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In Latest BET Shake-Up, Debra Lee Out as President, Stays on as Chair and CEO
It’s been a year of change at BET—but the network seems to have saved the biggest shake-up for last. Debra L. Lee, BET’s president for more than 20 years, is handing over the reins as president to Scott M. Mills, who previously served as Viacom’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer. According to the…
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Jury Awards Family Millions After Finding Doctor Medically Negligent in Care of Tortured 8-Year-Old Chicago Girl
A Chicago jury has awarded the family of Gizzell Ford, an 8-year-old girl who died at the hands of her abusive grandmother, $48 million after finding that the doctor who had seen Gizzell was medically negligent in his treatment of the child. The jury only needed two hours to make their decision Wednesday. As the Chicago…
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Washington, DC’s Only Public Hospital Just Decided to Close Its Maternity Ward
In a closed-session vote Wednesday, the board of Washington, D.C.’s only public hospital decided to close its nursery and delivery rooms. As the Washington Post reports, now the women of Southeast D.C. (which is predominantly black and low-income) have even fewer maternal-health options. Not only is the decision potentially devastating to pregnant women in Southeast,…
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Man Injured by White Supremacist Who Drove His Car Into Crowd of Protesters Will Face Attacker in Court
You may not know Marcus Martin, but chances are, you’ve seen him. Martin was one of the Charlottesville counter protesters injured by a car that careened into a crowd during the “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally. A number of photographers snapped images of the car plowing through a wall of people—Martin is in a…
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Meet the Former Sharecropper Who Helped Push Alabama’s Historic Black Voter Turnout
In a long-overdue (and, frankly, yet to be seen) declaration, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez recently acknowledged the importance of black women to newly elected Alabama Sen. Doug Jones’ victory. “Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because black women led us to victory,” Perez said. “Black women are the backbone…
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NYC Man Who Forced His Girlfriend to Walk Naked Through Harlem Says She Volunteered to Shame Herself
Today in news of masculinity so toxic, you’ll want to cuss out your computer or phone screen: the case of a New York City man who is standing trial for forcing his then-22-year-old girlfriend to walk naked through the streets of Harlem in January 2016 because he suspected that she was cheating on him. In…
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DeRay Mckesson Sues Fox & Friends Host for Saying He Incited Violence Against a Cop
DeRay Mckesson filed a lawsuit against Fox & Friends host Jeanine Pirro for defamation on Tuesday for claiming that he incited violence against a Baton Rouge, La., cop during a 2016 protest. The suit was filed in New York County Supreme Court in Manhattan. As the New York Daily News reports, Pirro’s commentary stems from…
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Bodycam Footage Shows Grand Rapids, Mich., Police Holding an Innocent 11-Year-Old Girl at Gunpoint, Handcuffing Her
To have the Grand Rapids, Mich., police tell it, they don’t know the difference between an 11-year-old black girl and a 40-year-old white woman. At least, that’s the excuse police offered for why they handcuffed and held 11-year-old Honestie Hodges at gunpoint Wednesday. Now the Grand Rapids Police Department is launching an internal investigation into…
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The Median Net Worth of Black Bostonians Is Lower Than the Cost of Lunch
There isn’t a whole lot you can get in a major East Coast city for $8. Meals at most lunch spots, once you include tax, will run higher than that (a Shake Shack double costs $8.09, for example). But that amount—a measly $8—is making the rounds thanks to a Boston Globe spotlight investigation that delves…
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Roy Moore Is a Stand-Up Dude Because He Turned Down Vietnamese Child Sex Workers Once, Moore’s Friend Says
You know that feeling when you have to say something nice about someone you personally know to be ain’t-shit? When you’re so hard-pressed to recognize any baseline decency about a fuccboi, you find yourself resorting to platitudes like “He’s got hair” and “I think she made the bed once”? Well, that happened Monday night during…
