• The free jazz ensemble known as Black Twitter, and how it became the subject of a new docuseries

    "Black Twitter: A People's History" traces the path that Black Twitter took in becoming an arbiter of cultural shifts time and again.

  • Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Hosts ‘Black Dollar Days,’ Championing Black And Women-Owned Businesses

    Historically Black sororities have partnered with Black and women-owned businesses on Germantown Avenue to participate in “Black Dollar Days.” On Monday, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. held a shopping event to promote Black and women-owned businesses in Philadelphia. One local member of the AKA sorority who attended the event proudly shared her latest purchase. “I stopped at Between Friends,… Continue reading Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Hosts ‘Black Dollar Days,’ Championing Black And Women-Own

  • Harris congratulates HBCU graduates in video message for graduation season

    Graduating students at historically Black colleges and universities across the country are receiving well wishes via a video greeting from a prominent fellow alumna: Vice President Kamala Harris. “As a proud HBCU graduate, I know firsthand the value of attending an institution like yours,” the vice president says in a congratulatory video that has already been met with shock and applause during graduation ceremonies. The surprise video, which has debuted at a handful of HBCU commencement ceremonies in the past week, will appear at around half of all HBCUs in the country, according to the White House.

  • Killing of an airman by Florida deputy is among cases of Black people being shot in their homes

    The fatal shooting of a U.S. Air Force airman at his off-base apartment in the Florida Panhandle by a sheriff's deputy brings to mind other instances of Black people being killed by law enforcement in their own homes as they're going about their day. Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was killed on May 3 in his apartment in Fort Walton Beach. Body camera video viewed by reporters Thursday shows the Okaloosa County deputy arriving at the apartment building and speaking to a woman who described someone hearing an argument.

  • Pennsylvania to ban cell phone use while driving and require police to collect traffic stop data

    Pennsylvania will join the majority of states that ban motorists from handling a cell phone for almost any purpose while driving, as backers of the legislation hope to reduce distracted driving accidents and deaths after nearly two decades of pressing the measure. Gov. Josh Shapiro's office said Thursday that the Democrat will sign the bill, 18 years after he first introduced a similar bill when he served in the state House of Representatives. The bill also includes a provision long-sought by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus as a bulwark against racial profiling.

  • Racial bias did not shape Mississippi's water funding decisions for capital city, EPA says

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it found “insufficient evidence” that racial discrimination shaped decisions made by two Mississippi agencies about water system funding for the state's majority-Black capital city of Jackson. The EPA's Office of External Civil Rights Compliance issued its findings this week about the investigation it started in October 2022 into the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi State Department of Health.

  • The Personal Toll Of Hair Relaxers On Black Women’s Health Is The Focus Of New NBC News Report

    NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt is bringing to light more of the dangers hair relaxers pose to Black women in a new report by correspondent Zinhle Essamuah. In the exclusive clip from Thursday night’s broadcast, Essamuah sits down with several Black women in Atlanta who have used relaxers for decades. These women, along with… Continue reading The Personal Toll Of Hair Relaxers On Black Women’s Health Is The Focus Of New NBC News Report

  • Pinky Cole Surprises Savannah State Grads With $8.75M ‘Entrepreneurial Starter Pack’ During Commencement Speech

    Pinky Cole is giving back to Savannah State University graduates with an $8.75 million “Entrepreneurship Starter Pack.” Cole Cole announced the generous gift as this year’s commencement speaker. There will be $25,000 worth of resources available to each graduate. This was accomplished through a partnership between the Slutty Vegan owner and Operation Hope and One Million Black… Continue reading Pinky Cole Surprises Savannah State Grads With $8.75M ‘Entrepreneurial Starter Pack’ During Commenceme

  • ‘Black Twitter: A People’s History’ Exclusive Highlights The Article Behind The New Hulu Docuseries

    An exclusive featurette for Hulu’s Black Twitter: A People’s History docuseries puts a specific highlight on the article that inspired the project. The three-part docuseries premieres Thursday on Hulu. Based on Jason Parham’s WIRED cover story “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” it follows “the rise, movements, voices and memes that made Black Twitter an… Continue reading ‘Black Twitter: A People’s History’ Exclusive Highlights The Article Behind The New Hulu Docuseries

  • Florida sheriff releases video of deputy shooting Black man in his home

    (Reuters) -A Florida county sheriff on Thursday released body-camera video of a deputy fatally shooting a Black airman who had a handgun at his side in his apartment, after civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, urged officials to release it. The family of the deceased, Roger Fortson, 23, has insisted the deputy, who was investigating a domestic violence complaint, knocked on the wrong door on May 3. The video shows Fortson opening the door and holding a handgun at his side and pointed down.

  • ABC’s Kim Godwin, First Black Woman Head Of A Broadcast News Division, Steps Down After Criticism, Corporate Restructuring

    Kim Godwin announced Sunday to employees at ABC that she is stepping down from leading the network’s news division. Godwin, the first Black woman to head the news division for a major television network, ends her tenure after various forces within and outside the company questioned, doubted and curtailed her leadership.

  • Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in Malmo against Israel's Eurovision participation

    Not everyone in Malmo was welcoming the Eurovision Song Contest to town. Protesters waving green, white, black and red Palestinian flags packed the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall before a planned march through the city for a rally in a park several miles (kilometers) from the Eurovision venue. Chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Israel is a terror state,” the demonstrators set off smoke flares in the Palestinian colors during a noisy, peaceful rally to criticize Israel and call for a cease-fire.

  • How we can bridge the obesity-care gap for Black Americans

    OPINION: It is time to advocate for legislative changes that will ensure every individual has access to life-saving medical treatments for obesity. The post How we can bridge the obesity-care gap for Black Americans appeared first on TheGrio.

  • Body camera video shows fatal shooting of Black airman by Florida deputy in apartment doorway

    A Florida sheriff released body camera video Thursday showing a deputy outside an apartment door and firing immediately when it was opened by a Black man carrying a handgun pointed downward, a killing the family denounced as “unjustifiable.” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden presented the video hours after the family of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson and their attorneys held a news conference in which they disputed that the deputy acted in self-defense. Aden rejected assertions made by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson's family, that the deputy had gone to the wrong apartment, covered the door's peephole and did not announce himself.

  • Country music pioneer Alice Randall gets to the roots of the genre in ‘My Black Country’

    Author Alice Randall, the first Black woman to write a No. 1 country hit, talks Beyoncé, Black country’s Mount Rushmore, […] The post Country music pioneer Alice Randall gets to the roots of the genre in ‘My Black Country’ appeared first on TheGrio.

  • Trump-appointed judges struck down a new Black congressional district. Voters aim to save it

    Louisiana’s attorney general is also appealing to allow new, majority-Black district to stand for November election

  • Florida deputies who fatally shot US airman burst into wrong apartment, attorney says

    Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday. Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the shooting happened on May 3. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.

  • Lawyers' coalition provides new messengers for Black voter engagement

    Young Black lawyers and law students are taking on a new role ahead of the general election: Meeting with Black voters in battleground states to increase turnout and serve as watchdogs against voter disenfranchisement. The Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition has recruited lawyers and law students and is sending them to Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas to meet with Black voters, aiming to better understand the barriers that the historically disadvantaged voting bloc faces when registering to vote and accessing the ballot.

  • New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Apologizes For Saying Black Kids In The Bronx Don’t Know What Computer Means

    Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul drew criticism for her remark about Black children in the Bronx being unfamiliar with the word “computer.”