As is the case regarding George Zimmerman, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it will not bring federal charges against now-former Police Officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the New York Times reports. The Justice Department released an 80-page report detailing its investigation and found that while several witnesses were adamant about where…

As if the U.S. government didn’t hear Cuba loud and clear in December, a Cuban official recently told Yahoo News that Cuba has absolutely no intentions of returning Assata Shakur to the U.S. to serve out her prison sentence for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973, given that Fidel Castro granted her political…

James Dixon, 24, was charged Tuesday with manslaughter and assault for fatally beating 21-year-old transgender woman Islan Nettles in New York City in August 2013, the New York Daily News reports. According to the report, Nettles was walking with two other transgender friends in Harlem when Dixon and his friends saw them and began catcalling.…

Netflix is continuing to turn traditional media and rollout protocols on their heads by acquiring the rights to the African war drama Beasts of No Nation, USA Today reports. The film—which is widely considered to be a serious Oscar contender for next year—will be released in theaters later this year and also streamed simultaneously on Netflix…

In December, President Barack Obama commissioned a task force to come up with recommendations on how to deal with recent police killings of unarmed black men and the distrust that working-class communities feel toward law enforcement as a result. On Monday, the President’s Task Force on 21st-Century Policing issued its proposals (pdf), including that “there should be…

Rep. Sheila Butt, a member of Tennessee’s House of Representatives, drew the ire of her black counterparts Thursday when she tried to backpedal away from her use of the abbreviation “NAAWP.” Her critics argue that the initials make a mockery of civil rights organization the NAACP, WKRN reports. Butt responded to a Facebook post about…

Ten former waiters at a New York TGI Fridays are accusing the franchise of racism and colorism, saying that when their location closed, the company hired “light-skinned workers” who were mostly Hispanic to replace them at the new location, according to the New York Daily News. The waitstaff at the closed Manhattan location was told to…

Loretta Lynch inched one step closer to becoming the U.S. attorney general Thursday when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for her confirmation, the Huffington Post reports. Every Democratic senator voted in her favor, while Republicans were split. Now the vote will be extended to the full Senate. Lynch’s Republican critics have concerns about her support…