Increase Of Ku Klux Klan Membership In Colorado Tracks National Rise Of Hate Crimes

Increase Of Ku Klux Klan Membership In Colorado Tracks National Rise Of Hate Crimes: The KKK says their membership is “booming” in Colorado, with 12 white supremacist groups active in the state, according to a report by The Durango Herald.

Herald staff writer Chase Olivarius-McAllister reported earlier this week that Cole Thornton, Imperial Grand Wizard of Colorado’s United Northern and Southern Knights Ku Klux Klan group, claims that membership has grown steadily in the past few years.

“I’m really pleased with the kind of people we’re getting in – college-educated, professionals, teachers – even a couple congressmen. People would be amazed to know who I’ve talked with at midnight in isolated areas – it’s almost comical,” Thornton said to the Durango Herald.

Alum Tells Smith College to Quit Admitting Poors

Alum Tells Smith College to Quit Admitting Poors: In recent years, Smith College has been making efforts to improve its diversity. But one alum isn't happy about this. She would like less diversity, please — and she's written a letter warning Smith about the dire consequences of admitting fewer rich white ladies.

Anne Spurzem, class of '84, wrote to the Smith College Sophian on Wednesday. Let's just read the whole letter, shall we?

Collaboration among Colleges, Universities Urged as a Minority STEM Strategy

Collaboration among Colleges, Universities Urged as a Minority STEM Strategy: While the higher education landscape for diversity initiatives fraught with legal pitfalls, institutional leaders can still develop exemplary programs that increase minority participation in STEM fields without running afoul of the law.

That is the crux of a new report released this week by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, and EducationCounsel LLC titled “The Smart Grid for Institutions of Higher Education and the Students They Serve: Developing and Using Collaborative Agreements to Bring More Students into STEM.”

As its name suggests, the report draws an analogy between efforts to enhance the nation’s electric power grid and what is envisaged in the report as “the Smart Grid for institutions of higher education.”

Public University Association, NASA Host Minority Male STEM Symposium

Public University Association, NASA Host Minority Male STEM Symposium: When it comes to increasing the number of minority men who pursue a career in the STEM fields, success largely hinges on a matter of money.

That was one of the key points made Tuesday morning at NASA headquarters during an event billed as the “Symposium on Supporting Underrepresented Minority Males in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).”

Getting individuals to enter STEM fields and careers is not as much an issue as paying them enough money to want to stay in STEM occupations, said panelist Dr. Nicole Smith, senior economist at the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University.

“The key reason is pay. Let’s be frank about that,” Smith said during a panel discussion at the symposium titled “Implications from the Minority Male STEM Initiative.”

Filipinos Debate Racism in a Men's Magazine - NYTimes.com

Filipinos Debate Racism in a Men's Magazine - NYTimes.com: Some merely saw an alluring photo of a light-skinned Filipina actress in a swimsuit, Bela Padilla, emerging from a group of dark-skinned models, with the caption, “Stepping Out of the Shadows.” Sexy, they said. Artistic.

Others found the photo to be racist and repugnant.The outcry and outrage were enough that Summit Media, the local publisher of FHM magazine, apologized and pulled the magazine. The company said in a statement that it would release the March issue with a new cover, one that would again feature Ms. Padilla.Summit publishes more than 20 magazines in the Philippines, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Disney Junior and Town & Country. Summit says FHM is the largest men’s magazine in the country, with more than 1 million readers a month.

“DISGUSTING representation of colorism and racism in the Philippines!’’ said Michelle Renee See on Twitter.

'Space Chronicles': Why Exploring Space Still Matters : NPR

'Space Chronicles': Why Exploring Space Still Matters : NPR: After decades of global dominance, America's space shuttle program ended last summer while countries like Russia, China and India continue to advance their programs. But astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of the new book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, says America's space program is at a critical moment. He thinks it's time for America to invest heavily in space exploration and research.

"Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can rival," Tyson tells NPR's David Greene. "Not only does that get people interested in sciences and all the related fields, [but] it transforms the culture into one that values science and technology, and that's the culture that innovates," Tyson says. "And in the 21st century, innovations in science and technology are the foundations of tomorrow's economy."

He sees this "force of nature" firsthand when he goes to student classrooms. "I could stand in front of eighth-graders and say, 'Who wants to be an aerospace engineer so you can design an airplane 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the one your parents flew?' " Tyson says. "That doesn't usually work. But if I say, 'Who wants to be an aerospace engineer to design the airplane that will navigate the rarefied atmosphere of Mars?' because that's where we're going next, I'm getting the best students in the class. I'm looking for life on Mars? I'm getting the best biologist. I want to study the rocks on Mars? I'm getting the best geologists."

Maryland moves to limit school suspensions - The Washington Post

Maryland moves to limit school suspensions - The Washington Post: ...A detailed written plan the board unveiled would redefine the vocabulary of suspension — what is short, what is long — and require Maryland’s 24 school systems to pay far closer attention to whom they suspend and why.

The state would require close tracking of racial disparities in each school system. In some cases, local officials would be required to create plans to reduce disparities in one year and eliminate them over three years.

“What we’re trying to do is to prompt people to think differently about discipline, with an eye toward achievement for all students,” board President James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. said in an interview.

In the 36-page document, the board said it aimed to keep students in school as much as possible and require educational support for those who do get removed. Now, about 23 percent of suspended students in Maryland get services to help them keep up while they are out of school.

Slave labor: U.S. Capitol honors slaves' contributions - latimes.com

Slave labor: U.S. Capitol honors slaves' contributions - latimes.com: Slaves helped build the U.S. Capitol, an irony that was recognized Tuesday with the dedication of a stone marker calling attention to their role in constructing the cherished monument to freedom.

A slave-quarried block of sandstone that once was part of the Capitol was dedicated in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall.

“For too long, the sacrifice of men and women who built this temple of democracy were overlooked; their toil forgotten; their story ignored or denied, and their voices silenced in the pages of history,’’ House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said at the ceremony. "Yet today, we join together to strive to right this wrong of our past, to honor the sacrifice of these laborers, to lay down a marker of gratitude and respect for those who built the walls of the Capitol.’’

Death row inmate tests North Carolina's Racial Justice Act - latimes.com

Death row inmate tests North Carolina's Racial Justice Act - latimes.com: For nearly three weeks, convicted murderer Marcus Reymond Robinson has listened quietly inside a county courtroom here to intricate testimony about statistics — dry statistics that could get him off death row.

Robinson, a black man convicted of killing a white teenager in 1991, is the first inmate to test North Carolina's Racial Justice Act, the nation's only law that allows death row prisoners to reduce their sentences to life without parole by proving racial bias in jury selection or sentencing.

The act, passed in 2009, has drawn bitter condemnation from prosecutors and Republican state legislators who call it a backdoor attempt to repeal the death penalty. It allows inmates to cite statistical patterns in statewide jury selection — rather than focusing solely on their own cases — to argue that their jury selection or sentencing was racially biased.

