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Wis. Teen Was Unarmed When He Was Fatally Shot by Cop
A 19-year-old African-American man was unarmed when he was shot and killed Friday by a white officer in Madison, Wis., the Associated Press reports, renewing the national debate about aggressive policing in the black community. Protests erupted over the shooting and lasted throughout the day Saturday. The teen, Tony Robinson, was shot after allegedly assaulting…
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Obama in Selma: The Passion of a President
On the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Ala., President Barack Obama delivered a rousing speech before an estimated crowd of 40,000 on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that placed honoring Selma’s legacy at the cornerstone of his remaining presidency. Obama’s strong speech came on a day of commemoration, which featured a host of visiting political…
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Obama in Selma: ‘We Know the March Is Not Yet Over’
During a moving and far-reaching speech on Saturday, President Barack Obama pushed Congress to fight for the restoration of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, condemned the long shadow of racism that still haunts the nation, and celebrated economic and social gains for people of color in America since the pivotal civil rights…
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KKK Skit Lands Football Players in Hot Water at Illinois College
Several Illinois college football players said they were just joking when they dressed in Ku Klux Klan hoods and robes to parody the popular 2003 film Bad Boys II, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the Chicago Tribune reports. The players, including some who are African American, also carried Confederate flags, the report says. But instead of…
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Chicago Cubs Pay for Ernie Banks’ Funeral After Estate Dispute
After a funeral home filed a $35,000 claim against the estate of Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks over unpaid bills, the baseball team and its owner stepped up Friday to pay the costs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Cubs management and the Ricketts family [the team’s owner] have addressed the issue,” said Joseph Donnellan, owner…
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Eric Holder Prepared to Dismantle Ferguson Police Dept.
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Friday that the Department of Justice is prepared to dismantle the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department after the DOJ found a widespread pattern of racial bias against blacks on the the city’s force, Reuters reports. “We are prepared to use all the power that we have … to…
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Protests Erupt After Wis. Officer Fatally Shoots Black Teen
Protests broke out late Friday after a 19-year-old Madison, Wis., man was shot and killed inside his home by a police officer after an alleged struggle, according to Madison Police Chief Mike Koval, the New York Daily News reports. Details were still sketchy early Saturday, but initial reports allege that the officer was assaulted after…
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5 Things You Should Know About Selma
On Saturday, thousands—including President Barack Obama—will descend on the tiny town of Selma, Ala., to mark the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march so vividly depicted in the film directed by Ava DuVernay. The march—the first of three attempts that would ultimately end at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery—became a key moment in…
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Calling All Men in NYC to Attend The Root’s manCODE Event
We’re calling on the men of the New York City metropolitan area to join The Root for an empowering evening of brotherhood, dialogue and learning. The Root’s annual manCODE series will kick off 2015 in New York City on March 25 with a dynamic men-only conversation. For those who are unfamiliar with manCODE, sponsored by…
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Former NAACP President Ben Jealous May Run for Md.’s US Senate Seat
Benjamin T. Jealous, the former president of the NAACP, who is said to have taken the civil rights organization out of the red and restored its relevance at a time fraught with tensions between working-class communities and law enforcement, is reportedly thinking about tossing his hat into the ring for one of Maryland’s U.S. Senate…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
