A long overdue reckoning for Henrietta Lacks — the Black woman whose cancer cells led to breakthroughs in the field but were harvested without her consent — has been slow but steady in recent years. It took decades for her relatives to learn that her tissue had been used for research and for them to […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCourts, Culture, History
S.C. Court Victory Grants Gullah Geechee Temporary Access to Blocked Cemetery
Julia Scott is disappointed. Despite a judge granting her and other Gullah Geechee residents in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, access to the centuries-old Big House Cemetery, they must give the property owners — who put up a gate to block the entrance — written notice first. “It’s a start, but I am not pleased […]
Posted inCourts, Economic Development, Eminent Domain, History, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years
SPARTA, Ga. — In 1850, Andrew Benjamin Tarbutton enslaved 25 people in central Georgia. A year later, he purchased more than a dozen additional people off the docks in Savannah and marched them toward his home, setting the foundation for his family’s generational wealth. Four generations later, a railroad company owned by one of his […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather, Public Safety
A Storm Is Coming for the South’s Most Vulnerable Black Communities
For millions in the South, an impending storm could become unforgettable. “I can’t stop watching the forecasts,” said Shemekia Stringer, speaking by phone Thursday afternoon as she moved through near-empty aisles at a Walmart in Southaven, Mississippi, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. “I’m trying to make sure we’re fully prepared. In my area, the map […]
Posted inCourts, Politics & Policy
Federal Court Declines to Rehear Marilyn Mosby’s Perjury and Mortgage Fraud Case
Marilyn Mosby won’t get a do-over in her perjury and mortgage fraud case. A federal appeals court has denied a request to rehear the former Baltimore state’s attorney’s appeal. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Mosby’s attorneys had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to take up the case. Yet, no judges […]
Posted inPolicing, Politics & Policy
ICE Shooting After Takeover of Minneapolis Renews Debate on Qualified Immunity
Minneapolis entered January with unusually mild weather and a sense of calm, but that was shattered two days later when a federal immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. Less than 24 hours later, a man and woman in Portland, Oregon, were shot and wounded by Customs and Border Protection agents. As immigration crackdowns […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Nurse Accused of Harming NICU Babies Expected to Plead Guilty
A former nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit in a Virginia hospital is expected to plead guilty to child abuse charges this week, according to her attorneys. Erin Strotman was charged last year in connection to mysterious injuries that appeared on newborns dating back several years, officials said. Multiple investigations were launched into how […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Safety
Calls for Justice Grow After ICE Shooting of Minneapolis Mom
Jacob Davis suspected that nothing positive would come from the Trump administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it had deployed some 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. One day later, Renee Nicole Good was dead. The mother of three was in her car when a U.S. Immigration and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Delrawn Small’s Family Still Seeks Accountability 9 Years After NYPD Killing
BROOKLYN, New York — In a neighborhood just miles from where his father was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer nine years ago, Zaiden Small sat on a couch, kicking and dangling his feet as he listened to stories about a man he never knew. He was a protector, a provider, and a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content
A Sister’s Love and Grief: Keyana Dixon Opens Up About the Death of Her Brother, Tyré Nichols
This story was originally published by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Subscribe to their newsletter here. Keyana Dixon agreed to meet on her day off. It was a warm yet cloudy and rainy Monday morning – Dixon’s favorite type of weather. The rain recharges her, she said. The conditions seemed ideal for the heavy conversation ahead: discussing what […]