Black trick-or-treaters urged to stay out of white Virginia neighborhood by racist Craigslist post | The Raw Story

Black trick-or-treaters urged to stay out of white Virginia neighborhood by racist Craigslist post | The Raw Story: An anonymous poster has stirred up controversy in a Norfolk, Virginia, neighborhood by asking black trick-or-treaters to stay away.

The post was added to the “Rants and Raves” section of the city’s Craigslist site, reminding “overage trick or treaters” that’s it’s illegal for children older than 12 to dress up and solicit Halloween candy.

But the original post, which has since been deleted, used a specific racial slur aimed at black children to encourage kids from other neighborhoods to stay away from Larchmont/Edgewater.

“We’re a white neighborhood and we don’t want you baboons here!! You little turds better think twice going into my neighborhood or you will be legally punished,” the post said.
Police said they would respond to calls reporting overage trick-or-treaters, which is a Class 4 misdemeanor that carries a possible $250 fine for guardians, but officers said any child 12 and under who goes out before 8 p.m. can enjoy Halloween anywhere in the city they choose.

“You can`t discriminate against someone being in a particular neighborhood, the law doesn’t address that,” said Norfolk police spokesman Chris Amos.

HBCU Presidents at a New Crossroads - Higher Education

HBCU Presidents at a New Crossroads - Higher Education: Only three months into the academic year and headlines have been littered with announcements about HBCU leadership turnover. There have been a plethora of reasons, including university presidents being fired, being encouraged to leave their posts by their boards of trustees or opting for retirement. Gone are the days of decades of top-down leadership, now replaced by a need for charismatic personalities who are well-skilled at fundraising while navigating internal needs and external stakeholders, as well as politics and long-standing traditions.

The burning question that remains is about the fate of HBCUs and how to stop the trend that’s making it difficult for presidents to lead.

“If you look at the landscape now for all of us, it’s a tough landscape,” said Hampton University president, Dr. William R. Harvey. “There are a number of factors impacting all HBCUs, including the federal government debacle on the Parent Plus Loan situation, [and] support is down for Title III, which strengthens HBCUs. All of the support for HBCUs across the board is down. In addition, there are some institutions that don’t have enough students there.

The Story Of This Black Teen Who Protected A White Man From An Angry Mob Continues To Inspire

...The Story Of This Black Teen Who Protected A White Man From An Angry Mob Continues To Inspire: In a series on kindness, the BBC recounted the incredible moment in 1996 when Keshia Thomas, an 18-year-old at the time, protected a man believed to be a white supremacist affiliated with the KKK from an angry mob.

In June of that year, the Ku Klux Klan held a rally at the city hall building in Ann Arbor, Mich. The town, whose population is known to be home to mostly liberals, came out in large numbers to protest the presence of the notoriously racist group. According to reports 300 anti-clan protestors showed up, while just 17 Klansmen were present.

Thomas was in the crowd of anti-clan protesters, when someone spotted a man in the crowd amongst them with an SS tattoo and a confederate flag shirt. The group, including Thomas, immediately chased the man.

Thomas' act of true altruism was captured by photographer Mark Brunner in a series of photos, and it still inspires people to this day.

"She put herself at physical risk to protect someone who, in my opinion, would not have done the same for her," he said. "Who does that in this world?"

Even the police assigned to protect the Klan members felt conflicted. A retired police officer, shared his story with Ann Arbor news last year.

“Behind the faceshield, what bugged me was when the crowd chanted, "The cops and the Klan go hand in hand!" Inside you want to scream, "No! No! Don't you understand that is completely false? I'm here because it is my duty to protect all of you." Outwardly you stand, you say nothing and get ready to duck if necessary.”

Today, Thomas continues to work to make a difference, by doing simple things each and every day.

"The biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact, or a smile. It doesn't have to be a huge monumental act."

White supremacist behind right-wing plot to kill Nelson Mandela jailed for 35 years | The Raw Story

White supremacist behind right-wing plot to kill Nelson Mandela jailed for 35 years | The Raw Story: The mastermind behind a right-wing extremist plot to kill former South African president Nelson Mandela and drive blacks out of the country was sentenced on Tuesday to 35 years in jail.

