Capitol Police promotes 1st black female captains: WASHINGTON — As Yogananda Pittman and Monique Moore climbed the ranks of the U.S. Capitol Police, they encountered no top-level supervisors who looked like them. No black women, from the chief down to the captains, were represented in the upper management of the federal law enforcement agency responsible for protecting lawmakers and congressional buildings.
So it was more than a personal honor when the two became the first black women promoted to captain in the department, which in the past decade has been roiled by allegations from minority officers that they were passed over for promotions and subjected to racial intimidation and harassment.
"I just definitely think it lets them know that it's attainable," Pittman said, referring to younger black officers. "When you see someone who looks like yourself in the rank of captain and what have you, they know they can do it."
The promotions may seem a pedestrian milestone in the year 2012 but they carry symbolic significance for the agency. Accusations of racism within the department have been addressed at congressional hearings, raised in multiple lawsuits and drawn concern from the Congressional Black Caucus, whose members in 2003 said they were "incensed and embarrassed" by the alleged mistreatment.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Cesar Chavez Day: Honoring The Latino Civil Rights Leader By Continuing The Fight For Justice
Now, nearly four years after the presidential election, Obama's paying homage to the man whose words helped him win office, decreeing Saturday, March 31st of 2012, the 85th anniversary of the civil rights icon's birthday, Cesar Chavez Day.
The civil rights leader, who fought for fair wages and humane treatment for California's farm workers in California, championed principles of nonviolence through boycotts, fasts,and marches. In conjunction with Dolores Huerta, Chavez founded the United Farm Workers of America, an organization devoted to defending the rights of farmhands and field workers across the country.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Asher Huey: We Shouldn't Make Excuses For Racism
Asher Huey: We Shouldn't Make Excuses For Racism: Friday morning on Fox and Friends, Geraldo Rivera stated, "I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmerman was." The Twitterverse exploded, pointing out the absurdity of the statement, and he doubled down on O'Reilly Factor later that day. He also tweeted several defensive tweets about the statement. And now has offered a non-apology apology which does not go far enough.
The comments are sickening. Rivera's statement is nothing short of victim blaming. Let's be clear, no victim should ever be blamed. His absurd logic implies that if you are black and wear a hoodie, you look suspicious so you should expect to be harassed by overzealous men with guns. That's the same as presuming a women should expect to be raped if her skirt is too short. Or a gay man should expect to be gay bashed if he has a drink in a bar mostly patronized by straight people. Why is it an accepted belief that some victims ask for violence to be brought upon them? On its face, and in every way, this is ridiculous.
The comments are sickening. Rivera's statement is nothing short of victim blaming. Let's be clear, no victim should ever be blamed. His absurd logic implies that if you are black and wear a hoodie, you look suspicious so you should expect to be harassed by overzealous men with guns. That's the same as presuming a women should expect to be raped if her skirt is too short. Or a gay man should expect to be gay bashed if he has a drink in a bar mostly patronized by straight people. Why is it an accepted belief that some victims ask for violence to be brought upon them? On its face, and in every way, this is ridiculous.
Bronx 12-year-old says teacher duct-taped him to chair in class - NY Daily News
Sixty-two-pound Irel Jones, 12, admits he can be a handful in class - but he didn’t deserve to be humiliated by Intermediate School 339 teacher Marcy Rubenstein, he said tearfully.
“I stood up during the lesson last Friday and she told me to sit down - and then she laughed while she taped me to my chair,” said Irel, who left the D-rated school on a safety transfer after the incident.
Rubenstein just grinned and left Irel taped to the chair for twenty minutes while other kids pushed him to the front of the class, he said.
Urban prep boasts another perfect college acceptance year - chicagotribune.com
The academy also said that 83 percent of its first graduating class in 2010 has re-enrolled in a second year of college, a rebuttal to critics of the school who have charged that students aren't always ready for college.
Critics have also suggested that Urban Prep squeezes out students with academic and discipline problems who other schools have to work with. Urban Prep officials acknowledge that this year's senior class of 85 was almost twice that size when the boys started out as freshmen.
Cesar Chavez Day: How well do you know the farm labor hero? - Cesar Chavez Day holiday - CSMonitor.com
Two Florida A&M Professors Placed on Leave in Hazing Case
University President James Ammons announced the action late Wednesday.
It came on the heels of a Tallahassee police report saying Diron Holloway and Anthony Simons were present during the hazing at Holloway's home in early 2010.
The report says pledges were slapped on the neck and back and may have been paddled. No charges were filed, though, because investigators cannot prove it happened within a two-year statute of limitations.
The incident was reported to campus police last November, two days after the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion while the band was in Orlando for a football game. Champion died after suffering blunt trauma.
Leading the Way: Women Making a Difference, Part I
As the editorial team sat down to plan the Women’s History Month edition for 2012, the team thought it would be appropriate to introduce a sampling of these women to all of our readers. This list is by no means exhaustive. Easily, the staff could have come up with 50 or 100 women whose accomplishments would merit inclusion in this group of extraordinary women. So trying to choose 25 was a major challenge, but we relished the opportunity to introduce these women to the readers who may not know these outstanding leaders in their respective fields.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Educators assail Tenn. bill seeking to exile legal immigrants from schools | The Raw Story
The bill, due to be voted on next week, is known as the Putting Tennessee First Act. It requires that all charter schools in the state disclose all sources of private and foreign funding, and specifies that the state may not approve schools that are staffed in excess of 3.5 percent by immigrant workers on H1B or J1 visa programs.
Speaking to Raw Story on Thursday, Gary Beckner, executive director of the Association of American Educators, lashed out at the bill as unnecessary and counterproductive, insisting that lawmakers focus on educational innovation over restrictions targeting immigrants.
Conference: Complex Picture Painted of HBCU Challenges
Panel discussions and workshops concluded the three-day National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) 38th National Dialogue on Blacks in Higher Education. The conference was themed “HBCUs & PBIs: Tooting Our Horns a Little Louder.”
District’s emancipation proclamation turns 150 - The Washington Post
District’s emancipation proclamation turns 150 - The Washington Post: Before the Emancipation Proclamation and before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery, there was the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act.
Next month marks the sesquicentennial of the pioneering federal law that in 1862 freed 3,100 slaves in Washington, and Wednesday city officials announced a series of events to celebrate the 150th anniversary.
