Report: African-Americans fall in equality index - CNN.com

Report: African-Americans fall in equality index - CNN.com: African-Americans are faring slightly worse relative to their white counterparts than they did last year, according to an index released Thursday by the National Urban League.

The group's 2011 Equality Index stands at 71.5%, compared to a revised index last year of 72.1%, the league said as it released its annual report, called The State of Black America.

An equality index of less than 100% suggests blacks are doing worse relative to whites, while an index greater than 100% suggests blacks are doing better.

The league attributed the 2011 drop to a decline in the economics index, driven by housing and wealth factors, and to a decline in the health index, driven by children's health.

Economics and social justice continue to be the areas in which blacks trail whites the most, with ratings of 56.9% and 58% respectively. Those are followed by health at 75% and education at 78.9%.

Native American Intermarriage Puts Benefits At Risk : NPR

Native American Intermarriage Puts Benefits At Risk : NPR: Native Americans intermarry at higher rates than any other group in the country, according to U.S. Census data.

For the Eastern Shoshone of Wyoming, you have to be at least one-quarter Native American to be a tribal member. That requirement could mean a loss of both population and identity. And intermarriage can also lead to a loss of federal benefits.

Amanda LeClair met Martin Antonio Diaz when one of LeClair's sorority sisters introduced them three years ago. At the time, LeClair was getting her bachelor's degree at the University of Wyoming and Diaz was working at a local restaurant.

'Well, when Martin first met me he thought I was Mexican; and so he was really like, 'Why don't you speak Spanish?' and I was like, 'I just don't, why are you asking me that?' ' says LeClair.

Diaz's family calls Jalisco, Mexico, home. LeClair grew up on Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation and is an enrolled Shoshone tribal member. That means she meets the blood requirement to be a Shoshone citizen. After the couple dated for a while, Diaz says things got more serious.

Late Entry in New York City Science Fair | The White House

Late Entry in New York City Science Fair | The White House: During his trip to New York City yesterday, and between interviews with three network news anchors and a speech dedicating a new building to late-Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, President Obama made an unexpected detour. The President dropped in on the New York City Science Fair—a venue that pretty much sums up the meaning of “win the future.' And the reason why? “Whenever I get a chance to go to a science fair, I go,' the President said.

University of Pennsylvania Program Seeks To Boost Enrollment of Black Men In Ph.D. Programs

University of Pennsylvania Program Seeks To Boost Enrollment of Black Men In Ph.D. Programs: ...Dr. Shaun Harper, a professor of higher education, Africana studies and gender studies at the University of Pennsylvania, launched the Grad Prep Academy in 2009 to create a pipeline of Black males for graduate programs in education. Marshall applied to the Academy and is now part of its second class. The initiative prepares eight to 10 Black men every year to enter master’s and/or doctorate programs in education by providing funding for a GRE class, mentorship, and guidance through the admissions process.

“I don’t want to just be a researcher who researches Black male access and equity,” Harper says. “I want to actually contribute to increasing access and moving us closer to equitable outcomes, equitable participation rates and so on.”

Philadelphia School Battles Students’ Bad Diets - NYTimes.com

Philadelphia School Battles Students’ Bad Diets - NYTimes.com: ...The parents standing guard outside the Oxford Food Shop are foot soldiers in a national battle over the diets of children that has taken on new fervor. With 20 percent of the nation’s children obese, the United States Department of Agriculture has proposed new standards for federally subsidized school meals that call for more balanced meals and, for the first time, a limit on calories. The current standard specifies only a minimum calorie count, which some schools meet by adding sweet foods.

Earlier this year, when Michelle Obama, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity, announced that Wal-Mart would reduce salt and sugar in its packaged foods, she said, “We’re beginning to see the ripple effects on the choices folks are making about how they feed their kids.”

But this effort is up against an array of powerful forces, from economics to biology, all of which are playing out in Philadelphia, where the obesity rate is among the nation’s highest. At the intersection of North 28th and West Oxford Streets, the Oxford Food Shop and the William D. Kelley School are in a tug of war over the cravings of kids.

Women From Historic Student Civil Rights Group Tell Their Story

Women From Historic Student Civil Rights Group Tell Their Story: When Judy Richardson was navigating her way through her freshman year at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, she got distracted from her full-ride, four-year scholarship by efforts to force the school to boost the wages of its all-Black cafeteria staff. She joined the campaign to help the workers.

Pretty soon, it was on to another battle for “justice” in Cambridge, Md., where Blacks were protesting the city’s racially segregated facilities. Another battle followed. Before long, the Tarrytown, N.Y., native found herself in Mississippi working alongside the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. It was the summer of 1964.

With her mother’s reluctant blessing and despite her older sister’s protests, a 19-year-old Richardson joined other students from across the nation to help end Mississippi’s racist segregation laws.

Inclusiveness Prevails at Syracuse University

Inclusiveness Prevails at Syracuse University: Among individuals and organizations that prize inclusiveness and diversity in higher education, Syracuse University chancellor and president Dr. Nancy Cantor is a champion. Earlier this month, the American Council on Education (ACE) honored her with the 2011 Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award. On her own campus; however, she’s faced criticism that her efforts to make the university more inclusive has somehow compromised its reputation as a leading academic institution.

Last week, the University Senate met and intensely discussed the subject. The senate committee for diversity put forth a motion stating that the senate endorses the university’s pursuit of inclusiveness in its admission practices. It also recommends that the university continue its policy of inclusion and agrees that the goals of academic excellence and diversity are complementary rather than contradictory.

Eleanor Roosevelt's Flight With The First Black Aviators : The Picture Show : NPR

Eleanor Roosevelt's Flight With The First Black Aviators : The Picture Show : NPR: Seventy years ago, in March of 1941, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt hopped in the back of pilot C. Alfred 'Chief' Anderson's plane at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and went for a flight. OK, it wasn't quite that casual; the event was actually a pretty big deal — because Anderson was black.

The first lady's visit marked the initiation of the U.S. Army's African-American pilot program and the activation of the first all-African American military aviation unit: the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Later named the Fighter Squadron, it became the first squadron of black pilots to fight in World War II in the skies over Pantelleria, an island near Sicily, on June 2, 1943.

Advocates seek to use census data to secure more of a voice for Hispanics - The Washington Post

Advocates seek to use census data to secure more of a voice for Hispanics - The Washington Post: For Anna Alicia Romero and other Hispanic activists, the release of final census numbers this week signaled the official start of an audacious new campaign: securing as many as 10 new Hispanic congressional districts across the country.

Romero’s work began two years ago, when she traveled to Texas’s “colonias” to urge reluctant residents of the impoverished border settlements to fill out their census forms. Now, with figures showing that more than half the nation’s growth was driven by Hispanics, activists are poised to convert those numbers into political muscle.

The question is whether they will come close to their goal. Political boundaries will be redrawn in many cases by Republican-controlled statehouses that might be reluctant to maximize voting power for a Democratic-leaning ethnic group. And the fact that many Latinos are not citizens or do not regularly vote also could pose a challenge.

Still, activists say they are determined to take full advantage of this rare opportunity to increase their political clout, and will turn to the Justice Department if necessary to ensure they get their fair share.

