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Who Was My Enslaved Ancestor’s Owner?
My third great-grandfather Cain Dick was born between 1821 and 1824 and died around 1910 in Rock Creek, Guilford County, N.C. I was trying to search for his parents and the origins of his slaveholders, only to run into a complication. I came across three male individuals who had the same surname as my third…
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He Did What to Your Phone?! Aw, Girl, It’s Over
My man [and I] got in a heated argument and [it] got pretty loud. Fine. The next day, I was looking for my phone and found it in a weird spot. It smelled like [urine]! I asked my boyfriend about it and he admitted that he [urinated] on my phone because he was mad. Yes!!…
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Stay Alive, Black Men, Stay Alive
This is what I do whenever I see flashing lights in my rearview mirror: I put on my hazard lights and pull over as soon as safely possible. Then I put the car in park, roll down both front windows fully, turn off the engine, take the keys out of the ignition and dangle them…
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Like Dred Scott, Michael Brown Was Denied His Right to Live—and to Live as an American
News out of Ferguson, Mo., has been devastating. Since unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by an as-yet-unidentified police officer, local police have responded to the community’s demonstration of outrage with unprecedented force—using military-style weaponry to suppress peaceful protests, arrest black elected officials and detain journalists. And Brown’s death seems to have unearthed a history…
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Obama Calls for Calm, Says There Is No Excuse for Violence in Ferguson
President Barack Obama took a break from his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., to speak on the rising tensions surrounding police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo., where an unarmed 18-year-old was fatally shot by a police officer Saturday. The president called for calm and asked for protesters and police to “take a step back.” “Now…
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McDonald’s Mom Who Left Child in Park Has Personal Info Leaked by Local News
For Debra Harrell, the South Carolina mother arrested in June for letting her daughter play in a park alone, the ordeal is not over. Local ABC affiliate WJBF News Channel 6 obtained and posted Harrell’s police interrogation video and personal information, including her Social Security number. In the video, Harrell can be heard answering the police officer’s…
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Ferguson, Mo., Unrest Continues as Protesters and Police Clash
It was another tear-gas-filled night in Ferguson, Mo., as protesters continued to demand justice in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a still-unnamed police officer. A militarized police force with riot gear and SWAT vehicles continued to demand that protesters disperse around 9 p.m., according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But demonstrators were…
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Black Teacher Who Was Fired for Calling Students ‘Lazy N–gers’ May Get Her Job Back
An African-American math teacher who had been given three warnings for foul language and eventually was dismissed after she was found to have called students “lazy n—gers” may be given her job back after a technicality in her firing, WJXT reports. According to the news station, Florida teacher Joyce Quiller ran a “profanity-laced classroom”…
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Study: Black Children Have 50 Percent Chance of Developing Diabetes
Black children face a 50 percent likelihood of developing diabetes during their lifetime. This staggering figure is according to a study published Wednesday in The Lancet, Mother Jones reports. Compare that with only a 40 percent chance for American children overall. The epidemiologists who conducted the study based their findings on mortality data for nearly…
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Without Obama, Clinton Could End Up Like Gore
Although we’re all still sort of pretending that it remains to be seen whether Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016, she recently gave the most definitive confirmation she has to date of her impending candidacy. No, she didn’t say the words “I’m running for president,” but she publicly criticized President Barack Obama, and…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
