Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English: Arizona's new immigration law is just about crime, its supporters say, but given that the state's new education policy equates ethnic studies programs with high treason, they may not be using the commonly accepted definition of 'crime.'

Under the ban, sent to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer by the state legislature Thursday, schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that 'promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.'

As ThinkProgress notes, the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department is the target here. The state superintendent charges that the program exhibits 'ethnic chauvinism.'

Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with 'heavy' or 'ungrammatical' accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes.

Trail of Dreams students walk 1,500 miles to bring immigration message to Washington

Trail of Dreams students walk 1,500 miles to bring immigration message to Washington: ... The Trail of Dreams walk was their idea, but along the way they've been supported by groups like the Florida Immigrant Coalition. The students will lead a march to Lafayette Park, where they will help preside over a rally of expected thousands in front of the White House to advocate for immigration reform. It's a safe bet all things Arizona will be jeered.

As the national debate grows palpably more bitter and polarized, Pacheco and Matos are the face of the most sympathetic segment of the illegal immigrant population. Theirs is the image that supporters shrewdly promote to advance their movement, and that even some opponents find difficult to categorically condemn. They were brought to this country as children -- Pacheco at 7 from Ecuador, Matos at 14 from Brazil -- and have made the most of American opportunity.

Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer

Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer: I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in. Or that, should a policeman hear her accent and form a 'reasonable suspicion' that she is an illegal immigrant, she can -- and will -- be taken into custody until someone sorts it out, while her children are at home waiting for their dinner.

Equally disturbing is what will happen in the mind of the policeman. The police talk today about how they do not wish to, and will not, engage in racial profiling.

Opinion: Arizona - This is What Apartheid Looks Like

Opinion: Arizona - This is What Apartheid Looks Like: Those who think there’s an immigration crisis in Arizona are correct; however, this is but part of the story. The truth is, a civilizational clash is being played out in the same state in which the state legislature questions the birthplace and legitimacy of President Barack Obama and where Sen. John McCain competes with Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth to see who is the most anti-immigrant.

It is also the same state that several years ago denied a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. and that today permits virtually anyone—on the basis of trumped-up fear—to carry concealed weapons anywhere.

Slain UAH Professor Had integral Role in Minority STEM Education Network

Slain UAH Professor Had integral Role in Minority STEM Education Network: The University of Alabama at Huntsville is more than Kimberly Green Hobbs’ alma mater; it’s where she found her heart’s work — and Dr. Adriel Johnson.

“Since the first meeting, I got the feeling he was serious and sincere about seeing students succeed,” Green Hobbs said. “I saw a mentor from the beginning. Coming from Chicago, I was alone, but it comforted me that I had somebody to mentor me in the program.”

Johnson, 52, was one of three professors who died in a Feb. 12 shooting at a UAH biology department faculty meeting. Alleged shooter Dr. Amy Bishop, a biology professor, shot six of her colleagues, killing 52-year-olds Dr. Maria Ragland Davis, a specialist in molecular biology and plant genetics, and Dr. Gopi Podila, the department chair who helped launch the doctoral program in biology. Three others were injured.

Arizona police officer sues over immigration law - CNN.com

Arizona police officer sues over immigration law - CNN.com: (CNN) -- A police officer in Tucson, Arizona, asks that local law enforcement be exempt from enforcing the state's new immigration law in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday.

Officer Martin H. Escobar claims in the suit that the law will 'seriously impede law enforcement investigations and facilitate the successful commission of crimes.'

He also says there are no 'race-neutral criteria or basis to suspect or identify who is lawfully in the United States,' including a person's proximity to the Mexican border, linguistic characteristics and capabilities, skin color, clothing worn or the type of vehicle driven.

The law, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23, allows police to ask anyone for proof of legal U.S. residency. Brewer and others who support the law have said it does not involve racial profiling or any other illegal acts.

'Racial profiling is illegal,' Brewer said after signing the bill. 'It is illegal in America, and it's certainly illegal in Arizona.'

But Escobar's suit says the law 'is the product of racial bias aimed specifically at Hispanics' and places every Hispanic within the state at risk of losing his or her constitutional rights.

A Brother Lost To The Civil Rights Struggle : NPR

A Brother Lost To The Civil Rights Struggle : NPR: In what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre, police in 1968 shot at college students protesting on their campus, killing three people and wounding 28. Among the dead was Samuel Hammond Jr. — or Bubba, as his sisters called him. Hammond was 18.

Hammond's younger sisters, Zenobbie Clark and Diana Carter, got together recently to talk about their brother — and how their family dealt with losing him. It wasn't easy.

'I just idolized him,' Carter says. 'You know, he was handsome, and my friends used to like to come to the house so they could see Bubba.'

Hammond had gone to the historically black South Carolina State College in Orangeburg after growing up near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — where Carter and Clark still live.

Arizona immigration fight to move to the courtroom - latimes.com

Arizona immigration fight to move to the courtroom - latimes.com: As the furor over Arizona's strict new immigration law escalates, immigrant advocates are preparing to move the fight to the courtroom, where their legal challenges have successfully sunk other high-profile laws against illegal migrants.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Immigration Law Center are set to announce in Phoenix on Thursday plans to challenge the measure. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said this week that he was considering a possible legal challenge to the law.

The law, which is set to take effect in midsummer, makes it a state crime for illegal migrants to be in Arizona, requires police to check for evidence of legal status and bars people from hiring or soliciting work off the streets.

Science Associations Publish Legal Handbook on Diversity Strategies

Science Associations Publish Legal Handbook on Diversity Strategies: Women and minorities in this country are woefully underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). That’s very bad news for a nation undergoing a major demographic shift that by 2050 will make minorities the majority of the population.

In fact, experts believe that the U.S. could find itself at the bottom of the pack in the critical areas of economic strength, innovation, and national security if colleges and universities do not find ways to boost the number of women and minorities in the STEM fields in student bodies and faculties. The task has been made especially difficult by a political environment where affirmative action efforts that hint of racial preferences are highly vulnerable to legal challenges.

Height’s Legacy Stirs Push for Social Work Act Passage

Height’s Legacy Stirs Push for Social Work Act Passage: Among social work professionals and educators, the late Dorothy Height is celebrated for the prestige her record as a civil rights and women’s movement leader brings to the social work profession. Height, who died last week at the age of 98, began her career as a social worker in New York City in the 1930s.

In the wake of her passing, leaders of the nation’s leading social work professional and academic associations renewed their commitment to lobby for the passage of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act, federal legislation aimed at addressing the workforce challenges confronting the profession.

“I think that it is imperative that the Act pass,” said Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, president of the National Association of Black Social Workers. “It is (Height’s) legacy to the profession. She believed in service to others. She was a giant among us. In the African tradition she was a griot.”