The ringleader of a white supremacist militia called Boeremag, Mike du Toit, was given the highest sentence of 35 years along with four other defendants over a botched 2002 plot to overthrow the post-apartheid government, the prosecution said.

The judge at the High Court in Pretoria sentenced the rest of the 20 militia members on trial to between 10 and 30 years depending on their degree of involvement in the plot, National Prosecution Authority spokesman Medupe Simasiku told AFP.

Initiative Aims to Raise the Bar for Teacher Prep Programs - Higher Education

Initiative Aims to Raise the Bar for Teacher Prep Programs - Higher Education: In an effort to get more effective teachers into America’s classrooms, seven states have joined a new initiative to “strengthen” teacher licensure standards and “raise the bar” on the approval process for teacher prep programs.

The initiative — led by the Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO, and formally called the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation, or NTEP — grew out of a “call to action” that CCSSO issued late last year and adds to the growing momentum to make university-based teacher preparation programs more accountable for student achievement.

While it is questionable if becoming a teacher will become tougher in the seven states that have joined the new network, Mary-Dean Barringer, program director for Education Workforce at CCSSO, says she is not sure, but notes that “it’s going to be different, and I think that’s a good thing, and the states would agree.”

Barringer said the way that teachers are recruited and prepared must “change in pretty dramatic ways” in order to help K-12 students meet new standards and expectations, such as the those espoused by a set of education standards known as the “Common Core.”

Talk heats over profiling claims by black NYC shoppers

Talk heats over profiling claims by black NYC shoppers: The issue over whether high-end department stores in New York City have wrongly targeted black shoppers – including movie actor Rob Brown – as potential thieves is escalating.

A New York State senator on Monday called on the city's Commission on Human Rights to investigate the allegations as a fourth black shopper stepped forward to claim he had been wrongly stopped by police after shopping.

Meantime, Mark Lee, CEO of Barneys New York , and senior executives from the pricey retailer are scheduled to meet Tuesday morning with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Hazel Dukes, president of the New York chapter of the NAACP, at the Harlem headquarters of Sharpton's National Action Network, Sharpton's office announced.

That news comes as the fourth black shopper in recent days stepped forward to allege he was profiled. Two of the cases involve Barneys New York and two involve the Macy's flagship store at Herald Square.

Ohio teacher suspended after using racial slurs to complain about trick-or-treaters in Facebook post | The Raw Story

Ohio teacher suspended after using racial slurs to complain about trick-or-treaters in Facebook post | The Raw Story: A northeast Ohio music teacher has been suspended after posting a Facebook rant over the weekend to complain about trick-or-treaters.

Akron Firestone High School teacher David Spondike described some trick-or-treaters he said came from the “ghetto” by using the N-word twice and said they’d urinated on a telephone pole in front of his home.

“I don’t mind if you come from the ghetto to trick or treat,” Spondike posted. “But when you whip out your teeny ***** and **** on the telephone pole in front of my front yard and some preschoolers and toddlers, you can take your ******-*** back where it came from. I don’t have anything against anyone of any color, but *******, stay out!”

Society of Women Engineers Conference Offers Women Connections and Support - Higher Education

Society of Women Engineers Conference Offers Women Connections and Support - Higher Education: Nearly 6,000 women engineers converged on Baltimore last week for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) annual conference to sharpen their skills, network and meet recruiters at the three-day event.

This year’s theme, “Make Connections, Make History,” was evident as women of all ages poured into the Baltimore Convention Center on a mission to improve themselves, connect with others who can identify with their challenges, meet with recruiters and enjoy themselves.

The Chicago-based organization has served women engineers since 1950. Its long history of breaking new ground is what SWE President Stacey DelVecchio said is an area of great pride.

“One of the early presidents still comes to the conference, and it’s wonderful for her to see the progress,” said SWE President Stacey DelVecchio, who has been a member of SWE for 20 years. “Those women had a vision. I think about how far we have come, and I thank our founders.”

