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- General
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Harvard to give 175-year-old photos of enslaved people to South Carolina museum
Harvard University will relinquish 175-year-old photographs of Renty Taylor and his daughter Delia. The photos were believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people and will be given to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with one of the 29, 2025
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Trump admin's effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil is likely unconstitutional, judge rules
A New Jersey federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration's effort to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on foreign policy grounds is likely unconstitutional, but stopped short of releasing him from detainment. In a lengthy order, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Khalil was "likely to succeed" in his claim that the administration's determination of him as a threat to U.S. foreign policy is "unconstitutionally vague." Farbiarz said the rarely used provision in immigration law the government cited for Khalil's detention was "unconstitutional as applied" to Khalil, and added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not "affirmatively determine" that Khalil's conduct had any impact on U.S. relations with another country. Farbiarz said that deporting Khalil under the provision would be 'unprecedented.' 'The district court held what we already knew: Secretary Rubio's weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional.,' Khalil's legal team said in a statement to NBC News. They added that his continued detention is an 'affront to justice' and vowed to continue fighting for his freedom. The Department of Justice and the State Department didn't immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment Wednesday night. Farbiarz's ruling marked the first time a federal judge has weighed in on the constitutionality of the Trump administration's use of the immigration provision. He ordered Khalil's legal team to submit additional information while he considers their request to release Khalil and block the administration from invoking the law against other noncitizens who have spoken out in support of Gaza or were critical of Israel while the case proceeds. Still, Farbiarz said, Khalil's attorneys have not made a "substantial argument" against the government's allegations that Khalil withheld information from his permanent residency application. Farbiarz said his attorneys are permitted to address the issue in subsequent filings. Khalil, who is a permanent U.S. resident, was arrested at his Columbia University apartment in March as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on foreign students who his administration alleges are a threat to U.S. foreign policy. After his arrest in New York, Khalil was transported briefly to a facility in New Jersey and then transferred to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he is currently held. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday night: "It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should no longer be in this country." Khalil's attorneys have submitted evidence rebuking allegations of antisemitism, and denied he ever provided support to Hamas or any other other terrorist organization. Multiple federal judges in recent weeks have ordered the government to release other pro-Palestinian activists, including Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri, from immigration detention while they fight the administration's efforts to deport them.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Politics
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Trump commutes sentence of Chicago gang founder after lobbying by Ye
Many Americans may not know Larry Hoover Sr. beyond a passing reference to him in Rick Ross' 2010 hit single 'B.M.F (Blowin' Money Fast),' in which Ross sings, 'I think I'm Big Meech (Woo), Larry Hoover ...' But on Wednesday, President Donald Trump commuted the six life sentences that Hoover, a Chicago gang founder, was serving for a 1997 conviction in federal court. Trump commuted the sentences after a campaign by hip-hop artist Ye, aka Kanye West, now Kim Kardashian's ex-husband, who has lobbied Trump in the Oval Office to consider releasing Hoover. Hoover, though, will not be freed. He will be transferred from the federal 'Supermax' prison in Colorado, where is held now, to a state prison in Illinois to serve the rest of a 200-year sentence for crimes he was separately convicted of in state court. Hoover founded the Gangster Disciples, a Chicago-based criminal organization that sold cocaine and other narcotics beginning in the early 1970s. Called the 'chairman of the board' and 'the king' of the gang, he was also declared 'one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history.' Prosecutors have said in court filings that 'Hoover directed violence and drug trafficking in Chicago from at least 1970 until 1995.' Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that the Gangster Disciples profited $109 million each year from the sale of narcotics, 'a substantial proportion of which went straight to Hoover's family's pockets.' Praise for the commutation Hoover's attorneys praised Trump's decision. 'The Courts have demonstrated a complete unwillingness to consider Mr. Hoover's considerable growth and complete rehabilitation,' Jennifer Bonjean and Justin Moore told CBS News in a statement. 