African Americans

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He Bought His Long-Shot Horse for $11K. Now, Kentucky Derby

Larry Demeritte will be just the 2nd Black trainer since 1951 to saddle up a horse at Churchill Downs

(Newser) - If Larry Demeritte is looking for a positive sign heading into his first Kentucky Derby as a trainer, it's right where his horse is assigned. Long-shot West Saratoga is staying in Barn 42 at Churchill Downs, the same location where Seattle Slew was before he won the 1977...

Black Mom, 4 Kids Detained After Salon Day Get $1.9M Settlement

Children were handcuffed, made to lie on ground during stolen-vehicle mix-up

(Newser) - The Black mom and four children ordered out of their car by police at gunpoint and forced to lie on the ground (while handcuffed, in the case of two of the kids) have settled with the Colorado city involved in the 2020 incident. Aurora will pay Brittney Gilliam, her daughter,...

Mom of Boy Arrested for Public Peeing Wants Case Thrown Out

She won't sign probation agreement subjecting 10-year-old to curfew, possible drug tests

(Newser) - The mother of a 10-year-old child who was sentenced by a Mississippi judge to three months of probation and a book report for urinating in public has refused to sign his probation agreement and has asked for the charge against her son to be dismissed, the family's attorney announced...

3 Months Later, Black Student Still Being Punished for His Hair

Family has sued Texas leaders and the school district, claiming violations of the CROWN Act

(Newser) - Darryl George has received a second in-school suspension following three months of disciplinary action over his choice to wear his hair in locs. The Texas high school student who was suspended in August for violating Barbers Hill High School's dress code, then sent to an off-campus disciplinary program for...

At Texas School, a Fight Over Boy's Dreadlocks

Darryl George, 17, suspended for violating dress code same week a law protecting hair was enacted

(Newser) - The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, the AP reports that a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locks violated the district's dress code. Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an...

Dems Slam GOP Congressman for Using 'Offensive' Term

Arizona Rep. Eli Crane earned House rebuke for calling Black Americans 'colored people' in debate

(Newser) - A freshman Republican congressman received an official rebuke on Thursday for the way he referenced Black Americans during a floor debate. The incident happened Thursday as GOP Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona tried to promote an amendment he'd proposed to the National Defense Authorization Act, one in which the...

First Words Revealed in African American Dictionary

Entries include 'bussin' and 'grill'

(Newser) - A new dictionary is in the works, one that focuses solely on words with African American origins. The Oxford Dictionary of African American English—a collaboration between Harvard University and Oxford University Press, per NPR —plans to publish its first 1,000 words in 2025. However, the New York ...

College Board: We Need to 'Set the Record Straight' on Florida

Nonprofit says state's DOE is guilty of 'slander,' 'exploited' rollout of African-American AP course

(Newser) - The College Board has said that political pressure from the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasn't behind changes to an Advanced Placement course on African-American studies. Now, the nonprofit adds more context to the controversy, noting that it "made mistakes in the rollout" of the course "...

Students Threaten to Sue After DeSantis Blocks AP Course

3 honors high schoolers want African-American studies class taught in Florida

(Newser) - Earlier this month, Ron DeSantis' administration blocked an Advanced Placement African-American studies class from being taught in high schools around Florida, claiming the course managed by the College Board is "historically inaccurate" and "contrary" to state law. Now, a group of honors students is threatening to sue the...

Florida Blocks New African American Studies Class

Course is 'inexplicably contrary to Florida law,' board of education says

(Newser) - The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from state high schools, saying the pilot program's content is "historically inaccurate" and "inexplicably contrary to Florida law." A Jan. 12 letter from the Florida Department of Education...

This Bust Is About to Get Booted From US Capitol

House passes legislation to remove head of SCOTUS justice who wrote Dred Scott ruling

(Newser) - The House passed legislation Wednesday that calls for removing from the Capitol a bust of the US Supreme Court justice who wrote the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision that held African Americans weren't citizens. The bust of Roger B. Taney, the nation's fifth chief justice, sits inside the...

'Woke' Is the New Code Word for 'Black'
There's a New Code Word
for 'Black'
OPINION
Sep 27, 2022 2:02 PM CDT

There's a New Code Word for 'Black'

'Woke' is the newest entry, writes Damon Young in the 'Washington Post'

(Newser) - In an essay at the Washington Post , Damon Young recounts the many, many examples of "coded language" and euphemisms that have emerged over the years to refer to Black people like himself. Think "urban," inner city," "marginalized," and on and on. A newer entry...

$4.8M Settlement Reached Over Man 'Shot in the Face'

Julian Lewis was killed by a Georgia state trooper

(Newser) - Update: The family of a Black man fatally shot by a Georgia state trooper in 2020 will receive a $4.8 million settlement from the state. A lawyer for Julian Lewis' family says the settlement was reached last month before a lawsuit was filed, the New York Times reports. The...

All-Black Team of Mountaineers Plans to Conquer Everest

Only one Black American has ever made it to the summit

(Newser) - Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest in 1953, more than 5,000 other people have made it to the top of the world's highest peak—but only around 10 of them were black and just one was a Black American. A group of US climbers...

Mitch McConnell Contrasts Black Voters, American Voters

Senator's rep says he misspoke, critics disagree

(Newser) - Asked Wednesday to respond to voters of color concerned that they will be unable to vote in the midterm elections without passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Mitch McConnell put it this way : "The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American...

LA County Wants to Right 'Terrible Wrong' Done to Black Family in 1924

Family was forced to give up beachfront land

(Newser) - Los Angeles county officials may return a beachfront property that was seized from a Black family nearly a century ago. Manhattan Beach used eminent domain in 1924 to force Willa and Charles Bruce, the city's first Black landowners, off the land where they lived. The couple also ran a...

Minorities Disproportionately Hospitalized With COVID: CDC

Black, Hispanic, Native Americans hospitalized at 4 times the rate of non-Hispanic whites

(Newser) - Minorities continue to be hit especially hard by the coronavirus, with hospitalizations at four times the rate of white people over eight months, according to the CDC . There were 70,825 hospitalizations reported to the CDC from March 1 to Nov. 7, reports CNN , and the age-adjusted hospitalization rate for...

City in Turmoil Embraces 'Fresh Approach to Policing'

Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan will be Rochester's first female police chief

(Newser) - Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren tapped a Black woman to become the new interim city police chief, saying Saturday she will bring a "fresh approach to policing" amid the tumultuous aftermath to Daniel Prude’s death, the AP reports. Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, who retired from the department in 2009 as a...

Trump to Black Americans: Here's My 'Platinum Plan'

And he claims Joe Biden has hurt Black communities

(Newser) - President Trump took aim at Black voters Friday by offering a new multi-billion-dollar plan and taking a jab at his Democratic rival, CNN reports. "No one in politics today has done more to hurt the Black community than Joe Biden," Trump said at a campaign event in Atlanta....

'Anxiety' Stirs 2 Women to Take a Very Bold Step

Ashley Scott and Renee Walters are creating the Freedom Georgia Initiative

(Newser) - Welcome to the Freedom Georgia Initiative. So far it's just 96 acres of dirt roads and trees, but two pioneering women foresee much more: a safe space for Blacks in trying times, CNN reports. "I'm hoping that it will be a thriving safe haven for people of...

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