Civil Rights Group Struggles To Remain Relevant : NPR

Civil Rights Group Struggles To Remain Relevant : NPR: Hooks and Height were longtime leaders of the movement age — the organizations that were in the forefront of the fight for equal rights. These days, those organizations are struggling to stay relevant.

And nowhere is that struggle more evident than in the organization founded by Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Just answering questions about the SCLC is a challenge these days. Take last week when two factions of the group held dueling board meetings.

Board member Bernard Lafayette: 'The meeting of the board, the national board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is here in Atlanta.'

And hundreds of miles away in rural Eutaw, Ala., board member Markel Hutchins: 'This is the only official meeting of the national board of directors of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.'

The venerable civil rights group has been embroiled in a power struggle for months — ever since it elected Bernice King to be president of the organization her father helped form. That was October and she's yet to be installed, and has not returned phone calls from NPR.

Education Week: Schooling Boys of Color

Education Week: Schooling Boys of Color: 'Standards and Promising Practices for Schools Education Boys of Color'

The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, a Lynn, Mass., group founded less than two years ago, has crafted a documentRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader that schools or districts can use to assess whether they are adequately serving boys who are Latino or African-American.

The authors say the aim of the tool is to merge what is known about promising practices for boys of color with the research on effective schools. It focuses on assessment, parents and community, curriculum and instruction, school environment, school leadership, school counseling and guidance, and school organization.

The guide lists model practices in each area so that school or district evaluation teams can determine how their own practices measure up. In the area of curriculum and instruction, for example, one practice is for a school or district to provide “culturally relevant instruction that relates to the cultures, lives, and/or experiences of boys of color, allowing them to ‘see themselves’ reflected in curricular materials.”

The Metropolitan Center for Urban Education is also a partner in producing the tool.

Feds May Challenge Arizona On Immigration Law : NPR

Feds May Challenge Arizona On Immigration Law : NPR: Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the federal government may go to court to challenge Arizona's new law which makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also voiced reservations about the new state law, saying it could siphon federal money and staff from hunting down dangerous immigrants.

The critical comments by the nation's top law enforcement official and the Cabinet secretary responsible for enforcing immigration laws came four days after Arizona's governor signed a law designed to crack down on illegal aliens.

Arizona's new law is, "I fear, subject to potential abuse," Holder told a news conference.

The law allows police to question anyone about their immigration status if they have reason to suspect they are in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime if they are.

Coast Guard acts quickly on diversity, but not without implementation problems

Coast Guard acts quickly on diversity, but not without implementation problems: ... Less apparent is how quickly the Coast Guard put that motto into action after it was criticized for doing too little to increase diversity in its civilian and uniformed ranks. It has moved swiftly, a congressional panel heard Tuesday, but not without important problems in the implementation of the agency's diversity program.

Last year, the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton found a boatload of problems related to Coast Guard diversity. That February 2009 report made 53 recommendations to improve the Coast Guard's civil rights record for its members and employees.

Report: Blacks Have Heaviest College Debt

Report: Blacks Have Heaviest College Debt: A College Board study released today has found that undergraduate student debt is heavier among African-American bachelor’s degree recipients than among graduates from other racial and ethnic groups. Twenty-seven percent of 2007-08 Black bachelor’s degree recipients borrowed $30,500 or more, compared to 16 percent of Whites, 14 percent of Hispanics/Latinos, and 9 percent of Asians. Along with the finding, reported in Who Borrows Most? Bachelor’s Degree Recipients with High Levels of Student Debt, researchers also found that a growing number of students are borrowing at high levels and taking out loans that are likely to cause substantial payment difficulties.

HSI Administrators Express Dismay Over Proposed NSF Grant Consolidation

HSI Administrators Express Dismay Over Proposed NSF Grant Consolidation: The Obama administration’s proposal to consolidate federal science programs for minority-serving institutions into a single competitive grant program has representatives from Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) crying foul after promises were made to dedicate specific funds to the schools that grant undergraduate degrees to half of the nation’s largest minority group.

At their Capitol Forum meeting last week, the members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) met with their congressional representatives to lobby vigorously against the proposal as “a matter of equity and fairness.”

“This fell on us like a cold bucket of water,” said Dr. Agnes Mojica, chancellor of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and a member of HACU’s government relations committee. “If money had been set aside for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), we should have the same opportunity. We are growing institutions, and it doesn’t seem fair to change the rules now.”

In Wake of Immigration Law, Calls for an Economic Boycott of Arizona - NYTimes.com

In Wake of Immigration Law, Calls for an Economic Boycott of Arizona - NYTimes.com: A spreading call for an economic boycott of Arizona after its adoption of a tough immigration law that opponents consider racially discriminatory worried business leaders on Monday and angered the governor.

Several immigrant advocates and civil rights groups, joined by members of the San Francisco government, said the state should pay economic consequences for the new law, which gives the police broad power to detain people they reasonably suspect are illegal immigrants and arrest them on state charges if they do not have legal status.

Critics say the law will lead to widespread ethnic and racial profiling and will be used to harass legal residents and Latino citizens.

Black woman leads former white boys-only school - USATODAY.com

Black woman leads former white boys-only school - USATODAY.com: PHILADELPHIA — The private boarding school for underprivileged students now led by Autumn Adkins, who describes herself simply as 'a black girl from Richmond, Virginia,' would have excluded her in years past.

The one-time white boys-only institution in Philadelphia did not admit its first black student until 1968 and that was only after numerous legal challenges, months of protests, a visit from Martin Luther King Jr. and a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Girls weren't allowed until 1984.

Girard College which first- through 12th-graders has come a long way since being established by the richest man you never heard of. And as its newest president, the 37-year-old Adkins is determined to take it further, raising the school's profile by giving its students 'a true 21st-century education.'

Post Now - Flags to be flown at half-staff for Height

Post Now - Flags to be flown at half-staff for Height: American flags will be flown at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings throughout the country Thursday, in memory of civil rights icon Dorothy Height.

President Obama issued the declaration late Monday, in advance of Height's funeral Thursday. The American flag also will be flown at half-staff that day at all U.S. embassies.

Height, who was 98 when she died last week, directed the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. The service on Thursday will be held at Washington National Cathedral. She is known for helping to push civil rights into the national spotlight in the 1950s and '60s, and she witnessed many of its milestones over six decades.

Education Week: All-Boys Charter Sending Whole Class to College

Education Week: All-Boys Charter Sending Whole Class to College: In Chicago, the graduation rate for African-American boys is about 40 percent, and only about half of all students are accepted to some form of college. The chances of young black men going to college—particularly young men from the poorest neighborhoods—are not good.

But the Urban Prep charter school, located in the city’s tough Englewood neighborhood, has produced a very different statistic. In March, the school, which is made up of young African-American men, announced that all 107 boys in its first graduating class have been accepted to four-year colleges. Just 4 percent of those seniors were reading at grade level as freshmen.

