news
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‘Black Lives Matter’ Spray-Painted on Confederate Statue at UNC Chapel Hill
The Silent Sam statue, depicting a Confederate soldier, on the grounds of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been spray-painted with various messages, including “Black Lives Matter,” “KKK” and “murderer,” WRAL reports. The statue is one of the latest to be defaced in a recent spree targeting Confederate monuments in light of…
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Watch: NYC Police Officer Who Boxed With Suspect Is Being Investigated for Excessive Force
On Wednesday, Saykou George, 30, took out his wallet to present his ID to a plainsclothes New York City police officer in Harlem, and things took a turn for the worse—very quickly. In cellphone video of the incident, George and the police officer exchange words as George gives his license to the officer. A few…
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Serena Tops Venus at Wimbledon
Serena Williams once again showed up against big sister Venus Williams at Wimbledon, beating her in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals and extending her career victories over her older sister to 15-11, the Associated Press reports. “It’s hard to feel excited about [beating] someone you root for all the time no matter…
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Eric Garner’s Widow Doesn’t Want Anything to Do With Child He Had Out of Wedlock
A DNA test has confirmed that Eric Garner had a 16-month-old daughter with a woman he lived with for three years before his death. According to the New York Daily News, Garner, who died outside a Staten Island, N.Y., store after police administered a banned choke hold, was never legally divorced and his widow, Esaw…
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White Texas Family Has Black Guest Over and Wakes Up to Find ‘KKK’ Painted on Its Truck
For one Spring, Texas, family, the Fourth of July holiday weekend had barely started when they awoke to find racist and vulgar messages spray-painted on the family’s truck. “My black friend, he’s been here for two days,” Darren Franke told KHOU. “Me and him hung out in the yard and just mowed the grass and…
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Former FDNY Employee Who Posted Several Bigoted Tweets Gets His Job Back
The son of a former New York City fire commissioner who resigned from his position with the city’s Fire Department after admitting to posting several bigoted and anti-Semitic tweets is set to rejoin the department, to the ire of some black firefighters. According to the New York Daily News, Joseph Cassano, 26, was still on…
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The Race Factor in the Charleston Killings You Haven’t Heard
If racial tables were turned and 21-year old Dylann Roof had been, say, 16-year-old Kalief Browder of New York City, nine people might be alive today. The case of domestic terror at a Charleston, S.C., church almost three weeks ago is something of a cautionary tale on what happens when society fails to keep its…
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Obama Poised to Commute Sentences for Scores of Nonviolent Drug Offenders
President Barack Obama is slated to sign orders in the next few weeks to release scores of federal inmates imprisoned on nonviolent drug charges, reports the New York Times. Upon signing the orders, Obama will likely reduce more sentences at one time than any president in nearly 50 years, the report says. The total number…
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Venus and Serena Williams to Square Off at Wimbledon
Tennis’ star sisters Venus and Serena Williams have played tennis together forever, but they played against each other in a professional setting for the first time 17 years ago at the Australian Open in a game that was won by the elder sister. The two have played at eight grand-slam finals, according to the Daily…
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Star Trek Icon Apologizes for Clarence Thomas ‘Blackface’ Slur
Star Trek legend George Takei has apologized for calling Clarence Thomas a “clown in blackface” following the Supreme Court justice’s dissent in last week’s landmark same-sex-marriage ruling, according to CNN. “I was still seething, and I referred to him as a ‘clown in blackface’ to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage,” Takei…