culture
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Ala. Man Settles for $460,000 in Police-Brutality Lawsuit but Gets Only $1,000
Even after settling with the city of Birmingham, Ala., one inmate will remain locked up, and as it turns out, his lawyers will get more of a payout than he will, AL.com reports. Inmate Anthony Warren settled for $460,000 in a police-brutality lawsuit, but under the terms approved by the City Council and Birmingham Mayor…
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NYC Doctor Tests Positive for Ebola
The fourth case of Ebola in the U.S. has been diagnosed in New York City after a physician who recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus, according to preliminary test results, the Associated Press reports. Further tests will be performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the…
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Calif. Prisons Will No Longer Punish All Inmates of the Same Race for the Actions of 1
Prison reform is alive and well, and it can start from the inside out. According to an Al-Jazeera report, an inmate filed a civil rights lawsuit against California’s prison system and got it to reverse a policy that caused every inmate of a particular race to lose privileges whenever an inmate of that race got…
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Activists Want the FBI to Track Police Misconduct on Database
Activists who have been protesting over incidents in which law-enforcement officers killed unarmed black men are calling on the FBI to do a better job tracking incidents of police brutality by having those numbers logged into a national database and broken down by race, Al-Jazeera reports. Activists and researchers believe the current system is not comprehensive…
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Boko Haram Suspected of Kidnapping 25 More Nigerian Girls
Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group responsible for the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in April, is suspected in the kidnapping of another 25 girls from a remote town in northeastern Nigerian, despite reports of a ceasefire deal that included the release of the girls taken earlier this year. According to Reuters, John…
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Georgia Man Texts Probation Officer About Getting Weed
Sending a text to the wrong person has cost one Albany, Ga., man his freedom. Alvin Cross Jr. apparently mistakenly texted his probation officer about marijuana, according to news station WALB. The probation officer received a text from Cross that said, “You have some weed?” Cross’ home was raided by police officers shortly thereafter. During…
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Marchers Protesting Michael Brown Shooting Block Atlanta Highway
Protesters obstructed traffic along Atlanta’s Downtown Connector—a section of Interstate Highways 75 and 85—Wednesday evening in support for Michael Brown as the black community continues to demand answers in the Aug. 9 shooting of the unarmed black teen by a white Ferguson police officer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Atlanta police spokesman Officer John Chafee told…
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NYPD Officer’s Account of Bronx Man’s Arrest Contradicted by Video
A Bronx man is planning to sue New York City after video obtained by the New York Daily News seemingly corroborates his version of what happened the night of his arrest on April 1. According to the Daily News report, 21-year-old Raymond Romero claims that New York City police officers mistook him for a robber and…
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Last Night’s Black-ish Whupping Episode Was Genius—Too Bad It Didn’t Air a Month Ago
The jury’s still out on whether ABC sitcom Black-ish has what it takes to ultimately break into the pantheon of all-time-great black televison shows. I love the show, but I’m not sure it’ll be able to keep up the pace it’s on now over multiple seasons. And while Wednesday night’s episode about the parental dilemma around…
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Craigslist Ad: Cool Black Kids Wanted to Hang Out With Bullied Son
A parent who posted a Craigslist New Orleans ad is looking for “cool black kids” to befriend the poster’s bullied son, reports Jezebel. According to the parent, his or her son is experiencing intense bullying, and the parent muses that perhaps if “cool black kids” were to hang out with that son, the bullying would stop. The…