Commentary: Reacting to the Changing Face of U.S. Demographics

Commentary: Reacting to the Changing Face of U.S. Demographics: “Do you feel concerned or hopeful about the fact that racial minorities will soon make up a majority of the U.S. population?”

If your dinner table talk resembles some I’ve encountered recently, then you’ve experienced the passionate range of emotions—from head-hanging pessimism to button-popping optimism to shoulder-shrugging ambivalence—that this question usually sparks in private, just-among-friends debates. But rarely does such talk enter polite, public conversation. I suspect that’s because few people are daring enough to ask, fearing the backlash that almost always follows honest discussions involving race.

For Public HBCUs, A New Type of Advocacy

For Public HBCUs, A New Type of Advocacy: Though it has been just two years since Dr. Lorenzo Esters joined the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, or APLU, his efforts to orchestrate new partners while forging coalitions appear to be yielding fruit. Esters is charged with representing the interests of 18 Black land-grant colleges and public Black colleges and universities.

“My advocacy for the public Black land-grant universities is primarily in the area of partnership-building with the federal, business and philanthropic community,” says Esters, vice president of the Office for Access and the Advancement of Public Black Universities at APLU.

Minorities become a majority in Washington region - The Washington Post

Minorities become a majority in Washington region - The Washington Post: Washington is among eight big-city metropolitan regions in which minorities became a majority in the past decade, according to a new analysis of census data showing white population declines in many of the largest metro areas.

Along with Washington, the regions surrounding New York, San Diego, Las Vegas and Memphis have become majority-minority since 2000. Non-Hispanic whites are a minority in 22 of the country’s 100-biggest urban areas.

The white population shrank in raw numbers in 42 of those big-city regions. But every large metro area showed a decline in the percentage of whites.

The shifts reflect the aging of the white population as more people get beyond their childbearing years and the relative youth of the Hispanic and Asian populations fueling most of the growth.

David 'Honeyboy' Edwards Dead At 96: Blues Legend Found In Chicago Apartment

David 'Honeyboy' Edwards Dead At 96: Blues Legend Found In Chicago Apartment: Grammy-winning Blues musician David "Honey Boy" Edwards, believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman and whose roots stretched back to blues legend Robert Johnson, died early Monday in his Chicago home, his manager said. He was 96.

Edwards had a weak heart and his health seriously declined in May, when the guitarist had to cancel concerts scheduled through November, said his longtime manager, Michael Frank of Earwig Music Company.

Born in 1915 in Shaw, Miss., Edwards learned the guitar growing up and started playing professionally at age 17 in Memphis.

He came to Chicago in the 1940s and played on Maxwell Street, small clubs and street corners. By the 1950s Edwards had played with almost every bluesman of note – including Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Charlie Patton and Muddy Waters. Among Edwards' hit songs were "Long Tall Woman Blues," "Gamblin Man" and "Just Like Jesse James."

Georgia Professors Offer Course to Undocumented Students

Georgia Professors Offer Course to Undocumented Students: As college students return to campus in Georgia, a new state policy has closed the doors of the five most competitive state schools to undocumented immigrants, but a group of professors has found a way to offer those students a taste of what they've been denied.

The five University of Georgia professors have started a program they're calling Freedom University. They're offering to teach a rigorous seminar course once a week meant to mirror courses taught at the most competitive schools and aimed at students who have graduated from high school but can't go to one of those top schools because of the new policy or because of cuts to state scholarship programs.

Despite Postponement of Memorial Dedication, King Legacy Remembered in D.C.

Despite Postponement of Memorial Dedication, King Legacy Remembered in D.C.: As Hurricane Irene threatened to roil through the East Coast, activists and a Harvard sociologist gathered at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday to reflect on Martin Luther King's legacy and its implications for the future of the labor movement.

The event was meant to be a companion to the unveiling of the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, though the unveiling—as well as the commemorative march—was postponed because of the impending storm.

Land-Grant Institutions Alleged to Drift from Their Public Missions

Land-Grant Institutions Alleged to Drift from Their Public Missions: While many land-grant flagships strive to keep costs low for students, they have not been as successful in yielding high graduation rates, and, as a result, many students—including high numbers of Blacks and Latinos—fall through the cracks.

Dr. José Cruz, the vice president for higher education, policy and practice at the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that pushes high academic achievement and seeks to narrow opportunity and achievement gaps—especially among minority students from pre-kindergarten to college—says that most of the nation’s land-grant institutions have neglected their mission to educate diverse populations in favor of recruiting high-achieving students from relatively wealthy families who can help the schools climb in national rankings.

Stetson Kennedy, Exposer Of Ku Klux Klan Secrets, Dies At 94

Stetson Kennedy, Exposer Of Ku Klux Klan Secrets, Dies At 94: MIAMI -- Author and folklorist Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan six decades ago and exposed its secrets to authorities and the public but was also criticized for possibly exaggerating his exploits, died Saturday. He was 94.

Kennedy died at Baptist Medical Center South near St. Augustine, where he had been receiving hospice care.

In the 1940s, Kennedy used the "Superman" radio show to expose and ridicule the Klan's rituals. In the 1950s he wrote "I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan," which was later renamed "The Klan Unmasked," and "The Jim Crow Guide."

"Exposing their folklore – all their secret handshakes, passwords and how silly they were, dressing up in white sheets" was one of the strongest blows delivered to the Klan, said Peggy Bulger, director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. She was a friend of Kennedy for about 30 years and did her doctoral thesis on his work as a folklorist.

"If they weren't so violent, they would be silly."

Heinz Hofmann And Thomas Buckley, Two White Male Cops, Sue San Francisco Citing 'Racial Bias'

Heinz Hofmann And Thomas Buckley, Two White Male Cops, Sue San Francisco Citing 'Racial Bias': A white male cop, reportedly reassigned in 2005 when his unit's refrigerator was found stocked with booze, claims he was passed over for a promotion in 2007 because of racial bias.

"The city has a longstanding custom and practice in discriminating against white males," according to a lawsuit complaint filed Aug. 16 by officers Heinz Hofmann and Thomas Buckley.

"The reason plaintiffs were passed over for lower-ranking minorities," the complaint says, "was because plaintiffs are white."

The suit does not mention, however, that in 2005 the media reported that Hofmann was reassigned from his post at the Department's tactical unit, after internal affairs investigators discovered the
squad's Hunters Point headquarters stocked with beer and hard liquor.

Sheila C. Johnson: Remembering Our Past, Taking Responsibility for Our Future

Sheila C. Johnson: Remembering Our Past, Taking Responsibility for Our Future: To see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s majestic likeness rise from the shore of the Tidal Basin, to brush a hand across his words, chiseled in granite, is an extraordinary thing. And this week's unveiling of the King memorial in Washington, D.C., is an extraordinary moment for the African-American community, for America, and for people everywhere who continue to draw inspiration from Dr. King's legacy.

Yet I can't help but reflect on this momentous occasion with mixed emotions. As I think about the prospects for our community, and for our country, I'm worried. It's been almost half a century since Dr. King spoke of transforming the "dark yesterdays" of our heritage into "bright tomorrows." Yet, can we say that African-Americans' tomorrow will be better than today?

Hispanics surpass blacks in college enrollment - The Washington Post

Hispanics surpass blacks in college enrollment - The Washington Post: Hispanics surpassed blacks in 2010 to become the second-largest racial or ethnic group of young adults in America’s colleges, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.

