Some 3 out of every 4 inmates in Illinois prisons are black, yet, an Illinois prison banned an inmate education program from using books discussing black history or empowerment due to their “racial” content. Now, prison officials are apologizing and pledging to overhaul their review system, according to the Chicago Tribune, but not before officials at Danville Correctional Center had removed some 200 books from a prison library and banned for use in the education program “several classic books of African American history, including The Souls of Black Folk, the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the memoir of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.” According to Illinois corre

Howard University is bringing back its golf teams for the first time in decades -- with a big assist from NBA star Stephen Curry. Curry announced that he will financially support the Bison's golf teams for the next six years. Howard, a historically black university in Washington, D.C., plans to have men's and women's teams in place for the 2020-21 season. "This is one of the most generous gifts in the history of Howard University," said athletic director Kery Davis. Curry, a three-time NBA champion and two-time MVP with Golden State, attended a news conference at the school. Howard previously competed in golf at the Division II level; school officials believe its teams were disbanded sometim

(CNN) A morning TV anchor in Oklahoma apologized a day after likening her black cohost to a gorilla. Alex Housden said a gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo "kind of looks like you" to her colleague, Jason Hackett, at the end of a feature on KOCO-TV, a CNN affiliate, on Thursday.She addressed what she called hurtful comments on the next day's show."I said something yesterday that was inconsiderate, it was inappropriate, and I hurt people," a tearful Housden said to the audience and Hackett."And I want you to know, I understand how much I hurt you out there and how much I've hurt you. I love you so much, and you have been one of my best friends for the past year and a half. And I would never do

The U.S. Marine Corps has seen some historic milestones for female Marines. Among these, one former Colonel Lorna M Mahlock reached the crowning achievement of becoming the first black female brigadier general to serve in the Marines. Mahlock received a Master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education at the University of Oklahoma Norman campus; she also received a Master’s in National Security and Strategic Studies, with distinction, at the Naval War College in New Port, Rhode Island; she received an additional Master’s in Strategic Studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Mahlock has served overseas, in Germany and Japan, and has held a range of important jobs. She serv

A pair of disgraced ex-city cops dodged jail time Thursday for having sex with a teenage suspect inside an NYPD van despite the Brooklyn district attorney’s ardent opposition to the sweetheart deal. Eddie Martins, 39 and Richard Hall, 34, pleaded guilty to bribe receiving and official misconduct after engaging in intercourse and oral sex with the 18-year-old woman as the predatory police officers were on duty in Brooklyn South Narcotics on Sept. 15, 2017, prosecutors said. The pair were initially charged with rape despite their claims that the sex was consensual. That charge was dropped earlier this year amid questions about the alleged victim’s credibility. “These defendants engaged in a sh

Beginning October 1, 2020, every air traveler 18 years of age and older will need a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or another acceptable form of ID to fly within the United States. Check for the star. REAL ID-compliant cards are generally marked with a star located in the upper portion of the card. If you’re not sure, contact your state driver’s license agency on how to obtain a REAL ID compliant card. It’s the law. Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act enacted the 9/11 Commission's recommendation that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver's licenses.” The Act and implementing regulations establish minimum security stand

The Leesburg Stockade is a squat, block brick building where about 15 girls were imprisoned in the 1960s for their role in integrating a movie theater in Americus. Surrounded by buses overflowing from the Lee County Schools bus barn, it's easy to miss. That will change in September when the stockade gets its own state historical marker, making it a part of the Georgia Historical Society’s Civil Rights Trail. Some of the girls were already veterans of the mass meetings and organizing that was a part of the Civil Rights Movement in and around Sumter County in the early 1960s. "In that time in the city it was a very violent civil rights movement," Shirley Reese said in GPB's short documentary o

The attorney defending Chikesia Clemons on misdemeanor charges stemming from her 2018 Waffle House arrest says prosecutors improperly and inaccurately linked a same-day Tennessee restaurant shooting, a move amounting to prosecutorial misconduct. Chikesia Clemons, 25, was arrested after a verbal altercation with Waffle House employee Goldie Mincy, and was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. A video filmed by Clemons’ friend Ms Adams, who was present at the April 2018 incident, showed Saraland police officers subduing Clemons. The video, and incident, went national -- drawing attention to the case and bringing calls to drop the charges from civil rights leaders, including Rev

