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From the perspective of those who care about Native safety and sovereignty, the Trump administration’s decision to remove the congressionally mandated Not One More Report is profoundly troubling. The report, created under the Not Invisible Act of 2020 and based on more than 250 testimonies, was designed to “provide tribes with solutions” to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people and educate the public about an “epidemic of violence against Native women, Native p

Justice has finally caught up to a case that should have never stolen 21 years of Ralph Blaine Smith’s life. This week, the state of Ohio approved a $1.3 million settlement acknowledging the wrongful imprisonment of the Columbus man, who spent more than two decades behind bars for a home invasion and robbery that “perhaps never occurred.” While the compensation marks a formal recognition of harm, it cannot restore birthdays missed, family milestones lost, or the simple dignit

Maryland's Independent Investigations Division (IID) was established to bring accountability to police-involved fatalities. Instead, it has become a case study in institutional opacity. Of 39 completed investigations, charges have been brought in just two cases, one of which was dismissed, raising serious questions about whether the office is genuinely committed to transparency or merely performing it. The death of Dontae Melton Jr. crystallizes these concerns. Melton, experi

Jade Jones, a 17-year-old student from Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, attended the Know Your Rights Camp in Los Angeles and found the finance session especially impactful. As she prepares for college, lessons on credit, budgeting, and long-term planning stood out, along with access to a free financial workshop via QR code. Jade, who aspires to become a director, values storytelling as a way to amplify overlooked voices. She believes the camp equips yo

The Alabama Supreme Court has issued a troubling 6-3 ruling that dramatically expands police authority to demand identification, a decision that sets a chilling precedent for civil liberties across the state. The case centers on Michael Jennings, a Black pastor arrested in 2022 simply for watering his neighbors flowers while they were on vacation. Officers were called because a neighbor reported seeing an "unfamiliar car" and a "young Black male" near a property. When police

Tennessee Republicans, backed by the Heritage Foundation, are advancing legislation that would strip undocumented children of their constitutional right to a public education, a right enshrined since the 1982 Supreme Court ruling Plyler v. Doe. The bills would not only allow schools to deny enrollment to undocumented students, but would transform teachers and administrators into immigration informants, surveilling the very children they are meant to protect. The human cost is

Twenty-five-year-old Jasmin Lomas joined a Downtown Los Angeles protest against ICE and left with metal fragments embedded in her face. Three weeks later, she is still living with physical and emotional trauma after being struck by what her attorney believes was an indelible paint bullet fired by police, hitting her “just centimeters below her eye.” From her account, she was not engaging in violence but exercising her right to protest a federal immigration agency many believe

At Howard University, "The Mecca," the most prominent HBCU in the world,  protest is not incidental to the institution's identity. It is foundational. That's why the recent change to pregame protocols for the women's basketball team cuts so deeply. The situation echoes Colin Kaepernick's original 2016 kneeling protest against police brutality from which they initially took inspiration from. For six consecutive seasons, Howard's women's hoops program has knelt during the natio

For generations, Black farmers in America have faced a quiet but devastating force working against them: the USDA's county committee system. Hidden from public view and rooted in the discriminatory foundations of the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act, these committees hold enormous power over who gets loans, disaster assistance, and access to federal programs, and they have long used that power to exclude Black farmers. Shirley Sherrod, a civil rights activist and former USDA

At just 10 years old, Honey Cooper is already redefining what’s possible for young scholars in San Bernardino. A fourth grader at Kimbark Elementary School, Honey is simultaneously enrolled at San Bernardino Valley College,  a rare and remarkable achievement that has her community beaming with pride. “I go to Kimbark Elementary School and Valley College,” Honey said with confidence, casually describing a reality that sets her apart in the most inspiring way. Like many childre

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has taken the deeply troubling step of personally blocking the promotions of at least six high-ranking military officers,  including two Black men and two women on track to become one-star generals, with a Black colonel and a female colonel from a separate branch also removed from promotion lists. This intervention represents a dangerous and potentially illegal intrusion into a process designed to be insulated from political interference. Wha

DeMari Wilson, a 14-year-old student from Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, attended the Know Your Rights Camp in Los Angeles and proudly called Colin Kaepernick his “GOAT.” His favorite session focused on financial empowerment, where he heard from a speaker who rose from poverty to become a multimillionaire; proof that success is possible for children of color. DeMari also won the camp scavenger hunt, taking home prizes including a limited-edition all-b

Six years after Breonna Taylor was shot dead in her own home, the pursuit of accountability for those responsible has been quietly buried. Federal prosecutors have moved to dismiss charges against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany,  the two officers who falsified the warrant that sent police crashing through Taylor's door on the night of March 13, 2020. The decision, filed "in the interest of justice," represents a profound betrayal of that very princi

In a landmark moment for advocates of reparatory justice, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity." The resolution, proposed by Ghana, passed with 123 votes in favour,  a powerful affirmation that the international community is ready to confront one of history's darkest chapters. The scale of the crime demands this recognition. Between 1500 and 1800, an estimated 12–15 million Africans wer

Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas presents itself as a progressive, open facility,  a minimum-security campus where women move freely, attend work programs, and begin rebuilding their lives. It is, according to a damning investigation by The Marshall Project and NBC News, nothing of the sort. What emerges from the testimony of eight women and multiple whistleblowers is a portrait of systematic predation, institutional cowardice, and calculated silence. Staff members exploite

The Trump administration scored another legal victory in its systematic dismantling of immigrant rights Wednesday, as the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government can continue detaining immigrants indefinitely,  without bond. The decision represents a significant escalation in what critics see as a deliberate campaign to weaponize the courts against immigrant communities. The ruling overturned a lower court decision protecting Joaquin Herrera Avila, a Mexic

Florida's Board of Governors has enacted one of the most consequential attacks on social science education in recent memory, voting to ban introductory sociology from general-education requirements across all 12 public universities,  a decision with profound implications for how students understand communities of color. The move, championed by Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, rests on the claim that sociology has become "ideologically captured" and is now "social and political advoc

Bryan Bostic, a 37-year-old Black man, is dead — and the Inglewood Police Department wants the public to wait for answers. His family refuses to. Bostic died on March 10 after being detained during a late-night traffic stop at the corner of Hillcrest and Nutwood. He had been on his way to visit his girlfriend at Gardena Memorial Hospital when officers pulled him over around 9:30 p.m. What followed is a story his family is still desperately trying to piece together, because th

In a stunning legal filing that flies in the face of everything policing is supposed to stand for, New York City attorneys have argued that the NYPD has absolutely no constitutional obligation to protect a woman being attacked by a mob. The claim came in response to Amanda Luci's lawsuit, which alleges officers stood by while a large group of young men and boys surrounded her, threatened her with sexual assault, and threw objects at her outside a Crown Heights synagogue in Ap

For Black women and girls, hair extensions are far more than a style choice,  they are a cultural staple. Yet a disturbing new study from the Silent Spring Institute reveals that these everyday products may be quietly poisoning the very people who rely on them most. Research scientist Elissia Franklin led the study, which tested a wide range of hair extensions,  from synthetic braiding hair to human hair weaves, clip-ins, sew-ins, and even eyelash extensions. The results were