Black America’s Year In Review: Most Impactful Stories Of 2024

As 2024 comes to a close, NewsOne looks back at some of the most impactful stories of the year.

Stories that captivated our minds and stories that devastated our souls, 2024 was a riveting year with ups and downs like a wooden rollercoaster at your nearest Six Flags. From schools pushing back on Black students for their hairstyles to America electing Donald Trump for a second presidential term, Americans were certainly “in their bags” in 2024.

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most impactful stories of 2024.

Texas Superintendent Takes Out Full-Page Ad Supporting Suspension Of Black Student For Locs

In a Houston Chronicle newspaper ad, a Texas superintendent defended the decision to suspend a Black student over his locs hairstyle.

According to The Messenger, Barbers Hill ISD superintendent Greg Poole defended the school district’s position to repeatedly suspend Darryl George for how he wore his locs.

"being an American requires conformity" https://t.co/Sebnmwtvjq

— Mike Hixenbaugh is mikehixenbaugh.com on BlueSky (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) January 17, 2024

“Being an American requires conformity with the positive benefit of unity,” wrote Poole, discussing George’s case.

He continued, “We have taken the highly unusual step of seeking a declaratory judgment in state district court to verify our interpretation.”

Poole also said in the letter that Darryl George moved to the district from a place that allows longer hair and that the decision is up to local officials.

“Ultimately, this is an issue of local control and deciding who should be setting the policies, goals, and expectations of our school district,” Poole wrote.

Black Student Suspended for Hairstyle

Darryl George a Texas teenager was suspended earlier this year for wearing locs that the school says violates its dress code. Barbers Hill HS policy states Boys are not allowed to wear hair styles “that would allow the hair to extend below… pic.twitter.com/aMoMKkgXwd

— Brooklyn (@bklynborn1210) December 7, 2023

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‘You Ain’t Country’: White Indiana State University Student’s Racist Beyoncé Video Draws Protests

Listen: It is no secret that ever since Beyoncé dropped the first two tracks from her country-themed Cowboy Carter album, white people have been having a rough go of it. Actually, salty Caucasians of country music fandom have been salty about the Lemonade singer delving into what they clearly believed was a white-owned genre since she released her acclaimed song “Daddy’s Lessons.”

(Also, that song is eight years old now. It’s wild that anyone was ever surprised by Bey’s foray into country music.)

Recently, a white student at Indiana State University drew the ire of other students at the school when she recorded a TikTok video that took things a step further than the garden variety anti-Beyoncé hate we’ve seen from aggrieved white country fans who had no issue with Jason Aldean releasing that corny-ass MAGA commercial he tried to pass off as authentic country music. This student not only declared that Beyoncé isn’t country, she claimed no Black people are, and she seems to be basing that stance on the fact that Black people were enslaved and thus not real Americans.

Indiana State University released a super weak response in regards to one of their students Asa Blanton, who decided to unleash her white supremacist views about Beyoncé and ultimately Black people as a whole. To make matters worse, this clown is an actual Nursing student at the… pic.twitter.com/FwXklTnP34

— Nicole's View (@BLKLiberation84) April 9, 2024

“I’m sorry, but if you’re Black, you’re not country. I don’t care,” the ISU nursing student identified as Asa Blanton said in the video. “I wish I meant that in the nicest way, but babe, I know you were raised in the country or your grandparents were—but they was picking, OK? They wasn’t planting. Just keep that in mind. They wasn’t making money. They were getting sold for money. You ain’t country.”

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Jasmine Crockett’s ‘​​Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body’ Roast Inspires Songs Mocking MTG

In a plot twist that no one saw coming, the apparent ‘​”Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body” Challenge has officially gone viral.

While this week’s personal attacks between Congresswomen Jasmine Crockett and Marjorie Taylor Greene further exposed the ugly side of partisan politics, the dispute that began with the suspected white supremacist Republican from Georgia mocking a Black woman’s physical appearance has, at least, produced one real positive: It’s inspired a slew of singers to craft songs on social media that have been named after Crockett’s now-infamous alliterative description of Greene.

In case you missed it, during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, Greene accused Crockett of having “fake eyelashes” that prevented her from “reading” documents properly.

When Reps. Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrats, stepped in to defend Crockett and demanded an apology, Greene refused, prompting Crockett to drop the “B6” on the entire House Oversight and Accountability Committee by asking committee members: “If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”

This video lays out what happened in tonight’s heated exchange in the oversight hearing pic.twitter.com/7QTmpsa1eA

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 17, 2024

The indirectly direct reference to Greene’s appearance quickly went viral before ultimately sparking the aforementioned virtual onslaught of content creators’ songs named after Crockett’s six-word phrase. Spanning multiple genres, the songs have been warmly greeted by Crockett.

