Month: December 2019

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Editors’ ChoiceThere’s a funny moment in Kevin Wilson’s new novel, “Nothing to See Here” — it’s one of two novels we recommend this week — in which a 10-year-old girl tells her new caretaker that she loves reading but had nothing good to choose from at her grandparents’ house, where she and her twin brother…

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Says South Carolinians Saw the Confederate Flag as ‘Service’ Before Dylan Roof ‘Hijacked’ It

Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley told conservative commentator Glenn Beck Friday that white supremacist Dylan Roof “hijacked” the Confederate flag, which she said South Carolinians saw as representing “service and sacrifice and heritage.” Haley was speaking about the 2015 mass shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C., in which Roof murdered…

House Passes Bill to Restore Key Parts of Voting Rights Act

(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Friday that would restore key sections of the Voting Rights Act that once required officials in all or parts of 15 mostly Southern states to receive federal approval before making changes to the voting process. The bill would amend the 1965 law to impose new obligations on…

Black Leader in South Bend Endorses Joe Biden Over Pete Buttigieg – The New York Times

Politics|Black Leader in South Bend Endorses Joe Biden Over Pete ButtigiegEmphasizing the country’s need for experienced leadership, Oliver Davis, a longtime council member in the city, has been a frequent critic of Mr. Buttigieg.Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., has struggled to receive support from black voters.Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesSOUTH BEND,…

‘Broke’ Chronicles a City Out of Cash and Awash in Desperation

NonfictionAn abandoned home on Detroit’s east side, 2017.Credit...Erin Kirkland for The New York TimesWhen you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.BROKE Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises By Jodie Adams KirshnerDetroit does not have the luxury of solving one problem at a time. It has…

At Howard University, Homecoming Is a Pilgrimage

Surfacing“Coming to Howard for the first time was seeing the beauty of blackness,” one alumnus said.Written by Bianca LadipoPhotographs by Andre WagnerImageThere’s no limit to how many people can join the celebration — the campus gates never close during the weekend.Credit...Andre D. Wagner for The New York Times“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Ashley…

‘99 Problems but My ABCs Ain’t One’: Jay-Z Sues Over Children’s Book

Australia|‘99 Problems but My ABCs Ain’t One’: Jay-Z Sues Over Children’s BookThe Little Homie, a small Australian online retailer, says it is celebrating hip-hop. Jay-Z, who has spoken out about black identity and equality, says it is engaging in theft.Jay-Z and his wife, Beyoncé.Credit...Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for DisneyNov. 28, 2019SYDNEY, Australia — When the children’s…

Ho Chi Minh City’s Hilarious Side

heads upStand-up comedy is sweeping Vietnam’s largest city, often called Saigon, with locals braving open-mic nights in the city’s hippest cafes and bars. Uy Le, above right, is among the local comedians making stand-up comedy a new tradition in Ho Chi Minh City.Credit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesVietnam’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City,…

Radar Points to a Long-Lost Black Cemetery in Tampa

“We feel as though our ancestors are coming back and talking to us,” said a member of a historical committee that is investigating the discovery of about 145 coffins at a high school. Ground-penetrating radar was used to search the site of King High School in Tampa, Fla. Evidence of about 145 coffins was found…

How Russia Meddles Abroad for Profit: Cash, Trolls and a Cult Leader

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — The Russians were hard to miss. They appeared suddenly last year in Madagascar’s traffic-snarled capital, carrying backpacks stuffed with cash and campaign swag decorated with the name of Madagascar’s president.It was one of Russia’s most overt attempts at election interference to date. Working from their headquarters in a resort hotel, the Russians…

How Rising Temperatures Due to Climate Change are Shortening Pregnancies

It’s bad enough that adults have made a climatological mess of the world. It’s worse that the mess is having a disproportionate impact on kids—who did nothing to create the problem, but are more susceptible to health issues caused by rising temperatures than adults are. Now, it appears, global warming is doing its damage even…

China Says U.S. Will, and Must, Cut Tariffs to Reach a Trade Deal

The development suggests progress toward an interim agreement that would provide relief to businesses and consumers.A container ship docked at a port in Shanghai.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesWASHINGTON — The United States and China have agreed that an initial trade deal between the two countries would roll back a portion of the…

Arkady Renko Has Been Sent to Siberia. And He’s Fine With That.

