2018-08-23: News Headlines

Democracy Now! (2018-08-23). NC's Sole Black Woman Historical Commissioner: Confederate Statues Don't Belong at State Capitol. democracynow.org Just two days after protesters tore down the "Silent Sam" Confederate statue at the state's flagship school, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the state's Historical Commission voted 9 to 2 to keep Confederate monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol. We speak with the African-American woman who dissented in the vote to keep the three Confederate monuments in place at the state Capitol. She also voted against adding historical context to the monuments. Valerie Johnson is one of only two black members of the North Carolina Historical Commission and the only black woman. She is a professor of wome…

Chris Sosa, AlterNet (2018-08-23). Anti-Defamation League Blasts Trump's 'False White Supremacist Claim' After He Tweets on South African Farmers. alternet.org The president is echoing a prominent racist conspiracy theory. | President Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday night that the South African government was "seizing land" from white farmers, who he claimed to be the subject of large-scale killings. This claim is false — there is no evidence of large-scale tar. . .

Matthew Chapman, AlterNet (2018-08-23). South Africa Condemns Trump's Tweet of Racist Farm Attack Conspiracy Theory. alternet.org Trump seemingly endorsed a conspiracy theory about South African farm attacks being a plot to exterminate white people. | On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump stunned political observers when he tweeted a demand for the U. S. government to look into the "large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa. I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land. . .

Andre Vltchek (2018-08-23). European Holocaust Had Roots in Africa, Now Namibia Is Suing Germany. globalresearch.ca It doesn't take rocket science to discover what I did in Namibia. There, I met common people, in slums and universities. I met UN experts and Namibian government officials. I undusted …

Shared by Samantha Borek (2018-08-23). A Mass Grave of Prison Laborers in Texas Should Be Respected, Not Paved Over. truthout.org When archaeologists discovered the intact skeletons of 15,000 free and enslaved Africans at a construction site in lower Manhattan in 1991, the federal government — which planned to build an office building on the site — conferred with African-American communities, scholars and activists. Together, they signed an agreement to halt construction, rebury the bodies and establish a national monument on the site. | Officials in Sugar Land, Texas, chose a different path in April 2018 when they found 95 graves beneath the construction site of a new school. | A judge issued approval to exhume the bodies and, on June 10, archaeologists hired by the school district opened up the wooden coffins. | They contained the remains of black prison laborers forced to work on Texas' sugar cane plantations from 1878 to 1911. This form of indentured servitude,…

RT (2018-08-23). Trump orders Pompeo to 'closely study' South Africa's land expropriation. rt.com US President Donald Trump has expressed concern over the fate of white farmers in South Africa, where the extremely controversial land redistribution reform might leave owners without their properties or any compensation. |

Nick Turse (2018-08-21). The U.S. Is Building a Drone Base in Niger That Will Cost More Than $280 Million by 2024. theintercept.com The Pentagon disclosed that in addition to the base's $100 million construction cost in Agadez, more than $30 million a year will be spent to operate it.

RT (2018-08-21). Black schoolgirl sent home from Louisiana Christian school over 'unnatural' hairstyle (VIDEO). rt.com An African-American girl in Louisiana was banned from classes at a Christian school because her "unnatural" hair extensions are against the rules. A new hairstyle didn't satisfy school bosses and her parents removed the child.

RT (2018-08-19). 'Where's the evidence?' Chicago community shocked after teen kills himself while running from police. rt.com A Chicago community is in disbelief after a 16-year-old African-American teen reportedly shot himself while running from officers after they tried to question him about being in possession of a weapon.

RT (2018-08-18). African-American support of Trump at 36%, almost double from last year — poll. rt.com Support for US President Donald Trump among black voters is currently at 36 percent, almost double the number from last year, according to a new poll. It comes despite reports that a tape exists of Trump using the N-word.

Rann Miller (2018-08-17). In DeVos's Home State, Students Push for their Right to Literacy. progressive.org Literacy has been, and continues to be, a critical component of African-American liberation.