The number of Hispanic college students ages 18 to 24 rose by a remarkable 24 percent in one year, to 1.8 million, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center. The federal Current Population Survey found 7.7 million white college students in that age group, 1.7 million black students and 800,000 Asian Americans.

Black students still outnumber Hispanics in the overall college population, which includes older adults.

A dream still out of reach - The Washington Post

A dream still out of reach - The Washington Post: As the nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a stirring new memorial on the National Mall, let’s not obscure one of his most important messages in a fog of sentiment. Justice, he told us, is not just a legal or moral question but a matter of economics as well.

In this sense, we’re not advancing toward the fulfillment of King’s dream. We’re heading in the opposite direction.

Aug. 28 is the anniversary of the 1963 march and rally at which King delivered the indelible “I Have a Dream” speech. That event — one of the watershed moments of 20th-century America — was officially called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Meaningful employment was a front-and-center demand.

Cherokee Nation Expels Descendants Of Tribe's Black Slaves

Cherokee Nation Expels Descendants Of Tribe's Black Slaves: After a long legal fight, the Cherokee nation ousted thousands of descendants of black slaves who had long been official members of the tribe.

The Cherokee Supreme Court (the tribe is a sovereign nation) ruled this week a 2007 constitutional amendment that required Cherokee blood in order to belong to the tribe could stand.

"This is racism and apartheid in the 21st century," Marilyn Vann, the lead plaintiff in the case and a freedman leader, told Reuters.

The controversy over the freedmen's status is at least in part about money. The Cherokee nation, the second-largest Native American tribe in the country, receives money from the federal government and earns money from its stake in the lucrative gambling industry, which totaled $26.4 billion for all tribes in 2009. In the run-up to the 2007 amendment vote, some proponents of expelling the freedmen suggested that more blacks might apply for membership to receive tribal money.

Martin Luther King Memorial Dedication Postponed By Hurricane

Martin Luther King Memorial Dedication Postponed By Hurricane: WASHINGTON -- The dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington has been postponed indefinitely as Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast.

The memorial's executive architect disclosed the postponement after a day of forecasts from the National Weather Service indicating Hurricane Irene was bearing down on the East Coast. Executive architect Ed Jackson Jr. told The Associated Press in an email statement that no new date has been set for the dedication originally planned for Sunday.

President Barack Obama was to have spoken Sunday. Organizers had previously said they expected to draw up to 250,000 people But Irene dashed the possibility for the memorial to be dedicated on the 48th anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered nearby on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

For Great Sioux Nation, Black Hills Can't Be Bought for $1.3 Billion | PBS NewsHour | Aug. 24, 2011 | PBS

For Great Sioux Nation, Black Hills Can't Be Bought for $1.3 Billion | PBS NewsHour | Aug. 24, 2011 | PBS: It's August on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota, and the annual powwow is in full swing. The celebration is a highlight for the Oglala Sioux tribe, bringing together thousands of Native Americans to sing, dance and honor their traditional culture.

Tonight's good cheer, however, is in stark contrast to everyday life in one of the most difficult places to live in the United States. Few people in the Western Hemisphere have shorter life expectancies. Males, on average, live to just 48 years old, females to 52. Almost half of all people above the age of 40 have diabetes.

And the economic realities are even worse. Unemployment rates are consistently above 80 percent. In Shannon County, inside the Pine Ridge Reservation, half the children live in poverty, and the average income is $8,000 a year.

Hispanic attorney named new Girl Scouts CEO - USATODAY.com

Hispanic attorney named new Girl Scouts CEO - USATODAY.com: Anna Maria Chavez remembers joining Girl Scouts at age 10 and loving the crafts, cooking and camping adventures.

Growing up in tiny Eloy, Ariz., "we didn't go camping much when I was little, so this was a great experience," says Chavez, a Texas attorney selected Wednesday as the new CEO of the 3.2 million-member Girls Scouts of the USA.

Travel opportunities with Girl Scouts were particularly meaningful, giving Chavez "the first opportunity I had to go away by myself, without my family. It really opened my eyes and gave me a certain amount of courage."

Children of civil rights leaders continue work – USATODAY.com

Children of civil rights leaders continue work – USATODAY.com: Their parents staged lunch-counter sit-ins, faced firehoses and sat in jail cells to change America.
Now, the children of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders are bringing their parents' movement of social change into the modern age. As the country prepares to honor King on Sunday with the dedication of a $120million memorial on Washington's National Mall, King's children and their contemporaries are continuing the legacies of their parents with the aid of digital technology and personal engagement.

Martin Luther King III, the oldest of the two sons of the late civil rights leader, has teamed up with JPMorgan Chase to digitize papers saved by his mother, Coretta Scott King, dating back to the 1950s. The collection includes papers related to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality and the NAACP, the younger King says.

Minority babies almost the majority – USATODAY.com

Minority babies almost the majority – USATODAY.com: White infants are on the verge of being displaced as the majority of newborns now that nearly half of babies in the USA are ethnic and racial minorities.

Only 50.2% of babies under age 1 are white and not Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census — a sharp decline from 57.6% just 10 years earlier.

"We are almost at a minority-majority infant population," says Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, who analyzed the latest Census data. "We probably have passed it since the Census was taken" in April 2010.

Racial Gap In Homeownership Widens In U.S. Slump : NPR

Racial Gap In Homeownership Widens In U.S. Slump : NPR: ...Experts say the Great Recession is erasing slow but steady economic gains made by blacks in recent decades. The foreclosure crisis is having a particularly devastating impact, they say, erasing years of racial progress.

Recent data show blacks are losing their homes — and their wealth — at a far faster pace than whites. A study by the Pew Research Center found that as of 2009, the median wealth of a white family was 20 times greater than that of the average black family. That's the largest gap since the government began collecting the data a quarter of a century earlier.

Blacks are nearly twice as likely as whites to have already lost their homes, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. The nonprofit advocacy group also estimates that as many as a quarter of all blacks who bought a home just before the recession hit may lose it.

Johnny DuPree Becomes First Black Major Party Candidate For Mississippi Governor Since Reconstruction

Johnny DuPree Becomes First Black Major Party Candidate For Mississippi Governor Since Reconstruction: JACKSON, Miss. -- Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree on Tuesday became the first black candidate in modern times to win major-party nod for Mississippi governor in a state that hasn't had a black statewide official since Reconstruction.

DuPree, 57, won a Democratic primary runoff and advances to the Nov. 8 general election to face Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, 56, of Brandon.

"I'm just so proud of the fact that we had people who believed in us, believed in the message, believed in what we're trying to accomplish. I'm so proud that people took a hold of that," DuPree said in a phone interview from a Hattiesburg community center, where he celebrated with family and supporters.

DuPree is the first black mayor of Hattiesburg, and is running a race-neutral campaign. In a 15-second commercial recently posted to his campaign website, DuPree looks directly into the camera and says: "I'm here to talk to you about color – green."

NYPD Intelligence Unit Seen Pushing Rights Limits : NPR

NYPD Intelligence Unit Seen Pushing Rights Limits : NPR: Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the New York Police Department has become one of America's most aggressive gatherers of domestic intelligence. Its intelligence unit, directed by a retired CIA veteran, dispatches undercover officers to keep tabs on ethnic neighborhoods — sometimes in areas far outside their jurisdiction.

The existence of the Intelligence Division & Counter-Terrorism Bureau has been public knowledge, but many of its operations were kept secret. An investigation by The Associated Press has uncovered new details about how the unit, led by Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, works.

