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Gwen Carr, mother of the late Eric Garner, speaks to the press outside the U.S. attorney's office following a meeting with federal prosecutors on July 16th, 2019, in Brooklyn. The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will not bring federal charges against NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner.

The NYPD Officer Accused of Choking Eric Garner Will Not Be Charged With Civil Rights Violations

The decision came one day before the fifth anniversary of Garner's death and the deadline for the federal government to file charges against the officer.

Social Justice

How Reporting on Anti-Semitism Shapes Public Memory

Reports on anti-Semitism are important not because they act as a warning system to Jewish communities, but in how they remind the public of the dangers of anti-Semitic thought.

Claire Greenstein & Elizabeth Osman

Mourners carry a wreath of flowers at the funeral service for Botham Shem Jean at the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson, Texas, on September 13th, 2018.

Social Justice

Who Gets to Control a Killer’s Story?

On Botham Shem Jean and the American obsession with criminalizing dead black people.

Hanif Abdurraqib

Counter-protesters march from Freedom Plaza to Lafayette Park before the Unite the Right rally on August 12th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

Social Justice

How Washington, D.C., Silenced the Second Unite the Right Rally

An on-the-ground account of how the residents and authorities in our nation's capital dealt with a gathering of white nationalists in their city.

Tanvi Misra & Sarah Holder

poetry books

Education

Why Are More Americans Reading Poetry Right Now?

The NEA reports an increased interest in poetry—but when we focus too much on numbers, we diminish the experience that makes poetry so vital.

Prisons have no incentive to pay inmates better—to the contrary. Unlike workers in the free market, who (theoretically, anyway) can weigh factors like pay, working conditions, and other benefits when deciding where to work, inmates do not have a choice between employers. If they need the money, or the experience, they must take or leave what the prison is offering.

Taking Freedom: Yes, Black America Fears the Police. Here’s Why.

On the historic role of policing in reinforcing racial inequality and how it has led to black Americans' fear of police.

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrate against police brutality in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Social Justice

Racism Declined During the Black Lives Matter Campaign

New research suggests those impassioned rallies and demonstrations may have had a positive impact.

Attorney Brian Panish with image showing gunshot wounds to Stephon Clark in Sacramento, California.

Social Justice

Independent Autopsy Finds That Police Shot Stephon Clark Mostly in the Back

Clark turned out to be unarmed, and his death sparked large protests organized by Black Lives Matter and other groups.

Counter-protesters demonstrate during a White Lives Matter rally on October 28th, 2017, in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

Social Justice

Time for White Allies to Move Past Perfunctory Activism

A local chapter of Black Lives Matter tells white allies to put up or shut up.

Brandon Tensley

Marchers walk through the Homewood neighborhood during the Black Brilliance Collective: March and Gathering in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 19th, 2017.

Social Justice

‘Invisible No More’ Is a Chilling History of Police Violence Against Women of Color

Andrea J. Ritchie's new book offers fresh perspective on how American law enforcement reserves particular abuse for black women.

Brandon Tensley