Census Shows Rise in Number of Multiracial Children - NYTimes.com

Census Shows Rise in Number of Multiracial Children - NYTimes.com: Among American children, the multiracial population has increased almost 50 percent, to 4.2 million, since 2000, making it the fastest growing youth group in the country. The number of people of all ages who identified themselves as both white and black soared by 134 percent since 2000 to 1.8 million people, according to census data released Thursday.

Census 2010 is the first comprehensive accounting of how the multiracial population has changed over 10 years, since statistics were first collected about it in 2000. It has allowed demographers, for the first time, to make comparisons using the mixed-race group — a segment of society whose precise contours and nuances were largely unknown for generations. The data shows that the multiracial population is overwhelmingly young, and that, among the races, American Indians and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are the most likely to report being of more than one race. Blacks and whites are the least likely.

Deep Rift in Beaumont on School Administration - NYTimes.com

Deep Rift in Beaumont on School Administration - NYTimes.com: ...Mr. Thomas, who was widely praised when first hired, has recently become the focus of criticism for his leadership — criticism his supporters say is racially motivated. Mr. Thomas did not respond to several requests for comment made through his spokeswoman, Jessie Haynes.

In May, residents will vote on a ballot initiative to make two of the school board’s seven seats at-large positions. At present, each member represents a geographical region. Mr. Thomas’s supporters view the proposed change as an effort to remake the board, which now has four black members and three white.

His critics see it as an opportunity to reclaim control of an institution still central to the life of a struggling city with an 11 percent unemployment rate and a median household income well below the national average.

Nine Former Workers Sue Auburn University, Allege Discrimination

Nine Former Workers Sue Auburn University, Allege Discrimination: Nine workers in the Auburn University athletic department who were laid off or reassigned filed a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing the school of racial discrimination.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court. Seven of the former custodial workers were laid off last May. Two others were moved to another department during a reorganization after Auburn moved from Beard-Eaves Coliseum to the smaller, new Auburn Arena, the lawsuit said.

Ten of the 11 employees who lost their jobs in the athletic department were Black, according to the lawsuit, which said that only one Black employee who wasn’t a coach moved to the new building.

University spokesman Mike Clardy says university attorneys cannot comment because they have not seen the lawsuit.

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, court costs and restoration of their jobs with back pay and benefits.

Rarity in Division I Athletics, Native American Excels on Basketball Court

Rarity in Division I Athletics, Native American Excels on Basketball Court: Basketball guard Tahnee Robinson is one of very few highly visible Native Americans playing on a Division I sports team. She is descended from several tribes. Her mother is Pawnee and Eastern Shoshone. Her father is Northern Cheyenne and Sioux. Her family still lives on the Wind River Reservation in Fort Washakie, Wyo., the same reservation where she grew up.

Although clearly a standout for the University Nevada Wolf Pack, Robinson was largely unknown outside of the Western Athletic Conference.

That was until Robinson became one of five finalists for the Sullivan Award, an honor bestowed each year by the Amateur Athletic Union to an outstanding amateur athlete.

CNN Poll: Most Americans ‘okay’ with a mosque in their community – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

CNN Poll: Most Americans ‘okay’ with a mosque in their community – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs: Would you be 'okay' with a mosque in your community?

According to a new national poll, most Americans say yes.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday found 69 percent of Americans would be 'okay' with a mosque in their area while 28 percent would not.

But there are big differences depending on where you live. Half of rural Southerners say they disapprove of a mosque in their neighborhood, while 42 percent say they would be 'okay' with it. That rises to roughly three-quarters among those who live in cities and suburbs.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, anti-mosque activity across the country, ranging from vandalism to lawsuits, has occurred in 21 states over the past five years.

Positive views of Muslim Americans are on the rise since 2002, according to the new poll, which found 46 percent of all Americans have a favorable view of American Muslims today, and 26 percent say they have an unfavorable view.

Census: Minorities Account For Most Of The Population Growth Since 2000 : The Two-Way : NPR

Census: Minorities Account For Most Of The Population Growth Since 2000 : The Two-Way : NPR: Based on the first national numbers released by the Census Bureau, the AP reports that minorities account for '90 percent of the total U.S. growth since 2000, due to immigration and higher birth rates for Latinos.'

We reported last week, that the Pew Hispanic Center extrapolated from the numbers released for states and found that Latinos accounted for 58 percent of the population growth during the last decade. The Latino population is expected to come in at just over 50 million.

The AP reports that Asians, for the first time, had a larger 'numeric gain than African-Americans, who remained the second largest minority group at roughly 37 million.'

Georgia's black population outgrows other minorities in state - USATODAY.com

Georgia's black population outgrows other minorities in state - USATODAY.com: ATLANTA — Georgia's population grew by 18% over the last decade, a trend driven by African-American migration to a state whose capital has long been known nationally as "the Black Mecca."

The state added 1.5 million people over the past decade for a total of 9,687,653, according to new Census data. Georgia's black population growth — 579,335 — was greater than either the Hispanic (418,462) or white (285,259) population growth, says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. 'Georgia is just a major magnet for African Americans, both high-skilled and low-skilled,' he says. 'For cultural reasons and for economic reasons, the black migration to the state is significant.'

Kentucky grows with minority residents - USATODAY.com

Kentucky grows with minority residents - USATODAY.com: Kentucky remains a largely white state, but it was minority residents who spurred its population rise in the past decade, 2010 U.S. Census data released Thursday show.

'It's minorities that are surging the growth of the state's population. Non-Hispanic whites are growing slower than the state (overall) average,' said state demographer Michael Price, interim director of the Kentucky State Data Center at the University of Louisville.

Kentucky saw its population climb 7.4% to 4.3 million from slight more than 4 million in 2000. Non-Hispanic whites grew 3.8% and constitute about 86% of the state's total, down from 89% a decade ago.

Black populations fall in major cities - USATODAY.com

Black populations fall in major cities - USATODAY.com: The black population is declining in a growing number of major cities — more evidence that the settlement pattern of African Americans is changing as they disperse to suburbia and warmer parts of the nation.

2010 Census data released so far this year show that 20 of the 25 cities that have at least 250,000 people and a 20% black population either lost more blacks or gained fewer in the past decade than during the 1990s. The declines happened in some traditional black strongholds: Chicago, Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland and St. Louis.

The loss is fueled by three distinct trends:

• Blacks — many in the middle or upper-middle class — leaving cities for the suburbs.

• Blacks leaving Northern cities for thriving centers in the South.

Five myths about why the South seceded - The Washington Post

Five myths about why the South seceded - The Washington Post: One hundred fifty years after the Civil War began, we’re still fighting it — or at least fighting over its history. I’ve polled thousands of high school history teachers and spoken about the war to audiences across the country, and there is little agreement even about why the South seceded. Was it over slavery? States’ rights? Tariffs and taxes?

As the nation begins to commemorate the anniversaries of the war’s various battles — from Fort Sumter to Appomattox — let’s first dispense with some of the more prevalent myths about why it all began.

1. The South seceded over states’ rights.
2. Secession was about tariffs and taxes.
3. Most white Southerners didn’t own slaves, so they wouldn’t secede for slavery.
4. Abraham Lincoln went to war to end slavery.
5. The South couldn’t have made it long as a slave society.

Sociologist James W. Loewen is the author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me” and co-editor, with Edward Sebesta, of “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader.”

