Civil Rights Movements & the Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are setting up a task force to study and make recommendations for reparations to African Americans, particularly the descendants of slaves, as the nation struggles again with civil rights and unrest following the latest shooting of a Black man by police...

Central to the idea of the American Dream lies an assumption that we all have an equal opportunity to generate the kind of wealth that brings meaning to the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” boldly penned in the Declaration of Independence. The American Dream portends that with hard work, a person can own a home, start a business, and grow a nest egg for generations to draw upon. This belief, however, has been defied repeatedly by the United States government’s own decrees that denied wealth-building opportunities to Black Americans. Today, the average white family has roughly 10 times the amount of wealth as the average Black family. White college graduates have over seven times more wealth than Black college graduates. Making the American Dream an equitable reality demands the same U.S. government that denied wealth to Blacks restore that deferred wealth through reparations to their descendants in the form of individual cash payments in the amount that will close the Black-white racial wealth divide. Additionally, reparations should come in the form of wealth-building opportunities that address racial disparities in education, housing, and business ownership

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers — and the anger, rioting and violence that it continues to trigger — has turned a political hot potato into an open wound and a pressing need.

House panel backs legislation to examine slavery and discrimination since 1619, and recommend education and remedies

A House Judiciary subcommittee will host a hearing Wednesday to discuss the creation of a commission that would explore reparations for Black Americans, an idea long floated in Congress that has ga…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — For Brown University students, the Ivy League college's next step in its yearslong quest to atone for its legacy of slavery is clear: Pay up. Nearly two decades after the Providence, Rhode Island, institution launched its much-lauded reckoning, undergraduate students this spring voted overwhelmingly for the university to identify the descendants of slaves that worked on campus and begin paying them reparations.

Decades ago, in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Cordelia Clark ran a restaurant out of her kitchen and parked cabs for her taxi company in her backyard because Black residents were effectively barred from owning or renting storefronts in town.

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The first Black police chief in Waterloo, Iowa, is facing intense opposition from some current and former officers as he works with city leaders to reform the department, including the removal of its longtime insignia that resembles a Ku Klux Klan dragon.

Bard College, a private liberal arts college, is geared towards students interested in advocacy and will allow former inmates to enroll in the Bard Prison Initiative to pursue higher education.

Some of the country's top CEOs and tech executives shared their reactions to the Derek Chauvin verdict on Twitter, Facebook and in letters to employees.

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones says 250 years of slavery and 100 years of legalized segregation robbed Black Americans of the ability to accumulate wealth; cash payments would help repair the damage.

From remote reference to technology access, libraries across the country are providing a range of services for people and families affected by incarceration.

The Intercept mapped climate crisis risks for over 6,500 detention facilities in the U.S.

The long-term goal is fundamentally to reimagine how the state serves its citizens in the project of public safety.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington, D.C., government has struck a deal with the U.S. Marshals Service to improve the situation at the city's main jail after it came under criticism and the Justice Department announced that 400 federal prisoners would be transferred out because of substandard conditions.

The Chicago Police Department has taken steps to end the 15-year ordeal of a man who alleges he has been detained more than 60 times on the belief he was the man named in a southern Illinois arrest warrant, a lawyer for city said Monday.

Wesley Bell’s decision not to charge the officer who killed Michael Brown exposes the limits of the movement to elect reform prosecutors.

The Intercept mapped climate risks for 6,500 detention facilities. In some already miserable places, the suffering is set to intensify.

On the latest episode of Intercepted, historian Simon Balto discussed his new book and the origins of Chicago police as a moralistic enforcement agency.

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The extrajudicial killings of black people must stop.

The plaintiffs say cyanide gas executions are unconstitutional and bring back horrendous memories of the Holocaust.

In June, Democrats passed a measure to limit qualified immunity, with support from moderates who’ve since spoken out against the “defund” message.

Court records in an arson case show that Google gave away data on people who searched for a specific address.

Insurance companies have spent $17 million to defeat proposals to weaken or abolish the for-profit bail industry in the United States, a system that brings insurers $15 billion in business a year, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign contributions, company financial...

SEATTLE (AP) — Isaiah Obet was behaving erratically and in mental distress in 2017 when Auburn police officer Jeff Nelson ordered his police dog to attack and then shot Obet in the torso. Obet fell to the ground and Nelson fired again, fatally shooting Obet in the head.

Anyone can access portions of a web portal used by law enforcement to request customer data from Amazon, even though the portal is supposed to require a verified email address and password. Amazon’s law enforcement request portal allows police and federal agents to submit formal requests for customer data along with a legal order, like […]

Scholars who study policing explain what they have found that could help reduce police prejudice and violence.

Tyre Nichols died after he was beaten by police at a traffic stop. Campaign Zero has previously revealed research-backed ways to curb such violence.