Members of an elite NYPD gun unit frequently made bigoted comments about black suspects, including one Captain who regularly referred to blacks as "fu*king animals," according to depositions in a Federal discrimination lawsuit. One former cop has testified that before conducting raids at minority residences, Capt. James Coan would tell the field team, "They are fu*king animals. You make sure if you have to shoot, you shoot them in the head. That way there's one story." more ›

Seemingly stating the obvious, the attorney representing the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February told Reuters that his client will turn himself in if he is charged in the shooting. "If he is asked, he will turn himself in," Craig Sonner said. "There's not going to be a manhunt or anything like that." But that's if Zimmerman is charged at all in spite of Florida's Stand Your Ground law, and the details of the case won't reach a grand jury until April 10. more ›

Working in one of greater New York's two Coca Cola plants may not be such a Sesame Street-esque utopia for minority employees: Sondra Walker, a Coca Cola merchandiser, claims she was referred to as "Nappy Head" and "Aunt JaMamma," while on the job, with no reprimands for the perpatrator. She also claims one white co-worker wore a Confederate flag on the job, and another responded "What am I, a n----- or something?" when assigned to clean a sewer. more ›

The word "Coon" was written in cement twice in front of the Fordham University church on the school's Bronx campus, the first one appearing sometime in the fall of 2010. Last month, the n-word was scrawled in permanent black marker on a student's dormitory door, and a gay slur was written in a stairwell on the school's campus by Lincoln Center. And the n-word was also etched onto sheet rock in a bathroom stall on the Bronx campus last week. Oh, and last Halloween a white student prepared to go out for Halloween in blackface, before being confronted by another student. more ›

John Kinnucan is a hedge fund analyst accused of insider trading. Out on bail after his arrest on Thursday, Kinnucan isn't allowed to drink, use a computer, or even pick up a telephone. According to Business Insider, that's because for several months he sent extremely racist, homophobic emails to prominent business journalists blasting his perceived enemies. In one addressed to Assistant US Attorney Avi Weitzman, Kinnucan wrote: “People like you make me think that Hitler was right after all.” more ›

After New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas depicted President Obama as a crazed chimpanzee deserving to be shot in 2009, News Corp agreed to form a "diversity council" with civil rights groups that would meet twice a year to presumably make the company think twice before printing racist cartoons. But the cartoon above suggests that the panel was pointless, and that the New York Post is content with portraying innocent Muslims as deceitful, gun-toting, bomb-making terrorists. more ›

The controversy over ESPN.com's unfortunate headline about New York Knick Jeremy Lin's bad game against the New Orleans Hornets—"Chink In The Armor"—has led to, uh, lintrospection about how the media looks at Linsanity, as well as Asian-Americans. more ›

We've weighed the apology of the ESPN employee who was fired for writing "Chink In The Armor," headline and though we still think it's stupid, we understand that there aren't that many clichés for sportswriters to lean on. This is because the phrases have to allude to combat or mythology ("Achilles' heel") or other facets of Brodom. It's time to set down those dull rhetorical swords and try a more unique turn of phrase. Here are seven ways to say "Chink In The Armor" without being totally racist. more ›

With four police officers charged with violating the civil rights of Latino community members, through harassment, intimidation and physical violence, East Haven police chief Len Gallo has stepped down effective last Friday. The Courant reports that Mayor Joe Maturo, who famously said he "might have tacos" as a way to reach out to the Latino community, is forming a search committee for a replacement and called Gallo's resignation an "unselfish act." Well, is it really unselfish when Gallo is "an unnamed co-conspirator in last week's federal indictment"? more ›

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly continued to be bombarded by questions concerning his appearance in the Islamophobic propaganda film The Third Jihad yesterday, and admitted to reporters that it was "inflammatory" and "a little much." Kelly added that when you're in his position, it's tough to keep track of all the filmmakers and journalists chasing you down for a quote. "In this job, you do a lot of interviews," he told the Times. This one sounds worse than a simple scheduling conflict: maybe it's time to fire the secretary? more ›

So you know how East Haven, CT mayor Joe Maturo's plan for reaching out the Latino community, which has been intimidated by the local police for years (well, at least according to the Department of Justice's investigation), was to go and have some tacos? Well, activists just sent his office 500 tacos. more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Justice charged four East Haven, Connecticut police officers with "conspiring to violate, and violating, the civil rights" of Latinos: Sergeant John Miller and Officers David Cari, Dennis Spaulding and Jason Zullo are accused of "conspir[ing] to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate various members of the East Haven community in violation of their constitutional rights... In some cases, the victims were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs when officers assaulted them." And what was the East Haven mayor's reaction? It's time for some Mexican grub! more ›

The NYCLU has filed a lawsuit with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a group of NYPD detectives who say the department's elite Intelligence Division is racist. The lawsuit alleges that the NYPD "has chosen to cloak promotions in secrecy and give the all-white high level supervisors who run the Intelligence Division unfettered discretion to handpick white detectives for promotions over more qualified African American detectives." Black detectives also claim there is a so-called "secret list" from which white officers are promoted within the division. more ›

Ahh, South Carolina. From its racist, lionized politicians to its well-informed citizenry, the Palmetto State is a bastion of a bygone era many of us are happy to have never lived in. At last night's GOP debate in Myrtle Beach, sponsored by FOX News, the candidates pandered mightily to the raucous audience to give them what they wanted: blood. Specifically, sweet, sweet Mormon blood. more ›

Three weeks after a Parks Department worker found a black doll hanging by a metal chain noose at the Parks Department's Bronx headquarters, a Parks employee has been arrested. Fariz Ahmemulic, 28, has been charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime. The doll was discovered in a garage last month by Anthony Crum, a 60-year-old black Parks worker who has also accused his supervisors of trying to cover up the crime before it became a police matter. more ›

Is it offensive to serve Southern Fried Chicken and Collard Greens to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.? Almost a year after ?uestlove caused a stir over Black History Month soul food at NBC's cafeteria (quickly resolved!), a tipster sends in the above menu being served today at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital's cafeteria in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (which is actually the 15th and is observed nationally on the 16th). Too much? more ›

Well this is unfortunate. Somebody has been posting "Colored Only" signs up around the SUNY New Paltz campus. One was found near a drinking fountain in the school's Humanities Building on November 8. Then after college President Donald Christian wrote a memo to the school condemning the note, three more signs appeared in the school's LeFevre Hall later in the week. Ugh. At least people weren't hanging nooses? Eh, nope. Still bad. more ›

A cook at the Roger Smith Hotel in Midtown is suing the boutique inn for $35 million dollars after two employees dressed up as Ku Klux Klan members and taunted him in two separate incidents. Julius Jones, who is black, states in court documents obtained by the Daily News that a painter allegedly approached him last year donning a "pure white cone-shaped article on his head," and said, "Hey, look at me. I am the Ku Klux Klan." more ›

You know what's a great way to have your wedding ruined? Having a hairstylist you've never actually met leave a voicemail for you in which they call you racial slurs. But you know what helps? Having the city fine said stylist $22,500 for your troubles. Things get a little tricky, however, when the stylist in question starts claiming they were never your stylist in the first place ad that the voicemail was left by an impostor! But we're getting ahead of ourselves. more ›