At a Memorial Day gathering outside Atlanta, poets expressed their feelings about the Confederate flag before symbolically burying it. “A lot of lives have been lost around this Confederate flag,” the event’s organizer, Terone Allen, told WTVM. People in 13 Southern states “buried” or burned the Stars and Bars in their own unique way. The…

Paula Cooper, once the nation’s youngest person on death row, was found dead in Indianapolis Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Authorities said that the 45-year-old, who had been released from prison in 2013 after the Indiana Supreme Court set aside her death sentence, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “It’s an unusual ending to a…

A British court sentenced a London cabdriver to life in prison Friday for the murder of a U.S. soldier in Iraq in a roadside bombing in 2007. As NBC News reports, for the family of Sgt. Randy Johnson, this case was a rare opportunity to see a person involved in a service member’s death face…

Video cameras captured a heated exchange at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati between a group of angry whites and black activists at a press conference Wednesday. A group of ministers in Cincinnati organized the event, using the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Game in their city to call on MLB to join the fight…

During a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) responded sharply to a black conservative sheriff who blamed an African-American “underclass subculture” for police violence. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who has become a darling of the right, called police bashing “low-hanging fruit,” Raw Story reports. He said it’s easy to exploit…

A pregnant Chicago woman says that a plainclothes police officer punched her in the belly and then unleashed a racist tirade after she and a few friends laughed at him. Nicola Robinson, who is eight months pregnant, told WFLD-TV that she and others were standing near her apartment building on Friday when they saw police…

Ben Affleck admitted his embarrassment over learning that an ancestor owned slaves. He tried to hide that past in the PBS genealogy show Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. After his efforts came to light, the actor and director identified that relative as Benjamin Cole. Well, the Associated Press decided to conduct an…

Clinical trial results for a noninvasive colon-cancer test approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration indicate that it is promising as an effective alternative to colonoscopy for African Americans, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The DNA-screening method, called stool DNA (sDNA), detected precancer in African Americans at…

The Congressional Black Caucus is taking action to address the lack of diversity at tech-industry giants like Facebook and Google. It’s hosting an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to launch the CBC Tech 2020 initiative, The Hill reports. The event, which will take place at the Library of Congress, will outline diversity; discuss best practices; present…