ETS Report Recommends Strategies to Reduce Racial Gaps in Praxis Exam Performance

ETS Report Recommends Strategies to Reduce Racial Gaps in Praxis Exam Performance: ...DSU’s early intervention approach is actually one of many recommendations made in a new report released Wednesday that deals with ways to help more prospective teachers from diverse groups pass the teacher license exams.

The report, “Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity: Targeting Support and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates,” was prepared by the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Services, the creator of the Praxis tests.

Speaking Wednesday at a forum on the report, Thomas-Brown said it was encouraging to know that she had discovered on her own what the ETS reports says is an effective way to improve preparedness for the exam.

“I think that this is just phenomenal,” she said of the report’s recommendation. “When I read this I was blown away because it made me feel good as a Praxis coordinator in knowing that I’m on the right track.”

Besides recommendations, the ETS report released a racial and ethnic breakdown of how teaching candidates from recent years have performed on various components of the Praxis, which is the most widely used teacher license exam in the nation.

Justice Department sues on behalf of Muslim teacher, triggering debate - The Washington Post

Justice Department sues on behalf of Muslim teacher, triggering debate - The Washington Post: BERKELEY, Ill. — Safoorah Khan had taught middle school math for only nine months in this tiny Chicago suburb when she made an unusual request. She wanted three weeks off for a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The school district, faced with losing its only math lab instructor during the critical end-of-semester marking period, said no. Khan, a devout Muslim, resigned and made the trip anyway.

Justice Department lawyers examined the same set of facts and reached a different conclusion: that the school district’s decision amounted to outright discrimination against Khan. They filed an unusual lawsuit, accusing the district of violating her civil rights by forcing her to choose between her job and her faith.

Report: MIT Makes Strides With Women Scientists

Report: MIT Makes Strides With Women Scientists: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has succeeded in boosting the number of women on its science and engineering faculties and in making the university a friendlier and more supportive place to work in the decade since a pair of scathing reports on the status of women at the school, yet more remains to be done, according to an internal report released Monday.

The school found that the number of women on the science and engineering faculties combined has increased from 46, or about 7 percent of the total in 1995, to 112, or about 17 percent in 2011. Pay and the distribution of other resources are more equitable, and more women are serving in senior administrative positions.

“I chaired the study 10 years ago for engineering and, if you had asked me then how much better I thought it could get for women faculty, I never would have thought that we would get this far in 10 years,” Lorna Gibson, professor of materials science and engineering and head of the School of Engineering study, said in a statement.

The report was a compilation of two separate surveys conducted with female faculty in the engineering and science schools. Both surveys had about a 90 percent voluntary participation rate.

Black College Conference Takes on Public Criticism of HBCUs

Black College Conference Takes on Public Criticism of HBCUs: With its theme, “HBCUs Under Attack: What Must We Do?”, reminding Black college professionals and supporters their institutions face public criticism, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s 12th Annual Member Universities Professional Institute Conference explored organizational practices and business strategies intended to advance HBCUs. More than 200 presidents, chancellors, administrators, faculty and staff of the 47-member TMCF gathered this week in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., to address HBCU critics and to learn institutional success strategies.

“We have two choices, we can either ignore the attacks or have a crucial conversation with our member universities,” said TMCF President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr. “Let’s take the focus off the institution and go to the students and ask them how we remain relevant.”

Separate and Unequal - NYTimes.com

Separate and Unequal - NYTimes.com: One of the most powerful tools for improving the educational achievement of poor black and Hispanic public school students is, regrettably, seldom even considered. It has become a political no-no.

Educators know that it is very difficult to get consistently good results in schools characterized by high concentrations of poverty. The best teachers tend to avoid such schools. Expectations regarding student achievement are frequently much lower, and there are lower levels of parental involvement. These, of course, are the very schools in which so many black and Hispanic children are enrolled.

Breaking up these toxic concentrations of poverty would seem to be a logical and worthy goal.

Killings of 7 Black Men Put Miami Police in Spotlight - NYTimes.com

Killings of 7 Black Men Put Miami Police in Spotlight - NYTimes.com: MIAMI — The video, shot with a hand-held camera, shows brawny Miami police officers breaking down doors and hauling handcuffed African-American suspects off some of the city’s toughest streets. “We hunt,” one officer says in the five-and-a-half-minute clip. “I like to hunt.”

But it was not a source of embarrassment for Miami’s police chief, Miguel A. Exposito. The video was part of a reality television pilot, “Miami’s Finest SOS,” a project with the enthusiastic backing of Chief Exposito. “Our guys were proactively going out there, like predators,” he says during his cameo in the video, which surfaced online in January.

A few weeks later, a Miami police officer shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop at North Miami Avenue and 75th Street in the Little Haiti neighborhood. The man, Travis McNeil, 28, was unarmed and never left the driver’s seat of his rental car when he was shot once in the chest, members of his family said.

Gender Bias Inquiry Put Aside - NYTimes.com

Gender Bias Inquiry Put Aside - NYTimes.com: The federal Commission on Civil Rights has shelved a yearlong investigation into possible gender bias in college admissions because of disagreements over the quality and quantity of data subpoenaed from 19 colleges. The inquiry began in December 2009 based on news accounts and anecdotal evidence that colleges discriminated against women to promote a better gender mix. Women outnumber men nearly 60 percent to 40 percent in higher education nationally.

Mixed-Race Growth in Mississippi Signals a Shift in Attitudes - NYTimes.com

Mixed-Race Growth in Mississippi Signals a Shift in Attitudes - NYTimes.com: HATTIESBURG, Miss. — For generations here in the deepest South, there had been a great taboo: publicly crossing the color line for love. Less than 45 years ago, marriage between blacks and whites was illegal, and it has been frowned upon for much of the time since.

So when a great job beckoned about an hour’s drive north of the Gulf Coast, Jeffrey Norwood, a black college basketball coach, had reservations. He was in a serious relationship with a woman who was white and Asian.

“You’re thinking about a life in South Mississippi?” his father said in a skeptical voice, recalling days when a black man could face mortal danger just being seen with a woman of another race, regardless of intentions. “Are you sure?”

But on visits to Hattiesburg, the younger Mr. Norwood said he liked what he saw: growing diversity. So he moved, married, and, with his wife, had a baby girl who was counted on the last census as black, white and Asian. Taylor Rae Norwood, 3, is one of thousands of mixed-race children who have made this state home to one of the country’s most rapidly expanding multiracial populations, up 70 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to new data from the Census Bureau.

Obama has Brazil swooning over arrival of a black president - The Washington Post

Obama has Brazil swooning over arrival of a black president - The Washington Post: ...Racial integration has long marked Brazilian society, and racism was never institutionalized as it was in the United States. Brazilians of all colors are proud of the African influence on their culture. But Brazil has had a complex and, according to some black activists, troubling racial history. Slavery was not abolished until 1888, 25 years after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. And some outsiders find it peculiar that Brazilians ascribe so many racial categories to themselves.

Brazilians of color are more likely than whites to be disenfranchised, attending the worst schools and residing in poverty-stricken regions. “The black community is fighting for space,” said the Rev. Jose Adilson Pontes, 49, a black Catholic priest in City of God. “All the spaces where there is exclusion, misery, death, a black man is present.”

But like the United States, Brazil has progressed on the racial front — and in ways many Afro-Brazilians once never thought possible.

Worcy Crawford’s Buses Drove Civil Rights Movement - NYTimes.com

Worcy Crawford’s Buses Drove Civil Rights Movement - NYTimes.com: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Get people talking about civil rights-era buses and it’s all Rosa Parks all the time.

