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‘I Sat in Jail for 7 Months Because Someone Lied on Me’
John Blue, of Georgia, says he wants justice after he spent seven months in jail on an assault charge of which he was eventually found not guilty, WSB-TV reports. Blue was charged with aggravated assault last summer for allegedly ramming his van into a state welfare worker’s vehicle. Blue, his girlfriend and his sons,…
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Photos: Baltimore in Chaos
On Monday, soon after an emotional funeral for Freddie Gray—the 25-year-old man who died a week after being taken into police custody April 12—portions of Baltimore erupted into chaos as rioters clashed with police, threw objects at passing law-enforcement vehicles and looted local businesses. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a citywide curfew from 10 p.m.…
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6 Prison Officials Are Fired and 29 Suspended for Leaving Mentally Ill Inmate in Disgusting Cell
Pink slips are flying in a Houston prison after Deterrius “Terry” Rashad Goodwin, an inmate with a history of mental illness, was placed for several weeks in an unkempt isolation cell that contained dozens of food trays, “an infestation of gnats” and Goodwin’s feces, KRPC reports. Six officials at the Harris County Jail have been fired, and…
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Thousands Attend Freddie Gray’s Funeral in Baltimore
Thousands of people, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), attended the funeral of Freddie Gray at the New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore on Monday, USA Today reports. Senior members of the Obama administration were also expected to attend, CNN reports, including officials who manage the White House’s outreach to the public and…
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Black Men Are Missing: Tell Us Something We Don’t Know
The tragic and spiraling plight of black men in American society has reached such epic proportions that the national paper of record, the New York Times, is discussing the “disappearance” of African-American men from civil society. “The stigmatization of blackness presents an enormous obstacle,” it notes, “even to small boys.” The editorial, “Forcing Black Men…
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In a Scene of Daily Life in 19th-Century Philly, a Black Oyster Vendor Takes Center Stage
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In this modestly sized scene, the artist has captured the effect of a fleeting, mundane incident with a convincing effect…
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5 Awkward Realities Millennials Face
Being 20-something today means getting through a phase of awkwardness our parents didn’t have to face. Whether it’s technology or general societal shifts, we’re constantly navigating the phase of life when we’re too young for a midlife crisis, yet too old for a Keg Stand. Though unique to our generation, millennial growing pains, like the ones listed below, are all too real;…
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George McJunkin: How a Black Man’s Archaeological Discovery Changed History
Who was the first black man to make an archaeological discovery? In 1900, 1,610 African Americans lived in New Mexico, many of them former slaves drawn to the wide-open spaces that promised self-determination and a respite from the early days of Jim Crow post-Reconstruction. We can surmise that the cowboy George McJunkin, like so many…
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Watch: Fla. Man Complains About Being ‘Stuck’ With Kids After Their Mom Is Injured in Random Shooting
David Stephens of Jacksonville, Fla., apparently found himself in a serious predicament earlier this week after the 24-year-old mother of his two children was shot in random gunfire: caring for his kids, according to News4Jax. “I was stunned, liked to caught a heart attack, you know,” Stephens told the television news station on Monday about…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
