Minneapolis Police Department Is Withdrawing From Union Negotiations in Wake of George Floyd’s Death

I’m a Black American Vet and a Former Police Officer. I Decided to Speak Up With My Camera

Doug Barrett, 37, is a photographer, Army Veteran and former police officer from Atlanta who moved to Kansas in 2011. I was a former police officer in Gwinett County, Ga., working in SWAT and narcotics. So, part of why I feel comfortable shooting photographs and getting into the thick of things is because I understand…

George Floyd’s Death and the Long History of Racism in Minneapolis

The May 25 death of George Floyd, 46, marks one more chapter in a long history for America — and for Minneapolis, which has been the site of protests in the days following Floyd’s death. After Floyd, who was black, died in police custody, bystander video revealed that a white police officer knelt on his…

The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day

Nowadays, Memorial Day honors veterans of all wars, but its roots are in America’s deadliest conflict, the Civil War. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died, about two-thirds from disease. The work of honoring the dead began right away all over the country, and several American towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Researchers have traced…

As Washington D.C. Weighs Reopening, African Americans in the Nation’s Capital Brace for the Worst

It’s just past 7 a.m. as Tavis Clinton’s sanitation truck pulls to a stop in an alley in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Petworth, its streets lined by aging rowhouses and the occasional glass-and-metal gentrified upstart apartment complex. The 41-year-old sanitation crew chief, who like the other members of his three-man team is African American,…

How the U.S. Navy’s First Black Officers Helped Reshape the American Military

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the United States victory over Germany and Japan in World War II, and the celebrations, the movies and the memorials will focus on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. But one of the most consequential battles of the war did not take place overseas. It was waged…

‘Could It Work as a Cure? Maybe.’ A Herbal Remedy for Coronavirus Is a Hit in Africa, But Experts Have Their Doubts

On April 20, the president calls a press conference to announce a breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19. It’s a new use for an old malaria treatment, he says, one that is seeing miraculous results among the country’s most ill patients. It’s so safe that even schoolchildren could take it. In fact, he urges them…

How Michael Jordan and The Last Dance Spoke to a Nation Desperately Missing Sports

Over these past few weeks, The Last Dance—the ESPN docuseries about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls—has offered pundits much-needed talking points for a world mostly devoid of actual sports. Episodes that covered the blood feud between the Bulls and Detroit Pistons, and recalled the time that star Pistons point guard Isaiah Thomas and…

‘We Are In Crisis.’ COVID-19 Exacerbates Problems for People With Disabilities

Jeiri Flores is normally a busy, upbeat 29-year-old. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, her go-to thought has been dark. “If I get this,” she thinks, “I’m gonna die.” This is not an unfounded fear. Flores has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and needs assistance with everyday tasks, including making food and getting dressed. Her disability…

Will Coronavirus Be the Death or Salvation of Big Plastic?

It was supposed to be a blockbuster moment for the U.S. plastic industry. With an abundance of cheap natural gas at hand, thanks to the country’s fracking boom, U.S. energy giants were pouring billions of dollars into building new plants to turn that gas into plastic. As the world was poised to slowly turn away…

From ‘COVID Toes’ to Hives, These Are the Skin Conditions Dermatologists Think Could Be Signs of Coronavirus

Dermatologists around the world are gathering data on what may be largely overlooked symptoms of COVID-19: skin conditions ranging from rashes to “pseudo-frostbite.” Many viral illnesses—including chickenpox, measles and mononucleosis—are accompanied by telltale skin rashes, often a result of the body’s heightened inflammatory response while fighting off infection. Though more research is needed, a growing…

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga Offer Hope at Star-Studded TV Special Aimed at Combating COVID-19

(NEW YORK) — Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes and others sang classic songs brimmed with messages of hope and change during a TV special aimed at fighting the coronavirus, while Beyoncé and Alicia Keys spoke passionately about how the virus has disproportionately affected black Americans. Beyoncé made a surprise appearance on Saturday’s TV…

Three Days in a Detroit Funeral Home Ravaged by the Coronavirus

On April 29, Stephen Kemp arrived at his office just outside Detroit to a perplexing silence. Since COVID-19 hit the city, the phones at his funeral home had been ringing nonstop. Now, nothing. Kemp’s wife and colleague, Jacquie, soon popped into his office with an explanation: Comcast was down. No phones, no Internet. The outage…

The World Health Organization’s Maria Van Kerkhove On Balancing Science, Public Relations and Politics

Maria Van Kerkhove had never held a World Health Organization (WHO) press briefing before January. Now, people in countries across the globe tune in almost daily to watch the American epidemiologist—along with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Dr. Mike Ryan—break down the latest updates in the ever-evolving COVID-19…

Here’s How Harvey Gantt Feels, 30 Years Later, About Michael Jordan Refusing to Back Him

The fifth episode of The Last Dance, the popular ESPN docu-series examining the impact of Michael Jordan and the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls, touches on one of the more controversial aspects of Jordan’s legendary career: his lack of political engagement during his playing days. Back in 1990 Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina and starred…

Why Coronavirus Could Cause Millions of People Could Go Hungry, Even Though There’s Enough Food to Go Around

