civil rights: Last News

Actor Alec Baldwin has filed a civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”The lawsuit was filed Thursday at state district court in Santa Fe, where a judge in July dismissed a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.Baldwin also alleges defamation in the suit, saying that prosecutors and investigators intentionally mishandled evidence as they pursued the case.Defendants named in the lawsuit include special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, along with three investigators from the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office and the county board of commissioners.“Defendants sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law,” the lawsuit states. It also says prosecutors and investigators targeted Baldwin for professional or political gain.Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal for the movie “Rust” in October 2021 at a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico.Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer, was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

JamesPercival Everett (Doubleday)Everett’s 2020 novel “Telephone” was a Pulitzer finalist. His latest is a reimagining of “Huckleberry Finn” told from the point of view of Jim the escaped slave.

European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) is insisting that EuroPride in Belgrade is not cancelled despite nationalists joining church protests and Serbian President Vučić announcing the cancellation.Three years ago, EPOA had chosen Belgrade as the host for the annual event for 2022. Vučić cancelled the event on the grounds of tensions in Kosovo, along with economic issues within the country.President of EPOA, Kristine Garina has stated that the event would have the opposite effect, boosting the economy.“EuroPride in Belgrade will not be cancelled and will bring together thousands of LGBTI+ people from across Europe with LGBTI+ people from Serbia and the wider western Balkans,” Garina said.The bullies she refers to are the right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ Serbians whose numbers have grown and have become vocal about their opposition to the pride event.Srbija za primer.

Civil Rights heroes are real people. We read about their brave acts, but they remain two-dimensional, stuck inside the pages of our history books. But our heroes had families.

Autherine Lucy Foster was an icon of the civil rights movement as the first Black student to attend the University of Alabama.Foster had already received her bachelor’s degree from Mills College when she decided to seek admission to the segregated University of Alabama as a graduate student in 1952. She was initially admitted on her qualifications, but the admission was revoked when school authorities learned she was Black. Foster worked with the NAACP to fight for admission.

Rabbi Israel Dresner was a civil rights activist who protested segregation alongside his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968).Dresner began his life of activism young, well before he became a rabbi, as World War II raged overseas.

Clyde Bellecourt was a Native American civil rights activist who co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM).Raised on an Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota, Bellecourt co-founded AIM in 1968, after serving prison time for burglary and robbery. It was there that he met co-founders Eddie Benton-Banai (1931–2020) and Dennis Banks (1937–2017) and talked to them about the challenges Native Americans faced, including police brutality. They agreed to start a program to help Native Americans living in cities, which grew into AIM.

Lee Elder was a pioneering golfer who was the first black golfer to compete in the Masters when he competed in the tournament in 1974. Lee Elder taught himself how to play golf by sneaking onto all white golf courses as a youth.

Martha White was a housekeeper whose refusal to leave the whites-only section of a bus was the catalyst for a 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.White was on her way home from work on June 15, 1953, when she boarded a city bus and saw just one open seat – in the front row, just behind the driver. Though the seat was in the section reserved for white passengers, White sat, eager to rest after a long day.

Mimi Jones was a civil rights activist who was the subject of a nationally famous photograph of a “swim-in” in St. Augustine, Florida.Jones was just a teenager in 1964 when she was galvanized by the Civil Rights Movement to travel from her home in Georgia to St.