Desis Dominate The National Spelling Bee : Code Switch : NPR

Desis Dominate The National Spelling Bee : Code Switch : NPR: When Arvind Mahankali last night, he became the sixth consecutive Indian-American winner and the 11th in the past 15 years.

Back in 1985, Balu Natarajan became the spelling bee's first Indian-American winner. (He won with "milieu" and acknowledged that the words have gotten a lot harder since then.) Our play-cousins over at Tell Me More back in 2009.

"The only thing I'll take credit for is helping to prove that it can be done by someone of Indian-American descent," he said. "Really, beyond that, it's the effort put forth by the kids and their families."

But Natarajan said that a community organization called the North South Foundation was one of the biggest reasons for the dominance of young desis at the spelling bee.

Puerto Ricans Find Coors' Toast In Poor Taste : Code Switch : NPR

Puerto Ricans Find Coors' Toast In Poor Taste : Code Switch : NPR: Community activists in New York are angry after MillerCoors placed a Puerto Rican flag on a special edition, 24-ounce beer can. The can was designed to promote the annual Puerto Rican Day parade.

Parade organizers approved a commemorative Coors Light can adorned with a Puerto Rican flag in the shape of a big apple. The phrase "National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc." was also emblazoned on the can.

Organizers insisted on Friday that the can does not feature the Puerto Rican flag.

"The mark in the promotion of Coors Light is NOT the Puerto Rican flag, NOR the logo of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc. It is an artwork created exclusively for this campaign, that integrates elements of the Parade's symbol such as an apple, a star, and red, white, blue, and black colors. We call on community leaders to clear this misunderstanding, and stop misguidedly telling the public that the Puerto Rican flag has been posted on beer cans, something that the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc. would NEVER authorize."

First African American female Air Force colonel buried - The Washington Post

First African American female Air Force colonel buried - The Washington Post: The first African American woman to be promoted to colonel in the Air Force was buried on a sultry Wednesday afternoon in Arlington National Cemetery, surrounded by scores of airmen in dress blues and about a dozen friends and family in somber summer suits and within sight of the soaring Air Force Memorial.

Ruth Alice Lucas, 92, who died March 23, “never accepted the injustice and prejudice of her time, and today we too must look for new ways in which we can better our world,” an Air Force chaplain, Maj. Robin Stephenson-Bratcher, said at the graveside.

Lucas worked the field of research, education and training, with particular interest in literacy.

In the November 1969 issue of Ebony magazine, she noted that among the servicemen then entering the military annually, “about 45,000 of them read below the fifth-grade level, and more than 30 percent of these men are black. Right now if I have any aim, it’s just to reach these men, to interest them in education and to motivate them to continue on.”

That issue featured a photo spread of the colonel holding on to her beret as she dashed from a military helicopter at the Pentagon.

'Stand Your Ground' Laws To Be Scrutinized For Racial Bias By Civil Rights Commission

'Stand Your Ground' Laws To Be Scrutinized For Racial Bias By Civil Rights Commission: WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted on Friday to launch an investigation into whether "Stand Your Ground" laws around the country have a racial bias.

These statutes gained attention after the February 2012 fatal shooting of Travyon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager. Authorities initially refused to arrest neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman, who is accused of shooting Martin, citing Florida's Stand Your Ground law. These measures allow individuals to stand their ground and use deadly force in self-defense, with no obligation to first attempt to retreat.

During a meeting in downtown Washington, D.C., on Friday, the commission approved the investigation in a 5-3 vote, with one Republican commissioner joining the four Democrats. The board is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, although two of the GOP members identify as independent after an attempt during the George W. Bush administration to stack the board. (The commission's charter says no more than four members can belong to the same political party.)

Herb DeGroft, Virginia School Board Member, Faces Ouster After Sending Racist Michelle Obama Emails

Herb DeGroft, Virginia School Board Member, Faces Ouster After Sending Racist Michelle Obama Emails: A string of racist emails and controversial remarks have shaken up a school board in southeastern Virginia's Isle of Wight County, and now one of the people responsible is facing intense pressure to resign.

On Thursday, board members voted 4 to 1 to officially call for their colleague Herb DeGroft to step down over emails he sent this month from his board email account attacking first lady Michelle Obama. DeGroft was the only one who voted against the measure.

According to NBC12, one of the emails DeGroft sent to colleagues depicted bare-breasted, African female warriors along with the caption, "Michelle Obama's high school reunion." Another message claimed the first lady was paid $50 to model in National Geographic.

The emails didn't stop with DeGroft's initial sending. Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Byron “Buzz” Bailey forwarded them to other board members and county employees. Bailey drew criticism earlier this month for saying "the South will rise again" during a board meeting on budgetary issues. Those comments, as well as his involvement with the racist emails, led to the resignation of Isle of Wight Division Superintendent Katrise Perera.

BBC Sport - Fifa racism measures could see teams expelled or relegated

BBC Sport - Fifa racism measures could see teams expelled or relegated: First or minor offences will result in either a warning, fine or order for a match to be played behind closed doors.

Serious or repeat offences can now be punished by a points deduction, expulsion or relegation.

Jeffrey Webb, head of Fifa's anti-racism task force, said the decision was "a defining moment".

He added: "Our football family is fully aware that what is reported in the media is actually less than 1% of the incidents that happen around the world.

"We've got to take action so that when we look to the next 20 or 50 years this will be the defining time that we took action against racism and discrimination."

Fifa, world football's governing body, passed the anti-racism resolution with a 99% majority at its congress in Mauritius.

Richard Conway, reporting for BBC Sport at the congress, said a concern was raised over those who voted against the tougher racism measures.

College Slots for Poorer Students Still Limited - NYTimes.com

College Slots for Poorer Students Still Limited - NYTimes.com: Opponents of race-based affirmative action in college admissions urge that colleges use a different tool to encourage diversity: giving a leg up to poor students. But many educators see real limits to how eager colleges are to enroll more poor students, no matter how qualified — and the reason is money.

“It’s expensive,” said Donald E. Heller, dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University. “You have to go out and identify them, recruit them and get them to apply, and then it’s really expensive once they enroll because they need more financial aid.” 

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon in a closely watched case over admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, and the court could outlaw any consideration of race. 

Opponents of affirmative action welcome that prospect, arguing that race-conscious admissions favor minority applicants who are not disadvantaged, and people on both sides of the issue contend that colleges should do more to achieve socioeconomic diversity. Polls show that while most Americans oppose racial or ethnic preferences in college admissions, they also think colleges should give extra help to the poor.

Stanford University Releases First of Two Faculty Diversity Studies - Higher Education

Stanford University Releases First of Two Faculty Diversity Studies - Higher Education: From 2008 to 2013, Stanford University saw the share of underrepresented minorities in the school’s faculty cohort increase by 43 percent while the entire cohort jumped 9 percent. Underrepresented minorities (URM), which include African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans, make up 7.3 percent of the university’s faculty, according to the university.

In an effort to ensure that Stanford retains those URM faculty members while continuing to make new hires, university officials are considering recommendations from a just-released report that aim to improve the campus climate such that URM faculty members feel more appreciated and valued at Stanford.