"The lesson of 9/11 to the NYPD was, 'We can't sit back and just let the federal government tell us how to keep us safe or what intelligence we need to know or who might be after us,'" AP reporter Matt Apuzzo tells Morning Edition guest host David Greene. "We have to take responsibility for this ourselves, and we're going to go to wherever we need to go to get this information."

CNN Journalist Soledad O’Brien Gives Voice to Ethnic Communities

CNN Journalist Soledad O’Brien Gives Voice to Ethnic Communities: As the daughter of an interracial couple growing up in a middle-class town on Long

Island in the 1970s, Soledad O’Brien learned not to let inappropriate or racist comments throw her. “On the one hand it was a very normal, boring middle class childhood, and on the other we knew we weren’t always going to fit in,” says the CNN journalist.

So when the Rev. Jesse Jackson complained that CNN didn’t have any Black anchormen and anchorwomen and dismissed her Afro-Cuban heritage on her mother’s side saying at a private meeting in 2007 she didn’t “count as Black,” O’Brien was embarrassed at her response. She felt angry and did not push back with a follow-up question.

“Today, I would have said, ‘Well what do you mean?’” says the 44-year-old reporter.

New York’s Columbia College Dean Resigns

New York’s Columbia College Dean Resigns: The dean of Columbia College in New York City has abruptly resigned.

The resignation by Dr. Michele Moody-Adams comes two weeks before classes start at the undergraduate division of Columbia University.

She is the first female and the first Black dean of the college. She was recruited in 2009 from Cornell University where she was vice provost.

The New York Times reports that she cited administrative changes that would diminish or eliminate her authority.

In an e-mail message to Columbia alumni and donors Saturday, Moody-Adams said she planned to stay through the academic year. But on Monday, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement that it was in the college's best interest for her to step down immediately. He said an interim dean would be named.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial To Be Dedicated In D.C. (VIDEO)

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial To Be Dedicated In D.C. (VIDEO): This Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, marks the 48th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech. It's also the dedication day for his memorial in Washington, D.C.

"The memorial to Dr. King is the first on the National Mall to celebrate a man of color, hope and peace," said Harry E. Johnson Sr., president of the MLK National Memorial Foundation.

It's also a monument that has been in the works for some time. In 1996, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. to build a memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring Dr. King.

In 2006, President George W. Bush joined former President Bill Clinton, members of Congress and an array of civil rights leaders for the memorial's groundbreaking ceremony.

At this Sunday's dedication, President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak.

Pat Delany Resigns Over Wife Jennifer Delany's Carl Lewis Email

Pat Delany Resigns Over Wife Jennifer Delany's Carl Lewis Email: A freshman Republican lawmaker resigned because his wife sent "an offensive and racist" email to the Democratic state Senate campaign of nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, a GOP official acknowledged Monday.

Pat Delany stepped down from the state Assembly this month and said he wouldn't seek a full term in November because of his wife's missive to Lewis' campaign, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said. Delany originally cited an unspecified family issue as the reason for his abrupt resignation.

Delany and his wife, Jennifer Delany, are white. Lewis, a political novice who's among the greatest athletes of all time, is black.

Jennifer Delany's email to Lewis' campaign said, in part, "Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equaled knowing something about politics."

Weighing Race and Hate in a Mississippi Killing - NYTimes.com

Weighing Race and Hate in a Mississippi Killing - NYTimes.com: No one disputes that James Craig Anderson, a middle-aged black family man with a quick wit and a demanding sense of style, was robbed, beaten and then run over by a group of white teenagers in a motel parking lot early one morning in June.

But as the case builds — charges against the young man accused of driving the Ford pickup that hit Mr. Anderson were raised to capital murder on Friday, and the F.B.I. is now involved — significant questions remain.

Was the killing of Mr. Anderson premeditated racial violence? An act indicative of a deep cultural divide?
Or was the behavior of Deryl Dedmon, the slight, blond teenager who could be facing the death penalty, simply an anomaly born of anger, alcohol and teenage stupidity, as some close to the case suggest?

Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling in Athletic Administration

Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling in Athletic Administration: When Dr. Vivian Fuller testified in 1992 at a congressional subcommittee hearing on gender inequities in intercollegiate athletics, she specifically addressed the lack of women in athletic administration.

“Women should not be limited to traditional positions in such as assistant or associate director of athletics. ... In particular, when director of athletics positions become vacant, institutions should consider hiring a woman for the job,” she said in her prepared statement.

Fuller’s words have proved prophetic. At the time, she was in one of those “traditional” roles as associate director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. But she went on to crack glass ceilings at several schools. She held similar positions at Maryland-Eastern Shore, Tennessee State and Northeastern Illinois universities.

Last month came another Fuller first: The 56-year-old daughter of a North Carolina sharecropper became the first woman associate director at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Earlier this year, another gender barrier was broken when Dr. Carolyn Meyers became the institution’s first female president.

Nick Ashford of Motown songwriting team Ashford & Simpson dies at age 70; had throat cancer - The Washington Post

Nick Ashford of Motown songwriting team Ashford & Simpson dies at age 70; had throat cancer - The Washington Post: Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson that penned elegant, soulful classics for the likes of Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and funk hits for Chaka Khan and others, died Monday at age 70, his former publicist said.

Ashford, who along with wife Valerie Simpson wrote some of Motown’s biggest hits, died in a New York City hospital, said publicist Liz Rosenberg, who was Ashford’s longtime friend. He had been suffering from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment, she told The Associated Press.

Peggy O'Neil's Pub Refused Minorities: Lawsuit

Peggy O'Neil's Pub Refused Minorities: Lawsuit: A Dorchester, Mass. bar faces a lawsuit that claims the establishment refused to serve minorities.

The Boston Globe reports on a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General's office alleging that members of a group of friends were turned away from Peggy O’Neil’s Pub and Grille because they were African-American and Latino.

According to Fox News Latino the suit alleges that, last year an African-American man and a Cape Verdean man were told it was too late to come into the bar, even though white patrons were allowed in.

Later that same night, another group of African-American and Latino friends were told they didn't "look like the type of people" the owner would allow into the pub, according to the suit.

Black-Owned Banks Struggle To Get Out Of The Red

Black-Owned Banks Struggle To Get Out Of The Red: After more than a century of delivering financial resources to underserved communities, black-owned banks are struggling to remain relevant -- and solvent -- in an economic environment full of pitfalls.

Their traditional customer base -- lower and middle class blacks, small business owners and churches -- has been disproportionately affected by high unemployment, leaving customers with less money to deposit and, in turn, leaving many of these smaller financial institutions with less capital to reinvest in their communities. As customers have fallen on hard times or fallen behind in their loan repayments or mortgages, home foreclosures have become a nagging issue, hamstringing banks' portfolios with toxic loans. Meanwhile, many customers with big savings and healthy checking accounts opt for the flexibility of larger banks, which offer more branches and a wider variety of services.

Students at India’s Osmania University Learn About Common Ties to Black History That Bridge Cross-Cultural Understanding

Students at India’s Osmania University Learn About Common Ties to Black History That Bridge Cross-Cultural Understanding: HYDERABAD, India - With a microphone in hand and a computer linked up to a screen projector, an American history professor from Virginia recently took about two dozen students here at Osmania University on a whirlwind tour of the Black experience in America.

