National News - Page 144

Houston Schools Face State Takeover, Raising Equity Concerns

By Holly Yan The fate of nearly 200,000 American students’ education will soon be controlled not by locally elected leaders but by state-appointed managers yet to be named. The Texas Education Agency said it plans to appoint a board of managers to take over the Houston Independent School District – the largest in Texas and the eighth-largest in the country. The changes will not take effect until at least June 1. The move has raised major concerns among some Houston families – as well as questions about similar takeovers nationwide. Houston doesn’t have the worst schools in the state While Houston ISD is the

Nashville School Shooting: 6 Killed, Shooter Identified

By Nouran Salahieh Police in Nashville are still digging into the background and motivations of a former student who entered a Christian elementary school armed with AR-style weapons and detailed maps and opened fire, killing three children and three adults. If you are just reading in, here’s the latest on the shooting and investigation: The shooter: The person was identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale. Hale was shot and killed by police during the Monday attack, and left behind “drawn out” maps of the Covenant School detailing “how this was all going to take place,” Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. As police work

CA Reparations Task Force: Wealth and Skepticism

By Curtis Bunn As the California Reparations Task Force crafts its recommendations to the state Assembly for a vote by July 1, Fahizah Alim is among the countless Black Californians who have seen generations of change in the country’s most populous state — but are still deeply skeptical that compensation for the centuries of racial oppression will materialize in any substantive form. “Unfortunately, many irrationally see it as a zero-sum game: ‘If we win, then they lose.’ So, I’m not optimistic,” she said. “Hopeful, but not optimistic. Even in liberal California, the status quo runs deep, and that’s white folks on

Randall Robinson, Anti-Apartheid Activist, Dies at 81

By Kaitlyn Radde Randall Robinson, a human rights activist and lawyer known for his advocacy against South African apartheid and for Haitian democracy, died Friday at age 81. He died in St. Kitts, the Caribbean island where he spent the last two decades of his life, of aspiration pneumonia. “He was an incredible father,” said Khalea Ross Robinson, his daughter, who confirmed his death to NPR on Sunday. “He did a lot on behalf of people he hadn’t even met.” Robinson was one of the leaders of the Free South Africa Movement, which began in the 1980s and pushed to end

Report: Black Veterans Face PTSD Benefits Disparities

By Jessica Washington It probably won’t surprise our readers that racial discrimination exists even within ostensibly neutral organizations like the Department of Veterans Affairs. But a newly resurfaced report obtained by NBC News may provide some cold hard evidence. According to NBC News, the report found that Black veterans were more likely to get denied benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder than white veterans. The data reportedly looked at approvals from 2011 and 2016. Black veterans were denied these benefits 57 percent of the time, while white veterans were denied 43 percent of the time. What’s worse, research has found that Black veterans actually suffer higher rates of PTSD. These awards aren’t just

Biden Awards Arts & Humanities Medals to 23 Honorees

By Meagan Vazquez President Joe Biden will award the 2021 National Humanities Medals and the National Medal of Arts at a ceremony for the first time since taking office, according to the White House. The National Medal of the Arts is the highest American award given to artists, art patrons, and groups that have advanced arts in the United States. This year, Biden will honor 12 artists and groups, including actress and producer Mindy Kaling, singer Gladys Knight, and actor and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Other recipients will include legendary performer Bruce Springsteen, “Feliz Navidad” songwriter and singer Jose Feliciano, fashion

San Francisco Backs $5M Reparations Draft for Black Residents

By Taylor Romine A one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident is among recommendations unanimously accepted by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors as part of a draft plan by a panel proposing reparations. The move Tuesday was an intermediate step, with a final report that includes board feedback due in June, the San Francisco African AmericanReparations Advisory Committee said, and the board set to meet again on the issue in September. “Now, the real work continues,” Supervisor Shamann Walton said. “As I’ve said before, we have to stay focused and stay together as a community because now it is 100%

Harriet Tubman Monument Unveiled in Newark’s City Square

By Claretta Bellamy A monument to African American pioneer Harriet Tubman was unveiled in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday, taking over a space where a statue of Christopher Columbus stood until the summer of 2020. During the ceremony in what is now downtown Newark’s Harriet Tubman Square (formerly Washington Park), Mayor Ras J. Baraka explained Newark’s connection with Tubman, who helped  “shepherd folks out of slavery into freedom,” he said. The city, which is now 48% Black and 37% Latino, according to the U.S. Census, was a known stop along the Underground Railroad, which was a network of routes escaped slaves followed

Historic Moment: Three Black Women Lead White House Briefing

By Jessica Washington The White House press briefings have never had so much melanin, and we’re kind of living for it. Karine Jean-Pierre made history last May when she became the first Black person to serve as White House Press Secretary. But she’s not the only Black woman to dominate the White House briefing room. Last week, the podium was graced by three Black women, Jean-Pierre, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Cecilia Rouse. The trio (who are all the first Black women to occupy their positions) presented President Joe Biden’s

Michelle Obama Opens Up on Pressure as First Black FLOTUS

By Shawna Mizelle  Former first lady Michelle Obama said her family felt an enhanced sense of responsibility during their time in the White House as the first Black first family in American history. “It was no accident that the administration was scandal-free. It was no accident that … our children had to show up right in the world. They carried a burden of making sure they weren’t messy, because it wouldn’t have been laughed off. It wouldn’t have been just, ‘Oh, it’s youthful, whatever.’ It would have been some bigger statement about the soul of Black folks,” Obama said in her

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