The recommendations, contained in “Quality of Life Survey Follow-Up Study of Underrepresented Minority Faculty at Stanford University: Report #1 – Recognition and Collegiality,” are presented “as a series of goals and suggested actions to be undertaken by the university, schools, departments and/or the faculty at large.” On Wednesday, the university released the report by the Panel on Faculty Equity and Quality of Life and convened a town hall meeting at which the report was discussed.

Changes In DSM-5: Racism Can Cause PTSD Similar To That Of Soldiers After War : Conditions : Medical Daily

Changes In DSM-5: Racism Can Cause PTSD Similar To That Of Soldiers After War : Conditions : Medical Daily: Dr. Monnica T. Williams suggests that proposed changes in the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) could increase the potential for better recognition of race-based trauma in racial and ethnic minorities.

In a recent article in Psychology Today, Williams, who is a clinical psychologist and the associate director of the University of Louisville's Center for Mental Health Disparities, said that before the release of the DSM-5 Thursday, racism was recognized as a trauma that could potentially cause PTSD, but only in relation to a specific event. There had to be an incident of intense fear, helplessness, or horror for such consideration. For instance, if someone was assaulted in a racially-motivated event, then racism qualified as a sufficient trauma to be categorized as a cause of PTSD.

But now, under the new definition, the requirements for fear, helplessness, and horror have been removed, making room for the more lasting effects of subtle racism to be considered in the discussion of race-based traumas.
In 2011, researchers found that African Americans who reported experiences of racial discrimination had higher odds of suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). An article on PsychCentral termed the phenomenon as "racial battle fatigue, saying that "exposure to racial discrimination is analogous to the constant pressure soldiers face on the battlefield."

Joblessness Shortens Lifespan of Least Educated White Women, Research Says - NYTimes.com

Joblessness Shortens Lifespan of Least Educated White Women, Research Says - NYTimes.com: Researchers have known for some time that life expectancy is declining for the country’s least educated white women, but they have not been able to explain why. A new study has found that the two factors most strongly associated with higher death rates were smoking and not having a job.

The aim of the study, which is being published Thursday in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, was to explain the growing gap in mortality between white women without a high school diploma and those with a high school diploma or more.

 The study found that the odds of dying for the least educated women were 37 percent greater than for their more educated peers in any given year in the period of 1997 to 2001. The odds had risen to 66 percent by the period of 2002 to 2006. The authors controlled for age. 

The researchers used a health survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, drawing on data from about 47,000 women ages 45 to 84. The study weighed more than a dozen factors to see which were causing the divergence in mortality rates. Poverty, obesity, homeownership, marital status and alcohol consumption were among the factors investigated.

Blacks Professionals’ Progress Stalls - NYTimes.com

Blacks Professionals’ Progress Stalls - NYTimes.com: HOUSTON — As a partner and chief diversity officer at Thompson & Knight, Pauline Higgins was not afraid to press the issue of hiring minorities at the 126-year-old Texas law firm. But when she left in 2008, she was replaced by an associate with less influence.

Now, current and former partners say, the diversity committee meets less often, and the firm has fewer black lawyers than before. It is a trajectory familiar in many elite realms of American professional life. Even as racial barriers continue to fall, progress for African-Americans over all has remained slow — and in some cases appears to be stalling.

“You don’t want to be a diversity officer who only buys tables at events and seats people,” Ms. Higgins said recently. “It’s about recruiting and inclusion and training and development, with substantive work assignments.”

Reading Gains Lag Improvements in Math - NYTimes.com

Reading Gains Lag Improvements in Math - NYTimes.com: ...Educators, policy makers and business leaders often fret about the state of math education, particularly in comparison with other countries. But reading comprehension may be a larger stumbling block.

Here at Troy Prep Middle School, a charter school near Albany that caters mostly to low-income students, teachers are finding it easier to help students hit academic targets in math than in reading, an experience repeated in schools across the country.

Students entering the fifth grade here are often several years behind in both subjects, but last year, 100 percent of seventh graders scored at a level of proficient or advanced on state standardized math tests. In reading, by contrast, just over half of the seventh graders met comparable standards.

The results are similar across the 31 other schools in the Uncommon Schools network, which enrolls low-income students in Boston, New York City, Rochester and Newark. After attending an Uncommon school for two years, said Brett Peiser, the network’s chief executive, 86 percent of students score at a proficient or advanced level in math, while only about two thirds reach those levels in reading over the same period.

NCORE Conference Addresses Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education - Higher Education

NCORE Conference Addresses Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education - Higher Education: NEW ORLEANS — On Wednesday, the annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education kicked off with more than 2,500 attendees convening on the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel.

Originally launched by the University of Oklahoma 26 years ago, NCORE engages students, administrators, professors and leaders in higher education in a series of seminars, workshops and keynote addresses that foster open discussions and relationship building. Its mission is to ameliorate racial and ethnic relations, help colleges and universities to engender more inclusive and welcoming milieus and expand opportunities for historically underrepresented groups in higher education.

Dr. Belinda P. Biscoe Boni, associate vice president of community outreach in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma, noted that NCORE is “much more than just a conference,” but what she describes as a life-changing experience.

Duncan: More Hispanic children need to enroll in preschool - The Washington Post

Duncan: More Hispanic children need to enroll in preschool - The Washington Post: Record numbers of Hispanic students are staying in high school, graduating and enrolling in college, but they lag behind other groups in preschool attendance, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday morning.

“Less than half of Hispanic children attend any kind of preschool – that’s kind of staggering,” Duncan told reporters at a breakfast meeting. “This is the fastest-growing population and a lower-than-average participation rate.”

In the past decade, Hispanics have made significant gains in later grades. In 2010, 78 percent of Hispanics graduated from high school, compared to 64 percent in 2000. During the same period, the high school dropout rate for Hispanics was cut in half from 28 percent to 14 percent.

And, for the first time, Hispanics enrolled in college in 2012 at higher rates than white students. According to a Pew Research Center analysis released this month, 69 percent of Hispanic high school graduates in the class of 2012 enrolled in college that fall compared to 67 percent of white students.

While all of that is cause for celebration, Duncan said, policymakers, community leaders and educators need to increase the rates of Hispanic children who attend preschool.

For Tuskegee Airman George Porter, Failure Was Not An Option : NPR

For Tuskegee Airman George Porter, Failure Was Not An Option : NPR: Sixteen million men and women served in uniform during World War II. Today, 1.2 million are still alive, but hundreds of those vets are dying every day. In honor of Memorial Day, NPR's All Things Considered is remembering some of the veterans who died this year.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-Americans to fly and support combat planes. Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force George Porter, a crew chief and aircraft maintenance mechanic with the airmen, served for more than two decades with the U.S. Armed Forces. He died in February at the age of 91.

In a , Porter spoke about the racial prejudice that made his job difficult during World War II.

"We did things that we weren't supposed to do as the mechanics on the flight line. Because when we would order parts, they wouldn't send us the parts, but we learned how to repair our own parts."

Porter often shared his experiences with younger members of his chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, the George S. "Spanky" Roberts Chapter in Sacramento, Calif. During the war, the U.S. government "expected [the airmen] to fail," says Walter Suggs, a chapter member, "and they kind of put them in that situation, the Afro-Americans, so they would fail. So they wouldn't give them parts or anything like that."

The Questions People Get Asked About Their Race : Code Switch : NPR

The Questions People Get Asked About Their Race : Code Switch : NPR: Since Code Switch launched, friends and people on Twitter have been sharing examples of questions they've been asked about their race or culture that they've found interesting, awkward or just plain offensive.