Autism not diagnosed as early in minority children - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON – Early diagnosis is considered key for autism, but minority children tend to be diagnosed later than white children. Some new work is beginning to try to uncover why — and to raise awareness of the warning signs so more parents know they can seek help even for a toddler.

"The biggest thing I want parents to know is we can do something about it to help your child," says Dr. Rebecca Landa, autism director at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, who is exploring the barriers that different populations face in getting that help.

Her preliminary research suggests even when diagnosed in toddlerhood, minority youngsters have more severe developmental delays than their white counterparts. She says cultural differences in how parents view developmental milestones, and how they interact with doctors, may play a role.

Consider: Tots tend to point before they talk, but pointing is rude in some cultures and may not be missed by a new parent, Landa says. Or maybe mom's worried that her son isn't talking yet but the family matriarch, her grandmother, says don't worry — Cousin Harry spoke late, too, and he's fine. Or maybe the pediatrician dismissed the parents' concern, and they were taught not to question doctors.

Commentary: Why Diversity Still Matters

Commentary: Why Diversity Still Matters: Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case, Fisher v. The University of Texas, which may challenge the future of race-conscious admissions at our country’s colleges and universities. If the Court bars the use of race in admissions decisions, it threatens years of hard work by civil rights activists in the higher education field who fought to make college campuses more integrated, diverse and just.

The case being considered by the Court was filed by a young White woman named Abigail Fisher of Texas. Fisher failed to rank in the top 10 percent of her graduating high school class, which would have automatically earned her admission into the state’s public university system. As a result, she was placed in a separate pool of applicants who could be admitted through a complicated admissions process that allows race to be considered as a factor in admissions. When Fisher failed to be admitted to the University of Texas at Austin, the state’s flagship university, she concluded that she was rejected based on her race and sued the university in 2008.

Study: Pell Grant Makes Difference for Students of Color

Study: Pell Grant Makes Difference for Students of Color: African American and Hispanic students who receive a federal Pell Grant are more likely to finish college and pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors, says a new report that argues for a renewed commitment to the grant program.

Pell’s effect is dramatic on the college success of low- and middle-income students, said Dr. Lamont Flowers, executive director of the Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education at Clemson University. Examining longitudinal data beginning in 2004, he found that 35 percent of low-income African-American students with a Pell Grant earned a degree compared with 23 percent of low-income African-Americans without such a grant.

Colonialism in Africa helped launch the HIV epidemic a century ago - The Washington Post

Colonialism in Africa helped launch the HIV epidemic a century ago - The Washington Post: We are unlikely to ever know all the details of the birth of the AIDS epidemic. But a series of recent genetic discoveries have shed new light on it, starting with the moment when a connection from chimp to human changed the course of history.

We now know where the epidemic began: a small patch of dense forest in southeastern Cameroon. We know when: within a couple of decades on either side of 1900. We have a good idea of how: A hunter caught an infected chimpanzee for food, allowing the virus to pass from the chimp’s blood into the hunter’s body, probably through a cut during butchering.

Commentary: The Fallacy of Race Neutrality in Affirmative Action’s Dialectic

Commentary: The Fallacy of Race Neutrality in Affirmative Action’s Dialectic: Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the affirmative action policy at the University of Texas. In assessing students not in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, who are guaranteed admission, UT uses a “holistic” application review process with many factors, one of which is race “to achieve the educational needs of a diverse student body,” said UT President Bill Powers.

Most of the opponents of UT’s affirmative action policy, in hailing the court’s decision to hear the case, have declared they oppose affirmative action due to their support for racial equality.

"The only way to usher in true racial equality in America is to end race-based discrimination,” asserted Stephen Balch, chairman of the National Association of Scholars (NAS), an organization that signed a friend-of-the-court brief for the case. “There are many race-neutral ways of promoting equal opportunity on our college campuses, and we urged the court to choose these instead.”

Pain of 'Trail of Tears' shared by Blacks as well as Native Americans – In America - CNN.com Blogs

Pain of 'Trail of Tears' shared by Blacks as well as Native Americans – In America - CNN.com Blogs: African American history, as it is often told, includes two monumental migration stories: the forced exodus of Africans to the Americas during the brutal Middle Passage of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the voluntary migration of Black residents who moved from southern farms and towns to northern cities in the early 1900s in search of “the warmth of other suns.” A third African-American migration story–just as epic, just as grave–hovers outside the familiar frame of our historical consciousness. The iconic tragedy of Indian Removal: the Cherokee Trail of Tears that relocated thousands of Cherokees to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was also a Black migration. Slaves of Cherokees walked this trail along with their Indian owners.

The Black And Missing Foundation Aims To Find People Of Color Who've Disappeared

The Black And Missing Foundation Aims To Find People Of Color Who've Disappeared: ...What began as a conversation between Wilson, a former police officer with a decade of work in law enforcement, and Natalie Wilson, her sister-in-law and a public relations professional, about the disparity in coverage between the Huston case and the Hollaway investigation eventually evolved into formation of the Black and Missing Foundation.

According to FBI statistics, 678,860 people in the United States were reported missing last year. Among those, about 40 percent, or 270,680 individuals, were people of color. But with scant media attention yet plenty of stereotypes and other presumptions, this sector of the missing population has largely gone under the radar, Derrica Wilson said.

“A lot of people in our community are unaware that this is a big issue because when we turn on the television, we don’t see ourselves or people that look like us,” she added. Often local law enforcement staff assume that missing young black people are runaways, she said.

Lending Discrimination: Black Borrowers Face Higher Hurdles, Study Shows

Lending Discrimination: Black Borrowers Face Higher Hurdles, Study Shows: Qualifying for a loan in today's tight credit market is hard. But add race to the mix, and a borrower's odds can go from bad to worse, a new report suggests.

In a study of loans created on Prosper.com, a peer-to-peer lending website where applicants are encouraged to include a personal photo, researchers found that black borrowers are 25 to 35 percent less likely to receive funding than a white borrower with similar credit.

The report, entitled "What's in a Picture? Evidence of Discrimination From Prosper.com," studied 110,000 loan applications from the popular lending website created between June 2006 and May 2007.

"By far the biggest factor was race," said Devin Pope, co-author and assistant professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Of the 110,000 loans studied, about 5,000 were home finance or repair related.

Academy Awards: Study Shows Lack Of Diversity Continues In The Film Industry

Academy Awards: Study Shows Lack Of Diversity Continues In The Film Industry: It's no secret that demonstrating diversity isn't exactly Hollywood's strong point--and that fact becomes more painfully obvious on Oscar night. Although the industry has made major strides, a new University of Southern California study reveals there's still a long way to go.

According to the report, which analyzed the Academy Award's Best Picture nominees from 1977-2010, a vast majority of actors and directors are white and male. The study found that less than one percent of all directors across the 180 films in the sample were African American, and of over 1,400 speaking characters, only 11.6 percent were black, 1.9 percent were Hispanic and 7 percent were Asian. Women made up only 36 percent of those roles.

Through Video, Lakota Students Reject Stereotypes : NPR

Through Video, Lakota Students Reject Stereotypes : NPR: Tired of being negatively portrayed by mainstream media, a group of Native American students created a video describing how their community was about more than alcoholism, broken homes and crime.

