Race

Justin J. Pearson stands with state Rep. Gloria Johnson during a rally in Memphis, Tenn., before a vote to reinstate him to the Tennessee House on April 12, 2023.

Both Black Tennessee lawmakers have been reinstated after being expelled by GOP

8:12pm April 12, 2023

by Bill Chappell

Less than a week after Republicans expelled him from the state House after leading a protest in the legislature calling for gun law reforms, Justin J. Pearson gets his seat back.

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Rep. Chu warns anti-China rhetoric could open the door to xenophobia

5:08pm April 12, 2023

There's increasingly bipartisan consensus that China represents a threat to the U.S. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., about why some anti-China rhetoric worries her.

A mural marking Black Wall Street, also called the Greenwood District, in Tulsa, Okla. The Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 devastated Black Wall Street and claimed some 300 African American lives.

National

Tulsa Race Massacre investigators say they've sequenced DNA from 6 possible victims

3:08pm April 12, 2023

by Scott Neuman

The work is part of a years-long effort to get an accurate count of how many people were killed when a white mob decimated the city's prosperous Greenwood enclave, leaving upward of 300 people dead.

The USS Chancellorsville has been renamed the USS Robert Smalls, to honor the enslaved man who stole a Confederate battleship in the Civil War and delivered to the Union forces, loaded with weapons. The USS Robert Smalls is shown here off the Japanese island of Iwo To, on its way to honor the fallen service members of the World War II battle of Iwo Jima.

National

A Navy ship named for a Confederate victory now honors a Black Union hero

10:14am April 12, 2023

by Quil Lawrence

The Navy has renamed the USS Chancellorsville, a name honoring a Confederate victory, to the USS Robert Smalls, after an enslaved man who escaped the South by stealing a Confederate steamship.

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Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville gestures during a vote on his expulsion from the state legislature at the State Capitol Building on April 6, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn. Monday, the Nashville Metro Council voted to temporarily reinstate Jones to House District 52.

Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones returns to Capitol after Nashville Council reinstates him

11:32pm April 10, 2023

by Cynthia Abrams

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, who was expelled from the state House last week alongside former Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, was reinstated to his seat Monday on an interim basis.

Irish artist Pan Cooke combines his love of graphic storytelling with a passion for education and advocacy to create comic strips highlighting prominent cases of police violence. Here, one of his latest strips tells the story of the beating death of Tyre Nichols, who died on Jan. 7 in Memphis, Tenn.

Why a portrait artist from Ireland started making comics about U.S. police brutality

9:05pm April 10, 2023

by Jonathan Franklin

Ireland-based artist Pan Cooke creates cartoons summarizing the world's daily news in comics, highlighting how prevalent police brutality and hate crimes are across the U.S.

Whitney Mitchell (center), Garrett Foster's fiancée, leads a march for Foster in July of 2020, after Foster was shot and killed at a Black Lives Matter protest. Sgt. Daniel Perry has been found guilty of murdering Foster — but Gov. Greg Abbott wants to pardon Perry.

National

What to know as Gov. Abbott pushes to pardon a man who was just convicted of murder

2:16pm April 10, 2023

by Bill Chappell

Sgt. Daniel Perry hasn't been sentenced in the killing of Garrett Foster. But the pardons board is already starting to review his case, at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's request.

Religion

Bishop T.D. Jakes on investing in Black communities

8:02am April 09, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Bishop T.D. Jakes about investing in Black communities and ministering not only from the pulpit but also as an entrepreneur.

A freeway sign over Interstate 5 in Los Angeles flashes a message about a child abduction as part of the statewide Amber Alert program in August 2002. California state Sen. Steven Bradford has proposed a bill to create a special "Ebony Alert" system for missing Black women, girls and youth in the state.

National

A California bill would create an alert system for missing Black women and youth

5:01am April 08, 2023

by Jonathan Franklin

A proposed "Ebony Alert" system, similar to an Amber or Silver alert, would inform people of missing Black children and young women. The plan aims to bring attention to these often overlooked groups.

What the expulsion of Black lawmakers in Tennessee reveals about race and democracy

5:34pm April 07, 2023

by Sandhya Dirks

Tennessee's Republican-led House voted to expel the two Black Democratic lawmakers who led a raucous protest from the House floor calling for gun law reforms. Their one White colleague was saved.

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