Museums are dedicated to her role in the boycott in the mid-1950s that forced Montgomery to stop banishing African-Americans to the back of city buses. Schools and stamps bear her name. There is a Rosa Parks cookie jar and a Rosa Parks app.

But no one talks much about Worcy Crawford, who died in July at age 90, leaving a graveyard of decaying buses behind his house on the outskirts of Birmingham.

His private coaches, all of them tended by Mr. Crawford almost until the day he died, do not have the panache of the city buses that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. refused to ride. But they have significance nonetheless.

With their cracked windows and rusting engines thick with brambles, they are remnants of something that was quite rare in the South: a bus company owned by an African-American.

Brazilians Welcome Obama As Their Own : NPR

Brazilians Welcome Obama As Their Own : NPR: Hope For The Poorest Brazilians

...At the City of God, one of Rio's most notorious slums, or favelas, a group of residents pray after taking part in a neighborhood clean-up to better their community.

Father Jose Adilson Pontes says there's no hiding the fact that blacks are worse off than whites. It's in the city's periphery, in the biggest favelas, he says, where you find blacks. He ticks off how blacks have the highest rates of illiteracy and how they're most likely to die violently.

And yet, the new Brazil saw a former shoeshine boy and factory worker – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – win the presidency in 2002. Now his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, herself a former political prisoner, is president.

FDA panel finds ban on menthol cigarettes would ‘benefit the public health’ - The Washington Post

FDA panel finds ban on menthol cigarettes would ‘benefit the public health’ - The Washington Post: ...Menthol cigarettes are used by about 80 percent of black smokers, infusing the debate with questions about race.

The panel found that tobacco companies have advertised menthol brands heavily in black communities and that the targeting has paid off. “The evidence is sufficient to conclude that menthol cigarettes are disproportionately marketed per capita to African Americans” the panel found. “Consistent with these targeted marketing efforts, menthol cigarettes are disproportionately smoked by African American smokers.”

William S. Robinson, executive director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, said when Congress banned flavorings that help addict young smokers, menthol should have been included.

Soaring food prices send millions into poverty, hunger - USATODAY.com

Soaring food prices send millions into poverty, hunger - USATODAY.com: Corn has soared 52% the past 12 months. Sugar’s up 60%. Soybeans have jumped 41%. And wheat costs 24% more than it did a year ago.

For about 44 million people — roughly the population of the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago metropolitan areas combined — the rise in food prices means a descent into extreme poverty and hunger, according to the World Bank.

The surge in food prices has many causes. Rising population. Speculators. Soaring oil prices. Trade policies. And, ironically, improved standards of living in emerging nations.

By itself, the soaring cost of food didn’t cause the political unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere. Those tensions have been building for a long time. But higher food prices amplify those tensions.

NY candidate Jack Davis: Bus blacks to farms to pick crops | The Raw Story

NY candidate Jack Davis: Bus blacks to farms to pick crops | The Raw Story: Congressional candidate Jack Davis said in a Republican Party endorsement meeting that Latino farmworkers should be deported and that inner-city African-Americans should be bused to farms to pick crops.

Several sources who attended the endorsement interview confirmed Davis' statement to Buffalo News.

The remark echoes a similar comment he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008.

'We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities,' Davis said. 'Put them on buses, take them out there and pay them a decent wage; they will work.'

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Improve Division I Basketball Graduation Rates

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Improve Division I Basketball Graduation Rates: With March Madness in full swing, Education Secretary Arne Duncan says some NCAA tournament schools must do more to increase the graduation rates of their players – particularly African-Americans.

As NCAA action was tipping off Thursday, Duncan joined a sport and society scholar and the president of the NAACP on a news teleconference call to urge greater action on student-athlete graduation rates. Although most schools in the NCAA tournament are graduating more basketball players than in past years, significant gaps remain between the success rates of Whites and African-Americans.

The differences are “absolutely unconscionable,” the secretary said.

Latin Music Legends: U.S. Postage Commemorative Forever Stamps Honor Entertainment Giants - 13 WTHR

Latin Music Legends: U.S. Postage Commemorative Forever Stamps Honor Entertainment Giants - 13 WTHR: Five legendary musicians and performers of the Latin sound whose contributions have had a lasting impact on American music - Selena, Carlos Gardel, Carmen Miranda, Tito Puente, and Celia Cruz - today were honored on U.S. commemorative Forever stamps. The stamps go on sale nationwide at Post Offices and online at usps.com/shop today.

'From this day forward, these colorful, vibrant images of our Latin music legends will travel on letters and packages to every single household in America,' said Marie Therese Dominguez, vice president, Government Relations and Public Policy.

'In this small way, we have created a lasting tribute to five extraordinary performers, and we are proud and honored to share their legacy with Americans everywhere through these beautiful stamps,' Dominguez said.

Among the distinctive musical genres and styles represented by the music legends featured on the Forever stamps are Tejano, tango, samba, Latin jazz and salsa.

America's Original Black Comic Superhero 'Panther' Returns : NPR

America's Original Black Comic Superhero 'Panther' Returns : NPR: Forty years after he first appeared, the first black superhero in mainstream American comics is back. 'The Black Panther' is the star of a new animated series. The 12-part series, which features a young African prince who doubles as a powerful superhero, is collaboration between Marvel Knights Animation and cable network, BET. Co-creator of 'The Black Panther' series, filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, talks to host Michel Martin about character's revival and the significance of a black superhero to comic book fans.

Maryland Immigrant In-state Tuition Bill Advances

Maryland Immigrant In-state Tuition Bill Advances: ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A measure allowing some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates in Maryland passed the Maryland Senate on Monday.

The bill passed 27-20 but still must be approved by the House of Delegates before going to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has said he would sign it.

During debate, Sen. Victor Ramirez, D-Prince George’s, the bill sponsor who immigrated legally as a child from El Salvador, told opponents that voting against the bill would not solve problems relating to people living illegally in the state. He said the legislation was needed to help people who live here reach their potential and contribute as much as possible to the state.

“It’s about education,” said Ramirez. “It’s not about immigration.”

The financial implications for students are significant. In-state tuition is $8,416 annually, and out-of-state students pay $24,831 a year.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste — Except in Ohio?

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste — Except in Ohio?: Kelley Williams-Bolar, an aspiring teacher and mother of two in Ohio, spent nine days in jail earlier this year and was placed on three years’ probation after a felony conviction for falsifying official documents. The basis of her offense? Sending her children to school in a district in which they did not live.

The Akron mother’s saga began four years ago when she registered her daughters for school using her father’s address in the nearby Copley-Fairlawn school district. She says she didn’t want her children to stay home alone after school, especially after her apartment was burglarized. “When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else,” she told the news media.

In all, the Copley-Fairlawn school district calculated that the family defrauded it of $30,000. Apparently, in Ohio, public education is no longer a right — it is now a form of private property that can be stolen. Jail time was not enough. Williams-Bolar, who had been pursuing a degree at the University of Akron, also now may have to find a new career path. Under Ohio law, Williams-Bolar’s two third-degree felony convictions may preclude her from teaching. Williams-Bolar’s attorneys are preparing an appeal.

