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Newark, NJ, Fraternal Order of Police Fights Hard to Stop Civilian Review Board
The idea of a Civilian Police Review Board has been touted as a solution to police brutality for the past 50 years. With 200 CCRBs in existence across the country, the idea is gaining traction. But will police unions allow the communities they serve to investigate it and to subpoena officers? The city of Newark,…
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Black Radicals Owe a Great Deal to Fidel Castro
The Harlem audience was determined to cheer everything Nelson Mandela said, which meant that ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel had to accept that he was at a disadvantage—what he called “a hometown crowd.” It was 1990, and black America had been in the throes of Republican leadership for a decade. The Cold War had not begun…
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Revolutionary Fire Fuels State of Black World Convention as Activists Prepare for Trump
The New Jersey Nation of Islam Vanguard Drill Team—serious-looking young sisters marching in paper-cut precision right in front of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and the masses who had gathered for the State of the Black World IV Conference—looked like something out of an old book on Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. The self-proclaimed “provisional president”…
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Black Intellectuals, Activists Assert Themselves in Trumpland
Activists and intellectuals in Newark, N.J., talked for two hours Thursday night about what to do now that President-elect Donald Trump is a reality. Because “Brick City” has a history of utilizing black and brown power to affect public policy, the city’s Mayor Ras Baraka—the son of late activist-artist Amiri Baraka—not only joined in but…
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So, Um … Will Black People Pull Out Their Old 'Black America' IDs Again?
When I was certain that Hillary Clinton was going to win, I was going to write about how black America now has its own version of red states vs. blue states. My idea was that Michelle and Barack Obama were going to become—really, are—new heroes in black America, forever creating a new divide: black America’s…
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Although It’s Still Hard for Some to Accept, African LGBTQ Rights Are African Human Rights
While the citizens of the United States decide their nation’s direction Tuesday, the 193 members of the United Nations also have an important vote: The U.N. is dealing with a serious human rights concern involving the human rights of LGBTQIA people versus the sovereignty rights of Africans to handle their own internal affairs on their…
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Just Wondering Why Wonder Woman's a UN Ambassador, but Real Women of Color Are Not
The first 20 times I saw Rocky III (the one with Mr. T as Clubber Lang, that bad n-word that sullied the championship so bad, the “respectable” black, retired champion Apollo Creed joined forces with Rocky to take him down), I didn’t know that the Rocky Balboa statue in that 1982 film actually existed in…
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Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, Defiant as Ever, Refuses to Exit the Stage
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s apparent president for life and serial human rights abuser, spoke at a place known for providing platforms for such people: the United Nations. In a 16-minute address to the 71st U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, the 92-year-old leader blamed the United States for its 16 years of “spiteful” economic sanctions, which he…
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Nate Parker’s ‘R’ Scarlet Letter Belonged to Mike Tyson 25 Years Ago
Twenty-five years ago this summer, black America had to deal with a very serious allegation: that boxing powerhouse Mike Tyson, in Indianapolis to lend public support to the Miss Black America pageant, raped one of the contestants, Desiree Washington. A late-night encounter between the two in Tyson’s hotel room clearly went the wrong way, and…
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American Lynching: 4,000 Unpunished Crimes
When I speak or teach, I love to tell my audiences that I know, deep in my heart, that they would turn down $1 million if it were offered to them. You would, too. I use a story that those who read about A. Philip Randolph, the leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,…