They include, among other things, an Emancipation Parade on April 16 along Pennsylvania Avenue NW, a street festival the same day at Freedom Plaza, and a march among the Mall memorials April 11.
There will also be a lectures, concerts, films and ceremonies related to slavery, emancipation and civil rights at the African American Civil War Museum, the Abraham Lincoln cottage, the Frederick Douglass home and other venues across the city in April.
The compensated emancipation act was signed into law by President Lincoln on April 16, 1862 — nine months before he issued the broader and more famous Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Next month marks the sesquicentennial of the pioneering federal law that in 1862 freed 3,100 slaves in Washington, and Wednesday city officials announced a series of events to celebrate the 150th anniversary.
They include, among other things, an Emancipation Parade on April 16 along Pennsylvania Avenue NW, a street festival the same day at Freedom Plaza, and a march among the Mall memorials April 11.
There will also be a lectures, concerts, films and ceremonies related to slavery, emancipation and civil rights at the African American Civil War Museum, the Abraham Lincoln cottage, the Frederick Douglass home and other venues across the city in April.
The compensated emancipation act was signed into law by President Lincoln on April 16, 1862 — nine months before he issued the broader and more famous Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
FBI Muslim Scandal: Documents Show San Francisco FBI Office Illegally Collected Information On Local Muslims
Under the U.S. Privacy Act, the FBI is generally prohibited from maintaining records on how people practice their religion unless there is a clear law enforcement purpose. ACLU lawyers said the documents, which the organization obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed violations of that law.
After reviewing the ACLU documents, the FBI said the reports that contained notes about religious activity were appropriate because the agents were meeting with members of the Muslim community for law enforcement purposes.
Black America’s Heartbreaking Burdens - The Daily Beast
FAMU E-mails Detail Hazing Warnings
“I feel that my son's future could be in jeopardy,” Donovan Crosby wrote to James Ammons in the e-mail, which is part of public records obtained jointly by The Associated Press and the Tallahassee Democrat.
Hundreds of pages of records show years of repeated warnings about brutal hazing passed without any serious response from the school's leadership until last November's beating death of drum major Robert Champion.
A staff member replied to the e-mail, so Crosby called the next day to talk to Ammons directly. Crosby said at first the president reassured him, then repeated the standard line that the school doesn't condone hazing.
Closing the Math Achievement Gap
Memphis, was determined to improve the success rate in her elementary calculus course, so she was open to trying new methods. “My observation was that by the third or fourth week I would have only 40 percent of the [enrolled] students left,” Botelho recalls.
So she began training on Pearson Education’s MyMathLab software after two other professors had begun using it in their classes at the university. During the summer session, Botelho incorporated the system into the syllabuses of her two general education elementary calculus classes.
Fugitive Slave Mentality - NYTimes.com
In Southern States, Immigration Law Battle Rages On : NPR
In 2011, Georgia passed a sweeping anti-immigration measure that requires law enforcement officers to check the status of people they suspect are in the country illegally and forces employers to verify the immigration status of workers. Now, lawmakers have been debating a bill to ban students here illegally from attending all public colleges — and that has drawn criticism.
With Trayvon Martin tribute, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James take strong position - The Washington Post
NBA great Michael Jordan summed up the thinking with his infamous quote after declining to support a Democratic candidate, and civil-rights pioneer, during a 1990 senate race: “Republicans wear sneakers, too.” Perhaps the most iconic figure in sports history put his corporate pitchman status first; it figured other African American superstars would, too.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
BBC News - Fabrice Muamba: Racist Twitter user jailed for 56 days
Swansea University student Liam Stacey, 21, from Pontypridd, admitted inciting racial hatred over remarks about the Bolton Wanderers player, who collapsed during a FA Cup tie at Tottenham.
A district judge in Swansea called the comments "vile and abhorrent".
Muamba, 23, who suffered a cardiac arrest, is still in intensive care.
Sentencing Stacey at Swansea Magistrates' Court, District Judge John Charles told him: "In my view, there is no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.
"It was not the football world who was praying for [Muamba].... everybody was praying for his life."
Stacey broke down in tears as he was led away to begin his jail term.
Jason Giroir, New Orleans Police Officer, Resigns After Posting Offensive Trayvon Martin Comments
Jason Giroir, New Orleans Police Officer, Resigns After Posting Offensive Trayvon Martin Comments: A New Orleans police officer resigned Tuesday after coming under fire for offensive comments he posted to a news website about slain teenager Trayvon Martin.
Over the weekend, Jason Giroir, a 13-year veteran of the police department, took to a television station's site to offer his verdict on the death of the unarmed 17-year-old: "Act like a Thug die like one!"
Martin was shot and killed in February while he was walking in the rain, carrying a bag of skittles and an iced tea. The shooter, self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, remains free and has not been charged with a crime.
Over the weekend, Jason Giroir, a 13-year veteran of the police department, took to a television station's site to offer his verdict on the death of the unarmed 17-year-old: "Act like a Thug die like one!"
Martin was shot and killed in February while he was walking in the rain, carrying a bag of skittles and an iced tea. The shooter, self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, remains free and has not been charged with a crime.
ACLU: Trayvon Martin case shows need for federal anti-racial profiling law | The Raw Story
“The killing of Trayvon Martin has once again laid bare the reality that, too often in our nation’s history, police actions have been motivated by racial bias and that crimes with an undeniable racial motive have too often been overlooked or swept under the rug,” Dennis Parker of the ACLU told a House forum hosted by Democrats.
On February 26, self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman allegedly pursued and shot Martin in Sanford, Florida. When police arrived on the scene, Zimmerman claimed that he shot and killed the African American teenager out of self-defense, which allowed him to benefit from Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Zimmerman was not arrested.
White Pride Rallies In Edmonton And London Countered By Anti-Racists
Police then blocked subway platform entrances until the roughly two dozen self described white pride demonstrators, most of them masked, were able to leave on a train.
Police spokesman Scott Pattison said at one point as the racist group was nearing the site near Edmonton City Hall, both sides clashed briefly, but police separated them quickly.
"I believe there was some pushing and shoving but it was only momentary," Pattison said, noting there were no injuries or arrests.
Conference: Though HBCUs Urged To Tout Successes, Lack of Federal Support Remains a Challenge
That was one of the key points made Monday by Dr. William Harvey, chairman of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, at a national conference for historically and predominantly Black campuses.
