Featured
Prostate Cancer: Notable Black People Who Died From Illness. By Newsone
From the criminal justice system to race relations and beyond, the death of football legend-turned-acquitted murderer O.J. Simpson has placed a spotlight on a number of issues.
But perhaps none of them are as immediately urgent to Black people as Simpson’s cause of death — prostate cancer, which is a disproportionate killer, particularly of Black men. But it was unclear how far advanced Simpson’s prostate cancer was when it was first detected, a key factor in being able to successfully treat the disease. Black men are 70% more likely to develop prostate cancer in their lifetime and twice as likely to die from the disease, according to The Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center. Delays between screening, diagnosis and treatment often contribute to the huge health disparity. Read more
Related: Why are Black men at greater risk for prostate cancer? By , and
Political / Social
N.Y. trial’s focus on tawdry scandal could underscore Trump’s weakness with women. By Isaac Arnsdorf and Hannah Knowles / Wash Post
Prosecutors’ way of explaining Trump’s motivation for paying hush money could underscore his enduring weakness with female voters
The last flurry of motions before jury selection began Monday showed that prosecutors plan to lay out a different kind of story, one that has much more in common with the tabloid fodder that fueled Trump’s fame and revisits the “Access Hollywood” scandal that was a low point during the final weeks of the 2016 election he went on to win. That framing could scramble expectations about the salience of this trial for voters considering whether to return Trump to the White House in November. Read more
Related: U.S. Senator Tim Scott Portrays Trump Trial as “Racial Issue.” By Claude Wooten / 2paragraph
Former GOP insider: Trump has “reprogrammed a generation” to fight against democracy. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Former Trump aide Miles Taylor: “The risk of political violence is high” — no matter who wins this election
Miles Taylor served as chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term. He spoke out early about Trump’s unfitness for office, as author of the 2018 New York Times “Anonymous” editorial. Since then, Taylor has written two books, “A Warning” and “Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from Trump’s Revenge.” In the second half of our conversation, Taylor cautions that the existential danger to American democracy posed by Trump, the MAGA movement, and today’s Republican Party will continue well past Election Day 2024. Read more
In surprise, Biden faces real threat from Trump with Hispanic voters. By Amie Parnes / The Hill
When President Biden visited a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, Ariz., last month, he begged the crowd for its support in his bid for reelection.
A New York Times/Siena College survey out this week showed Biden with 50 percent support among Hispanics — which is historically low for a Democrat. Meanwhile, Trump’s support among Hispanics has grown to 41 percent, which is on the higher end for a Republican. Read more
Wave of pro-Palestinian protests closes bridges, major roads across U.S. By Daniel Wu and Niha Masih / Wash Post
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roads, highways and bridges across the country on Monday, snarling traffic and sparking arrests from coast to coast in what some activists declared to be a coordinated day of economic blockade to push leaders for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Tensions over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month, have roiled American cities, campuses and politics with protests held in support of both Palestinians and Israelis. Read more
Alabama chooses candidates for new Black congressional district. By George Chidi / The Guardian
After a contentious redrawing of Alabama’s congressional map, two candidates will compete in November for a seat, and perhaps congressional control
Shomari Figures, an attorney and Obama White House executive from a politically prominent civil rights family, won the Democratic nomination to run in Alabama’s redrawn second congressional district on Tuesday night, defeating state representative Anthony Daniels. Read more
NAACP joins lawsuit against Arkansas LEARNS Act in attempt to fight anti-DEI efforts. By Beatrice Peterson / ABC News
This latest effort is a part of the NAACP’s attempt to fight what they describe as a wave of anti-diversity, equity and inclusion legislation across the country.
The Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights are calling on a federal court to enact an injunction against the state of Arkansas over its Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking and School Safety Act, known as the LEARNS Act, which is intended to prohibit public schools from teaching diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory. Supporters of the LEARNS Act describe such teaching as “indoctrination.” Read more
The Supreme Court Has Ruled to Let Louisiana Keep Hunting DeRay McKesson. By Elie Mystal / The Nation
The court has decided to let the BLM activist be held liable for organizing a protest in 2016, endangering the right to dissent in three Southern states.
