Featured – The F.B.I.’s Dangerous Crackdown on ‘Black Identity Extremists.’  Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s liberty and national security program, said the “Black Identity Extremists” label simply represents an F.B.I. effort to define a movement where none exists. “Basically, it’s black people who scare them,” he said. Read more 

Watch: on SNL, Chance the Rapper leads an R&B trio begging Obama to come back. Clad in white tuxedos, the trio appeals to a lost love, whom they think about at night while staring forlornly at a framed photograph. Watch here 

The Rope: The Forgotten History of Segregated Rock & Roll Concerts. The Platters, the Flamingos, and other pioneering performers share stories of divided audiences, Jim Crow absurdities and harrowing violence. Read more 

Colin Kaepernick was named citizen of the year. How ironic. For black Americans, citizenship has always been incomplete and fraught. Kaepernick knows this better than anyone else. Read more 

James Baldwin and Richard Avedon’s divided states. The author’s contempt for the media of his day was excoriating and it continues to sting in an age when a reality TV star is president. Read more 

‘Mudbound’ Provides a Timely, Unflinching Portrait of America’s Racist Past. Dee Rees’ period epic, now streaming on Netflix, explores racism in post-WWII Mississippi by juxtaposing two farming families: one black, and one white. And it is a must-see.  Read more

Report: black men get longer sentences for the same federal crime as white men. An analysis found black men’s sentences are 19.1 percent longer than white men’s, even after controlling for criminal history and other factors. Read more 

As Native Americans Face Job Discrimination, A Tribe Works To Employ Its Own. About a third of Native Americans say they have experienced discrimination in the workplace when seeking jobs, or when getting promotions or earning equal pay, according to a new poll. Read more  

Progressive Community Organizer Prevails in New Orleans Mayoral Race. City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell is the city’s first female mayor. Read more 

A New ‘She’s Gotta Have It’: Spike Lee’s Feminist Breakthrough. More than 30 years after his breakthrough film, Spike Lee revisits “She’s Gotta Have It” with a new series on Netflix. Read more 

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