'Despite the Court's unwillingness to do the right thing, Mr. Hoover has been able to keep his voice alive through the incredible work of many advocates and supporters," they added. "Thankfully, Mr. Hoover's pleas were heard by President Trump who took action to deliver justice for Mr. Hoover.' Larry Hoover Jr., Hoover's son, has called for his father's release for years and was featured in the 2021 Kanye West song 'Jesus Lord.' Hoover has said from prison that he changed the name of his group from 'Gangster Disciples' to 'Growth and Development.' He said he now discourages violence and has made education mandatory for his followers, pushing inmates to develop job skills they can use after they are released. Hoover's family has said he is no longer associated with the Gangster Disciples. Prosecutors opposed release But federal prosecutors recently have said Bureau of Prisons intelligence records show that Hoover did not want to be disassociated from the gang. In September, attorneys for the Justice Department argued in court that 'Hoover remains the heralded leader of the GDs, despite the intensive monitoring to which he is subject at Florence ADX,' which is the highest-level security prison in the United States and home to convicted terrorists and Juán "El Chapo" Guzmán. They strongly urged the court to decline any effort to release Hoover as part of the 'First Step Act' supported by Kardashian, which Trump signed into law during his first administration. 'Hoover has well earned his life sentence, and he is not the type of defendant Congress intended to benefit in enacting the First Step Act,' prosecutors wrote. During the 2108 Oval Office meeting with Trump, Ye urged him to commute Hoover's sentence. 'The reason why they imprisoned him is because he started doing positive for the community,' Ye said. 'He started showing that he actually had power, that he wasn't just one of a monolithic voice, but he could wrap people around. 'So there's theories that there's infinite amounts of universe and there's alternate universe,' Ye added. 'So it's very important for me to get Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. And I have to go and get him free because he was doing positive inside of Chicago.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- General
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Harvard agrees to relinquish early images of enslaved people, ending a long legal battle
BOSTON — Harvard University will relinquish 175-year-old photographs believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with a woman who says she is one of the subjects' descendants. The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, whom she calls 'Papa Renty,' and his daughter Delia will be transferred from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where they were enslaved in 1850 when the photos were taken, a lawyer for Lanier said Wednesday. The settlement marks the end of a 15-year battle between Lanier and the university to release the 19th-century daguerreotypes, a precursor to modern-day photographs. Lanier's attorney Joshua Koskoff told The Associated Press that the resolution is an 'unprecedented' victory for descendants of those enslaved in the U.S. and praised his client's yearslong determination in pursuing justice for the people she had identified as her ancestors. 'I think it's one of one in American history, because of the combination of unlikely features: to have a case that dates back 175 years, to win control over images dating back that long of enslaved people — that's never happened before,' Koskoff said. A key question of the case was whether Harvard could legally be allowed to continue owning dehumanizing images of enslaved people who couldn't consent to taking part. The Massachusetts court system ultimately sided with Harvard on the question of ownership, but allowed Lanier to continue to pursue emotional damages from the institution. Harvard said Wednesday that it had long been working to relinquish ownership of the images 'to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans.' Negotiations between Harvard and Lanier lawyers resulted in a settlement that included the removal of the images from Harvard's ownership. On Wednesday, Lanier stood holding a portrait of Papa Renty while arm-in-arm with Susanna Moore, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, who commissioned the images on behalf of the university and whose theories on racial difference were once used to support slavery in the U.S. Both great-great-great grandaughters — one of enslaved people and another of a man who exploited them — praised the resolution. 'This is a moment in history where the sons and daughters of stolen ancestors can stand with pride and rightfully proclaim a victory for reparations,' Lanier said. 'This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist psychoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.' Moore called the images captured by her ancestor, Agassiz, a 'deeply racist project.' 'This victory reminds us that the meaning of such objects in museums can and should change,' she said. 'This woman standing next to me, she knew all along she was not small and she was not alone.' A question of ownership In 2019, Lanier sued Harvard, alleging the images were taken 'without Renty's and Delia's consent and therefore unlawfully retained.' The suit attacked Harvard for its 'exploitation' of Renty's image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It said Harvard has capitalized on the images by demanding a 'hefty' licensing fee to reproduce them. Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially 'pure' enslaved individuals born in Africa, according to Lanier's suit. To create the images, both Renty and Delia were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. 'To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens,' the suit said. 'The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered.' In 2021, a Massachusetts court ruled that photos are the property of the photographer, not the subject — a stance affirmed by the Massachusetts Supreme Court. However, while Harvard sought to have the case dismissed, the state high court allowed the case to proceed on Lanier's claim to emotional distress damages. The state's highest court recognized 'Harvard's complicity in the horrific actions surrounding the creation of the daguerreotypes,' saying that 'Harvard's present obligations cannot be divorced from its past abuses.' In a statement, Harvard said it had 'long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution.' 