Academics Hail Public Online Posting of Historic Black Newspaper’s Archives

Academics Hail Public Online Posting of Historic Black Newspaper’s Archives: The posting online this winter of some 1 million newspaper articles published over the past century in the historic AFRO-American newspaper is being hailed by academics as a major development in expanding the general public’s grasp of Black life in America largely ignored by non-minority focused news organizations for decades.

“This is a big deal,” says Howard University history professor Dr. Daryl Michael Scott. “The Afro-American was a chronicle of Black life in the 20th century. Its writers were very in touch with national issues and the power players coming out of Washington. You can’t get any bigger than this. It’s like The New York Times putting all of its archives on line for free.”

The online archives represent the completion of a 10-year project between the Afro-American and Google. Previously limited by its scarce availability on microfilm, taking the archive online will offer users a gold mine of historical insight.

The Web site, www.afro.com/archives, marks the first time a historically Black newspaper has placed its archives online with free access to the public, said publisher and attorney Jake Oliver, great grandson of the publishing company’s founder, John Murphy.

Report: U.S. Military Leadership Lacks Diversity at Top | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Report: U.S. Military Leadership Lacks Diversity at Top | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS: For decades, the U.S. military has worked to create a force that mirrors the racial and ethnic diversity of the American population. Now, a congressionally charted commission has reported that while the Pentagon has achieved that goal in the lower ranks, the story is much different the higher you go up the officer ladder.

According to the report, 'the demographic composition of the officer corps is far from representative of the American population and ... officers are much less demographically diverse than the enlisted troops they lead.' The Military Leadership Diversity Commission also found that 'with some exceptions, racial and ethnic minorities and women are underrepresented among senor noncommissioned officers'. (Read the full report.)

The report says that while non-Hispanic whites make up 66 percent of the U.S. population, they comprise 77 percent of active duty officers. Similarly, blacks account for 12 percent of the U.S population, but represent just 8 percent of active duty officers. When it comes to Hispanic Americans, which make up 15 percent of the U.S. population, they number only 5 percent of the officer corps.

Graduation Rates Increasing Among 2011 March Madness Schools

Graduation Rates Increasing Among 2011 March Madness Schools: Graduation rates among male basketball players from the 2011 March Madness tournament schools are on the rise, according to a report released today from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, but gaps still persist among White and Black players.

The report, “Keeping Score When It Counts: Graduation Success and Academic Progress Rates for the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament Teams,” examined the Academic Progress Rates (APR) and Graduation Success Rates (GSR) of men's basketball teams from 67 NCAA Division I schools. Average APR and GSR data were then calculated from freshman classes from 2000 to 2004.

The Institute found a notable increase in graduation rates: in 76 percent of schools, at least 50 percent of their men’s basketball team graduated, up from 69 percent in 2010. Overall, graduation rates increased by two percentage points, to 66 percent.

Among White athletes, the graduation rate increased seven percentage points to 91 percent, and graduation rates among Black athletes increased three percentage points, to 59 percent.

Hundreds Mark Institute for Recruitment of Teachers’ 20th Anniversary Milestone

Hundreds Mark Institute for Recruitment of Teachers’ 20th Anniversary Milestone: Brown University graduate student Dallas Lopez remembers when the faculty at the Institute for Teacher Recruitment here in this historic New England town had given him so much assigned reading that he simply wanted to call it quits.

“I had not been sleeping. There was more reading than I could handle. I got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore,” Lopez, 24, recalls. “I said, ‘Enough is enough. I can’t do it.’”

But then the faculty informed Lopez that the heavy reading was being assigned on purpose to prepare him and his fellow IRT students for the demands of graduate school. The program was founded in 1990 to help diversify the ranks of America’s educators at the K-12 and collegiate levels. Instructors helped Lopez learn how to skim material for important points rather than reading books from cover to cover.

Today, Lopez, a 2009 IRT alum, says he’s thankful for that and other experiences he got at IRT. He will soon wrap up his graduate studies in high school English.

Lego contests put minority students on a mission - The Washington Post

Lego contests put minority students on a mission - The Washington Post: ... At Washington area Lego robotics competitions, Brittany’s team is one of a small but growing number of predominantly African American groups. Although most of the Virginia/DC First Lego League’s 3,500 entrants and 437 teams are from the suburbs, the Symbiotic Titans are one of a few teams from east of the Anacostia River. Maryland also has a First Lego League.

For many on the D.C. team, robotics has been a revelation.

“I knew the basics of what engineers do, but I didn’t know all the things that go with robotics,” Brittany said. “I didn’t know what it takes to complete a mission.”

Those missions blend the academic and the intuitive, impressing upon students that what they learn in math and science classes might lead one day to an engineering career.

“They’re using and applying mathematical concepts that they learn every day,” said Myron Long, a KIPP teacher.
President Obama has made Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiatives a priority, but such programs, particularly those that take place after school, often lack underrepresented minorities, a fact that experts say is apparent in U.S. labor statistics.

In 2006, underrepresented minorities, including African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, constituted only 9 percent of the nation’s science and engineering labor force, while accounting for nearly 30 percent of the population.

Census finds more Hispanics than originally estimated - The Washington Post

Census finds more Hispanics than originally estimated - The Washington Post: More Hispanics were counted in the census than anticipated, reflecting the difficulty of calculating the size of the Hispanic population in states where the communities are small and growing rapidly, according to a new study.

The 2010 Census counts of Hispanics were higher in 23 of the first 33 states whose population counts were released, including Virginia and Maryland, the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis showed. Most of the growth was in states that have fewer than 1 million Latinos and that are relatively recent destinations for large numbers of Hispanics, underscoring how Hispanics have spread to communities where they haven’t lived before.

The Pew analysis compares the actual count made in April with annual estimates the Census Bureau makes using birth and death records. The estimates are useful to demographers and planners. More importantly, they are the basis for determining how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed.

Charles Barkley Plans to Get Academic as NCAA Analyst

Charles Barkley Plans to Get Academic as NCAA Analyst: NEW YORK — Charles Barkley plans to lobby for better graduation rates in his new job as a college basketball commentator.

CBS and Turner Sports’ new 14-year, $10.8 billion deal to televise the NCAA tournament adds announcers from the NBA broadcasts on TNT to March Madness. And Barkley is mad about how few Division I players, especially Black men, earn degrees.

“They got $10.8 billion. That’s a lot of freakin’ money,” Barkley told The Associated Press. “The players aren’t getting any of it, so clearly somebody is making money. I’m not opposed to people making money, but we do have an obligation, to, like, ‘OK, you know what? We’re making a (ton) of money. Let’s at least make sure these kids get educated.’”

When Turner Sports chief David Levy asked him about joining the college studio show, Barkley said he wouldn’t take part if he couldn’t get academic. He met with NCAA President Mark Emmert in Atlanta in January, which convinced him players shouldn’t be paid because it wasn’t fair to give athletes in some sports money but not others.

New Jindal Regents Appointee to Miss SUNO/UNO Board Meeting

New Jindal Regents Appointee to Miss SUNO/UNO Board Meeting: BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s newest appointee to the Board of Regents won’t be attending a meeting to discuss the racially charged potential merger of Southern University at New Orleans and the University of New Orleans.

Dr. Albert Sam II, a Black vascular surgeon from Baton Rouge, was named to the Regents by Jindal after the governor pushed out a longtime White member of the board amid complaints about the lack of diversity on the panel.