CrimeCredit...Pablo AmargoPublished Nov. 15, 2019Updated Nov. 18, 2019If this is a Martin Cruz Smith mystery, we must be in Moscow, maybe in Gorky Park. But in a thrilling change of pace, THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA (Simon & Schuster, $27) takes us out of the city and into Russia’s untamed wilderness in search of a journalist who’s…

Saving Birds by Ruffling Some Feathers

Children’s BooksWe hear so much about the challenges of young female friendships. But STRANGE BIRDS: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers (Kokila, 350 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12), Celia C. Pérez’s second middle-grade novel (after “The First Rule of Punk”), is a story about the magic and beauty of these bonds, especially when they…

Report: Black Crime Victims Are Much Less Likely to Have Legislation Named in Their Honor

(CLEVELAND) — The slayings of Reagan Tokes and Alianna DeFreeze had much in common. Both were abducted, raped and killed in Ohio in 2017. Tokes was a 21-year-old college student, DeFreeze a 14-year-old seventh grader. Both their killers were previously convicted sex offenders. Yet only one victim got a law with her name on it…

Massachusetts Becomes the First State to Ban Flavored Tobacco and Vaping Products

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts became the first state to ban flavored tobacco and nicotine vaping products, including menthol cigarettes, after Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law on Wednesday a bill that’s meant to reduce the appeal of the products to young people amid a rash of illnesses and deaths linked to vaping. Anti-smoking groups…

Chicago Mayor Fires City’s Police Superintendent Over ‘Ethical Lapses’

(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired the city’s retiring police superintendent Eddie Johnson on Monday, citing “ethical lapses” that included telling lies about a recent incident in which Johnson was found asleep at the wheel of his car after having drinks. Named to the job in the wake of a police shooting that killed…

Michael Bloomberg Launches Democratic Presidential Bid

NEW YORK — Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for president. Ending weeks of speculation, the 77-year-old former Republican announced his candidacy Sunday in a written statement posted on a campaign website describing himself as uniquely positioned to defeat President…

14,000 Lives: ‘Rare Case Where Racial Biases’ Protected Blacks

The New health CareFewer opioid prescriptions meant fewer deaths (possibly 14,000), but the episode also reveals how prevalent and harmful stereotypes can be, even if implicit.Published Nov. 25, 2019Updated Dec. 2, 2019When the opioid crisis began to escalate some 20 years ago, many African-Americans had a layer of protection against it.But that protection didn’t come…

What the 2019 Election Means for 2020 – The New York Times

On PoliticsFour lessons from Tuesday night.Credit...Tim LahanNov. 6, 2019There was at least one clear loser in last night’s elections: my dream of reaching Inbox Zero.My email (current unread count: 40,149!) is now flooded with hundreds more messages, all from overjoyed Democratic organizations, strategists and candidates eager to get their piece of the credit for the…

Walmart’s Strategy When Wading Into Culture Wars: Offend Few

A Walmart in Secaucus, N.J. The retailer’s approach to public policy issues is more nuanced than a desire to simply do the right thing, interviews show.Credit...Gabby Jones for The New York TimesPublished Nov. 4, 2019Updated Nov. 5, 2019Walmart is getting out of the vaping business, but still sells cigarettes. It is working to reduce plastic…

Fiona Hill and the American Idea

A naturalized American exposes Trump’s attack on what America is and must be.Nov. 22, 2019Fiona Hill leaving a closed hearing on Capitol Hill early this month.Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York TimesFor a naturalized American, raised in Britain, I found Fiona Hill’s testimony at impeachment hearings this week to be a powerful reminder of what…

Noose Found in Locker Brings Unrest to Mississippi Fire Department

(HATTIESBURG, Miss.) — There’s little disagreement that the object found in a white Mississippi firefighter’s locker was a hangman’s noose. But as with many things in America these days, there’s deep disagreement about what it meant. To some it was a reminder of lynchings that took hundreds of black lives in Mississippi, and it had…

Popeyes Sandwich Strikes a Chord for African-Americans

Credit...Nick Kindelsperger/Chicago Tribune, via Getty ImagesKANSAS CITY, Mo. — The videos of mind-numbing first bites and long lines, the celebratory memes and fawning reviews: The return of the Popeyes chicken sandwich on Sunday has met with the same social-media frenzy that first greeted it last summer.But embedded in many of the catchy memes and witty…

Overlooked No More: Lillian Harris Dean, Culinary Entrepreneur Known as ‘Pig Foot Mary’

From a baby carriage on a Manhattan street corner, she sold Southern food to African-Americans who, like her, had moved to New York during the Great Migration. Left, the corner of 135th Street and what is now Malcolm X Boulevard in the 1920s, near where Lillian Harris sold her traditional Southern meals. Above, Benja Kay…

William Loren Katz, Historian of African-Americans, Dies at 92

He documented the often overlooked contributions of black people in books for young adults, helping to refashion social studies curriculums across the country.William Loren Katz in an undated photo. He wrote some 40 books about the integral roles that black people played in American history.Published Nov. 21, 2019Updated Nov. 22, 2019The fountainhead of the historian…