Politics
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Ariz. High School Student Forced to Remove ‘Black Lives Matter’ Shirt
A 10th-grade student in Arizona who arrived at her high school picture day in a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt was told to take it off because it violated the school’s dress code, reports KPNX. Mariah Havard wore her tee to Buckeye High School and was told to go to the office, where the assistant principal…
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Let White Leaders Defend Institutional Racism; Let Black Leaders Defend Black Lives
If one looks and listens closely, black reform advocates and charter leaders are responding to the mythology that black people don’t want charter schools or reform in general. For most black folk, however, not liking reform equates to not liking institutional racism, which impacts our communities no matter how many black and brown people an organization hires.…
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High School Alumni Raise Money to Create Scholarship in Philando Castile's Name
Alumni from Central High School in St. Paul, Minn., banded together over the weekend to host a fundraiser in order to raise money for a scholarship meant to honor Philando Castile, the Star Tribune reports. According to the report, more than 500 attended Sunday’s event—which included music, food and kids’ activities—at the St. Paul’s Dunning Recreation…
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White Lives Matter and the Lost Art of Shutting the F Up
I consider myself a practitioner of a dying art form that is slowly disappearing from society. Long before it was an internet acronym or a text message abbreviation, this unique skill was passed down to me as a man who was raised by a single mother in a house with three other sisters. I honestly…
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Newark, NJ, Police Chased 10-Year-Old Boy With Guns Drawn in Case of Mistaken Identity
A Newark, N.J., 10-year-old was left in tears after he was chased down an alley by officers who had their guns drawn after they allegedly mistook him for a suspect in an armed robbery, WABC reports. “Some police started coming this way with guns pointed at me, and then I ran into the backyard,” Legend…
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2 Body Cameras Captured Footage of Sylville Smith Shooting Death, Attorney General Says
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says that two body cameras captured the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith in Milwaukee, CBS News reports. According to the report, the vantage points of the two videos are similar. Smith was shot to death Aug. 13 by an officer after fleeing a traffic stop. Authorities say that footage…
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‘White Lives Matter’ Group Protests Outside Houston NAACP
About 20 members of a “White Lives Matter” group protested outside the NAACP in Houston’s 3rd Ward Sunday, calling out what they said was the civil rights organization’s failure to speak out against pro-black organizations like Black Lives Matter, SFGate reports. “We came out here to protest against the NAACP and their failure in speaking…
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ProPublica Releases Video Showing in-Custody Death of Vachel Howard
ProPublica has released the video of the in-custody death of Vachel Howard that, it says, the Los Angeles Police Department didn’t want released. Howard died June 4, 2012, while in the custody of the LAPD’s 77th Street Station jail. The 56-year-old grandfather of seven had been taken into custody for driving while intoxicated and had…
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Milwaukee Officer Who Fatally Shot Sylville Smith Knew Him From High School, Family Says
Sylville Smith, the 23-year-old man who was gunned down by a Milwaukee police officer over the weekend, and the officer who fatally shot him knew each other from high school, Smith’s family says, according to CNN. “The officer knew him personally from high school, and he still shot him,” Sherelle Smith, Sylville Smith’s sister, told…
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Milwaukee Officer Threatened Online After Fatal Shooting of Sylville Smith
A Milwaukee police officer was the target of online threats from people identifying him as the cop who fatally shot Sylville Smith in an incident that sparked outrage and violence in the city over the weekend, the Chicago Tribune reports. As the report notes, the authorities have yet to identify the officer who killed Smith…