“President Obama understands and appreciates our value to this nation and to the world,” said Harvey, longstanding president of Hampton University, during a press briefing at the National Press Club titled “The State of America’s Black Colleges: Colleges and Universities that are Built to Last.’”
The event was part of NAFEO’s 38th National Dialogue on Blacks in Higher Education HBCUs & PBIs, a three-day event held under the theme, “Tooting Our Horn a Little Louder!”
Monday, March 26, 2012
Abercrombie & Fitch Shuts Down Fake Website Following N-Word Drama
On Thursday, the retailer and plenty of Internet users endured a brief freakout when a screenshot of "Abercrombie & Fitch N****r Brown Pants" appeared on the web, ostensibly being sold on Abercrombie.com.
It seemed too ridiculous to be true, and it was. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the site selling the offensively-named pants was abercrombie-and-fitchoutlet.com, one of several impostor sites that sells preppy, Abercrombie-like clothes. The fake website, reports Styleite, was registered to a Hong Kong email address; as Gawker notes, the use of the N-word was likely due to a poor Chinese-English translation program, something that's happened in the past. (And is still happening -- read this hilariously garbled Abercrombie fan blog.)
Regardless, the real Abercrombie & Fitch has quickly stood up and denied the product originated from them. The company tells TMZ, "We do not condone racist language. This is a counterfeit website and we have initiated legal proceedings to shut it down."
Gates’s ‘Finding Your Roots’ is beginning its fourth season - The Washington Post
Gates’s ‘Finding Your Roots’ is beginning its fourth season - The Washington Post: It wasn’t a question of whether his ancestors had been slaves. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a son of the Old South and one of the country’s leading civil rights pioneers, knew that to be true.But what he learned about one of his enslaved ancestors, guided by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., caused him to break down and cry.
Gates says that Lewis’s story is one of the most powerful of his new PBS series, “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.” The 10-part program premieres Sunday.
“Finding Your Roots” is the fourth installment of Gates’s popular franchise, in which he digs into the genealogy of famous Americans. This go-round Gates looks into the backgrounds of 25 individuals, including actors Michelle Rodriguez, Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson; media personalities Barbara Walters and Sanjay Gupta; religious leaders Angela Buchdahl, Yasir Qadhi and Rick Warren; and political figures Condoleezza Rice and Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark. The series runs through May 20.
Indian Sikhs in Loudoun say death threat is a rarity amid lives of suburban success - The Washington Post
So residents of the affluent, ethnically diverse Sterling community were shocked and bewildered when the news broke last month that a family of Indian Sikhs who live nearby — a software consultant, his wife and two children — had found an anonymous, threatening letter in their mailbox. Addressed to “The Turban Family,” the letter suggested that the senders were vigilantes on the prowl for Islamist extremists.
“Our people in the neighborhood have been closely watching your activities and figured out you are a close associate of a secret Taliban movement on the US Soil,” said the typewritten letter. “We ask you to leave the country as soon as possible otherwise one of our people is going to shoot you dead.”
National advocates for Sikh immigrants, known for aggressively defending their members against discrimination, sprang into action. They posted the letter on the Web site of the Sikh American Defense and Education Fund, contacted law enforcement agencies and urged the victims to speak out.
Commentary: Probing the Comparison – Trayvon Martin/Mass Incarceration and Emmett Till/Segregation
Stoking even more rage—or rather placing the rage in historical context—has been the continuous comparisons made between the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, murdered recently by a neighborhood watchman of a majority White gated community in Florida who is claiming self-defense, and Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago native murdered by Mississippi segregationists in 1955 for speaking “inappropriately” to a White woman.
A blog in The New Yorker on the Martin tragedy was entitled “Emmett Till in Sanford.” Hundreds of protesters gathered at a park in Sanford, Fla., on March 22, and dozens of them sported t-shirts with Martin’s photo next to a Till photo. These Martin-Till shirts have become widely popular among activists around the nation.
John Payton, Top Civil Rights Lawyer, Dies at 65
Payton died Thursday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness, said Lee Daniels, spokesman for the New York-based NAACP fund.
President Barack Obama said in a prepared statement that he and first lady Michelle Obama were saddened to learn that their “dear friend” had died.
He was a “true champion of equality,” Obama said. “The legal community has lost a legend, and, while we mourn John's passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms.”
Ron Brown Scholarships Seek the Best and Brightest
The auspicious occasion gave attendees a chance to see firsthand how the 16-year-old Ron Brown Scholar Program continues to be a life-changing force in the lives of select African-American youth who’ve exhibited service and leadership—two things that a host of speakers said characterized Brown’s life.
The impacted youths included past and present Ron Brown scholars—as well as 18 scholarship finalists from some 6,300 applicants nationwide—who all say the program represents the opportunity of a lifetime and serves as a second family that supports them as they make their way through college and life.
They included individuals such as Christopher Lyle, 22, a Hurricane Katrina survivor and a 2008 Ron Brown scholar who is now a senior at UNC at Chapel Hill, where he is studying business and African-American studies.
Lyle said he has gone to study abroad twice during college, once in India and once in South Africa; worked two corporate internships; and now has a job lined up at a major U.S. bank upon graduation this spring—all accomplishments and experiences he attributes to the support he got as a Ron Brown scholar.
A whiter shade of privilege - baltimoresun.com
A whiter shade of privilege - baltimoresun.com: I'm here to explain why George Zimmerman is white.
This seems necessary given the confusion and anger with which some readers responded to my use of that word last week in this space to describe the man who shot an unarmed black teenager named Trayvon Martin to death last month in Sanford, Fla. One person wrote: "Mr. Zimmerman was Hispanic not White plez do your homework before writing your column!!!!"
But it is they who are wrong. There are two reasons. The short one is this: "Hispanic" is not a race, but an ethnicity. As theU.S. Census Bureauputs it in its 2010 Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin, "People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race."
The long reason begins with an understanding that the word in question -- race -- is a term both meaningful and yet, profoundly meaningless. It is meaningful in the sense that it provides a tool for tribalism and a means by which to organize our biases, fears, observations, social challenges and sundry cultural products. It is meaningless in the sense that, well ... it has no meaning, that there exists no definition of "black" or "white" that carries any degree of scientific precision.