We were intrigued when we saw this question posted on AskReddit: "What's one question you've been dying to ask another race but never do because of the impending 'THAT'S RACIST' aftermath?"

So we turned the around. We asked folks on Twitter to share some of the questions they've been asked with us, using the hashtag . And really. The responses were plentiful.

We thought we'd round up some of the common themes.

Georgia University Students Save Slave Artifacts from Demolition - Higher Education

Georgia University Students Save Slave Artifacts from Demolition - Higher Education: Behind the towering Live Oak trees in the Savannah suburb of Georgetown, crews of archaeologists recently unearthed the brown and red dirt for signs that slaves once lived there. They found physical evidence of how slaves on the Miller Plantation lived and the tools they used around the kitchen in everyday life, including fragments of dishes, white and blue ceramics and green glass.

Such artifacts can breathe life into the pages of history, says Daina Ramey Berry, a scholar of American slavery at the University of Texas in Austin who has studied slavery in the region.

“For me as a historian, I learn more about slavery from a toilet or a trash pit. I can use the archaeological report as a physical record. It’s very powerful,” Berry said.

The archaeological discovery by the Georgia Department of Transportation was triggered by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, a federal law that requires archaeological digs on public land in historically significant areas. The landowner in this case is the Georgia DOT, which purchased the property from a private landowner for a highway project known as the Abercorn Extension.

30 Best U.S. Non-HBCU Schools for Minorities - Higher Education

30 Best U.S. Non-HBCU Schools for Minorities - Higher Education: Across the country, institutions of higher learning are starting to look more like the general population. In the 2010-2011 school year, three times as many minority students received bachelor’s degrees compared to the 1990-1991 school year. Back then, minorities only represented 13 percent of bachelor degree earners; today, that number has jumped to nearly one-fourth of total degree recipients.

I’ve written about the Top 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and included schools that are growing in diversity. I’d like to expand that idea to include non-HBCUs that have excellent programs in place for minority students. I used several factors to create this list: percentage of minority students enrolled, freshman retention rates, graduation rate gaps and general graduation rates (particularly over six years).

Take a look at my list of the 30 best U.S. colleges and universities for minorities and let me know who you would add.

'Part Of The Community': Oklahoma's Latinos Rebuild After Tornado : Code Switch : NPR

'Part Of The Community': Oklahoma's Latinos Rebuild After Tornado : Code Switch : NPR: Pastor Chano Najera calls out T-shirt sizes in Spanglish to volunteers waiting for their uniforms.

It's easy to spot Najera in this crowd — just look for the cowboy hat. He preaches in Spanish at Templo De Alabanza in Oklahoma City. On this morning, though, he's wrangling a group of young Latino volunteers as they wheel cases of water bottles onto trucks headed for Moore, Okla., where an EF-5 tornado ripped through neighborhoods last week, but spared Najera's home.

Najera was born in Mexico and has lived in Oklahoma for more than three decades — long enough to know which tornado tips are especially worth preaching: "Go buy a safe box!" he says. "Keep the most important papers and documents and whatever they have in the safe box."

Then, he says, find a space under the floor board of your home and "bury it."

Olivia Ferguson McQueen, Civil Rights Pioneer, Awarded Diploma 54 Years Late

Olivia Ferguson McQueen, Civil Rights Pioneer, Awarded Diploma 54 Years Late: Olivia Ferguson McQueen received her high school diploma on Saturday, 54 years after finishing high school in a tiny room at the Charlottesville School Board office, then located at the Venable school.

In 1958, at age 16, McQueen was the principal plaintiff in a successful lawsuit to integrate Charlottesville City Schools. Despite her victory, McQueen spent her senior year sequestered from her peers and was never awarded a true diploma.

An early 1959 Virginia Supreme Court ruling overturning Massive Resistance would have allowed McQueen to attend the previously all-white Lane High School.

The School Board, however, had other ideas. McQueen was barred from Lane, and spent her senior year being tutored in the School Board office.

Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Pamela Moran, and Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins awarded McQueen her diploma in a ceremony at what is now Burley Middle School. When McQueen was a student, Burley served as the black high school for both county and city students. It is now an Albemarle County school.

Native American vets push for recognition - seattlepi.com

Native American vets push for recognition - seattlepi.com: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Navajo Code Talkers are legendary. Then there was Cpl. Ira Hamilton Hayes, the Pima Indian who became a symbol of courage and patriotism when he and his fellow Marines raised the flag over Iwo Jima in 1945.

Before World War II and in the decades since, tens of thousands of American Indians have enlisted in the Armed Forces to serve their country at a rate much greater than any other ethnicity.

Yet, among all the monuments and statutes along the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not one stands in recognition.

A grassroots effort is brewing among tribes across the country to change that, while Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii has introduced legislation that would clear the way for the National Museum of the American Indian to begin raising private funds for a memorial.

World's second-oldest man known dies at 113 - CNN.com

World's second-oldest man known dies at 113 - CNN.com: Do 41,363 days sound like much time? You very likely won't live that long, but James Sisnett did.

That's long enough to have seen the first silent movie, when it came out, provided a movie theater even existed back then on the island of Barbados, where Sisnett spent his life.

He was three years old the first time Orville Wright took the first ever flight in an airplane and barely a teenager when World War I broke out.

When he died Thursday, Sisnett was the oldest man in the Western Hemisphere, whose age had been validated, according to the Gerontology Research Group. He was likely the second oldest man on the planet.

GRG is a private organization that verifies the ages of centenarians, people over 100 years of age, and supercentenarians, people over 110.

Living as long as Sisnett did is quite a feat, but since women outlive men on the whole, there are a few women still alive between Canada and Argentina, who are even older than he was, according to GRG.

'Las Caras Lindas': To Be Black And Puerto Rican In 2013 : Code Switch : NPR

'Las Caras Lindas': To Be Black And Puerto Rican In 2013 : Code Switch : NPR: " I am a black man
Who was born café con leche
I sneaked into a party, to which I had not been invited.
And I got kicked out. They threw me out.
When I went back to have fun with the black girls
All together they said 'Maelo, go back to your white girls'
And they kicked me out. They threw me out."

- Ismael Rivera, "Niche"

In "Niche" ("Black Man"), iconic Puerto Rican singer Ismael Rivera navigates the labyrinth of race and ethnicity in the Caribbean. A light-skinned "café con leche" black man, he wanders through his island like a ghost of a colonial Spanish past, shooed off by both blacks and whites uncomfortable with his presence and what he represents.

Wayne Miller, Photographer Who Captured Black Chicago, Dies : The Picture Show : NPR

Wayne Miller, Photographer Who Captured Black Chicago, Dies : The Picture Show : NPR: Pioneering photographer Wayne Miller, who captured some of the first images of the destruction of Hiroshima, died this week at the age of 94. The Chicago native was renowned for a trailblazing series of postwar portraits of black Americans in Chicago and for co-curating the groundbreaking international photo exhibition "The Family of Man."

"I believe a level of intimacy has been lost," says Paul Berlanga, director of Chicago's Stephen Daiter Gallery, which has mounted an exhibition in memory of Miller.

