news
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We All We Got: Social Justice Community Rallies Around Dream Defenders Leader to Help His Mom
Umi Selah, formerly known as Phillip Agnew, co-founder of the Dream Defenders, a civil rights organization formed in Florida in the wake of the 2012 slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, has fought for black and other marginalized community for many years. Now, he’s reaching out for help and the community is reaching back. Selah’s mother,…
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#BlkWomenJustice: Scholars Discuss Criminalization and Incarceration of Black Women
Sarah Haley, assistant professor of gender studies and African-American studies at UCLA; Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and assistant professor of African-American studies at Princeton; and Keisha Blain, a historian and Princeton professor, met Thursday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City for “Conversations in…
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JetBlue Puts 5-Year-Old on Wrong Flight
Andy Martinez Mercado, 5, was returning home to New York City after visiting with his family in the Dominican Republic when he was put on the wrong flight, ending up in Boston, the New York Daily News reports. It took over three hours to locate Andy after it was discovered that he was missing. “I thought he…
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Georgetown University to Offer Admissions Advantage to Descendants of 272 Slaves It Sold
Georgetown University is looking to atone for its troubled history regarding slavery by offering preferential status in the admissions process to the descendants of 272 slaves who were sold in order to keep the university afloat, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the university’s president, John J. DeGioia, is expected to discuss…
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Va. Mom Charged With Assault in Slap of Black Teen Who Was Fighting Her Son
A Virginia mother is facing charges of assault after authorities say she hit a black teen who got into a school fight with her son, the New York Daily News reports. In the video, a Northumberland High School student appears to be slamming the black teen, John Thomas, to the ground before punching him repeatedly.…
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Former Atlanta Cop Indicted on Felony Murder in Death of Unarmed Black Man
A Fulton County, Ga., grand jury has indicted a white former Atlanta police officer on felony murder, among other charges, in relation to the death of an unarmed black man who was inside a vehicle, the Associated Press reports. James Burns was also indicted on charges of aggravated assault, making a false statement and two counts…
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'Affluenza' Teen’s Attorneys Argue Judge Had No Authority to Jail Him
And so the saga of privilege for “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch continues. According to a report by Reuters, lawyers for Couch, who drew national attention after killing four people while drunkenly driving as a 16-year-old, are seeking to have him released from a two-year jail term, claiming that the judge who sentenced him had no…
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Texas Death Row Inmate May Have Faked Mental Illness
Gerald Eldridge, 52, may have faked having an illness to avoid execution after fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend Cynthia Bogany and her daughter in Houston 23 years ago, the Associated Press reports. Eldridge was convicted in 1993, and in 2009, when he was less than two hours away from being executed by lethal injection, U.S. District…