WASHINGTON — The first black woman to serve as American University's student government president won a lawsuit Friday against a neo-Nazi website operator who orchestrated an online harassment campaign against her. A federal judge granted default judgment to Taylor Dumpson and awarded her more than $725,000 after The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin and a follower failed to respond to her lawsuit. The judge awarded Dumpson compensatory damages of $101,429.28, punitive damages of $500,000, and attorneys' fees and costs of $124,022.10. The judge also entered a restraining order against Anglin, his Moonbase Holdings limited liability company, and Brian Andrew Ade. After Dumpson became studen

Shai Werts, Georgia Southern's starting quarterback who attracted national headlines after he was arrested and charged with speeding and misdemeanor possession of cocaine during a traffic stop in South Carolina last week, no longer faces drug charges, according to the Savannah Morning News. Al Eargle, a Saluda County prosecutor, told the Morning News that the drug charge wouldn't be pressed on "his watch" and that a white substance found on the hood of Werts' car wasn't a controlled substance after further testing. During the arrest last Wednesday, Werts told deputies a white substance on his hood was bird poop. Field tests of the substance by deputies returned positive for cocaine, accordin

The Board of Supervisors might cancel a $1.7-billion contract to replace the dungeon-like Men’s Central Jail downtown amid growing unease about whether Los Angeles County’s incarceration policy focuses enough attention on mental health treatment. County supervisors are expected to vote next week on whether to end the contract with McCarthy Building Cos. and start fresh on a plan for replacing the antiquated jail — a major policy change after months of grappling with the project’s direction. If they walk away from the contract, the supervisors were also expected to order a plan for how best to design and build a facility or network of facilities specifically designed to meet the county’s grow

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Nearly 4,000 children from the Harlem Children’s Zone spent a summer day marching for safer streets, demanding an end to the gun violence plaguing Harlem and the nation. “We understand there’s an uptick of gun violence going on in Harlem right now, we’re here today as we have been for 25 years to say ‘Not in our community,’” said Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone. The march was begun a quarter-century ago when an elementary school girl was struck by a bullet. “So often people look at brown and black children as predators,” said Anne Williams-Isom, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone. “Well, we’re not predators.” According to the HCZ, 27 percent of the

One person was killed and five others were hospitalized in a violent clash between black and white incarcerated individuals on Sunday at the nation’s largest federal prison complex. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons identified the incarcerated individual who was killed as Troi Venable, 39, who was serving a 17-year term at the Florida penitentiary for assault and gun possession by a felon. Federal authorities did not characterize the nature of Sunday's melee. But Joe Rojas, local chief of the prison workers union, described it as a long-simmering battle between black and white incarcerated individuals. Rojas said Venable was killed with a homemade knife. In a statement, prison officials said the

Toni Morrison, who chronicled the African American experience in fiction over five decades, has died aged 88. In a statement on Tuesday, her family and publisher Knopf confirmed that the author died in Montefiore Medical Center in New York on Monday night after a short illness. Describing her as “our adored mother and grandmother”, Morrison’s family said: “Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life. While we would like to thank everyone who knew and loved her, personally or through her work, for their support at this difficult time, we ask for privacy as we mourn this loss to our family.” Born in an Ohio steel town in the depths of the

After serving nearly 28 years in prison, a Philadelphia man was freed after authorities publicly acknowledged that police and prosecutors had evidence that pointed to other suspects. Chester Hollman III, 48, was released from a state prison in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright had ruled that Hollman was "likely innocent" of the 1991 killing of Tae Jung Ho. "I don't think it's really hit me yet still. Just this morning, I learned that this was happening. I'm still a little in shock, disbelief," Hollman told CNN affiliate KYW. "Knowing that you're in prison for something that you didn't do and trying to convince people that you're not lying