It was a trip that Dr. Ann Denkler, a professor of American history at Shenandoah University, began by recounting the tortuous journey that enslaved Africans made across the Atlantic as “cargo” in the hulls of slave ships. This led up to the time when enslaved Africans were officially reduced to three-fifths of a human being by the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

A surprising look at ‘Faces of Petworth’ - The Washington Post

A surprising look at ‘Faces of Petworth’ - The Washington Post: The people pictured in the “Faces of Petworth,” a recently opened photo exhibit, are happy; almost everyone in the 32 portraits is smiling.

Most of the faces are white. Most of Petworth is not.
Figures from last year’s census show that white residents make up 13 percent of the population of Petworth, a changing District neighborhood that sprawls to the north and east of the Georgia Avenue/Petworth Metro station. But they make up two-thirds of the friendly, and a few funny, faces in the exhibit.

“It’s a fair observation,” says Michael Wilkinson, a photographer in the neighborhood who took the pictures.
The exhibit was not intended as a statement about Petworth or a representation of the larger community, he said. It just seemed like a good name for the show, which is intended to raise money for the Petworth Community Market, a neighborhood farmers market.

Prepare for walk to King Memorial site - Dr. Gridlock - The Washington Post

Prepare for walk to King Memorial site - Dr. Gridlock - The Washington Post: While the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial isn’t till Aug. 28, the memorial grounds by the Tidal Basin are scheduled to open Monday. So I took a walk over to see how visitors can approach the site.

It’s a beautiful spot, but difficult to get to. The location is remote and the directional signs aren’t very good.

The closest parking is along Ohio Drive. It’s the same street parking that visitors use to reach the Lincoln, Roosevelt, Korean War and Vietnam War memorials, so it tends to be very crowded. Tour buses park on the south side of the Lincoln Memorial, which still is a bit of a walk from the King Memorial across Independence Avenue.

While this area along the Potomac River, National Mall and Tidal Basin is beautiful for biking, I saw little in the way of bike racks. In fact, I spotted only one small setup between the King and Roosevelt memorials.

Black Researchers Getting Fewer Grants From NIH : NPR

Black Researchers Getting Fewer Grants From NIH : NPR: If you glance around university corridors or scientific meetings, it's obvious that African-Americans are uncommon in the world of science. A study in Science magazine now finds that the black scientists who do start careers in medical research are at a big disadvantage when it comes to funding.

People have been trying to do something about racial disparities in the world of science for several decades. William Lawson, chairman of the psychiatry department at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has thought a lot about how to increase the number of black research psychiatrists. He says for one thing, they're more likely to study issues important to that group.

Study: Whites fare better than blacks seeking medical grants - USATODAY.com

Study: Whites fare better than blacks seeking medical grants - USATODAY.com: Study: Whites fare better than blacks seeking medical grants

Black researchers face only about two-thirds of the chance of white ones of receiving federal medical research dollars, even with equal training and research records, according to a new analysis of grant winners.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials responded that they view the finding as a serious problem and promised to take steps to make up for the shortfall.

"Not acceptable. This data is deeply troubling," NIH chief Francis Collins said at a briefing. "The problem has been there all along. Now we know about it and have to do something."

In the study released Thursday by the journal, Science, researchers led by Donna Ginther of the University of Kansas looked at 83,188 applications for new "principal investigator" — or heads of laboratories — grants from 40,069 researchers from 2000 to 2006.

Yakima Valley Farm Workers Entitled To Nearly $2 Million, Says Court

Yakima Valley Farm Workers Entitled To Nearly $2 Million, Says Court: A federal appeals court awarded nearly $2 million on Wednesday to more than 600 Latino farm workers who accused a farm labor contractor and two Washington state growers of violating federal labor laws.

The Yakima Valley farm workers claimed that Valley Fruit Orchards and Green Acre Farms illegally and intentionally displaced them by hiring Los Angeles-based Global Horizons to bring in foreign workers in 2004.

U.S. District Judge Robert Whaley in Yakima awarded $237,000 in statutory damages to the workers in 2009, which was to be paid by Global Horizons.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, ruling that the workers were entitled to damages of nearly $2 million and that Global Horizons and the growers were jointly liable.

Woodruff: The Income Gap, Right Under Our Noses | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Woodruff: The Income Gap, Right Under Our Noses | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS: Knowing the PBS NewsHour was planning a series of reports on income inequality in America, launched with economics correspondent Paul Solman's excellent report on Tuesday (if you haven't seen it yet, it's a must), my ears have been attuned lately to news about the growing gap in the United States between rich and poor.

If anyone's tempted to think this is an abstract phenomenon -- somewhere else, not in our own communities -- I urge you to take another look.

Children in Poverty: How Are Kids in Your State Faring? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Children in Poverty: How Are Kids in Your State Faring? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS: The latest numbers on poverty among U.S. children are so striking that they make you do a double take.

In 2009, 31 million kids were living in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty threshold.

That's 42 percent of the kids in the United States who are just a few of mom's or dad's paychecks away from economic catastrophe, says Patrick McCarthy, CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which released the statistics this week as part of its latest Kids Count study.

Nearly 8 million children in 2010 were living with at least one parent who was unemployed.

Benefits For Severely Disabled Children Scrutinized : NPR

Benefits For Severely Disabled Children Scrutinized : NPR: To those who believe the federal Supplemental Security Income program for severely disabled children is a lifesaver and not a boondoggle, Hulston Poe is a great example.

The 4-year-old was diagnosed with severe ADHD last October, after more than a year of violent temper tantrums, and kicked out of preschool. Case workers said there wasn't much they could do for him.

"We were at a standstill," says his mother, Suzanne Poe, who was scraping by as a single parent of two in Des Moines, Iowa.

Then doctors recommended she enroll her son in the SSI program this year, and everything changed. A monthly check of $674 helps pay for Hulston's day care, a private tutor and medicines. Perhaps most importantly, the program made Hulston newly eligible for Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance program for the poor. He gained access to the doctors he needed.

"I can see a light in his eyes again," Poe says. "He just looks so much happier."

ACT: More Students Meeting College Readiness Benchmarks, But Racial Gap Persists

ACT: More Students Meeting College Readiness Benchmarks, But Racial Gap Persists: According to a report released Wednesday by ACT Inc., more students are prepared for college, but the vast majority of ACT test-takers—up to 75 percent—may need some form of remediation. And although minorities have been making gains in college preparedness, Hispanics and Blacks still lag behind Whites in meeting ACT's college preparedness benchmarks.

The report from the Iowa-based testing company, The Condition for College and Career Readiness, tracks scores on ACT subject tests (such as English, reading, math and science) that correspond to first-year college courses.

Teaching The Write Stuff

Teaching The Write Stuff: Black journalism professors live and breathe writing and research, yet there is very little information about their experiences. “With the exception of Wallace Terry’s book, a history of journalism at HBCUs that [Phillip] Jeter published in 2002, a 2008 Howard doctoral thesis on how HBCUs are dealing with accreditation, and a piece in Diverse in 2010, there is virtually no other published research on the topic,” says Dr. Kim Smith of North Carolina A&T. One reason might be that journalism professors are particularly fearful of bad press. Phillip Jeter, who is chair of the department of communications at Winston-Salem State University, says, “Many department chairs are very leery of someone else doing research on their faculty and students.”

Hate crimes are a national problem - CNN.com

Hate crimes are a national problem - CNN.com: The security camera footage broadcast by CNN shows a grisly scene: a black man in Jackson, Mississippi, being fatally run over by a pickup truck after he was viciously beaten in a motel parking lot on a Sunday morning in June. Prosecutors say a group of white teens chose the man at random. They say the alleged ringleader, an 18-year-old now charged with murder, laughed about it afterward and boasted in a phone conversation about how he "ran that n----- over."