'This settlement now allows us to move forward towards that goal,' the university said. 'While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, this was a complex situation, particularly since Harvard has not confirmed that Ms. Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes.' A new home for Renty and Delia Tonya M. Matthews, the CEO of the International African American Museum, called Harvard's relinquishing of the images a moment '175 years in the making.' 'The bravery, tenacity, and grace shown by Ms. Lanier throughout the long and arduous process of returning these critical pieces of Renty and Delia's story to South Carolina is a model for us all,' she said in a statement. The South Carolina museum has committed to working with Lanier and including her in decisions about how the story of the images will be told. In Lanier's lawsuit, she asked for Harvard to acknowledge its complicity in slavery, listen to Lanier's oral family history and pay an unspecified sum in damages. An undisclosed financial settlement was part of the resolution with Harvard announced Wednesday, but Koskoff said Harvard still hasn't publicly acknowledged Lanier's connection to them or its connection to perpetuating slavery in the U.S., Koskoff said. 'That is just left unanswered by Harvard,' he said. Koskoff said he wants to be clear that Lanier and his team 'firmly support' Harvard's current fight against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as the White House moves to cut billions in federal aid and block the enrollment of international students, accusing the institution of being a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. 'We are not here today to bash Harvard... but that doesn't mean that they are perfect, and that doesn't mean that they don't have the obligation to tell a full history, even one that sheds poorly on their own veritas,' he said. He said Lanier isn't expecting or waiting to hear from the institution, but that the settlement speaks for itself. 'In the end, the truth will find you — you can you can only hide from it for so long,' he said. 'Yes, history is written by the winners. But over time, you know, those winners look like losers sometimes.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Sport
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Oklahoma City Thunder advance to NBA Finals
Just three years after finishing with one of the worst records in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are now best in the West. The Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, 124-94, to win their conference finals in five games and advance to the team's first NBA Finals since 2012. Oklahoma City will face either Indiana or New York; the Pacers currently hold a 3-1 series lead. No matter its Finals opponent, Oklahoma City will host Games 1 and 2 by virtue of their top playoff seed, on June 5 and June 8. It would also host Games 5 and 7, if necessary, on June 16 and June 22. Oklahoma City led by as many as 39 points to turn an otherwise tense, deciding game Wednesday into a blowout, led by 34 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who last week was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player. Even by the standards of the NBA, where franchises' fortunes and windows to win a championship can change quickly, Oklahoma City's rebuild that has returned it in the Finals has taken place with stunning speed. In 2021, it won 22 games during a COVID-affected shortened season, the fourth-worst record in the NBA and the franchise's fewest victories since moving from Seattle to Oklahoma in 2008. The following year it won 24 games — 40 fewer than Phoenix on its way to the West's No. 1 playoff seed. Every year since, Oklahoma City has gradually taken another step forward, with 40 wins in 2023 followed by 57 last season, the most in the conference, only to lose in the playoffs' second round. This season, Oklahoma City's upward trajectory continued with 68 wins, tied for fourth-most in NBA history. Of the six other teams who won at least that many times in a single season, four went on to win the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to join that select club. Oklahoma City has never won an NBA championship since relocating in 2008. In 2012, the Thunder made the Finals behind a roster with three future Most Valuable Players but lost to the Miami Heat. The current Thunder features one MVP in Gilgeous-Alexander and a roster, unique for its depth and versatility, that was built intentionally during its lean years. In addition to Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City received a haul of draft picks from the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019 in exchange for superstar Paul George, a trade that served as a pivot point for Oklahoma City's franchise. One day after the trade, the Thunder made a far more under-the-radar roster decision by signing an undrafted Arizona State wing named Lu Dort, who has since become a perennial all-defense candidate while underpinning what has become the NBA's best defense during both the regular season and postseason. Three years after acquiring Gilgeous-Alexander and a mountain of draft picks, one of those selections from the Clippers became Jalen Williams, who this year earned All-Star honors while becoming the Thunder's second-leading scorer. And the losing in 2022 helped secure the second overall draft pick Oklahoma City used to draft Chet Holmgren, the team's third-leading scorer who scored 22 points Wednesday. Oklahoma City opened the 2025 postseason with a sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies before outlasting Denver in seven games during the conference semifinals. Facing Minnesota with a berth to the Finals on the line, Oklahoma City took a 3-1 series lead before routing the Timberwolves on Wednesday.