The students from South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux Reservation are in Washington, D.C., Monday to lobby Congress for increased funding for schools on Native American reservations.

Filmed in black and white, the student-produced video More Than That takes the viewer through the hallways, classrooms and gymnasium of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation's county high school.

Pullman District hopes to be Illinois' second national park site – USATODAY.com

Pullman District hopes to be Illinois' second national park site – USATODAY.com: CHICAGO – A neighborhood that played key roles in the development of the African-American labor movement, the railroad industry and urban planning is the focus of efforts to create Illinois' second national park site.

Legislation pending in Congress would start the process of placing the Pullman District under National Park Service (NPS) control, ensuring that its historic structures and museums remain intact and attracting more visitors and economic development, advocates of the plan say. The Abraham Lincoln National Historic Site in Springfield is the state's only NPS destination.

"Pullman is historically and architecturally significant," says Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., sponsor of a bill that would authorize an NPS study. Making it part of the national park system "would go a long way toward putting us on the map … and create jobs" where they are badly needed, he says.

White Supremacist ‘Serial Bomber’ Convicted, Twin Acquitted In Arizona Trial | TPMMuckraker

White Supremacist ‘Serial Bomber’ Convicted, Twin Acquitted In Arizona Trial | TPMMuckraker: A white supremacist who once claimed to be a serial bomber was convicted Friday in federal court in Phoenix for a 2004 Arizona bombing while his twin brother was acquitted in the same trial.

Dennis Mahon was convicted of three felonies related to the mail bombing of a city diversity office that injured its director and two other employees.

His twin brother, Daniel Mahon, was acquitted of a felony count of conspiring in the bombing plot. The judge ordered him to be set free.

The mixed verdict is a blow for federal authorities, who spent years investigating the two men. Agents with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finally had enough cause to arrest the brothers in 2009 but the investigation continued even after that, totaling eight years in all.

Black at Stuyvesant High — One Girl’s Experience - NYTimes.com

Black at Stuyvesant High — One Girl’s Experience - NYTimes.com: LIKE a city unto itself, Stuyvesant High School, in Lower Manhattan, is broken into neighborhoods, official and otherwise. The math department is on the 4th of its 10 floors; biology is on the 7th. Seniors congregate by the curved mint wall off the second-floor atrium, next to lockers that are such prime real estate that students trade them for $100 or more. Sophomores are relegated to the sixth floor.
 

In Stuyvesant slang, the hangouts are known as “bars.” Some years ago, the black students took over the radiators outside the fifth-floor cafeteria, and the place soon came to be known as the “chocolate bar,” lending it an air of legitimacy in the school’s labyrinth of cliques and turfs. 

It did not last long. This year, Asian freshmen displaced the black students in a strength-in-numbers coup in which whispers of indignation were the sole expression of resistance. There was no point arguing, said Rudi-Ann Miller, a 17-year-old senior who came to New York from Jamaica and likes to style her hair in a bun, slick and straight, like the ballerina she once dreamed of becoming.

Anne Arundel County Council: Ladd criticized for racial slur, questioned on council diversity - baltimoresun.com

Anne Arundel County Council: Ladd criticized for racial slur, questioned on council diversity - baltimoresun.com: An Anne Arundel county councilman was peppered with questions Saturday about diversity on the all-white, all-male council — and criticized for his public use of a racial slur — before storming out of a community forum in Odenton.

Richard B. "Dick" Ladd, a Broadneck Republican, was the only councilman to attend the discussion on local government, sponsored by a historically black sorority. His appearance came as the council is deadlocked between two candidates — one white and one black — to replace a member who is serving a prison term.

Baltimore County students honor teachers from segregation era - baltimoresun.com

Baltimore County students honor teachers from segregation era - baltimoresun.com: After he graduated from the old Sollers Point Junior-Senior High School in 1953, Ed "Eddie" Bartee went to work for Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Sparrows Point, where he became a representative for the steelworkers' union and was responsible for a $2 million budget.

"That was a lot of money for a poor boy with a high school education," Bartee recalled Saturday. "I owe it all to my teachers. ... There's no question that the training I got carried me a long way. I'm thankful. I'm blessed."

Bartee was one of more than 200 who gathered Saturday in the Turners Station community of Dundalk to pay tribute to retired African-American educators who taught in four Baltimore County schools before they were desegregated in the 1960s.

John Kelly, Oak Lawn Baseball Coach, Suspended Over Whitney Houston N-Word Facebook Comment

John Kelly, Oak Lawn Baseball Coach, Suspended Over Whitney Houston N-Word Facebook Comment: A suburban Chicago man has been suspended for one year from his post as president of a local youth baseball club after he posted on Facebook that he was "so sick of reading about this dumb stupid N***** Whitney Houston."

John Kelly, of Oak Lawn, Ill., was suspended from his leadership role with Westside Baseball of Oak Lawn on Monday during a board meeting. He has also been asked to complete a sensitivity training course and has been banned from coaching for the next year, though he will continue to serve on the group's board.

As Patch reported, the issue came to light after the mother of a former league player, who is black, saw the Facebook post, which has since been deleted, and alerted other community parents and children to it by reposting it on the group's Facebook page.

Commentary: Florida’s Community Colleges Provide a History Lesson

Commentary: Florida’s Community Colleges Provide a History Lesson: There is still much about civil rights-era history that remains undiscovered, and even what we do know is unknown, for the most part, to students of all ages. On the 50th anniversary of many pivotal events in the struggle for civil rights in the United States, a scathing national report documented the appalling ignorance of this chapter in American history. “Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education in the United States 2011” was released in September by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Program.

Moreover, not only is the history of the civil rights movement not being adequately taught to students today, but primary sources documenting the events of that era are becoming buried in the sands of time. Rescuing the historical record before it is lost to future generations is a matter of the utmost urgency.

Cataloging the Pan-African Experience

Cataloging the Pan-African Experience: Of all the honors and accolades bibliophile and noted authority on the Underground Railroad Charles Blockson has received, being bequeathed recently with some of Harriet Tubman’s personal items by her great-niece is one of the most significant experiences of his life.

A longtime collector of books and rare items by and about African-Americans, Blockson has amassed the largest privately held collection, which he donated to Temple University in 1984. The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection is one of the nation’s leading research facilities for the study of the history and culture of people of African descent. The Blockson collection has grown to more than 200,000 items including books, photographs, drawings, manuscripts, prints, sheet music, posters and artifacts.

Maryland Historical Society: Help wanted in identifying subjects in exhibit of Paul Henderson's photographs - baltimoresun.com

Maryland Historical Society: Help wanted in identifying subjects in exhibit of Paul Henderson's photographs - baltimoresun.com: Images of nearly 6,000 Baltimoreans are the life's work of a photographer who documented racial segregation and early civil rights protests, and also captured candid moments of now-anonymous brides, classmates, football players and black residents of the city.

But while Paul S. Henderson left what Maryland Historical Society curator Jennifer Ferretti calls an "unparalleled visual record of civil rights in Baltimore," he didn't leave behind captions.