Wayne Miller was born in Chicago in 1918. He studied banking and worked only part-time as a photographer, but during World War II, he became a member of Edward Steichen's U.S. Navy Combat Photo Unit.

One of his best-known wartime photos shows a wounded pilot being pulled from a fighter plane after it was shot down. Miller had been scheduled to be aboard the plane, according to his granddaughter Inga Miller, and the photographer who took his place was killed.

Job Searching While Black: What's Behind The Unemployment Gap? : Code Switch : NPR

Job Searching While Black: What's Behind The Unemployment Gap? : Code Switch : NPR: In the classic American story, opportunity is always in front of you. You finish school, find a job, buy a home and start a family; it's a rosy dreamscape.

But that world is one-dimensional. Income inequality is just about as American as baseball and apple pie. And though the economy has improved in the past few years, the unemployment rate for black Americans, now 13.2 percent, is about double that for white Americans.

Persistent unemployment and difficulty getting a job cumulatively impact the so-called wealth gap. Wealth or net worth is defined as a person's total assets — such as bank and retirement accounts, stocks and home value — minus debt. It's what families lean on in a downturn.

In 1984, the wealth gap between blacks and whites was less than $100,000, according to a . That number has since tripled.
"The wealth gap is really where history shows up in your wallet," says Heather McGhee, vice president of policy and outreach at the public policy group Demos. McGhee has spent a lot of time looking at these numbers and what it means for families.

As Lacrosse Grows, the Diversity of Players Remains Largely Unchanged - NYTimes.com

As Lacrosse Grows, the Diversity of Players Remains Largely Unchanged - NYTimes.com: On a team in Southern California, more than 2,500 miles from the center of lacrosse’s universe on the Eastern Seaboard, Kyle Harrison no longer feels unsettled.

For many years and on numerous teams Harrison, regarded by many as perhaps the greatest midfielder in lacrosse’s history, was “the only pair of brown legs on the field,” a rare black player in a sport that is overwhelmingly white. But for the last few years, Harrison has caught a glimpse of what he hopes is lacrosse’s future: a racial balance that will eliminate the uneasiness that he and other minority players say they have felt to varying degrees in their careers.

“Half my team is black,” said Harrison, who plays for Team STX on the LXM Pro Tour. “I was proud as hell the first time I walked on the field with those guys. I knew we had all been through the same thing, and we’ve all been the only guy on a lacrosse team before. When you start getting in those situations where you’re not the only one, you’re not the token black lacrosse player on a team, you start to feel more comfortable.”

Court Rules That Arizona Sheriff Engages In Racial Profiling : The Two-Way : NPR

Court Rules That Arizona Sheriff Engages In Racial Profiling : The Two-Way : NPR: A U.S. district court has ruled that Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's department has violated the rights of Latino drivers by racially profiling them as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration and issued an injunction to halt the practice.

on Friday marks the first time that the hard-line Maricopa County sheriff's office has been found to be engaging in systematic racial profiling.

In 2010, Arizona passed a law that set the legal framework for Arpaio's actions, including a provision that allows police to check a person's immigration status if he is pulled over for any other reason. While the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of the law last year, it .

It’s time for D.C. to stop wrecking lives over a bag of weed - The Washington Post

It’s time for D.C. to stop wrecking lives over a bag of weed - The Washington Post: ...There are two types of marijuana users the District. Those who have avoided arrest, and those whose lives are derailed by involvement with the criminal courts. The first group is predominantly white and privileged. The second, black and disadvantaged. Research confirms what many people of color suspect: The disparity between white and black marijuana arrests is the result of racial bias in the application of the law.

I talked a great deal about this issue when I ran for D.C. Council in April’s special election. I didn’t win, but that doesn’t mean that the city’s leaders can’t take a sensible action to improve the prospects of thousands of young people.

It’s time for Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and the D.C. Council to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Seventeen states and several major cities already have. Blue states such as Massachusetts and red states such as Nebraska have realized that it is counterproductive to pointlessly saddle their kids with criminal records. If Cambridge intellectuals and Nebraska “cornhuskers” can agree on decriminalizing marijuana, why can’t the District’s elected leaders figure this out, too?

‘Four little girls’ of Birmingham remembered 50 years later — MSNBC

‘Four little girls’ of Birmingham remembered 50 years later — MSNBC: It’s been nearly 50 years since four young girls were killed after members of the Ku Klux Klan planted a bomb at their Sunday school in Birmingham, Ala., simply because of the color of their skin. But five decades later, lawmakers have moved one step closer to posthumously awarding the “four little girls,” as they are known by some, with the Congressional Gold Medal, proving that their memory remains seared into our national consciousness.

“These children, unoffending, innocent, and beautiful were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity,” said the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a eulogy for the four children–Addie Mae Collins, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14. “They died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.”

The girls were killed the morning of Sept. 15, 1963, in a bombing that also injured 22 other churchgoers. It wasn’t until 2000 that the FBI announced the attack had been carried out by the Ku Klux Klan and arrested the remaining suspects, who were later convicted.

Bronx 'ghetto' tours stop amid residents' outrage - NBC News.com

Bronx 'ghetto' tours stop amid residents' outrage - NBC News.com: A company that promised sightseer tours to the Bronx that included a New York City "ghetto" has stopped the bus rides under protest from an outraged neighborhood.

Real Bronx Tours, which took mostly European tourists from Manhattan to see life in the South Bronx "from a safe distance," issued a statement this week saying it would immediately cease all tours there.

Three times a week, the $45 ride took visitors past food-pantry lines, a housing project and a park a guide described as a pickpocket hangout.

Tourists were told they'd get a look at the Bronx that reflects one of the darkest chapters of the city's history, the 1970s and '80s, when the tour website said "this borough was notorious for drugs, gangs, crime and murders."

Bonnie Faubus Salcido, Who Opposed Brother’s Segregationist Stance, Dies at 93 - NYTimes.com

Bonnie Faubus Salcido, Who Opposed Brother’s Segregationist Stance, Dies at 93 - NYTimes.com: Bonnie Faubus Salcido, a sister of Gov. Orval E. Faubus of Arkansas and the only member of his family to openly oppose him for trying to block the integration of Little Rock Central High School during the South’s racial troubles of the 1950s, died on May 9 in Fresno, Calif.  She was 93.

Her son, Reginald Salcido, said she had died of heart failure.

Governor Faubus’s actions in 1957 led to a constitutional crisis over federal and state powers, and the Supreme Court held that a governor could not block a federal court order. The Little Rock case played out over two years of political drama that included riots, the closing of high schools and international condemnation of white supremacy in the South.

Mrs. Salcido was born on Feb. 13, 1920, and she lived most of her life in California. She went there during World War II to work in a defense factory and later eloped with her boss, Raul Salcido. When her brother drew national attention over the school crisis, she expressed her opposition to his action in an interview with a California newspaper. 

Her criticism was quickly reported in Arkansas and caused several years of hard feelings between her and the governor.

Link Diversity to Workforce Needs - Higher Education

Link Diversity to Workforce Needs - Higher Education: Despite the evolving interpretation offered by state and federal courts, American higher education as a community remains committed in its support to increase diversity among students.

At the same time, however, our colleges and universities largely fail to link diversity initiatives to specific workforce needs. This tendency often applies philosophically to all students enrolled, fueled in part by a belief that the responsibility for higher education institutions writ large is to educate broadly.

