Race

National

Navajo Nation Asks Trump To Commute Death Sentence Of Native Man Facing Execution

2:57pm August 11, 2020

by Camila Domonoske

The U.S. government plans to execute Lezmond Mitchell, who killed two people on a Navajo reservation. Tribal leaders, citing Navajo beliefs that life is sacred, don't want him to be executed.

Books
Arts

'Caste' Argues Its Most Violent Manifestation Is In Treatment Of Black Americans

3:34pm August 10, 2020

by Hope Wabuke

Isabel Wilkerson's second book is a masterwork of writing — a profound achievement of scholarship and research that stands also as a triumph of both visceral storytelling and cogent analysis.

National

The Only Black Pastor In Town Wasn't Invited To A Black Lives Matter March

10:50am August 10, 2020

by Laura Palmisano

Lake City, Colo., had great turnout for their BLM march — 50 of the town's 400 residents. One problem: Nobody invited the town's only Black spiritual leader and his family.

Queue Listen Now

A makeshift memorial at the All Black Lives Matter Solidarity March on June 14, in Los Angeles.

National

Black Activist Burnout: 'You Can't Do This Work If You're Running On Empty'

9:24am August 10, 2020

by Christianna Silva

National attention on the fight for racial justice may wane, but many protesters are still staging rallies and marches. How do they fight the system while combating their own burnout?

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Immigrants May Miss Out On Voting Amid Naturalization Delays

11:58am August 09, 2020

by Shannon Dooling

The federal agency that naturalizes U.S. citizens is dealing with budget cuts, backlogs, and possible furloughs. People who won't become citizens before November won't be able to vote.

Queue Listen Now

LaToya Ruby Frazier speaks from the TED stage.

LaToya Ruby Frazier: What Is The Human Cost Of Toxic Water And Environmental Racism?

5:01pm August 07, 2020

by NPR/TED Staff

Flint, Michigan is the site of one of the worst ongoing water crises in recent U.S. history. Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier has spent years capturing the stories of life living with toxic water.

Queue Listen Now

'Not A Person Whatsoever': Michigan County Official Defends Use Of N-Word

4:46pm August 07, 2020

by Bill Chappell

A local road commissioner is defending his use of the N-word — by repeatedly using the slur, and insisting that it does not imply he is a racist. State and local officials are urging his resignation.

A billboard with a photo of Breonna Taylor, sponsored by O, The Oprah Magazine, is on display on Friday in Louisville, Ky. It's one of 26 billboards going up across the city demanding arrests in her shooting death.

National

Oprah Winfrey Commissions 26 Billboards Demanding Arrests In Breonna Taylor's Killing

3:11pm August 07, 2020

by Alana Wise

The billboards will be placed across Louisville, Ky., where Taylor was shot and killed in her apartment by police. The signs' message urges the arrest of the officers involved.

Beyoncé puts a conversation about Africa on the front line with her visual album Black Is King, which premiered on Disney+.

Opinion: We Are Africans. Here's Our View Of Beyoncé's 'Black Is King'

1:51pm August 07, 2020

Esther Ngumbi, a professor from Kenya, and Ifeanyi Nsofor, a doctor in Nigeria, react to the megastar's movie-length music video — and to criticism from other Africans.

Legal scholar Kelsey Leonard speaks from the TED stage.

Kelsey Leonard: How Did We Lose Our Connection To Water?

9:08am August 07, 2020

by NPR/TED Staff

Kelsey Leonard was taught we are born with a deep connection to water and a duty to protect it. But today, she says, most of us have lost that connection—and the world is suffering because of it.

Queue Listen Now