In recognition of its legacy, a large historical timeline was on display, along with some of the society’s accomplishments, such as outreach to K-12 girls to encourage them to go into science, as well as work with corporate partners supporting women in the field.

HACU Conference Addresses Federal, Education Issues for Hispanics - Higher Education

HACU Conference Addresses Federal, Education Issues for Hispanics - Higher Education: CHICAGO — Dr. Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, did not have to dig deeply to find compelling evidence that plenty of work remains for his organization to do to ensure that his constituents are well represented in higher education and the world at large.

Two screens in the ballroom Saturday displayed the cover of the latest edition of Time magazine that featured a headline of “The United States of Texas” and a map to promote an article inside about the state’s impact and influence on national issues.

Flores said that despite the fact that 40 percent of the state’s population is Latino, the six-page “article basically does not mention once — not even one word — about the tremendous contributions and the presence of the Latino community.”

He said that the failure to acknowledge “the huge Latino elephant in the Texas living room is totally unacceptable for us, and we will correct it.” For the record, the national headquarters for Flores’ organization is deep in the heart of Texas in San Antonio.

VI Congressional Leader Fights for Black Boys in Education - Higher Education

VI Congressional Leader Fights for Black Boys in Education - Higher Education: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands — As the lone Democratic congressional leader from the Virgin Islands, Dr. Donna Christensen has had her share of public frustrations.

“Many people think that being Black and being a woman is the biggest obstacle that I face in Congress,” said Christensen, who is a trained medical doctor and has represented the Virgin Islands territory on Capitol Hill since 1996. “But representing the territory has been the biggest problem because many of my colleagues in Congress don’t see the territory as being entitled to the same rights the states are entitled to.”

Christensen is working around the clock to push through an energy bill that would help provide relief to the Islands where energy costs are 500 percent higher than the national average, a financial impediment that is “unsustainable and crippling to the economy and the health and safety of the community.”

Slave descendant's genetic quest leads to African apology - NBC News.com

Slave descendant's genetic quest leads to African apology - NBC News.com: African-American businessman William Holland's ancestors were subjected to slavery in Virginia — but they were handed over into slavery by Africans. Now a descendant of those tribespeople has issued a formal apology to Holland for his ancestors' role in the 18th-century slave trade.

The head chieftain for the Cameroonian town of Bakou, Ngako Ngalatchui, told NBC News that he signed the statement on Saturday.

"We are sorry and issue an official apology for our involvement and the involvement of our ancestors in the horrible institution of transatlantic slavery," the statement read. "The United States of America, France, and the United Kingdom should issue similar formal apologies for this evil institution that broke up families and caused generational hardships that continue to the present day."

This isn't the first time Africans have acknowledged the historical role their forefathers played in slavery. It's long been known that, in centuries past, warring tribes took captives and traded them to white slave merchants. That marked the first step in the long road to the plantations of the American South.

Macy's Says No Employees Were Involved In Alleged Race Stop

Macy's Says No Employees Were Involved In Alleged Race Stop: NEW YORK (AP) — No Macy's employees were involved in the detention or questioning of a black actor who claims he was stopped because of his race while shopping at the flagship Manhattan department store, Macy's officials said Sunday.

Rob Brown, a black actor who works on the HBO series "Treme," has said he was detained nearly an hour by police on June 8 after employees contacted authorities about possible credit card fraud. The actor has filed a lawsuit.

In a statement, Macy's said there was no record of any employee contacting authorities about Brown's purchase. The store said police officers requested use of a room in the building and that request was granted.

The store said it was reaching out to Brown, and continuing to investigate the situation.

Brown's account comes after claims from two black shoppers said they were racially profiled at Barneys New York.

Fewer Latinos will speak Spanish, more non-Latinos will, report says - CNN.com

Fewer Latinos will speak Spanish, more non-Latinos will, report says - CNN.com: It's no secret that more and more people are speaking español in the United States, but what you probably didn't know is that in the future more of those Spanish speakers will not be Hispanic.

That's right -- as immigrant families become more established here, future generations will follow the pattern of previous immigrants from Europe and Asia and stop using their native language.