There are wonderful programs and support groups to promote and support diversity, of course, measured by gender, race, sexual preference, and socioeconomic income. The report of the Ford Foundation-funded Century Foundation released this week speaks compellingly to the role and problems facing American community colleges in these areas. It cites outstanding programs from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the Edvance Foundation, where I serve as CEO and a director, to illustrate efforts under way that demonstrate fresh thinking.

UNCF Student Leadership Conference Preps Students to Diversify Social Entrepreneurship, Financial Services Fields - Higher Education

UNCF Student Leadership Conference Preps Students to Diversify Social Entrepreneurship, Financial Services Fields - Higher Education: WASHINGTON — For Yauntilaa Lancaster, becoming a teacher will represent a crucial early step in a career she hopes will culminate with her establishing and running a public charter school. This summer, the south Bronx native who is a rising senior at Spelman College, will intern at the Building Excellent Schools organization in Boston, an opportunity she believes will take her another step closer to the ambitious education career she’s envisioned.

On Thursday, the United Negro College Fund hosted Lancaster and 38 students from historically Black colleges and universities during second day activities of the organization’s four-day annual Student Leadership Conference. The conference is designed to provide students, who will be working in UNCF-arranged summer internships, career planning and professional development workshops. In addition, UNCF officials have been motivating students with stirring talks and presentations.

Teen birth rate drops, especially among Hispanics - Vitals

Teen birth rate drops, especially among Hispanics - Vitals: Across the nation fewer and fewer teens are giving birth, especially Hispanic girls, according to a new government report.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that from 2007 to 2011, the overall rate of teen births plummeted a full 30 percent. The biggest decline was among Hispanic teens, whose birth rate dropped 34 percent. Among non-Hispanic black teens there was a decline of 24 percent. Among white, non-Hispanic teens, the rate decreased by 20 percent.

“The thing that surprised me most was the big decline in rates for Hispanics: at least 40 percent in 22 states and the District of Columbia,” said Brady Hamilton, a report co-author and a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Living In Two Worlds, But With Just One Language : NPR

Living In Two Worlds, But With Just One Language : NPR: NPR continues its conversations about , where NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris asks people to send in six-word stories about race and culture. The submissions are personal, provocative and often quite candid.

When Elysha O'Brien, a college professor in Las Vegas, decided to submit six words about her cultural identity, she knew exactly what she wanted to say: "." Like many others who have written to The Race Card Project, she grew up in bilingual household but never learned the language of her elders.

O'Brien says she often feels like she has a foot in two worlds, but is never fully accepted in either. Whites often assume she is Greek or Mediterranean because her face is slightly angular and her skin fairly pale. But when she encounters others who share her Mexican heritage, they often don't pick up signals that suggest cultural camaraderie.

"When I go into a community of Hispanics, they just assume that I'm white," O'Brien says. "Once we start talking, sometimes they'll say, 'Well, why don't you speak Spanish?' And I say, 'Well, my parents didn't teach me.' "

The Race Card Project: Six-Word Essays : NPR

The Race Card Project: Six-Word Essays : NPR: NPR's partnership with The Race Card Project explores a different kind of conversation about race. We ask people to think about their experiences, observations, triumphs, laments, theories or anthem about race or cultural identity. Then they take those thoughts and distill them down to one six-word sentence.

Thousands of people have shared their six-word stories and every so often NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris will dip into the trove of stories to explore issues surrounding race and cultural identity for "Morning Edition."

You can find hundreds of submissions and submit your own stories at www.theracecardproject.com

Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From? : Code Switch : NPR

Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From? : Code Switch : NPR: What is it with this stereotype about black people loving fried chicken?

I asked Claire Schmidt for help. She's a professor at the University of Missouri who studies race and folklore. Schmidt said chickens had long been a part of Southern diets, but they had particular utility for slaves. They were cheap, easy to feed and a good source of meat.

But then, Schmidt says, came .

D.W. Griffith's seminal and supremely racist 1915 silent movie about the supposedly heroic founding of the Ku Klux Klan features a group of actors portraying shiftless black elected officials acting rowdy and crudely in a legislative hall. (The message to the audience: These are the dangers of letting blacks vote.) Some of the legislators are shown drinking. Others had their feet kicked up on their desks. And one of them was very ostentatiously eating fried chicken.

"That image really solidified the way white people thought of black people and fried chicken," Schmidt said.

NYPD data: Whites much more likely to be carrying drugs and guns than minorities

In a detailed analysis (PDF) of publicly available New York Police Department data on crime in 2012, the New York Office of the Public Advocate revealed Wednesday that white people were much more likely to be carrying drugs and guns than minorities, despite making up a tiny fraction of individuals police subjected to so-called “stop-and-frisk” searches.
The report’s summary, first spotted by Think Progress, puts this striking divide in no unclear terms, explaining:

• The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded a weapon was half that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered a weapon in one out every 49 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 71 stops of Latinos and 93 stops of African Americans to find a weapon.
• The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded contraband was one-third less than that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered contraband in one out every 43 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 57 stops of Latinos and 61 stops of African Americans to find contraband.
• Despite the overall reduction in stops, the proportion involving black and Latino New Yorkers has remained unchanged. They continue to constitute 84 percent of all stops, despite comprising only 54 percent of the general population. And the innocence rates remain at the same level as 2011 – at nearly 89 percent.

Sergio García apologises after Tiger Woods 'fried chicken' jibe

Sergio García apologises after Tiger Woods 'fried chicken' jibe | Sport | The Guardian: Sergio García's ongoing spat with Tiger Woods took an unwelcome turn on Tuesday night, when the Spaniard made what could be interpreted as a racist remark about his opponent.

The Spaniard was on stage at the European Tour's gala players' awards dinner, where he was questioned by the Golf Channel's Steve Sands. García, who has been embroiled in verbal battles with Woods since the Players Championship at Sawgrass this month, was asked in jest if he would have the American round for dinner one night during the upcoming US Open. "We will have him round every night," García said. "We will serve fried chicken."

Aspiring Americans Share their Stories as Senate Debates Immigration Reform | The White House

Aspiring Americans Share their Stories as Senate Debates Immigration Reform | The White House: As the Senate debates bipartisan immigration reform legislation, the President and the Vice President hosted a meeting today in the Oval Office with young immigrants, also known as DREAMers, as well as with the siblings and spouses of undocumented immigrants. The meeting was an important opportunity for the President and the Vice President to hear directly from people whose families are affected daily by our nation’s broken immigration system.

The President and the Vice President were moved by the stories of courage and determination these young immigrants shared. The DREAMers shared how the deferred action changed their lives for the better and emphasized that they and their families need a permanent solution that will allow them to fully contribute to the country they call home. Their stories were both powerful and authentic, inspiring us all to remember the important task and responsibility we carry as public servants and members of the Obama administration.

AAPI Researcher Accepts Endowed Chair Position at UCLA - Higher Education

AAPI Researcher Accepts Endowed Chair Position at UCLA - Higher Education: A leading scholar in the study of disparities among Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in higher education will likely get a boost in his research due to a forthcoming move to California, which has the country’s largest AAPI population.

Effective this fall, Dr. Robert Teranishi will be the inaugural holder of the Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where AAPI students make up 36 percent of the 27,000-plus undergraduates. Teranishi has also accepted an appointment as professor of education in UCLA’s graduate school of education and information studies. He will be leaving his post as associate professor of higher education at New York University.