Sam’s appointment came days before the Regents meet this week to hear a consultant’s recommendations about whether to merge SUNO and UNO. But Sam won’t be there for his first meeting as a board member, says Regents spokeswoman Meg Casper.

Traditional Racial Labels No Longer Define New Generation of College Students

Traditional Racial Labels No Longer Define New Generation of College Students: Last year, a panel of students at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio, gathered to discuss the challenges facing the African-American male. But another topic unexpectedly emerged: who, exactly, was African-American?

That was a loaded question for many of the panelists and the audience because Columbus is home to one of the country’s largest Somali communities. For those students, “African-Americans” are American-born Blacks — an identity they didn’t embrace.

“There was rich dialogue around the difference between African, African-American and an African who is an American,” recalls Renee Hampton, Columbus State’s special assistant to the provost for diversity. “Those are things we have to be aware of in dealing with the students. We are trying to educate ourselves.”

HBCU Merger Proposals Persist Despite Fervent Opposition

HBCU Merger Proposals Persist Despite Fervent Opposition: As two campus communities in Louisiana wait to see what will come of a proposal to merge the University of New Orleans and the historically Black Southern University of New Orleans, higher education leaders around the country are looking on with interest. Proposals in Mississippi and other states — or even hints at such proposals — have been met with such vociferous opposition that proponents have backed off.

Not so with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has persisted to the point of appointing an African-American to the Board of Regents to blunt criticism that the board’s lack of diversity delegitimizes a board-approved proposal study. The study, which is due next week, has been the target of a recent lawsuit by Southern University System students challenging the board’s racial composition. A Baton Rouge, La. judge has recently rescinded an injunction blocking the study, but the matter is expected to be appealed.

India official: It's not slavery – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs

India official: It's not slavery – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs: After her reports on modern-day slavery in India, CNN's Sara Sidner sat down with India's Labor Secretary Prabhat C. Chaturvedi. She showed him her first report, about generations paying off debt through slavery, to let him respond.

According to Sidner, the official was not surprised. He admitted that the problem of bonded labor existed in India but bristled at the word 'slavery.'

Below is an excerpt:

SIDNER: Did anything in that story surprise you?

CHATURVEDI: We are aware of the problem of bonded labor and also of child labor in this country ... the story that you are doing relates to bonded labor and children working in the brick kilns.

SIDNER: Would you call this modern-day slavery. This bonded labor?

CHATURVEDI: Certainly not. It is not slavery. As I said, it is a problem of poverty.

SIDNER: These people say that they feel enslaved. They have no other option, they are beaten, they are not paid, they are hungry some of them. Doesn’t that sound like slavery to you?

CHATURVEDI: I would never use the word slave."

More Foreign-Born Scholars Lead U.S. Universities - NYTimes.com

More Foreign-Born Scholars Lead U.S. Universities - NYTimes.com: When Molly Easo Smith delivered her inaugural address as president of Manhattanville College last spring, she opened with an unusual line: “Welcome, namaste, vannakkam, namaskaaram, bienvenidos and welcome.”

Three of the greetings were in languages from her native India: Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. They reflected the striking journey Dr. Smith had made from her birthplace in Chennai — where she had never dated or been outdoors past 6 p.m. when she left at age 23 — to the pinnacle of American higher education: a college presidency.

As colleges in the United States race to expand study-abroad programs and even to create campuses overseas, they are also putting an international stamp on the president’s office. Dr. Smith, 52, has joined an expanding roster of foreign-born college and university leaders.

Talladega College’s Amistad Murals to Go on Nationwide Tour

Talladega College’s Amistad Murals to Go on Nationwide Tour: Murals depicting the famed slave revolt aboard the trading ship Amistad, which have hung on the campus of Talladega College for more than 70 years, are soon going on a nationwide museum tour.

Now valued around $40 million, the paintings by artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff were commissioned in 1938 and the first three panels have hung at the historically Black school since the 1939 dedication of a library. Others were added later.

The murals were being taken down piece by piece on Monday and will be restored before beginning a tour of several museums around the country. Talladega President Billy C. Hawkins says the restoration and tour will help bring the school more revenue and attention.

“We believe it’s a national treasure,” he says.

Upon arrival at the Atlanta Art Conservation Center, the murals will be adhered to another piece of fabric and then onto enormous wooden stretchers where they will be cleaned and restored.

“Once they are cleaned, any areas of damage will be restored,” says Larry Shutts, an associate conservator at the center. After almost 70 years of dirt and dust buildup in the library, Shutts says the paintings are in very good shape for their age.

Howard University, Morehouse College to Battle in ‘Nation’s Football Classic’

Howard University, Morehouse College to Battle in ‘Nation’s Football Classic’: Howard University and Morehouse College will renew their longstanding rivalry during the inaugural of the Nation’s Football Classic, which will be the first face-off between the schools in 15 years. The contest will be held annually in Washington, D.C., until 2013, with plans to recruit other HBCUs in the future.

For years, interest has been building for the matchup, says Andre Pattillo, Morehouse’s athletic director. As HBCUs with strong academic reputations, the schools are natural rivals.

“Because there’s such an underlying relationship between two schools, there’s been a cry for them to renew their relationship in athletic competition,” Pattillo says.

Prosecutor: Suspect in custody in MLK backpack bomb attempt - CNN.com

Prosecutor: Suspect in custody in MLK backpack bomb attempt - CNN.com: Authorities have a suspect in custody in connection with a backpack bomb found in January along a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route in Spokane, Washington, according to Michael Ormsby, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

Ormsby told CNN that Kevin William Harpham, 36, of Colville, Washington, is scheduled to appear in court at 3:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) Wednesday on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered explosive device.

The weapon of mass destruction charge would carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to five years of court supervision after release, prosecutors said. The unregistered explosive device charge would carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of court supervision after release, they said.

'Oreo': A Satire Of Racial Identity, Inside And Out : NPR

'Oreo': A Satire Of Racial Identity, Inside And Out : NPR: Fran Ross' Oreo is one of the funniest books I've ever read, but I've never quoted it. To do so, I would have to put quotations before the first page and then again at the last. Instead, I just use the words so many others who have been privileged to encounter Oreo use to describe it: hilarious, uproarious, insane. But these adjectives don't do it justice either. To convey Oreo's humor effectively, I would have to use the comedic graphs, menus and quizzes Ross uses in the novel. So instead, I just settle for, 'You have to read this,' and from just the first page they see what I mean.

Oreo is the story of the biracial daughter of an African-American woman and Jewish father, a man named Samuel Schwartz, who disappeared when she was an infant, leaving behind only a note that told her to later seek him and the mystery of her birth.

Conference: UC-Berkeley’s Equity Chief Gibor Basri Says Data Collection Key to Diversity Push

Conference: UC-Berkeley’s Equity Chief Gibor Basri Says Data Collection Key to Diversity Push: Getting the University of California, Berkeley to incorporate a diversity plan into its overall strategic plan was a long and hard-fought battle, but the more critical work of implementing the plan and achieving results is still in its early stages.

Such was the impression left Tuesday during a presentation about the plan that was given at the annual conference of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, or NADOHE.

The conference, which drew about 180 diversity officers from across the nation, was held in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the larger annual conference of the American Council on Education, which drew close to 1,700 attendees.

