"We did not have a right to choose where we lived ... freedom of speech, or freedom of actions. The traffickers had keys to our apartment. They controlled all of our movement and travel. They watched us and listened when we called our parents. They didn't let us make friends or tell anyone anything about ourselves. We couldn't keep any of the money we earned. We couldn't ask anyone for help." -- Lena
More than 9,000 hate crime offenses -- more than half of them motivated by racial bias -- were reported last year, the FBI announced Monday.
The suspect in the brutal slaying of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and four other counts, the prosecutor in the case told CNN.
Raul Castro's government in Cuba continues to repress civil rights and persecute dissenters three years after he became the communist nation's top leader, Human Rights Watch says in a report released Wednesday.
Somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every five seconds -- even though the planet has more than enough food for all.
The number of Americans that have trouble putting food on the table shot up last year in an unprecedented spike to a record 17 million households, the government reported on Monday.
I'm a single father of a 12-year-old boy who every five minutes seem to switch personalities on me.
With a simple, declarative statement, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs announced his ambitious goal to eradicate one of the country's most shameful problems.
President Obama on Wednesday signed a law that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.
At 678, California has the nation's largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years.
"We did not have a right to choose where we lived ... freedom of speech, or freedom of actions. The traffickers had keys to our apartment. They controlled all of our movement and travel. They watched us and listened when we called our parents. They didn't let us make friends or tell anyone anything about ourselves. We couldn't keep any of the money we earned. We couldn't ask anyone for help." -- Lena
More than 9,000 hate crime offenses -- more than half of them motivated by racial bias -- were reported last year, the FBI announced Monday.
The suspect in the brutal slaying of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and four other counts, the prosecutor in the case told CNN.
Raul Castro's government in Cuba continues to repress civil rights and persecute dissenters three years after he became the communist nation's top leader, Human Rights Watch says in a report released Wednesday.
Somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every five seconds -- even though the planet has more than enough food for all.
The number of Americans that have trouble putting food on the table shot up last year in an unprecedented spike to a record 17 million households, the government reported on Monday.
I'm a single father of a 12-year-old boy who every five minutes seem to switch personalities on me.
With a simple, declarative statement, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs announced his ambitious goal to eradicate one of the country's most shameful problems.
President Obama on Wednesday signed a law that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.
At 678, California has the nation's largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years.
Things ain't what they used to be.
The global economic crisis has caused a spike in world hunger that has left more than a billion undernourished, United Nations agencies said in a new report.
Harry Connick Jr. almost got it right when he challenged the doctors who mocked the Jacksons in blackface on an Australian version of "the Gong Show."
Just a few years ago, Ron Kenebrew was in prison. When he got out, he moved from Arizona to Minnesota, but he soon wound up homeless.
In cities across the country, people with nowhere to live have done what many would have thought unthinkable before the economic crisis: moved into tents.
When Iraq war veteran Angela Peacock is in the shower, she sometimes closes her eyes and can't help reliving the day in Baghdad in 2003 that pushed her closer to the edge.
Audrey Peterman grew up surrounded by Jamaica's verdant mountains and lush mango orchards. She'd watch fish and an occasional shrimp dart in the stream that flowed near her house. When she settled in America, she yearned to relish the natural beauty of her new homeland.
Earlier this month, one of the biggest movie stars in the world was flying from Newark, New Jersey, to Chicago, Illinois, when he was allegedly pulled out of a security line and questioned and detained for over 1½ hours, apparently because of his Muslim name.
The Sri Lankan government should immediately release more than 280,000 displaced Tamil civilians living in detention camps, a leading human rights group said Wednesday.
Over the last two calendar years, more Americans in the United States were killed in a little-noticed spate of unprovoked attacks than were killed by terrorists, in large commercial jet crashes or in racial hate crimes.
Iran reportedly plans next week to put on trial seven Baha'i prisoners accused of espionage, even though one of their lawyers has become a fellow detainee and the other is outside the country.
A new national poll indicates that white and black Americans don't see eye to eye on last month's arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates.
Lucia Whalen strolled down a sidewalk near Harvard University, enjoying a lunchtime ritual she'd repeated many times in her 15 years working in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But on this day, July 16, her outing would become something else altogether -- the first steps in a national drama.
The controversy involving the arrest of a black Harvard professor by a white police officer has brought race relations in America to the front burner.
China, often criticized for its liberal use of the death penalty, will reduce the number of criminal executions it carries out, a top official said.
With "Black in America 2," CNN deepens its investigation of the most challenging issues facing African-Americans. CNN's Soledad O'Brien journeys to South Africa and criss-crosses the U.S., reporting on groundbreaking solutions that are transforming the black experience in America. O'Brien uncovers pioneers who are making a difference: people inspiring volunteerism, programs that are improving access to quality health care and education, and leaders working to address financial struggles and develop strong families. Before and after viewing these programs, use our free Discussion Questions and Learning Activity to facilitate a conversation with your middle and high school students.
