AARON MORRISON

AP National Writer

Aaron is a national writer who covers race and justice.

Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts

For the first time ever, two Black women have been elected to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Senate. Delaware Rep.

How Black leaders in New York are grappling with Eric Adams and representation

The indictment of New York City mayor Eric Adams on federal bribery charges has sparked debates among Black leaders and community advocates about whether to stand behind a figure who, for many, represents a milestone of Black representation in government.

Sharpton and Central Park Five members get out the vote in battleground Pennsylvania

With less than 40 days until Election Day, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s choice of a battleground state for a get-out-the-vote bus tour made sense.

Harris addresses Trump’s false claims about her race and his history of racial division

Kamala Harris has addressed false claims by former President Donald Trump about her racial identity, calling his remarks about race a “tragedy” for someone seeking the office of the presidency.

Tyreek Hill’s traffic stop revives discussion about the realities faced by Black drivers

After his traffic stop in Miami, Tyreek Hill talked about “the talk.” That is, the instructions passed down in Black families for generations about what to do when pulled over by police. Keep your hands in sight, preferably on the steering wheel.

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump advertises his firm on patches worn by US Open tennis players

Prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump is advertising on players’ outfits at the U.S. Open Grand Slam tennis tournament this week by placing his firm’s name on sponsor patches worn during matches.

Kamala Harris’ racial and cultural firsts were onstage throughout the Democratic convention

On the night she became the first woman of Black and South Asian heritage to be a major party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t explicitly mention the racial and gender firsts she would set if elected to the White House.

Michael Brown’s death transformed a nation and sparked a decade of American reckoning on race

Michael Brown has been dead for a decade. The Black teenager’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, prompted an eruption of protests in the suburban city and gave a boost to a then-nascent Black Lives Matter movement.

Analysis: Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris’ race shows he doesn’t understand code-switching

Kamala Harris and other politicians of color have often had to code-switch, or purposely adjust their speech style and expression to optimize relatability and ensure their message had cultural resonance.

Black leaders call out Trump’s criminal justice contradictions as he rails against guilty verdict

Donald Trump lambasted the guilty verdict of his hush money trial this week from the same Manhattan courthouse that was the site of one of the most notorious examples of injustice in recent New York history that he had a part in.

Who gets to claim self-defense in shootings? Airman’s death sparks debate over race and gun rights

The death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson in Florida this month reignited a complicated debate about race, gun laws and self-defense – namely, who is typically afforded deference when it comes to using guns in self-defense and who is not.

Biden tells racial justice meeting, ‘We’ve kept our promises,’ as he looks to energize Black voters

President Joe Biden has virtually addressed the Rev. Al Sharpton’s racial justice conference, telling a sympathetic crowd “we’ve kept our promises” as he ramps up efforts to energize Black voters who will be vital to his reelection bid this fall.

In death, 3 decades after his trial verdict, O.J. Simpson still reflects America’s racial divides

For many people old enough to remember O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, his 1994 exoneration was a defining moment in their understanding of race, policing and justice.

Biden will give a live virtual address at Sharpton’s annual civil rights conference

President Joe Biden is expected to give a live virtual keynote address to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s racial justice conference in New York.

Takeaways: AP investigation reveals Black people bear disproportionate impact of police force

The Associated Press found that Black people make up a disproportionate number of those who died after being restrained, beaten or shocked with stun guns by police officers over a decade.

He didn’t trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead

Records show Jameek Lowery, a 27-year-old Black man from Paterson, New Jersey, died two days after he was restrained and repeatedly punched by officers.

He didn’t trust police but sought their help anyway. He was dead two days later

“Why y’all trying to kill me?” Lowery asked several Paterson police officers on his Facebook Live video feed. “If I’m dead in the next hour or two, they did it.”

Black American solidarity with Palestinians is rising and testing longstanding ties to Jewish allies

A growing number of Black Americans see the struggle of Palestinians reflected in their own struggles for racial equality and civil rights.

At Black Lives Matter house, families are welcomed into space of freedom and healing

A national Black Lives Matter nonprofit that was widely criticized for purchasing a sprawling California mansion with donated funds recently opened the property to dozens of families who lost loved ones in incidents of police violence.

Hughes Van Ellis, youngest known survivor of Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at 102

Hughes Van Ellis, who was the youngest known survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre and who spent his latter years pursuing justice for his family and other descendants of the attack on “Black Wall Street,” has died. He was 102.

As Jacksonville shooting victims are eulogized, advocates call attention to anti-Black hate crimes

The motivations of a shooter who recently targeted and killed Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, have revived concerns about the threat of hate violence and domestic terrorism. Experts say most hate crime victims in the U.S. are Black.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis booed at vigil as hundreds mourn more racist killings

Hundreds of people have gathered at prayer vigils and in church to mourn yet another racist attack in America.

Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary

Thousands have gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation’s capital to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The March on Washington was convened Saturday by the Rev.

At March on Washington’s 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rights

Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.

Alabama riverfront brawl videos spark a cultural moment about race, solidarity and justice

Bystanders who trained their smartphone cameras on an Alabama riverfront dock, as several white boaters pummeled a Black riverboat co-captain, couldn’t have known the footage would elicit a national conversation about racial solidarity.

For Emmett Till’s family, national monument proclamation cements his inclusion in the American story

President Joe Biden has signed a proclamation establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago whose abduction, torture and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the Civil Rights Movement.

Black Lives Matter movement marks 10 years of activism and renews its call to defund the police

The Black Lives Matter movement turns 10 years old on Thursday, marking the day in 2013 that the man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin was acquitted in his death.

Viola Ford Fletcher, oldest living Tulsa Race Massacre victim, publishes memoir

In the last couple of years, Viola Ford Fletcher has been on a tireless campaign for accountability over the massacre that destroyed Tulsa, Oklahoma’s original “Black Wall Street” when she was a child in 1921.

Fraud lawsuit against Black Lives Matter foundation dismissed in California

A California judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit that grassroots racial justice activists from around the U.S. brought last summer against a foundation with stewardship of the Black Lives Matter movement’s charitable endowment worth tens of millions of dollars.

5 takeaways from AP’s reporting on Pell Grants for prisoners getting college degrees

Thousands of prisoners throughout the United States get their college degrees behind bars, most of them paid for by the federal Pell Grant program, which offers the neediest undergraduates tuition aid that they don’t have to repay.