by Josh Peterson Urban News Service BRIDGETON, Mo. – Outside Ferguson, Missouri, another issue burns. This time, it’s environmental. An underground fire smolders toward radioactive waste tied to the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This subterranean inferno threatens to sicken area residents, just 10 miles from the site of the controversial, police-involved death […]
Ferguson – One Year Later
By Jazelle Hunt NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — It’s been one year since the murder of Michael Brown galvanized the Ferguson, Mo. community and forced the nation to face the horrors of police violence. And as the activist slogan asserts, the ensuing protests have become a movement, not just a moment. “One of the […]
Talking about Tony: How Schools Here and in Ferguson are Helping Students Deal with Recent Deaths
By Jen Anderson May 22, 2015 In response to the recent shooting of young Tony Robinson earlier this year, students in the Madison area are finding a safe haven to share their voices and emotions without stepping outside the walls of their schools. In an announcement at a news conference last […]
Time to End Mass Incarceration
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., NNPA Columnist April 24, 2015 Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., NNPA Columnist Mass incarceration in the United States is counterproductive and disproportionately causes a long-term injury to Black Americans and others who remain trapped in poverty and disillusionment. How is it that the richest nation on earth and […]
Counting the Victims of Police Violence
By Jazelle Hunt, NNPA Washington Correspondent April 17, 2015 Attorney General Holder cited lack of U.S. data tracking use of force against and by police. Credit: Department of Justice “Particularly in the Midwest, and then a little bit in the South, there really are hotbeds for police violence.” WASHINGTON, D.C. […]
Police Deny Using Excessive Force in Ferguson Suspect Arrest
By Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press March 20, 2015 CLAYTON, MISSOURI (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — A spokesman says allegations that St. Louis County police used excessive force when arresting a man accused of shooting two officers in Ferguson are “completely false.” Defense attorney Jerryl Christmas on Monday suggested police may have roughed up […]
Ferguson, MO Police Chief Resigns
By Jim Salter, Associated Press March 13, 2015 In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson releases the name of the officer accused of fatally shooting Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. On Friday, March 6, 2015, Jackson is still on the job, two days after a government report criticized his […]
Anniversary of Selma March Rekindles Ferguson Comparisons
By Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press March 13, 2015 In this March 13, 1965 file photo, a line of police officers hold back demonstrators who attempted to march to the courthouse in Selma, Ala. Police kept the demonstrators hemmed up in a square block area where they attempted several times to break through. (AP […]
Police Killings Underscore Need for Reform
By Freddie Allen, NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent February 13, 2015 People participate in a protest in response to the grand jury’s decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the video taped chokehold death […]
The larger Issue Ignored
By Srijan Sen January 23, 2015 Every now and then a nation experiences dramatic social change due to internal or external conflict. Countries like Russia, France, South Africa, Germany, India and China have gone through historical change through public introspection and overhaul of domestic and foreign policy. Smaller nations currently undergoing sociopolitical change […]