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DETROIT (AP) — When Barack Obama was on the ballot in 2008 and 2012, there was no question that Terrance Holmes would vote for the first black president. But as he helped fix cars this week at a repair shop on Detroit's west side, he recalled his ambivalence about the 2016 campaign. "I just didn't feel no reason to" vote, said Holmes, who is black and holds a second job at an auto parts factory. The 34-year-old feels differently now as another election season begins. He hasn't paid much attention to the early Democratic primary and didn't k...
Pete Buttigieg has a message for white liberals who decry racism: "Good intentions are not going to be enough." The Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana, mayor is combating perceptions that he's out of touch with black people and will struggle to win their votes. On Thursday, he unveiled his most detailed proposals yet, which he says are aimed at addressing the systemic racism that affects the black community. And he's pairing that with candid talk aimed at white Democrats. "White Democratic voters want to do the right...
Democratic 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren says that if elected president she would sign executive orders aimed at addressing the wage and employment leadership gap for women of color, punishing companies and contractors with historically poor records on diversity and equality by denying them contracts with the federal government. The Massachusetts senator detailed her latest plan in a post on Medium on Friday, positioning her ideas as moral and economic imperatives. It's the latest in a parade of proposals that have become a trademark of her...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House panel. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is scheduled to hold the hearing next Wednesday, its stated purpose "to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice." The...
The country's only all-male historically black college will begin admitting transgender men next year, marking a major shift for the school at a time when higher education institutions around the nation are adopting more welcoming policies toward LGBT students. Leaders of Morehouse College told The Associated Press that its board of trustees approved the policy on Saturday. Transgender men will be allowed to enroll in the school for the first time in 2020. Students who identify as women but were born male cannot enroll, however, and anyone who...
George H.W. Bush got elected president after a campaign marked by the infamous Willie Horton ad, about a black murderer who raped a white woman while on a weekend furlough from prison. On the other side of the racial ledger, Bush appointed Gen. Colin Powell as the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And while Bush replaced civil rights hero Thurgood Marshall with another black man to maintain the racial status quo on the Supreme Court, he picked Clarence Thomas, a conservative whose views are at odds with those of much of black A...
WASHINGTON (AP) — For all the many successes among candidates of color, the midterm elections also proved to some the enduring power of racism, with minority politicians' intelligence and integrity called into question by their opponents and President Donald Trump in what were widely seen as coded appeals to white voters. Several Democratic strategists said Wednesday that the outcome showed the need for the party to recalibrate its strategy heading into 2020 and beyond. To win, they said, the party must expand its base of black and brown v...
WASHINGTON (AP) — What is already the most diverse Congress ever will become even more so after Tuesday's elections, which broke barriers of race and gender. For the first time, a pair of Native American congresswomen are headed to the House, in addition to two Muslim congresswoman. Massachusetts and Connecticut will also send black women to Congress as firsts for their states, while Arizona and Tennessee are getting their first female senators. The high-profile midterm cycle that produced a record number of women contenders and candidates o...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It's one of President Donald Trump's favorite talking points in promoting his administration's success: the record low rate of black unemployment. But on a recent sunny afternoon in Vernon Park in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, that victory seemed hollow. As children laughed on the playground, several black men — some out of work, others homeless — sat or slept on benches nearby. Similar scenes play out across America and are backed by data that counter the positive picture Trump often paints in campa...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurgent Democratic women running for Congress are pushing the party to rethink its approach to politics if they retake control of Capitol Hill in the fall. At the annual meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus Friday, black female candidates who prevailed in primaries over established incumbents said it's time for a conversation about how the party is structured. They expressed frustration that the party is tilted against rising politicians — especially those of color — and argued that if Democrats flip the House in Novem...
With Andrew Gillum's upset victory in Florida, black candidates have won the Democratic nomination for governor in three states this year in a historic turn largely attributed to voter backlash against President Donald Trump. Gillum, Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland were all aided in recent months by strong turnout, especially among black voters. "This moment is defined by the politics of Trump and the Republican Party, which are grounded in bigotry, fear and racism," said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of Black PAC...
Aretha Franklin, who was born and rose to fame during the segregation era and went on to sing at the inauguration of the first black president, often used her talent, fortune and platform to inspire millions of black Americans and support the fight for racial equality. "She not only provided the soundtrack for the civil rights movement, Aretha's music transcended race, nationality and religion and helped people from all backgrounds to recognize what they had in common," said longtime civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery. Franklin, who...
When LaShell Eikerenkoetter cast her vote for Wesley Bell in the St. Louis County Democratic primary on Tuesday, she took the spirit of Michael Brown with her to the ballot box. She had a sole purpose on Election Day: Get rid of Bob McCulloch , the veteran prosecutor who did not get an indictment against the white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who fatally shot the unarmed, black 18-year-old four years ago this week. "To show that four years later, when this man — who could've given us justice decided not to and did everything in h...
