Bid to reflect an inclusive modern Britain countered by ‘terribly white’ Buckingham Palace balcony
For many, King Charles III achieved his ambition for a diverse and inclusive coronation, though not everyone agreed.
There were far more black and brown faces in Westminster Abbey than 70 years ago, as would be expected given societal change over Elizabeth II’s reign.
Continue reading...Jaws star went on to defend Laurence Olivier’s performance in blackface in the 1965 adaptation of Othello
Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss has harshly criticized the Oscars’ new diversity and inclusion standards, saying “they make me vomit.”
In an interview with PBS’s Firing Line, the co-star of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller Jaws told host Margaret Hoover that he disagreed with the new set of rules that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has imposed for films to qualify for best picture nominations.
Continue reading...Greens senator says she is ‘drawing a line in the sand’ after One Nation leader told her to ‘piss off back to Pakistan’
Mehreen Faruqi will launch federal court action against Pauline Hanson under the Racial Discrimination Act, after the One Nation founder told the Greens senator to “piss off back to Pakistan” in an ugly social media clash following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Faruqi wants Hanson to make a $150,000 donation to charity and to publish a new tweet saying she had used offensive language. The New South Wales senator said she chose to escalate legal action over the September 2022 tweet after a complaint through the Human Rights Commission was terminated.
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Continue reading...Advocates say it will cast welcome attention on a system mired in scandals of prisoner mistreatment and racial injustice
A United Nations human rights group is touring Los Angeles county jails on Friday, bringing international scrutiny to a detention system criticized for overcrowding, mistreatment and abuse of people with mental illnesses, and conditions described by civil rights groups as “barbaric”.
A panel of experts appointed by the UN human rights council and formed after the murder of George Floyd is visiting LA as part of a two-week trip to cities across the US examining racial justice and police violence. In California, the investigators will meet with families of people killed by police and formerly incarcerated people. They will also enter the LA county jail system, the largest in the country, which is run by the LA sheriff’s department (LASD).
Continue reading...Chart-topping calypso singer who supported US civil rights movement and African initiatives dies of congestive heart failure
Harry Belafonte, the singer, actor and civil rights activist who broke down racial barriers, has died aged 96.
As well as performing global hits such as Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), winning a Tony award for acting and appearing in numerous feature films, Belafonte spent his life fighting for a variety of causes. He bankrolled numerous 1960s initiatives to bring civil rights to Black Americans; campaigned against poverty, apartheid and Aids in Africa; and supported leftwing political figures such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
Continue reading...Calls for police powers to be rolled back in favour of funding for youth services and mental health initiatives
A community-led approach is needed to tackle serious youth violence, such as more funding for youth services and mental health initiatives while rolling back police powers, a report has said.
Education is central to the fight against serious youth violence, which must involve an end to school exclusions and the removal of police from schools, according to Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence.
Continue reading...Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York
A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.
On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.
Continue reading...Shocking messages about beating suspects and making up evidence were found when Antioch officers were investigated
Amid outrage over text messages showing police officers in northern California using racist slurs and bragging about making up evidence and beating suspects, city officials voted to audit the troubled department.
The FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney’s office discovered the shocking messages while investigating officers within the Antioch police department suspected of crimes. Officials have named 17 officers who sent texts, including the president of the Antioch police union, but nearly half the department was included in the messages.
Continue reading...Homeowner, 84, already faces two felonies for shooting Black teen who knocked on wrong door to pick up siblings
A lawyer for the family of Ralph Yarl, the Black 16-year-old who was shot by a white man in Kansas City, Missouri, after ringing his doorbell by mistake, said the case should qualify as a hate crime.
“Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin,” Lee Merritt told the Associated Press.
Continue reading...Cleo Nagbe speaks out after white man charged with Missouri’s equivalent for attempted murder for shooting Ralph Yarl
The mother of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot by a white man after ringing the man’s doorbell, says that her son has been mentally replaying the shooting “over and over”.
Cleo Nagbe says that her son is still facing physical challenges from last week’s attack, when Andrew Lester, a white Kansas City resident, shot Yarl twice, once in the head and once in the arm, after the 16-year-old went to a mistaken address to pick up his siblings.
Continue reading...Residents demand resignations after sheriff and officials recorded discussing desire to murder journalists and lynch Black citizens
A sheriff and several officials of a rural Oklahoma county are under pressure to resign after a local newspaper recorded their racist and expletive-laden conversation about their desire to murder journalists and lynch Black citizens.
