Race

Former North Charleston, S.C., police Officer Michael Slager, seen leaving the Charleston County Courthouse after his murder trial ended in a mistrial in December 2016, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal civil rights violation.

National

Former S.C. Police Officer Pleads Guilty In Shooting Of Walter Scott

5:05pm May 02, 2017

by Laurel Wamsley

Michael Slager pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge for using excessive force in attempting to arrest Scott in 2015. As part of the plea deal, the state will drop a pending murder charge.

Rosa Parks' "Featherlite Pancakes" recipe calls for peanut butter.

National

Rosa Parks' Pancake Recipe Helps Us See The Human Side Of A Hero

11:03am May 02, 2017

by Dan Pashman

Parks jotted the recipe down on the back of an envelope. A Library of Congress curator says "this recipe is quintessentially African-American."

The State of Black America report looked at some of the progress — and setbacks — that have affected black and Latino Americans in the past year.

The Fine Print In The 'State of Black America' Report

11:01am May 02, 2017

by Nick Chiles

This year's "State of Black America" report took the unusual step of warning that the organization now has a new priority: protecting areas of progress from retrenchment during the next few years.

Gilbert Monterrosa was 15 years old (left, from his high school yearbook in 1992) during the Los Angeles Riots. He and some friends decided to loot a Fedco department store where he found something unexpected — Nirvana's album, Nevermind.

'Aggressive Yet Sublime': A Looter, Nirvana And The Los Angeles Riots

8:24am May 02, 2017

Gilbert Monterrosa was 15 years old during the 1992 riots. He and some friends decided to loot a Fedco department store where he found something unexpected — Nirvana's album, Nevermind.

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The Modern Newsroom Is Stuck Behind The Gender And Color Line

2:55pm May 01, 2017

by Tal Abbady

As newsgathering and reporting intensify, diversity, inclusion and representation appear to have flatlined in the last decade.

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W. Kamau Bell performs at Vulture Festival Comedy Night in New York City in 2014.

Books
Arts

W. Kamau Bell's 'Awkward Thoughts' On Racism And Black Comedy

2:28pm May 01, 2017

by Terry Gross

Feeling out of place is a fact of life for Bell, who describes himself as a "black and proud ... mama's boy." He celebrates his outsider status in the new memoir The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell.

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National

The Los Angeles Riots, Race And Journalism

7:56am April 30, 2017

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with reporter Amy Alexander about covering the LA riots, and Errin Whack of The Associated Press about how the media covers race now and what's changed in 25 years.

Two reconstructed buildings stand in the former Manzanar War Relocation Center. Once, 10,046 people were imprisoned here.

Walking In Their Footsteps At A Former Japanese Internment Camp

4:01am April 29, 2017

by Melissa Hung

"I wanted to see Manzanar with my own eyes, so that my understanding of history might feel deeper through the experience of place."

After L.A. Riots, Leaders Failed To Rebuild A Broken City

4:31pm April 28, 2017

by Sonari Glinton

The destruction from the 1992 Los Angeles riots resulted in more than $1 billion in damaged property and city leaders began to rebuild as the city was still in flames. But the project to fix the city, Rebuild LA, ultimately failed to do just that — rebuild.

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National

Despite Racial Motive, Judge Allows Alabama City To Secede From School District

4:31pm April 28, 2017

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Emma Brown, an education reporter for The Washington Post, about the federal court judge's ruling on Monday allowing a city to leave an Alabama school district under desegregation orders. The judge said, even though she believes the motivation is racial, she will allow it to separate under certain conditions.

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