Since Teranishi’s research is in a young academic field, his move to the West Coast could raise the overall profile of the entire discipline, he says.

A few black Capitol cops protest agency bias - The Washington Post

A few black Capitol cops protest agency bias - The Washington Post: Suppose you gave a demonstration and nobody came — at least, almost nobody.

The United States Capitol Black Police Association expected 50 to 200 people to protest what it has described as an unfair, discriminatory and hostile work environment.

Thirty minutes after the appointed time, fewer than a dozen protesters stood under a tree outside the Capitol, looking like tourists seeking shade.

“Fear of retaliation” was the reason so few participated, according to Sharon Malloy, vice president of the association.
Perhaps.

Fear of retaliation against employees is real in the federal government, but would that alone account for such a poor turnout?

“We talked to well over 100 people and got a commitment,” she said. “They said they would come, and then they didn’t show up. I wish I could shake the fear out of them.”

Despite the showing, the issues are serious for those who took the time to attend the demonstration, such as it was.
Malloy loved being a cop. She recalls “the officers, the public, the mission. The people motivated me to come to work.”

Harvard students seek probe of controversial PhD thesis on Hispanics’ IQ

Harvard students seek probe of controversial PhD thesis on Hispanics’ IQ: Harvard University students signed and delivered a petition to President Drew Faust last week demanding an investigation into how the school awarded a doctorate in 2009 based on a dissertation that claimed that Hispanics are not as smart as whites.

The degree was awarded to Jason Richwine, who recently was in the news when the Heritage Foundation, where he was working, released a paper he co-write claiming that the immigration reform bill being debated in Congress would cost the government $5.3 trillion. (It won’t.) It then came to light that Richwine had written a dissertation, for which he received a PhD in public policy from Harvard in 2009, titled “IQ and Immigration Policy”, which claimed that Hispanic immigrants generally have lower IQs than non-Latino white Americans.

Several Measures Needed to Help HBCUs Boost Retention, Graduation Rates - Higher Education

Several Measures Needed to Help HBCUs Boost Retention, Graduation Rates - Higher Education: The article regarding Coppin State University raises issues that are prevalent among many Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country. A holistic approach is very much needed to address the low retention and graduation rates. I applaud the committee for identifying many of the key factors that have contributed to the low retention and graduation rates.

The issues, however, are common to many institutions but can be addressed with the appropriate resources, resolve, and dedicated faculty and staff. It is very important to have an assessment component to all of the initiatives that may be implemented to address the challenges that first-generation students face.

Dayton Conference to Explore Diversity in Philosophy - Higher Education

Dayton Conference to Explore Diversity in Philosophy - Higher Education: Roughly 150 philosophers will gather at the University of Dayton next week from Wednesday to Friday, convening what will be the first diversity in philosophy conference to have the backing of the discipline’s leading membership organization, the American Philosophical Association (APA).

Organizers have high hopes for the message that APA sponsorship will be sending to the roughly 11,000 Ph.D.-holding philosophers largely working in U.S. colleges and universities. They also anticipate frank and honest discussions about what some say has traditionally been a less-than-friendly climate for gender and racial diversity in many philosophy departments around the nation.

“This is the first time the whole profession has agreed that we need to focus on this issue,” says Dr. Peggy DesAutels, a conference co-organizer and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Dayton.

William Miles, Maker of Documentaries About Black History, Dies at 82 - NYTimes.com

William Miles, Maker of Documentaries About Black History, Dies at 82 - NYTimes.com: William Miles, a self-taught filmmaker whose documentaries revealed untold stories of black America, including those of its heroic black soldiers and of life in its signature neighborhood, Harlem, where he himself grew up, died on May 12 in Queens. He was 82.

The cause was uncertain, but Mr. Miles had myriad health problems, including Parkinson’s disease and dementia, said his wife of 61 years, Gloria.

Mr. Miles was part historical sleuth, part preservationist, part bard. His films, which combined archival footage, still photographs and fresh interviews, were triumphs of curiosity and persistence in unearthing lost material about forgotten subjects.

His first important film, “Men of Bronze” (1977), was about the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all-black combat unit that the Army shipped overseas during World War I but, because of segregationist policies, fought under the flag of France. Serving with great distinction, the unit spent more time in the front-line trenches than any other American unit. Collectively, it was awarded the Croix de Guerre and came to be known as the Harlem Hellfighters and also the Black Rattlers.

Columbia University Seeks to Amend Legacy Whites-Only Fellowship - Higher Education

Columbia University Seeks to Amend Legacy Whites-Only Fellowship - Higher Education: When Doug Gross was awarded a fellowship in 1976 to study at Columbia University’s prestigious School of International Affairs, he thought he had been selected for the award simply because he hailed from the Hawkeye state.

But as it turns out, Lydia C. Chamberlain, an Iowa native who donated her $500,000 estate to Columbia University shortly before she died in 1920, insisted that her funds be used to endow graduate and traveling fellowships for recipients born in Iowa who were exclusively “of the Caucasian race.”

“I had no idea,” says Gross, in an interview with Diverse. “If I had known, I never would have accepted it.”

Gross, a prominent Iowa attorney and former Republican gubernatorial candidate who faced off against then Governor Tom Vilsack in 2002, says that he fully supports Columbia’s decision to petition a Manhattan Supreme Court to do away with the outdated requirement that only Whites should receive the fellowship.

High school prom, 50 years later - CNN.com

High school prom, 50 years later - CNN.com: Birmingham, Alabama (CNN) -- The class of 1963 crowded in a rectangle on the dance floor, the memories of high school fresh on their minds as the band played in a sea of pink and blue hues.

Aretha Franklin. Etta James. The Temptations. Just what you would expect to be playing at a 1960s prom. Yet the song that drew the most bodies to the dance floor was "The Wobble."

Until this hip-hop song emptied the chairs, it felt as if the auditorium had been transported back 50 years.

But it's 2013, and despite the full-court nostalgia for the 1960s, that decade was one of the most difficult times in Birmingham's history.

Societal tensions over race were so high in 1963 that the city canceled senior prom for five of the city's segregated high schools for blacks.

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases : NPR

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases : NPR: Six years ago, the FBI took on a challenge: To review what it called cold-case killings from the civil rights era. The investigation into 112 cases from the 1950s and 1960s is winding down, and civil rights activists are weighing the FBI's efforts.

The review comes with word this week of the death of a man who'd been named, , as a possible suspect in one notorious case.

The Case

The investigation was of the death of Frank Morris, in Ferriday, La., in 1964. Morris was a successful black businessman, the owner of a small shoe shop. His business success — and the respect for him from some white residents — made other white residents resentful.

On a December night in 1964, a group of men set his shop on fire. Morris was inside and burned in the fire.

Seeking Justice for Black Farmers in Loan Bias Case - NYTimes.com

Seeking Justice for Black Farmers in Loan Bias Case - NYTimes.com: “Federal Spigot Flows as Farmers Claim Bias” (front page, April 26) degraded black farmers’ legal victory against racism in federal farm lending, calling it a “magnet for fraud.”

The article tarnished our long fight against racist Agriculture Department lending practices by implying that it was some sort of scam.

