black lives matter
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Black Lives Matter Chicago Files Lawsuit Demanding Federal Oversight of City’s Police Department
Lawyers for Black Lives Matter Chicago and other community groups filed a class action lawsuit Wednesday accusing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel of trying to cut “a back-room deal” with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and demanding federal oversight of the city’s Police Department. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that six individuals and seven community groups are…
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Defense Calls for but Doesn’t Get Mistrial After Bodycam Footage of Sylville Smith’s Fatal Shooting Is Shown in Court
During the Wednesday-afternoon session of former Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown’s reckless homicide trial in the death of Sylville Smith, the public was able to see for the first time the shooting that sparked two nights of unrest in the city in August 2016. The video clip is short and shows then-Milwaukee Police Officer Ndvia…
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2 Accomplices Plead Guilty in Shooting of BLM Activists at Jamar Clark Protest
Two men who were with convicted shooter Allen “Lance” Scarsella on Nov. 23, 2015, when he shot five Black Lives Matter activists at the Minneapolis 4th Precinct police station during a protest decrying the death of Jamar Clark pleaded guilty Monday, and prosecutors say they will seek jail time for both. Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 23,…
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Trial Begins for Former Milwaukee Cop Who Killed Sylville Smith
The jury trial for Dominique Heaggan-Brown, the now former Milwaukee police officer who shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville Smith, is scheduled to begin Monday. Heaggan-Brown, who, like Smith, is black, is facing a first-degree reckless homicide charge for shooting Smith following a traffic stop back in August. As Fox6Now reports, the charge carries a maximum…
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Diamond Reynolds, Girlfriend of Philando Castile, Testifies That Fear for Her Own Life Prompted Her to Facebook Live Aftermath of Shooting
The girlfriend of Philando Castile, the black motorist who was killed by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop last year, said that she began livestreaming the widely seen aftermath of the shooting out of fear for her own life. According to the Associated Press via CBS, Diamond Reynolds cried as squad-car footage, her…
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Calif. High School Students Win Fight to Pay Tribute to Black Lives Matter in Their Yearbook
Two high school students in Vacaville, Calif., along with some help from the American Civil Liberties Union, won their fight to include a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement in their school’s yearbook. Administrators at Buckingham Charter Magnet High School did not want to include the piece in the yearbook because they were worried…
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Princeton Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Cancels Public Appearances Amid Fox News-Fueled Death Threats
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, assistant professor of African-American studies at Princeton and a 2016 The Root 100 honoree, has been forced to cancel all public appearances as death threats continue to roll in in response to her May 20 commencement address at Hampshire College, a private liberal arts college in Amherst,…
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Philly Cops’ Habit of Fondling Black Men Sparks Greatest Protest of All Time
In what may be the greatest protest ever, two Philadelphia police precincts received pairs of underwear from a local activist group Tuesday morning. However, the gifts were not meant to inspire thoughts of romance or affection. Instead, the packages were an ingenious protest designed to highlight a disturbing, but little-known, fact about law-enforcement officers in…