By Associated Press AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A Black man was unarmed when Akron police chased him on foot and killed him in a hail of gunfire, but officers believed he had shot at them earlier from a vehicle and feared he was preparing to fire again, authorities said Sunday at a news conference. Akron […]
Category: Stop Killing Us
Posted inNational News
Mass shooting survivors recount their experiences in Gun Violence hearings before Congressional committee
By Special to the AFRO Various mass shooting survivors told their stories during a gun violence hearing on June 8. This is following last week’s congressional gun hearing in Texas, in which House Democrats decided to combine several gun policy bills into one large package known as the Protecting Our Kids Act. “After 19 innocent […]
Posted inMaryland Government
Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hold public hearing in Baltimore County
By Special Report In 2019, the Maryland General Assembly enacted, and Governor Larry Hogan signed into law, legislation establishing the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MLTRC) as the first Commission dedicated to investigating racial terror lynchings in the United States. Sponsored by Delegate Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk, House Bill 307 tasks the Commission with researching […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
IN MEMORIAM: Black Press journalist Katherine Massey eulogized as ‘Queen Mother,’ and ‘Community Mayor’
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. helped to eulogize the Challenger Community News journalist Katherine Massey in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 23, telling the gathering at Pilgrim Baptist Church that the 72-year-old fought for freedom, justice, and equality. Like […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
Civil rights groups to work through the summer on the national agenda to combat White supremacy
By Deborah Bailey, AFRO D.C. Editor After meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, representatives from the nation’s civil rights community are developing their own action plans to address the spread of White supremacy. The plan for a concerted effort to address White supremacy come after the racially motivated attack on Black residents on May 14 […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
Protestors demand justice for Patrick Lyoya
By AFRO Staff The family members of Patrick Lyoya, the Black man shot in the back of the head by a Grand Rapids, Mich. police officer on April 4, selected civil rights giant Rev. Al Sharpton to deliver the 26-year-old’s eulogy on April 22. Lyoya moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014 to […]
Posted inOPINION
The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act: Why is it important?
By Congressman Kweisi Mfume “Strange Fruit,” written by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, captures the sadness and sadistic nature of lynchings in America. Its lyrics compose with horrifying imagery the following scene: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root. Black bodies swinging in […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
Some Protestant Churches welcomed revival of the Ku Klux Klan
By Anuoluwapo Adefiwitan, The Howard Center For Investigative Journalism The revival of the Ku Klux Klan began in November 1915 with a cross burning atop Stone Mountain, Georgia, led by Methodist preacher William Joseph Simmons, who functioned as the Klan’s Imperial Wizard. This second iteration, inspired by D.W. Griffith’s racist film “The Birth of a […]
Posted inNational News
A look back at ‘Bloody Sunday’ and its impact on American rights
By AFRO Staff The date was March 7, 1965. Change was hot on the heels of Jim Crow and even the Alabama heat beating overhead and steaming from the pavement was no deterrent for those gathered: a march for freedom from Selma to Montgomery would happen no matter the cost. According to the Encyclopedia of […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
#WordinBlack: Memorials to lynching victims challenge who writes nation’s history
By Madison Peek, The Howard Center For Investigative Journalism James White looked at the barren ground in Elaine, Arkansas, where a memorial tree dedicated to hundreds of Black lynching victims once grew and reflected on his hometown. White grew up in Elaine, where few talk about the horrific massacre that claimed hundreds of Black lives […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
No Conviction for Brett Hankison, sole officer to face charges stemming for shooting in Breonna Taylor’s apartment
By Alexis Taylor, AFRO News Editor On March 3, 2022, the sole officer to face charges for shooting through the apartment leased to Breonna Taylor in March 2020, was found not guilty of all charges. The trial was live-streamed on a variety of networks, to include the Law and Crime Trial Network. Viewers could watch […]
Posted inStop Killing Us
Black women hold protest in Bridgeport, demand police reform
The Associated Press Black women and their supporters held a protest march in Connecticut’s largest city on Feb. 19, demanding police and government reforms amid accusations of racial insensitivity by the Bridgeport Police Department in how it handled the deaths of two Black women. About 150 people, including Black elected women and leaders, turned out […]