4 h. ago ‘My vote is my voice’: protesters fight for democracy as Trump casts shadow

Outside the supreme court, protesters invoked the legacy of civil rights giants with a key Voting Rights Act plank at stakeWearing a T-shirt proclaiming “We won’t Black down”, Wanda Mosley had made the trip from Atlanta. “I had to be here because the Voting Rights Act is on life support,” the 55-year-old explained. “Today the court will synthesise the arguments and decide if they’re going to kill it – or allow it to live.”Mosley was among a few hundred protesters who gathered in warm October sunshine outside the supreme court on Wednesday. Inside the building, whose facade was obscured by scaffolding, justices were weighing arguments in a case involving Louisiana electoral districts and section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Supreme Court could deliver ‘catastrophic’ decision on Voting Rights Act and blow up protections from racial discrimination

The court’s conservative majority could gut the landmark civil rights law — and open the door for Republicans to erase Democratic districts in the redistricting war

Events

5 h. ago Former UN Ambassador Andrew Young describes 'dirty work' of civil rights movement in new documentary

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young settled into the role of doing the “dirty work” right away when he began working for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement — answering mail, working behind the scenes to set up marches

Politics

7 h. ago US supreme court appears poised to weaken key pillar of Voting Rights Act

Dispute over Louisiana district returned to justices after long legal saga – and could have far-reaching implicationsA 160-year-old campaign against civil rights heads to the supreme courtUS politics live – latest updatesThe conservative majority on the US supreme court appeared poised to weaken a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act after a lengthy oral argument on Wednesday.“This court’s cases in a variety of contexts have said that race-based remedies are permissible for a period of time. Sometimes for a long period of time, decades in some cases, but they should not be indefinite and should have an endpoint. What exactly do you think that endpoint should be?” asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a key swing vote in the case, to Janai Nelson, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, who was defending the maps. Continue reading...

Events

56 h. ago Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement

A new round of layoffs at the Education Department is depleting an agency that was already hit hard in the Trump administration’s previous mass firings, threatening new disruption to the nation’s students and schools

Events

6 d. ago ‘The stakes are quite large’: US supreme court case could gut Voting Rights Act

Court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais could limit voters from challenging racial discriminatory districts The US supreme court is set to hear a case this month that could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act, effectively killing one of the crown jewels of the civil rights movement and the nation’s most powerful statute to prevent discrimination in voting.The court’s decision in the case, Louisiana v Callais, could be one of the most consequential rulings for the Voting Rights Act since it was enacted in 1965 and is almost certainly the biggest test for the law since its decision in Shelby county v Holder in 2013, when the justices hollowed out a provision of the law, section five, that required certain places to get voting changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Sixties Surreal: new exhibition offers an alternative view of the decade

At New York’s Whitney museum, a new show finds ways to highlight the less dominant artistic forces of the eraWe all know the familiar story of art in the 1960s – pop art, conceptualism and minimalism ruled the decade, dominated by the likes of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Sol LeWitt, and Jasper Johns. Bringing a welcome dose of counter-narrative to this calcified story, the Whitney’s bold new show Sixties Surreal, aims to introduce a new cohort of 60s artists who channeled the chaotic id of the decade, but only got a fraction of the acclaim.“A generation of artists who were young in the 60s increasingly looked for artistic vocabularies that they could use to explore the weird and wild time they were living in,” said show curator Scott Rothkopf, who has longed to curate this exact show since his student days in the 1990s. “The 60s was a time of so much change – the fear of the atom bomb, multiple sexual revolutions, the civil rights movement, drug culture. Thes...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Politics is nasty. And it’s getting worse’: Lionel Richie on his worries for America, his friend Michael Jackson – and why he still believes in the power of love

He’s known for his ballads and winning smile – but the singer has also had a ringside seat to history, from the civil rights battles in his native Alabama to the rise and fall of pop’s biggest superstarLionel Richie walks into the hotel meeting room at 6.20pm and stretches his arms out wide. “Good morning, everybody,” he says in a southern drawl as smooth as whipped cream. He’s not joking. Richie, 76, is touring here in Budapest, and he’s on rock’n’roll (well, legendary soul balladeer) time. The singer-songwriter, who has sold more than 100m records over his six decades in the business, has just got up. “That bed was saying to me, ‘Stay here, Lionel, you’re looking goooood.’”He introduces me to his girlfriend, Lisa Parigi, a Swiss entrepreneur. Parigi is in her mid-30s, gorgeous, friendly, and young enough to be his daughter – or granddaughter at a push. To be fair, though, Richie looks fabulous. As a young man, he was all chin and tache. Now he’s just regular handsom...

Politics

2 w. ago Bloody Sunday survivor recalls moment 53 years ago he 'played dead' as soldier 'murdered' unarmed man lying on the ground

Joe Mahon was 16 when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in January 1972.