When we're confronted with such a shocking act of violence, we search for answers. We want to know what's in the hearts and minds of the attackers. We wonder what motivates someone to extinguish a life for no other reason than the color of the person's skin.

And, in an odd way, some people take comfort in the fact that it happened in Mississippi, with its legacy of Jim Crow segregation and terrorism aimed at the African-American community. We want to see the crime as simply a reflection of a Deep South state still haunted by its racist past -- something that couldn't happen in other parts of this country.

Feds join probe of alleged Mississippi hate killing - CNN.com

Feds join probe of alleged Mississippi hate killing - CNN.com: A hit-and-run killing that took place after a group of white teens allegedly set out to kill a black man simply because of his color is now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department, federal and Mississippi officials tell CNN.

The killing, which a Jackson, Mississippi, district attorney says is a racially motivated hate crime, sparked national attention after CNN obtained and aired exclusive surveillance video Video that shows the attack as it took place.

James Craig Anderson, 49, was first beaten by the group of teens as he stood in a hotel parking lot early on the morning of June 26, according to some of the teens who were interviewed by police.

After the beating, a group of the teens drove a large Ford pickup truck over Anderson, according to witnesses and officials. Anderson died from his injuries later the same day.

Poll: MLK's dream realized, but a gulf between races remains - USATODAY.com

Poll: MLK's dream realized, but a gulf between races remains - USATODAY.com: Amid preparations to unveil a national memorial in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., a majority of Americans say King's dream of racial equality has been realized in the USA, although a gulf between blacks and whites persists over how much remains to be done.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds both pride and division on race relations. Nearly everyone — 90% of whites and 85% of blacks — says civil rights for blacks have improved in the USA during their lifetime, although whites are more likely to see the progress as far-reaching.

"We have a long way to go, but I do think that we are changing," says Nancy Huizing, 70, a retired machinist from Grand Rapids, Mich., who is white and was among those polled. She sees much greater racial and ethnic diversity in her neighborhood, a fact reflected even in the variety of foods available in the supermarket.

Mayor Bloomberg Challenges Census Count, Hopes To Protect Funding For Hispanic Neighborhoods

Mayor Bloomberg Challenges Census Count, Hopes To Protect Funding For Hispanic Neighborhoods: New York City could receive less federal funding than expected because of what the state considers to be a miscount of its Latino population in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has formally disputed the results of the 2010 census and has initiated a challenge to preserve previously-expected resource allotments.

“The 2010 census likely missed tens of thousands of New Yorkers,” Bloomberg said in an appeal letter to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the census results, the overall population of New York City is 8.2 million, but Bloomberg maintains that the actual population is around 8.4 million.

The disparity between census figures and those of Bloomberg’s administration may not seem substantial -- only a 2.3 percent difference -- but it stands to note that the miscounted populations are Latino. The effects of this potential error could limit or reduce services in neighborhoods with Hispanic constituencies.

Pete Sarna, Oakland School District's Top Cop, Suspended For Racial Slur

Pete Sarna, Oakland School District's Top Cop, Suspended For Racial Slur: Pete Sarna, the chief of the Oakland Unified School District's police department, has been placed on paid administrative leave while district officials look into allegations that he repeatedly used racial slurs against African American and Asian American officers after a day of drinking at a charity golf tournament.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross report:

As the group was headed home afterward through the Caldecott Tunnel, [the complainant's attorney Joe] O'Sullivan said, Sarna [who is white] turned to an African American sergeant and began cursing him, saying no blacks should be allowed to live in Orinda and that 'the only good n- is a dead n- and they should hang you in the town square to prevent any other n- from coming in the area.'

Young Latinos Vital To Reaching National College Degree Attainment Goals

Young Latinos Vital To Reaching National College Degree Attainment Goals: Daniel Perez narrowly avoided the fate of navigating his young life armed with only a high school diploma.

His family had emigrated from Mexico when he was 15 to a new home in St. Louis Park, Minn. Even though Perez excelled at his suburban high school, his parents preferred he get a job and contribute to his family's income rather than pursue the costly dream of a college education.

'In high school, my parents kept pushing me, saying that I needed to become a man and work and support my family,' said Perez, who is now 24.

But last May, he graduated from the University of Minnesota. Next month, he begins a Master's degree in social work.

Alabama's Hispanic Students Back To School Despite Immigration Crackdown

Alabama's Hispanic Students Back To School Despite Immigration Crackdown: Educators say Alabama's tough new crackdown on illegal immigrants isn't keeping Hispanic parents from sending their children to school, despite opponents' fears over a novel provision requiring educators to determine the immigration status of students.

School systems checked by The Associated Press because of their large Hispanic enrollments say they have seen no decrease in the number of Hispanic students in the first days of the new academic year. Critics of the law have claimed in court that the school reporting requirement – which Alabama was the first state to enact – could prompt a mass exit of Spanish-speaking children.

An attorney opposing the law said Tuesday that school enrollment may be higher than expected because immigrant parents are trying to get their children into class before the law takes effect Sept. 1.

2011 ACT scores show problems with college readiness - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

2011 ACT scores show problems with college readiness - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post: Newly released ACT scores on tests used for college admissions show that only 1 in 4 graduates of the class of 2011 who took the exam met four key benchmarks that supposedly show readiness for success in the first year of college.

The scores, being released today, show that the achievement gap between the top-scoring students — Asians and whites — and the lowest scoring — African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians — has grown slightly between 2007 and 2011.

Taken together, the snapshot of the 2011 graduating class revealed by the scores shows huge college readiness issues — that is, if you believe that a high-stakes college admissions tests can adequately tell that story.

Natural Hair Pat-Downs Warrant a Rethinking - NYTimes.com

Natural Hair Pat-Downs Warrant a Rethinking - NYTimes.com: Now she wonders, as some other black women evidently do, whether the Transportation Security Administration also has a thing about their hair. Ms. Nance is the second black woman I’m aware of within a month who says she was racially profiled when a T.S.A. officer insisted on publicly patting down her hair after she had already gone though a full-body scan without setting off any alarm.

Ms. Nance was departing from the airport in San Antonio in late July. After she passed through the body scanner, she said, a female T.S.A. screener told her to stand facing her possessions. “You’re good to go, but first I have to pat your hair,” the officer told her, she said.

“I’m like, pat my hair? O.K., I guess,” Ms. Nance said.

But it wasn’t O.K. Ms. Nance, who had been visiting her husband at the Air Force base where he is stationed, was deeply embarrassed as other passengers stared at her, “as if I’d done something wrong.”

Commentary: The Catch-22 of Racial Disparities

Commentary: The Catch-22 of Racial Disparities: In a study that affirms conventional wisdom and common sense, a team of Georgetown University researchers reported recently that an advanced college degree is the necessary ticket to employment and economic security. But in a breakthrough of sorts, the co-authors of the report spoke on National Public Radio and then with me about the unspoken evidence in the report that underscores continuing racism in our society.

Economists at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce write in “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings” that college graduates will earn substantially more over their lifetimes than those who don’t have a sheepskin. Who doesn’t know this?

