Race Inquiry Digest (June 19) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Feature – Philando Castile and This Savage System. My own experience on a grand jury showed me why so many young men of color are locked up – and why none of them are likely to ever share a jail cell with a disgraced cop. Read more    

Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government. These directives will limit the Department of Justice’s use of a civil rights enforcement tool, and loosen the requirements on investigations. Read more 

Why did this powerful church group struggle to denounce white supremacy? The Southern Baptist Convention stumbled during what should have been a simple resolution condemning racism. There is a reason for that. Read more 

The murder of Tupac Shakur is a tragedy — but the why is not a complete mystery. Conspiracy theories give fans comfort but, in truth, the brilliant artist was ‘a sacrificial lamb in thug clothing.’ Read more  

There’s still no good reason to believe black-white IQ differences are due to genes. All three of us are academic psychologists who have studied human intelligence, and it is our contention that Murray’s views do not represent the consensus in our field. Read more 

Will Politicians and Police Treat Black Opioid Users with Compassion? After all, during the crack epidemic’s peak years in the 1980s and ‘90s, America’s war on drugs had far more in common with Duterte’s approach than it did with the message of compassion politicians and police officers are singing today. Read more 

I’m proof of the parallel racial universe of police stops. “ I am white and a professor of journalism. As my wife and I started walking to dinner, a police officer rushed out from another nearby eatery and confronted me. Didn’t I know I’d smacked into the car parked behind mine?” Read more 

Bill Cosby was largely irrelevant in black America even before his sexual assault trial began. Bill Cosby listens as a statement by Camille Cosby is read outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., on June 17, 2017. Bill Cosby’s trial ended without a verdict after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision. Read more 

America Spent Centuries Mistreating Native American Children. Trump Is Making It Worse. A new look at the president’s budget reveals devastating cuts to education. Read more 

John Boyega Is in Jeopardy in the Gripping New Trailer for Detroit. This new trailer focuses specifically on John Boyega’s character Melvin Dismukes, the security guard at the Algiers Motel, where members of the Detroit Police Department killed three black men and beat nine other people during the 1967 Detroit riots. Read more 

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