But at the same time, non-Latinos will be learning Spanish and helping their kids to grow up bilingual because they want to pass on what they learned in school, take advantage of business opportunities or even because they have a Spanish-speaking spouse.

Fusion Sets Its Sights on a Multicultural Generation - NYTimes.com

Fusion Sets Its Sights on a Multicultural Generation - NYTimes.com: MIAMI — Since 1986, Jorge Ramos has anchored the Univision network’s 6:30 p.m. news broadcast, a vital source of information for the nation’s 50 million-plus Spanish speakers. But this week, his routine will change in a way that could have profound consequences not just for him but also for the American media landscape.

At 5 p.m., Mr. Ramos will host a new hourlong English-language public-affairs program called “America With Jorge Ramos,” the highest-profile offering of a new cable network called Fusion, a venture of Univision and ABC. He will then walk a few steps into an adjacent studio, put on a tie and prepare to deliver the day’s news in Spanish, just as he always has.

“Everything is new,” Mr. Ramos, 55, said after a run-through this month for “America” at the vast newsroom and studio complex that Univision, flush with money from ratings in some categories that now surpass those of the four big English-language networks, has just finished near the airport here. “New language, new format, new studio, new lighting.” 

In essence, Fusion can be seen as Univision’s response to the same demographic changes that are upending American politics and advertising. Latinos are the biggest ethnic minority in the United States, expected to reach 25 percent of the population by 2035. But with immigration down since the economic crisis of 2008, American-born Hispanics, who are English dominant, now represent the biggest chunk of that growth.

Photographing Puerto Rican New York, With A 'Sympathetic Eye' : Code Switch : NPR

Photographing Puerto Rican New York, With A 'Sympathetic Eye' : Code Switch : NPR: In the raging 1970s, New York City was dangerous, broke and at times .

Latinos in the city were taking to the streets, running for office and carving out artistic spaces. "Latino" at the time in New York meant "."

Photojournalist Bolivar Arellano immigrated to the city in '71, and remembers a vivid introduction to the , a militant organization that advocated for Puerto Rican independence.

"Viva Puerto Rico libre!" Arellano heard a man shout next to a police officer. "Long live free Puerto Rico," was not a sentiment the officer shared. The man was hit with a baton after each declaration — six times, Arellano says.

"Blood was coming to his face, and that's when I said, Puerto Rico has to be beautiful for this guy to resist that beating," Arellano says. "So that was my encounter with the Puerto Rican community. Since then, I'm still with them."

Wallace becomes first African-American to win NASCAR race in 50 years - CNN.com

Wallace becomes first African-American to win NASCAR race in 50 years - CNN.com: It's one win for Darrell Wallace Jr., but what will it mean for other African-American race car drivers -- present and future?

The answer to that question might not come for years. Nonetheless, NASCAR wasted no time Saturday in hailing Wallace's on-track success at Martinsville Speedway in southern Virginia.

"We congratulate Darrell Wallace Jr. on his first national series victory, one that will be remembered as a remarkable moment in our sport's history," said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France.

Wallace took the Kroger 200 on the racing circuit's Camping World Truck Series, which is on NASCAR's third tier.

Property tax avalanche threatens homeowners on historic coastal island - CNN.com

Property tax avalanche threatens homeowners on historic coastal island - CNN.com: Sapelo Island, Georgia (CNN) -- It's a culture struggling to survive. Fewer than 50 people -- all descendants of slaves -- fear they may soon be taxed out of the property their families have owned since the days of slavery.

They are the Gullah-Geechee people of Sapelo Island off Georgia's coast, near Savannah. This small, simple community is finding itself embroiled in a feud with local officials over a sudden, huge increase in property assessments that are raising property taxes as much as 600% for some.

Many say the increase could force them to sell their ancestral properties.

"That's part of the American history. That's part of what built this country," said Charles Hall, 79, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who was born under a midwife's care in the same home he lives in today.

"Sapelo being the only intact Gullah-Geechee community in the country that's left, that is a part of history. It will be a shame not to preserve" it, he told CNN.

