Race Inquiry Digest (March 15) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Feature – These Twins, One Black and One White, Will Make You Rethink Race. Marcia (left) and Millie Biggs, both 11, say people are shocked to learn that they’re fraternal twins. Marcia looks more like their mother, who’s English born, and Millie looks more like their father, who’s of Jamaican descent. Read more  

National Geographic admits to its racist past. The magazine examined its archives and confronts its racist portrayal of people around the world – mostly of color. Read more.

A New Report Has Some Grim News About American Newborns. For decades, the number of American babies born too small was on the decline. But new data suggests the rate may be ticking up again—especially among African Americans. Read more 

Police are still killing black people. Why isn’t it news anymore? It’s not because police violence has stopped. As of this week,, 198 people had been shot and killed by American police officers so far this year,  — about the same pace of three fatal shootings per day that The Post has recorded since we began tracking police shootings in 2015. Read more 

After Bruno Mars is accused of cultural appropriation, black celebrities come to his defense. Bruno Mars found himself caught in a heated debate about cultural appropriation over the weekend after an activist accused the “24K Magic” star of being a culture vulture profiting off of traditionally black music. Read more. 

Trump Finds Unlikely Culprit in School Shootings: Obama Discipline Policies. After a gunman marauded through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month, conservative commentators — looking for a culprit — seized on an unlikely target: an Obama-era guidance document that sought to rein in the suspensions and expulsions of minority students. Read more 
You Can’t Put Frederick Douglass in Chains. Like the founders and Abraham Lincoln, Douglass has long been at the center of an ideological tug of war; all want this iconic figure to be on their side in contemporary political debates. Read more 

Millions of Students Are Quietly Being Taught the Koch Brothers’ Whitewashed Version of Black History. These free resources are part of an effort by the innocuously named Bill of Rights Institute to brainwash students into buying the far-right narrative on history, politics and economics. Read more 

More Cops In Schools Means More Black Kids In The Criminal Justice System. Knee-jerk” reactions to school shootings exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline in the name of school safety. Read more 

Racial Justice Drives Fight for, and Against, Legal Pot in New Jersey. State Senator Ronald L. Rice, a Democrat from Newark, believes efforts to legalize the recreational use of marijuana would enrich white entrepreneurs while creating problems in African-American neighborhoods. Read more 

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