Month: March 2017

In less than a week, at least two men in America have allegedly threatened to shoot Muslim women who were in public with their children. 

San Francisco police announced Thursday that they had arrested Joshua Ruano, 27, for allegedly threatening to shoot a woman wearing a hijab on March 17. Ruano allegedly approached the woman, who was playing with her child in a park, and made anti-Muslim remarks. (A police spokeswoman wouldn’t elaborate on those remarks.) He then threatened to shoot her, according to police.

The woman and her child fled the park and contacted police. Ruano was arrested a short time later. 

A spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney’s office confirmed that Ruano was arraigned this week on charges of making criminal threats with a hate crime enhancement, and other unrelated crimes.

On March 21 in Charlotte, North Carolina, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and an abaya says she was breastfeeding her 1-month-old baby in a parking lot when a man in a pickup truck pulled up next to her car, according to The Charlotte Observer.

The woman says the man stared at her for several minutes before taking out a long rifle and pointing the barrel directly at her. 

“‘I’m not going to sit here and let him shoot me,’” the woman recalled thinking. She clutched her baby and ran inside a store. The man ― white and balding, in his 40s or 50s, she said ― sped away. 

“We ask law enforcement authorities to use all resources available to apprehend the alleged perpetrator and to bring all appropriate charges, including that of ethnic intimidation,” Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement this week. 

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The two sets of horrifying allegations come amid an apparent surge in such hate crimes across the country.

In recent months, America has seen the fatal stabbing of a black man in New York City by a white supremacist; the shooting of two Indian men in Kansas, one of whom died; the shooting of a Sikh man in Washington; the burning of at least four mosques; the vandalism of gravestones in Jewish cemeteries; and the destruction of Qurans in an Arizona mosque and a New Mexico library. There have also been more than 100 bomb threats against Jewish community centers, synagogues and Anti-Defamation League offices across the country; instances of racist graffiti in Connecticut and Oregon; assaults of Latinos in California and New York; and the killings of at least seven transgender women of color. 

The list goes on. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center tracked more than 1,000 bias-related incidents in the month after the Nov. 8 election, a surge they attributed to the hateful speech of President Donald Trump. The SPLC stated that in some 37 percent of those incidents, the perpetrators directly referenced the president, his campaign slogans or his comments about sexual assault. 

Earlier this month, more than 150 civil rights groups ― including the SPLC, Amnesty International, the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Muslim Advocates and the National Bar Association ― signed an open letter accusing the president of fostering an atmosphere of hate and being to slow to condemn hate crimes when they happen. 

Hate crime data in the U.S. is woefully inadequate. The FBI counted 5,479 hate crimes in 2015 ― a 7 percent increase from the year before, driven largely by a 67 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes ― but another government report estimates that number to be much higher. A survey by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the number of hate crimes in America each year probably approaches a staggering 260,000 ― or about one every two minutes.

The disparity between the FBI’s figures and the BJS’ estimation exists largely because police departments in the U.S. aren’t required to report hate crimes to the FBI, and many hate crimes go unreported to police in the first place.

That’s why The Huffington Post has partnered with ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative journalism, and with other news outlets to help make a national database of reported acts of hate and bias. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mistakenly described the fatal stabbing of a black man in New York City as a fatal shooting.

America does not do a good job of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Once upon a time not long ago, children’s books were bereft of real-life scenarios faced by black children. But now, Slick Rick’s classic song and cautionary tale “Children’s Story” is being turned into an actual children’s book.

The British-American rapper’s 1988 hit about a 17-year-old boy who gets caught up in a life of crime will become an 18-page book by Get On Down record label that uses the song’s lyrics as narration.

Buyers of the book will also receive the re-release of “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick” album that originally debuted 29 years ago, as well as a piece of art based on the “Children’s Story” video. 

The book will be available for purchase on April 22, which is also National Record Store Day.

Good night.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Last year, Tommy Benton, a Republican lawmaker in Georgia and member of the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Ku Klux Klan “was not such a racist thing but a vigilante thing to keep law and order.”

