• 16-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Black Pilot to Fly Across Country

    On July 18, 16-year-old Isaiah Cooper made history by becoming the youngest black pilot to fly around the country. His journey was 8,000 miles, starting in California, then on to Washington state, Maine and Florida, before heading back to the California city of Compton, according to the Huffington Post. And this is just the beginning for…

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  • Underestimated on Foreign Policy, Obama Has Left Opponents ‘Sucking Wind’

    Barack Obama’s foreign policy should not be reduced to a simple bumper sticker phrase. Not even one as pithy as the “Don’t do stupid s—t” mantra that is now being bandied about. Proof of this can be found in Susan Rice’s hands-down rejection of that term as the fulcrum of the Obama administration’s foreign policy…

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  • Keshia Knight Pulliam Doesn’t Need Your Judgments About Her Failed Marriage

    Late last year, actress Keshia Knight Pulliam announced that she was engaged to former NFL player and reality star Ed Hartwell. Many found it to be a surprising turn of events. Pulliam had been in a very public and lengthy relationship with celebrity radio host Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan, and many didn’t even know the…

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  • Almost 70 Arrested Protesting the Death of Philando Castile

    Police officers arrested 46 people outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, Minn., where a demonstration was being held Tuesday in response to the recent fatal police shooting of Philando Castile. Then, early Wednesday morning, another 23 protesters were arrested on charges of public nuisance and unlawful assembly, CBS News reports. Since July 7, the day…

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  • Hollywood Celebrities Show Up in Support of DC Statehood

    In a room sprinkled with celebrities—and there were quite a few, from Ashley Judd to David Schwimmer—one stood out for reasons other than a starring role on TV or in the movies. Eleanor Holmes Norton has been on the front line of social-justice causes her whole life, and she has no problem uniting with more…

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  • Trump Supporter Yells Racist Slurs at Black Woman on Subway

    “Put them back in the f—king fields where they belong!” On Saturday, a video emerged on YouTube of a white Donald Trump fan shouting out racist, sexist comments at a black woman who apparently had taken the last seat on the L train in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the New York Daily News. In the video, you…

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  • Dallas Police Department Job Applications Almost Quadruple

    The number of applications for employment at the Dallas Police Department has almost quadrupled since Police Chief David Brown told protesters, “We’re hiring” at a news conference shorty after the ambush that left five officers dead, according to the Washington Post. As reported by the Post, from July 8 to July 20, the Dallas Police Department received…

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  • This Election, Let’s Refocus on the Pillar Issues

    As citizens, we deserve election seasons that are seesawing, back-and-forth spectacles of clashing ideas. Instead we find ourselves often immersed in the frantic pace of the horse race. Campaigns devolve into poll-watching parades, focused more on opposing personalities than on issues of great consequence. Issues get lost. This is one of those elections. The general…

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  • #FreedomNow: Why We Must Disinvest From the Fraternal Order of Police

    Last week, young black organizers across the country took to the streets to demand that the U.S. government, unions and police officers divest from the Fraternal Order of Police and declare #FreedomNow. We know that police unions can overwhelmingly further a culture of toxic policing that protects, pays and exonerates killer cops. What we may…

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  • WNBA Drops Fines for Players Who Wore Protest Shirts

    The WNBA has reversed its decision to fine the teams and players who wore black protest warm-up shirts saying “Alton Sterling,” ”Philando Castile,” “Black Lives Matter” and “Dallas 5,” ESPN reports. WNBA President Lisa Borders said in a statement Saturday that the league was rescinding the $5,000 penalties given to the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty…

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