This seems necessary given the confusion and anger with which some readers responded to my use of that word last week in this space to describe the man who shot an unarmed black teenager named Trayvon Martin to death last month in Sanford, Fla. One person wrote: "Mr. Zimmerman was Hispanic not White plez do your homework before writing your column!!!!"
But it is they who are wrong. There are two reasons. The short one is this: "Hispanic" is not a race, but an ethnicity. As theU.S. Census Bureauputs it in its 2010 Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin, "People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race."
The long reason begins with an understanding that the word in question -- race -- is a term both meaningful and yet, profoundly meaningless. It is meaningful in the sense that it provides a tool for tribalism and a means by which to organize our biases, fears, observations, social challenges and sundry cultural products. It is meaningless in the sense that, well ... it has no meaning, that there exists no definition of "black" or "white" that carries any degree of scientific precision.
A Texas mayor, a mural and a Mexican stereotype - CNN.com
Oh, him again. That popular and yet offensive image: a Mexican in a big sombrero asleep against a wall or, more often, under a cactus. He's the Mexican-American community's Charlie Chan, our cigar store Indian, our black Sambo.
He personifies and perpetuates the wrongheaded idea that the reason Mexico lost half its territory in the land grab known as the U.S.-Mexican War and the reason that Mexican-Americans have been mistreated and discriminated against in the century and a half since then is, well, because they were inattentive, passive, asleep.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Hispanics are crucial to college completion goals - College, Inc. - The Washington Post
Hispanics are crucial to college completion goals - College, Inc. - The Washington Post: The numbers suggest Hispanics are making astonishing gains in college attainment. From 2001 to 2011, the number of Hispanics with at least a bachelor’s degree nearly doubled from 2.1 million to 3.8 million, and overall attainment rose from 11 percent to 14 percent. A study released last year by the Pew Hispanic Center found enrollment of Hispanic students aged 18 to 24 rose by 24 percent in a single year, a gain of such magnitude that I made some inquiries to double-check the numbers.
Yet, an attainment gap persists. Another recent report from Excelencia in Education found that only 21 percent of Hispanics have an associate degree or higher, compared to 57 percent of Asians, 44 percent of Whites, and 30 percent of Blacks.
The report, Finding Your Workforce, listed dozens of colleges, mostly in Florida, Texas and California, that are generating the largest numbers of Hispanics with degrees.
Yet, an attainment gap persists. Another recent report from Excelencia in Education found that only 21 percent of Hispanics have an associate degree or higher, compared to 57 percent of Asians, 44 percent of Whites, and 30 percent of Blacks.
The report, Finding Your Workforce, listed dozens of colleges, mostly in Florida, Texas and California, that are generating the largest numbers of Hispanics with degrees.
Shaima Alawadi Dead: Iraqi Woman Who Was Severely Beaten In California Home Dies
Shaima Alawadi Dead: Iraqi Woman Who Was Severely Beaten In California Home Dies: EL CAJON, Calif. — A 32-year-old woman from Iraq who was found severely beaten next to a threatening note saying "go back to your country" died on Saturday.
Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met with Shaima Alawadi's family members in the morning and was told that she was taken off life support around 3 p.m.
"The family is in shock at the moment. They're still trying to deal with what happened," Mohebi said.
Alawadi, a mother of five, had been hospitalized since her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious Wednesday in the family's house in El Cajon, police Lt. Steve Shakowski said.
The daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and that the note said "go back to your country, you terrorist."
Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met with Shaima Alawadi's family members in the morning and was told that she was taken off life support around 3 p.m.
"The family is in shock at the moment. They're still trying to deal with what happened," Mohebi said.
Alawadi, a mother of five, had been hospitalized since her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious Wednesday in the family's house in El Cajon, police Lt. Steve Shakowski said.
The daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and that the note said "go back to your country, you terrorist."
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Slavery Homework Problem: Another Georgia Elementary School Under Fire For Math Problem Referencing Slaves (VIDEO)
Christopher Jackson, the parent of a 9-year-old at the school, told the station his son brought home the offensive extra-credit question with his homework.
“A plantation owner had 100 slaves," the question read, according to the station. "If three-fifths of them are counted for representation, how many slaves will be counted?”
While parents told WAGA they were offended by the question, a school spokesperson said the question was meant to educate students on both social studies and math, and that the teacher would not be punished.
The incident is reminiscent of a similar controversy at another Georgia school that erupted in January. Parents at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross, Ga., were outraged after students were sent home with math word problems using explicit examples of slavery.
Dual-Language Programs Growing In Popularity Across California
“I think as we become more and more globally aware, we’re realizing that kids need to be prepared to be competitive in world markets,” said Principal Jorge Ramirez. “Kids need to be multilingual and multiliterate.”
From Chula Vista to Laguna Niguel and Sacramento, public schools are creating dual-language immersion programs at a fast pace. The California Department of Education estimates there are 318 bilingual immersion programs in the state, up from 201 in 2006.
Workplace Discrimination Costs Businesses $64 Billion Every Year [INFOGRAPHIC]
Workplace Discrimination Costs Businesses $64 Billion Every Year [INFOGRAPHIC]: Discriminating against your employees can cost you.
Workplace discrimination against employees based on race, gender or sexual orientation costs businesses an estimated $64 billion annually, a recent report from the Center For American Progress finds. The businesses incur costs in a variety of ways, including through the turnover of about 2 million employees who leave their jobs due to discrimination.
Litigation related to workplace discrimination also costs employers a signifcant sum. Just this week, FedEx paid $3 million to settle claims that it discriminated against job applicants based on race and gender in 15 states.
But it's discrimination based on gender identity and orientation that is likely the most widespread. More than 40 percent of gay employees reported facing harassment and discrimination at work, according to a recent survey by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, cited by the Center for American Progress. Meanwhile, 90 percent of transgender individuals said they faced the same kind of abuse at the office, with nearly half of those polled saying their gender identity had a negative affect on their professional lives because they faced discrimination.
Workplace discrimination against employees based on race, gender or sexual orientation costs businesses an estimated $64 billion annually, a recent report from the Center For American Progress finds. The businesses incur costs in a variety of ways, including through the turnover of about 2 million employees who leave their jobs due to discrimination.
Litigation related to workplace discrimination also costs employers a signifcant sum. Just this week, FedEx paid $3 million to settle claims that it discriminated against job applicants based on race and gender in 15 states.
