men. The residue of evil clings to them like a moldy cloak. One could rightfully argue that this is true for all women. But it is black women in particular—being unyielding, assertive and ungovernable in the…
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The Liberator: Susan Burton on the War on Drugs, Black Motherhood and Freedom [Retracted]
RETRACTED (6/12/18): This story has been removed because we have discovered it was in breach of our editorial standards. If you’d like to know more, you can read an editor’s note here. A cached version of the story is available here for transparency.
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Alonzo Cox, 16, Viciously Assaulted by Baltimore County PD, Lives to Tell the Tale
The actions of two Baltimore County police officers are now under review after they were captured on video last week violently detaining a 16-year-old child who was in need of help and clearly in distress. Fox Baltimore reports that on Feb. 22, police were called to respond to reports that a 14-year-old girl (who has not…
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Tom Perez Elected Democratic National Committee Chair
Tom Perez, former labor secretary in the Obama administration, has been elected the new Democratic National Committee chair, beating out Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) for the top spot, the Washington Post reports. In a move that jump-started the battle dubbed the “West Wing vs. the Left Wing,” veterans of the Obama administration urged Perez to…
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The Scholar: Samuel K. Roberts Jr. on Drug Policy, Radical Recovery and ‘Capital Flight’ [Retracted]
RETRACTED (6/12/18): This story has been removed because we have discovered it was in breach of our editorial standards. If you’d like to know more, you can read an editor’s note here. A cached version of the story is available here for transparency.
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La. Judge Mike Erwin Denies Calling Black Bar Patron ‘N–ger’
After almost a week of silence, Judge Mike Erwin of Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court has released a statement denying that he called a black patron at Sammy’s Grill in Baton Rouge, La., a “nigger.” Of course he did. As previously reported by The Root, on Feb. 3 Kaneitra Johnson, a resident of Baton Rouge,…
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Mother, Son Charged With 1st-Degree Murder in Frank Ancona’s Death
Updated Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, 5:12 p.m. EST: Malissa Ancona, wife of Frank Ancona, and Paul Edward Jinkerson Jr., stepson of Frank Ancona, have been charged with first-degree murder in his death. They have both been charged with “abandonment of a corpse, first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence,” KMOV.com reports. Updated Monday, Feb. 13,…
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‘Police Rapists’: Protests Erupt in Paris After Police Charged in Rape of Black Man
Editor’s note: Trigger warnings: rape, sexual violence, state violence, anti-blackness. Four police officers in a Paris suburb allegedly raped a 22-year-old black man, and protesters are seeking justice. So-called officers of the law “forced a 22-year-old man to the ground, beat him, and anally raped him with a baton at a housing estate in the…
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Sheryl Underwood Defends George Lopez on The Talk
Sheryl Underwood wants the world to know that she and George Lopez are friends and that he is not racist. Also, she wants us all to know that if a woman had flipped her off during her comedy show, she would have called her a “bitch,” too. As previously reported by The Root, George Lopez…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
