By Jay Reeves, The Associated Press For almost 40 years starting in the 1930s, as government researchers purposely let hundreds of Black men die of syphilis in Alabama so they could study the disease, a foundation in New York covered funeral expenses for the deceased. The payments were vital to survivors of the victims in […]
Author Archives: Jay Reeves
Associated Press
Posted inNational News
John Lewis missed at Alabama civil rights pilgrimage
By Jay Reeves, The Associated Press Nearly 20 members of Congress began an annual pilgrimage through Alabama’s civil rights sites March 4 without the person who inspired so many to attend in past years: the late Rep. John Lewis. From 1998 to 2020, Lewis led the events, organized by the Washington-based Faith & Politics Institute, […]
Posted inNEWS
Details of Emmett Till killing still a mystery as probe ends
By Jay Reeves The Associated Press The investigation into the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago ended as it began, with a mystery that might never be solved. All these decades later, it’s still not even clear whether the gruesome homicide was the work of a pair of racist brutes or […]
Posted inNEWS
Bid considered to wipe Alabama arrest records of King, Parks
By Jay Reeves The Associated Press The quest by a civil rights pioneer to have her arrest record wiped clean after nearly 70 years after she protested racial segregation has raised the possibility of similar bids to clear the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., whose convictions remain on the books in […]
Posted inNEWS
Report: Till slaying still being investigated 65 years later
This undated photo shows Emmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old black Chicago teen, who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The Justice Department is continuing its investigation into the killing of Till, the Black teenager whose slaying 65 years ago in Mississippi sparked outrage and […]
Posted inNEWS
Foot Soldiers’ of Birmingham to BLM: ‘Keep on keeping on
The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lead a column of demonstrators as they attempt to march on Birmingham, Ala., city hall April 12, 1963. The Rev. Jonathan McPherson, shown in a coat and tie two persons behind King, in 2021 is urging protesters against racial injustice to “keep on […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Voters Could Remove Racist Phrases From Alabama Constitution
In this July 26, 2020, file photo, mourners gathered at the Alabama Capitol following the death of Rep. John Lewis. Alabama voters will decide whether to remove racist, segregation-era language from the state’s 1901 Constitution in the upcoming election. If approved, the measure would go back to legislators and another statewide vote. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett, […]
Posted inAfro Briefs, National News, NEWS
Bad Weather Moves Into Eastern States; 4 Dead in South
By Jay Reeves The Associated Press Nearly 150,000 homes and businesses in the southeastern United States were without power early Feb. 7 after a powerful storm raked the region. At least four people were killed. Florida bore the brunt of the power outages, with nearly 75,000, according to poweroutages.us. The Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia also […]
Posted inNational News, NEWS, POLITICS, U.S. Government
Trump Lynching Claim Renews Pain for Kin of Actual Victims
By JAY REEVES Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Willie Edwards Jr., a black truck driver, was killed by Ku Klux Klansmen who forced him to jump off a bridge in Alabama in 1957. Two years earlier, white men had bludgeoned black teenager Emmett Till to death in Mississippi. No one went to prison for […]
Posted inAfro Briefs, National News, NEWS
Family: Alabama Tries to Shield Officer Who Killed Black Man
By JAY REEVES, Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Relatives of a Black man killed by police in Alabama’s largest shopping mall claimed Monday that a state takeover of the investigation is a bid by authorities to protect the officer. Holding a photo of her son Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., April Pipkins said the move […]
Posted inNational News, NEWS
Birmingham’s New Black Officers, Court Officials Rethinking US Policing
By Jay Reeves, The Associated Press Veteran Alabama law enforcement officer Mark Pettway grew up in a Black neighborhood called “Dynamite Hill” because the Ku Klux Klan bombed so many houses there in the 1950s and ’60s. Now, after becoming the first Black person elected sheriff in Birmingham – on the same day voters elected the community’s […]
Posted inReligion
Rev William J. Barber Leads Progressive Pastors in Objecting to Roy Moore’s Fitness for US Senate
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A leading figure among religious liberals says the candidacy of Roy Moore for U.S. Senate is a struggle for the “soul of the nation.” The remarks on Saturday by the Rev. William J. Barber come a day after a letter signed by dozens of progressive pastors in Alabama said Moore — […]