Now he’s introducing a resolution to honor the Confederacy that doesn’t contain a single mention of slavery.

Georgia HR 644 would establish Confederate History Month in April, the month “the Confederate States of America began and ended a four-year struggle for states’ rights, individual freedom, and local governmental control, which they believed to be right and just.”

The resolution goes on to deem April 26 “Confederate Memorial Day,” a day when state residents can remember “more than 90,000 brave men and women who served the Confederate States of America.”

Benton said President Donald Trump’s campaign inspired his proposal. “We just elected a president that said he was tired of political correctness. And so that was the reason that we were looking to introduce the resolution,” Benton told WABE, a local NPR affiliate. “We think that our heritage is just as important as everybody else’s.”

Yet for decades, people who fought to preserve the Old South’s “traditions” and “heritage” during the Civil War have been glorified ― while the role that slavery, racism and white pride played in the creation of these traditions has often gone unacknowledged.

Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who massacred nine black parishioners in a historic black church in 2015, was pictured holding the Confederate flag in an online manifesto that outlined his hatred of black people and desire for a “real KKK.” He also voiced a desire to “save” the South.  

Even Confederate leaders themselves said the Civil War was about slavery and maintaining a way of life in which black people remained subservient. The vice president of the Confederacy said Southern states were fighting to keep “the negro” in “his place.” Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, said slavery was the motivation for war in 1861. Secession statements from South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia echo these sentiments.

But Benton doesn’t think the Confederacy, and its symbols, have any link with current racism against black people.

“This idea of every time something bad happens and wanting to blame it on a flag, or the idea of slavery, it’s just not right,” Benton told WABE.

Read Benton’s resolution: 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Photographer Julia Busato’s “Mannequin Series” is meant to break the mold.

Inspired by Instagram and (briefly) banned by Facebook, the 46-year-old’s body-positive series shines a light on women of all shapes and sizes. It all happens with the help of a unique prop ― a mannequin she had in her closet. 

“A friend of mine said she would love to flip the bird at society’s standards so we grabbed the mannequin and started shooting,” Busato told The Huffington Post via email. “From there it just evolved as more people came forward asking to be part of it and answering my requests for volunteers.” 

The subjects used in the photos are not all professional models, and are mostly locals from Busato’s town in Guelph, which is near Ontario, Canada. The mannequin used in the photos is nicknamed “Lucy” after Lucille Ball. According to Busato, posing with Lucy helps the women loosen up and laugh during the shoot.

The mannequin also helps people share their stories, which Busato says range from body issues to mental and physical health.  

“Each person has their own personal story about how they don’t fit the standards expected from society. It’s not just about weight anymore, its about being happy in your own skin,” the photographer told The Huffington Post.

If there’s one thing people ― and women in particular ― take away from the shoot, Busato hopes that it’ll encourage women to come together in support of each other around the globe. 

“I really want to show the world that no matter what size, color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, physical/mental limitations or social status; we are all women and all strong enough to get through this together,” Busato said. “I just want women to love themselves unconditionally because we are all beautiful in our own way.” 

To see more of her photos, scroll through the slideshow below: 

The HuffPost Lifestyle newsletter will make you happier and healthier, one email at a time. Sign up here.  

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Much like the protagonists in the movie, “Hidden Figures” has unexpectedly proven itself as a standout among peers.

At the U.S. box office, the story about black female mathematicians who worked for NASA and helped the U.S. win the “space race” continues to outpace fellow Best Picture nominees and 2016 blockbusters alike.

Its current domestic gross is over $160 million, which puts it atop “Jason Bourne,” “Star Trek Beyond,” “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Trolls,” “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “Ghostbusters.” Unlike those big-budget movies, “Hidden Figures” had a relatively modest production budget of around $25 million.

Much like the movie’s early prospects, the characters (played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae) were perceived by their colleagues as underdogs who had to work harder to gain equal footing. To accentuate this feeling of being overlooked, the film’s creators intentionally downplayed the visual “focus” on their lead characters.

