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Voting

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Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and although our country has come a long way, there are still issues surrounding minority voting. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill in 1965, many believed it was a step in the right direction towards equality, however people of color are still facing discrimination at the polls. Research shows that over the past few decades, there have been several violations of the VRA. “Obviously the VRA still plays a huge role in protecting voters, but it remains to be seen how the Voting Rights Act will protect against second-generation barriers,” said Julie Ebenstein, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project. “There’s no longer literacy tests, property requirements, but when you look at the information that we have today — who votes during early voting, how you can remove the exact days African-Americans vote, or who uses same-day registration, and how you can attempt to remove certain voters from the electorate — these are still very high hurdles and strong barriers against people casting a ballot, and they should be taken just as seriously as prior forms of discrimination.” Read more.


Reddit Combats Racism

Reddit has taken a major step towards handling racism on their platform. Company CEO Steve Huffman recently unveiled a new content policy for the site and shared that some “sub-reddit” communities will be taken off, including “CoonTown,” one of their most racist online communities. “Today, in addition to applying Quarantines, we are banning a handful of communities that exist solely to annoy other redditors, prevent us from improving Reddit, and generally make Reddit worse for everyone else,” said Huffman in a statement. He mentioned that the “CoonTown” group was affecting the company’s recruiting. “If we want to improve Reddit, we need more people, but CT’s existence and popularity has also made recruiting here more difficult.” Read more.


Rapper Busta Rhymes Arrested in NYC

Brooklyn-bred rapper Busta Rhymes was arrested yesterday for assault. The incident reportedly took place inside of the Steel Gym in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. Busta, whose real name is Trevor Tahiem Smith Jr., got into a fight and allegedly threw Lean Body Protein drinks at another gym-goer. Smith was arrested around 8:30 p.m. The victim refused medical attention at the scene. Read more.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

NEWS ROUNDUP: 50th Anniversary Of Voting Rights Act Reveals Hurdles In Minority Voting…AND MORE  was originally published on newsone.com