But it's discrimination based on gender identity and orientation that is likely the most widespread. More than 40 percent of gay employees reported facing harassment and discrimination at work, according to a recent survey by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, cited by the Center for American Progress. Meanwhile, 90 percent of transgender individuals said they faced the same kind of abuse at the office, with nearly half of those polled saying their gender identity had a negative affect on their professional lives because they faced discrimination.
Trayvon Martin case: use of Stand Your Ground law or pursuit of a black teen? - CSMonitor.com
On Tuesday came the announcement that Florida's Seminole County will convene a grand jury on April 10 to look into the case, even as a team from the US Justice Department's civil rights division arrived in Sanford, Fla., the community where Trayvon died Feb. 26 after he was shot by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman.
The Justice Department would not ordinarily investigate such an incident, but the fact that Trayvon was black and the alleged shooter, George Zimmerman, is part white, part Hispanic – and that local authorities declined to press charges against Mr. Zimmerman, even though Trayvon was unarmed – opens the door to a civil rights investigation on grounds the teenager came under suspicion primarily because he is African-American.
In Sean Bell Killing, 4 Officers to Be Forced Out - NYTimes.com
The decision came after a Police Department administrative trial in the fall found that the detective, Gescard F. Isnora, had acted improperly in the shooting that killed Mr. Bell on what was supposed to have been his wedding day and that he should be fired.
“There was nothing in the record to warrant overturning the decision of the department’s trial judge,” Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said on Friday night.
Law enforcement officials said word of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly’s decision came late Friday. Detective Isnora, an 11-year veteran, will not collect a pension, one official said. “He loses everything,” the official said.
Before unarmed black teen was shot, Fla. city’s blacks complained of bias in police department - The Washington Post
Before unarmed black teen was shot, Fla. city’s blacks complained of bias in police department - The Washington Post: SANFORD, Fla. — Before the charges that police botched the investigation of the shooting of an unarmed black teen, there were complaints that they went easy on an officer’s son who beat a black homeless man, or that officers pull over black kids for wearing the wrong color hat because they suspect gang associations.
The furor over the failure to charge a neighborhood watch captain for shooting Trayvon Martin to death is the latest episode to inflame racial tensions that have simmered between police and blacks in this Orlando suburb for years. And on Thursday, the department’s chief temporarily stepped aside.
The furor over the failure to charge a neighborhood watch captain for shooting Trayvon Martin to death is the latest episode to inflame racial tensions that have simmered between police and blacks in this Orlando suburb for years. And on Thursday, the department’s chief temporarily stepped aside.
Western Union Elementary School Under Fire For Suggesting 'African American Attire' Is 'Animal Print' (PHOTO) (POLL)
The note asked students to wear "African American attire" or animal print for a Black History Month event. When it surfaced on the Internet, community members responded with widespread criticism, WSOC-TV reports.
The letter also suggests wearing "shirts with animals native to Africa," like zebras, lions, giraffes and elephants.
The Charlotte Observer reports that school officials noted the 'African American attire" referred to traditional African clothing the students had been learning about at school.
In a statement, Luan Ingram, the school's chief communications officer said the letter wasn't meant to be offensive.
“While it was well intended, it was poorly worded,” Ingram said, according to the station. “We are reminding all of our principals to be very sensitive in word choices when communicating with parents concerning different ethnic groups and cultures that make up our world.”
Friday, March 23, 2012
Joseph L. Stephenson, decorated World War II Army officer, Prince George’s teacher and coach, dies at 93 - The Washington Post
The death was confirmed by his son-in-law Glenn Ivey, former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney.
After joining the Army in 1942, Capt. Stephenson served in Europe during World War II in the all-black 92nd Infantry Division, which saw much combat and had high casualty rates.
The division — which took its nickname “Buffalo Soldiers” from the 19th century black cavalrymen who fought in the American Indian wars — became the subject of the James McBride novel and 2008 Spike Lee film “Miracle at St. Anna.”
LeBron James Tweets Picture Of Miami Heat Wearing Hoodies In Solidarity With Family Of Trayvon Martin
...The tweet from the NBA superstar comes days after the Million Hoodie March, during which protesters wore hoodies to show solidarity with Martin's family. Pictures of people in hoodies in solidarity have been flooding social networking sites.
HPV Vaccine Not Frequently Recommended For Black Girls: Study
HPV Vaccine Not Frequently Recommended For Black Girls: Study: Despite its reputation as a "strong weapon in prevention," the HPV vaccine may not be benefiting adolescent females equally, a new study has found.
According to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, African-American females between the ages of 12 and 17 were 35 percent less likely to receive a healthcare provider recommendation for the HPV vaccine, a disparity that researchers are keeping an eye on in helping to curb the 6 million new HPV infections each year.
"I work with adolescents all day, and it's very interesting in my practice, when we talked about the HPV vaccine, how many parents had not heard about it," says May Lau, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and one of the study authors. "I thought it would be very interesting to look at what is associated with people initiating the vaccine and who is actually getting these recommendations," she says.
According to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, African-American females between the ages of 12 and 17 were 35 percent less likely to receive a healthcare provider recommendation for the HPV vaccine, a disparity that researchers are keeping an eye on in helping to curb the 6 million new HPV infections each year.
"I work with adolescents all day, and it's very interesting in my practice, when we talked about the HPV vaccine, how many parents had not heard about it," says May Lau, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and one of the study authors. "I thought it would be very interesting to look at what is associated with people initiating the vaccine and who is actually getting these recommendations," she says.
Obama: 'If I Had A Son, He Would Look Like Trayvon' | TPM Livewire
Obama: 'If I Had A Son, He Would Look Like Trayvon' | TPM Livewire: President Obama, after nominating Jim Yong Kim to the World Bank on Friday, addressed the ongoing investigation into the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. "I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Obama said. "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."
Obama said it is "absolutely imperative" to investigate every aspect of the case. "All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how something like this happened," Obama added.
Obama said it is "absolutely imperative" to investigate every aspect of the case. "All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how something like this happened," Obama added.
Email - Walking While Black - Children's Defense Fund
But sometimes it isn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to protect Trayvon Martin. Seventeen-year-old Trayvon’s English teacher said he was “an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.” Trayvon loved building models and taking things apart, his favorite subject was math, and he dreamed of becoming a pilot and an engineer. Instead, he was gunned down by a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain vigilante who profiled him, followed him, and shot him in the chest. His killer, George Zimmerman, saw the teenager on the street and called the police to report he looked “like he’s up to no good.”
