Race Matters
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White Supremacist Coast Guard Lieutenant Accused of Plotting Terrorist Attack to 'Establish a White Homeland'
A U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist is expected to appear before a judge Thursday afternoon on weapons and drugs charges related to a terrorist attack he was plotting. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, of Silver Spring, Md., is accused of stockpiling weapons and ammunition to attack journalists and politicians. Hasson’s ultimate goal, according…
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Police Identify Suspect in Attack Against 92-Year-Old Black Man
Police have arrested a suspect in the unprovoked attack of a 92-year-old black man in Houston, according to local news. Authorities believe he has attacked other black citizens in the area. A witness told Click2Houston she saw Gallegos throw large rocks at the man. After identifying him as a suspect, police learned Gallegos had an…
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GOP Congressman Under Fire for Most Racist Office Display Ever
Members of an employees union are demanding an apology from a Georgia legislator after they discovered white supremacist memorabilia on full display in his Washington, D.C., congressional office. You’re probably thinking, “Here we go again. Some Civil War aficionado who sympathizes with the South’s ‘lost cause’ probably had a Confederate flag in his office. He’ll…
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Separate, but Equally Dangerous: How the Jussie Smollett and Liam Neeson Controversies Reinforce Racist Narratives About Black Men
As the survivor of a violent crime, I can attest that the aftermath is, in some ways, the hardest part. That’s when the physical pain, perhaps previously dulled by adrenaline, really kicks in—along with regrets, doubts, fears about the future, and that lingering beast known as PTSD. Twelve years ago, after I was robbed and…
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Kurtis Blow Responds to Va. Attorney General's Apology for 80's Blackface Photo
While the Commonwealth of Virginia awaits the resolution of a series of scandals involving its Governor and Lieutenant Governor, there remains the matter of Attorney General Mark R. Herring, who apologized for wearing blackface styled after rap legend Kurtis Blow at a costume party in 1980, while he was 19. While national Democrats push for…
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Liam Neeson Explains Why There’s No Such Thing as Racism
Before we begin, let me assure you that no one is outraged. Contrary to the assumptions of many, most people who have lived their entire existence under a system of white supremacy are rarely outraged by racism. Whether it is hearing one’s governor confess to using shoe polish as a foundation or watching the president…
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On Well-Intended White Folks: Thoughts on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the Making of a Public Image
Less than eight months ago, after delivering a speech to a room full of educators about teaching strategies to help educators acknowledge and heal from a history of racism in education, I took a seat to hear the Gov. Ralph Northam speak. After expressing his commitment to educational justice, he held my book, For White…
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Police Pocketing Innocent People’s Money: Report Shows Huge Racial Gap in South Carolina Civil Forfeitures
A new investigative project from the Greenville News and Anderson Independent Mail analyzing civil forfeitures in South Carolina reveals that police departments across the state have netted millions of dollars from state residents—the vast majority of them being black men. Despite accounting for just 13 percent of South Carolina’s population, black men composed 65 percent…
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‘It’s Okay to Be White’: Charlottesville Police Not Investigating Zeta Phi Beta Mural Defaced by White Supremacists [Updated]
Charlottesville Police say they will not be investigating an incident in which a popular white supremacist slogan, “It’s Okay to Be White” was tagged over a Zeta Phi Beta mural at the University of Virginia. According to the historically black sorority, members of the UVA chapter of Zeta Phi Beta painted the mural on Beta…
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It Was Always Going to End Like This
There comes a point after you’ve consumed enough movies to be consciously cognizant of the rhythms and cadences of them that you’re able to recognize certain cinematic tells and predict outcomes based on them. A character randomly coughs in the first 15 minutes? He has cancer—or, if it’s a Tyler Perry movie, AIDS—and he’s probably…