The names of his subjects aren't known, as Henderson didn't keep written files — or they didn't survive. Ferretti says it is time, a half-century later, to put names to the unidentified faces in the photographic negatives taken by Henderson, a black Baltimore commercial and news photographer active from about 1929 to 1960. And she's enlisting the public's help.

Infrastructure, Funding Key to Higher Education Diversity Plans, Experts Say

Infrastructure, Funding Key to Higher Education Diversity Plans, Experts Say: In his decade of service as top diversity officer at three very different universities — one public, two private — Dr. Keenan Grenell thinks that he has developed a good sense of what works when it comes to major diversity initiatives. He draws his list from stints at Auburn, Marquette and Colgate universities.

It’s a mixed bag depending on how one is defining diversity, says the veteran educator who now runs Grenell Group LLC, a Milwaukee-based consulting agency. Other colleagues agree, in some respects.

“There’s much more of a push among chief executives (college presidents) for this whole concept of global diversity, and it’s putting a strain on traditional diversity groups — African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans,” says Grenell, who most recently served as dean of diversity at Colgate University. “There’s still significant work that needs to be done (with respect to racial minorities) in terms of access, ownership (of the job of ensuring diversity), resources and acquisition (of talent),” says Grenell. He sees traditional diversity efforts being diluted as the range of concerns under the umbrella of diversity continues to expand.

University of Maryland Turns to Diversity Trailblazer

University of Maryland Turns to Diversity Trailblazer: When Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden took on her newly created job this month at the University of Maryland’s flagship College Park campus, she assumed a challenge at the school with a lot riding on her shoulders — helping the University of Maryland strengthen its diversity efforts and, thus, its relevance to the state in the future and standing among the nation’s major research and teaching institutions.

As associate vice president and chief diversity officer at the College Park, Md., institution just outside the nation’s capital, with 37,000 students and 10,000 employees, Shorter-Gooden will be Maryland President Wallace Loh’s top aide in charge of giving day-to-day meaning to the school’s ambitious 10-year strategic plan for diversity.

Officials Lead National African-American History and Culture Museum Groundbreaking

Officials Lead National African-American History and Culture Museum Groundbreaking: In a project hailed as a milestone in the nation’s history, President Obama joined celebrities, political luminaries and scholars Wednesday for the symbolic groundbreaking of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“This is a milestone moment not only for the Smithsonian but for the United States,” said actress Phylicia Rashad, who served as mistress of ceremonies.

"Today, we take the first step in creating an iconic building that will house something truly wonderful,” Rashad said. “A museum with the power to change hearts and minds and ultimately the nation.”

President Obama — who along with first lady Michelle Obama stayed on stage inside a tent at the site for almost the entire duration of the nearly two-hour event — said it was fitting that the museum found a home on the National Mall, a place that has witnessed events that range from the slave trade to the 1963 historic March on Washington.

New cable networks go after Hispanic audience – USATODAY.com

New cable networks go after Hispanic audience – USATODAY.com: The Hispanic population explosion is spawning the creation of a number of new cable networks aimed at Latinos.

First up, Univision, the dominant Spanish-language broadcast network, on Wednesday will add Univision tlNovelas, the first channel to feature wall-to-wall daily telenovelas, essentially soap operas that run for four to six months. Then:

•Sports network Univision Deportes will premiere in April, featuring plenty of soccer action and its own version of SportsCenter, to rival the existing ESPN Deportes. (Both will air initially on Dish Network.)

•Univision also plans a news network for later this year and is in talks with ABC about a separate joint-venture channel aimed at English-speaking Hispanics.

•News Corp. has announced plans for Spanish-language Mundo Fox this fall.

•And Comcast announced plans Tuesday to carry four minority-backed cable networks, including El Rey, an entertainment channel also aimed at English-speaking Latinos, headed by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) and due by early 2014.

They will join existing bilingual networks such as Comcast's mun2, an offshoot of Telemundo, and MTV's tr3s.

Charter School Segregation Target Of New Report

Charter School Segregation Target Of New Report: Charter schools often promise to bring greater equity to education, but a new brief starts with the assumption that they fall short in delivery -- and provides recommendations to fix the alleged injustice.

"Charter schools tend to be more racially segregated than traditional public schools," said author and Penn State law professor Preston Green III, who sat on a board that considered charter-school applications in Pennsylvania. "What we tried to do is write ways to enable charter schools to promote desegregation rather exacerbate segregation."

The brief, "Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Educational Opportunity," from the University of Colorado's National Education Policy Center features recommendations from both Green and University of Wisconsin, Madison education professor Julie Mead on how states and school districts can ensure that charters are integrated and helpful to disadvantaged populations.

Gainesville High School Students' Racist YouTube Rant Forces Girls To Leave School, Apologize (VIDEO)

Gainesville High School Students' Racist YouTube Rant Forces Girls To Leave School, Apologize (VIDEO): After two minors from Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Fla., posted a nearly 14-minute-long racist rant on YouTube, the girls are "no longer students at the school," WCJB-TV reports.

Last week, eight police officers were brought to the campus in light of death threats the girls were receiving in response to their videos. The videos included comments like, "You can understand what we are saying, our accents, we use actual words. Black people do not."

Gainesville High School principal David Shelnutt did not go into detail on the extent of the disciplinary action taken against the girls, but did tell WCJB that their comments were not welcome at the school.

"There's no place for comments like that, that video here at GHS," Shelnutt told the station. "There's no place for that in the Alachua County Public School System, and my opinion, no place for that in society in general."

Bitter Mardi Gras debate of race, class evolves 20 years later into a diverse celebration | NOLA.com

Bitter Mardi Gras debate of race, class evolves 20 years later into a diverse celebration | NOLA.com: Twenty years after much of New Orleans convulsed in bitter public debate over whether its beloved Mardi Gras was racist, elitist and exclusionary, new realities illuminate this year’s parading season: Today, hungry krewes unconcerned about race solicit membership on the Internet, offering downloadable applications and helpful credit-card authorizations.

Grass-roots walking organizations ranging from the 610 Stompers to ‘tit Rex and the Redbeans krewe have sprung up since Hurricane Katrina, allowing residents of all income levels to be full participants in Carnival without the costs associated with belonging to a major krewe.

And on Saturday, George Lafargue Jr., the son of an African-American produce vendor, will reign over Endymion, one of the most spectacular parades on the Carnival calendar.

At one level, it might seem the memorable 1992 debate over racial discrimination in Carnival sparked a revolution in New Orleans’ signature cultural treasure.

But krewe captains and historians say the moves toward openness that have overtaken Carnival in the last two decades have been largely organic.

The news that the Supreme Court is revisiting the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions, just nine years after upholding it in a University of Michigan case, has admissions officials worried about maintaining diversity and confounded that the question is being reconsidered so soon.


“Nine years, when you’re talking about a decision of this magnitude, it really took me aback,” said Tom Parker, the dean of admissions at Amherst College. “What happens with the next president, the next Supreme Court appointee? Do we revisit it again, so that higher education is zigging and zagging? If the court says that any consideration of race whatsoever is prohibited, then we’re in a real pickle. Bright kids have no interest in homogeneity. They find it creepy.”

