When North Clayton High Schoolers return from spring break next week, the halls will be missing one of their friends, 10th grader Tianah Robinson. The 16-year-old’s life was taken during a shooting at Piedmont Park over Easter weekend that also wounded 15-year-old Italia Wilson. She is now recovering at home with her family in Norcross. […]
Madeline Thigpen
Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta's criminal justice reporter.
Posted inEconomy, Jobs, Politics & Policy
As Black Women Face Historic Job Loss, Speakers at CAU Symposium Urge Action
Mass federal layoffs and an increasingly hostile work environment were top of mind for many of the panelists and speakers at Clark Atlanta University’s third annual Black Women and Public Policy in the South Symposium. For three days this week, Clark’s W.E.B. DuBois Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy led panel discussions and hosted […]
Posted inHBCUs, Religion
Despite Public Pressure, Spelman Muslim Group Must Wait Until 2028 for Recognition
Rokiyah Darbo and Qaí Hinds, two Spelman College seniors, have had to give up their quest to officially revive the college’s Muslim student association, An-Nisa, before they graduate in May. Following Capital B Atlanta’s recent reporting on the obstacles An-Nisa have faced in becoming a registered student organization, Spelman is conducting an internal review to […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Haitians in Atlanta Await Supreme Court Hearing on Temporary Protected Status
Cassandra Charles, a local civil rights attorney and Haitian American, was happy to hear the U.S. Supreme Court announce that it will hear oral arguments on the Trump administration’s effort to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians. “It signals the fact that the Supreme Court understands how important this issue is, that they’re […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
ICE Deportation of Double-Amputee Rodney Taylor to Liberia Could Be Imminent
Rodney Taylor, the husband, father, and double-amputee who has been held by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Stewart Detention Center since January 2025, may be deported any day now, according to his wife, Mildred Danis-Taylor. Immigration advocates who work with Danis-Taylor on the “Free Rodney Taylor” campaign learned last week that ICE had obtained […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Voting
She Spent 26 Years in Prison, Now She’s Registering to Vote in Georgia
Kareemah Hanifa just registered to vote for the first time in her life. As a juvenile, Hanifa, now 48, was sentenced to life in prison and spent 26 years incarcerated before she was released on parole in 2019. “I’m feeling nervous, I’m also feeling anxious and a little bit scared,” Hanifa said just before she […]
Posted inHealth, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy, State Politics
Black LGBTQ Advocates Press Georgia Lawmakers on Civil Rights
Christian Benoit was one of dozens of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Georgians from across the state who traveled to the Capitol on Tuesday morning to take part in the Pride to the Capitol rally. “We have to stand in solidarity for those that won’t or can’t stand and represent themselves,” Benoit said. “We […]
Posted inHBCUs, Religion
Spelman’s Muslim Students Mark Ramadan While Fighting for Recognition
Tuesday evening, a few minutes after 6:30 p.m., dozens of students broke their fast with water and dates at Morehouse College’s King Chapel. After an evening prayer, a buffet of chicken, fish, rice, and samosas opened up for the gathering of current and former Atlanta University Center Consortium students to have a meal before educator […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Policing
World Cup Sparks Fears of Unhoused People Being Jailed
With just over 100 days remaining until Atlanta hosts its first World Cup match, activists and local officials are pushing the city not to repeat the same “cleanup the streets” program that led up to the 1996 Olympic Games. An estimated 30,000 Atlantans were displaced from their homes in the six years prior to the […]
Posted inHBCUs, Technology
Spelman’s Mission to Create the Next Generation of Black Tech Professionals
More than 85 students from Black colleges across the South and east coast descended on Spelman College this weekend for the school’s fourth-annual HBCU Game Jam. Over the three-day event, students attended workshops on game design and development, culminating in a hack-a-thon where student teams spent 24-hours building their own video game. For the first […]