Black farmers are dignified, industrious, independent and proud. I am a fourth-generation farmer, and like my peers I have worked hard to pay off mortgages and find resources to keep farming. We work for what we get, and we want nothing more than our due. We deserve the same level of fairness in the press as we fought to get from our government. I have heard from many black farmers who despise being characterized as frauds.

It is hurtful to wage a long, difficult fight for a worthy cause, then have the successful outcome sliced and diced by a publication you have trusted and admired.

Kiera Wilmot Interview: Florida Teen Whose Science Experiment Went Terribly Wrong Discusses Future Plans With Roland Martin

Kiera Wilmot Interview: Florida Teen Whose Science Experiment Went Terribly Wrong Discusses Future Plans With Roland Martin: Kiera Wilmot, the Florida teen who found herself facing possible felony charges after a high school science experiment went wrong, spoke to Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show this morning.

The precocious teen was handcuffed and arrested at her school when after reportedly combining tin foil and toilet bowl cleaner in a bottle, the resulting mixture blew the bottle's cap off.

Earlier this week Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill issued a statement saying the case against Wilmot had been dismissed, but that she would have to complete a diversion program.

With the most frightening part of her ordeal, the potential criminal charges, behind her, Wilmot says she's now turning her focus toward transferring from the alternative school she's been in since the incident occurred and heading back to her original high school where she plays the cello in the orchestra.

Despite this bump in the road, it seems the future is still bright for this curious teen. Check out Wilmot's Tom Joyner Morning Show interview to hear more about her story -- including what she plans on majoring in when she goes to college.

ACE Report Underscores Lack of Diversity Among Graduates Earning Bachelor’s Degrees - Higher Education

ACE Report Underscores Lack of Diversity Among Graduates Earning Bachelor’s Degrees - Higher Education: A new report released Thursday cites lack of diversity among those who earned a bachelor’s degree in the 2007-2008 school year — as well as disparities in pay once students enter the world of work — and says things will not change until barriers that face minority students are addressed.

“The pool of students leaving with a bachelor’s degree is less diverse than the pool entering or remaining in college,” says the report, titled With College Degree in Hand: Analysis of Racial Minority Graduates and Their Lives After College, by Mikyung Ryu of the Center for Policy Analysis at the American Council on Education.

The report delineates a range of disparities that impact minority college students as they matriculate through college, from taking longer periods of time to earn a degree to borrowing more frequently and larger amounts in order to finance their college education.

Guide Advises Officials on Responding to Upcoming Texas Affirmative Action Decision - Higher Education

Guide Advises Officials on Responding to Upcoming Texas Affirmative Action Decision - Higher Education: In making sure college and university officials are prepared for what the U.S. Supreme Court decides in the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case, the Access & Diversity Collaborative has published a web-based policy and communications guide, titled “Preparing for the Fisher Decision: Are You Ready?”

The ADC, which is managed by the College Board’s Higher Education Advocacy division and the EducationalCounsel LLC organization, developed the document, which “frames possible outcomes and likely responses and the ADC’s plans for post-decision communications.” A decision in the Fisher case is expected by the end of the Supreme Court’s 2012-13 term, which will be late June or early July.

Racist Graffiti At Agoura High School Included Hit List Of African American Students (VIDEO)

Racist Graffiti At Agoura High School Included Hit List Of African American Students (VIDEO): In an area known as one of the safest communities in the country, a hit list of African American students who would be "the first to die" was spray-painted in a high school bathroom.

The racist graffiti was at Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, Calif., a predominantly white community about 35 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The hit list is believed to have been painted during school hours Wednesday, KTLA reports in the video above.

Before that, graffiti reading "Go back 2 Africa" was found and removed off of the school walls on Sunday.

The hate crime made some parents wonder if it was safe for students to go to school, even though extra patrols will be there all week. “Does (my son) have to watch his back when he’s coming to school?” a parent asked CBS.

“(The suspects) win if our kids don’t come to school … they think they’re scared, they’re afraid," another parent said to the station.

White kids will no longer make up a majority in just a few years - May. 15, 2013

White kids will no longer make up a majority in just a few years - May. 15, 2013: White, non-Hispanic kids will no longer make up the majority of America's youth in just five to six years, according to Census Bureau projections released Wednesday.

Those projections, which include four different scenarios for population growth, estimate that today's minority ethnic groups will soon account for at least half of the under-18 population, either in 2018 or 2019.

"This is going to start from the bottom of the age distribution and move its way up," said William Frey, demographer and senior fellow for the Brookings Institution. "All of these projections show we're moving to greater diversity in the United States."

Already, more than half of American babies being born belong to racial and ethnic groups traditionally thought of as "minorities" -- which means it could soon be time to toss that word out completely.
By the time those kids grow up to become adults -- sometime between 2036 and 2042 -- everyone in the working-age population (ages 18 to 64) will be a member of a group that comes up short of the 50% line.

A Black Nurse, a German Soldier and an Unlikely WWII Romance - NYTimes.com

A Black Nurse, a German Soldier and an Unlikely WWII Romance - NYTimes.com: The nurse and the soldier may never have met – and eventually married – had it not been for the American government’s mistreatment of black women during World War II.

Elinor Elizabeth Powell was an African-American military nurse. Frederick Albert was a German prisoner of war. Their paths crossed in Arizona in 1944. It was a time when the Army was resisting enlisting black nurses and the relatively small number allowed entry tended to be assigned to the least desirable duties.

“They decided they were going to use African-Americans but in very small numbers and in segregated locations,” said Charissa Threat, a history professor at Northeastern University who teaches race and gender studies.

Immigrants To Be Largest Driver Of U.S. Population Growth : Code Switch : NPR

Immigrants To Be Largest Driver Of U.S. Population Growth : Code Switch : NPR: New immigrants will be the main driver of population growth in the U.S. by as early as 2027, according to new .

This would be the first time in almost two centuries that new births will not be the largest source of U.S. population growth.

The Census Bureau says its projections show a combination of declining fertility rates, aging baby boomers and ongoing immigration to the United States.

This trend stems less from more immigrants coming into the country than from Americans having fewer babies, explains Douglas Massey, who studies immigration patterns at Princeton University.

Kiera Wilmot Will Not Be Charged For Explosion At Florida School

Kiera Wilmot Will Not Be Charged For Explosion At Florida School: A central Florida teenager who was accused of igniting a chemical explosion on school grounds – and who became the subject of a grassroots social media campaign on her behalf – will not face criminal charges, authorities said Wednesday.

Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill wrote in a statement that the case against 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot has been dismissed, but that she must complete a diversion program.

The teen was arrested April 22 and faced possible felony charges after school administrators reported she combined toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a bottle, and the resulting gas blew the cap off the plastic bottle, according to the police report. The explosion happened outside, before school started, and no one was injured.

Kiera told Bartow police she was doing a science experiment, but science teachers said they had no knowledge of an experiment.

Latino College Enrollment Rate Surpasses That of Whites - Higher Education

Latino College Enrollment Rate Surpasses That of Whites - Higher Education: The rate at which Latino high school graduates enrolled in college reached a record high in 2012, and it exceeded that of Whites for the first time, a new Pew Research Center analysis has revealed.

