Latest Race and ethnicity News

Takeaways: AP investigation reveals Black people bear disproportionate impact of police force

Mar. 29, 2024 06:17 AM EDT

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — Black people accounted for a disproportionate number of people who died after being restrained, beaten or shocked with stun guns by police officers in the United States, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. The investigation, led by AP with...

He didn’t trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead

Mar. 29, 2024 06:11 AM EDT

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — Jameek Lowery entered the dimly lit lobby of the city’s police headquarters in a panic. He was having a mental breakdown — and needed help. Barefoot and wearing only pajama pants and a sweatshirt in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 5, 2019, Lowery pulled out his...

Chicago plans to move migrants to other shelters and reopen park buildings for the summer

Mar. 29, 2024 00:17 AM EDT

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago plans to close five shelters for migrants in the coming weeks and move nearly 800 people, including families, in order to reopen park district buildings hosting popular summer camps, athletic contests and other community events in time for summer. The shift...

Key findings from AP's investigation into police force that isn't supposed to be lethal

Mar. 28, 2024 23:34 PM EDT

Every day, police in the U.S. rely on common use-of-force tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death. Over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds,...

A veteran with dementia got lost going shopping. He died months after an officer body-slammed him

Mar. 28, 2024 23:32 PM EDT

When Carl Grant awoke from emergency surgery and couldn’t move, he apologized to family gathered around his hospital bed. In the fog of dementia, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran thought he’d been paralyzed in the Vietnam War. The truth: It was February 2020, he was 68, and a police...

Tennessee governor signs bill to undo Memphis traffic stop reforms after Tyre Nichols death

Mar. 28, 2024 19:08 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday signed off on the repeal of police traffic stop reforms made in Memphis after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers in January 2023, despite pleas from Nichols’ parents to GOP lawmakers and the governor to give them a chance to...

Tennessee politicians strip historically Black university of its board

Mar. 28, 2024 18:56 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Trustees of Tennessee's only publicly funded historically Black university were removed Thursday under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Black lawmakers and community leaders said state leaders, a majority of whom are white, are unfairly targeting...

Beyoncé’s 'Cowboy Carter' reinforces her dedication to Black reclamation — and country music

Mar. 28, 2024 17:44 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — First, Beyoncé arrived at the 2024 Grammy Awards in full cowboy regalia — making a statement without saying a word. Then, during the Super Bowl, she dropped two hybrid country songs: “Texas Hold 'Em” and “16 Carriages.” All of that heralded her latest album, “Act...

Appeals panel won't order North Carolina Senate redistricting lines to be redrawn

Mar. 28, 2024 17:38 PM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal appeals court declined Thursday to order North Carolina legislators to redraw some state Senate districts, rejecting arguments that clear evidence has been presented showing Republican manipulation of boundaries means Black voters there are prevented from electing...

US changes how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity. It's the first revision in 27 years

Mar. 28, 2024 15:35 PM EDT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. ...