-
22 Shot, 2 Dead During Violent Chicago Weekend
Just two weeks after gunfire racked the streets of Chicago over the July Fourth holiday, 22 people were shot and two killed during a 12-hour spate of violence this weekend, ABC News reports. Chicago Police Department spokesman Officer Jose Estrada told ABC News that 22 people were shot between the hours of 3 p.m. Friday…
-
Jury Awards Widow $23,600,000,000 in Tobacco Case
In one of the largest verdicts ever against a tobacco company, a Florida jury has awarded a stunning $23.6 billion in punitive damages to the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer, Agence France-Presse reports. The jury in the case Cynthia Robinson v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. voted Friday in favor of Robinson,…
-
Really, NY Magazine? Couldn’t Find a Black Rom-Com for Top 25?
I’m a big fan of New York magazine, in large part because of its cultural coverage and willingness to give a platform to artists, institutions and subjects that other mainstream publications might not. A case in point is the slide show the site just devoted to the upcoming coffee table book Vintage Black Glamour, which…
-
Career Spotlight: Park Ranger Shelton Johnson on Why Spending Time Outdoors Is About Civil Rights
“You shouldn’t have to convince people to go to paradise,” 55-year-old Shelton Johnson says in the short documentary The Way Home: Returning to the National Parks. “But if I could go to paradise without dying, and see all that is there, sign me up,” he continued. “And Yosemite for many people is such a place.” Shelton,…
-
2 Cops Pulled From Streets After NYC Father Dies in ‘Choke Hold’
Two New York City police officers have been placed on desk duty after a 43-year-old man died during an arrest in which video of the struggle shows an officer placing him in what the police commissioner said appeared to be a choke hold, the Daily News reports. The department prohibits the use of that hold,…
-
46,000 Federal Drug Sentences Could Be Cut
Almost half of the nation’s 100,000 federal drug inmates could spend less time behind bars following a decision Friday by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Washington Post reports. In a unanimous vote, the commission decided that 46,000 federal drug offenders in prison are eligible for reduced sentences, the report says. The decision, the Post says,…
-
The Catch Up: What You Missed This Week in Pop Culture News and More
This week was filled with more biopic news than we could count and a black superhero from Harlem. But the most powerful messages came from this week’s reminders that bullying and sexual assault are never justifiable. The rape victim, Jada of Houston, whose attack went viral, along with Vanessa Williams’ confession gave victims of sexual…
-
Report: 100 AIDS Conference Delegates Aboard MH17
An estimated 100 delegates en route to the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, reportedly died aboard downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, according to a statement released Friday by Daniel C. Montoya, deputy executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council. Among those who died was Dutch researcher Joep Lange, a former president of the…
-
Rights Groups Condemn Detroit Water Shutoffs
Responding to a widening water crisis in Detroit, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. on Friday appealed to city officials to place an immediate moratorium on water shutoffs while “a fair, humane and meaningful review process can be evaluated and implemented to help indigent residents.” A letter [pdf]…
-
Is It Nation of Islam Time Again in Hip-Hop?
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, a wave of commercial hip-hop artists, like Public Enemy, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Eric B. & Rakim, Paris, Gang Starr, Ice Cube and MC Ren, used their platform to promote political awareness, community uplift and cultural self-determination. They drew their inspiration in part from Islam—as culture, ideology…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