Macy's Also Gets Slapped With Racial Discrimination Lawsuit By Black Shopper

Macy's Also Gets Slapped With Racial Discrimination Lawsuit By Black Shopper: Barneys isn't the only store being accused of racial discrimination. Now, Macy's has been slapped with a lawsuit implicating the luxury store of racial profiling.

The New York Post reports that actor Robert Brown, who's most known for his starring role opposite Sean Connery in the film “Finding Forrester," has filled a civil suit for an unspecified sum against the luxury retail store and the New York Police Department, citing that he was unlawfully searched by undercover police officers on June 8, 2013.

The 29 year old, who is black, was stopped after making a purchase at the Sunglass Hut store located inside Macy's flagship location in New York's Herald Square.

According to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, Brown presented his ID to the cops but “was told that his identification was false and that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase." The Brooklyn resident says he was then arrested and detained by cops for over an hour before finally being released without any charges.

This isn't the first time Macy's has dealt with a racial discrimination lawsuit. In 2005, the company paid New York state $600,000 to settle a complaint that its New York department stores were racially profiling shoppers and unlawful handcuffing them while they were being detained on suspicion of shoplifting.

Another Black Shopper Accuses Barneys And NYPD Of Racism (UPDATE)

Another Black Shopper Accuses Barneys And NYPD Of Racism (UPDATE): Less than 24 hours after the news that Barneys and the New York Police Department are being slapped with a discrimination suit by 19-year-old college student Trayon Christian, the luxury store and the police department are being accused of racial profiling yet again.

Kayla Phillips, a 21-year-old nursing student from Brooklyn, told the Daily News that she was stopped by police after purchasing a $2,500 Céline bag at the store on February 28. After buying the luxury item with the money from a tax return, the woman left the Madison Avenue store. Three blocks away, she says she was surrounded by four undercover police officers -- two white, one African American and one Asian -- at a nearby subway station.

“There were three men and a woman. Two of them attacked me and pushed me against a wall, and the other two appeared in front of me, blocking the turnstile," Phillips told Daily News.

Phillips says the white officers, a male and female, questioned her for 20 minutes, inquiring where she lives, why she was in Manhattan and how she was able to purchase such an expensive bag.

Black College Student Arrested For Buying A Designer Belt, Barneys & NYPD Slapped With Lawsuit (UPDATE)

Black College Student Arrested For Buying A Designer Belt, Barneys & NYPD Slapped With Lawsuit (UPDATE): Barneys New York and the New York Police Department have been slapped with a lawsuit by Trayon Christian, a college student from Queens, who was arrested at the luxury department store in April.

"His only crime was being a young black man,” Michael Palillo, Christian's attorney, told The New York Post.

The Post reports that the 19-year-old was at the store buying a $350 Salvatore Ferragamo belt, but following the purchase, he was stopped by undercover officers that were allegedly called on by a Barneys sales clerk who believed the transaction was fraudulent.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, states that the NYC College of Technology freshman was asked by the cops: “how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt?” He was then handcuffed and taken to a local precinct.

Alabama man admits to hiring ‘Klansman’ to hang black neighbor ‘like an animal’ | The Raw Story

Alabama man admits to hiring ‘Klansman’ to hang black neighbor ‘like an animal’ | The Raw Story: An Alabama man admitted Thursday to trying to hire a man he believed was a Ku Klux Klansman to kill his neighbor, who is black and a registered sex offender.

According to court documents, 29-year-old Allen Wayne Densen Morgan told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to see the neighbor “hung from a tree like he is an animal” and have his genitals cut off.

Morgan, of Munford, Ala., said he believed the neighbor had raped his wife sometime in August.

FBI agents said Morgan knew his neighbor had been arrested in 2008 and charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old victim.

Authorities said Morgan told agents that he’d tried to “force a confrontation” with his neighbor Aug. 22 by firing “multiple rounds of ammunition” at him on the street outside their homes.

Agents said the man ran away, and Morgan assumed he must be guilty of raping his wife because the neighbor did not try to stand his ground or reason with him.