Charlotte blogger resigns over Obama portrayal - State - NewsObserver.com
When conservative blogger Tara Servatius of Charlotte found this picture on Google Images, she said it seemed like the perfect illustration for her Monday “Meck Deck” blog on Obama’s decision to speak out against a proposed N.C. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
But by Thursday, the in-your-face Servatius – a one-time WBT talk show host and Creative Loafing columnist – had resigned amid a storm of controversy, including complaints about the image from the N.C. NAACP and her own bosses at the John Locke Foundation, a conservative N.C. think tank.
Fewer women enrolling in STEM classes in community colleges – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs
A study released Tuesday by the Institute for Women's Policy Research says that while women represent a majority of college graduates overall, only 27.5% of Associate’s degrees and occupational certificates in the STEM fields were awarded to women in 2007. Cynthia Costello, the study’s author, found that women are losing ground: This statistic was more than 10% higher in 1997.
Underrepresentation in STEM fields at community colleges may be part of the reason women lag behind men in the STEM workforce. According to the study, women make up almost half of the American workforce but only around a quarter of the STEM labor pool. Data presented in the study shows that women are leaving some STEM fields. From 2000 to 2009, the number of women working in computers and math dropped about 3%.
Why black people don't trust the police - CNN.com
I respect them. I sympathize with them. I am appreciative of the work they do.
But when you've been pulled over for no good reason as many times as I have; when you've been in handcuffs for no good reason as many times as I have; when you run out to buy some allergy medication and upon returning home, find yourself surrounded by four squad cars with flashing lights and all you can think about is how not to get shot, you learn not to trust cops.
The first instance of injustice surrounding the Trayvon Martin tragedy occurred February 26, the night George Zimmerman decided to pursue, confront and ultimately shoot and kill Martin. The second started the moment the Sanford police failed to properly investigate what, given the 911 tapes, is clearly a questionable claim of self-defense made by Zimmerman. But seeing that Martin's parents were forced to sue the police department just to hear the tapes, it seems as if Zimmerman isn't the only questionable component in this case.
Fighting Stop-and-Frisk Tactic, but Hitting Racial Divide - NYTimes.com
The divide, they say, is largely informed by personal experience: many who object to the practice say that they have themselves been stopped by the police for reasons they believe were related to race.
Senator Kevin S. Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat, recalled several occasions when, as a high school student walking home in Flatbush, he was stopped by the police, patted down, told to empty his pockets, produce identification and divulge his destination.
Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Democrat from Brooklyn, remembers greeting a woman who was walking down a street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, when, he said, officers in plain clothes approached him and demanded to know who he was, where he was going and whether he had any guns or drugs.
Trayvon Martin Supporters Plan D.C. Rally Saturday | WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio
There was a sense of outrage during a demonstration in New York City's Union Square, as more than a thousand protesters condemned the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black 17-year-old. Protesters were wearing hoodies and chanting 'Trayvon Martin is my son.'
Martin's parents were at the rally, and plan to meet with justice department officials later today. Washington, D.C. supporters will be holding their rally near Freedom Plaza Saturday at 2 p.m.
Protest organizers are asking participants to wear all black or a hoodie, which was what Martin was wearing when he was shot to death as he walked home from a convenience store.
Police did not arrest or charge the shooter because he claimed self-defense, even though Martin was not armed. Witnesses and surveillance tapes are contradicting the shooter's claim.
Better to bring Latinos into TV's mainstream – USATODAY.com
Better to bring Latinos into TV's mainstream – USATODAY.com: Just as the latest red carpet awards season is fading, Comcast announced what film director Robert Rodriguez called "an important moment for the Latino community." It is launching two new channels expressly for Latinos.
At first look, the news is cause for celebration. After all, the underrepresentation of Latinos in American movies and on mainstream TV networks has been astonishing. While Latinos make up 16% of the U.S. population and number 50 million strong, only three Latinos star in the top 10 prime-time television network shows: Jennifer Lopez on American Idol, Christina Aguilera on Voice and Cote de Pablo on NCIS. And while Mexican actor Démian Bichir did earn an Oscar nomination for best actor, of the nine movies nominated for best picture, none starred a Latino or told a Latino story.
So, yes, Comcast's plans are encouraging. That's especially true because both new channels will be aimed at English-speaking Latinos — who, contrary to all the talk about undocumented Hispanics, are the ones driving population growth, with 25% of kids being born in the U.S. of Hispanic descent.
Three plead guilty to hate crime in fatal Miss. rundown case – USATODAY.com
Three plead guilty to hate crime in fatal Miss. rundown case – USATODAY.com: Just days after the Justice Department launched an investigation into the fatal shooting of an unarmed Florida teenager, three white men pleaded guilty Thursday to federal hate crime charges stemming from the horrific June 2011 murder of a 47-year-old black Mississippi man who was beaten and then run over by a pickup truck.
Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez said Deryl Dedmon, 19; John Rice, 19; and Dylan Butler, 20, made "a sport of attacking African Americans" in the Jackson, Miss., area before they were linked to the fatal assault on auto worker James Craig Anderson.
Dedmon also pleaded guilty in state court Wednesday in connection with the murder and was given two life sentences. Rice has been charged by state authorities with assault. Butler has not been charged in state court. A state investigation continues.
Howard University students protest Trayvon Martin’s shooting - The Washington Post
Howard University students protest Trayvon Martin’s shooting - The Washington Post: The students stood silently on the Howard University quad Thursday night and grasped red bags of Skittles high over their heads in memory of Trayvon Martin.
Martin, a 17 year-old African American teen, was fatally shot in Sanford, Fla., last month by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who said he suspected Martin of mischief. Martin was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea.
Martin’s shooting has sparked nationwide furor, a federal civil rights investigation and calls for the arrest of Zimmerman, who claimed the shooting was in self-defense.
Daniel Cokes, organizer of the Howard University protest, said squeezing those treats was proof of life for the 150 or so students who gathered. Cokes, a senior legal communications major, called on his peers and others to fight for improvements in the legal system and to draw attention to what he said was the injustice of Martin’s death.
Protesters joined around the flagpole at the center of campus, prayed and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” They also began organizing for other marches and demonstrations.
Martin, a 17 year-old African American teen, was fatally shot in Sanford, Fla., last month by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who said he suspected Martin of mischief. Martin was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea.