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Video Of Diddy Brutally Attacking Cassie Sparks Calls To Re-Investigate Kim Porter’s Death

The horrific video footage showing Sean “Diddy” Combs brutally attacking Cassie Ventura has not only confirmed the singer’s allegations – it has also renewed calls to re-investigate the death of Kim Porter, the mother of the disgraced music mogul’s children who died unexpectedly in 2018 under questionable circumstances.

And we’re supposed to believe Pdiddy didn’t harm Kim Porter? pic.twitter.com/R9IfVBcuZr

— MOV ꨄ (@Sephorawhorah) May 17, 2024

CNN made the video public in an exclusive report Friday, just about six months after Ventura, Diddy’s former longtime girlfriend, filed a bombshell lawsuit accusing the Grammy-winning hip-hop star of rape and abuse during their nearly 10-year-long relationship.

REOPEN THE KIM PORTER CASE pic.twitter.com/uwa21iqo4u

— Gavyn (@GavynXP) May 17, 2024

The video recorded in 2016 shows Ventura walking down a hotel’s hall to an elevator bank where Diddy – wearing only a towel around his waist – attacks her from behind, knocking her to the ground. He then kicked her motionless body and attempted to drag her down the hall. At another point, Diddy is shown sitting down and violently throwing objects at Ventura while she’s off-camera.

Also, seriously, investigate what happened to Kim Porter.

— deray (@deray) May 17, 2024

In Ventura’s lawsuit – which was first reported by the New York Times and quickly settled for $30 million – Diddy, 54, is accused of not only raping her but also keeping her on drugs to control her sexually and physically assaulting and abusing her on multiple occasions.

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RIP Sonya Massey: Illinois Cops Shot Black Woman ‘In The Head’ At Her Home After She Called 911 For Help

There are more questions than answers following the fatal police shooting of a Black woman in her own home after she called 911 to report a suspected break-in in the capital city of Illinois.

Sangamon Co. Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Sonya Massey early Saturday morning after the 36-year-old called the police for emergency help at her home in Springfield, WAND TV reported.

https://twitter.com/courtenlow/status/1810826618773877069

The police reported that there were shots fired about a half hour after arriving at Massey’s home. Sangamon Co. Sheriff’s deputies reportedly rendered medical aid to Massey to no avail, and she was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The county coroner said Massey’s official cause of death was a gunshot wound.

There were no reports of Massey being armed or exhibiting behavior that would justify killing someone who called the police for help.

The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave but were not identified.

It was unclear whether a suspected intruder was ever located.

But that is seemingly just about all the information that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Police – the latter of which is investigating the shooting – are willing to make public in the shooting, leaving Massey’s family and neighbors demanding to know more.

Massey’s family has retained the legal services of renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who said the deputies shot Massey in the head. Crump called for immediate transparency from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and condemned the shooting as excessive.

CLICK HERE to read more.

The Privilege To Fail: How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s Olympic Routine Made Breakdancing A Global Joke

Come go back with me to 1970s New York City, right in the heart of the South Bronx.

In the dimly lit underground clubs, on street corners and thoroughfares, a cultural revolution was brewing. Young Black dancers were inventing a new form of artistic expression, spinning on their heads on concrete lined with flattened cardboard boxes and contorting their bodies in ways that defied gravity and convention.

Those young people were pursuing a healthy form of street battles in which teams tried to top their opponents – “cut ‘em up” figuratively, instead of literally. The dancing was not exactly combative in nature, but it was very physical and allowed for a release in tension. Organized teams of dancers erupted beyond American ghettos, all over the world, from Canada to West Germany, to Malaysia, fanned by the incredible popularity of Michael Jackson and the films Flashdance, Breaking, and Fame.

Break dancers danced for tips at shopping malls and hotels, appeared at charitable events, performed at club meetings, school assemblies, and competed at large meets where judges were the audience, signifying their favorites with raucous cheering and applause.

Precise coordination was a must to execute moves with names like the V-spin, the whirlwind, the grasshopper, the baby, the windmill, the Scooby-Doo, and the freeze. Breakdancing, a combination of aerobics and gymnastics, had three basic moves—the wave, where bodies moved like rubber; the tick, where they jerked like a strobe light, and the pop, which involved stiff robot-like movements. These techniques formed a basis on which more complicated and difficult moves were built.

Media coverage on this popular dance trend was mixed.

CLICK HERE to read more.

Hospital Speaks Out After HBCU Football Player Dies Amid Parents’ Organ Harvesting Accusations

A hospital where a college football player died last week is speaking out following viral claims of organ harvesting at the medical facility in North Carolina.

