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Gun Violence, Death and Boredom in Oklahoma
The horrible slaying of a white Australian baseball player in Oklahoma by three teens, two of whom apparently are black, is more representative of escalating gun violence in America than a deadly case of racism, Jonathan P. Hicks writes at BET, because the self-described “bored” teens were not focused on the victim’s race. The 22-year-old…
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An Official Call for Emoji Diversity
(The Root) — Emojis, the tiny smiley faces and pictograms that people use in text messaging, are gaining popularity on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram, making some messages look more like hieroglyphics than anything else. As their popularity increases, more and more people are noticing the stunning lack of emojis that look like…
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2 Chainz Tweets About Police Standoff
Rapper 2 Chainz was given two cuffs after he — along with everyone else on his tour bus — was arrested in Oklahoma City Wednesday night. According to TMZ, the police pulled the bus over after noticing that its taillights were out. When the police attempted to board the bus after observing what they said…
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Black Twitter Panel Possible at SXSW
(The Root) — It’s time to start voting for next year’s South by Southwest panels, and one is of particular interest to black people in the Twitter world. This year’s proposed panels for the event — a conglomerate of music, film and interactive festivals held yearly in Austin, Texas — range from Internet law to…
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Government to Sue Texas Over Voter-ID Law
On Thursday the U.S. Justice Department announced plans to sue the state of Texas because its voter-ID law violates the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution’s 14th and 15th amendments, the Washington Post reports. Attorney General Eric Holder, commenting on the lawsuit, described how the move is part of an ongoing effort to penalize any behavior seeking to take…
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Remembering Emmett Till
(The Root) — The approaching 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is a reminder of another significant anniversary — the 58th anniversary of the death of Emmett Till. I don’t know how many of my peers who grew up in Chicago had parents who told them stories about that time, but for my mother…
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Did a White Mother Lie About Black Teens Causing Son's Death?
Rolling Out is reporting that a forensic report may prove that a white Georgia woman, Sherry West, wrongly implicated two teens in the slaying of her son. De’Marquis Elkins, 17, and Dominique Lang, 15, were arrested and charged in the March death of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago. But their public defender, Jonathan Lockwood, uncovered some shocking evidence, the…
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'Miscarriage of Justice': Judge Overturns Death Sentence
In a scathing 40-page opinion, a federal judge on Wednesday overturned a 1992 conviction of a Philadelphia man, James Dennis, who she said had been unjustly sentenced to die for a murder he probably did not commit, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Judge Anita B. Brody said city police and prosecutors ignored, lost, or “covered up”…
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Watch This: Atlanta School Hero Recalls Ordeal
In an interview with ABC in Atlanta, Antoinette Tuff, a bookkeeper at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, near Decatur, Ga., recalled the harrowing ordeal on Aug. 20 during which she was held hostage by a 20-year-old man, Michael Brandon Hill. Hill entered the building during school hours with an AK-47. No one was injured.…
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December Retrial for Detroit Cop Who Shot 7-Year-Old
A judge on Wednesday set a Dec. 4 retrial date for the Detroit police officer accused in the death of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, the Detroit Free Press reports. The date for Officer Joseph Weekley’s trial was set during a hearing Wednesday before Wayne County Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway. Weekley, whose gun went off killing…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
