news
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Ga. School Nurse to 11-Year-Old Student: ‘I’m Going to F–k You Up’
A Georgia school nurse is being accused of cursing and using a racial slur against an 11-year-old in the school cafeteria, 11 Alive reports. Witness statements given by six children and three adults described the explosive confrontation between Beverly Barnes, a nurse at Mundy’s Mill Middle School in Jonesboro, and 11-year-old Jason Ezzard, who had been…
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New Details Emerge About Ben Affleck’s Slave-Owner Ancestor
Ben Affleck admitted his embarrassment over learning that an ancestor owned slaves. He tried to hide that past in the PBS genealogy show Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. After his efforts came to light, the actor and director identified that relative as Benjamin Cole. Well, the Associated Press decided to conduct an…
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Los Angeles Raises Its Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to raise the city’s minimum wage from $9 per hour to $15 per hour by 2020, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the vote is a huge symbolic win for labor groups and unions that have been pushing for minimum wage increases in cities and…
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St. Louis Officer Who Fatally Shot VonDerrit Myers Acted in Self-Defense and Won’t Be Charged
The St. Louis prosecutor’s office has closed the chapter on the fatal shooting of 18-year-old VonDerrit Myers and announced Monday that Police Officer Jason Flanery will not be charged for killing Myers, USA Today reports. Myers, an African American, was shot to death by Flanery, a white police officer, in October. The incident sparked outrage…
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Why Is Israel Kicking Out the Africans?
A few days into an educational trip to Israel in 1991 shortly after the mass airlift of Ethiopian Jews into the country, my jaw dropped when a Jewish official casually described the arrival of the Ethiopians as an opportunity to beef up Israel’s Olympic running team. More than two decades later, and it appears that…
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The Tamir Rice Case: What We Know
It’s been some 179 days since the Nov. 22, 2014, shooting of Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer. In less than two seconds, an officer gunned down Tamir after a toy gun he was playing with was mistaken for a real weapon. Samaria Rice has lived without her 12-year-old son for six months, and…
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Ga. Middle School Teacher Accused of Letting Students Have Sex in Classroom
A Georgia middle school teacher has been removed from the classroom for allegedly allowing students to have sex in his classroom closet, WSB-TV reports, and a judge has issued a warrant for his arrest. One outraged mother discovered what was going on after she looked at her 14-year-old son’s phone and saw the text messages…
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Watch: Md. Substitute Teacher Reportedly Beats Students With Belt
A Prince George’s County, Md., substitute teacher has been suspended after video footage appeared on WorldStarHipHop that shows the teacher beating students with a belt. On May 15 a student at Gwynn Park Middle School in Brandywine, Md., recorded footage that appears to show a substitute teacher striking several students with a belt while other…
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Noninvasive Colon-Cancer Screening Shows Promising Results for African Americans
Clinical trial results for a noninvasive colon-cancer test approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration indicate that it is promising as an effective alternative to colonoscopy for African Americans, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The DNA-screening method, called stool DNA (sDNA), detected precancer in African Americans at…
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African-American Lawmakers Launch Initiative to Increase Diversity in the Tech Industry
The Congressional Black Caucus is taking action to address the lack of diversity at tech-industry giants like Facebook and Google. It’s hosting an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to launch the CBC Tech 2020 initiative, The Hill reports. The event, which will take place at the Library of Congress, will outline diversity; discuss best practices; present…