Terrance Howard, 19-year-old Texas native and student at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), died on Thursday, weeks after he suffered injuries in a car accident that reportedly left him brain dead. During Howard’s hospitalization at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, his parents said in a series of videos posted on Facebook that the medical treatment their son was receiving was “a disgrace” because the hospital wanted to take him off of life support.

Bishop Anthony Allen, Howard’s father, noted on July 26, that “a lot of hospitals are quick to pull the plug.”

When Howard’s family requested a transfer to a different hospital, a staffer administered unknown drugs to Howard on Thursday, his family said. Allen suggested the hospital took Howard off of life support against the family’s wishes.

Howard’s mother suggested they were the victims of a sinister plot involving organ harvesting, an illegal practice defined by the International Society for Human Rights as “the selling and transplanting of the organs of victims.”

Howard’s mother claimed the hospital wanted “to kill my son because they want his organs” and accused doctors of “snickering and laughing” and refusing to help them.

“They want his organs,” Howard’s mother continued. “That’s what they told me in the beginning.”

Allen’s family, showing video footage of apparent police officers entering the hospital room, then claimed the hospital tried to criminalize them as arrests were threatened for alleged trespassing.

“They all participated in killing my son,” Allen said as he and his family were leaving the hospital. “They let my son die.”

CLICK HERE to read more.

White Man Who Shot ‘Black Bastard’ Neighbor For Trimming A Tree Finally Arrested

A Minneapolis white man is finally facing charges after he shot his Black neighbor during a dispute over a tree on shared property.

According to KARE 11, 54-year-old John Herbert Sawchak was charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, stalking and harassment for shooting his Black neighbor, Davis Moturi.

Authorities said tensions between Sawchak and Moturi had been escalating for months, characterized by harassment and racially charged threats against Moturi. Police said Sawchak threatened Moturi on several occasions, warning him not to “touch my tree again” or he would “kill” him.

https://twitter.com/Pauline98476699/status/1850672362934665373

The shooting, which took place Oct. 23, happened while Moturi was pruning a tree. He was later rushed to the hospital, where doctors found the bullet lodged near his spine. Moturi was left with significant injuries, including a fractured spine and broken ribs. Moturi’s wife was confident her husband was shot by Sawchak, telling police John Sawchak had “almost certainly” shot her husband.

Minneapolis police are now facing heavy criticism for not arresting Sawchak before the shooting even though he had multiple complaints.

Members of the Minneapolis City Council, including Mayor Jacob Frey, pointed blame at the Minneapolis police department for not acting on any of the prior complaints against Sawchak and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting.

CLICK HERE to read more.

Racist Text Messages Threaten Black Students Nationwide After Trump Win

Black students at the University of Alabama have reported receiving racist text messages after Donald Trump’s presidential election win—an incident that seems to be turning into a nationwide trend.

According to the Crimson White, Black UA students have been receiving racist threats from a slew of anonymous phone numbers. The numbers feature area codes inside and outside the state, making it difficult to trace.

One of the messages said the recipient had been “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”

“Be ready at 1:00 pm SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C. Good day,” the racist text read.

Parents and students, including those who received the texts, expressed fear and dismay about the messages.

Arleta McCall, the mother of Alyse, a freshman at UA, said her daughter skipped classes on Wednesday because she fears for her safety and that, as a parent, the texts made her feel “uneasy,” “disappointed,” and unsafe.

CLICK HERE to read more.

History Of The Melungeons: The Forgotten Tribe Of Appalachia

America has a funny way of hiding history, and there’s no better example of that than the story of the Melungeons; a forgotten people of Appalachia.

Appalachia is a geographic region in the eastern United States located in the Appalachian Mountains. The region consists of 13 states stretching from New York to northern Mississippi and is home to more than 26 million Americans. But, when you do your research on the region, Melungeons are barely mentioned, if at all.   

If you have never heard of the Melungeons don’t feel too bad because scholars and historians can’t even agree as to how these people originated, which has left room for claims that are almost impossible to prove. Some have speculated the Melungeons were descendants of Portuguese explorers who shipwrecked at sea, Gypsies, and even pushed ridiculous claims that they could have been one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Most historians have agreed the Melungeons were a mix of European, African and Indigenous ancestry, which suggests that North America was a hotchpotch of people before America was a thing. It also reveals a fascinating intersectionality between Europeans, Africans and Indigenous people that American history never mentioned.

Regardless of the many claims of genealogy, the Melungeons were a mixed-raced people, who, in early America had to deal with similar racist and discriminatory conditions, both legal and social, that many other people of color had to deal with when this country was being built.

CLICK HERE to read more.

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