As director of photography Mandy Walker explains in this exclusive clip provided to The Huffington Post, she took great care to literally hide the protagonists from the viewers’ eyes at various points in the movie.

Walker’s quote in full: 

Because these women were in the background and they were hidden, we decided that there’s a lot of foreground in the images and we selectively used focus and light to direct the viewer’s eye to something that’s maybe not very obvious in the frame. 

Theodore Melfi, who directed, wrote and produced “Hidden Figures,” also appears in the clip to give further context to the filmmaking process.

The clip was provided to HuffPost in support of the April 11 release of the movie on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

On Friday, the latest “Power Rangers” movie will be released in the United States, marking a new, more diverse era in the popular franchise. 

The original 1993 series caught some backlash for playing on racial stereotypes ― specifically by having an Asian woman play the “yellow” ranger and a black man play the “black” ranger (who fought in a “hip-hop” style). 

But it seems as though the new reboot, directed by Dean Israelite, is seeking to expand the world of the rangers by including a cast that is not only racially diverse but also intersect at other less-represented identities. 

The reboot features a strong Asian male lead as the black ranger, a refreshing casting in light of Hollywood’s ongoing issue with positioning Asian men as heroes in mainstream films. In addition to that, the new Power Rangers also include a queer character played by Mexican-American actress Becky G and an autistic character, played by black actor RJ Cyler. 

“There was no specific look to what the characters had to look like,” Becky G explained in a recent interview with MTV. “We could be anybody.” 

It looks like at least one Hollywood movie has gotten the memo ― diversity isn’t just about filling quotas, but creating characters with truly unique experiences and backgrounds. 

From a show with one-dimensional and often stereotypical POC characters the franchise has morphed into a reboot with characters of diverse ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientations ― proving that together, we really can do anything. 

Watch the video above to see how “Power Rangers” has begun to evolve.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

A historic church recently purchased by an avowed white supremacist caught fire and burned to the ground Wednesday in North Dakota, sparking an investigation by fire officials, according to local media reports.

Craig Cobb, who had previously attempted to create havens for white supremacists by buying up land elsewhere in the state, became a co-owner of the 108-year-old property in Nome just last month, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

By the time firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze around 4:25 p.m. on Wednesday, the former Zion Lutheran Church was completely engulfed in flames, one of the firefighters told MyNDNow. The church was unoccupied at the time.

A few years ago, Cobb purchased property in the town of Leith, about 230 miles west of Nome, in hopes of turning it into an “Aryan stronghold,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. He was convicted of terrorizing Leith’s residents after they accused him of patrolling the streets with a gun. He’s now serving four years on probation.

Once the news spread that Cobb had bought the building in Nome, the people there expressed upset and concern. Jerome Jankowski, who lives near the church, said he had heard talk of people threatening to burn it down, but he didn’t think they were serious.

“First of all, it’s a church, so it’s almost sacrilegious,” Jankowski told the Tribune.

Still, he acknowledged that many people didn’t want Cobb there.

“Everyone has some form of prejudice,” Jankowski said, “but this guy is way off the edge and he fell off.”

How the fire started is not yet clear. A state fire marshal is planning to investigate the scene, the Barnes County Sheriff’s Office informed KVRR.

Cobb told WDAY-TV that he thought the fire was “100 percent arson” and he offered a $2,000 reward for any information related to the incident.

The sheriff’s office, reached by The Huffington Post on Thursday, referred questions to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which declined comment, citing a state code that grants fire investigations confidentiality until the case is closed.

Cobb also made news in 2013 when a DNA test revealed that he is 14 percent Sub-Saharan African. The results were announced to him on a British talk show, and his reaction was, well, priceless. 

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=CHECK OUT THESE RELATED STORIES BELOW: + articlesList=58c188ace4b0d1078ca4c6dd,58c12fd2e4b0d1078ca44359,587a6b5ae4b094e1aa9dc6a8,55ea72ebe4b03784e2760913

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

We all want to feel healthy and strong. And if there is any group of experts who live and breathe that philosophy, it’s fitness trainers and athletes. 

