Category Archives: Race

Michelle O’Neill accuses DUP minister of inflaming racial tensions on social media

Posted on by

Gordon Lyons rejects calls to resign after posting information about leisure centre hours before it was set on fire

Northern Ireland’s first minister has accused a DUP politician of inflaming tensions after a leisure centre in Larne was set on fire.

Gordon Lyons, the communities minister, should “consider his position”, Michelle O’Neill said. Hours before the centre was set on fire by a mob of masked youths on Wednesday, Lyons had posted on social media that the building was being used to accommodate several people who had fled from Ballymena, about 20 miles (32km) away.

Continue reading...

Australian universities hesitate on antisemitism definition amid academic freedom concerns

Posted on by

Peak Jewish groups accuse ANU of making campus ‘unsafe’ after board declines to adopt definition endorsed by Universities Australia

Months after the release of a new definition of antisemitism, a string of Australian universities are yet to adopt it amid concerns it may contravene academic freedom.

The academic board at the Australian National University (ANU) has declined to adopt the definition, paving the way for the university to become the first to reject the policy, while at least 11 other institutions have not yet made a decision.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism

Posted on by

Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’

The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.

The appearance underlines past incidents in which Pinker has encountered criticism for his association with advocates of so-called “human biodiversity”, which other academics have called a “rebranding” of racial genetic essentialism and scientific racism.

Continue reading...

Neo-Nazi group ‘actively seeking to grow in US’ with planned paramilitary training event

Posted on by

The Base is emerging from shadows and ramping up its ranks as White House turns blind eye to the far right

An international neo-Nazi terrorist organization is boldly continuing to build in the US and planning a new paramilitary training event without fear of local authorities or the FBI, which once dismantled it in a nationwide effort.

The Base, founded in 2018 by a former Pentagon contractor living in Russia and now suspected of Kremlin-sponsored espionage, once boasted close to 50 stateside members before the bureau made more than a dozen arrests in a years-long counter-terrorism operation.

Continue reading...

British-Palestinian writer NS Nuseibeh wins Jhalak prose prize for writers of colour

Posted on by

‘Timely’ essay collection explores identity, religion and colonialism as Nathanael Lessore takes children’s and young adult prize and Mimi Khalvati wins for poetry

British-Palestinian writer NS Nuseibeh has won the Jhalak prose prize for writers of colour for a “timely” and “timeless” essay collection, Namesake, which explores identity, religion and colonialism.

The inaugural Jhalak poetry prize went to Mimi Khalvati for a book of collected poems, while the children’s and young adult prize was awarded to Nathanael Lessore for King of Nothing, a teen comedy about an unlikely friendship between two boys.

Continue reading...

Black schoolgirl Child Q strip-searched by Met officers suffered mental harm, hearing told

Posted on by

Girl’s lawyer tells police misconduct hearing that she felt ‘physically violated’ by incident at her London school

A black schoolgirl suffered mental harm and felt “physically violated” when she was strip-searched at school by police, a misconduct hearing for three officers has been told.

The girl, who was 15 at the time and has been known as Child Q, was strip-searched in December 2020 at her school in Hackney, east London, while menstruating, having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis.

Continue reading...

Brazil: outcry after funk singer arrested for allegedly inciting crime in lyrics

Posted on by

Artists and legal experts are outraged over MC Poze do Rodo’s detention over supposed non-violent offences

The arrest of a well-known Brazilian funk singer on charges of allegedly inciting crime in his lyrics and an alleged connection to a major criminal gang has sparked outrage among artists, intellectuals and legal experts.

MC Poze do Rodo, 26, who has 5.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, was arrested early on Thursday at his home in a luxury condominium in Rio de Janeiro’s west zone.

Continue reading...

Five Valladolid fans given suspended prison sentences for Vinícius Júnior hate crime

Posted on by

  • Insults were directed towards Brazilian in December 2022

  • La Liga hails judgment as ‘unprecedented milestone’

  • Luka Modric to leave Real Madrid after Club World Cup

Five Valladolid fans who abused the Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior have been given suspended prison sentences, in what La Liga described as a landmark ruling that condemned racist insults hurled in a football stadium as a hate crime.

The case goes back to Madrid’s 2-0 win in December 2022 at Real Valladolid’s José Zorrilla Stadium, during which several fans hurled racist abuse at the Brazilian. The individuals were later identified using images and videos published on social media.

Continue reading...

Episcopal church says it won’t help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status

Posted on by

Church refuses White House directive, citing longstanding ‘commitment to racial justice and reconciliation’

The Episcopal church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation”.

Presiding bishop Sean Rowe announced the step on Monday, shortly before 59 South Africans arrived at Dulles international airport outside Washington DC on a private charter plane and were greeted by a government delegation.

Continue reading...

This American pope: Leo XIV’s bloodline reflects the US melting pot

Posted on by

A fraught history of race and immigration connect the new pope with his homeland

Pope Leo XIV, who on Thursday was elected as the first-ever US-born leader of the Roman Catholic church, has a familial bloodline that reflects his homeland’s fraught relationship with race – and why the nation’s stature as a melting pot of origins has long endured, records unearthed by genealogists show.

