Social Justice
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Never Forget: 5 Years After His Death, Family, Activists Continue to Build Tamir Rice’s Legacy
The tragedy of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the young black boy with the cherubic face, will never leave me. We see a lot of extrajudicial abuse and murder here at The Root, but this one is especially long-abiding, given his age, how Tamir and his sister were treated after he was shot, and, of course, the…
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'We Stand Here to Honor Her Life': Melina Matsoukas and Lena Waithe Memorialized #AtatianaJefferson at Elle's Women in Hollywood Awards
Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas was somber as she accepted her award at Elle’s 2019 Women in Hollywood awards ceremony on Monday night. As she explained to the assembled guests, her mind was on Atatiana Jefferson, the 28-year-old killed in her own home on Saturday by police officer Aaron Dean in Fort Worth, Texas.…
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Miami Dolphins Receiver Albert Wilson Continues Kneeling Protests During National Anthem
Three years after Colin Kaepernick first took a knee on the sidelines of a game, Miami Dolphins receiver Albert Wilson took a knee during the national anthem for his team’s season-opening 59-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday evening. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Wilson took a knee during the anthem before every game…
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Colin Kaepernick Reveals the Source of His Inspiration for National Anthem Protest
It’s well-known that Colin Kaepernick started his protest on the gridiron to bring attention to the police brutality and racial injustice plaguing this nation, but in a recent interview, the former quarterback reveals what specifically inspired his activism. In an interview with Paper magazine, Kaepernick says the fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Mario Woods of…
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Invoking the Racist Dog Whistles of the Past, ICE Arrests Nearly 700 Undocumented Immigrants in Mississippi
In what Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are touting as “the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation’s history,” nearly 700 undocumented immigrants were detained in raids at food processing plants in Mississippi on Wednesday. As CNN reports, the ICE raids hit seven sites in six different Mississippi cities. Many of those detained are…