Race

National

Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His Famous 'Fourth Of July' Speech

8:30pm July 03, 2020

Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago.

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Washington NFL Team Announces It Will Review Its Name

4:03pm July 03, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Kevin Blackistone, a sports commentator and a professor at the University of Maryland, about the Washington NFL team announcing Friday that it will review its name.

A Stonewall Jackson statue is loaded on a truck after being removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday.

National

Revisiting Sacred Cows: Which Figures From History Do We Honor, And How?

10:54am July 03, 2020

by Melissa Block

Statues have been taken down; names scrubbed from institutions. The national reckoning over race has reenergized debates over historical figures and the scrutiny goes beyond Confederate monuments.

Timothy Berry (left) Madea Moore and Jonathan Horton

For Some Black Americans, Love Of Country Means Holding It Accountable

8:07am July 03, 2020

by Juana Summers

For many African Americans, patriotism is complicated because the promises of America aren't fulfilled equally. The Fourth of July brings a challenge: reconciling national pride with systemic racism.

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A general view of FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

Sports

Washington NFL Team's Sponsor FedEx Formally Asks For Team Name Change

11:14pm July 02, 2020

by Scott Neuman

FedEx, which paid $205 million in 1999 for the naming rights to the Redskins' stadium, says it has "communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name."

A demonstrator makes the OK hand gesture believed to have white supremacist connotations during the End Domestic Terrorism rally in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 17, 2019.

Reformed Neo-Nazi Discusses President Trump's Controversial Shared Tweet

9:57pm July 02, 2020

by Christianna Silva

NPR's Noel King speaks with Christian Picciolini, a reformed neo-Nazi skinhead, about what extremists may have heard when the president retweeted a video of an alleged supporter yelling "white power."

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On June 14, an estimated 15,000 people gathered in Brooklyn to rally for Black trans lives in the Brooklyn Liberation march.

What Happened For Black Transgender People When Police Protests And Pride Converged

6:58pm July 02, 2020

Imara Jones, the founder of TransLash Media, talks about Black trans issues in the wake of LGBTQ Pride intersecting with protests against police violence.

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National

Black Journalists Weigh In On A Newsroom Reckoning

4:14pm July 02, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with three Black journalists about the internal reckoning underway in newsrooms across the country and the push to better represent Black voices on staff and in news coverage.

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How A Black Repairman's Conversation With His White Client Touched The Nation

8:43am July 02, 2020

South Carolina repairman Ernest Skelton talked to Caroline Brock about racism at an appointment. Her post about it went viral. David Greene spoke with Skelton, who is Black, and Brock, who is white.

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Push To Remove Confederate Monuments Opens Debate On Other Honored Historical Figures

7:33am July 02, 2020

by Melissa Block

Statues have been taken down. Names are being scrubbed from institutions. The national reckoning over race has led to closer scrutiny of which figures from history we honor, and how.

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