It’s a remarkable achievement for any urban high school, but especially one with a population some people are inclined to write off. It has educators examining what aspects of the school are responsible—and how replicable they are.

New Academic Home Expected To Help Maryland Update Journalism Education

New Academic Home Expected To Help Maryland Update Journalism Education: ...With more than 650 students, the College has struggled with diversity both among students and faculty, but Klose pledged to change that using his experience as a diversity advocate at NPR.

Currently the College has only tenured faculty of color and in their history has promoted only two faculty of color to tenure. Currently, about 28 percent of the student body is made up of students of color, which officials hope to increase to 33 percent in the next decade.

“This nation is about change and transformation; it is about increasing diversity,” Klose said. “It is about diversity and how it explains itself and holds up a mirror to itself so it can proceed in the best way possible to take the best step forward.”

Race-based Facebook Controversy Stirs Minnesota Campus

Race-based Facebook Controversy Stirs Minnesota Campus: The Facebook conversation that roiled the University of Minnesota Duluth in mid-April continued to reverberate last week culminating in an emotional forum on campus.

“What we see here is an escalation of vitriolic bigotry and racism,” said Helen Mongan-Rallis, who facilitated the Wednesday afternoon gathering of about 100 students, faculty and administrators in the Rafters, a meeting place on the top floor of the Kirby Student Center.

“The outrage [is] that White people would act so surprised that this happened,” said Mongan-Rallis, who is White and a native of South Africa. “For people of color this is not new.”

What happened was a conversation on the social-networking site Facebook on April 14 between two White female students after a Black female student entered the room, describing the Black student and referring to her race in derogatory terms. The conversation was posted on the students’ “walls,” making it available to all of their Facebook friends, and it quickly spread from there. One of the students has 786 friends on Facebook, Mongan-Rallis said.

P.S. 172 in Brooklyn Scores High Despite Poverty - NYTimes.com

P.S. 172 in Brooklyn Scores High Despite Poverty - NYTimes.com: To ace the state standardized tests, which begin on Monday, Public School 172 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, finds money for coaches in writing, reading and math. Teachers keep detailed notes on each child, writing down weaknesses and encouraging them to repeat tasks. There is after-school help and Saturday school.

But at the start of this school year, seven or eight students were still falling behind. So the school hired a speech therapist who could analyze why they and other students stumbled in language. A psychologist produced detailed assessments and recommendations. A dental clinic staffed by Lutheran Medical Center opened an office just off the fourth-grade classrooms, diagnosing toothaches, a possible source of distraction, and providing free cleanings.

Perfection may seem a quixotic goal in New York City, where children enter school from every imaginable background and ability level. But on the tests, P.S. 172, also called the Beacon School of Excellence, is coming close — even though 80 percent of its students are poor enough to qualify for free lunch, nearly a quarter receive special education services, and many among its predominately Hispanic population do not speak English at home.

Photographer Finds Kinship With A Black 'Homeplace' : NPR

Photographer Finds Kinship With A Black 'Homeplace' : NPR: There's a photo tacked over the stove in Sarah Hoskins' home. It's of her and a man named Ernest Talbert, a hog butcher and a pillar of the tiny communities that used to be called the 'Negro Hamlets.'

The clusters of homes on hilltops and creek bottoms around Lexington, Ky., were built on land bought by newly freed slaves in the 1860s and 1870s. They have names like Frogtown, Maddoxtown, Zion Hill. Many of these towns still survive today, six or seven generations later, though some are fading fast into history. Clabber Bottom is down to just a few houses.

Hoskins prefers to call these communities 'The Homeplace,' which is also the title of her ongoing documentary project. She's logged thousands of miles traveling to the area from her Illinois home. When she started taking photographs, she hoped to bring a historic part of America's post-Civil War past to life. Ten years later, she's become part of the community she came to observe.

Running down a dream: Leg amputee makes U.S. track team - USATODAY.com

Running down a dream: Leg amputee makes U.S. track team - USATODAY.com: HICKSVILLE, N.Y. — When Amy Palmiero-Winters was in high school, she would work the closing shift at her family's drive-in restaurant in Meadville, Pa., then head out for a run, with her friend Stacy Hatzo driving alongside.

'We would talk about anything and everything, solve all the world's problems,' Hatzo says.

But never could they have conjured the story line that has Palmiero-Winters, now a 37-year-old divorced mom, still running in the late-night hours, her two sleeping children at home with a babysitter, her prosthetic lower left leg and determination carrying her beyond limits anyone would dare suggest.

Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise: Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

The Nation: Not Black By Default : NPR

The Nation: Not Black By Default : NPR: Last week, Melissa Harris-Lacewell wrote an insightful column, 'Black by Choice,' about President Obama's having checked the box marked 'Black, African American or Negro' on his Census form. As she notes, despite the way his complex heritage both disrupts 'standard definitions of blackness' and creates 'a definitional crisis for whiteness,' in American culture 'having a white parent has never meant becoming white' if one also has an African-descended parent.

When I read her piece, I was in a Columbia University faculty lounge, half listening to interesting people grumble interestingly about being asked to fill out another kind of census: the voluntary questionnaire, including self-identification of race and ethnicity, requested by the Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System. This accounting, which gathers a broad spectrum of information about colleges and universities, is compiled by the Department of Education.

Incoming IRA President Aims to Prepare Literacy Teachers to Instruct Diverse Classrooms

Incoming IRA President Aims to Prepare Literacy Teachers to Instruct Diverse Classrooms: As a teenager in Albany, Ga., Patricia A. Edwards took the lead in teaching the younger kids in her community to read. When boys came to her father’s barbershop for haircuts she told them, “If you don’t let me teach you the alphabet, I’ll tell my daddy to give you a baldy.”

In the role she will take among the global community of teaching and literacy professionals next week, she won’t have to persuade anyone.

On April 28, at the close of its 55th annual conference in Chicago, the International Reading Association, an 80,000-member, Delaware-based organization that “teaches the world to read,” will install Dr. Edwards as its president.

As an international organization for literacy professionals, IRA provides resources and professional development activities toward disseminating best practices and lobbies Congress on policies to improve the quality of reading instruction in the U.S. and abroad.

Analysis: Torch Passes in Civil Rights Struggle

Analysis: Torch Passes in Civil Rights Struggle: ATLANTA – The recent deaths of Dorothy Height and Benjamin Hooks, two icons of the civil rights era, nudge those who have come behind them closer to the control for which they have clamored.

It is a prospect that is at once enticing and intimidating for the movement's heirs, who have waited years for their turn and a chance to further the progress of black America. Those years have caught up with both groups, as the graying civil rights generation has no choice but to step aside.

The next generation must decide whether they will step up as the nature of the struggle is in question and the future fight takes on a new identity.

