Journalism

Journalism

Chicago teachers’ strike: Educators want trauma care for students

Strike is about more than pay; teachers demand counsellors for every school to help students deal with daily trauma. Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets, stopping traffic and circling City Hall in a show support for the ongoing teachers strike [Scott Heins/Getty Images/AFP] Chicago, Illinois - Chicago Public School social worker Cathy Mizicko hasn't had a "normal day" in her 17 years at Jordan Elementary Community School in Rogers Park, a school on the far north side of the city. "My day is always different," Mizicko said. "Our school has a high poverty level, and it's very diverse ... There will be a shooting near one of the student's apartments, so they come in having to deal with that," she told Al Jazeera. Mizicko is one of the more than 30,...
What to know about ‘teacup’ pigs
Journalism

What to know about ‘teacup’ pigs

The touted “teacup” pigs do not stay small. In fact, they grow to become quite large. Baby pigs are cute. So what could be more enticing than a miniature pig that supposedly maintains that baby-pig appeal? Many Americans (National Geographic's number is around 1 million) are plunking down hundreds and even thousands of dollars to acquire tiny pigs as pets. The problem is, the touted “teacup” pigs do not stay small. In fact, they grow to become quite large. Fox News in January reported on how the “overgrown swine” are packing animal shelters. Pig sanctuaries are also full. The term teacup is deceptive, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The popular pig breed getting snatched up is generally a pot-bellied pig. In its marketing information, American Mini Pig shar...
Journalism

Trump claim brings pain to relatives of lynching victims

The president's comments were ill-informed at best and racist at worst, relatives of lynching victims say. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice honours thousands of people killed in racist lynchings in Montgomery, Alabama [File: Brynn Anderson/AP] Willie Edwards Jr, a black truck driver, was killed by Ku Klux Klansmen who forced him to jump off a bridge in Alabama in 1957. Two years earlier, white men bludgeoned black teenager Emmett Till to death in Mississippi. No one went to prison for either slaying. Both people died in racist lynchings and relatives of each were aghast on Tuesday after President Donald Trump compared his own possible impeachment to lynching - racist killings, often to incite terror, that took an estimated 4,400 black lives over...
Journalism

Chicago police chief to skip Trump’s first visit as president

The move is the latest in a long contentious relationship between the president and the city, a Democratic stronghold. His spokesman said Johnson will be hosting and attending several other events at the conference [File: Teresa Crawford/AP] President Donald Trump's appearance next week at a police chiefs conference will be his first visit as president to Chicago, a city he has ridiculed for years. The city's top cop plans to skip the speech, even though he is hosting the event. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson's apparent snub of Trump's speech on Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference is the latest chapter in a long and contentious relationship between the Republican president and the nation's third-largest city, a Democ...
Journalism

Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings dies aged 68

As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations into Donald Trump. Cummings died early on Thursday after complications from longstanding health challenges [Patrick Semansky/AP] Maryland Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings died on Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. Cummings, who was 68, became the powerful chairman of a US House committee that investigated President Donald Trump, and was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his district that encompassed a large portion of Baltimore. As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations into Trump's govern...
Journalism

Fort Worth cop who shot black woman in her home to be questioned as concerns are raised about use of force

The white Fort Worth police officer accused of shooting a black woman inside her home over the weekend has resigned, Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus announced Monday. Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was gunned down early Saturday by an officer who'd been summoned to her Fort Worth home to conduct a welfare check by a neighbor who reported seeing Jefferson's front door open. Bodycam footage released by police showed two officers canvassing the property before one shouted, "put your hands up, show me your hands," and fired through a window. Kraus on Monday identified the officer involved in the shooting as Aaron Dean. He said Dean was placed on detached duty and stripped of his badge and firearm after he was served with his written administrative complaint yesterday. "My intent was to meet with him t...
Journalism

Racial Profiling and the Loss of Black Boyhood

At 13, I was into chess and Dungeons and Dragons. That was the year I hit my growth spurt—and learned what it is to be seen not as a child, but as a threat. At 13, I had just hit my first growth spurt. I walked to and from junior high with friends. I walked the same path every day with the same guys. One sunny spring afternoon on our way home, a police car came from nowhere, jumped up on the curb, and blocked us off on the sidewalk. Shocked, we were stiff with fear when the two large armed and armored men stepped slowly from their squad car. White and clean-shaven as usual, they both had their hands already on their guns. They told us to stand against the wall. A couple of us tried to ask what was happening or what we’d done. They didn’t answer; they just kept asking, “Whe...
Journalism

Google suspended facial recognition research for the Pixel 4 smartphone after reportedly targeting homeless black people

Google suspended a research programme designed to improve its facial recognition after a report surfaced that its contractors had been tricking black homeless people into letting their picture be taken. Anonymous contractors told the New York Daily News they been instructed to find people with darker skin tones to improve facial recognition on Google's upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone. The New York Times reported Friday that the company had suspended its facial recognition research. Subjects were offered a $5 gift card, and one source told the outlet they were specifically told to target homeless people because they were less likely to talk to the press. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.   Google has suspended a facial recognition research programme designed to ...
Journalism

White officer says leading black man by rope would look ‘bad’

Bodycam footage of white Texas officers leading a homeless black man by a rope down Galveston streets released. The incident sparked outrage in the US [Screenshot/City of Galveston YouTube] A white Texas police officer could be heard twice on a body camera video saying that leading a homeless black man by a rope down city streets while he and his partner were on horseback would look "bad", according to the footage released on Wednesday. Two Galveston police officers arrested 43-year-old Donald Neely on August 3, accusing him of criminal trespass. Galveston is about 80km (50 miles) southeast of Houston. Images shared online of the two white officers leading Neely using a rope tied to his handcuffs - reminiscent of pictures showing slaves in chains - sparked...
I’m a Young Black Activist in Georgia. I Don’t See Voting As the Only Answer
Journalism

I’m a Young Black Activist in Georgia. I Don’t See Voting As the Only Answer

I never thought about politics purely in the context of elections. When I was growing up in Georgia, my first exposure to inequity came through my lived experience of living in a majority Black area. My first exposure to fighting inequity came through reading books. I learned about the icons of Black grassroots organizing: civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., anti-rape activist Rosa Parks, workers rights champion Dorothy Bolden. What spoke to me was their commitment to door knocking, radical imagination, hard conversation, and deep care for people they had never met. To me, that looked like the most viable path to liberation. This history taught me that when discussing the role and impact of electoral politics for Black people, the context of community is paramount. It wasn’t unti...