news

  • Racist Message Delivered to Charter Cable Customers in North Texas 

    Charter Spectrum is investigating how a racist message was sent through set-top boxes to some of its North Texas customers earlier this week, disturbing the individuals who saw it, WFAA8 reports. “When I first pulled it up I was like, ‘What? What?’” April Taylor, who recently became a Charter customer, told the news station. “I…

  • President Barack Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Inmates 

    President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 214 federal prisoners Wednesday, granting the most commutations in a single day in more than a century, Time reports. According to the White House, Obama has now officially commuted the sentences of 562 men and women “incarcerated under outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws, including 197 individuals who…

  • Kevin Young Named Director of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    The New York Public Library has chosen Kevin Young, a distinguished scholar and poet, to be the new director of its Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The research library focuses on documenting and sharing black life, history and culture around the world. Regarding Young’s appointment to head the library, NYPL President Tony Marx said, “The…

  • Ala. Pastor Says He Was Fired for Wanting to Invite Black People to Church 

    A Butler, Ala., pastor believes that his recent termination has a lot to do with race, WTOK reports. Former Mount Sterling Baptist Church Pastor Jonathan Greer, who was unanimously voted out of the church late Sunday, told the news station that the pushback came after a deacon told him he could not invite black children to…

  • Report: Ex-University Cop Beat Girlfriend to Death With Help From Best Friend

    Aaron Wright, a former Temple University officer, has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend, 24-year-old Joyce Quaweay. He has also been charged with aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit murder and abuse of a corpse. His best friend, Temple Police Officer Marquis Robinson, 41, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault…

  • 16th Street Baptist Church Bomber Is Denied Parole

    Thomas Blanton Jr., 86, the last living convicted bomber in the 1963 attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., asked for his freedom from a parole board Wednesday and was denied, CNN reports. Blanton was a member of the Ku Klux Klan when the church was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963. The tragedy, which…

  • Homeless Teen Says Dispute Over $184,000 in GoFundMe Donations Has Been Resolved 

    It looks as if Fred Barley, the homeless college student who sparked media attention after biking six hours just to register for classes, will be getting the $184,000 donated to him through GoFundMe. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Barley and Casey Blaney, the Barnesville, Ga., mom who started the wildly successful GoFundMe, have come to…

  • Woman Shouts N-Word, Spits on Black Couple at Chicago's Margarita Festival 

    Ernest and Cassie Crim, both high school teachers in Chicago, said they were just looking forward to a weekend of adult fun at Chicago’s Margarita Festival, one “last summer hurrah before we went back to school,” according to Mic. However, the site reports, the July 30-31 event turned sour after the couple, who are black, said…

  • Website Allows White People to Offer 'Reparations' to People of Color 

    There is a new website called Reparations that, as its name implies, allows white people to offer what they can to people of color, who can also request help for specific items or needs, the Washington Post reports. “I invite People of Color to ask for what we need to feel better, be happier, be…

  • Black Activist Group Sues Detroit Police Department on Mistreatment of Members

    A black activist group has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Police Department accusing its officers of constant harassment, abuse and mistreatment of its members, the Detroit Free Press reports. “It is beyond comprehension why New Era Detroit, a peaceful and powerful, people-driven organization, would be done like this,” the group states in a federal lawsuit.…