louisiana
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Family Asks FBI to Investigate Mysterious Death of Black Teen as a Hate Crime
Black people are paranoid. They are susceptible to conspiracy theories and unfounded suspicions. There are some black people who believe that the U.S. government would spray black neighborhoods with toxic chemicals; that doctors would use us as guinea pigs by giving us fake medicine; that there are cops who belong to the Ku Klux Klan;…
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5-Year-Old Drumming Prodigy Receives Scholarship Offer From HBCU Alcorn State University: 'It's Mind-Blowing Every Day'
Musical prodigies showcase their otherworldly abilities at a young age, but Jeremiah Travis is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. And the historically black Alcorn State University apparently feels the same way, as it has offered the 5-year-old wunderkind a full band scholarship well over a decade before he even graduates high school. USA Today…
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So, What Exactly Does One Wear to a Slave Rebellion Reenactment, Anyway?
Last weekend, realizing of the vision of artist Dread Scott, hundreds of volunteers—in costume as 19th-century enslaved people—marched 26 miles to New Orleans’s French Quarter in a reenactment of the Louisiana Slave Rebellion. The rebellion, which occurred on Jan. 8, 1811, and was suppressed by white militia two days later, was the largest slave uprising…
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Louisiana DA Tries to Remove Black Judge from Hundreds of Cases After She Spoke Out Against Racial Injustice
Some funny things happen when you try to tell the truth. In Louisiana, for instance, a white district attorney is actively undermining and delegitimizing a black judge for daring to say that the criminal justice system “disproportionately puts African Americans in more harm or risk than anyone else.” As the Acadiana Advocate reports, Sixteenth Judicial…
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Innocence Project New Orleans: A Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years Is Forced to Trade the Truth for His Freedom
A New Orleans man who has long maintained he was wrongly convicted of murder experienced freedom for the first time in 42 years after a virtual deal with the devil won him his liberty, if not true justice. Elvis Brooks, now 62, walked out of Louisiana’s infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, nicknamed “Angola,” on Wednesday after…
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Supreme Court to Weigh In on Louisiana Abortion Law in What Is Expected to Be a Test of How Trump’s Conservative Picks Will Vote
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday announced it would review an anti-abortion law out of Louisiana in a case being seen as a test of the impact Donald Trump’s newly picked conservatives on the court will have on women’s right to choose to have the procedure. At issue is a Louisiana law that requires doctors…
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Baton Rouge Police Chief Apologizes for the Hiring of Alton Sterling’s Killer. Sterling Still Dead
In what could only be described as a grievous insult on top of deadly injury, the Baton Rouge police chief apologized for the hiring of the officer who killed Alton Sterling more than three years ago. Police Chief Murphy Paul apologized on Thursday, saying in part, “We are sorry Baton Rouge. I want to apologize…
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Louisiana Cop Calls for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be Shot [Update: He's Been Fired]
A Louisiana police officer—who when he isn’t manning the streets—apparently has time to post threatening messages about elected officials on social media. Officer Charlie Rispoli took time out of his day to write a Facebook post suggesting that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot; he also noted that the Democratic congresswoman from New York is…
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Death of Civil Rights Activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph Ruled a Homicide
Authorities have revealed the cause of death of Sadie Roberts-Joseph, a beloved activist and pillar of her Baton Rouge, La., community. According to Buzzfeed News, a preliminary autopsy conducted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office determined that the 75-year-old died of “traumatic asphyxia, including suffocation.” Her death has been ruled a homicide. Coroner…