Monitoring of Muslim Students Sparks Outrage

Monitoring of Muslim Students Sparks Outrage: Yale University and student groups are condemning the monitoring of Muslim college students across the Northeast by the New York Police Department, while Rutgers University and leaders of Muslim groups are calling for investigations.

The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the Ivy League colleges of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

Police talked with local authorities about professors 300 miles away in Buffalo and sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip in upstate New York, where he recorded students' names and noted in police intelligence files how many times they prayed.

Civil Rights Veterans Teach the Movement

Civil Rights Veterans Teach the Movement: Every January, Charles Cobb Jr. makes the 1,100-mile trek from sunny Jacksonville, Fla., to chilly Providence, R.I. For the past eight years, Cobb — a veteran of the civil rights movement who in the 1960s served as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in Mississippi — becomes a visiting professor of Africana studies at Brown University.

There, he teaches a popular course that he designed called “The Organizing Tradition of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.” Students enrolled in the course read a half-dozen books focused on SNCC, and Cobb brings in his life experience and many of his friends — all of whom are prominently referenced in the books that his students read — to provide details of the movement.

Baltimore County minority hiring: U.S. DOJ probes Balto. Co. minority hiring for police, fire - baltimoresun.com

Baltimore County minority hiring: U.S. DOJ probes Balto. Co. minority hiring for police, fire - baltimoresun.com: The U.S. Justice Departmenthas opened an investigation of possible racial discrimination in hiring at the Baltimore County police and fire departments, according to correspondence between the agency and the county.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division recently sent a two-page letter asking the county for "more information regarding the hiring of African Americans." Specifically, the agency asked about entry-level hiring at the two departments to help it "fully evaluate whether or not the County is in violation."

The letter, headed "Investigation into the Employment Practices of Baltimore County, MD," mentions a section of the Civil Rights Act barring discrimination based on race, gender, religion or ethnicity.

Harriet Tubman Statue Project - Maryland NOW

Harriet Tubman Statue Project - Maryland NOW: The Maryland NOW Statue Project is committed to putting Harriet Tubman in the U.S. Capitol. Hers would be the first full statue of an African-American woman in the Capitol,* and one of very few images of women. This commemoration of Harriet Tubman would also aid in representing contributions by Maryland's women and minorities to our nation's development. Maryland NOW is coordinating the grassroots support to complete this project with enabling legislation in the Maryland General Assembly's 2012 Legislative Session.

Group: Racist imagery used to push for Minnesota voter ID law | The Raw Story

Group: Racist imagery used to push for Minnesota voter ID law | The Raw Story: The liberal group TakeAction Minnesota on Monday morning held a press conference to condemn what they said was racist imagery being used to promote a proposed voter ID law.

The Republican-controlled Minnesota legislature is pushing for a constitutional amendment that would require voters to show a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at a polling place.

An online banner on WeWantVoterID.com, a site created by the conservative group Minnesota Majority, shows an African-American male dressed in a black-and-white-striped prison suit and a person dressed in a blue mariachi costume standing alongside fictional characters. All of the characters are lined up waiting to vote and the online banner’s reads” “Voter Fraud: Watch How Easy It Is To Cheat In Minnesota’s Elections.”

Justices to Hear Case on Affirmative Action in Higher Education - NYTimes.com

Justices to Hear Case on Affirmative Action in Higher Education - NYTimes.com: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a major case on affirmative action in higher education, adding another potential blockbuster to a docket already studded with them.

The court’s decision in the new case holds the potential to undo an accommodation reached in the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger: that public colleges and universities could not use a point system to boost minority enrollment but could take race into account in vaguer way to ensure academic diversity.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who wrote the majority opinion in Grutter, said the accommodation was meant to last 25 years.

The court’s membership has changed since 2003, most notably for these purposes with the appointment of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who replaced Justice O’Connor in 2006. Justice Alito has voted with the court’s more conservative justices in decisions hostile to the use of racial classifications by the government.

Community organizer Tina Hone aims to amplify the voices of underserved kids in Fairfax County - The Washington Post

Community organizer Tina Hone aims to amplify the voices of underserved kids in Fairfax County - The Washington Post: Tina Hone built a reputation during her tenure on the Fairfax County School Board as an ally of parents battling the superintendent over issues ranging from discipline code reform to later high school start times.

Those whose causes Hone championed, however, were not the people she had envisioned representing — low-income and minority parents whose voices are often missing from public debate over school policy. Instead, they were savvy advocates who knew how to tussle for the concessions they wanted.

NASA-MUST Program Aims To Propel Students Into STEM Disciplines

NASA-MUST Program Aims To Propel Students Into STEM Disciplines: ...The venture involves the Hispanic College Fund, the United Negro College Fund Special Programs and the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, according to the NASA website. Although the Hispanic College Fund administers the NASA-MUST program, NASA funds the $2.15 million program.

The program ultimately led Lopez to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where he used a robot to survey and create digital maps of a simulated version of the Martian landscape.

Lopez said the experience he has gained through NASA-MUST has had a major impact on his life. His family members, particularly his parents who are immigrants from Mexico, were most impressed. His father is a disabled maintenance worker, and his mother is a teacher’s assistant.

Mills College President Alecia DeCoudreaux Committed to Women’s Education

Mills College President Alecia DeCoudreaux Committed to Women’s Education: As the first Black woman president of Mills College, Alecia DeCoudreaux leads an undergraduate program dedicated solely to women, one of fewer than 60 such U.S. institutions left in this country. Mills’ more than 1,500 students include 42 percent ethnic minorities among undergraduates and 39 percent among graduate students, which include men.

A graduate of Wellesley College and Indiana University’s law school, DeCoudreaux is also a Wellesley trustee and former board chairwoman. Prior to joining Mills, she had spent 30 years at Eli Lilly and Co. in various executive leadership positions including vice president and general counsel.

University of Pennsylvania Names W.E.B. DuBois Honorary Emeritus Professor

University of Pennsylvania Names W.E.B. DuBois Honorary Emeritus Professor: After emerging from Philadelphia’s Black 7th Ward at the turn of the century with groundbreaking sociological research disproving the prevailing thought of the day that Blacks were inherently inferior to Whites, and even after writing two major books, including the Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, W.E.B. DuBois still couldn’t get a job teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s.

That changed Friday when the university’s board of trustees unanimously voted to posthumously appoint DuBois Honorary Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies. Arthur McFarlane, great-grandson of DuBois, received the resolution that granted his great-grandfather a professorship.

Native American Languages Siletz Dee-Ni, Ashininaabemowin Facing 'Extinction'

Native American Languages Siletz Dee-Ni, Ashininaabemowin Facing 'Extinction': Many of the world's minority languages, some spoken by only a handful of speakers, are on the brink of extinction, and community activists and scientists are teaming to try to keep them alive.

One example is the Native American language Siletz Dee-ni, which was once spoken widely by native people in Oregon, but which now may be spoken fluently by only one man: Alfred "Bud" Lane.