Several hours before President Barack Obama gave his well-received speech at the NAACP centennial convention in New York City, he spoke before another probing audience of African-Americans aboard Air Force One.
America was proud of itself for electing Barack Obama. The pride was not just partisan and ideological; it was also specifically and clearly racial.
Far from flowing rainbow flags, the sound of Lady Gaga and, quite honestly, white people, stands a nightclub just outside of Wicker Park in Chicago, Illinois, by the name of The Prop House.
Homeless families in suburban and rural areas jumped by 56% in 2008, according to a government report released Thursday.
America needs a coordinated and multifaceted response to combat the continuing scourge of violent hate crime like the crime committed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10.
Attorney General Eric Holder stepped up his call for the passage of federal hate crimes legislation Thursday, arguing that the federal government needs to take a stronger stand against criminal activity fueled by bias and bigotry.
Thursday the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and for legalized segregation.
Twelve-year-old Josh Garcia courageously took the stage. Fighting back tears, he told how he came home from school one day to find that his father had been taken into an immigration detention facility.
A 19-year-old prostitute working in an apartment that doubles as a brothel said she has up to eight clients a day.
The California Supreme Court's decision not to retract Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage, has sent the issue back to the forefront of conversation across the country. Most recently, New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriages. While some 18,000 same-sex couples have already tied the knot in California, those who wish to walk down the aisle today will not receive the same privilege.
I write this from my office in the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where I have been privileged to have had a fellowship for the past semester. Up until Wednesday at 12:50 p.m., it had been a perfect visit. Everything a scholar could hope for: exceptional scholarly resources and a magnificent museum staff.
Last Saturday, a young African-American president used eloquent prose to challenge the world to learn from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust at Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp: "To this day, there are those who insist that the Holocaust never happened -- a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful. This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts; a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."
Hate groups have intensified their rhetoric in recent months, but this new energy hasn't necessarily translated to an increase in the rate of hate crimes in the U.S., according to some researchers.
An 88-year-old Maryland man with a long history of ties to white supremacist groups is the suspect in Wednesday's fatal shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, two law enforcement officials told CNN.
Last week Gov. John Lynch signed a bill making New Hampshire the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.
When greeting Judge Sonia Sotomayor this week, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama made sure to tell her something loud enough for the assembled reporters to hear.
It seems Tavis Smiley has been irritated with Barack Obama for a long time. Smiley is perhaps the most recognizable African-American journalist in the country. He is a fixture on radio and television, and has authored several books that are best-sellers among black readers.
During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama said that he hoped his administration wouldn't get hung up on matters of race.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor continued making the rounds on Capitol Hill Wednesday, meeting several additional U.S. senators who will help decide whether she becomes the country's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
They're not going to like this.
I once attended a Navajo blessing ceremony, held in a tepee on the red sand of the Sonoran desert.
The tears begin and her voice trembles as Ruth Martinez remembers the first few days of her new world.
White supremacists, Islamic clerics, a controversial Kansas pastor and a U.S. talk show host are on a list of 22 people banned from Britain for "stirring up hatred," the British government said Tuesday.
Asia is a major source of opium and heroin for the world market, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Consequently, across Asia, most countries have adopted a severe stance against drug-related crime, and heavy penalties -- including capital punishment -- have been widely adopted.
Sheila Wash greets her son and daughter, 13-year-old Cecil and 9-year-old Sheliah, every day when their school buses arrive "home."
Dozens of international envoys walked out during a speech by Iran's president Monday as he accused Israel of having a "racist government" and committing genocide.
It's been more than a year since a racial slur threatened to end the television career of Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman. But the incident still weighs heavily on his mind.
Every weekday, Eva Gomez walks down the block to the Fox Point Senior Center to eat her one hot daily meal, exercise and chat with friends. Otherwise, she's cooped up in her Providence, R.I., apartment with little more than crackers and a cup of coffee or tea.
The homeless men and women shuffle across the frozen ground of the tent camp and surround a steel drum burning wood. They use the flames to cook food and to stay warm.
Would you get upset if you witnessed an act of racism?
Two leading Jewish watchdog groups are denouncing a prominent cartoonist's illustration about Israel's offensive in Gaza, saying it uses anti-Semitic imagery.
When Sean Dolan saw signs being carried by homeless people, he saw an opportunity.
New Hampshire's state House of Representatives voted Wednesday to abolish the state's death penalty, which has not been carried out in nearly 70 years.
An appeals court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has rejected and refused to certify a court ruling allowing a 47-year-old man's marriage to an 8-year-old girl, said a relative of the girl with knowledge of the proceedings.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill Wednesday repealing the death penalty in his state, his office confirmed.
When Kellogg's dumped its endorsement of Michael Phelps after a photograph surfaced of the Olympic gold medalist using a bong, the company was stuck with thousands of boxes of cereal featuring the swimmer's image.
