CENTER, Texas — As Delbert Jackson turned right onto the clean, sandy-paved stretch of Martin Luther King Drive, his chin lifted with quiet pride. The road’s upkeep is due in large part to Jackson, who leads regular community cleanups in the city. On this humid and sunny morning in early June, something felt a bit […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Partner Content, Public Safety, Violence Against Women
For Black Women,‘Diddy’ Verdict is a Reminder of Justice Denied
Originally published by The 19th A raucous scene unfolded outside the New York City courthouse where a jury Wednesday acquitted Sean “Diddy” Combs of the most serious charges — sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy — against him during a six-week trial in which witnesses painted the rap mogul as a monster who preyed on vulnerable […]
Posted inCourts, Health, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy
7 Supreme Court Cases That Black Americans Should Track This Summer
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a number of blockbuster rulings that have implications for everything from President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order to the future of LGBTQ books in schools. The justices punted a major Voting Rights Act case until next term, allowing time for further argument in the fall. In the […]
Posted inIncarceration, Politics & Policy
After a DUI Stop, He Vanished Into the ICE System
Kléya Rice says her phone rings every other day from unknown numbers. She answers in a panic, unsure if it’s Rony Dieujuste — her partner and the father of her two children — calling from an undisclosed detention center with only minutes to talk. The usual recording that reveals a caller’s location hasn’t played on […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice
Track Meet Turns Tragic: Karmelo Anthony Indicted on Murder Charge
A Collin County, Texas, grand jury indicted Karmelo Anthony on Tuesday for the first-degree murder of Austin Metcalf, according to multiple news reports. What began as a dispute over a seat at a high school track meet on April 2 at a school that neither of the boys — then 17 — attended, ended in […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Criminal Justice, Incarceration, News, Policing
Black Undocumented Migrants Face Far Higher Deportation Rates
One of the most underreported aspects of life for Black undocumented migrants can be summed up in one statistic: They’re deported at a rate four times more often than their numbers would suggest, according to an analysis of federal data by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. The analysis showed that while Black migrants make […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Some Mother Emanuel Families Say the Focus on Forgiveness Has Cost Them Justice
Malcolm Graham says that his sister’s body was still in the morgue when he noticed that people were rallying around the importance of forgiving her killer. A librarian who loved her community, Cynthia Graham Hurd was one of the nine Black worshippers who were fatally shot on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal […]
Posted inCourts, Maternal Health, Politics & Policy
Hospitals Are Drug Testing Mothers Without Consent, Fueling Family Separations
By junior year of high school, Desseray Wright was already a mother and didn’t expect to become pregnant again so soon. The Bronx, New York, teen was juggling raising a toddler and dreaming about becoming a lawyer. Sometimes, she would hang out with her friends and occasionally smoked weed. Then one day, despite still getting […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Was Javion MaGee Lynched? A Report Confirms Earlier Finding of Suicide.
This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The death of Javion MaGee, a 21-year-old truck Illinois driver, has been officially ruled a suicide. The autopsy report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Violence Against Women
Guilty: A Wisconsin Jury Convicts Sade Robinson’s Killer
A Milwaukee County jury took a matter of hours to convict the man last seen with Sade Robinson before her death. The seven-day murder trial of Maxwell Anderson ended without his defense calling a single witness, opting to rest their case minutes after prosecutors did on Thursday. By Friday afternoon, the jury of mostly women […]