Tag: black

IN OTHER NEWS

Chloe Ayling to Testify in Second “Black Death Group” Kidnapping Case in Italy

Lawyers in Italy have called for Chloe Ayling, the victim of kidnappers who wanted to sell her on the darkweb, to testify against one of her suspected kidnappers at an upcoming hearing in Milan. The defendant’s legal team has pointed to several inaccuracies in the victim’s story and hopes that questioning her in court will help clear their client’s name. Ayling, 21, caught the media’s attention last year after she revealed that multiple men from a human trafficking group had kidnapped her in Milan, Italy, after luring her to Italy for a fake modeling gig. The human traffickers, she said, had called themselves the “Black Death Group”. According to statements she gave to the police after one week in captivity, the so-called “Black Death Group” had operatives spread across the globe who kidn...
IN OTHER NEWS

‘Whites don’t shoot whites’: 2 black people shot dead in Kentucky

Prosecutors say shooting that left two African Americans dead in the US state is being probed as possible hate crime. Gregory Bush, 51, has been charged with two counts of murder and 10 counts of wanton endangerment [Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via AP Photo] Moments after allegedly killing two African Americans at a supermarket in the US state of Kentucky, 51-year-old Gregory Bush reportedly muttered to a white bystander, "Whites don't kill whites." Bush, who is white, has been charged with two counts of murder and 10 counts of wanton endangerment, and a judge set his bail at $5m on Thursday. A federal prosecutor said on Friday that the shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime. US Attorney Russell Coleman said federal investigators are invest...
SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Smith-Carlos Black Power salute: Once vilified, now praised

Tommie Smith, John Carlos were ridiculed after raising fists during 1968 Olympics. Fifty years on, they inspire others. Australian silver medalist Peter Norman, left, stands on the podium as Americans Tommie Smith, centrr, and John Carlos raise their gloved fists in a human rights protest in 1968 [File: AP Photo] Fifty years ago, two African American track-and-field stars, having just been awarded their medals at the 1968 Olympic Summer Games and very aware that the eyes of the world were fastened to them, bowed their heads and raised black-gloved clenched fists under a Mexico City sky. Those athletes - Tommie Smith and John Carlos - are beloved icons today. There have been statues erected of them, books written about them. The importance of what they di...
IN OTHER NEWS

Laquan McDonald: Black teen remembered as white cop goes on trial

Community holds vigil for McDonald as murder trial continues for white officer Jason Van Dyke over 2014 killing. Protesters, including Pastor Ira Acree, second from left, Rev Marshall Hatch, centre, and Eric Russell of Tree of Life Justice League, march towards the Cook County Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois at a vigil for Laquan McDonald [Jason Patinkin/Al Jazeera] Chicago, Illinois - Activists and their supporters marched to the door of Chicago's Cook County Courthouse on Tuesday night to mark what would have been the 21st birthday of Laquan McDonald, the black teen shot dead in 2014 by white police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is now on trial for first-degree murder. Chanting "Slave catchers, KKK, killer cops of today", and singing a mournful rendition of "Happy Birthday", the two doz...
VIDEO REELS

US exhibition brings to light historic bombing of black church

A black church in Birmingham was bombed 55 years ago, killing four children and triggering violence around the US. An exhibition in the United States is trying to bring new perspective to an event that proved to be a turning point in the struggle for civil rights. Fifty-five years ago a black church in the southern city of Birmingham was bombed, killing four African American girls and unleashing a wave a violence in many parts of the country.   Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi reports.
VIDEO REELS

Will Congressional Black Caucus challenge the establishment?

The Congressional Black Caucus is holding its annual conference in Washington, DC, as it faces questions about its role from grassroots candidates who claim it supports the status quo. In Washington, the Congressional Black Caucus is holding its annual conference. The coalition of African American legislators is facing criticism for appearing to want to join the political establishment rather than challenge it. Polls indicate that fear of US President Donald Trump is not sufficient to get voters to the polls and grassroots campaigns have argued that the CBC is failing to support candidates who offer real alternatives that appeal to voters and of supporting legislation that harms minority communities. As the US midterm elections approach, can the ...
IN OTHER NEWS

Two sentenced to prison for Charlottesville attack on black man

Jacob Scott Goodwin and Alex Ramos sentenced to eight and six years for beating of DeAndre Harris. Two men have been sentenced to prison for beating of a black man at a far-right rally in Charlottesville last year, local media reported. Jacob Scott Goodwin and Alex Ramos were sentenced to eight and six years respectively on Thursday for the beating of DeAndre Harris at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. The confrontation took place after a friend of Harris attempted to take a Confederate flag away from one of the marchers. Pictures and a video of Harris's beating by a group of white nationalists were shared widely online, leading to attempts to identify the perpetrators. Harris, 20, suffered a spinal injury and a broken arm in the attack, which took place in a car park close to a ...
SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Black and the Blue: Tackling Police Racism and Abuse on a Systemic Level

An African American law enforcement expert finds hope in the firing of a racist police chief. Sixty miles south of my home is a small municipality in New Jersey called Bordentown Township. The population is 11,367, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Two very important things happened there in 2016. One alarmed me; the other gave me hope. The first was the arrest of the town’s former police chief, Frank Nucera Jr., who had just stepped down after years on the force. Nucera was charged by the FBI with committing a federal hate crime and violating a person’s civil rights while he was chief. Nucera, I would learn, is a confirmed racist. Once, when discussing a situation where he believed an African American had slashed the tires on a patrol cruiser, he told a fellow officer, “I wish that ...
I Stopped Playing the “Strong Black Woman”
SOCIAL JUSTICE

I Stopped Playing the “Strong Black Woman”

We are paying for this myth we’ve bought into with our lives.I never saw my grandmother rest. From morning to night, she appeared to be in service: cooking and cleaning, helping and caring for others. She died of a heart attack at 69. As I reflect today on the high rates of heart disease, stress, obesity, and other physical as well as mental ailments among African American women, I wonder what would have been the impact had she said, “I ain’t cooking tonight, everybody is on their own,” or “I’m headed out for a walk,” or simply, “I’m tired, and I need to rest.” What messages might I have inferred from watching her take 15 minutes of quiet time in the morning to “get centered.” Instead, I observed what appeared to be a never-ending pace of busyness, problem-solving, and making ends ...
Research Shows Entire Black Communities Suffer Trauma After Police Shootings
IN OTHER NEWS

Research Shows Entire Black Communities Suffer Trauma After Police Shootings

Police killings of unarmed African Americans have created a mental health crisis of enormous proportions. Following several nationally publicized police killings of unarmed Black Americans in the United States, Eva L., a fitness instructor who identifies as Black, started to experience what she describes as “immense paranoia.” She would often call in sick, because she feared risking an encounter with police upon leaving her house. She also started to second-guess her and her husband’s decision to have children. “Seeing Black bodies murdered and physical/emotional violence online and on the news” was a trauma she could no longer bear, Eva says. “I was terrified of bringing a child into the world we live in and experience as Black people. I thought not having kids was a truer sign of l...