It's put up or shut up now, said the Rev. Al Sharpton.

“I remember for years we said, 'Give us a chance,'” Sharpton said. “Well, we're center stage now. What are we gonna do?”

At 55, Sharpton is considered young among civil rights activists. He was groomed by people like Height and Hooks to lead after they left.

Forum: Minority-serving Campuses Urged to Tout Their Success

Forum: Minority-serving Campuses Urged to Tout Their Success: WASHINGTON— At a policy forum organized to have minority-serving institutions (MSI) share their success stories with policymakers and education access advocates, the Obama administration’s top official for federal initiatives with historically Black schools on Thursday urged MSI leaders to broaden their focus on educating policymakers about their record of achievement.

For too long MSIs have cajoled Congress with the cautious violin-playing they hoped would inspire funding, said Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, during the “What the Higher Education Community Can Learn from Minority-serving Institutions” forum sponsored by the Lumina Foundation and Education Sector, a Washington-based independent education policy think tank.

But it’s time to bust out the trumpets: 'We have to tell our story better,' Wilson said about MSIs, which grant degrees to a majority of students of color yet are chronically underfunded.

Ritz-Carlton hotel accommodated British guests' racist request, lawsuit says - Hotel Check-in: A road warrior's guide to the lodging landscape - USATODAY.com

Ritz-Carlton hotel accommodated British guests' racist request, lawsuit says - Hotel Check-in: A road warrior's guide to the lodging landscape - USATODAY.com: A new lawsuit alleges that the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Fla., recently honored a British couple's request to not be served by 'people of color' or by people with foreign accents, according to the Naples News article.

The hotel's 15-year employee, Wadner Tranchant, 40, of East Naples, filed the federal discrimination lawsuit against the hotel's owners and its managing director late Tuesday, the story says. Naples News ran its article on Wednesday, and on Thursday, media outlets including the British TimesOnline and Telegraph followed with their own verisons.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Vivan Deuschl - the luxury hotel chain's spokeswoman - told Hotel Check-In that the family can not return to the hotel. She also said that 'it's pending litigation, so we can't comment on it. However, we do not tolerate discrimination by members of our staff or our guests.'

Black man suspected in death of Miss. white supremacist - USATODAY.com

Black man suspected in death of Miss. white supremacist - USATODAY.com: PEARL, Miss. — The body of white supremacist and attorney Richard Barrett was found in his suburban Jackson, Miss., home Thursday, the victim of an apparent homicide.

A 23-year-old black man, recently released from prison, was arrested later in the day as the suspect in the death.

Authorities discovered the body of Barrett, 67,when firefighters responded to smoke from a blaze at his home, Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said.

The suspect is Vincent McGee, who lived three houses away from Barrett and had been hired by him to do yardwork, Pennington said. McGee was placed on probation in February after serving less than three years of a six-year sentence for grand larceny and assault on a police officer, Pennington said.

Black Americans Look To Health Plan For New Hope : NPR

Black Americans Look To Health Plan For New Hope : NPR: Death rates for cancer, stroke and diabetes are solemn warning notices for African-Americans, who suffer from those and other diseases at a higher rate than do whites.

So when some members of Congress called the new health care overhaul the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century, many African-Americans agreed.

There's a debate about whether the coming changes will actually ease the health disparities that black Americans face.

South Carolina Manual Drops ‘Negro’ and ‘Scalawag’ References

South Carolina Manual Drops ‘Negro’ and ‘Scalawag’ References: COLUMBIA, S.C. — The official manual of the South Carolina Legislature no longer references 'Negro' or 'scalawag' in historical listings of Reconstruction leaders.

The words quietly disappeared from the 2010 manual, a year after drawing scrutiny.

House Clerk Charles Reid said the listings of lieutenant governors and House speakers which included the references were first produced in the early 1900s and simply transferred to the book as is.

African-Americans who held the offices from 1870 to 1876 were noted as 'Negro' in parentheses beside their names. The word 'scalawag' denoted the House speaker who served from 1868-72. The term referred to White Southerners who supported the federal government's actions in the region.

Despite the documents' historical nature, Reid said, he decided to remove the terms from the 700-page manual distributed this week because they're now irrelevant.

Officials Reverse Bush Policy On Equity Compliance : NPR

Officials Reverse Bush Policy On Equity Compliance : NPR: The U.S. Department of Education is repealing a Bush-era policy that some critics argue was a way to avoid complying with federal law in providing equal opportunities for female athletes.

Under the move, schools and colleges must now provide stronger evidence that they offer equal opportunities for athletic participation under the federal Title IX gender equity law.

It reverses a 2005 policy under former President George W. Bush that allowed schools to use just a survey to prove a lack of interest in starting a new women's sport and encouraged schools to consider a non-response to the questionnaire as disinterest.

'Discrimination continues to exist in college athletic programs - and we should be vigilant in enforcing the law and protecting this important civil right,' U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a prepared statement.

Duncan was to announce the change alongside Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday during an event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Overcoming Life on the Streets to Teach Literature

Overcoming Life on the Streets to Teach Literature: BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Before he taught English at a Massachusetts college, before he completed two terminal degrees at the University of Iowa, before he took courses at a local community college, Dr. Jerald Walker was a drug-abusing dropout running the streets of Chicago, committing petty crimes.

His five years living an urban nightmare ended right after a drug-dealing friend who had just sold him cocaine was fatally shot in another deal at the same place. The close call got his attention but he says that was not what turned his life around.

“I think it was the values instilled in me by my parents,” says Walker, an associate professor of English at Bridgewater State College. “They never left me. They were just buried.” Those values, taught by his blind parents, are simple enough: hard work, honesty, decency, respect for self and others.

Harvard Professor Ogletree: Sharpton is Obama's Link to the Streets

Harvard Professor Ogletree: Sharpton is Obama's Link to the Streets: NEW YORK — The Rev. Al Sharpton is a “lightning rod” for President Barack Obama on inner-city streets, Obama's former Harvard mentor and friend said Saturday at a forum in Harlem.

But Sharpton, who led the event, told The Associated Press that America's first Black president “has to work both for us and for others,” and that if Obama were to push a race-based agenda, “that would only organize the right against him.”

Sharpton spoke on the last day of an annual conference organized by his National Action Network. Speakers included three members of Obama's Cabinet and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, as well as Charles Ogletree, the president's Harvard Law School professor, now a friend.

Hispanic-serving Institution Officials Urge Education Reform to Expand Latino Opportunity

Hispanic-serving Institution Officials Urge Education Reform to Expand Latino Opportunity: WASHINGTON — In response to the booming Latino student population across the country, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) is encouraging concerted collaboration between Hispanic-serving higher education institutions and public school systems to increase the numbers of Hispanics advancing from preschool to graduate school.

