Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

The Criminal Injustice of Black Youth Tried As Adults When 25-year-old guard Keriana Alexcee found the body of Jaquin Thomas hanging in a New Orleans jail cell, she didn’t know that Thomas had been dead for more than 90 minutes. According to the Advocate , Alexcee had not been trained to check on Thomas every 15 minutes—as mandated by a federal consent decree. When she passed Jaquin’s cell earlier that evening and saw him writing, she had no idea that he was penning his suicide note . Prison officials didn’t seem to know why Thomas wasn’t given his medication for a mental illness. The Times-Picayune reports that Thomas’ family couldn’t get answers to why the Orleans Justice Center, an adult jail, had only one deputy supervising 13 inmates on Jaquin’s tier. No one had any idea why Jaquin hanged himself, but Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office attorney Blake Arcuri assured everyone that it wasn’t because he had been “jumped” by other inmates who repeatedly stole his food. ...

HIP-HOP & THE POLICE The hip hop police is a term used in the hip-hop industry for an NYPD department devoted to criminal activity within the Hip-Hop industry. Originating in New York and spreading to Police Departments of several cities. They are obviously mocked and disrespected within the hip hop industry for their overly aggresive investigations and constant stalking of high-profile rap artists. Usually the hip hop police don't take in artists to jail but offer them a deal to say a few names and they will be let go. Which unfortunately if you haven't noticed not many have been to jail as of late. “The crazy world of these so-called rap artists. They're basically thugs who celebrate violence that oftentimes manifests itself during their performances.” - New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Bill Bratton 2016 Hip-hop is one of the most prominent black-led phenomena in the culture today, and it’s long been under the scrutiny of a police department e...

O'Rourke: Police Are the 'New Jim Crow' Texas Democratic Sen. Candidate Beto O’Rourke said Wednesday during a town hall event that he believes law enforcement officers target black people because of their skin color and that police are the “new Jim Crow.” “Talking about criminal justice reform, let’s talk about where this problem started,” he said at P r a i r i e V i e w A & M University in Texas. “When contractors needed labor, they would talk to local law enforcement, who would arrest African-Americans for idling, for petty crimes, frivolous offenses. Those contractors would describe the number of bodies that they needed and law enforcement would provide those bodies.” “That injustice … continues to persist today. That system of suspending somebody solely based on the color of their skin, searching for that person solely based on the color of their skin, stopping that person solely based on the color of their skin, shooting that person solely bas...

'Black people, stop wearing grills': Racist allegations prompt sorority investigation Kappa Kappa Gamma , the sorority to which Meghan Markle belonged in college , is being investigated for racism after members reportedly said of a black faculty member, “Black people, get away from me,” and “Black people, stop wearing grills.” According to TV station KOAT 7 in Albuquerque , sorority members at the University of New Mexico (Markle belonged to the Northwestern University chapter in Chicago) allegedly mocked Stephanie McIver, a director of student health and counseling, while she was giving a presentation during a Sept. 17 welcome event. Nick Morgan, a senior student and vice president of the student alliance Brothers Leading and Cultivating Knowledge , was sitting in the audience at the time. “A friend nudged me and said that a group of white women sitting behind us said, ‘Black people, get away from me,'” Morgan tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I started list...

Nike Donates Millions to Republicans While Making Billions From Kaepernick Endorsement  Nike did it. They took the glorious afro-ed Colin Kaepernick, the face of a movement against the killings of unarmed black men, women and children, and made him the face of their “Just Do It” campaign. It was a beautiful “fuck you” to the NFL, who essentially whiteballed the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback from playing in the league, as Nike scheduled the commercials to run during the league’s highest-profile football games. White guys took to social media to burn their “Chew Spit Cup 4s” because they weren’t going to support a company that so openly supported a righteous black mansomeone who dared disrespect their beloved flag. Sales at Nike not only increased, they skyrocketed. “Nike’s stock recently hit an all-time high and has gone up nearly five percent since the Kaepernick ads launched in early September. That translates to an additional $6 billion in market value,” rep...

Hip-Hop Exhibit: What the Controversy Around White Curators in Black Spaces Reveals The curator position has become increasingly professionalized, and many of the top jobs now go to curators with Ph.D.s.—barring many people who lack the time or funds to fulfill this kind of study. And upon graduation, many fledgling curators and art professionals will work for years for very little pay or job stability, requiring them to rely on familial support to get by, a 2017 ArtSy article found (Windmuller-Luna, a Princeton Ph.D., actually exemplifies this. Her position with the Brooklyn Museum is technically a part-time role). These factors shut out many people who don’t already have money or deep connections to the art world. But for black curators in particular, the art world’s insular circles and lack of diversity can drive feelings of isolation and disenchantment, with little recourse. The net result is that the vast majority of the country’s artistic spaces shut out black peop...

Dallas police officer Amber Guyger now fired after fatally shooting neighbor Botham Jean Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was fired Monday, officials said, weeks after a racially-charged shooting in which the off-duty white cop killed her black neighbor, Botham Jean. An investigation determined Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for manslaughter,” Dallas police Chief Renee Hall said in a statement, adding Guyger may appeal her termination. Guyger was arrested on a manslaughter charge after she shot and killed Jean earlier this month. An arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News said Botham allegedly ignored Guyger’s “verbal commands” before she opened fire. Guyger had recently ended a 15-hour shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex. She parked on the fourth floor, instead of the third, where she lived, according to an affidavit filed for the officer’s arrest warrant, possibly suggesting she was confused or d...