news
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Lakeith Smith Gets 65 Years for Death of 16-Year-Old Killed by Police
Much has been made of the fact that a black teenager laughed openly in court before being sentenced to 65 years in prison. But the brutal truth of it is that this kid embodies the tragedy of criminal justice in America today, certainly no laughing matter to those destroyed by it. In early March, Lakeith…
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Bye! South Carolina Threatens to Secede (Again)
The first time South Carolina left the Union, it was because the scions of that state wanted the brutal practice of chattel slavery to continue, sparking the Civil War. This time, a group of Republicans in the state House of Representatives are proposing the very same action over so-called gun rights. To which I say,…
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Howard Students End Protest, Win Concessions From University
After nine days of occupying the campus Administration Building (renamed the Kwame Ture Student Center during the protest), Howard University students have ended their #HUSitIn, having reached a consensus with the trustees and university president. On Friday the board of trustees released a statement of commitments addressing student concerns, many of which were first outlined…
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NYPD Releases Video, 911 Transcripts Related to Shooting of Saheed Vassell
Video released by the New York City Police Department on Thursday shows 34-year-old Saheed Vassell pointing a metal pipe at several people as if it were a gun on Wednesday before he was shot and killed by police officers in the Crown Heights area of the city’s Brooklyn borough. Police also released the transcripts of…
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Compton, Calif., Mayor Aja Brown Drops Congressional Bid
Compton, Calif., Mayor Aja Brown announced Thursday that she will no longer be running for the House seat in California’s 44th Congressional District. Brown’s announcement comes just one week after Stacey Dash dropped out of the same race. Both Brown and Dash were attempting to unseat Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-San Pedro), who, according to the Los…
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Tyrone Hankerson Jr., Student Caught Up in Howard University Financial Scandal, Expected to Sue School for $10 Million
Well, well, well. If you think that Howard University student Tyrone Hankerson Jr. was (allegedly) making bank before, he’s about to cash in even more if he wins the lawsuit he intends to file against the school for leaking his financial records. According to WAMU-TV, Hankerson, whose name has been dragged through the mud and…
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Everyone, Including Trump’s Wig, Is Protesting Now
OK, it’s not everyone, technically. But tens of millions of Americans have protested and rallied since 2016. And new data shows that not only does that number include a substantial amount of people who weren’t politically active before, but the act of protesting is cutting across political affiliations, age and race. A new Washington Post-Kaiser…
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Guess Who Thinks Black People Aren’t Trying Hard Enough to Succeed?
That’s a trick question, of course. Basically, the whites are at it again, back at it with another “Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps” story. A recent poll published by YouGov (pdf) on Wednesday (h/t Newsweek) showed that some 40 percent of white Americans think that black people are just not trying hard enough…
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No Signs of Foul Play in Death of CDC Employee Timothy Cunningham
Officials say they’ve found no signs of foul play in the death of Timothy Cunningham, a CDC employee who disappeared nearly two months ago. Cunningham’s body was discovered Tuesday, pulled from the Chattahoochee River in Northwest Atlanta. In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Fulton County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Gorniak told reporters that the…