Among the presenters at the NADOHE conference was Dr. Gibor Basri, an astrophysicist who holds the UC-Berkeley post of vice chancellor of equity and inclusion.

More than half of California children Latino, census shows

More than half of California children Latino, census shows: More than half the children in California are Latinos, according to new census statistics that show the nation's most populous state rapidly approaching the day when Hispanics overtake whites as the largest minority.

Barely one in four Californians under age 18 are non-Hispanic whites, who declined in number along with black children as the number of Asian American and Hispanic children soared. Because of differing birth rates and migration patterns, the total number of children remained relatively stagnant.

The overall population grew to more than 37 million, dwarfing the nation's second-largest state, Texas, by 12 million people.

Among Californians of all ages, the 38 percent who are Hispanic almost equal the 40 percent who are white, a drop of 5 percent. Even in Orange County, where the airport is named after John Wayne, whites are now a minority and Hispanics make up the largest block of school-age children.

Surprising Way Race Colors Attitudes To Health Care Reform

Surprising Way Race Colors Attitudes To Health Care Reform: Some opposition to the Obama administration's health care reform law is linked to racial bias, according to a study released by the Greenlining Institute on Tuesday.

But, according to the research, much of this opposition to health care reform is not attributable to racially charged views about President Barack Obama in particular, but, comes from a complex idea called racial resentment.

'The racial bias that I looked at is a construct called racial resentment, it's the idea that the reason why blacks don't get ahead in society is because they don't work hard enough,' said Daniel Byrd, research director at the Greenlining Institute. 'Obama isn't affecting their attitudes towards the healthcare reform law, it's more about the idea that blacks may be getting something they don't deserve.'

International Women's Day: 5 Ways To Help Empower Women

International Women's Day: 5 Ways To Help Empower Women: 2011 marks the 100-year anniversary of International Women's Day. The annual holiday has roots in the American Women's Suffrage Movement and is now celebrated by individuals, organizations and nations around the world.

International Women's Day is a time to honor women and raise awareness about the unique obstacles they face around the world. This year's theme is 'Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.'

Learn how you can get involved to support women in the ongoing fight for justice and equality.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011: About International Women's Day
When: Tuesday 8 March 2011
Where: Everywhere
What: International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday.
Why: Suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote. The word 'Suffragette' is derived from the word 'suffrage' meaning the right to vote. International Women's Day honours the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women's success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed. The first International Women's Day event was run in 1911. 2011 is the Global Centenary Year. Let's reinvent opportunity for working women and all women.

Higher Education Leaders Say Experiential Learning Key to Student Success

Higher Education Leaders Say Experiential Learning Key to Student Success: As America’s college student population becomes increasingly diverse, school administrators must be open to replacing old and ineffective ways of teaching with new modes of learning that ensure broader student success.

That was the essence of the message delivered Monday by a panel of higher education leaders at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education. The national conference began over the weekend in Washington, D.C., and continues through today.

But embracing innovation for innovation’s sake is not enough, one of the speakers said during the plenary session, titled “Improving College Readiness and Completion.”

Once Hailed As Mexico's Bravest Woman, 21-Year-Old Loses Police Chief Job : The Two-Way : NPR

Once Hailed As Mexico's Bravest Woman, 21-Year-Old Loses Police Chief Job : The Two-Way : NPR: After she stepped forward last year to take a job no one else wanted because of the drug-related violence — police chief in the Mexican border town of Praxedis G. Guerrero — Marisol Valles was called the 'bravest woman in Mexico.'

Now, she's the ex-police chief. Valles, 21, was 'fired Monday for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats,' the Associated Press reports. [The AP says Valles is 20; we're relying on the PBS News Hour for her age.]

ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer reported Friday that Valles had left Mexico after receiving death threats and is seeking political asylum in the U.S.

As Judicial Nominee, Law Professor Goodwin Liu Lingers in Limbo

As Judicial Nominee, Law Professor Goodwin Liu Lingers in Limbo: A year after President Barack Obama nominated him to the federal bench, it remains uncertain whether University of California, Berkeley law professor and associate dean Goodwin Liu will ever assume the post.

That’s because the Senate has yet to vote on Liu, who would serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. And questions fired at Liu during two confirmation hearings, the most recent occurring last week, have underscored his status as one of Obama’s most controversial judicial nominees.

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction over cases from California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Arizona and Nevada. Political and legal observers estimate that 40 percent of this country’s Asian-Americans live in these states, but none currently sits on this appellate court. Furthermore, of the nation’s 875 federal judgeships, only 13 are held by Asians, and only one of those is at the appellate level, according to the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Edmund Gordon, Marian Wright Edelman to be Honored With John Hope Franklin Awards

Edmund Gordon, Marian Wright Edelman to be Honored With John Hope Franklin Awards: Two of America’s most influential advocates for improving the life outcomes of children from underprivileged backgrounds will be honored this evening during an awards ceremony meant to recognize their lifetime achievements.

Diverse will present its distinguished John Hope Franklin Award to Dr. Edmund Gordon, a longtime research scientist, a prolific writer on the subject of academic achievement and educational equity and an original architect of the federally funded Head Start program; and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and longtime leader of the Children’s Defense Fund, a national organization that has for decades pushed for policies that improve the quality of life for the nation’s poorest children.

Rare Anti-slavery Booklet Acquired by University of Virginia

Rare Anti-slavery Booklet Acquired by University of Virginia: The University of Virginia has acquired a rare first edition of an 1829 anti-slavery manifesto that was considered a rallying cry for Black Americans and a major threat to Southern leaders, who worked vigorously to ban it.

The copy of abolitionist David Walker's 'Appeal in Four Articles; Together With a Preamble to the Coloured Citizens of the World, But in Particular, and Very Expressly to Those of the United States of America' is one of seven known to still exist. The pamphlet is on display at U.Va.'s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

A private endowment for U.Va.'s special collections recently acquired it from a New Jersey rare-book dealer for $95,000, university officials said Thursday.

Education Week: Civil Rights Deal Signals Federal Push for Translation Services

Education Week: Civil Rights Deal Signals Federal Push for Translation Services: The Philadelphia School District has been beefing up language-translation services for parents to carry out a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that is seen as a signal that the federal government is planning to press harder on schools to make school-to-home communications more accessible to all parents with limited English skills.

Stemming from the Justice Department’s investigation last year into a series of attacks on Asian students at South Philadelphia High School, the Dec. 15 agreementRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader technically applies only to that school, but some civil rights lawyers say its specificity about language access telegraphs its potentially wider application.

It’s “a promising sign of how clear the guidance [on language access] could be for many school districts,” said James Ferg-Cadima, the Washington regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Arizona Students Stage Walkout To Protest Immigration Bills

Arizona Students Stage Walkout To Protest Immigration Bills: Students from eight Phoenix, Ariz.-area high schools walked out of class and toward the state capitol on Friday to protest a wave of new bills proposed by state Sen. Russell Pearce, the principal backer of last year's controversial law, SB 1070.

Undeterred by the spate of lawsuits challenging that legislation, Pearce introduced new bills this session aimed at driving unauthorized immigrants out of the state, in part by depriving them of services that their tax dollars go to support. His omnibus immigration bill, SB 1611, would require schools to report students who cannot produce documents verifying their U.S. citizenship or legal residence, which legal scholars say would violate the right of children in the United States to attend public school.

