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Activists Battling 'Stand Your Ground' State by State
The hearing in room 417 started a lot like any other. The chairman took roll call. A stream of Florida elected officials spent a half hour paying almost impossibly earnest homage to the democratic process and the importance of civil debate. Then, a host of student activists, gun rights and gun control advocates took their…
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Louisiana Kidnap Victim's Cousin Slays Abductor
A man hunting for his missing cousin reportedly kicked in the back door of an abandoned house and shot and killed her kidnapper during a daring rescue, according to Louisiana police authorities. When news initially surfaced about the incident on Friday, details were unclear and it was not known who fired shots. But now, police have identified…
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White Texas Man Elected After Leading Voters to Believe He Was Black
Dave Wilson said he was shocked when he was recently elected as a member of the Houston Community College System Board of Trustees, ousting a 24-year incumbent. Why? Well, the white Republican ran in a district whose voters are overwhelmingly black Democrats, and the odds seemed overwhelmingly against him, MSNBC reports. But he reportedly won…
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New Book Claims Obama Disses Congressional Blacks
Thanks to the book Game Change, which captured the behind-the-scenes drama of the 2008 presidential campaign, authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are now as feared among those keeping political secrets as Karinne “Superhead” Steffans is feared among the rappers and athletes worried about being name-checked in her next tell-all. The most recent revelation…
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Chris Christie Urges GOP to 'Show Up' for Minority Votes
In what he describes as a winning prescription in future elections for the Republican Party, GOP New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday urged his constituents to reach out to minority voters. Christie should know. As the Associated Press reports, he’s just off a 22-percentage point re-election win, which he attributes to reaching out to…
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NYC Seeks to Vacate Judge's Stop-and-Frisk Orders
Lawyers representing New York City on Saturday filed papers asking a federal appeals court to vacate a judge’s orders that require the police department to modify its stop-and-frisk practice, which has been likened to racial profiling, reports show. In papers filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, lawyers argue that U.S.…
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Los Angeles Man Freed After 34 Years in Prison
Kash Delano Register, a Los Angeles man who spent 34 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit, walked out of prison on Friday after a judge overturned his conviction, according to the Associated Press. On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader threw out the conviction, determining that prosecutors used false testimony at…
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Anthony Mackie Arrested on DWI Charge
Actor Anthony Mackie, who has appeared in The Hurt Locker, The Adjustment Bureau and Man on a Ledge, was arrested Saturday morning for allegedly driving while intoxicated, reports show. Police reportedly pulled the 35-year-old star over about 1:30 a.m. in Harlem for tinted windows, but noticed that he had bloodshot, watery eyes, and they smelled…
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Quote of the Day: Louis Armstrong on Authenticity
Read more about Louis Armstrong here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
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Kendrick Johnson's Death: Questions Linger for His Family
Hundreds of hours of surveillance video of the high school where Kendrick Johnson mysteriously died have only served to raise more questions, reports show. Benjamin Crump, the family’s attorney, says they are “troubled” by a number of issues, including the lack of time-stamps on the video, but they are most worried about the video of…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