At HACU’s 15th Annual National Capitol Forum in Washington, more than 150 representatives from Hispanic-serving institutions [HSIs] and others convened to identify ways to improve Latino student achievement at the elementary and secondary level that will expand the pipeline for Hispanic students entering community colleges and universities.

She's Notre Dame's First Black Valedictorian - WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather

She's Notre Dame's First Black Valedictorian - WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather: She's Notre Dame's first black valedictorian

(WBBM) -- History is being made at the University of Notre Dame this spring

In the 161 years the University of Notre Dame has been awarding degrees, never had there been an African-American as valedictorian. Until this year.

She’s Katie Washington of Gary, Indiana. She carries a 4.0 GPA majoring in biology and minoring in Catholic social teaching.

According to the Northwest Indiana Times, Washington plans to continue her studies at Johns Hopkins University and follow in her father’s footsteps into medicine.

Washington says she’s humbled by the honor of being named valedictorian.

...Upon graduation, Washington plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D program at Johns Hopkins University.

Dorothy I. Height, founding matriarch of civil rights movement, dies at 98

Dorothy I. Height, founding matriarch of civil rights movement, dies at 98: Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died early Tuesday morning, a spokesman for Howard University Hospital said.

The spokesman, Ron Harris, said Ms. Height died at 3:41 a.m. No cause of death was given.

Ms. Height was among the coalition of African American leaders who pushed civil rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ruling on racial isolation in Miss. schools reflects troubling broader trend

Ruling on racial isolation in Miss. schools reflects troubling broader trend: ...Last week, a federal judge ruled that a school board policy here in Walthall County has had the effect of creating 'racially identifiable' schools in violation of a 1970 federal desegregation order. Although the case is unique in some ways, it fits a broader trend toward racial isolation that has been underway for years in American schools and has undermined the historic school integration efforts of the civil rights era.

More than half a century after courts dismantled the legal framework that enforced segregation, Obama administration officials are investigating an array of practices across the country that contribute to a present-day version that they say is no less insidious.

Although minority students have the legal right to attend any school, federal officials are questioning whether in practice many receive less access than white students to the best teachers, college prep courses and other resources. Department of Education lawyers also are investigating whether minority students are being separated into special education classes without justification, whether they are being disciplined more harshly and whether districts are failing to provide adequate English language programs for students who are not fluent, among other issues.

Despite New Law, Gender Salary Gap Persists : NPR

Despite New Law, Gender Salary Gap Persists : NPR: The very first bill that President Obama signed into law dealt with equal pay for women, but activists say it's done little to close the ongoing difference between what men and women earn.

The law -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act -- may have extended the amount of time victims have to file discrimination cases, but it hasn't changed this fact: Women, on average, earn only 77 cents to a man's dollar, and the disparity is greater for women of color.

New legislation in Congress aims to close the pay equity gap, even as administration officials prepare to step up enforcement of the existing law.

Va. Gov., Black Fraternity to Meet Over Confederate History Month Flap

Va. Gov., Black Fraternity to Meet Over Confederate History Month Flap: RICHMOND, Va.— Members of a Black fraternity at the College of William and Mary plan to meet with Gov. Bob McDonnell to discuss the contentious issue of Confederate History Month.

The Williamsburg college's Alpha Phi Alpha chapter cited McDonnell's proclamation that April is Confederate History Month in declining to attend an awards ceremony. McDonnell honored several recipients of statewide community-service awards at Thursday night's event.

Chapter President William B. Morris III said Friday that fraternity members were honored to be among the winners of the Governor's Volunteerism and Community Service Awards for their work as mentors of underprivileged middle-school students. But he says they respectfully chose to sit out the ceremony because McDonnell's decision to honor a cause that harmed Black people is insulting and improper.

Justice Dept. Accuses John Jay of Discrimination - NYTimes.com

Justice Dept. Accuses John Jay of Discrimination - NYTimes.com: The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Friday against John Jay College of Criminal Justice, alleging that the school engaged in a pattern of job discrimination against noncitizens who were authorized to work.

The lawsuit, considered the department’s first in years to crack down on immigration-related discrimination against noncitizens, says the college violated provisions of immigration law by demanding extra work authorization from at least 103 individuals since 2007, rather than accepting the work-eligibility documents required of citizens, like a Social Security card and a driver’s license.

The suit seeks civil penalties of $1,100 for each individual and unspecified measures to overcome the effects of discrimination.

Counter-demonstrators protest white supremacists

Counter-demonstrators protest white supremacists: LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of counter-protestors carrying anti-Nazi signs have gathered in downtown Los Angeles where a white supremacist group is rallying.

Police officers with riot helmets strapped to their belts stood between the crowd and the steps of City Hall, where several dozen members of the National Socialist Movement gathered Saturday.

There was a brief flareup of violence when a man removed his shirt revealing tattoos that some in the crowd deemed offensive. Officers pulled the man to safety.

Forty-year-old Michael Arnold held a sign that said "Defend Human Rights" and said he was there protest racism.

U.S. Health Secretary Addresses Minority Health Issues

U.S. Health Secretary Addresses Minority Health Issues: NEW YORK – U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that she is developing a national plan of action that would focus for the first time on reducing health care disparities between minority and White populations.

HHS has been writing reports for 25 years documenting the gap in health care services between White and minority communities, but there never has been an action plan to address the gap, she said in an address to the National Action Network convention.

“I'm here to say that's going to end this year,” Sebelius said.

She said one in three U.S. Hispanics and one in five African-Americans do not have health insurance, adding that the National Institutes of Health also is looking into the issue.

D.C. Students First Among 2010 Graduates Chosen as Gates Scholars

D.C. Students First Among 2010 Graduates Chosen as Gates Scholars: ...Fifty-seven high-achieving Washington, D.C., students applied for the competitive Gates scholarships, which are administered by the United Negro College Fund. The Gates awards are the nation’s largest and most visible minority scholarship program.

Only seven D.C. students were chosen: Jose Gutierrez of Saint Anselm’s Abbey School; Elzabad Kennedy of McKinley Technology High School; Jasmina Rivas of the School Without Walls; Erwin Sweetwine, Jovalee Thompson, and Mary Amaechi, all of Benjamin Banneker Academic High School; and Isaiah West of Ballou High School.

In 1999, UNCF took control of a $1.6 billion endowment fund from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that became the basis for a scholarship program promoting academic excellence among outstanding U.S. students of color with unmet financial needs.

Post Mortem - Civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks dies

Post Mortem - Civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks dies: Benjamin Hooks, longtime NAACP director and champion of minorities and the poor, died early this morning at his home in Tennessee. He was 85.

Dr. Hooks was a lawyer and preacher who became one of the country's great civil rights leaders. In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country.