"We're a small tribe on the central Oregon coast," Lane said via telephone here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "Like most small groups of people, our pool of speakers has been reduced over a period of time, until the 1980s when very few speakers were left. Linguists labeled it 'moribund.'" [Q&A: Dead Languages Reveal a Lost World]

But Lane and his community decided to fight back.

Pope to create first Native American saint | The Raw Story

Pope to create first Native American saint | The Raw Story: Pope Benedixt XVI announced on Saturday that he will create seven new saints including the first Native American, a 17th-century Mohawk girl named Kateri Tekakwitha, on October 21.

Kateri will be the first native American saint from the United States, according to the Vatican, which has attributed a miracle to her, a requirement for sainthood.

Known as Catherine Tekakwitha, she is revered by Catholics for her deep devotion and courage in the face of suffering.

Chicago Program to Bridge Gap With Parents Draws Fire - NYTimes.com

Chicago Program to Bridge Gap With Parents Draws Fire - NYTimes.com: Chicago Public School officials are making big changes during their first year in office, but there’s a group of people feeling shut out once again — parents.

Despite a well-publicized commitment to involve parents in the city’s public education system, some of them are not happy with how Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his school team are following through. And some say they are still not familiar with the new Office of Community and Family Engagement.

“I’ve heard of the new department, but I quite honestly have no idea what they do,” said Jonathan Goldman, a parent and Local School Council member at Drummond Montessori School, a sought-after magnet program.

The district has long been accused of excluding parents from its decision-making process. “To be fair, C.P.S. has never, under any recent administration, been a bastion of parent engagement,” Mr. Goldman said.

Kansas City's Failed Schools Leave Students Behind : NPR

Kansas City's Failed Schools Leave Students Behind : NPR: On a recent wintry day, Kansas City eighth-grader Yak Nak sat before a Missouri state Senate committee. He was there to tell lawmakers why his family had sacrificed to send him to a parochial school.

"Even though it was a struggle for my family, the reputation of the public schools in my area was not as good as my parents would have hoped," he said. "They knew there was no time to waste when dealing with young minds, and education was more valuable than any money they could save."

Consider this: Yak Nak and his family are refugees from Sudan.

Just how inadequate are Kansas City public schools?

On Jan. 1, the Missouri state school board revoked the Kansas City district's accreditation. The district met just three of the 14 standards established by the state, falling short of minimum proficiency standards for math, English and science, as well as attendance and graduation rates.

Black History or American History: What's the Difference? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Black History or American History: What's the Difference? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS: I've often wondered what it meant that the month we set aside to take special note of African-American achievement is the one that's usually only 28 days long.

As a child, I took that kind of personally. As an adult, I have another view. Black history is worth appreciating in a society that overlooks minority accomplishment. But it is also American history.

I have given countless speeches touching on black history themes -- probably the bulk of them after I wrote a book a few years ago about the new wave of black politicians coming of age.

Like clockwork I am often asked: "Why do we talk about race at all?" And my answer is always the same: The only things we hate talking about are the things we fear.

Talking openly about race, it seems, should be something we all aspire to. It allows us to learn. I was reminded of that sitting across the PBS NewsHour desk this week from Doug Blackmon, the author of "Slavery By Another Name" and co-producer of the film of the same name that aired on PBS this week. Blackmon, a white Mississippi native, discovered the story of post-emancipation enslavement while researching a story for The Wall Street Journal about coal mining in the South.

ESPN Sorry for Racist Lin Headline - The Daily Beast

ESPN Sorry for Racist Lin Headline - The Daily Beast: It was bound to happen. ESPN is investigating an offensive headline reference New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin that was posted on its mobile site last night. The worldwide leader in sports coverage apologized for running a story under the headline “Chink in the Armor” after the player failed to lead the Knicks to their eighth straight win. As the Twittersphere went wild flagging the insensitive comment, ESPN apologized for the “mistake.” But that wasn't the only oops moment: It turns out a commentator made the same error on television.

Lincoln Brown, Chicago Teacher, Sues For The Right To Say N-Word In Class

Lincoln Brown, Chicago Teacher, Sues For The Right To Say N-Word In Class: Lincoln Brown, a 48-year-old Chicago Public Schools teacher, has filed a federal lawsuit against the district after being suspended without pay for five days for using the "n-word" as a part of a lesson highlighting the "perils of racism," the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The incident occurred last October when Brown said he used the n-word after two of his students were passing notes with rap lyrics that included it, according to the Sun-Times. The lawsuit alleges Brown used the word during a "teachable moment" in the context of the book Huckleberry Finn in order to show how such language can hurt. But as the words left Brown's lips, the school's principal walked in to the Murray Language Academy classroom.

New African American museum inspires celebration, worries among competitors - The Washington Post

New African American museum inspires celebration, worries among competitors - The Washington Post: ...Behind the good-natured joking, though, there are real anxieties about the impact the long-dreamed-of National Museum of African American History and Culture might have on smaller institutions that cover some of the same territory.

Even as they’ve celebrated the creation of a massive national museum to tell the once-marginalized story of blacks in America, some executives at existing African American museums have voiced concerns about competing with a new Smithsonian for money, collections and attention.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled that we will have a museum on the Mall dedicated to this history and culture,” Jefferson said from Los Angeles. “It’s extraordinary.

“At the same time, there’s apprehension and fear amongst many that people won’t support all the other black museums that have existed for so long ... that everybody will be distracted by the new, bright, shiny museum that’s got all the hype. That is not an outcome that anybody wants.”

Dr. Olivia Hooker Advocates Equality Through Respect - White Plains, NY Patch

Dr. Olivia Hooker Advocates Equality Through Respect - White Plains, NY Patch: An angry mob of white men charged into her house while her mother was cooking breakfast. They robbed the house and tossed out the freshly made meal after burning down a clothesline where her doll clothes hung. Dr. Olivia Hooker first experienced discrimination at the age of 6, while hiding under a table with her siblings for of fear of being shot.

“They didn’t break the [family’s] old rugged cross,” said Hooker, who has lived in White Plains [Greenburgh] for the last 59 years. “In a sense, they gave us a message about what they thought was appropriate for us.”

The mostly black Oklahoma neighborhood was burned to the ground that day in 1921 during the Tulsa Race Riots—according the New York Times, 300 people died that day while 8,000 were rendered homeless. Some reported that airplanes were flying over Tulsa that day dropping incendiary bombs, but Hooker says that’s not what children read about in history books.

Shirley Bunn: "Teacher Of The Year" Suspended For Offensive Comment, Telling Hispanic Student To "Go Back To Mexico"

Shirley Bunn: "Teacher Of The Year" Suspended For Offensive Comment, Telling Hispanic Student To "Go Back To Mexico": Looks like this two-time "Teacher of the Year" will not be in the running to win the esteemed honor this year because of her derogatory comment to a Hispanic student: "Go back to Mexico."

Instead, 63-year-old Texas math teacher Shirley Bunn is fighting to keep her job.