The Pew Hispanic Center, a division of the Washington-based Pew Research Center, reports that 69 percent of Latino high school graduates in the class of 2012 enrolled in college compared to 67 percent of Whites, a jump from 49 percent of Latinos graduating in 2000. In addition, the Latino high school dropout rate is at 14 percent, declining from 28 percent only a decade ago, says the Pew analysis, which was released late last week.

“This milestone is the result of a long-term increase in Hispanic college-going that accelerated with the onset of the recession in 2008,” according to the analysis, titled “Hispanic High School Graduates Pass Whites in Rate of College Enrollment” by Pew researchers Richard Fry and Paul Taylor.

Compared to fall 2012 college enrollment by Latinos and Whites among high school graduates, African-Americans enrolled in college at a 63 percent rate. Asian enrollment was 84 percent, according to the analysis. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Pew’s analysis featured enrollment numbers that included statistics from both two-year and four-year institutions.

Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders Still See Voids in American Narrative - Higher Education

Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders Still See Voids in American Narrative - Higher Education: A group of Asian-American and Pacific Islander scholars are praising the Obama administration for trying to more fully integrate places and histories of AAPI significance into National Park Service initiatives, but they caution that because of long-running underrepresentation, the work has barely begun.

As an example, among the National Historic Landmarks in the state of Hawaii, about a dozen have U.S. military significance, said Dr. Franklin Odo, a former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

However, only one sugar plantation has been designated such a landmark, Odo said, despite the many decades in which the plantations impacted Hawaii’s socioeconomic landscape and natural resources. “To look at this list of landmarks,” he said, shaking his head, “you would not have a clue about how important the plantations have been. This is an extraordinary problem and an example of just one state. We have a lot of work to do.”

At Cannes, challenging the notion that black films ‘don’t travel’ - The Washington Post

At Cannes, challenging the notion that black films ‘don’t travel’ - The Washington Post: ...For years, black filmmakers, or anyone interested in making movies starring or about black people, have been told that “black doesn’t travel,” the assumption being that the African American experience is too specific to be comprehensible, or commercial, anywhere but in the United States.

But some films coming to Cannes this year are poised to challenge the no-foreign-market assumption: “Sexual Healing,” a drama about the personal and creative resurgence of American singer Marvin Gaye starring Jesse L. Martin, will be in the hunt for international distribution at Cannes, its production having just begun in Ostend, Belgium, where the story is set.

Producer Frederick Bestall admits that financing was difficult to pull together for “Sexual Healing” and that casting a non-superstar in the lead “has its drawbacks” for international sales. But he’s cautiously optimistic that the film will find distributors outside the United States.

Soledad O'Brien Calls Out 'White People' Over 'Black In America' Series (VIDEO)

Soledad O'Brien Calls Out 'White People' Over 'Black In America' Series (VIDEO): Soledad O'Brien addressed criticism from "white people" about her documentaries about race in America in a new video.

O'Brien has hosted five documentaries in CNN's "Black In America" series. In a talk at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, she said that some people have told her that the documentaries are "divisive," and that they think black Americans should stop differentiating themselves from white Americans.

"First of all, it's only white people who ever said that -- 'if we could just see beyond race. If only people didn't see race, it would be such a better place, and you are responsible for bringing up these icky race issues, Soledad, you should just let sleeping dogs lie,'" O'Brien said.

She continued, "I was like, again, 'OK, white person, this is a conversation you clearly are uncomfortable with, and I have no problem seeing race, and I think we should talk about race."

Black Male Turnout Higher Than Official Data Suggest - NYTimes.com

Black Male Turnout Higher Than Official Data Suggest - NYTimes.com: Although a recent Census Bureau study showed a stark gap between black male turnout and black female turnout in the 2012 election, the large number of black men ineligible to vote because of felony convictions explains much of the gap.

In its tabulations, the Census Bureau counts any American citizen of voting age as an eligible voter. But nearly one in 10 black men are ineligible to vote because of state laws that apply to people with felony convictions.

The census report listed the turnout rate for black men as 61.4 percent, compared with 70.4 percent for black women. However, once noninstitutionalized felons — people who are not in prison but lost the right to vote as punishment — are removed from the tally of eligible voters, the turnout rate among black men rises to 68 percent, according to Bernard L. Fraga, a political scientist at Harvard, and the rate among black women rises to 71.4 percent.

HBCUs Must Rethink Holistic Operations - Higher Education

HBCUs Must Rethink Holistic Operations - Higher Education: There have been many articles and reports recently about the future of historically Black colleges and universities, touching on many aspects of what needs to happen in the HBCU arena. Below is my opinion of other factors to consider:

HBCUs have strong traditions growing out of the days of racial segregation in the United States. Many of them are defending their historic missions in the 21st century in light of the fact that they are faced with responding to demands that are more market-driven. In addition, African-Americans are attending non-traditional schools like the University of Phoenix (UPX) which is siphoning off many potential students that otherwise might enroll in an HBCU. In fact, UPX was the number one producer of Black graduates for 2010-2011.

What Racial Profiling? Police Testify Complaint Is Rarely Made - NYTimes.com

What Racial Profiling? Police Testify Complaint Is Rarely Made - NYTimes.com: He had naturally heard the accusations of racial profiling, from civil rights organizations and some politicians. But in more than a decade as the top chief in the New York Police Department, Joseph J. Esposito said he never once heard a private citizen complain about a racially motivated stop-and-frisk encounter.

“I have not had anyone come and tell me, ‘I was stopped because I was a person of color,’ ” Mr. Esposito recently testified in the continuing stop-and-frisk trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. 

This seemed to catch the judge by surprise, especially when Mr. Esposito went one step further: no local community group or tenant association had ever made a racial profiling allegation to him. 

“Not a single stop?” Judge Shira A. Scheindlin asked. “Our kids are being stopped. You’ve never heard that from any community group?” 

But over the course of the trial, which began in March, that claim has been repeated by other police commanders, leading city lawyers to suggest that racial profiling is largely a fiction created by the civil rights lawyers who brought the case.

Italian soccer match stopped due to racist abuse of Milan's Balotelli - CNN.com

Italian soccer match stopped due to racist abuse of Milan's Balotelli - CNN.com: A leading Italian soccer coach has called for stronger action against racism after a top-level match between AC Milan and Roma was suspended Sunday due to abusive chants by supporters.

Milan striker Mario Balotelli was targeted by visiting fans throughout the match, and referee Gianluca Rocchi called the game to a halt in the second half to warn the crowd via the public address system.

After several minutes' delay, the match continued and ended in a 0-0 draw.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri later said the official's decision was not strong enough.

"In my opinion, there's only one solution to racism in stadium and that's suspend the match," Allegri said on Milan's website.

Experts Say Getting More Teachers of Color in Classrooms a Necessity - Higher Education

Experts Say Getting More Teachers of Color in Classrooms a Necessity - Higher Education: When a group of education researchers, practitioners and activists gathered at Howard University in April to address the lack of diversity in the nation’s teacher workforce, Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick reminded her audience that such a time had already been foreshadowed.

Nearly 60 years ago, Thurgood Marshall first “warned that Black teachers would lose their jobs to racist displacement as the nation’s schools were integrated,” said Fenwick, dean of the Howard University School of Education. Marshall, in 1955, was serving at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund when he reported on the impending plight of these teachers. The year before, Marshall had argued and won the landmark desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education that opened up classrooms and education to Black children.