• Ala. Department of Corrections Inmate Kinetic Justice Is on Hunger Strike

    Less than two months after becoming the public face of striking prisoners across the country, one Alabama inmate has launched a hunger strike. Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton told AL.com Thursday that Robert Earl Council, known in the prison movement as Kinetic Justice, is on a hunger strike. “Prison officials confirm the inmate has…

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  • Colin Kaepernick Creates 'Know Your Rights Camp' to Empower Youths

    The San Francisco 49ers had a bye week this weekend, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick used his free time to host an event in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday for hundreds of black and Latino kids from California’s Bay Area titled, #KnowYourRightsOakland. According to its website, Know Your Rights Camp is “a free campaign for youth to raise…

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  • #NoDAPL: Supporters Show Solidarity in Various Actions Across the Country

    Native American opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline have received a wave of support over the last few days. From Facebook check-ins to open protests to completely disrupting the New York City morning commute at Grand Central Station, people across the country are standing with Standing Rock.   As previously reported on The Root, users…

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  • #WalterScott: Killer Cop Makes Attempt to Get Case Dismissed

    Jury selection is underway in the trial of the former North Charleston, S.C., police officer accused of shooting and killing an unarmed black motorist, and the defense team has found another angle with which to push for a dismissal. Michael Slager, 34, is charged by the state with murder in the death of 50-year-old Walter Scott,…

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  • #NoDAPL: Facebook Users Check in at Standing Rock in a Rousing Show of Solidarity

    A post that went viral on Facebook beginning Sunday evening urged users to check in at Standing Rock Reservation in Cannonball, N.D. The post said that users would be helping to thwart law-enforcement officers who were using social media to track protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The post instructed users to make a public…

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  • Calif.'s 1st Female Black Judge and Longtime Jurist Dead at 96

    The first female black judge in California, and one of the state’s longest-serving jurists in state history, has died at the age of 96, the Associated Press reports. Vaino Spencer died in her sleep of natural causes Oct. 25 at her home in Los Angeles, her niece, Fatimah Gilliam, said. Spencer was born July 22, 1920,…

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  • #NoDAPL: Amnesty International Sending Human Rights Delegation to Standing Rock

    In a press release issued Oct. 28, Amnesty International USA announced that it will be sending a delegation of human rights observers to monitor the response of law enforcement to protests by indigenous communities. As previously reported on The Root, tensions rose at a #NoDAPL resistance camp Oct. 27 when more than 100 militarized police…

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  • Judge Rules Flint Residents Can Sue State of Mich. Over Water Crisis

    A judge in the Michigan Court of Claims ruled Thursday that residents of the city of Flint, Mich., have the right to sue the state and state officials for the decisions that led to the city’s lead-contaminated-water crisis. The Detroit News reports that Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Mark T. Boonstra, who presides over the…

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  • Supreme Court to Rule on Va. Teen’s Bathroom-Access Lawsuit

    The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it would decide in in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. whether a transgender boy may use the boys’ bathroom in a Virginia high school. The high court will decide whether the Obama administration may require public school systems to let transgender students use bathrooms that align with their…

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  • More Than 140 #NoDAPL Water Protectors Arrested Overnight

    Police and National Guard troops arrested more than 140 water protectors near a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site in Cannon Ball, N.D., on Thursday. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that authorities had arrested 141 protesters by midnight local time after a more than six-hour standoff, NBC News reports. As previously reported…

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