black lives matter
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Philando Castile’s Mom Is Sick of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA’s Hypocrisy
Following Wayne LaPierre’s rigorous commitment to arming educators in the wake of yet another school shooting, Philando Castile’s mother has called the National Rifle Association CEO a hypocrite for not standing up for her son, who both owned a gun and was a public school employee. Castile’s mother, Valerie, told the New York Daily News…
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Why It Hurts When the World Loves Everyone but Us
I’ve been processing seemingly contradictory emotions since the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. I am at once in awe of and humbled by this youth resistance movement and its solidarity efforts, and yet almost indescribably devastated. This feeling of devastation goes beyond the tragic and preventable loss of life; it is connected to the loss of…
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Washington, DC, Reaches $3,500,000 Settlement With Family of Terrence Sterling, Unarmed Black Motorcyclist Killed by Police
The nation’s capital is set to pay out $3.5 million to the family of Terrence Sterling, an unarmed black motorcyclist who was gunned down by a Metropolitan Police Department officer. According to the Associated Press, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser released a statement saying that the city was seeking to “illuminate what went wrong” and…
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‘We Won’t Be Right for the Rest of Our Lives’: Korryn Gaines’ Mother Speaks Out
In the wake of a major court victory, the mother of Korryn Gaines, Rhanda Dormeus, wants people to know exactly what happened to her daughter. In a sobering interview with Baltimore Beat, the grieving mother makes clear that family members tried multiple times to intervene and to de-escalate the situation between Gaines and police. That…
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Can’t We All Just Get Along? Black Panther Is Revisionist History
Editor’s note: There are spoilers here. I admittedly missed a couple of key details during my first trip to Wakanda. Something about a nerdtastic property holding such cultural significance put me in a state of bliss. So I made a return trip, you know, to make sure I didn’t miss anything. (Yeah, sure. That’s the…
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Activist DeRay Mckesson Announces Book Deal
Civil rights activists, podcast host and electric-blue puffy-vest aficionado DeRay Mckesson will release his first book in the fall. Entitled On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope, which is perhaps the second-most civil-rights-ish name ever (my memoir, Justice Bruises: A Negro Spiritual About Equality Aboard the Freedom Train, being No. 1), Mckesson’s…
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NYC Judge Says Cops Were Justified in Handcuffing 16-Year-Old Kimani Gray as He Died in the Street
A Brooklyn, N.Y., federal judge has ruled that police officers were justified in arresting 16-year-old Kimani Gray as the teen lay in the street dying from gunshot wounds suffered at the hands of police. According to the New York Daily News, in the ruling, the judge effectively scrapped two claims in a wrongful death lawsuit…
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Milwaukee Jail Staffers Facing Charges in Death of Inmate Who Died of Dehydration
It’s been almost two years since Terrill Thomas died of dehydration while in custody at the Milwaukee County jail, and almost a year since jurors recommended that staffers at the facility be held liable in his death. On Monday, prosecutors finally announced that three jail staffers will be facing criminal charges in the death. According…
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Freddie Gray’s Stepfather, Richard Shipley, Dead at 60
Richard Shipley, who called for “peace in the pursuit of justice” as family and community members demanded answers in the police-involved death of his stepson Freddie Gray, died earlier this month at the age of 60. According to the Baltimore Sun, Shipley, who was also known as “Rick,” died Feb. 6. Family attorney Billy Murphy…