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#WalterScott: Killer Cop Makes Attempt to Get Case Dismissed
Jury selection is underway in the trial of the former North Charleston, S.C., police officer accused of shooting and killing an unarmed black motorist, and the defense team has found another angle with which to push for a dismissal. Michael Slager, 34, is charged by the state with murder in the death of 50-year-old Walter Scott,…
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#NoDAPL: Facebook Users Check in at Standing Rock in a Rousing Show of Solidarity
A post that went viral on Facebook beginning Sunday evening urged users to check in at Standing Rock Reservation in Cannonball, N.D. The post said that users would be helping to thwart law-enforcement officers who were using social media to track protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The post instructed users to make a public…
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Calif.'s 1st Female Black Judge and Longtime Jurist Dead at 96
The first female black judge in California, and one of the stateâs longest-serving jurists in state history, has died at the age of 96, the Associated Press reports. Vaino Spencer died in her sleep of natural causes Oct. 25 at her home in Los Angeles, her niece, Fatimah Gilliam, said. Spencer was born July 22, 1920,…
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#NoDAPL: Amnesty International Sending Human Rights Delegation to Standing Rock
In a press release issued Oct. 28, Amnesty International USA announced that it will be sending a delegation of human rights observers to monitor the response of law enforcement to protests by indigenous communities. As previously reported on The Root, tensions rose at a #NoDAPL resistance camp Oct. 27 when more than 100 militarized police…
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Judge Rules Flint Residents Can Sue State of Mich. Over Water Crisis
A judge in the Michigan Court of Claims ruled Thursday that residents of the city of Flint, Mich., have the right to sue the state and state officials for the decisions that led to the cityâs lead-contaminated-water crisis. The Detroit News reports that Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Mark T. Boonstra, who presides over the…
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Supreme Court to Rule on Va. Teenâs Bathroom-Access Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it would decide in in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. whether a transgender boy may use the boysâ bathroom in a Virginia high school. The high court will decide whether the Obama administration may require public school systems to let transgender students use bathrooms that align with their…
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More Than 140 #NoDAPL Water Protectors Arrested Overnight
Police and National Guard troops arrested more than 140 water protectors near a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site in Cannon Ball, N.D., on Thursday. The Morton County Sheriffâs Department said in a statement that authorities had arrested 141 protesters by midnight local time after a more than six-hour standoff, NBC News reports. As previously reported…
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Study: Black Students Feel Less Welcome at Schools With Excessive Suspensions
A new study published by the American Psychological Association finds that black students who attend a high school where they are disproportionately suspended more than their white counterparts feel that their school is less fair and less welcoming. The study, âA Multilevel Examination of Racial Disparities in High School Discipline: Black and White Adolescentsâ Perceived…
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President Obama Grants Another 98 Commutations for October
President Barack Obama made a commitment to use his clemency authority through the remainder of his time in office, and on Thursday he honored that commitment by granting another 98 commutations. Combined with the 102 commutations he granted at the beginning of October, that brings his total for the month to 200, and his total…