The maternal grandfather of 69-year-old Robert Prevost, the newly minted pope, was evidently born abroad in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, according to birth records that professional genealogist Chris Smothers cited to ABC News in a recent report. When Leo’s grandfather, Joseph Martinez, obtained an 1887 marriage license to wed the future pope’s grandmother, Louise Baquié, he listed his birthplace as Haiti, which at the time was the same territory as Santo Domingo, Smothers noted.

Continue reading...

Three ex-Tennessee officers acquitted of state charges in fatal beating of Tyre Nichols

Posted on by

Men, who have been convicted of federal charges, found not guilty in death of Black man, 29, after he fled traffic stop

Three former Memphis officers were acquitted on Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023.

A jury took about eight and a half hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the jury’s verdict was read, the defendants hugged their lawyers as relatives of the former officers cried. One relative yelled: “Thank you, Jesus!”

Continue reading...

Police expert testifies that officers who fatally beat Tyre Nichols used excessive force

Posted on by

Expert testifying for the defense acknowledged that Memphis officers’ blows had been unnecessary

A police training expert testifying on Saturday as a defense witness in the trial of three former Memphis officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols acknowledged that kicks and punches to Nichols’s head had been unnecessary and excessive.

Don Cameron took the stand on the sixth day of the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Continue reading...

Cyril Ramaphosa sets up inquiry into claims of interference with investigation of apartheid-era crimes

Posted on by

Relatives and survivors of apartheid-era deaths and violence had alleged interference from ‘highest levels of government’

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is setting up an inquiry into whether past ANC governments interfered with the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes, amid criticism from the families of victims.

A group of 25 relatives and survivors of apartheid-era deaths and violence sued the government in January, claiming that interference from “the highest levels of government” blocked investigations into cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Continue reading...

Black ex-prison officer says he has flashbacks after extreme racist abuse at Kent jail

Posted on by

Exclusive: Uzo Mbonu describes being targeted and ‘completely isolated’ by colleagues at HMP Swaleside

A black former prison officer has said he suffers flashbacks and nightmares after colleagues in a high-security jail subjected him to extreme racist abuse and managers failed to support him.

Nigerian-born Uzo Mbonu said he felt he was picked on and ostracised by other officers at HMP Swaleside in Kent because he did not have a British accent, did not understand the jokes his colleagues made, and challenged things he felt were going wrong.

Continue reading...

Calls for inquiry after German police kill black man outside nightclub

Posted on by

Officer suspended after shooting 21-year-old man from behind in Oldenburg in north-west Germany

Civil rights activists in Germany have demanded an independent inquiry into alleged police racism after an officer shot a 21-year-old black man from behind, killing him after an altercation outside a nightclub.

The 27-year-old officer was suspended from duty over the shooting early on Sunday morning in the city of Oldenburg in north-west Germany pending a murder investigation, said state prosecutors. Fatal police shootings are relatively rare in Germany and prosecutors were quoted in local media as saying the suspension and investigation were “routine”.

Continue reading...

Trump administration kills landmark pollution settlement in majority-Black county

Posted on by

Decision will affect mostly low-income Alabama residents as DoJ dismisses agreement over untreated sewage as DEI

The Trump administration has killed a landmark civil rights settlement requiring Alabama to address raw sewage pollution in majority-Black, residential areas south-west of Montgomery, dismissing it as an “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agreement.

The decision could condemn low-income people in Lowndes county, about 40 miles south-west of Montgomery, to indefinitely continue living with no or failing sanitation infrastructure.

Continue reading...

Zimbabwe starts compensating white farmers 25 years after land seizures

Posted on by

Step is requirement for restructuring country’s debt, including new IMF programme

Zimbabwe has started to make compensation payments to white former farm owners, 25 years after Robert Mugabe’s government began confiscating land.

The government paid $3.1m (£2.3m) to a “first batch” of 378 farms, the ministry of finance said in a statement on Wednesday, the first payout under a 2020 agreement to pay $3.5bn in compensation.

Continue reading...

Mississippi orders deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries

Posted on by

Library commission says state ‘in dire shape’ and has ‘had a reconsideration of everything with regard to’ Doge

The Mississippi library commission, which offers services such as specialized research assistance to libraries in the state, has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi.

The commission’s executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said: “We may lose a lot of materials.”

Continue reading...

Hundreds of asylum seekers to be removed from hotels in England

Posted on by

Exclusive: Government source confirms action at nine establishments including one near Windsor Castle

Hundreds of people seeking asylum are to be removed from nine hotels across England within weeks as the Home Office attempts to show it has got to grips with the issue.

The crackdown will remove asylum seekers from a hotel in a village near Windsor Castle after claims of community tensions and racism, and hotels in the West Midlands and Cheshire that have been targeted by far-right activists.

Continue reading...

Advertising giant WPP cuts diversity references from annual report

Posted on by

Owner of Ogilvy and Grey agencies follows other multinationals in dropping or downplaying DEI policies since Trump’s election

The British advertising giant WPP has become the latest company to cut the phrase “diversity, equity and inclusion” from its annual report as the policies come under attack from the Trump administration.

The agency, which counts the US as by far its largest market, boasts the storied “Madison Avenue” agencies J Walter Thompson, Ogilvy and Grey among its top brands.

Continue reading...