Univ. of Wisconsin Partnering With Communities to Reduce Black Infant Deaths

Univ. of Wisconsin Partnering With Communities to Reduce Black Infant Deaths: With the mortality rate for Black Wisconsin infants among the highest and most unrelenting in the nation, that state’s largest public university has become co-manager of a $10 million grant to help prevent baby deaths.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, partnering with a consortium of community organizations, will partly model the venture after a groundbreaking New York City program that has cut infant mortality in a 1,500-unit Harlem high-rise housing project from 27.7 to 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births over a decade ending in 2008.

Like the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership, the Wisconsin effort is “based on the assumption that the problem of African-American infant mortality extends back through the entire life course of African-American females,” said Dr. Philip Farrell, a semi-retired neonatologist, former University of Wisconsin medical school dean and co-chairman of the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families steering committee.

North Carolina Eugenics Board Victims Fight For Justice (VIDEO)

North Carolina Eugenics Board Victims Fight For Justice (VIDEO): Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina sterilized more than 7,600 individuals in the name of 'improving' the state's human stock. By the time the program was halted, the majority of those neutered were young, black, poor women – like Riddick.

In many ways, Riddick's has become the face of the movement to compensate victims of what most now acknowledge as a dark, misguided era in the state's – and nation's – past. From her decision to sue the state in federal court nearly four decades ago to this most recent baring of her soul, she has refused to simply fade from view.

Instead, the 57-year-old Riddick has become an inspiration to other survivors of the state's eugenics program.

One of them is Australia Clay, whose mother was sterilized, and who, following Riddick to the podium, tells her how lucky she was to have had Tony – no matter how violently he was conceived.

The Koch Brothers And The Battle Over Integration in Wake County's Schools

The Koch Brothers And The Battle Over Integration in Wake County's Schools: The stakes in the battle over the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina couldn’t be higher.

On one side are the billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch, and the Tea Party and libertarian groups they fund. On the other, parents, students and community leaders are bent on stopping measures passed by the conservative-led school board that they argue would re-segregate the county’s public schools, which had been a national model for diversity and integration.

Since 2000, Wake County has used a system of integration based on income. Under this program, no more than 40 percent of any school’s students could receive subsidized lunches, a proxy for determining the level of poverty. The school district is the 18th largest in the country, and includes Raleigh, its surrounding suburbs and rural areas. It became one of the first school systems in the nation to adopt such a plan.

Growing Pains Hurt Native American Food Company : NPR

Growing Pains Hurt Native American Food Company : NPR: If you think unemployment is bad where you live, take a look at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Tribal officials there say more than 70 percent of the working-age population is without a job. And within one of the nation's toughest local economies, a reservation-based business is struggling to grow.

The town of Kyle, S.D., sits among the rolling prairie and rugged Badlands of the Pine Ridge Reservation. This isolated community supports a handful of businesses, one of which is Native American Natural Foods, which makes energy bars, organic buffalo jerky and other meat products.

Foreign Students Fear Indiana Immigration Law Impact

Foreign Students Fear Indiana Immigration Law Impact: Indiana's new immigration law is raising concerns among international students who worry they won't be eligible for tuition waivers or fellowships that help pay for their U.S. educations.

The law that took effect July 1 states that “public assistance” for postsecondary education is only available to U.S. residents or “qualified aliens.” International students using the F or J visa are not included in the definition of qualified alien.

International graduate students often receive tuition waivers or fellowships as part of payment for teaching and research duties. Many rely on the money to attend school.

Pr. George’s school board faces flood of discrimination lawsuits - The Washington Post

Pr. George’s school board faces flood of discrimination lawsuits - The Washington Post: A light-skinned science teacher in Prince George’s County says he didn’t get promoted because his supervisor prefers dark-skinned teachers. An African immigrant in the information technology department says he has been mocked by African Americans.

And there are two teachers who say a young black principal forced them out because they are in their 60s and white.

It’s not unusual for a board of education to face a handful of employee discrimination cases at any given time. But the Prince George’s school board now faces 16.

“Honestly, this is unusual,” said Abbey G. Hairston, a lawyer whose firm represents the county’s Board of Education. “I’ve been practicing 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. And I wish I hadn’t.”

Representing the plaintiffs in all 16 multimillion-dollar cases is a lawyer who is quickly building a reputation as the go-to attorney in the county for disaffected school system employees. Bryan Chapman said he’s using the cases to make a larger point about the Prince George’s education system.

Segregation: New studies show Philly has nation’s most separate and unequal schools, neighborhoods. Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Detroit close behind. | Philadelphia City Paper | 08/04/2011

Segregation: New studies show Philly has nation’s most separate and unequal schools, neighborhoods. Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Detroit close behind. | Philadelphia City Paper | 08/04/2011: Two new studies show that the Philadelphia region is one of the most separate and unequal when it comes to neighborhoods and schools for blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians. You can download them here.

The studies’ author, Brown University sociologist John Logan, broke it down for City Paper:

“Philadelphia's black population, and particularly its affluent black population, lives in much poorer neighborhoods than comparable whites because they are so highly segregated by race. In the greater Philadelphia area that includes Wilmington and Camden, even the most affluent black households are in neighborhoods that are close to majority black and very few such neighborhoods are predominantly middle class. The overall level of segregation has changed very little since 1980. In these ways Philadelphia is like a number of older and larger metro areas in the Northeast and Midwest where the historical legacy of segregation in central cities from before the Civil Rights era seems to be locked into place and continues to be reproduced even as minorities begin to move to the suburbs.”

Latino Teachers Needed For Classroom Role Models

Latino Teachers Needed For Classroom Role Models: ...While there’s little definitive research linking student performance to teacher ethnicity, the sense that shared cultural backgrounds is a bellwether for classroom motivation is making the U.S. government and influential education organizations seriously examine the disparity between the exploding number of Latino students in classrooms and the small number of Latino teachers leading them.

"We know that students benefit when they can learn from teachers who look like them and who can be strong role models," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told The Huffington Post. "That’s why recruiting more Latino teachers is part of our overall effort to strengthen the teaching profession and ensure that students are learning from a diverse group of great teachers."

Education officials and policymakers are engaged in a polarized, ideological debate about teacher quality and the ability of teachers to help overcome poverty. As those thoughts are translated into state laws, a generation of teachers prepares to retire, providing what Duncan and the Department of Education with what they see as an opportunity to create a new breed of teacher.

One piece of that puzzle is recruiting enough minority and Latino teachers so that the people standing in front of the classroom begin to look like their students.

Telly historian David Starkey accused of racist outburst on BBC Newsnight - mirror.co.uk

Telly historian David Starkey accused of racist outburst on BBC Newsnight - mirror.co.uk: HISTORIAN David Starkey faced allegations of racism yesterday after claiming about the riots that the problem is “whites have become black”.

Mr Starkey was appearing on the BBC’s Newsnight when he came out with the comment, which sparked anger on social networking website Twitter.

He went on: “The chavs have become black. The whites have become black."
“A ­violent, destructive, ­nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion and black and white, boy and girl, operate in this ­language together... that’s why so many of us have this sense of literally living in a ­foreign country.”
Author Owen Jones, who was also on Newsnight, said it was a “career-ending moment” and called the words ­“bigoted and ­dangerous”.

Tribal Rights Hinder Child Support For Mothers : NPR

Tribal Rights Hinder Child Support For Mothers : NPR: Collecting child support can be difficult for many mothers, but if the father is Native American, it can be nearly impossible.

Tribes are sovereign nations and don't have to comply with court-ordered child support payments. But some states, including California, are beginning to work with tribes to make sure those payments get to mothers.

