Rania Khalek Dispatches from the Underclass

Tag / Stand Your Ground

On this week’s episode of Unauthorized Disclosure, Kevin Gosztola and I speak with independent journalist and filmmaker Raven Rakia about the Michael Dunn verdict, Jordan Davis’ defiance of respectability politics, the lack of outrage over police killings, and how structural and implicit racism work together to perpetuate what Raven calls the “presumed guiltiness of black […]

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In the second episode of our new podcast, Firedoglake’s Kevin Gosztola and I speak with Gadeir Abbas, a staff attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), about the NSA surveillance as it relates to and impacts Muslim communities. This part really stood out and should leave you outraged: The saddest thing I’ve ever heard as a […]

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Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced at a news conference earlier today that 54-year-old Theodore Wafer of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, will be charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and felonious use of a firearm for the shooting death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, a black Detroit woman who is believed to have been seeking help following a car accident. […]

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According to Dearborn Heights police, the man who shot and killed Renisha McBride over the weekend is claiming that his .12-gauge shotgun discharged accidentally. McBride died on his front porch from a gunshot wound to the face early Saturday morning after knocking on his door for help following a car accident. Police released only vague details and […]

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(There have been many developments since this story initially broke. See here.) If you thought what happened to Jonathan Ferrell last month was horrific, wait until you hear about the slaying of 19-year-old Renisha McBride.

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Lakisha Gaither, 35, fired a single round into the air from her lawfully owned firearm over the weekend in an effort to scare away a group of boys who were attacking her 15-year-old daughter, Brianna Stewart. Brianna has since gone missing and Gaither is frantically searching for her daughter as she prepares for her arraignment […]

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In 2010, Shannon Anthony Scott, then 33, was arrested for the murder of 17-year-old Darrell Andre Niles, an unarmed black teen who was found shot to death in his car around 2:30 am on April 18 of that year. However, Richland County Judge Maite Murphy has thrown out those charges, ruling on Wednesday that Scott reasonably believed […]

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Marshall Coulter, 14, is in critical condition after being shot in the head on Friday by Merritt Landry, 33, a white homeowner and buildings inspector for the Historic District Landmarks Commission who believed Coulter was trying to break into his home in Marigny. But according to police, Coulter was unarmed and did not pose a threat to […]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR_E9vvC2K0 On her MSBC show Sunday morning, Melissa Harris-Perry spoke about the murder of Jordan Davis, an unarmed black 17-year-old in Jacksonville, Florida. She was clear that Davis’s murder was different than Trayvon Martin’s because the shooter, Michael Dunn, was arrested the following day. Still, Harris-Perry went on to address the undeniable similarities between the […]

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Michael Dunn’s attorney has assured the media that this case bears no resemblance to Trayvon Martin. CNN reports: Her client, Michael Dunn, is no “vigilante” but did feel threatened and shot out of “self defense,” the attorney said. “There are no comparisons to the Trayvon Martin situation,” said Robin Lemonidis, Dunn’s attorney. “He is devastated […]

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