Dozens of residents of McCurtain county protested at the sheriff’s office in Idabel on Monday, echoing calls from the Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, and the city’s mayor, Craig Young, for the officials to step down.
Continue reading...White Hart Inn in Grays, which has been the subject of a reported hate crime, daubed with graffiti and has windows damaged
An Essex pub where police confiscated golly dolls has been vandalised with graffiti and damage to five windows occurring early on Sunday morning, police have said.
The incident occurred at about 12.40am at White Hart Inn in Grays. Essex police said they have deployed extra patrols in the area.
Continue reading...Hotel claimed Jerelle Jules was sent out-of-date and incorrect grooming policy banning ‘unusual hairstyles’
A black job applicant who was told his hair was against the employee grooming policy of the Ritz has said an apology he subsequently received from the hotel was “disingenuous and lacklustre”.
Jerelle Jules, 30, from Hammersmith, west London, had made it to the final round of interviews for a position as a dining reservations supervisor at the exclusive London hotel, when he was sent the company’s employee grooming policy.
Continue reading...Benice Ryley plans to display new dolls despite police investigation into an alleged hate crime
The landlady of a pub whose collection of golliwog dolls was confiscated by police has assembled replacements, which she plans to display in defiance of a continuing investigation.
Last week four Essex police officers and a trainee seized all the dolls on show in the White Hart Inn in Grays as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime.
Continue reading...Force rebuffs claim home secretary said they should focus on ‘catching criminals’ after items taken from White Hart Inn in Grays
Essex police have denied being rebuked by Suella Braverman for seizing a collection of golliwog dolls that were on display in a pub.
Officers from the force took several dolls from the White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex, last week as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime reported in February.
Continue reading...GOP-controlled state house voted to expel Black lawmakers Justin Jones and Justin Pearson while sparing Gloria Johnson
Kamala Harris made an urgent trip to Nashville on Friday to meet with two Black Democratic lawmakers expelled from the state legislature for their role in in a peaceful protest calling for gun control in the aftermath of a school massacre, an unprecedented act of retaliation that sparked accusations of overt racism.
The Republican-controlled legislature voted on Thursday to expel representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, but to spare a white Democratic lawmaker, Gloria Johnson, who participated in the same protest but narrowly avoided being kicked out.
Continue reading...Working group member shares Liberal Bridget Archer’s concern Coalition’s no campaign in danger of running ‘adjacent to racist views’
The Coalition’s no campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament will be in danger of running adjacent to racist views, a prominent member of the government’s referendum working group, Prof Marcia Langton, has said.
On Wednesday, the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, ended months of speculation by announcing he will actively campaign against the Indigenous voice referendum, and directing his frontbench to oppose the proposal. Backbenchers will be free to vote according to their conscience.
Continue reading...Originally awarded $130m, which a judge reduced to $15m, plaintiff opted for new trial against the electric vehicle maker
Tesla will pay about $3.2m to a Black former employee after a federal jury in San Francisco ruled the electric-vehicle maker failed to prevent severe racial harassment at its flagship assembly plant in California.
The amount is far less than the $15m that the plaintiff, Owen Diaz, rejected last year in opting for a new trial. Diaz asked for a new trial on damages after the judge reduced the amount he was awarded in a 2021 ruling from $137m to $15m. Diaz accused Tesla of failing to act when he repeatedly complained to managers that employees at the Fremont factory frequently used racist slurs and scrawled swastikas, racist caricatures and epithets on walls and work areas.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak claims victims previously ignored ‘due to cultural sensitivity and political correctness’
Downing Street has denied using dog-whistle generalisations to launch a crackdown on grooming gangs, after the NSPCC and experts warned that framing the issue as one based on ethnicity could hamper efforts to tackle it.
After Suella Braverman said “almost all” members of such gangs were British Pakistani men who held attitudes incompatible with British values, critics pointed to a 2020 Home Office report that concluded it was impossible to say if any particular ethnic group was disproportionately represented in such offending.
Continue reading...Residents of Sparta, Georgia, are trying to stop the Sandersville railroad and its influential owners from building a spur to a quarry
A majority-Black rural community in Georgia is battling to stop a railroad company from seizing private land for a new train line they say will cause environmental and economic harms.
Residents of Sparta, a poor community of 1,300 people located a hundred miles south-east of Atlanta, are opposing the construction of a rail spur that would connect a local quarry to the main train line, enabling the gravel company to vastly expand mining that already causes dust, debris and noise pollution.
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