Keeda Haynes Wants To Give A Voice To Her Community

Keeda Haynes, a public defender from Tennessee, is one of the Democrats challenging incumbent Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who has been in office since 2003. And, as Haynes puts it, just as we are currently experiencing a shift in this country, and a shift in the conversations we’re having (particularly in light of the current racial tensions), we are also experiencing a shift in who we believe should be leading this country. “I think that we deserve somebody who is going to be

Unidentified federal agents in camo and rented minivans are grabbing people off Portland's streets

President Trump has sent an unknown number of federal agents to Portland, Oregon, ostensibly to project federal property amid weeks of protests against racism and police brutality. But federal officers "are also detaining people on Portland streets who aren't near the federal property, nor is it clear that all of the people being arrested have engaged in criminal activity," OPB reported Thursday evening. One civil rights lawyer, Juan Chavez, described the federal tactics as "

John Lewis, congressman and civil rights icon, dies at 80

Lewis passed seven months after a routine medical visit revealed that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Black Caucus confirmed the news of his death. Known as the "conscience of the U.S. Congress," Lewis continually represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District, which includes most of Atlanta, since taking office in 1987. His cancer diagnosis in December 2019 did not interrupt that streak. "So I have decided to do what I kno

Atlanta civil rights leader C.T. Vivian dead at 95

Civil rights icon Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T,” Vivian has died at age 95 of natural causes at his home in Atlanta, according to a report from CNN. Vivian worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and participated in the Freedom Rides to register Black voters. The Boonville, MO native, and his late wife, Octavia, had six children. He was a co-founder of the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference, an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which helped organi

Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention

A 15-year-old in Michigan was incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic after a judge ruled that not completing her schoolwork violated her probation. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” said the girl’s mother. PONTIAC, Mich. — One afternoon in mid-June, Charisse* drove up to the checkpoint at the Children’s Village juvenile detention center in suburban Detroit, desperate to be near her daughter. It had been a month since she had last seen her when a judge found the girl had

Texans WR Kenny Stills Arrested, Among 87 Protesters Facing Felony Charges

Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills was arrested Tuesday during a protest march in Louisville, Kentucky, and is among 87 protesters who face a felony charge of intimidating a participant in the legal process. Lucas Aulbach of the Louisville Courier-Journal reported Stills, who joined the group in demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, also faces misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. The protest march ended at the home of Kentucky Attorney Genera

Philly civil rights groups demand that the mayor end stop-and-frisk

A coalition of Black civil rights activists in Philadelphia is demanding that Mayor Jim Kenney end stop-and-frisk, a controversial policing tactic that rarely results in officers seizing firearms from suspects in the city and disproportionately targets people of color. The call comes as people in the city and nationwide continue to demand systemic changes to law enforcement in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. During a news conference Tuesday outs

L.A. County seeks plan to close aging Men’s Central Jail in a year

Only a year ago, L.A. County leaders scrapped a plan to replace the decrepit Men’s Central Jail, where thousands of inmates are held in cramped cells along narrow hallways in downtown L.A. Now, the Board of Supervisors is looking at what it would take to close the 57-year-old lockup all together — with no replacement — as they focus on treating the mental health needs of the thousands of people who come in and out of the jail system, which is run by the Los Angeles County She

Nick Cannon dropped by ViacomCBS over the TRUTH

Nick Cannon has been fired from his MTV show Wild 'N Out and other work for the channel's parent company, which said he had promoted anti-Semitic comments. ViacomCBS said a recent episode of his podcast Cannon's Class "promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories". In response, Cannon said he does "not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric". The star also presents The Masked Singer, which is made by Fox. He created Wild 'N Out, an impro