Chapelfield Elementary School Sorry For Making Black Student 'Slave'

Chapelfield Elementary School Sorry For Making Black Student 'Slave': GAHANNA, Ohio — The mother of a black Ohio fifth grader assigned to play a slave for a social studies lesson says the school should be more sensitive.

Principal Scott Schmidt of Chapelfield Elementary in Gahanna (guh-HA'-nuh) called Aneka Burton to apologize for what happened to her son, Nikko, on Wednesday. Columbus station WBNS-TV reports Schmidt said no harm was intended.

Ten-year-old Nikko says the class was randomly divided into 'masters' and 'slaves' and that the only other black student got to be a master. Burton says her son refused to take part in a simulated slave auction and was sent back to his desk.

Burton says she appreciates the apology, but the exercise was inappropriate.

Are whites racially oppressed? - CNN.com

Are whites racially oppressed? - CNN.com: They marched on Washington to reclaim civil rights.

They complained of voter intimidation at the polls.

They called for ethnic studies programs to promote racial pride.

They are, some say, the new face of racial oppression in this nation -- and their faces are white.

'We went from being a privileged group to all of a sudden becoming whites, the new victims,'' says Charles Gallagher, a sociologist at La Salle University in Pennsylvania who researches white racial attitudes and was baffled to find that whites see themselves as a minority.

'You have this perception out there that whites are no longer in control or the majority. Whites are the new minority group.'

Call it racial jujitsu: A growing number of white Americans are acting like a racially oppressed majority. They are adopting the language and protest tactics of an embattled minority group, scholars and commentators say.

On TV, Interracial Couples In A Too-Perfect World : NPR

On TV, Interracial Couples In A Too-Perfect World : NPR: On NBC's Parenthood, Crosby Braverman and his fiancee, Jasmine Trussell, are so mismatched they can't even load a dishwasher without getting in a fight. He's flighty; she's focused. He's noncommittal; she makes long-range plans. Oh, and she's black, while he's a white guy.

They're one of several mixed-race couples on network TV right now; others include Mike and Lisa on Fox's Traffic Light and Alice and Alonzo on ABC's Mr. Sunshine.

But like so many interracial couples on network TV these days, Crosby and Jasmine don't discuss their racial and cultural differences. They go to an awkward premarital counseling session at Jasmine's mom's church that leads to a blowout fight when they get home. We never learn if the church is a black church, or whether Crosby feels uncomfortable there.

Diversity in College Sports Continues to Lag Behind the Pros

Diversity in College Sports Continues to Lag Behind the Pros: There is good news and discouraging news in the “2010 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card” issued on Thursday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida. The combined grade for racial and gender hiring practices is a B, which the study’s principal author Dr. Richard Lapchick describes as “average.”

“College sport has to recognize that all of the major pro sports now have gotten either an A or an A- for racial hiring practices. Even though the B is an improvement (the last grade for racial hiring practices was C ), among the people who organize high level sports in America, college sport is in last place with that B,” says Lapchick.

The good news first: the number of African-American head football coaches in Football Bowl Subdivisions institutions has increased significantly over the past few years. Eighteen head coaches of color will start the 2011 season, which is more than double the number four years ago.

Post Now - Va. group creating slave name database

Post Now - Va. group creating slave name database: The Virginia Historical Society is creating an online database that will contain the names and personal information about formerly enslaved African-Americans.

The project is called 'Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names.' It is financed by a $100,000 grant from Dominion Resources and The Dominion Foundation.

The free database will glean its contents from some of the more than 8 million processed manuscripts in the Richmond society's collections.

The society says the database will be a resource for academic researchers, family historians and genealogists.

Perspectives: Teacher Quality is Key to Student Success

Perspectives: Teacher Quality is Key to Student Success: It should be beyond dispute that the pathway to a successful career, regardless of the profession, is a strong educational foundation. A key ingredient in that foundation is the instructional knowledge, motivation and emotional support provided by effective teachers at all levels, from elementary school to college. Recognizing its vital role in maintaining our democratic society, access to an effective education should be seen as a civil right. Yet we know that quality teachers and quality schools with a strong curriculum, adequate facilities and family and community support are not consistently available to everyone in this country.


Evidence shows that teacher quality is the key determinant when it comes to measuring student success. Yet, students in high-need schools are twice as likely to have an inexperienced or unqualified teacher. The Alliance for Excellent Education, for example, has reported that many teachers who teach low-income students do not have a major or minor in the subject they teach or are likely to be inexperienced. In addition, the same students are 61 percent more likely to be assigned an unlicensed teacher.

Race Complicates Senior Care - NYTimes.com

Race Complicates Senior Care - NYTimes.com: She thought her father, who was 70 and a retired teacher, could use some help. He handled all his personal care, but shopping and cooking and laundry were beginning to tax him. He’d fallen several times.

So she started looking at senior housing options, both in Florida, where she lived, and in South Carolina, where he did.

At the first facility, the daughter — to preserve the family’s privacy in this delicate matter, I’ll refer to her as B. — noticed something she hadn’t thought much about before. “The place was pretty white, for lack of a better phrase,” she told me in an interview. Her family is African-American.

When B. asked the director about diversity, “She said, ‘Oh, we’re very diverse. We have a lot of people who’ve moved here from Europe.’” This wasn’t what B. had in mind.

House Budget Stirs Opposition Over Higher Education Cuts

House Budget Stirs Opposition Over Higher Education Cuts: Legislation approved by the House of Representatives would cut funding for minority-serving colleges and universities by $250 million this year while reducing the maximum Pell Grant by more than $800 for the neediest students.

Prior to its passage of an emergency, two-week funding bill on Tuesday, the Republican-led House voted to chop government spending by $61 billion this year, including education cuts of at least $5 billion. Senate Democrats oppose the measure and President Obama has indicated he likely would veto such a plan. However, lawmakers view the GOP bill, H.R. 1, as a critical negotiating stance for Republican leaders as Congress seeks to avert a government shutdown this weekend.

Representatives of minority-serving colleges and universities say the cuts are potentially devastating.

Obama report: Women lag in pay, gain in education - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency

Obama report: Women lag in pay, gain in education - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency: Women still make only three-fourths the pay that men do but have caught up to and even passed men in terms of educational attainment, says a new report from the White House.

Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being is described as the most comprehensive federal report on the subject since 1963. It focuses on the status of women in five areas: people, families and income; education; employment; health; and crime and violence.

'The Obama administration has been focused on addressing the challenges faced by women and girls from day one because we know that the success of women and girls is vital to winning the future,' said Valerie Jarrett, who chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls. 'Today's report not only serves as a look back on American women's lives but serves as a guidepost to help us move forward.'

Inspiration from my father's journey

Inspiration from my father's journey: People often ask if I'm related to the Ross Boddy whose name is on signs in Sandy Spring, Md. 'Yes,' I say, 'that's my father.' If they want to know why the Ross Boddy Community Center is named for him, I explain that he worked many years in the community as an educator and director of the recreation programs held in the old school building.

The whole story can take a while, after all. But it starts with something he wanted his children to know.

In the mid-1920s, when my father was a teenager, his father was hit by a car and killed while coming home from work on the Conowingo Dam in Port Deposit, Md. My father knew he had to help support the family, but he was also determined to finish school. To get there, he walked 10 miles every day. After school, he worked in a mill for 10 cents a week - good money in those days, as he would tell us, when so many had nothing.