Race

Billionaire Robert F. Smith Pledges To Repay Loans For 2019 Morehouse College Class

5:45pm May 20, 2019

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with American University professor Ibram X. Kendi about billionaire investor Robert F. Smith's pledge to the Morehouse College class of 2019 to repay their student loans.

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John Stokes, a student protester during the civil rights movement in the 1950's, speaks at a press conference in Richmond, Va., in 2004. As a high school senior in 1951, Stokes was one of the leaders of a student strike, protesting conditions at the all-b

Education

65 Years After Brown v. Board of Education: 'It's Never Going To Be Easy'

12:47pm May 17, 2019

by Jessica Yarmosky

Friday marks 65 years since the Supreme Court delivered its ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. NPR's David Greene talks to John A. Stokes, one of the student plaintiffs.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress. She has been the target of criticism and censure for statements regarded as anti-Semitic. Many other prominent black Muslim leaders say her experience is familiar.

American Muslims In Public Life Say They Face Outsize Scrutiny

12:07pm May 15, 2019

by Leila Fadel

Many say the storm of criticism around Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the first black Muslim woman in Congress, is more about who she is than what she says. Her experience is familiar to other Muslim leaders.

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Christopher Darden, (left), is seen in Los Angeles County Superior Court with his now former client Eric Holder. Holder is accused of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle in March.

National

Lawyer Made Famous In O.J. Simpson Trial Steps Away From Nipsey Hussle Case

5:10pm May 11, 2019

by Brakkton Booker

Christopher Darden prosecuted O.J. Simpson. Until Friday, he had been defending the man accused of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle. Darden cited threats to his family adding: "Cowards never change."

National

You Cannot Divorce Race From Immigration, Jose Antonio Vargas Says

6:44am May 08, 2019

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas for a response to a story in The Atlantic, written by David Frum, proposing the U.S. cut legal immigration by half.

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Cellphone footage shot by Sandra Bland and made public Monday night shows her encounter with state Trooper Brian Encinia that led to her arrest in 2015. Days later, Bland was found dead in her jail cell.

National

Sandra Bland's Phone Video Of Her Own Arrest Surfaces, Reviving Calls For New Inquiry

5:13pm May 07, 2019

by Bill Chappell

"Open up the case, period," Bland's sister, Shante Needham, said after seeing a video that Bland made with her cellphone, recording the traffic stop that put her in jail and led to her death.

Reprinted from I Was Their American Dream (copyright 2019 by Malaka Gharib).

Books
Arts

In 'I Was Their American Dream,' It's Culture, Not Color, That Matters

2:05pm April 30, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Even as NPR editor Malaka Gharib makes light of herself in her high-spirited graphical memoir, her wisdom about the power and limits of racial identity is evident in the way she draws.

April is National Poetry Month. From left to right, poets: Kaveh Akbar, Fatimah Asghar, Ada Limon, Hieu Minh Nguyen and Ashley M. Jones.

Books
Arts

A Bouquet Of Poets For National Poetry Month

6:01am April 28, 2019

Looks like this year, April showers brought April flowers. As in, a bouquet of outstanding poets. So stop and smell the roses, my friends.

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Sports

NBA's Lack Of Latino Players

5:14pm April 27, 2019

by Esteban Bustillos

Now that the NBA playoffs are in full swing, there's an element missing: Latino players. Just 2% of NBA players are Latino and that has the league looking for ways to increase the number of Latinos.

Companies Continue To Stumble Over Racially Offensive Advertising Campaigns

5:07pm April 22, 2019

In the wake of a racially-insensitive ad by Ancestry, NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Nikole Hannah-Jones, a race and culture reporter for The New York Times Magazine, about why this keeps happening.

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