"Dr. Hooks was a calm yet forceful voice for fairness, opportunity and personal responsibility," said George W. Bush, presenting Dr. Hooks the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "He never tired or faltered in demanding that our nation live up to its founding ideals of liberty and equality."

Fewer African Americans in MLB; All-Stars remain unsigned - USATODAY.com

Fewer African Americans in MLB; All-Stars remain unsigned - USATODAY.com: MINNEAPOLIS — Major League Baseball is celebrating Jackie Robinson Day today. But 63 years after he broke the game's color barrier, the number of African-American players continues to suffer, with 9.5% of them making opening-day rosters, according to USA TODAY research.

'He would turn over in his grave if he saw the lack of African Americans playing ball,' Minnesota Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson said.

MLB had its first increase in African-American players in 15 years in 2009 when the number climbed to 10.2%, according to the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. This year, though, there were 17 teams with two or fewer African-American players on their opening-day roster.

Controversy shrouds Muslim women's head coverings - USATODAY.com

Controversy shrouds Muslim women's head coverings - USATODAY.com: College sophomore Hani Khan had worked for three months as a stockroom clerk at a Hollister Co. clothing store in San Francisco when she was told the head scarf she wears in observance of Islam violated the company's 'look policy.'

The policy instructs employees on clothing, hairstyles, makeup and accessories they may wear to work. When supervisors told Khan she had to remove the scarf, known as a hijab, to work at the store, she refused on religious grounds. A week later, she says, she was fired.

In February, Khan filed a federal job discrimination complaint against Hollister and its parent company, Abercrombie & Fitch. She is among a growing number of Muslim women who are filing complaints of discrimination at work, in businesses or in airports.

Univ. of South Carolina in Danger of Losing Lone Black Trustee

Univ. of South Carolina in Danger of Losing Lone Black Trustee: COLUMBIA, S.C. – As legislators weigh whether to vote out the lone minority trustee at the University of South Carolina, an Associated Press analysis shows the school's governing board is already less diverse than others in the Southeastern Conference.

Trustee Leah Moody, who is Black, was temporarily appointed to one of 17 voting posts when another Black trustee resigned. She is up for election to a partial term today and wants a full four-year term in 2012, but a lawmaker from her region is backing another candidate and supporters don't think Moody has enough votes to win.

Conference Panelists: Disabled Students Would Benefit From Universal Instruction Design

Conference Panelists: Disabled Students Would Benefit From Universal Instruction Design: WASHINGTON – In the diversity movement, nearly every imaginable identity marker is part of the conversation—race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation—but disability remains a burden many in higher education fail to acknowledge, a panel of higher education disability advocates said Tuesday.

At the Educational Policy Institute’s annual National Capitol Summit, disability advocates expressed dismay that so little progress has been made to include students with disabilities—particularly those with cognitive impairments—in the national conversation about access and equality. The Virginia Beach, Va.-based Educational Policy Institute is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to issues related to the expansion of quality educational opportunities.

When Students Ignited A Change In Racial Politics : NPR

When Students Ignited A Change In Racial Politics : NPR: In the 1960s, a group of student activists headed to the Mississippi Delta to help empower impoverished blacks cowed by the violence and oppression that dominated in the Jim Crow-era South.

'The Delta was the continuation of a feudal system that was a continuation of the aftermath of slavery,' says Lawrence Guyot, who registered black voters in the region during the civil rights era. 'That made it a difficult place to convince local blacks to step up. They were a majority of the population but had no political or economic power.'

Guyot's work was part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a group that turned students into community organizers. In the process, it became one of the most powerful forces of the civil rights movement, incubating national leaders including Georgia Rep. John Lewis and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. As the group marks its 50th anniversary this weekend, Guyot and other veterans of SNCC (known as 'snick') reflect on their efforts to revamp the politics of the Delta, the heart of the Deep South.

Federal Eye - Eye Opener: House establishes diversity task force

Federal Eye - Eye Opener: House establishes diversity task force: ...Following a recent study that found a serious lack of minorities on Capitol Hill, House Democratic and Republican leaders plan to tackle rank and file concerns with a series of moves.

On Tuesday leaders established a diversity task force that will sponsor training courses, build a resume bank of potential job candidates and publish regular reports on diversity efforts.

The decision comes on the heels of a February report by minority Congressional staff associations that found Latinos are rarely found on Capitol Hill payrolls. In the Senate there is just one Latino chief of staff and one committee staff director, while just 5.6 percent of House staffers are Latino.

The Committee on House Administration will lead the new efforts along with the House Chiefs of Staff Association and the Congressional Asian Pacific, Black and Hispanic caucuses, collectively known as the House Tri-Caucus. Leaders of the Tri-Caucus called Tuesday's announcement an 'important first step.'

Tribute: Wilma Mankiller - 1945-2010

Tribute: Wilma Mankiller - 1945-2010:
Wilma Mankiller was a wife, a mother, and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. From the time she finished high school until her death she worked to improve the lives of her people – helping them to receive better education and health care. She taught her people to persevere and take pride in their Cherokee traditions.

The occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 by Native Americans of different tribes had a profound effect on Mankiller. She realized then what she needed to do to tell the world that Native Americans also had rights, and she began serving them especially in the area of law and legal defense. As a single head of household who struggled with health issues, Mankiller decided to return to the reservation for good.

From the Cultural Revolution to Computer Science

From the Cultural Revolution to Computer Science: When Dr. Wei Chen received the 2010 IBM Faculty Award, the Tennessee State University (TSU) computer science professor was puzzled over all the fuss about the honor.

“I’m very behind the scenes,” Chen says.

Still, it is the work in which Chen, her students and colleagues are engaged that helps historically Black TSU advance its efforts to emerge as an academic standout in computer science and engineering education and innovation. Her IBM award, for example, was for her work at TSU on “cloud computing,” a new way of gathering large amounts of data without first downloading and installing large files.

“She has a lot to offer the students and the school,” says Dionne Bennett, the IMB client representative who works with Tennessee State.

Miss. county schools ordered to comply with desegregation order

Miss. county schools ordered to comply with desegregation order: A federal judge Tuesday ordered a rural county in southwestern Mississippi to stop segregating its schools by grouping African American students into all-black classrooms and allowing white students to transfer to the county's only majority-white school, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

The order, issued by Senior Judge Tom S. Lee of the U.S. District Court of Southern Mississippi, came after Justice Department civil rights division lawyers moved to enforce a 1970 desegregation case against the state and Walthall County.

Known as Mississippi's cream pitcher for its dairy farms and bordering Louisiana 80 miles north of New Orleans, Walthall County has a population of about 15,000 people that includes about 54 percent white residents and 45 percent African American residents, according to the U.S. Census.

Howard University Hosts John Hope Franklin Tribute

Howard University Hosts John Hope Franklin Tribute: WASHINGTON – Dr. John Hope Franklin, one of the most revered and respected historians of the 20th century, died last year of congestive heart failure at the age of 94. But scholars who convened in Washington Thursday for a three-day symposium on Franklin's life agreed that his memory will forever live through his scholarship.

