news
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Black Writers Rally to Save Langston Hughes’ Home
The home occupied by one of the great leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, still stands on 127th Street in Harlem today. Hughes used the top floor of the home as his workroom from 1947 to his death in 1967; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The current owner,…
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Al Sharpton to Question 'Right-Wing Motives' in Bringing Up Nate Parker College Rape Accusations
The Rev. Al Sharpton is slated to discuss “conservative right-wing attempts” to discredit Nate Parker and his upcoming film, The Birth of a Nation, during National Action Network’s action rally and radio broadcast Saturday. According to a press release by NAN, Sharpton will question the “right-wing motives” of bringing up the 17-year-old rape case as a…
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Judge Declines to Try 16-Year-Old in Fatal High School Bathroom Fight as an Adult
A Delaware judge has declined to try a 16-year-old girl as an adult in a high school bathroom fight that left another 16-year-old dead, CBS News reports. In the announcement Friday, the judge said the defendant will be tried in Delaware Family Court on the charges of criminally negligent homicide and conspiracy. The juvenile defendant…
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Miss. Cop Fired After Viral Video Shows Him Soliciting Sex
A Jackson, Miss., police officer was fired after video surfaced of him soliciting sex, reportedly from a teen, on Facebook, WAPT reports. In the minute-long video, which includes graphic language, the officer can be heard telling the young lady, “Man, you look like you’re scared to f—k.” “You said you wasn’t going to school,” the…
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Emmett Till's Casket Is ‘One of Our Most Sacred Objects’ at African-American History Museum
Curating for a museum is no doubt a difficult job, and one of the more difficult decisions that Lonnie Bunch III—founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture—remembers grappling with was whether to include the casket that once held the brutalized remains of Emmett Till. “I remember struggling with, ‘Should we…
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Boy Who Lost Parents in 2015 Murder-Suicide Gets Trip to Disney World From NYPD
A 7-year-old Bronx, N.Y., orphan who lost his parents to murder-suicide was gifted a dream vacation by members of the New York City Police Department, who told him that he has “godmothers and godfathers for the rest of [his] life,” the New York Post reports. Tyrone Lowe Jr. found his mother shot dead by his…
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La. Flood Worst Natural Disaster in the US since Hurricane Sandy, Red Cross Says
The flood currently devastating Louisiana is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since Hurricane Sandy, the Red Cross says, according to CNN. “Thousands of people in Louisiana have lost everything they own and need our help now,” Brad Kieserman, the Red Cross’ vice president of disaster services operations and logistics, told the network.”This…
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DOJ to End Use of Private Prisons
The Department of Justice says it will stop using private prisons, saying that the facilities are less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than government-run prisons, the Washington Post reports. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates made the announcement Thursday in a memo that instructed officials to decline to renew contracts with private prisons…