Christina Brown lives with her mom and four of her children in Wildomar, Calif., a small town halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. In 2007, Christina left her husband, a tribal member of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, and she's fought ever since to get child support for the three kids they had together.

Adventure, Equality Draw Women To The Coast Guard : NPR

Adventure, Equality Draw Women To The Coast Guard : NPR: This summer, Rear Adm. Sandy Stosz took over as superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, becoming the first woman to run a military academy in the nation's history.

This year's class is about one-third women, a higher percentage than at any of the other military academies. The Coast Guard is the only military service where woman can do any type of job, and that's a big appeal for many.

Before the school year starts at the academy, young men and women report in for their first day of 'swab summer' — a sort of pre-freshman boot camp. They need to learn how to stay 'braced up' — head in, chest up, eyes center. Tough older cadets make sure the newbies get it.

'Sound off!' commands one cadet. 'Yes sir!' shouts the 32-member company.

The Coast Guard is the only military service that women can do any type of job, while all the other ones have something specific that women cannot do. So I think that's a real lure for the women to go to.

- Casey Fall, a high school senior visiting the Academy

Women are some of the toughest instillers of military discipline on the campus. The cadets march up and down the ranks of new recruits, inspecting each swab. 'Get it together, Swab Vallo,' barks one, her face just inches away. 'I'm sick of you looking around!'

Georgetown University Study Shows Higher Education Does Little to Close Inequalities of Race and Gender

Georgetown University Study Shows Higher Education Does Little to Close Inequalities of Race and Gender: Recent studies have uncovered the benefits of higher education, showing that college graduates continually outpace their less-educated counterparts in lifetime earnings.

But according to a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, college education does little to eradicate widening inequalities between men and women as well as Whites and minorities.

The report, The College Payoff, is an update of a 2002 Census study, which analyzed 1998 demographic data. In the report, the authors looked at ties between occupations and race, gender and earnings.

The report found that college graduates earn 84 percent more than high school graduates, earning an average of $2.3 million over a lifetime.

Report: California Latinos Falling Behind in College Completion

Report: California Latinos Falling Behind in College Completion: "Early in his administration, President Obama laid out an ambitious plan for the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. But a recent study suggests that Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, may be falling behind academically in the nation's most populous state.

“Latino College Completion: California” was released by Excelencia in Education, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, as part of its Roadmap for Ensuring America's Future initiative. The Roadmap is a collaborative partnership among 60 members of the Increasing Latino College Completion initiative.

The report found that though the percentage of Hispanics with undergraduate degrees grew by 13 percent between 2006 and 2008, Hispanics still lag behind Whites in college completion rates.

Gazette.Net: Montgomery mirrors state for advanced classes for poor students

Gazette.Net: Montgomery mirrors state for advanced classes for poor students: Maryland ranks among the lowest-performing states in terms of providing equal access to advanced courses to public school students, a trend mirrored in Montgomery County, according to a recent study.

The county also featured a slightly higher share of inexperienced teachers than the state average, and a much higher share of students in Gifted and Talented academic programs during regular school hours.

A June study by ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization, showed that Maryland’s wealthier schools had signficantly better access to Advanced Placement, college-level courses, than schools with a higher share of students receiving free and reduced-price meals. Using statistics from the 2009-2010 school year, only Oklahoma and Kansas had a stronger correlation between wealth and AP access.

Darcus Howe Cites Racial Profiling As Key Factor In London Riots

Darcus Howe Cites Racial Profiling As Key Factor In London Riots: The riots that broke out across England this week were the consequence of years of built-up resentment among Britain's young, mostly black, underclass, the Caribbean-British writer and activist Darcus Howe told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.

'It's an insurrection of a generation of poor, primarily, black people from the Caribbean and from Africa,' said Howe, who became something of an Internet sensation on this side of the Atlantic after his recent appearance on the BBC turned into a testy exchange over his claims that the authorities were failing to listen to the riots' underlying cause.

The police 'do not have any sense of what informs the explosive character of what is happening here,' Howe said, pointing his finger at the increasingly controversial practice of stopping and searching youth in working class neighborhoods.

Possible slave quarter found at William and Mary - The Washington Post

Possible slave quarter found at William and Mary - The Washington Post: Archaeologists at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg have uncovered the brick foundations of a Colonial-era structure that may have housed slaves who cooked and cleaned for students and faculty.

The remnants sit next to the Wren Building, the core of the historic campus. Scholars believe that they are the traces of an outbuilding — sleeping quarters, perhaps, or a kitchen or a laundry — built in the 18th century for slaves who lived and worked at the college.

New York Fire Dept. Cut Bias Unit While Being Sued Over Tests - NYTimes.com

New York Fire Dept. Cut Bias Unit While Being Sued Over Tests - NYTimes.com: The New York Fire Department office that handles discrimination complaints shrank during a period when the federal government was suing the agency on the grounds that its hiring tests were biased, an assistant fire commissioner testified in United States District Court on Monday.

Over the objections of the city, the assistant commissioner, Lyndelle Phillips, who leads the Equal Employment Opportunity Office in the department, was called to testify by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in Brooklyn. During more than two hours on the witness stand, she described how resources in her office had dwindled since 2006.

Back then, she said, four staff lawyers reported to her; there are now two. During one period from the end of last year to early this year, she said, there was only one.

Haskell Indian Nations University President Chris Redman Looking to Future

Haskell Indian Nations University President Chris Redman Looking to Future: The new president of Haskell Indian Nations University said it's time to move on from recent unrest and dissension at the school and instead focus on providing more opportunities for its students.

Chris Redman, who has been on Lawrence campus since July 6, said he believes student and faculty dissension and questions about the university's administration have died down.

'I think it's more the exception now than the rule,' he said. 'I'm very persistent about employees learning how to reach across those issues and being willing to disagree with each other and get the job done.'

The university's last president was Linda Warner, who was a target of heavy criticism before being sent in September 2009 to new jobs in Arizona and Oklahoma. Five interim presidents have run the school since then, including two terms by Redman.

Bridging the Research-Practice Gap: Diversity Climate Predicts Performance

Bridging the Research-Practice Gap: Diversity Climate Predicts Performance: In 1994, Taylor Cox introduced the interactional model of cultural diversity (IMCD), which predicted that diversity climate affects employees’ attitudes and performance and thereby influences firm performance.

Although this model has received considerable attention and has affected practice, research on the model has been lacking. Patrick McKay and his colleagues, Derek Avery and Mark Morris, have published a study on the link between diversity climate and store performance in a 2009 Personnel Psychology article.

McKay and his colleagues rely on previous work when defining diversity climate as “employees’ shared perceptions of the degree to which a firm is thought to utilize fair employee policies and socially integrate underrepresented employees into the work setting.” The logic of the IMCD is that employees, who feel valued, because of the existence of a positive diversity climate, will have a favorable opinion of their employer and will be motivated to perform well.

Study: Minority, Low-Income Students Lack Adequate Access to Educational Opportunities

Study: Minority, Low-Income Students Lack Adequate Access to Educational Opportunities: Low-income, African-American and Hispanic students continue to face significant disparities in access to quality educational opportunities and resources at the K-12 level – including access to services critical for college success, new data from the U.S. Department of Education show.

The study sample of 7,000 school districts and more than 72,000 schools in the Civil Rights Data Collection says many students have uneven or poor access to rigorous courses at many schools.

