news
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Miss. Considers Firing Squad, Electrocution and Gas Chamber as Execution Methods
Mississippi lawmakers are pushing forth a proposal to add firing squad, electrocution and the gas chamber as methods of execution in case a court blocks the use of the drugs that are used in lethal injections, the Associated Press reports. The bill, Mississippi House Judiciary B Committee Chairman Andy Gipson said, is a response to…
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‘Police Rapists’: Protests Erupt in Paris After Police Charged in Rape of Black Man
Editor’s note: Trigger warnings: rape, sexual violence, state violence, anti-blackness. Four police officers in a Paris suburb allegedly raped a 22-year-old black man, and protesters are seeking justice. So-called officers of the law “forced a 22-year-old man to the ground, beat him, and anally raped him with a baton at a housing estate in the…
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Congressional Black Caucus Struggling With Question of Whether to Admit Afro-Dominican Congressman
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the first Dominican American elected to Congress and who succeeded former Rep. Charles Rangel in representing New York’s 13th District, identifies as a “Latino of African descent”—and that designation is a cause for debate among members of the Congressional Black Caucus who question whether Espaillat qualifies as an African American. Politico…
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Judge Orders NYPD to Disclose Surveillance of Black Lives Matter Protesters
A judge has ordered the New York City Police Department to disclose documents and video revealing the surveillance of Black Lives Matter protesters at the city’s Grand Central Terminal in 2014 and 2015. The New York Daily News reports that protester James Logue challenged the NYPD’s denial of a Freedom of Information Act request that…
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L.A. City Council Approves $1,500,000 Settlement in Police Killing of Ezell Ford
Just two weeks after Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to press charges against the two Los Angeles police officers responsible for shooting and killing Ezell Ford, the Los Angeles City Council has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Ford’s family. Ford’s 2014 killing came just days after Michael…
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Jeff Sessions Has Been Confirmed as US Attorney General
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was confirmed as the next U.S. attorney general on Wednesday, just one day after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was silenced as she offered criticism of Sessions’ questionable past regarding racism and race issues in general. The New York Times reports that the Senate voted 52-47 to confirm, and no Republicans broke…
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Harvard Law Review Elects 1st Black Female President in Its 130-Year History
The Harvard Law Review has elected the first black woman to serve as president in the legal journal’s 130-year history. ImeIme A. Umana, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., will serve as the 131st leader of the organization. The Harvard Crimson reports that as an undergraduate at Harvard, she double-majored in government and African-American studies. She…
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Here’s Why Maxwell (the R&B Singer, Not the Coffee) Is Trending
Looks like someone has something against Black History Month … well, at least that’s the consensus on Twitter. I’ll never know what Maxwell is actually talking about because he blocked me on Twitter earlier this summer after I questioned his “All Lives Matter” tweet. But here’s what everyone else is saying (and he apparently called…
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That Makes 3: Another Black Patriots Player Isn’t Going to Trump’s White House
Dont’a Hightower is the latest member of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots to pass on going to President Ass Hat’s White House. The Pro Bowl linebacker told ESPN Wednesday: “Been there, done that.” Hightower is the latest African-American member of the championship team to pass on going to Ass Hat’s lair. Outspoken tight…
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Emmett Till’s Family Calls for New Investigation Into 1955 Murder
Relatives of Emmett Till—the 14-year-old Chicago boy who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, triggering the civil rights movement—are asking for the teen’s case to be reinvestigated after a key witness admitted to lying about the teen’s alleged words and actions before his brutal murder. Two of Emmett’s cousins, Wheeler Parker and Deborah Watts, said…