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The day after Antwon Rose Jr. was shot through the cheek and elbow and in the back, killing the 17-year-old honors student, young black people swarmed the East Pittsburgh police station. Over the next several days, outraged protesters took over thoroughfares, disrupted rush hour and shouted from the steps of the county courthouse, demanding that the white officer who killed the black teenager be charged. Rose's killing is the first in the Pittsburgh area in the Black Lives Matter era, and residents are galvanized. From the s...
BURLINGTON, New Jersey (AP) — With a gospel choir, black cellist and bishop, Oprah, Serena and Idris Elba in the audience and an African-American mother-of-the-bride, Saturday's wedding of Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle was a blend of the solemn and the soulful. Guess who's coming to Windsor? The ceremony married the pomp and circumstance of Britain's most sacred institution with elements of black culture, drawing viewers not normally drawn to the spectacle of the monarchy. "This was black history," said Joy Widgeon, who a...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two black men arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the world's biggest coffee-shop chain Wednesday for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education. Separately, they reached a deal with the city for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. The men portrayed the twin settlements as an effort to make sure something positive came out of the April 12 incident, which touched off a furor around the U.S. o...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two recent encounters at a Philadelphia Starbucks and a Pennsylvania golf club that led to allegations of racism against black patrons escalated into full-blown confrontations when people decided to call 911 to report incidents that clearly weren't emergencies. The incidents show how common it has become for people to call 911 these days to settle fairly routine disputes, serving as the catalyst in some cases for racially charged encounters involving African-Americans and minorities. In Philadelphia, a Starbucks manager p...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It is difficult to overstate the pride, admiration and sense of ownership many black Americans felt watching Bill Cosby at the height of his career in the 1980s and '90s. As Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Cosby starred in a top-rated network sitcom about a loving, successful black couple and their wholesome children. "The Cosby Show" shifted the paradigm for millions of viewers for what a black family could look like. And it made Cosby an idol to many African-Americans in an era long before the country would see a black family l...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rashon Nelson initially brushed it off when the Starbucks manager told him he couldn't use the restroom because he wasn't a paying customer. He thought nothing of it when he and his childhood friend and business partner, Donte Robinson, were approached at their table and were asked if they needed help. The 23-year-old entrepreneurs declined, explaining they were just waiting for a business meeting. A few minutes later, they hardly noticed when the police came into the coffee shop — until officers started walking in the...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It was a surreal scene that is part of daily life for many black Americans and minorities, an everyday moment gone wrong, ending in complete humiliation. Two black men were handcuffed and arrested at a Starbucks, setting off a national uproar after the incident was captured on video. A worker complained the men were trespassing, but they maintained they were doing what thousands of people do in the popular coffee shops across the country — waiting to meet a friend. The exchange was a fresh reminder that, five decades aft...
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — With thoughts on the past and eyes to the future, thousands marched and sang civil rights songs Wednesday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the "apostle of nonviolence" silenced by an assassin 50 years ago. At events ranging from a jubilant concert to a solemn wreath-laying, admirers across the country took time to both reflect on King's legacy and discuss how his example can apply to racial and economic divides still plaguing society. Among the largest gatherings was a march through the Mississippi River city w...
ATLANTA (AP) — The first Martin Luther King Jr. holiday of Donald Trump's presidency is taking place amid a racial firestorm of Trump's own making. In the same week that he honored King by making a national park out of the ground where King was born and preached until his death, Trump denigrated practically the entire African diaspora, and left many Americans headed into the civil rights icon's birthday convinced that the leader of their country is a racist. For African-Americans in particular, this latest insult from Trump felt like w...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans think refusing to stand for the national anthem is disrespectful to the country, the military and the American flag. But most also disapprove of President Donald Trump's calling for NFL players to be fired for refusing to stand. The NFL protests began last season with quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the national anthem to bring more attention to the killings of black men by police officers. The protests spread this season, as the former San Francisco 49er was unable to sign on with another t...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Among the most lasting and indelible images of the civil rights movement were the nine black teenagers who had to be escorted by federal troops past an angry white mob and through the doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sept. 25, 1957. It had been three years since the Supreme Court had declared "separate but equal" in America's public schools unconstitutional, but the decision was met with bitter resistance across the South. It would take more than a decade before the last vestiges of Jim Crow f...
Teenagers and their technology are inseparable, but a new poll shows black teens are the most likely to have access to smartphones — which could explain why they're the biggest and most frequent users of mobile-friendly social media apps Snapchat and Instagram. A survey released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research explored teens' social media use and its relationship to race and class. The poll found that nearly 9 in 10 black teenagers use Snapchat, compared with just over 7 in 10 whites. And 4 in 10 b...