Jitendra Bangar tried to save his cabbage crop. The farmer, who lives in Bhiwandi, India, on the northeastern outskirts of Mumbai, spent the first few weeks of April spraying water on the vegetables he had harvested and stored, hoping that it would keep them fresh until he could sell them. But with strict lockdown measures…

Filling Out a Census Has Always Been a Political Act

There are seven individual questions on the 2020 U.S. Census: name, usual abode, relationship (to the household’s “Person 1”), sex, age, ethnicity and race. Most people will need just a few minutes to answer them. As of April 15, around 49% of households have already done so. But don’t mistake this for a simple, forgettable,…

Outrage Mounts After Cell Phone Footage Surfaces of Ahmaud Arbery’s Fatal Shooting in Georgia, But No Suspects Have Been Charged. Here’s What to Know

A Georgia prosecutor has called for a grand jury investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was killed after being chased by two white men in February while out running in a residential neighborhood outside Brunswick, a city on the state’s southeast coast. “After careful review of the evidence…

How Nancy Pelosi Saved the Affordable Care Act

As she pleaded with her Democratic sisters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had tears in her eyes. She knew they hated what they were being asked to do. She hated it, too. But if they didn’t relent, the whole thing could fall apart. They had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to accomplish something truly monumental, a goal that…

Trump Told America’s Governors They Were On Their Own. So Maryland’s Larry Hogan Is Taking Charge

Larry Hogan has got another of his ideas, and this one cracks him up. “I’m gonna call Pence!” says Hogan, startling his chief of staff, Matthew Clark, who sits across a large, round faux-wood table. Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, is meeting with his coronavirus command team, a skeleton crew of state officials still…

Africa Dangerously Behind in Global Race for Medical Equipment Amid Coronavirus

(JOHANNESBURG) — As Africa braces for a surge in coronavirus cases, its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment. Ten nations have no ventilators at all. Outbid by richer countries, and not receiving medical gear from top aid donor the United States, African officials scramble for solutions as virus cases…

‘It Conjures Up Every Racial Stereotype.’ For Black Men, Homemade Masks May Be a Risk All Their Own

For 24-year-old Quinten Hoskins, new federal guidelines suggesting that people wear homemade face coverings in public to fight the coronavirus outbreak seemed like a joke, and not a very funny one at that. “Can y’all imagine me walking in here with a bandana on my face?,” he asked a group of colleagues at the Milwaukee…

They Were There as the Modern Environmental Movement Began. As Earth Day Turns 50, They Say the Planet’s Problems Have Gotten Worse

Dorothy Bradley was 23 when she decided to run for the Montana House of Representatives. Her decision was made on the first Earth Day — April 22, 1970 — when she was one of roughly 20 million Americans who participated in some of the day’s 12,000 events raising awareness of environmental problems in society. At…

Trump to Order U.S. Meat Plants to Stay Open Amid Supply Fears

President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to remain open, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply from the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said. Trump plans to use the Defense Production Act to order the companies to stay open during the pandemic, and…

‘We’re Catching It Double.’ Amid Coronavirus Lockdowns, Gun Violence Continues to Plague Chicago

Despite a statewide shelter-in-place order to help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the city of Chicago is still facing high levels of gun violence. “It’s like a double whammy. We are catching it double. We have the virus and the violence to worry about,” Rodney Phillips, a violence prevention outreach worker in Chicago…

New York City Exposes the Stark Disparity in How COVID-19 Affects Low-Income Communities

Consider this for perspective: with 107,263 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the five boroughs as of April 14., if New York City were a sovereign nation, it would be the sixth worst-hit country by the coronavirus. The city accounts for nearly 18% of all cases in the United States, which leads the world in infections…

How the Civil War Changed the Way Americans Thought About Economic Inequality

In the run-up to the 2020 election, some Americans are increasingly worried about the immense power that wealth plays in the country’s democracy. Those concerns would not have surprised Americans in 1776 — they assumed that property and political power were intertwined. Indeed, one had to own property to vote, although in America (unlike England)…

Republicans Could Use the Coronavirus to Suppress Votes Across the Country. This Week We Got a Preview

In 1946, Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo instructed his followers that the way to keep black people from voting was to get “the tar and feathers and don’t forget the match.” In the Jim Crow South, African Americans faced bullets, beatings, lynching and more for trying to cast a ballot. Over the years the weapon has…

Sundar Pichai on Big Tech’s Role During Coronavirus Crisis

In recent weeks, governments and citizens alike have turned to Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, for help with the COVID-19 pandemic. In a rare partnership with Apple, the company is working to turn smartphones into contact-tracing devices, on an opt-in basis, to help notify people if they’ve been exposed to the virus.…

ESPN’s New Michael Jordan Documentary Is Exactly What We Need Right Now. Here’s How They Made It

ESPN has taken noble swings at programming a sports network with no sports. But there are only so many airings of marbles races, old games and gabfests about the April 23–25 NFL draft—an event that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, feels as significant as a speck of sand—that viewers can take. That’s why fans clamored so…

How New Efforts Are Recovering the Stories of People Who Were Deleted From History

There are holes in the stories we tell ourselves about history, gaping blanks that stand out like missing teeth in a broken smile. Certain types of people are often relegated to the background, or have been deleted altogether. Recently, a doctoral student at Duke University discovered that the oldest known copy of the Bible’s Gospel…