Franklin's book, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, served as a manuscript for a generation of Blacks determined to end Jim Crow segregation. Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, professor of African American studies at Harvard University and co-author of the book’s latest edition, explained how she had revamped the 63-year-old historical staple.

“One of the things that I try to do with the book is bring new scholarship,” said Higginbotham. “For example, Stephanie Camp has written a book where she talks about the alternative geographies of [runaway] slaves. Women slaves ran away differently from male slaves, so that's a new way of thinking about runaways.”

The book, emblazoned with a photo of President Barack Obama on the cover, also discusses a number of new subjects such as globalization, Brown v. Board of Education, the Cold War, Hurricane Katrina, and Obama's election. It also incorporates compelling facts about African-American musical traditions.

Whatever Happened To ... The Ellison Scholars?

Whatever Happened To ... The Ellison Scholars?: They were two scholars hard at work on a book project that had already taken them more than 13 years. They were trying to get inside the psyche of a great novelist who had left behind four decades of work on an unfinished book when he died in 1994.

The novelist was Ralph Ellison, whose titanic literary work, 'Invisible Man,' published in 1952, seemed to have a profound effect upon the citizenry when it came to talking about race. The scholars, John Callahan and Adam Bradley, had taken on the mammoth process of piecing together thousands of pages of Ellison's words to complete his long-anticipated second novel. When they were featured in a Washington Post Magazine story Aug. 19, 2007, they imagined they were a year or so from publication.

The men would labor another 2 years. In January, 'Three Days Before the Shooting,' a voluminous work of 1,136 pages, was published by the Modern Library imprint. Bradley said it took longer than expected to examine additional Ellison documents. The copy editing process for such a huge, complicated manuscript also caused delays, he said.

McDonnell in hot water over nonviolent felons' rights

McDonnell in hot water over nonviolent felons' rights: RICHMOND -- For the second time in a week, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has angered black leaders and civil rights groups, this time when they learned of his plans to add another step for nonviolent felons to have their voting rights restored.

McDonnell (R) will require the offenders to submit an essay outlining their contributions to society since their release, turning a nearly automatic process into a subjective one that some say may prevent poor, less-educated or minority residents from being allowed to vote.

"It's another roadblock," Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk), a member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said when she was told of the change.

Miller has repeatedly introduced unsuccessful bills to allow nonviolent offenders to have their rights restored automatically. "This is designed to suppress the rights of poor people," she said.

Governor’s Proclamation Omission Puts Virginia in Negative Light, Critics Say

Governor’s Proclamation Omission Puts Virginia in Negative Light, Critics Say: RICHMOND Va. – Under pressure from critics, Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday called it a 'major omission' not noting slavery in declaring April Confederate History Month in Virginia.

As part of his mea culpa, McDonnell inserted into the proclamation a paragraph condemning slavery and blaming it as the cause of the Civil War.

“The abomination of slavery divided our nation, deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and led to the Civil War. Slavery was an evil, vicious and inhumane practice which degraded human beings to property, and it has left a stain on the soul of this state and nation,” he said in a 400-word statement.

Delaware State Reinstates Women’s Equestrian Team in Legal Battle

Delaware State Reinstates Women’s Equestrian Team in Legal Battle: Facing scrutiny over possible Title IX violations, Delaware State University has agreed to reinstate their women’s equestrian program through 2010-11 after announcing its elimination earlier this year for budgetary reasons. The move resolves part of a legal battle between the historically Black institution and student athletes who filed suit to have the program continued after the current year, officials said.

In February, the Lady Hornet equestrians filed for a preliminary injunction order to preserve the team and ensure its presence at the school. On Wednesday, DSU lawyers filed a motion in federal district court consenting to a court order that allows the team to compete through the 2010-11 year. DSU officials will fund the team and all awarded scholarships will be honored, according to the agreement.

Census Ads Seek to Boost Minority Participation

Census Ads Seek to Boost Minority Participation: LOS ANGELES – Radio commercials blare ranchera tunes, beseeching Mexican-Americans to fill out their census forms. Print ads with a portrait of a Thai family with a carved elephant in the background implore Thais to do the same. So does a Congolese basketball hero in another.

The ads scream stand up and be counted, and are designed to reach some of the most difficult to count communities across the nation.

“We wanted to make sure that in addition to being 'in language,' we were also 'in culture,'” said Raul Cisneros, chief of the 2010 Census publicity office. “We've got to count everybody, so we've got to pull all the levers.”

Higher Education Videos and Multimedia

Higher Education Videos and Multimedia: Columbia University psychology professor Derald Wing Sue recently spoke to Diverse about his latest book, Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. The book insightfully describes the existence of subtle, often unintentional biases and their considerable impact on members of traditionally disadvantaged groups. Listen here.

McDonnell's Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders

McDonnell's Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders: RICHMOND -- Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, reviving a controversy that had been dormant for eight years, has declared that April will be Confederate History Month in Virginia, a move that angered civil rights leaders Tuesday but that political observers said would strengthen his position with his conservative base.

The two previous Democratic governors had refused to issue the mostly symbolic proclamation honoring the soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War. McDonnell (R) revived a practice started by Republican governor George Allen in 1997. McDonnell left out anti-slavery language that Allen's successor, James S. Gilmore III (R), had included in his proclamation.

Report: Judiciary Decision Making Swayed by Race and Ethnicity

Goodwin Liu, an associate dean at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, awaits confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

A recent examination of federal lawsuit decisions found that plaintiffs charging workplace racial harassment prevailed 45.8 percent of the time when the presiding judge was Black. The percentages decrease by more than half when those cases were heard by a White judge.

However, there were only 24 Black judges, compared with 350 White judges, to hear complaints from about 300 Black plaintiffs.

“African-American judges’ (likely) experiences (with discrimination) give them valuable knowledge, perspectives and understandings of minority plaintiffs that many Whites lack,” the study said. Black judges are better able to identify “subtle and nuanced forms of discrimination,” according to “The Myth of the Color-Blind Judge: An Empirical Analysis of Racial Harassment Cases,” which observers say bolsters arguments for a more diverse judiciary.

Modern Cherokees' first female chief, Wilma Mankiller, excelled over hardship

Modern Cherokees' first female chief, Wilma Mankiller, excelled over hardship: Wilma Mankiller, 64, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation in modern times, whose leadership on social and financial issues made her tribe a national role model, died April 6 at her home in Adair County, Okla. She had metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Ms. Mankiller, principal chief of the Cherokee from 1985 to 1995, tripled her tribe's enrollment, doubled employment and built new housing, health centers and children's programs in northeast Oklahoma, where most of the 200,000 or so tribal members live. In 1990, she signed an unprecedented agreement in which the Bureau of Indian Affairs surrendered direct control over millions of dollars in federal funding to the tribe.