Martin’s shooting has sparked nationwide furor, a federal civil rights investigation and calls for the arrest of Zimmerman, who claimed the shooting was in self-defense.
Daniel Cokes, organizer of the Howard University protest, said squeezing those treats was proof of life for the 150 or so students who gathered. Cokes, a senior legal communications major, called on his peers and others to fight for improvements in the legal system and to draw attention to what he said was the injustice of Martin’s death.
Protesters joined around the flagpole at the center of campus, prayed and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” They also began organizing for other marches and demonstrations.
Commentary: Community College Campuses Provide an Accurate Reflection of Diversity
Kidney disease awareness within the African American community - The Washington Post
“The diseases that lead to kidney disease, such as high blood pressure or hypertension and diabetes, are much more concentrated in African American populations,” said J. Keith Melancon, former director of the kidney and pancreas transplantation at the Georgetown Transplant Institute. “There’s also a genetic factor.”
The National Kidney Foundation has designated March kidney awareness month.
Far more African Americans need a kidney transplant than there are available kidneys. One reason is that most donors are white and often are not a match for African American patients. The District, Melancon said, has the highest rate of end-stage renal disease in the country. The waiting list for a black person in need of a kidney, he said, is five to six years.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Trayvon Martin and dangerous times for black men - The Washington Post
Trayvon Martin and dangerous times for black men - The Washington Post: For every black man in America, from the millionaire in the corner office to the mechanic in the local garage, the Trayvon Martin tragedy is personal. It could have been me or one of my sons. It could have been any of us.
How many George Zimmermans are out there cruising the streets? How many guys with chips on their shoulders and itchy fingers on the triggers of loaded handguns? How many self-imagined guardians of the peace who say the words “black male” with a sneer?
We don’t yet know every detail of the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., that ended with an unarmed 17-year-old high school student being shot dead. But we know enough to conclude that this is an old, familiar story.
We know from tapes of Zimmerman’s 911 call that he initiated the encounter, having decided that Martin’s presence in the neighborhood was suspicious. We know that when Zimmerman told the 911 operator that he was following Martin, the operator responded, “Okay, we don’t need you to do that.” We know that Zimmerman kept following Martin anyway.
How many George Zimmermans are out there cruising the streets? How many guys with chips on their shoulders and itchy fingers on the triggers of loaded handguns? How many self-imagined guardians of the peace who say the words “black male” with a sneer?
We don’t yet know every detail of the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., that ended with an unarmed 17-year-old high school student being shot dead. But we know enough to conclude that this is an old, familiar story.
We know from tapes of Zimmerman’s 911 call that he initiated the encounter, having decided that Martin’s presence in the neighborhood was suspicious. We know that when Zimmerman told the 911 operator that he was following Martin, the operator responded, “Okay, we don’t need you to do that.” We know that Zimmerman kept following Martin anyway.
Don Thompson Named CEO of McDonald's - Black Enterprise
“I’m humbled to take the baton as CEO of McDonald’s,” Thompson said in a statement. “Our management team is strong and will remain focused on the Plan To Win and our three global priorities—optimizing the menu, modernizing the customer experience and broadening our accessibility to even more customers.”
White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious Like Trayvon Martin by Michael Skolnik | Global Grind
I was born white. It was the card I was dealt. No choice in the matter. Just the card handed out by the dealer. I have lived my whole life privileged.
Fairfax teacher placed on leave - Virginia Schools Insider - The Washington Post
Fairfax teacher placed on leave - Virginia Schools Insider - The Washington Post: A Fairfax County teacher accused of racially insensitive behavior has been placed on paid administrative leave, her lawyer said Tuesday, while the school system’s Office of Equity and Compliance investigates.
Marilyn Bart, an English teacher at George C. Marshall High School, allegedly singled out African American student Jordan Shumate more than once because of his race — including by telling him to read a Langston Hughes poem “blacker.”
Schools spokesman John Torre said an equity-office inquiry is standard procedure in case of such allegations.
Bill Reichhardt, a lawyer representing Bart, said she requested the scrutiny and intends to fully cooperate. “We’re anxious to examine the facts in an orderly and thorough manner, as quickly as possible,” Reichhardt said. He declined to elaborate on the case.
Marilyn Bart, an English teacher at George C. Marshall High School, allegedly singled out African American student Jordan Shumate more than once because of his race — including by telling him to read a Langston Hughes poem “blacker.”
Schools spokesman John Torre said an equity-office inquiry is standard procedure in case of such allegations.
Bill Reichhardt, a lawyer representing Bart, said she requested the scrutiny and intends to fully cooperate. “We’re anxious to examine the facts in an orderly and thorough manner, as quickly as possible,” Reichhardt said. He declined to elaborate on the case.
Commentary: Women’s Colleges, HBCUs Have Nurtured the Best and the Brightest
My own family is a case in point.
When growing up my mother always intoned the words “when you go to college,” never “if you go,” although she herself had not attended. My grandmother, an immigrant from Trinidad, had not completed high school, but education was so highly regarded that she (in embarrassment) typically withheld that information from her friends.
Attending an all-girls high school taught me that girls can be athletes and scholars; matriculating at historically Black Howard University showed me that African-Americans could be poets, politicians and physical chemists.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Raising Multilingual Children (or Not) - NYTimes.com
Raising Multilingual Children (or Not) - NYTimes.com: Marcus Mabry, editor at large at The International Herald Tribune, is raising his twins to be trilingual, an act of parental aggression that I’m having a hard time not taking personally. It’s not even that either he, or his partner, speaks another language as a native. It’s just that he’s trying to do what’s best for them, and so he speaks to them only in French, while their nanny speaks to them in Mandarin, and his partner speaks English.
Those twins are going to be well prepared for their international life, and, if Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, writing in the Sunday Review, is right, smarter than the average single-language speaking child (mine). Actually, despite my sarcasm, I’m appreciative of his efforts — any American who has traveled overseas knows that if more of us spoke a second language, we’d have, if nothing else, a better international reputation.
Those twins are going to be well prepared for their international life, and, if Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, writing in the Sunday Review, is right, smarter than the average single-language speaking child (mine). Actually, despite my sarcasm, I’m appreciative of his efforts — any American who has traveled overseas knows that if more of us spoke a second language, we’d have, if nothing else, a better international reputation.
