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Race and society

São Sebastião Fort and Museum with statues of conquistadors São Tomé.

‘Born in Blackness’: A new book centers Africa in the expansive history of slavery

History

Major aspects of the trans-Atlantic slave trade from an African perspective have gotten erased throughout time. Howard French set out to illuminate a more expansive understanding in a new book called, “Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.”

Hands hold a round white cloth circle with George Floyd's face in the middle that reads, "Justice 4 all stolen lives"

Report: UN rights chief Bachelet calls for states to ‘stop denying and start dismantling racism’

Race
Police at night lining the street with police cars in the background with their lights on

Report: Police treatment of African Americans in the US amounts to crimes against humanity

Police
 Anika Färber is a trainer for The Network for Democracy and Courage, or NDC, one of several organizations in Germany confronting racism.

In Germany, fighting against extremism starts at school

Lifestyle & Belief
A family member of Javier Ordonez, who died after being detained by the police, wears a T-shirt that reads: "Justice for Javier" during his funeral in Bogota, Colombia, Sept. 16, 2020.

Report: Colombian protesters’ killings follow pattern of police violence

Violence
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In her new book, author Isabel Wilkerson, right, argues a caste system — not race — explains inequality in the United States.

Author Isabel Wilkerson: Caste, not race, is the ‘bones’ of inequality in the US

Only by accepting the framework and language of a caste system can the US begin to heal from 400 years of racial inequality, argues author Isabel Wilkerson.

A group of protesters carries protest signs. One wears a colorful tie-dye shirt and has blue hair. The others wear white and black shirts.

BLM Tokyo tackles Japan’s own issues with anti-Black racism

Protest

The activist group organized the largest-ever march against racial discrimination in the city’s history. But a backlash soon formed as online commenters argued that the issue is uniquely American — not a Japanese one. 

gray and white smokestacks billow

Green groups grapple with a history of racism and exclusion

Conflict & Justice

The environmental movement in America has deep ties to the nation’s history of systemic racism and white supremacy. Now, as Americans confront racial injustice anew, powerful green groups like the Sierra Club are beginning to reckon with their own histories of hate and exclusion.

A woman poses in front of a Black Lives Matter mural on the street as a protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Brooklyn, New York, June 16, 2020.  

‘We need to talk about racism,’ these Middle Easterners say 

Identity

In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the protests in the US, some in the Middle East are highlighting anti-black racism at home.

A demonstrator's hand is seen holding a placard reading "Decolonise Oxford/Rhodes must fall"

Gary Younge on Europe and the US: There is no ‘better’ form of racism

Protest

Author Gary Younge speaks with The World’s Marco Werman about the difficult and challenging process for Europeans to come to grips with racism in European society.

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