National News - Page 112

California Leads Reparations Push With Bold New Plan

By Curtis Bunn For the first time, this year advocates seeking reparations for the harms inflicted on Black people during centuries of slavery in America saw a movement for redress that elicits hope. Many municipalities either started or are forming commissions to address compensation to the descendants of enslaved Africans. California has made the most zealous effort. The state’s reparations task force spent two years researching the impact of the generational damage of the discriminatory practices and produced a 1,100-page report with comprehensive recommendations that it considers to be the blueprint for other cities and states — and the federal government —

Florida Preschool Criticized Over Rosa Parks Role-Play

By Natalie Kainz A preschool in Florida is facing backlash from the NAACP and the parents of a 2-year-old Black girl, who they allege was made to participate in a “racially unethical” Rosa Parks role-play. The incident happened on Dec. 1, when a class of 2- and 3-year-old children were learning about Parks, the civil rights activist, said a spokesperson at Building Brains Academy, a minority-owned and operated preschool in Osceola, Florida. The girl, who the NAACP alleged was the only Black student in the class, played Parks during a re-enactment of her 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her

New York Launches Reparations Study Commission in 2024

New York state will create a commission tasked with considering reparations to address the persistent, harmful effects of slavery in the state, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. It comes at a time when many states and towns throughout the United States attempt to figure out how to best reckon with the country’s dark past, and follows in the footsteps of similar task forces in California and Illinois. “In New York, we like to think we’re on the right side of this. Slavery was a product of the South, the Confederacy,” Hochul, a Democrat, said at

Jonathan Majors Dropped by Marvel After Guilty Verdict

Written By Anthony D’Alessandro Jonathan Majors is out of the Marvel Studios kingdom. The news comes today in the wake of the Emmy-nominated actor being found guilty of reckless assault and harassment in his domestic violence trial by a six-person NYC jury. A studio rep confirmed the news about their decision to not move forward with Majors in the MCU. Majors played megavillain He Who Remains aka Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phases 4 through 6.   He debuted as the character during Season 1 of Loki in 2021, then continued on in Season 2 this year, as well as the February movie Ant-Man

Hall of Famer George McGinnis Dies at 73

George McGinnis, a Hall of Fame forward who was a two-time ABA champion and three-time All-Star in the NBA and ABA. He was 73. The Indiana Pacers said he died early Thursday morning following complications from a cardiac arrest suffered last week at his home. McGinnis also struggled to walk in recent years after undergoing multiple back surgeries because of a hereditary condition. His uniquely deep, deliberate voice, warm personality and passion for the sport helped him create a tight bond with the fans around his basketball-rich home state, Indiana. Here, they watched McGinnis’ development from Indianapolis prep star into an unstoppable

ISU Apologizes for Racial Slur at Norfolk State Game

By Char Adams Illinois State University has apologized after at least one of its fans was accused of hurling racial slurs at a Black player for Norfolk State University during a basketball game Saturday, leading to a confrontation between the teams’ coaches. The Norfolk State Spartans were ahead of the Illinois State Redbirds in the second half when the broadcast crew pointed out that one or two fans had made “idiotic comments” that were “of a racial nature.” The broadcasters added that Jamarii Thomas of Norfolk State, a historically Black university, was seen exchanging words with at least one fan before being reprimanded by an official.

GOP Gerrymanders Green Jobs Away From Communities of Color

By Derrick Z. Jackson Forget the cliché that Republicans are climate deniers. They are more accurately the party of environmental gerrymandering. It is parallel to the GOP’s bald-faced efforts to amass disproportionate power in many states by diluting Black representation. The party is trying to deny environmental justice and the economic benefits of a green economy to communities of color as predominantly White GOP congressional districts run off with the investments. This fall, the GOP majority in the House passed a bill that would cut billions of dollars from climate and energy efficiency programs launched during the Biden administration. For now, the bill is symbolic,

St. Paul Elects All-Female, Diverse City Council

By Adrienne Broaddus  Minnesota’s state Capitol will soon be home to a distinction that few American cities can boast: an all-female City Council. The seven women that will be sworn in next month as council members are all under the age of 40, and six are women of color. Mitra Jalali, Rebecca Noecker and Nelsie Yang won their re-election races in November and will be joined by Saura Jost, Anika Bowie, Hwa Jeong Kim and Cheniqua Johnson. They have dubbed themselves the “St. Paula seven,” intentionally adding an “a” to the city’s name to reflect its new class of female leaders.

Attempted Arson at MLK Jr.’s Birth Home Foiled by Tourists

By Minyvonne Burke and Anthony Cusumano A woman was arrested Thursday after allegedly trying to burn down the birth home of Martin Luther King Jr., Atlanta police said. The woman, Laneisha Shantrice Henderson, 26, was stopped by two tourists from Utah after they saw her pouring gasoline on the property, authorities said. Henderson was charged with second-degree arson and interfering with government property. She was taken to Grady Detention for a psychological evaluation and will be transferred to Fulton County Jail once she’s discharged, police said. The tourists told officers they were on a work trip from Utah and wanted to visit the historical

CRISPR Gene Therapy Offers Hope for Sickle Cell Patients

By Claretta Bellamy The Food and Drug Administration must decide by Friday whether to approve a new gene-editing therapy to treat sickle cell disease, a debilitating blood disorder that affects at least 100,000 Americans, most of whom are Black. The treatment, called exa-cel, would be the first approved medicine in the U.S. to use the groundbreaking gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter DNA. The new therapy, from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, is, experts say, a stunning advancement in medicine. The treatment, however, also sparks mixed feelings among both Black sickle cell patients and doctors, who are concerned about potential side effects, costs and

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