Latino Population Growth Rate Decreased After 2007, Report Finds
The population growth analysis out of The Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program finds that the proportion of Latino growth has slowed significantly from 2007 on, as compared to the earlier half of the decade. The trend is seen in both metropolitan and suburban areas.
"It's kind of stopped on a dime," Senior Fellow William H. Frey, author of the report, told The Los Angeles Times. "The big turndown in growth is pervasive."
According to the report, which was released Tuesday, annual Hispanic growth rates in suburban areas "hovered between 4.5 and 5 percent during 2006-2007, then dropped steadily to 3.3 percent during 2009-2010." Likewise, in major cities, there was healthy growth in 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, but the percentage of growth dropped in the last three years.
Life sentence in Mississippi hate-crime case - CNN.com
Deryl Dedmon pleaded guilty to murder and a hate-crime charge before a judge in Jackson on Wednesday afternoon, admitting to the June killing of James Craig Anderson. Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill sentenced him to two concurrent life terms, saying, "This craven act isn't who we are."
"Whatever excuse you offer, forget that. There is no excuse," Weill said. He added, "The state of Mississippi condemns this despicable crime."
Dedmon, 19, told the judge that he was a "changed man" who had found religion since his arrest.
"I wish I could take it all back," he said, adding, "I was young and dumb, ignorant and full of hatred. I chose to go down the wrong path."
DOJ: Florida Voting Restrictions May Discriminate Intentionally | TPMMuckraker
DOJ: Florida Voting Restrictions May Discriminate Intentionally | TPMMuckraker: New Florida laws that place harsh restrictions on third-party voter registration groups and limit the early voting period may have been passed with a discriminatory intent, lawyers with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division suggested in a court filing on Tuesday.
DOJ told the court that the federal government’s position was that Florida “has not met its burden of proof” in demonstrating that “the proposed voting changes neither have the purpose nor will have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.” It singled out the provisions of Florida’s new voting law that place restrictions on third-party voter registration groups, shorten the early voting period and make voters who move to a different county cast provisional ballots.
Several counties in Florida are covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of racial discrimination to have changes to their election laws precleared by the Justice Department or a panel of judges in D.C. The feds objected to provisions of the law in a court filing earlier this month.
DOJ told the court that the federal government’s position was that Florida “has not met its burden of proof” in demonstrating that “the proposed voting changes neither have the purpose nor will have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.” It singled out the provisions of Florida’s new voting law that place restrictions on third-party voter registration groups, shorten the early voting period and make voters who move to a different county cast provisional ballots.
Several counties in Florida are covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of racial discrimination to have changes to their election laws precleared by the Justice Department or a panel of judges in D.C. The feds objected to provisions of the law in a court filing earlier this month.
The Benefits of Bilingualism - NYTimes.com
This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.
Quiet revolution in teaching science is earning UMBC extra credit - The Washington Post
Quiet revolution in teaching science is earning UMBC extra credit - The Washington Post: ...At UMBC, the overall 68 percent graduation rate seems modest. But black and Hispanic students tend to graduate at about the same rate as whites, a feat almost unknown in higher education. A National Science Foundation report reveals that 48 African Americans who earned bachelor’s degrees from UMBC went on to earn doctorates in science and engineering from 2005 to 2009, the largest number from any college without a black student majority. Sixteen percent of UMBC students are African American.
Lakeshore Schools Rescinds Disciplinary Action Against English Teacher Christine Schroeder For Perceived Racist Vocabulary Quiz
Lakeshore Schools Rescinds Disciplinary Action Against English Teacher Christine Schroeder For Perceived Racist Vocabulary Quiz: In a nod to the power of community and social media, Lakeshore Public Schools in Stevensville, Mich. has rescinded disciplinary action against an Advanced Placement English teacher for a controversial question she wrote on a vocabulary quiz.
Christine Schroeder, a teacher at Lakeshore High School, was suspended for four days, WSJM reports, and had agreed to attend a racial sensitivity workshop after giving students a quiz with a fill-in-the-blank question asking for a word that describes neighboring Benton Harbor -- a poor, mostly black town. The answer Schroeder was looking for was "sordid," which means dirty, filthy or squalid.
Christine Schroeder, a teacher at Lakeshore High School, was suspended for four days, WSJM reports, and had agreed to attend a racial sensitivity workshop after giving students a quiz with a fill-in-the-blank question asking for a word that describes neighboring Benton Harbor -- a poor, mostly black town. The answer Schroeder was looking for was "sordid," which means dirty, filthy or squalid.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
How to Get Away With Murder and Other Things the Killing of Unarmed Black Teen Trayvon Martin Teaches Us
Appoint yourself captain of the neighborhood watch. Don't set it up with the national program. The national program won't let you carry a gun or pursue suspects. Do it in a gated development where your black neighbors — 20 percent of the community — are targets of suspicion afraid of leaving their homes. Drive around in an SUV and keep an eye out for suspicious individuals. Look for young black men, the kind you've warned people about, the kind you think "always get away." Monitor the 7-11. Find someone who "looks like he's up to no good, or [is] on drugs, or something," someone "carrying something," someone "looking about."
Call 911.
Describe the suspicious person to the dispatcher, the way you always do, the way you've done at least nine times before. There have been a lot of break-ins in this neighborhood. You've probably spoken to this dispatcher before. You called the police 46 times last year. Say, "He's a black male... He's got a button on his shirt. Late teens." Tell the dispatcher that "something's wrong with him." The dispatcher will tell you that police are on their way. He'll tell you not to follow the kid.
Do it anyway. He's running. Find him. Wrestle with him. Shoot him, once.
Breast cancer toll among black women fed in part by fear, silence - The Washington Post
Some health-care professionals and advocates contend that the disparate mortality rates argue for a more urgent effort to reach more black women. They are frustrated that, with all of the information available about the importance of early detection and treatment, the statistics remain so dire.
In a major survey focusing on African American women by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, 75 percent of black women rated their health as good or excellent, about the same percentage as white women, black men and white men.
Southern Miss band members lose scholarships over racist chant | The Raw Story
“The students have been forthcoming, cooperative, contrite and sincerely remorseful,” Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said in a press advisory on Tuesday. “They acted rashly and inappropriately, and now see the gravity of their words and actions.”
A university investigation determined which five band member chanted “Where’s your green card?” at Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez on Friday as he prepared to shoot his free throws.
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