Bunn made the comment on Sept. 30 while distributing Title 1 forms to her eighth grade students at Barnett Junior High School. Dallas-Fort Worth's Fox 4 reports that a disruptive student requested a Spanish-language version of the form, saying, "I'm Mexican. I'm Mexican."

According to public record, Bunn attempted to tell the student that he could retrieve forms translated into Spanish from the main office, but the student continued to repeat "I'm Mexican."

Bunn quickly responded, "[Then] go back to Mexico."

U.S. Higher Education Institutions Partner with African Universities

U.S. Higher Education Institutions Partner with African Universities: For several years, the Dartmouth Global Health Initiative, a unit within Dartmouth University’s medical school that promotes global health research, has had a close working relationship with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Among other things, both universities work together to provide treatment options for children who are HIV positive. Each year, several Dartmouth medical students travel to Tanzania to do field work. And many students from Muhimbili have come to Dartmouth to pursue graduate degrees in public health. Both universities also have worked closely on the development of a vaccine that reduces the chances of HIV infection.

UPenn researchers say Md. must do more to help poor, minority students complete college - baltimoresun.com

UPenn researchers say Md. must do more to help poor, minority students complete college - baltimoresun.com: Despite its exemplary commitment to higher education, Maryland must do a better job helping black, Hispanic and lower-income students succeed in college, says a report released Friday by University of Pennsylvania researchers.

"Although the state has recognized the problem of disparities," write Penn professors Laura Perna and Joni Finney, "Maryland lacks a coherent set of public policies to ensure that more children are prepared for, attend and complete college."

The study notes that only 33 percent of the state's black residents and 20 percent of its Hispanic residents between the ages of 25 and 34 hold at least an associate's degree, compared with 51 percent of white Marylanders in the same demographic. Only 29.5 percent of adults in Baltimore hold at least an associate's degree.

Perna and Finney warn that given the state's demographic trends — especially the rise of its Hispanic population — Maryland must improve on these figures if it is to have any hope of meeting Gov. Martin O'Malley's goal of 55 percent college completion by 2025.

In the film "More Than a Month," African-American filmmaker Shukree Tilghman sets off on a cross-country road trip to campaign for an end to Black History Month under the premise that black history is, in fact, American history. Wearing a sandwich board stating his cause, he stands on street corners in cities across America and opens a dialogue about whether marking African-American history during the coldest, shortest month of the year is actually a disservice.
Along the way, he talks to historians, scholars, marketing experts and family members about how they view Black History Month and its role in a "post-racial" America.
Tonight on the PBS NewsHour, Hari Sreenivasan interviews Tilghman and other documentary filmmakers from Independent Lens' Black History Month series. "More Than a Month" also airs tonight on most PBS stations, via Independent Lens.

As seniors climb from poverty, young fall in – USATODAY.com

As seniors climb from poverty, young fall in – USATODAY.com: ...The ratio of senior-to-child poverty was close in 1980: There were three counties with more than 20% of children living in poverty for every four counties with 20% of seniors in poverty.

Now the two are reversed, and the gap has widened considerably. Eight counties have high child poverty for every one that has high senior poverty.

Nationally, official Census numbers show 9% of seniors in poverty. Among children, 22% — 15.6 million — live in poverty.

The official numbers show the poverty trend among seniors and children over time and by county. Geographically, counties in the South and Southwest show the highest concentrations of poor children.

The recession has added to the numbers of poor children as parents lost jobs and families lost homes to foreclosures.

Shifting portraits of the American black woman - The Washington Post

Shifting portraits of the American black woman - The Washington Post: Our homes, our work and our self-esteem all inform who we are as people. We interviewed six black women about these themes, which were identified in a nationwide survey conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Each woman posed for video portraits that represent each of these themes. The women describe what they see when they look in the mirror and explain what it means to them to be a black woman today.

Intermarriage rates soar as stereotypes fall - The Washington Post

Intermarriage rates soar as stereotypes fall - The Washington Post: Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of marriages between blacks and whites, a new study by the Pew Research Center shows, barely four decades after state laws criminalizing interracial marriage were struck down by the Supreme Court. And one in five new married couples in the District crossed racial and ethnic lines.

The prevalence of intermarriage in and around the Washington area reflects demographic changes that are pushing interracial marriage rates to an all-time high in the United States while toppling historical taboos among younger people.

Seattle cop caught threatening to make up evidence | The Raw Story

Seattle cop caught threatening to make up evidence | The Raw Story: A Seattle police officer has been caught on tape telling a recently arrested young African American man that he was going to make up evidence against him.

Josh Lawson and Christopher Franklin were arrested at gunpoint in November of 2010 after police spotted them several blocks away from where an assault had been reported. Neither man was charged with any crime after their arrest, and they have sued the city for excessive force and wrongful arrest.

Both men allegedly suffered facial bruises after being kicked and thrown on the pavement as the police officers arrested them. While Lawson and Franklin were being taken to the police department, one of the officers also said he was going to make up evidence against them, an audio recording obtained KOMO 4 News revealed.

New Book Explores Black History and the American Presidency

New Book Explores Black History and the American Presidency: Every president of the United States from George Washington to Barack Obama has had to confront issues surrounding African-Americans and race relations in America. Each has left a trail of documents—statements, executive orders, speeches, letters and other items—that reveal far more than history textbooks do about what the chief executives did or felt about the matters at hand.

Most of us rarely get access to these direct sources, but Eric Freedman, an associate professor of journalism at Michigan State University, and his co-author, Stephen A. Jones, an assistant professor of history at Central Michigan University, have made it a little easier to learn about how each president has dealt with the Black race in America.

Civil Rights Project: California Maintains Segregated Community College System

Civil Rights Project: California Maintains Segregated Community College System: The vast majority of Black and Latino students in California are being subjected to a “segregated” community college system where very few transfer to four-year institutions, researchers charged Tuesday as they released three reports that shine light on the problem.

The entire system needs to be revamped, the researchers at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project said, and new policies must be crafted that will lead to greater ethnic and racial parity.

“Higher education (in California) needs to be re-examined and changed at each level of the process,” said Dr. Gary Orfield, professor in the Graduate School of Education, co-director of The Civil Rights Project at UCLA and a co-author of one of the reports. “We need to think very consciously about racial equality in making policies.”

Pro Basketball's First Asian-American Player Looks At Lin, And Applauds : The Two-Way : NPR

Pro Basketball's First Asian-American Player Looks At Lin, And Applauds : The Two-Way : NPR: Linsanity is buzzing through the sports world, as New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin has come off the bench to emerge as a star. The unlikely story of an NBA player of Taiwanese descent who attended Harvard — and who, at 6 feet 3 inches, outscored Kobe Bryant to beat the Lakers — has won him many admirers.

There aren't many players like Lin. But in Utah, there's a man who knows something about what he's experiencing. Like Lin, Wat (for Wataru) Misaka is an Asian-American who became an unlikely star and played basketball for the Knicks. But he did it in the 1940s.

That was after two trips to national title games, including one played in Madison Square Garden — also the Knicks' home court.

