Latest Race and ethnicity News

A few midwives seek to uphold Native Hawaiian birth traditions. Would a state law jeopardize them?

Jun. 15, 2024 00:30 AM EDT

HONOLULU (AP) — Ki‘inaniokalani Kahoʻohanohano longed for a deeper connection to her Native Hawaiian ancestors and culture as she prepared to give birth to her first child at home on the north shore of Maui in 2003. But generations of colonialist suppression had eroded many...

San Francisco park where a grandmother was fatally beaten will now have her name

Jun. 14, 2024 23:24 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco park where a grandmother was beaten and then later died from her injuries will now bear her name. Family and friends will gather Saturday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially usher in the newly named Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship...

Opal Lee gets keys to her new Texas home 85 years after a racist mob drove her family from that lot

Jun. 14, 2024 21:53 PM EDT

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Opal Lee, the 97-year-old Texan known for her push to make Juneteenth a national holiday, was given the keys Friday to her new home, which was built on the same tree-lined corner lot in Fort Worth that her family was driven from by a racist mob when she was 12. ...

Victims cited in DOJ report on Phoenix police brutality call on city to implement mandated reforms

Jun. 14, 2024 21:34 PM EDT

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix residents who have spoken out against police brutality hailed on Friday a scathing U.S. Justice Department report outlining a pattern of excessive force and racial discrimination, saying it lays blame not just at the feet of law enforcement but the leaders of the nation’s...

Louisiana US Rep. Garret Graves won't seek reelection, citing a new congressional map

Jun. 14, 2024 18:48 PM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican representing Louisiana, said on Friday that he will not run for reelection after a new congressional map dismantled his district, transforming it into the state's second majority-Black district. Up until now, the...

Top US bishop worries Catholic border services for migrants might be imperiled by government action

Jun. 14, 2024 14:38 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Government officials would be infringing on religious freedom if they were to restrict the Catholic Church’s work serving migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, says a top U.S. bishop. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of...

Report finds Colorado was built on $1.7 trillion of land expropriated from tribal nations

Jun. 14, 2024 12:07 PM EDT

A report published this week by a Native American-led nonprofit examines in detail the dispossession of $1.7 trillion worth of Indigenous homelands in Colorado by the state and the U.S. and the more than $546 million the state has reaped in mineral extraction from them. The report,...

Florida A&M, a dubious donor and $237M: The transformative HBCU gift that wasn’t what it seemed

Jun. 14, 2024 10:43 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — It would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university: $237 million — far beyond the recipient’s endowment. The money was promised by a 30-year-old who had recounted his rise from a childhood in foster care to becoming, as he put it,...

Converting cow manure to fuel is growing climate solution, but critics say communities put at risk

Jun. 14, 2024 09:52 AM EDT

PIXLEY, Calif. (AP) — The stench of cow feces, urine and ammonia forces residents to keep windows and doors closed in parts of California's farming country. Some people constantly run air purifiers at home to counter the smell and, they say, fight off air-related ailments. "We...

Here’s what to know about a stalled $237M donation to Florida A&M

Jun. 14, 2024 09:40 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — In early May, Florida A&M University announced a stunning $237 million gift from a 30-year-old donor who cast himself as Texas’ “youngest African American industrial hemp producer.” The donation, which would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black...