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#BlackStoriesHavePower: Barnes & Noble Suspends Plans to Publish Diverse Editions After Backlash
On this week’s episode of “Books in Blackface,” the book retailer Barnes & Noble decided to “suspend” its controversial Diverse Editions series that was supposed to launch Wednesday in Honor of Black History Month. The series, spearheaded by the chain’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was a planned rerelease of beloved classics with…
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This 11-Year-Old Is Helping NYC Families Afford College
While most 11-year-old boys are begging their parents for toys and new shoes, 11-year-old Obocho Peters is earning cash with his mom and helping other families save for college in the process. Obocho and his mom, Sasha Peters, run Obocho’s Closet, a thrift store in NYC stocked with affordable clothes and shoes for kids up…
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We Ain’t Surprised: New Study Says Black People in California Are Stopped by Police More Than Other Groups
It’s weird to write news that doesn’t feel like news, but here it goes: A new study confirms what we have always known—black people in California are stopped by law enforcement officers more often than any other racial group. The study, conducted by California’s Open Justice Initiative using “the largest-ever dataset compiled about US police…
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Racist Cop Who Kicked in Black Woman’s Door Resigns
I can hear the bass strumming along with the words: Another one bites the dust. Another one bites the dust. Michael J. Reynolds, the white New York Police Department officer who broke into a black woman’s home in Tennessee during and apparent drunken rage and threatened her and her sons, has resigned from the police…
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Florida Teen's Train Death Ruled a Suicide
Seventeen-year-old football star Bryce Gowdy, who was set to attend Georgia Tech, died early Monday after he was struck by a freight train in his hometown, Deerfield Beach, Florida. Today, the Broward County Medical Examiner’s office ruled his death a suicide, CNN reports. The county sheriff’s office said it “responded at about 4 a.m. to…
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West Virginia Cadets Fired After Flashing Nazi Salute in Class Photo
Hail Hitler? Hell, no! West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday he has approved the recommendation to fire all of the corrections cadets who participated in a Nazi salute during a class photo taken in November. The report, conducted by the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, revealed that cadets of Basic…
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Finally! New York to Eliminate Bail for Misdemeanors and Nonviolent Crimes Starting Jan. 1
Effective Jan. 1, a New York law eliminating cash bail for most nonviolent crimes will go into effect. While criminal justice reformers praise the move, some police chiefs, district attorneys and lawmakers oppose the change. The law is part of a group of changes designed to reform the criminal justice system, passed by the state…
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Rev. Jesse Jackson Posts Bail for Cook County Jail Inmates on Christmas
On Christmas Day, Rev. Jackson Jackson Sr. posted the bonds of a handful of inmates at Cook County Jail in Chicago so they could spend the holiday with loved ones. After Jackson paid the bonds, cameras captured him walking arm-in-arm with the released men, ABC News reports. “This is just a good feeling. It brings…
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Rapper DaBaby Detained by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Rapper Says Video Proves He Was Targeted
He said, they said. Rapper DaBaby was detained and cited by police after his concert in Charlotte on Monday night. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police claim that the rapper had marijuana in his car and that he resisted and obstructed them. The rapper insists that he was the victim of an illegal search and that he did not…
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Black Man Stabbed by White Man While Applying for Job at a Truck Stop. Police Say It’s a Hate Crime
Imagine walking into a restaurant at a truck stop to apply for a job and being stabbed instead. That’s exactly what happened to Ronnell Hughes, a 48-year-old black man, on Saturday morning. The Oregonian reports that Hughes was stabbed by a white truck driver at an Arby’s restaurant located at a truck stop in Ontario,…