Instagram is full of people posting about their wellness habits, but there are a handful of accounts that stand above the rest when it comes to exercise. They contain motivational quotes, fun workouts and inspiring stories that will make you want in on a sweaty, endorphin-fueled lifestyle.

Check out our favorite fitness gurus to follow below:

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

The National Institutes of Health recently announced that it will fund the largest-ever study of African-American cancer survivors. The agency is providing a five-year, $9 million grant for the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors study, which will look at 5,560 black Americans who have faced the disease and lived.

It may not sound like much from an agency that invests nearly $32.3 billion in medical research each year, but it could offer huge benefits for black Americans, who have historically been underrepresented in clinical trials and long-term research.

Research and clinical trials lay the foundation for determining which medical treatments and devices are safe and effective for patients. Health care providers look to those results in setting treatment protocols. If a particular group of individuals has been extensively studied, they have a better chance of receiving effective evidence-based care.

Black Americans have not been extensively studied, and they face worse health outcomes.

Cancer research needs a diversity overhaul 

The Detroit study will target lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers, all of which kill black patients at higher rates than white patients. Black Americans in general are diagnosed with cancer more often than white Americans and at more advanced stages of the disease. 

Yet “relatively little research has occurred among African Americans with cancer, and so we do not know how best to tailor care for them,” said Dr. Marshall Chin, a professor of health care ethics at the University of Chicago Medicine who isn’t involved in the new study. 

The study will be run by professors Ann Schwartz and Terrance Albrecht, who are affiliated with both the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine. They will look at a wide variety of issues, from the genetic characteristics of cancerous tumors to lifestyle factors in developing cancer to impediments to treatment.  

The goal here is not to find one way to treat cancer in black patients, any more than there is one way to treat cancer in all patients. The lack of research into the diverse African-American population makes it harder for doctors to adjust treatments to meet individual black patients’ needs.

“One-size-fits-all approaches do not work,” Chin stressed.

“This study has the potential to be pathbreaking because it appreciates that people are complex and much more affects outcomes than whether a cancer patient receives Drug A or Drug B,” he said.

Homogenous clinical trials are bigger than cancer

It’s not just cancer research that skews white. For instance, less than 5 percent of participants were black in five of seven “mega-trials” of Type 2 diabetes drugs, according to an article published in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology in January. Yet black Americans are nearly twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as white Americans.

Part of the problem may be the lack of diversity in academic centers. Less than 2 percent of principal investigators on NIH-funded research grants are black, according to the agency.

“Every time you make the argument for more inclusion, they argue that it’s a matter of cost,” Dr. Gbenga Ogedegbe, of New York University’s Langone Medical Center, previously told HuffPost.

But Ogedegbe said people have to keep pushing for more diverse studies. 

“We can’t afford to be reticent when it comes to including a diverse patient population in clinical trials,” he said. “The results and the cost of not doing that is much worse.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

French actress Karidja Touré may have first caught your attention in 2015 after the U.S. release of the coming-of-age drama “Girlhood.” Now, she’s back for another coming-of-age movie, but this time she’ll be depicting the life of equestrian Selika Lazevski.

“The Adventures of Selika” is a short film based on the 19th-century equestrian, whom the film’s writer Sybil H. Mair reimagines as an African princess forced to leave her home and find her place in the world. 

The movie comes three years after the Cannes Film Festival premiere of “Girlhood,” which earned Touré a nomination for a Cesar Award ― comparable to an Academy Award ― for Most Promising Actress. 

Touré’s new role is starkly different from her turn as a lost 16-year-old who befriends a rebellious group of girls to gain a sense of identity in “Girlhood.” 

“The Adventures of Selika,” which also stars Jennifer Daley and Luke Elliot, is slated to premiere on April 16, but the platform on which the movie will appear has yet to be publicized, according Shadow and Act. You can check out images from the film on their website. 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices