Social Movements & the Law

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A former East Liverpool police officer filed a civil rights suit Monday in federal court, alleging the city and department fired him for reporting on misconduct by fellow officers to the FBI.

The U.S. Department of Justice is opposing a bipartisan panel's proposal to curtail federal judges' ability to impose longer prison sentences on criminal defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted at trial.

The case offers a glimpse into the ways housing assessments are riddled with systemic racism, exacerbating inequalities

Former East Liverpool police officer Christopher Green has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against the City of East Liverpool, the city’s administration and multiple police officers. The lawsuit, filed March 6, alleges Green was wrongfully fired from his position as retaliation against him for reporting on the alleged misconduct of fellow officers […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is reviewing its policies on housing transgender inmates in the federal prison system after protections for transgender prisoners were rolled back in the Trump administration, The Associated Press has learned.

In 1972, the former Black Panther was facing the death penalty. Five decades after the campaign for her release went global, she still believes people are the ‘motors of history’

Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed an executive order banning racial discrimination based on a person’s hair in Arizona

Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition points to a lack of racial diversity among staff at victims' services organizations

Kimberly Latrice Jones is an American author and filmmaker, known for the New York Times bestselling young adult novel, I'm Not Dying With You Tonight and for the viral video How Can We Win published during the George Floyd protest. The book was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award in 2020. That same year, a seven-minute video featuring Kim using a Monopoly analogy to explain the history of racism and its impact on Black Americans went viral, being shared by Trevor Noah, LeBron James, Madonna, and more. The viral video was featured on shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. She has subsequently signed an overall deal with Warner Brothers via her production company Push Films with her partner DeWayne “Duprano” Martin. Kim's literary roots run deep. She served on the Selection Committee for Library of Congress' 2016-2017 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, the 2015 Children’s Choice Illustrator Committee for The Children's Book Council, and the advisory board that created the Creative and Innovative Education Master’s Degree program at Georgia State University. She has been featured in Ms. Magazine, Seventeen, Paste Magazine, Bustle, Hello Giggles, Book List, Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, and was Book Brahmin in an issue of Shelf Awareness. She received one of the inaugural James Patterson Holiday Bookseller Bonus grants while working at the famous children’s bookstore, Little Shop of Stories. Most recently, Kim’s bestselling novel, I’m Not Dying With You Tonight, co-authored with Gilly Segal, was nominated for an NAACP Image award, Georgia Author Of The Year award, and the Cybils Awards. I’m Not Dying With You Tonight was selected as the September 2019 book club pick for the Barnes & Noble YA book club and Overdrive’s Big Library Read.She resides in Atlanta and is the proud mother of a gifted boy. She lives for wigs and nail art, as her style icons are Dolly Parton, Chaka Khan, and Diana Ross.

Roark Capital and Silver Lake Management have a web of connections to the Atlanta police foundation, Cop City and surveillance in the city

The medical schools in Tucson and Phoenix are engaged in several efforts related to recruitment, retention, mentoring, faculty development, curriculum, culture and more.

The bill would create the first-ever civil rights division inside the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.

(Reuters) - Descendants of Louisiana slaves sued their local government on Tuesday over land-use policies they say have led to a concentration of polluting

LGBTQ activists have conflicting ideas on how best to observe Pride this year, but all say the protests' missions parallel struggles for LGBTQ rights.

"Illinois could soon become the first state to bar police from lying to minors during interrogations a tactic advocates say significantly increases the risk of false confessions."

Tyre Nichols is one of hundreds of people who were killed by police after a traffic stop. Here's why the routine encounters escalate into violence.

Asian Americans are calling on political leaders and law enforcement to address growing concerns over coronavirus-related racial attacks.

"Survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre described on Wednesday how the violence tore their lives and community apart 100 years ago and they urged a U.S. House subcommittee to help secure justice and financial compensation."

A half-dozen corrections agencies provide less detail than they did a year ago.

The deaths of Layleen Polanco and Tony McDade highlight how Black trans Americans are treated and criminalized.

On December 20th, Michigan-based family medicine physician Dr. Susan Moore died due to complications from COVID-19. Less than two weeks before her death, Moore shared her experience with racism at the Indiana hospital where she was being treated, showing yet another example of anti-Blackness and medical apartheid.

Lawmakers, local officials and public health professionals took to Massachusetts' State House's steps. "This is not an Asian-American virus, this is not a Chinese virus."

In this episode, Mike talks about race, both in America generally and the legal system specifically. He uses the story of Italian internment in World War II to explore the idea of "otherness." Out of preferences and perceptions, as well as a history of identifying white culture with professionalism, the legal industry has created a context that's hostile to African Americans. Resolving that distance will only come after first owning our ugly history.   Episode Resources Connect with Mike Whelan    White Lawyering by Russell G Pearce:   Why the US Needs Black Lawyers:   Police killings can be captured in data. The terror police create cannot.   Thomas Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehavior:  

Public officials lament the way that the coronavirus is engulfing black communities. The question is, what are they prepared to do about it?

“Listen In” to Allison Manswell as she talks with Vanessa Kelly about her impactful book on race relations: “Listen In: Crucial Conversations on Race in the Workplace,” its relevance today, and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents typically say a few words before they turn legislation into law. But Joe Biden flipped the script Tuesday when it came time to put his signature on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act.

Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it’s an old story. Why? Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for? Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into these questions, along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017. The series editor is Loretta Williams.

Lawmakers and activists are cautiously optimistic that the massive, sustained protest movement in the wake of George Floyd's death could bring major reforms that they have long pushed for.

How well do you really know George Washington? If you’re picturing wooden teeth and a cherry tree, you will want to tune in for a conversation with…

The U.S. Senate still must pass the CROWN Act before it can be approved by President Biden.