Race Inquiry Digest (March 26) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Feature – America can prevent shootings. But it has to come to grips with the problem. It’s going to happen again. There will be another mass shooting in America. It’s tragic to even write those words, but this is the clear pattern I’ve seen since I began covering mass shootings for Vox in 2014: A horrific tragedy happens. There are calls for action. Maybe something gets introduced in Congress. The debate goes back and forth for a bit. Then people move on — usually after a week or two. And so there’s eventually another shooting. Read more
In strong push for gun control, young black organizers join March for Our Lives. Sixty students traveled with me and other organizers from Dream Defenders — a black-led activist group that formed after the death of Trayvon Martin and works to end mass incarceration — on a bus from Florida and stepped foot, for the first time, on our nation’s capital Friday. Read more
From Parkland to Chicago, Hope Rises for Overdue Gun Violence Reforms. Tre traveled with his mother to Washington, D.C., after being invited to participate in a town hall meeting on gun violence with President Obama. “I lost my brother a few years ago—well, 10 years ago.” Tre said. “And I’ve also lost a countless amount of family members and friends to gun violence as well.” Read more 
Parkland Student Says Media Didn’t Highlight Black Classmates’ Voices. “Not giving black students a voice,” Hogg responded, via Axios. “My school is about 25 percent black, but the way we’re covered doesn’t reflect that.” Read more 

Racial Blindness. Violent murders in Texas and Maryland show how white killers receive more sympathy than black victims. The past week has offered a case study in how race shapes empathy and blame. Read more 

The Bomber Is Dead, but Fear of Racist Attacks Lives On. Isaac Machado and his mother, Delores, stand near the scene of a package bomb explosion in Austin, Tex., on March 12. Read more 

In Sacramento, Protesters Shut Down Freeway And Block Entrance To Kings Game. A day after Sacramento Police released footage of officers fatally shooting an unarmed black man in his grandparents’ backyard, protesters took to the streets. Read more 

The White Southern Anti-Trump. Last May, Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans, delivered one of the most stirring and important speeches of the Trump era without once deigning to mention the president’s name. He spoke after New Orleans pulled down four Confederate monuments, the culmination of a ferocious two-year political fight that included threats, armed right-wing protesters and a car being firebombed. Read more 

There’s Never Been a Native American Congresswoman. That Could Change in 2018. Deb Haaland, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New Mexico’s First District, is one of six Native American women running for Congress or for governor this year, a marked increase from 2016. Read more 

Mississippi’s new abortion ban will hit black women the hardest. Mississippi has long stood as one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to abortion access. On Monday, the state went further by passing a 15-week abortion ban, a measure that reproductive rights advocates say will primarily affect black women in the state. Read more 

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