If you want to see somebody who is being persecuted, I suggest you look no further than DeRay McKesson. McKesson is an activist dedicated to ending police brutality. He’s been involved in the Black Lives Matter movement for nearly a decade, and for those efforts, he’s been relentlessly harassed by whites in the state of Louisiana and on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court. Now, the Supreme Court has given the harassment its blessing. Read more
This Prosecutor Pledged to Change George Floyd’s City. Her Critics Are Circling.
Mary Moriarty, a former chief public defender, became the top prosecutor in Minneapolis, promising an overhaul. Now she faces criticism, including from fellow Democrats.
Ms. Moriarty is one of a handful of left-leaning prosecutors elected in recent years promising to overhaul justice systems by jailing fewer people, holding the police accountable for misconduct and reducing racial inequities. Some met strong resistance as they pushed to limit cash bail requirements and sought less severe punishments against certain types of crimes to reduce the prison population. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Reagan’s great America shining on a hill twisted into Trump’s dark vision of Christian nationalism. By Diane Winston / The Conversation
Reagan telegraphed belief in a God-blessed America by describing the United States as “a shining city on a hill.” Reagan flipped the original meaning of a Biblical phrase from a 17th century Puritan sermon.
In my book, I explain that underlying American politics is a religious vision that links citizens to civic values. The most prevalent vision is that God blessed America and tasked its citizens with spreading freedom and democracy. It’s an idea that has undergirded Americans’ patriotism and inspired American domestic and foreign policies for decades. Read more
Christianity, the Bible, and Slavery: Some Candid Thoughts. By Matthew Distefano / Patheos
April 16th is Emancipation Day, and it commemorates the ending of slavery in Washington D.C. in 1862 and the freeing of over 3,100 slaves. That’s right: 1862! That’s nearly 100 years after the founding of this country!
But wait, if you listen to Christians on the Right–those who thump the same Bible a certain presidential candidate is currently hawking–then you’ll likely hear how this nation was founded on Christian principles. Some even go so far as to emphatically say how America is a Christian nation. Read more
Prominent New York church, sued for gender bias, moves forward with male pastor candidate. By Darren Sands / RNS
Candidate Kevin R. Johnson, founding pastor of Dare to Imagine Church in Philadelphia, will be recommended for the congregation’s approval to lead the more than 200-year-old Abyssinian Baptist Church,
The Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, a Yale Divinity School professor and Butts’ former assistant pastor, was among the candidates interviewed in the pulpit search, which was criticized for being too long and lacking transparency. After not being named a finalist, Marshall Turman sued the church and the search committee in federal court for gender discrimination, an assertion the church and the committee disputed. Read more
Historical / Cultural
The Mysterious Story Of Tituba: A Black Slave Woman Who Sparked The Salem Witch Trials.
In 1692, a Black slave woman was used as a pawn to spark the first conspiracy ever to land on the shores of America: The Salem Witch Hunt.
From February 1692 to May 1693 hundreds of people (mostly teenage women) in colonial Massachusetts were accused of witchcraft, with no basis in fact or reality. In what would be known as “The Hunt,” hundreds of people were publicly hanged, executed or jailed for being witches, scapegoating and persecuting women of lower socioeconomic status. A young Black slave girl was their catalyst to carnage. Read more
Black and Native Americans Hit Hardest by ‘Deaths of Despair.’ By Dennis Thompson / HealthDay
More middle-aged Black and Native Americans are now falling prey to “deaths of despair” than whites, a new study finds.
These deaths — from suicide, drug overdose and alcoholic liver disease — initially had been more common among whites. But a new analysis has determined that deaths of despair have skyrocketed for Black and Native Americans over the past decade. The deaths of despair rate among Black Americans tripled between 2013 and 2022, rising from 36 deaths per 100,000 people to nearly 104 deaths per 100,000, researchers found. Read more
Eddie Glaude—We Are the Leaders Book Tour. By Editorial Staff / Harvard University Press
In We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, one of the nation’s preeminent scholars and a New York Times-bestselling author, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., reflects on how ordinary people can be the heroes our democracy so desperately requires.