Events

2 w. ago Civil rights agency drops a key tool used to investigate workplace discrimination

The U.S. civil rights agency responsible for enforcing worker rights will stop investigating complaints about company policies that don’t explicitly discriminate but may disproportionately harm certain groups

Events

2 w. ago Justice Department files civil rights lawsuit against protesters in clash at New Jersey synagogue

Federal officials have sued two pro-Palestinian groups and some demonstrators involved in a heated protest last year outside a synagogue in northern New Jersey

Society

2 w. ago ‘A hacker’s dream’: Britons on Keir Starmer’s plan for digital ID cards

Views range from concerns over civil liberties and cybersecurity, to welcoming it as a helpful system to streamline servicesKeir Starmer has announced plans for a digital ID system, which will become mandatory as a means of proving the right to work in the UK.From concerns around civil liberties and cybersecurity to a helpful system to streamline services in line with other European countries’ existing ID schemes, eight people share their views. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ACLU calls James Comey indictment ‘a grotesque abuse of presidential power’ – live updates

Civil rights group says ‘Trump has yet again proven his disdain for the principles that have actually made America great’; US president calls Comey a ‘dirty cop’Well, the president is awake.Donald Trump has posted the following on his Truth Social social media network:JAMES COMEY IS A DIRTY COP. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED! It is not a complex lie, it’s a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it. He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start. Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn’t hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught. James “Dirty Cop” Comey was a destroyer of l...

Politics

3 w. ago LGBT+ activists sound alarm over Trump admin’s ‘trans mass shooters’ narrative and reveal “DIE F****’ bullets found

Civil rights leaders warned that the White House’s ‘demonizing’ rhetoric is laying the groundwork for ‘abuse and mass surveillance’ of the whole trans community

Events

3 w. ago US citizens and permanent residents: how do you feel about the possibility of being racially profiled by Ice agents?

We want to hear from people of color about how they feel that immigration agents can continue to stop people in Los Angeles based on race, language, job or locationOn 8 September, the supreme court’s conservative majority temporarily lifted restrictions on “roving” immigration patrols across the Los Angeles area after a lower court found that federal agents were indiscriminately targeting people on the basis of race, language, employment or location.Immigration advocates warned that the court has “effectively legalized racial profiling” and opened the door to a broader unraveling of civil rights protections nationwide. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘My paintings don’t fit the narrative’: Kerry James Marshall on why he’s depicting black enslavers

He is arguably America’s greatest living painter, elevating everyday black life to the level of epic, jaw-dropping masterpieces. Now, for his biggest European show, the artist talks us through his disturbing new worksHistory weighs on Kerry James Marshall, though not all that heavily. When he talks about the hefty subjects of his art – from slavery to civil rights – he does so with a disarming, disquieting lightness. Maybe that’s because at almost 70 years old, and at the peak of his popularity, he’s seen it all.Marshall grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, just a few blocks away from where the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, a white supremacist attack that killed four young black girls, took place in 1963. When his family moved to Los Angeles, they ended up right in the middle of the 1965 Watts riots, a six-day uprising fuelled by growing racial tension in the poorest part of the city. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Amsterdam’s answer to its rubbish crisis? Remove some of the litter bins

Problems have arisen in Dutch capital since introduction of a deposit scheme for small bottles and cansCity leaders in Amsterdam are taking a novel approach to keeping its streets clean – by taking away litter bins to combat rubbish in part blamed on people rifling through them to obtain refund deposits on some discarded items.There has been a surge in complaints about litter in the Dutch capital since the introduction of a deposit scheme for small bottles and cans. Last year, a quarter of residents described their neighbourhood as dirty or very dirty, rising to two in five in the city centre. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago US judge orders Mahmoud Khalil deported citing ‘misrepresented facts’ on green card form

Lawyers say pro-Palestinian activist remains protected from immigration enforcement while separate federal court case proceedsAn immigration judge in the US state of Louisiana has ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil to Algeria or Syria, ruling that he failed to disclose information on his green card application, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.Khalil’s lawyers said they intended to appeal against the deportation order, and that a federal district court’s separate orders remain in effect prohibiting the government from immediately deporting or detaining him as his federal court case proceeds. The lawyers submitted a letter to the federal court in New Jersey overseeing his civil rights case and said he will challenge the decision. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago France should have recognised Palestinian statehood years ago. The cynic in me asks: why now? | Rokhaya Diallo

Weakened domestically, Emmanuel Macron wants an international legacy. Yet still, he does nothing to sanction IsraelWhen Emmanuel Macron announced that France intended to recognise Palestinian statehood, he drew a furious rebuke from Israel – and caused a diplomatic storm with the US. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote a letter accusing the French government of failing to “confront the alarming rise of antisemitism” in France, adding the harsh and unequivocal assessment: “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire.”In the same letter, he praised Donald Trump’s action to “protect the civil rights of American Jews”.Rokhaya Diallo is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Family of Black student found hanging from tree on school campus hires lawyer Ben Crump

Questions mount after Delta State University staff found body of Demartravion Reed near campus pickleball courtsThe family of a Black student who was found hanging from a tree on a college campus in Mississippi has retained the civil rights attorney Ben Crump as questions continue to mount around the death.On Monday, staff at Delta State University found the body of Demartravion “Trey” Reed near campus pickleball courts. Michael Peeler, the Delta State police chief, has said Reed appeared to have died by suicide and that there were no signs of foul play, but concerns have grown and the case has brought up painful memories of the state’s history of racist violence. Continue reading...

Society