“Despite the best efforts of America’s educators to bring greater equity to our schools, too many children — especially low-income and minority children — are still denied the educational opportunities they need to succeed,” Russlynn Ali, U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights, says in a news statement.

Microsoft’s DigiGirlz Camps Combat Stereotypes About the Role of Women in Technology

Microsoft’s DigiGirlz Camps Combat Stereotypes About the Role of Women in Technology: Last month, a group of high school girls gathered in Charlotte, N.C., to attend 'DigiGirlz,' a Microsoft program designed to make once male-dominated STEM fields seem less daunting. Microsoft’s DigiGirlz camps, scattered in various locations across the country, aim to combat entrenched stereotypes about the role of women in technology.

The camp kicked off on July 18 with a pep talk from local politicians, Senator Kay Hagan, D-N.C., among them. Participating students, girls in grades 6 through 11, learned about the benefits of careers in technology and about local educational programs in Charlotte.

Later in the day, the girls took an Internet safety course, where they learned how to pre-emptively ward off unwanted intruders on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

On jobs and safety net, lawmakers must focus on hard-hit minorities - CNN.com

On jobs and safety net, lawmakers must focus on hard-hit minorities - CNN.com: Last month, the Center for American Progress highlighted the stark and disproportionate impact of the ongoing jobs crisis on people of color, with unemployment among blacks reaching more than 16%, compared with more than 11% for Latinos and more than 8% for whites.

Simultaneously, poverty rates in communities of color remain at an all-time high, especially among children. More than one third of today's African-American and Latino youth under the age of 18 are growing up in poverty.

When combined with the projected loss of more than a quarter of $1 trillion in black and Latino wealth between 2009 and 2012 due to the foreclosure crisis, what we're left with is an entire generation of Americans living without the security of a decent living wage, quality education, affordable health care or home ownership.

Mixed Ruling in California-Davis Title IX Case - NYTimes.com

Mixed Ruling in California-Davis Title IX Case - NYTimes.com: A federal judge ruled that the University of California, Davis, which was sued by a group of female wrestlers charging sex discrimination, failed to offer enough athletic opportunities to women.

But the decision, issued Wednesday by Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. of United States District Court in Sacramento, also found that the female wrestlers failed to prove that university officials, who were listed as defendants, deliberately discriminated against them.

Damrell will decide at a later date on the amount of damages the plaintiffs could receive. He noted, however, that his ruling “would seem to place severe limitations on the damages these plaintiffs may recover.”

The mixed decision involving the federal law known as Title IX, which requires schools and universities to provide equal athletic opportunity to men and women, led both sides to declare victory.

Black and Latino Men in New York Question Bloomberg Program - NYTimes.com

Black and Latino Men in New York Question Bloomberg Program - NYTimes.com: The problems that face young black and Latino men in New York City are deep-seated and diverse, officials who work in minority neighborhoods say. They vary not only from neighborhood to neighborhood, but also from family to family and man to man.

So when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Thursday a $130 million plan to help young black and Latino men find jobs, raise families and stay out of trouble, those men — and the mentors who would help them — were tentatively happy, but raised some questions.

“I’m glad to see somebody’s actually mentioning the words ‘young men’ and ‘color’ in the same sentence as ‘funding,’ ” said Danny R. Peralta, director for arts and education at The Point Community Development Corporation in the Bronx.

Minority seniors hit harder by economic issues - USATODAY.com

Minority seniors hit harder by economic issues - USATODAY.com: Older Americans of color are being financially squeezed as their earnings and savings drop and costs continue to rise, according to a report released today.

In California, where more than 60% of the senior population is expected to be non-white by 2050, older minorities particularly face more financial risk than whites, according to the report by The Greenlining Institute in Berkeley, Calif., a research and advocacy center.

"The recent recession has made the racial wealth gap worse," says Orson Aguilar, Greenlining Institute executive director.

Among the state's single adults age 65 and older, 76% of Latinos and 69% of African Americans are unable to meet basic needs, compared with 44% of whites, says UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Tuskegee Airmen’s ranks may be smaller, but these veterans are still flying high - The Washington Post

Tuskegee Airmen’s ranks may be smaller, but these veterans are still flying high - The Washington Post: They came from as far away as Hawaii, silver-haired heroes converging on their nation’s capital to celebrate their place in history.

But the fact that there were so many fewer of them this year was painfully obvious to the heroes.

They once numbered 15,000 — 992 pilots, 200 navigators, bombardiers and administrators, as well as legions of crew members and support and medical personnel who came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Seventy years later, their ranks have fallen precipitously. Only a few more than 100 of the “originals” from the Tuskegee days were among those who came to Washington this week for the 40th annual convention of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. at National Harbor’s Gaylord hotel.

“We are losing so many that it is hard to keep track,” said Col. Charles H. McGee, 91, of Bethesda, who is perhaps the most famous of them and has logged more combat hours (1,151) than any U.S. pilot.

Where are the people of color in national parks? - Travel - News - msnbc.com

Where are the people of color in national parks? - Travel - News - msnbc.com: The National Park system is often called “America’s Best Idea,” but according to a new report, it remains more like terra incognita for many people of color.

Released Wednesday, “The National Park System Comprehensive Survey of the American Public,” conducted by the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center at the University of Wyoming, is a follow-up to a much-cited report on race/ethnicity among park visitors conducted in 2000.

Taken together, the two surveys show that while the American public has grown increasingly diverse in the last decade, black and Hispanic-Americans remain underrepresented in visits to the 394 National Park Service (NPS) properties.

“Despite efforts by the National Park Service and its partners to engage underserved populations,” wrote the researchers, “visitation differences by race/ethnic group seem not to have changed much over the past decade.”

Schools dispute pits 'haves' against 'have-nots' - US news - Education - msnbc.com

Schools dispute pits 'haves' against 'have-nots' - US news - Education - msnbc.com: School districts around the nation are being buffeted by turmoil and uncertainty, but nowhere are those forces more powerful than in this Mississippi River city.

At the heart of it, the turbulence is about dollars and cents and the quality of education. Fearing possible threats to its funding, the failing inner-city Memphis City Schools, with 209 schools and 108,000 students, decided to force a merger with its smaller, more affluent neighbor — Shelby County Schools.

To accomplish that, the district's board surrendered its charter in November. That unprecedented move, essentially undoing the creation of the Memphis district in 1869, was subsequently approved by the City Council and by the city’s voters in a referendum in March.

GenJuice CEO On What Makes Women Better Entrepreneurs Than Men

GenJuice CEO On What Makes Women Better Entrepreneurs Than Men: GenJuice CEO Arielle Patrice Scott decided at an early age that she wanted to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.

Like Facebook CEO Zuckerberg, Scott co-founded her first company, InternshipIn, while in college. Unlike Zuckerberg's startup, however, Scott's venture didn't grow into a multibillion-dollar behemoth -- by her own admission, it failed -- and unlike the famous Harvard dropout, Scott graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, last year.

The other key difference: while Zuckerberg, like so many Web startup CEOs, is a white man, Scott is an African-American woman, part of a still-underrepresented group in the tech industry. Last year, 21 percent of startups seeking angel investments were women-owned ventures, while minority-owned businesses made up just 6 percent of entrepreneurs seeking funding, according to the Center for Venture Research.

Yet Scott has not found her race or gender to be obstacles in her career as a tech entrepreneur. She sees women in tech as having certain characteristics that give them an advantage, and instead describes her lack of formal engineering training as her greatest handicap.