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Former FAMU Student Sentenced to 6 Years for Marching-Band Hazing Death
Dante Martin—the former de facto student president of the hazing rituals conducted by Florida A&M University’s marching band—was sentenced to 77 months in prison (almost six-and-a-half years) for the 2011 hazing death of FAMU student and drum major Robert Champion, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Before Martin’s sentencing on manslaughter charges in Champion’s death, his family,…
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College Student Dies in Ga. Jail Cell; 2 Officials Placed on Administrative Leave
Matthew Ajibade, a 22-year-old Nigerian native who was in the U.S. studying computer science at Savannah Technical College, died last week in a Georgia holding cell while he was in police custody. Two sheriff’s deputies have been placed on administrative leave without pay until the investigation into Ajibade’s death is concluded, CNN reports. Ajibade was…
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3 of the 4 Suspects Tied to Paris Newsroom Massacre Are Dead
On Friday, French officials announced that Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers suspected of gunning down staffers in the Paris newsroom of the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, were shot dead by police in front of a printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goële, a town outside Paris, CNN reports. French law-enforcement officials also described how they engaged another…
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Wanted: Anyone Who Is Young, Fabulous and Female in Washington, DC
Attention, all the young, black and gifted women in Washington, D.C.: The Root’s Young, Fabulous and Female series will kick off 2015 in D.C. on Jan. 27 with on-air personality and journalist Jummy Olabanji (Good Morning Washington, ABC7 News at Noon) as the event’s moderator. For those who are unfamiliar with YFF, join The Root…
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2nd Straight Week of Sharp Declines in NYPD Arrests
On Monday night a New York judge saw only 30 defendants come before him instead of the usual 60 to 90. One arraignment courtroom was used instead of two, the New York Times describes, and the judge closed down shop 45 minutes early because there were “no more cases to call.” According to the Times,…
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Is My Family Linked to America’s 1st Black Episcopal Church?
I found a death return on FamilySearch for a 60-year-old named George White who was buried the week of Aug. 28, 1848, in the churchyard cemetery of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia. I wonder if this is my ancestor. And, if so, could there be a relationship to William White, one…
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A Mother Fears for Her Daughter’s Lost Innocence
The news is littered with stories of people being killed by law-enforcement officials as well as by each other. Protesters have filled our streets demanding justice on both sides of the law. You would have to live under a proverbial rock to be unaware of at least some of the terror that lives within our…
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It Isn’t Wrong to Take Your Sister’s Child to Get an STD Test
My sister is mad at me for taking her 18-year-old kid for STD testing at the kid’s request. She said I took her “parenting choice” from her. I apologized. Was I wrong? —Anonymous No, you weren’t wrong. But I do get why the mother is mad, although her anger seems misplaced. I’m also glad that…
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Pa. Man Tries to Run Over Police Officers in NYC and Yells, ‘I Want to Kill Cops’
Matthew Christian Cash, a 24-year-old Pennsylvania man with a lengthy rap sheet, attempted to run over as many of New York City’s Port Authority police officers as possible Wednesday night near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, the New York Post reports. Fortunately, Cash’s car missed the officers who were patrolling the tunnel and instead…
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Black Guerrilla Family Group Suspected of Planning Attack: Police
The Black Guerrilla Family, a black revolutionary group founded in prison and believed to be inspired by Marxist principles to eradicate racism, has the Baltimore and New York City police departments on edge after one of its members walked into a Baltimore police precinct “reeking of marijuana,” the New York Daily News explains. The man…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
