news
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Goodbye British ‘Black History Month’? Cyber-Racism and Whitewashing Mar U.K. Celebration
For the past 20 years, October has marked the start of Black History Month in the U.K. (a whole 31 days! Imagine!) But this year, the event has been mired in controversy, with one prominent Black History Month site recently targeted by hackers and some local councils now opting to rebrand October as “Diversity Month.”…
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SC Police Officer Killed, 7 Injured After Armed Gunman Opens Fire on Cops
A South Carolina man barricaded himself inside a home, held his family hostage and opened fire on law enforcement officers on Wednesday, killing one officer and injuring seven others after officers attempted to serve a warrant at the man’s home. The Root spoke with the family of 52-year-old Florence, S.C., police officer Terrence Carraway, described…
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'The Video Doesn't Show My Perspective': Jason Van Dyke Testifies About Shooting Laquan McDonald as Trial Draws to Close
Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday in the shooting death of a Chicago teen, Laquan McDonald, who died at the hands of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014. The defense rested their case on Wednesday, and as early as this afternoon, a Cook County jury will decide Van Dyke’s fate, and along with…
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Dallas Police, DA Refuse to Release 911 Call, Records From the Night Amber Guyger Shot Botham Jean
The Dallas Police Department and the city’s District Attorney’s Office refuse to release a slew of records that could help the public better understand what happened the night an officer shot and killed an unarmed black man, Botham Jean, in his apartment. Those records include the 911 phone call officer Amber Guyger placed after she…
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Time's Up Taps Former WNBA President Lisa Borders to Serve as 1st President and CEO
Time’s Up, the gender-equality initiative founded in the wake of the #MeToo movement, has selected former Women’s National Basketball Association President Lisa Borders as the organization’s first president and CEO. The decision was formally announced Tuesday morning by the organization, which was started earlier this year by women in the entertainment industry. But the scope…
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Cardi B Ran Up on Who and Did What? Rapper to Turn Herself in to Police After Strip Club Brawl in Queens
Police confirm Cardi B will turn herself in to authorities Monday in connection with a fight at a Queens strip club in August. According to WPIX 11 TV, the Bronx rapper—who delighted thousands in Central Park on Sunday for the annual Global Citizen Festival—will be in quite a different venue today, turning herself in to…
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High School Idiots Spell Out Racial, Homophobic Slurs During Class Photo Session
It never fails. Every year, high school students gather for class photos. And every year, at some high school, somewhere, some conglomeration of assholes lines up to do something stupid, offensive and racist. This time it’s at Escondido High School in Southern California, where students were given T-shirts with letters on them to spell out…
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Racist Charged With Stabbing Black Man in Times Square Says It Was 'Practice' for Killing Interracial Couples
In a taped confession, the white man who stands accused of brutally murdering a black man in Times Square with a sword showed no remorse, and explained the killing was just “practice” for a larger spree: killing black men with white women. James Harris Jackson’s confession was played at a pre-trial hearing last Thursday, reports…
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It's Bigger Than a Hip-Hop Exhibit: What the Controversy Around White Curators in Black Spaces Reveals [Updated]
It wasn’t breaking news, by any means: Timothy Ann Burnside, a specialist in Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, had been collecting hip-hop artifacts for the Smithsonian for years. But a discussion about her position and her work dominated parts of the Twittersphere this past weekend, as a long-simmering…
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A Man Called Police on a Black Candidate and her Family Campaigning in a White Neighborhood, Suspected Them of Buying Drugs
Getting out the vote means knocking on doors. And that’s what Sheila Stubbs, a 12-year veteran on the Dane County, Wisconsin, Board of Supervisors was doing on August 7. Stubbs, a candidate for State Assembly, representing Wisconsin’s 77th district, was canvassing the neighborhood in anticipation of the Democratic primary, which was to be held the…