Although women have long played leadership roles in Native American communities, few before Ms. Mankiller were elected to the top position of one of the country's largest tribes.

In the face of racism, distress depends on one's coping method

In the face of racism, distress depends on one's coping method: The way people choose to cope with personal experiences of racism influences the distress caused by the encounter, according to a new study of Filipino-American men and women. Published today in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the study finds that denying or ignoring racial discrimination leads to greater psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, and lowers self-esteem.

"Some coping methods are healthier than others for dealing with everyday racism," said Alvin Alvarez, professor of counseling at San Francisco State University. "We found that when people deny or trivialize racist encounters, they can actually make themselves feel worse, amplifying the distress caused by the incident."

The study focused on 'everyday racism' -- subtle, commonplace forms of discrimination, such as being ignored, ridiculed or treated differently. "These are incidents that may seem innocent and small, but cumulatively they can have a powerful impact on an individual's mental health," Alvarez said.

Job Prospects Grim For Youth, Especially Black Teens : NPR

Job Prospects Grim For Youth, Especially Black Teens : NPR: Monet Livingston's odds of finding a job have never been good. And they've never looked bleaker.

'I've been looking for a job since I turned 16,' says Livingston, a 19-year-old single mother of two who relies on welfare. 'I have a lot of friends that are homeless and are out on the streets and jobless because there's nobody willing to hire them.'

The unemployment rate for teens — particularly African-American teens like Livingston — shows just how difficult it may be to turn around job losses after the recession.

The Last To Be Hired

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the while the country gained 162,000 jobs in March, the overall unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7 percent. And it's much tougher for teenagers; The jobless rate for those between ages 16 and 19 rose to 26.1 percent. For African-American teens, it's even worse: That rate stands at 41.1 percent.

Harlem Arts School Closes, Perhaps for Good - NYTimes.com

Harlem Arts School Closes, Perhaps for Good - NYTimes.com: For nearly 50 years, the Harlem School of the Arts has given generations of mostly black and Latino children entree into worlds often otherwise out of their reach. It put violins and other orchestral instruments in their hands, ballet slippers on their feet and Shakespeare on their tongues.

But on Friday, the school’s building was quiet, closed by the board of directors, which told parents in an e-mail message on Thursday that the school was being shuttered because of a lack of financing.

“We are virtually out of money, with no clear sources ahead of us,” John W. Corwin, the school’s interim executive director, wrote in the message.

Financing for the nonprofit school, which has operated mostly during after-school hours and on weekends, has been generated through tuition, private donors as well as city and state arts grants.

Report: For-Profit Schools Better Value for Low-Income Students Than Two-Year Publics

Report: For-Profit Schools Better Value for Low-Income Students Than Two-Year Publics: Aiming to assure the public that for-profit higher education institutions provide as much value as public schools, researchers commissioned by a leading career college company released a report Thursday claiming that private-sector institutions increase access and student success among first-generation, low-income, and non-traditional students better than two-year public colleges.

The report, sponsored by the Santa Ana, Calif.-based Corinthian Colleges Inc., also claims that private-sector institutions do a better job in helping advance students, leading to higher wage gains upon employment and more manageable debt burden.

Virginia College To Examine Its Racial History

Virginia College To Examine Its Racial History: WILLIAMSBURG Va. – The College of William and Mary is examining its role as a slave owner and its discrimination against Black people for decades after the Civil War and will look at current race relations.

The school has formed a panel to study how the history of the nation's second-oldest college was intertwined with the history of Black people. Before the Civil War, for example, President Thomas Roderick Dew used his position as a platform for promoting and justifying the slave trade.

William and Mary adopted a resolution last spring acknowledging that it owned and exploited slave labor from its founding in 1693 until the Civil War and that it discriminated against Black people during the Jim Crow era.

The Lemon Project Committee will examine slavery and race relations from the end of the Civil War to present times. It takes its name from a slave named Lemon, owned by William and Mary in the 1800s.

Minority-focused STEM Funding Plan Raises Equity Concerns

Minority-focused STEM Funding Plan Raises Equity Concerns: They may appear as a blip on the federal budget screen, but science programs for minority-serving institutions are at the forefront of a debate over the role of these colleges and how best to prepare more students of color for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

In its 2011 budget plan, the Obama administration would consolidate several small programs for historically Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions into one larger initiative that, it says, will give greater visibility to this STEM issue. But since majority White institutions ostensibly could receive grants under this merged program, the issue of equity for MSIs is fast becoming part of the debate.

Black farmers still waiting for settlement cash - USATODAY.com

Black farmers still waiting for settlement cash - USATODAY.com: Nearly two months since the administration announced a $1.2 billion agreement to settle decades-old racial discrimination claims against the Department of Agriculture, the nation's black farmers are still looking for the money.

And the checks are not in the mail.

A March 31 deadline in the federal court agreement passed without Congress providing the money that is to be paid to thousands of farmers. The missed deadline does not end the settlement but does allow the farmers to reopen the class action lawsuit.

'The black farmers are not willing to engage in an indefinite waiting game,' John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, said Thursday.

College Inc. - Cuban student leaders to visit local universities

College Inc. - Cuban student leaders to visit local universities: Two Cuban student leaders will make the rounds of local universities next week as speakers, the first such exchange permitted by the U.S. government since 2002, according to a news release.

Representing the Federation of University Students will be Yenaivis Fuentes Ascencio, 23, born in Guantanamo, and finishing her undergraduate medical studies in Havana; and Anibal Ramos Socarras, 30, born in Manzanillo, a third-year graduate student in surgery at the University of Granma.

They will speak April 5 at American University, April 6 at the Howard University Law School, April 7 at the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, and April 8 at the University of Maryland and Bowie State.

Eugene Allen, White House butler for 8 presidents, dies at 90 - washingtonpost.com

Eugene Allen, White House butler for 8 presidents, dies at 90 - washingtonpost.com: Eugene Allen, who endured a harsh and segregated upbringing in his native Virginia and went on to work for eight presidents as a White House butler, died March 31 of renal failure at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park. He was 90.

Mr. Allen and his wife, Helene, were profiled in a Washington Post story in 2008 that explored the history of blacks in the White House. The couple were excited about the possibility of Barack Obama's historic election and their opportunity to vote for him. Helene, however, died on the eve of the election, and Mr. Allen went to vote alone. The couple had been married for 65 years.

Afterward, Mr. Allen, who had been living quietly in a simple house off Georgia Avenue NW in the District, experienced a fame that he had only witnessed beforehand. He received a VIP invitation to Obama's swearing-in, where a Marine guard escorted him to his seat. Eyes watering, he watched the first black man take the oath of office of the presidency.