Black Lives Matter

How Activists Won Reparations for the Survivors of Chicago Police Department Torture
A history of the movement to make Chicago pay for the crimes of former police commander Jon Burge.
Flint Taylor

A Century After Ota Benga’s Captivity, Elites Still Don’t Understand White Supremacy
Over a century after a Congolese man was displayed at the Bronx Zoo monkey exhibit, white elites still stubbornly believe they are benevolent, not supremacist.
Chris Lehmann

Civil Rights: The Next Generation
What happens in Baltimore isn’t going to stay in Baltimore
Martha Biondi

“You can’t just vacuum up all of this data of innocent citizens”
Joel Handley discusses the Chicago Police Department's use of StingRay technology and other high-tech monitoring of people's movements.
Lauren Gaynor

Why White Americans Don’t Believe in ‘Personal Accountability’ For Police
Do the nation’s police suffer from the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’?
James Thindwa

Can Ferguson’s Black Community Claim Political Power?
Rev. and Missouri state Rep. Tommie Pierson, who has found himself in the eye of the storm, reflects on Ferguson's recent elections and the DOJ report.
Emmett Rensin

“To this mayor, black and brown lives do not matter”: 3 Arrested at Die-In at Rahm Emanuel’s Office
Protesters demand reforms to alleged abuses in Chicago’s criminal justice system, including a discriminatory “stop-and-frisk” program and secret interrogation site.
Yana Kunichoff

Why Chuy Garcia Needs To Condemn Rahm Emanuel’s Secret Police Interrogation Site (Updated)
By any other name, it still smells like torture.
Flint Taylor

Meet the Radical Brownies
A Oakland girls' troop is inspired by the Girl Scouts ... and the Brown Berets.
Aviana Willis

Even Being a NY Times Columnist’s Son at Yale Isn’t Enough to Prevent Racist Police Harassment
Charles Blow vented on Twitter when his son had a gun drawn on him by Yale Police.
Terrell Jermaine Starr, Alternet

The Women Behind Black Lives Matter
The 'leaderless' movement is being propelled by the efforts of women of color.
Kendra Pierre-Louis

From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson: Through an Eye Socket Darkly
The identified body of one of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico, and the police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in the U.S. reveal deep similarities between the two countries' political classes.
Shannon Speed and Rosalva Aída Hernández

Chicago Police Tortured Dozens of Black Men. Now, Victims Are Demanding Reparations.
Momentum is growing for a bill to finally help heal the wounds of years of torture of black men by the Chicago Police Department.
F. Amanda Tugade

When Police ‘Reforms’ Only Legitimize Police Abuses
The proposed policing reforms in response to the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner won't lessen police violence against communities of color. In fact, they may actually make it worse.
Michael Collins

A Short History of Killer Cops Let Off the Hook
The U.S. has a long history of allowing police to walk free after vicious racist violence.
Flint Taylor

Whether Darren Wilson Is Indicted or Not, the Entire System Is Guilty
An indictment of the Ferguson police officer who killed Michael Brown would not prove that black lives matter in America.
Mariame Kaba

Jon Burge, Torturer of Over 100 Black Men, Is Out of Prison After Less Than Four Years
Chicago's notorious former police commander is released from prison. A human rights lawyer representing police torture victims responds.
Flint Taylor

Chicago’s Cop Watchers
Youth stand up to police violence.
Kari Lydersen