Freedom's Journal: America's First Black Newspaper (PHOTO)

Freedom's Journal: America's First Black Newspaper (PHOTO): In honor of Black History Month, we present to you the first black newspaper in American history: Freedom's Journal.

Founded in 1827 in New York City, the first edition of the Journal summed up a great many of the reasons for the continuing, vital existence of the black press.

"We wish to plead our own cause," the editors wrote. "Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the publick been deceived by misrepresentations, in things which concern us dearly."

Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm served as the top two editors of the Journal, which was founded the same year that slavery was abolished in New York. They were explicit in their desire to counter the steady stream of racist reporting coming out of the city's other papers. Subscriptions cost $3 a year, and the paper tried to give a comprehensive look at the day's news.

Albany State Awards Honorary Degrees to 32 Students Expelled for 1961 Protests

Albany State Awards Honorary Degrees to 32 Students Expelled for 1961 Protests: Henri Cohen and Opal Jones were originally set to graduate from Albany State College. Instead, they were among dozens of Black students arrested and ultimately expelled from the school in 1961 for defying the status quo.

The legal charge was disturbing the peace for trying to buy bus tickets at the Whites-only counter. The expulsions were for conduct unbecoming a student.

Fifty years later, and for the first time in Georgia history, the state’s university system bestowed 32 honorary degrees at a single university, what is now called Albany State University, during a single commencement.

Suspended from school in early grades - The Washington Post

Suspended from school in early grades - The Washington Post: Thousands of elementary students were suspended from public schools last year in Washington and its suburbs, some of them so young that they were learning about out-of-school discipline before they could spell or multiply.

Those sent home for their behavior included kindergartners in nearly every area school system — 94 in Prince George’s County, 74 in Fairfax County, 61 in Anne Arundel County, 50 in the D.C. school system, 38 in Prince William County and 22 in Montgomery County.

They included children who idled at home for a day or two and some who accompanied their parents to work.

They included the pre-kindergarten son of Rajuawn Thompkins, who said the boy was removed from his D.C. charter school for kicking off his shoes and crying in frustration. Thompkins had thought the boy was too young to be suspended.

He was 4.

Black college sophomore threatened with racist graffiti | The Raw Story

Black college sophomore threatened with racist graffiti | The Raw Story: An African American student at Montclair State University in New Jersey has decided to move back into her parents home after someone scrawled racist graffiti on her door last week, according to NBC New York.

After a “Day of Unity” at the school, using a black pen someone wrote, “Niggers black bitches you will die with the phages” on the door of 19-year-old Olivia McRae’s dorm room door. Next to the door, they wrote out “blacks only” with an arrow pointing toward her room.

The “Day of Unity” was meant to bring the university together after recent anti-gay graffiti.

“I instantly started crying,” McRae told NBC New York.

Despite being threatened with racist graffiti, she has no plans to drop out of school.

“I’m never going to let anybody stop me from being successful — I already had a hard enough life,” McRae said.

Black Characters in Search of Reality - NYTimes.com

Black Characters in Search of Reality - NYTimes.com: Through most of the 20th century, images of African-Americans in advertising were mainly limited to servants like the pancake-mammy Aunt Jemima and Rastus, the chef on the Cream of Wheat box. Imagine a Rip Van Winkle who fell asleep during the era of the Negro as household retainer and woke up in 2012. He would be struck speechless by billboards and commercials featuring affluent black people advising consumers on pharmaceuticals, real estate, financial services and the virtues of owning expensive cars. This kind of transformation has yet to take hold in the dramatic arts.

Civil rights violations alleged in Baltimore County noose incident - baltimoresun.com

Civil rights violations alleged in Baltimore County noose incident - baltimoresun.com: An Essex man has been indicted on civil rights charges stemming from an April 2010 incident in which a dead raccoon was found hanging from a noose on a Middle River family's front porch.

According to the indictment, which comes nearly two years after the incident, Joshua Wall conspired with four unnamed people to hang a dead raccoon from the familiy's porch on April 29, 2010. Wall is the only person charged in the case; the other co-conspirators are listed only by their initials.

Wall's mother, Rebecca Stracke, said in a telephone interview that her son "doesn't hate black people."

Black, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist : NPR

Black, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist : NPR: Just in the last year, 96-year-old American artist Elizabeth Catlett has had her work featured in exhibitions from Istanbul to Mexico to New York. Young artists use Catlett's technical expertise and insights into gender, race and class as a jumping-off point for their own work, yet she's still unknown to much of the general public.

The 'Invisible' Artist

An exhibit at the Bronx Museum of the Arts last year juxtaposed Catlett's work with pieces from 21 other artists. Along with her sculptures and prints, it also included her drawings of women with powerful legs and hips, the very act of their standing imbuing them with a force like nature.

American kids of immigrants denied food stamps in Alabama | The Raw Story

American kids of immigrants denied food stamps in Alabama | The Raw Story: A civil rights law firm based in Alabama says that children who are U.S. citizens from at least five families have been denied food stamps because their parents are undocumented immigrants.

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Legal Director Mary Bauer confirmed to Raw Story that Alabama’s Department of Human Services had cited the state’s anti-immigration HB 56 law, which makes it illegal to conduct “business transactions” with undocumented workers, as a reason they were denied food stamps.

“We have heard from a number of people that several localities in Alabama have adopted the policy that they’re required to verify the status of parents who are trying to help their kids apply for food stamps — even if they themselves are not applying for food stamps,” Bauer explained. “Of course, that is illegal under federal law.”

Two decades later, donors wonder what happened to plans for slavery museum - The Washington Post

Two decades later, donors wonder what happened to plans for slavery museum - The Washington Post: Nearly 20 years ago, former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder announced that he wanted to create a museum that would tell the story of slavery in the United States. He had the vision, the clout, the charm to make it seem attainable, and he had already made history: the grandson of slaves, he was the nation’s first elected African American governor.

He assembled a high-profile board, hosted splashy galas with entertainer Bill Cosby promising at least $1 million in support, accepted a gift of more than 38 acres of prime real estate smack along Interstate 95 in Fredericksburg and showed plans for a showstopper $100 million museum designed by an internationally renowned architect.

Race And Class: Teen Investigates 'How The Other Half Lives'

Race And Class: Teen Investigates 'How The Other Half Lives': I read on the front page of today’s New York Times that the poor are dropping further behind the rich in school. I grew up in Brownsville, a very poor neighborhood in Brooklyn. I didn’t know what kind of neighborhoods and education and opportunities middle class kids got, but I knew it had to be much better than mine and it made me angry. As a teen I was writing for Represent, a magazine for teens in foster care, and my editor suggested that I visit a well-off school district in Connecticut and describe my reactions. The trip was troubling for me -- I saw the benefits that those kids had, but I also saw how hard many of them worked to take advantage of them.

That was seven years ago. I’ve since worked for Americorps in New Orleans and completed two years of college. I’m working in a teen pregnancy prevention program -- a job that I love -- and struggling to save money so I can help my mom and finish college. Things were tough when I was in high school, as you will see when you read my story. It is scary to me that things may be getting even worse.