Not every district in Minnesota is keeping track of the demographics of which students are choosing in-person versus distance learning options. But of those that are, many show students of color disproportionately choosing to stay home.

Researchers have compared the DNA of 27 Black people who lived at the Catoctin furnace between 1774 and 1850, finding a link between these enslaved Americans and nearly 42,000 living relatives.

reading the riot as collective resistance in black and brown europe.a ba thesis, and german/english notes...

"I am not suicidal. I am innocent," the actor said during a courtroom outburst.

For educators looking to root their curricula in antiracism, these three teachers from Joe Truss' Dismantling White Supremacy in Schools Conference share learning journeys, reflections, and lesson plans from their classrooms.

Germany has officially acknowledged that it committed genocide during its colonial-era occupation of Namibia, and announced a financial settlement of some 1.1 billion euros. That money will be spent over the next thirty years on infrastructure, healthcare and training programs to benefit the Herero and Nama communities, who suffered under German exploitation. But many Herero and Nama representatives are unhappy with the deal and are protesting. DW correspondent Adrian Kriesch reports.

Most students in America are only taught about a handful of important Black Americans in history class. Here’s a look at why schools should teach about race, and why certain parents are opposed to that shift.

In the 17th century, as the British colonies in the Americas were getting established in places like Jamestown, VA, the system of chattel slavery was also developing. Today, we'll learn about the role that slavery played in early American economy and how slavery became a legally accepted practice in the first place, and how it contributed to the colony’s early economic success. We'll look at the experiences of Anthony Johnson and John Punch to see how legal precedents that greatly influenced the development of slavery were set.

French President Emmanuel #Macron on Thursday said only Rwandans could forgive France for its role in #Rwanda's 1994 #genocide. "On this path, only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive, give us the gift of forgiving," Macron said in a speech at the genocide memorial of Gisozi in Kigali, where more than 250,000 Tutsi are buried. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Philip Turle tells us more.

Discover high-quality resources for indigenous entrepreneurs to help you get started on the right foot.

The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office will take a critical look at its own decision-making by joining an exclusive reform program aimed at ending racism and implicit bias in the justice system.

Contra Costa’s is one of four prosecution offices nationwide to partner with the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice, a data-driven nonprofit that pursues progressive policies and training in the justice system. Vera’s program is run by a former federal prosecutor and seeks to reduce racial disparities and mass incarceration, its director said.

The partnership was announced in late October, three months after a county task force study found disproportionate treatment of blacks and Latinos in nearly every level of Contra Costa’s justice system.

The move is the latest sign of philosophical changes at the DA’s office brought about by the appointment — and then election — of District Attorney Diana Becton. In 2014, Becton’s predecessor, Mark Peterson, publicly insisted that the county’s criminal justice system was free of racial bias after the public defender’s office held a Black Lives Matter protest.

Becton, sworn in last week, is both the first woman and first person of color to become district attorney in Contra Costa. She pledged to pursue progressive reforms such as alternatives to incarceration. Her appointment is what caused Vera to reach out to the DA’s office, said program director Jamila Hodge.

“We were really impressed by the number of community members who spoke on (Becton’s) behalf and the things they said about her,” said Hodge, a former U.S. attorney and senior adviser in the U.S. Justice Department during the Obama administration. “She was the candidate they felt understood the racial disparities in the system, cared about it, wanted to do something about it … She looked like a person whose goals would align with ours.”

In April 2016, the Board of Supervisors created a Racial Justice Task Force — including members from the DA and public defender’s offices, the sheriff’s office, county probation and community leaders — to examine whether racial disparities exist in the justice system. Last July, the task force released a study that found from 2013 to 2017, black men and women were more than three times as likely to be arrested than any other racial group, and black children were more than seven times more likely to be arrested.

It also found that in 2014-15, black and Latino defendants were more likely to be charged with enhancements that add prison time, and that from 2015 to 2017, black and Latino adults were more likely to be detained before their trial is held. The task force made 25 related recommendations that included the formation of a racial justice oversight body and a call to end a 2011 policy that picks jurors from a countywide pool rather than from the region the alleged crime occurred.

The task force also called for more thorough data collection, noting significant gaps in police departments’ data hindered the task force’s ability “to obtain up-to-date, racially specific data about law enforcement processes and practices.”

Becton, through a spokesman, declined to comment for this story, because the partnership is in its early stages; both sides are working together to draft a memorandum of understanding before the program begins. In an October news release announcing the partnership, though, Becton released a written statement.

“The Contra Costa County community is demanding a fairer and more just response to the problems that we face. We are thrilled to partner with the Vera Institute of Justice to develop innovative solutions that minimize the overreach of the criminal justice system–especially for our youth, while keeping our communities safe,” she said. “Vera’s long history of using research and data to drive change makes them the perfect partner to deal with the complex challenges before us.”

The Vera Institute is a multimillion-dollar nonprofit that advocates for data-driven policy reforms in the justice system. Its mission statement is to “tackle the most pressing injustices of our day; the causes and consequences of mass incarceration, racial disparities and the loss of public trust in law enforcement, to the unmet needs of the vulnerable, the marginalized and those harmed by crime and violence,” its website says.

Once a memorandum of understanding is signed, the Vera Institute will conduct a data analysis that could take several months, Hodge said.

“We’re looking at everything, not just number of cases but racial breakdown of charging decisions, how many people are asked to be held pretrial instead of released pretrial, what kind of plea offers are being made. Everything we can about how prosecutors are doing their job,” he said.

“We pretty much can guarantee we’re going to show them racial disparities and how they over-rely on incarceration and number of nonviolent, low-level folks who are being detained.”

After the Vera Institute’s data-analysis, its members will meet with local prosecutors to agree on reforms tailored to the office, then begin workshops and presentations over several visits to the office.

“We are very intentional about engaging directly with line staff. Sometimes they just aren’t aware of this larger problem of mass incarceration and their county’s role in contributing to it,” Hodge said.

In addition to Contra Costa County, the Vera Institute also is working with prosecutors in St. Louis, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; and an office in Mississippi that covers a four-county region.

In 1688, in Pennsylvania, a group of four men created the Germantown Petition, which made the case that slavery was immoral, and that it was inconsistent with Christian beliefs in general, and Quaker beliefs specifically. While the petition wasn't ultimately adopted by the Quaker hierarchy, examining the document and its authors' goals gives us a better insight into slavery in the colonies and some of the earliest organized attempts at abolition.

Our Co-Director of Education, Professor Farah Karim-Cooper, is joined by performer Aldo Billingslea and scholar Dr Vanessa I. Corredera to discuss issues of race and social justice in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Our new series of webinars focusses on the relationship between race, social justice and Shakespeare. Anti-Racist Shakespeare: Perspectives on the Plays is a platform to enable as many participants to engage as possible in this vital discussion.

Today we're learning about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which brought millions of captive Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the largest number of people trafficked between 1700 and 1808. We'll look at the ships and crews that brought enslaved people across the ocean via what was known as the Middle Passage and explore the horrific conditions that these captives endured.  

The legal system can seem like a complicated tangle of arcane rules and loopholes, and it can sometimes seem like it is designed to confuse. But it is possible, with the right application, for the legal system to rectify injustices. Today we're going to tell you about one instance of this, the story of Elizabeth Key, who in 1665 won her freedom in a court in Virginia.