One in 50 children is homeless in the United States every year, according to a report released Tuesday.
Brian Sanderholm thinks Justin Thurber deserves to die for raping and killing his 19-year-old daughter.
Every Thursday afternoon, the San Geronimo Valley Community Center opens its doors to the needy. It becomes a food bank to serve the most vulnerable citizens of Marin County, California.
Don Black said he despises Barack Obama. And he said he believes illegal aliens undermine the economic fabric of the United States.
For Jesse Taylor, the debate over the federal stimulus plan wasn't about politicians trying to score points or economists parsing the unemployment rate.
First, we're a nation of whiners; now, we're a nation of cowards.
Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., CNN launches a sweeping on-air and digital initiative, CNN Presents: Black in America. These documentaries, "The Black Woman and Family" and "The Black Man," focus on fresh analysis from new voices about the real lives behind the stereotypes, statistics and identity politics that frequently frame the national dialogue about Black America. Before and after viewing these programs, use the overview questions and discussion activity that follow to facilitate a discussion with your pre-teen and teenaged children.
In remarks delivered Wednesday to the Justice Department to commemorate Black History Month, Attorney General Eric Holder offered one of the most courageous and honest speeches on American race by a political figure in quite some time.
A New York Post cartoon Wednesday drew fire from civil rights activist Al Sharpton and others who say the drawing invokes historically racist images in suggesting an ape wrote President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.
Michael Bookatz, 32, was walking home one night in January when he noticed a man walking toward him.
She's being hailed as the "face of the economic crisis," and now Henrietta Hughes has become something of a media star after reaching out to President Obama in an emotional plea for help.
Guerrillas in Colombia tortured and killed 17 Indians who they believed were helping the government, a governor and two human rights organizations said Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was set to address an international meeting on combating hunger in Madrid on Tuesday, the first such event since the global financial crisis hit hard.
Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America.
More than two-thirds of African-Americans believe Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for race relations has been fulfilled, a CNN poll found -- a figure up sharply from a survey in early 2008.
Today, one day before the inauguration of the first African-American president, the Martin Luther King Jr. observance hailing civil rights gains will be combined with jubilation over Barack Obama's historic achievement.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told followers the night before he was killed that he had been "to the mountaintop" and seen the promised land of racial equality. Last week's election of Barack Obama was the equivalent of taking all African-Americans to that peak, says Dr. Alvin Poussaint.
Hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials are closely watching white supremacists across the country as Barack Obama prepares next week to be sworn in as the first black president of the United States.
Next week, the day after our national holiday commemorating the 80th birthday of Dr. King, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American elected as president.
As the inauguration of the first African American president approaches, the national news is full of race-related stories.
By now, it has become almost a cliché: "I never thought I'd live to see it happen."
A group fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia condemned a judge Wednesday for refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.
A 31-year-old Ecuadorean man who was beaten last Sunday in what New York City authorities say may have been a hate crime has died at a Queens hospital, his brother said Saturday.
Record the CNN Special Investigations Unit Classroom Edition: MLK Papers -- Words That Changed a Nation when it airs commercial-free on Monday, December 15, 2008, from 4:00 -- 5:00 a.m. ET on CNN. (A short feature begins at 4:00 a.m. and precedes the program.)
Some mothers choose what their children will eat. Others choose which children will eat and which will die.
A jury awarded $2.5 million in damages on Friday to a Kentucky teenager who was severely beaten by members of a Ku Klux Klan group because the Klansmen mistakenly thought he was an illegal Latino immigrant, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.
For most African-Americans, the election of Barack Obama as president was a dream come true that they didn't think they would see in their lifetime, a national poll released Tuesday suggests.
It's a done deal: Proposition 8, making same-sex marriage illegal in California, has been approved by voters.
If you think African-Americans will come out in greater numbers than ever before to vote for Barack Obama, you're probably right.
Former NBA star Charles Barkley spoke Monday to CNN's Campbell Brown about politics, race and his plans to run for governor in his boyhood home state of Alabama. Here is a transcript:
A horrendous attack on a street person in Los Angeles once again raises the issue of protecting the homeless
With a little less than a month before the election, this week started with a re-examination of Barack Obama's association with William Ayers.
The Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its June ruling banning capital punishment for child rapists, rejecting Louisiana officials' argument that a "significant error" led to its conclusion that there is a "national consensus" against executing non-murderers.
The campus has come a long way since its painful integration years, but the KKK will be at the debate to try to stir up old hatreds
Watching delegates file into the Republican National Convention, it's easy to see one big challenge facing their party: Fewer than 2 percent of the delegates are black.
Students will examine Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Also, they will compose written responses to Dr. King in which they compare his historic vision of racial equality in the United States to the reality of present-day life.
When Stephen Leach gave up his Rockaway, New Jersey, condo at age 48 to move back in with Mom and Dad, it was out of need -- his parents', not his.
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