The We Are the Leaders book tour includes stops at some of the country’s greatest bookstores and festivals this April, where Eddie Glaude will speak with other writers and scholars, including Mara Gay, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Imani Perry, Marc Lamont Hill, and Clint Smith. We hope to see you at one or more of these exciting events! Read more
When O.J. Simpson ‘Confessed’ to Murder. By Jacob Bernstein / NYT
O.J. Simpson speaking to Judith Regan in a 2006 interview that did not air until 2018.Credit…Michael Yarish/Fox
In 1994, O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty to murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted by a jury. But a little more than a decade later, he more or less confessed to the crimes. Mr. Simpson did so in a bizarre 2007 book, titled “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” that was purchased for publication by ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins, run by the magnate Judith Regan. Read more
Say Goodbye To Gayle King and Charles Barkley’s CNN Talk Show.
Gayle King and Charles Barkley have ended their limited six-month stint on CNN following reports of low viewership.
“I will say this: I have loved working with you and something tells me, Charles, this will not be the last time that we’re working together,” King told Barkley. Read more
How the Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt Became a Chronicler of Black Jazz History. By Hank Shteamer / NYT
Inspired by the drummer Arthur Taylor’s “Notes and Tones” collection of interviews with fellow musicians, Pelt started his own book series, “Griot.”
He started conducting interviews with elders, peers and younger artists, accelerating during the pandemic, when it was easy to reach musicians via Zoom. In 2021, he self-published the first volume of “Griot,” settling on that title after seeing the term — meaning a West African storyteller-musician who passes down the oral history of a tribe — in an old social-media handle used by the bassist Buster Williams. “I looked it up, and that’s when it hit me,” Pelt, 47, said. “That’s exactly what this project is, is really passing down the culture. It’s these stories.” Read more
A Different World’ Hits the Road to Help Historically Black Colleges.
The beloved series was set at a fictional historically Black university. Now, cast members have reunited to visit and support real-life schools.
Now, more than three decades after the series finale, Bell and other core cast members, including Charnele Brown, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Dawnn Lewis, Cree Summer and Glynn Turman, have reunited for a campus tour of historically Black colleges and universities. Their mission is to raise awareness and enrollment for such institutions, to establish a “Different World” scholarship fund and, of course, to give newer, younger fans a chance to see their parents’ hand-me-down TV idols in person. Read more
Sports
Davius Richard looks to end NFL draft drought for quarterbacks from HBCUs. By Mia Berry / Andscape
North Carolina Central University standout would be the first QB selected from a historically Black college or university since 2006
At 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 220 pounds, North Carolina Central University’s Davius Richard looks like a prototypical NFL quarterback, complete with an arm strong enough to throw 60 yards in the air. As a four-year starter for the Eagles, Richard earned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference offensive player of the year honors twice. In 2022, he led North Carolina Central to its first Cricket Celebration Bowl championship, where he was named the game’s offensive MVP. Read more
In Wichita, Black baseball and Jackie Robinson live on through League 42. By Clinton Yates / Andscape
After a statue of the Hall of Famer was stolen, a community and MLB rallied around the throwback youth league
On this hot and dusty Saturday morning, Bob Lutz, League 42 executive director, is sitting between fields, watching different age groups play exhibition games, before their season begins in earnest. What is not there is the statue of Jackie Robinson that was stolen Jan. 25 by vandals who left nothing but the feet. After the games, a ceremony to reflect on Robinson’s impact was held, with children showing artwork and reflecting on what Robinson meant to them as players. Morale is relatively high at the event, even if the centerpiece of their location is no longer there. Read more
The Rock returned to professional wrestling, but do fans want him? By Herb Scribner / Wash Post
Dwayne Johnson is back with WWE, embracing a bad guy persona and causing a ratings spike. But does WWE even need the people’s champion anymore?
It was a little odd seeing Dwayne “The Final Boss” nee “The Rock” Johnson walk down to the ring at WrestleMania XL with his own title belt. He hasn’t wrestled in eight years. Not exactly the work rate of a champion. But after the Final Boss had whipped baby-faced Cody Rhodes with a weightlifting waistband and hoisted that belt to a roaring crowd of 70,000 people on April 6, it was clear that the man who helped turn wrestling mainstream, then left it to become a movie star, had once again found a new role. Read more
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