Breaking News! History in the Making

Is This the End of the 2nd Reconstruction?
Henry Louis Gates Jr questions whether recent anti-Black violence by police is a symptom of the end of an era of progress.

Former officer files suit claiming discrimination in arrest by fellow officers
“They were assaulted, arrested, handcuffed and placed in the rear of police cars due to the color of their skin and because they are African Americans. One officer remarked that all he saw was a big black guy,” the suit says.

A White Artist Wrote ‘Black Lives Matter’ 2,000 Times. But His Mural Almost Said ‘All Lives Matter.’
What happened when a black gallery owner in Detroit commissioned a large mural from a white artist as an homage to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Why It Isn’t Possible For Black Americans To Appropriate African Culture
Julia Craven explains why Black Americans have a right to explore the roots and homes from which they were forcibly removed years ago.

Jeb Bush, ‘Free Stuff’ and Black Folks
NY Times columnist Charles Blow’s take on Jeb’s statement: “This line of reasoning also infantilizes black thought and consciousness and presents an I-know-best-what-ails-you paternalism about black progress.” Read his full analysis here.

Art Student Hangs ‘Black Only’ And ‘White Only’ Signs Around University Campus
An art installation at the University of Buffalo was designed to provoke emotion and encourage students to confront racist social structures.

Richard Sherman Says He Supports Black Lives Matter, But ‘Black-On-Black’ Crime Needs To Stop First
The Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback wants to highlight the controversial topic of black-on-black crime, which others say doesn’t exist.

Viola Davis Becomes 1st Black Woman to Win Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama
During Davis’ emotional acceptance speech, her words particularly resonated with every black actress in Hollywood.

Horror Drove Her From South. 100 Years Later, She Returned.
In 1915, Mamie Kirkland and her family fled Ellisville, Miss., in fear that her father would be lynched. She swore she would never return. But at age 107, she made the journey. Video, story, and pictures.

Suit Alleges ‘Scheme’ in Criminal Costs Borne by New Orleans’s Poor
A lawsuit filed against New Orleans criminal district court alleges that it runs a “scheme” in which the poor are jailed if they fall behind paying fines. “The extent to which every actor in the local New Orleans legal system depends on this money for their own survival is shocking,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a founder of Equal Justice Under Law, a civil rights group, and one of the lawyers who filed the suit….

Racial Bias Affects How Children Are Treated For Pain
Race appears to affect the odds that a child or teen will get pain medication, particularly opioid medication, according to a new study.

MSA president speaks out about racist incident
“Some guys in the back of a pickup just started yelling the ‘N-word’ at me,” Head said Monday. This time, his response was a Facebook post on Saturday that brought it to the attention of the community.

Woman Says She Endured 8 Days In Psych Ward Because Cops Didn’t Believe BMW Was Hers
Kamilah Brock says the New York City police sent her to a mental hospital for a hellish eight days, essentially because they couldn’t believe a black woman owned a BMW.

Michael Slager’s Lawyers Want Him Out Of Jail Because Walter Scott Had Drugs In His System
– An unarmed black man fatally shot by a white former patrolman in South Carolina in April had used cocaine and alcohol in his system when the police officer said he wrested control of his stun gun and pointed it at him, court documents filed on Tuesday show.

Baltimore reaches $6.4 million settlement with Freddie Gray’s family
Baltimore officials have reached a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, an agreement they say is the right step for a city still recovering from riots and demonstrations sparked by the 25-year-old’s death from an injury suffered in police custody.

The Only Museum Solely Memorializing Slavery
America needs more symbols memorializing slavery and John Cummings, a white southerner, has helped to make that happen.

Slave Trade Video Game Edited After Backlash
The creators of “Playing History: Slave Trade” removed a level Monday which featured black slave characters being dropped into a ship.

Officials were wrong to jump to conclusions in deputy’s slaying
Harris County’s top law enforcement officials hadn’t turned a white deputy’s death, allegedly at the hands of a black man, into yet another wedge between police and communities of color.

Lawsuit: White Fla. Teacher Fired for Having Black Boyfriend
Audrey Dudek, a former math teacher at Edgewater High School, says she was fired in 2013 after school officials learned that her then-boyfriend, now husband, is black.

Commemorating 52nd Anniversary of the March on Washington
It is not an overstatement to remind the current generation in our country that Dr. King, and so many, many others, “marched” so that it would not be necessary 52 years later for our children and grandchildren to march to tell our nation TODAY, that “Black Lives Matter.”