University of Maryland Health Equity Center Launches Trust Campaign Targeting Minorities, Health Researchers - Higher Education

University of Maryland Health Equity Center Launches Trust Campaign Targeting Minorities, Health Researchers - Higher Education: The Maryland Center for Health Equity has launched an educational campaign aimed at bridging a longtime gap between health researchers and minority communities. The campaign, known as the “Building Trust Between Minorities and Researchers” program, represents the latest of many efforts the U.S. health care establishment has undertaken in recent years to reduce and eliminate disparities that saddle minorities with disproportionate health burdens and poor outcomes.

The rationale of “Building Trust Between Minorities and Researchers” largely seeks to overcome the history of neglect and abuse members of ethnic and racial minorities endured when few regulations governed medical research practices. Currently, few ethnic and racial minorities participate in clinical trials designed to investigate and discover treatments for diseases and other negative health conditions, according to center officials.

Clinical trials function as a fundamental step in research undertaken to bring about medical advances. The participation of individuals in clinical trials enables researchers to investigate new ways to prevent, detect or treat disease. Building Trust will encourage racial and ethnic minorities to participate in clinical trials, as well as encourage researchers to include minorities in research.

Scholars Reveal Best Practices to Keep Black Males in Education - Higher Education

Scholars Reveal Best Practices to Keep Black Males in Education - Higher Education: Nearly 500 of the nearly 1,200 Black males who are enrolled at Ohio State University have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 thanks to the work of Dr. James L. Moore, III and the staff at the school’s Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male.

Moore, who holds the College of Education and Human Ecology Distinguished Professorship of Urban Education at Ohio State University (OSU) and currently serves as associate provost and director of the Bell Center, revealed the encouraging numbers to dozens of scholars who have gathered this week in St. Thomas for the.

While the six-year graduation rate of Black males at OSU still hovers at about 67 percent, Moore says that progress has definitely been made. “You have to know where we’ve come from,” he says matter-of-factly, often telling his students: “Your GPA is like your social security number. It sticks with you.”

In 2005, the university named the Bell Center after Todd Anthony Bell, the former OSU football player who later went on to play professionally for the Chicago Bears. It was founded to address issues in society that impact quality of life issues for Black males.

WWII-Era Japanese-American Nursing Student Advocate Honored - Higher Education

WWII-Era Japanese-American Nursing Student Advocate Honored - Higher Education: Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. politicians, newspaper editorials and average citizens cried out for vengeance against Japanese-Americans, viewing them as a security risk. With little warning, Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were rounded up and relocated to internment camps in the interior parts of the county. Among those facing relocation were “nisei,” U.S.-born children of Japanese immigrants, who were studying to become nurses. They were forced to leave their schools.

As hospitals suffered a severe nursing shortage as a result of the war, Henrietta Loughran, dean of the University of Colorado’s nursing college, considered the loss of the students’ rights and skills as unjust and a waste. So Loughran used connections from the University of Washington and the University of California San Francisco, as well as assistance from Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr, to quietly transfer students facing internment to CU to complete their bachelor’s degrees in nursing.

Research Scholars Take Aim at Improving Black Achievement - Higher Education

Research Scholars Take Aim at Improving Black Achievement - Higher Education: ST. THOMAS, VI — Some of the nation’s most prominent research scholars are gathering this week in St. Thomas to strategize solutions and share best practices on how to improve Black male achievement.

For the second year in a row, the three-day international colloquium has brought together researchers from various academic disciplines who are engaged in cutting-edge scholarship that focuses squarely on how to address what has become one of the nation’s most vexing problems.

“This has always been our vision,” says Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory—a research center that is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research on topics of equity and inclusion in education, with a particular focus on higher education.

Thousands complain in Japan about skin blotches caused by skin-whitening creams | The Raw Story

Thousands complain in Japan about skin blotches caused by skin-whitening creams | The Raw Story: More than 15,000 people in Japan have been left with skin blotches caused by a chemical contained in popular skin-whitening creams, the maker of the products said Tuesday.

Japanese cosmetics giant Kanebo said it had received 15,192 complaints ins Japan from users of 54 products containing the whitening chemical “Rhododenol,” in what has become an escalating public relations nightmare for the company.

A third of the complaints are from people with “serious” symptoms such as at least three blotches or a single patch of discoloration 2 inches or more in diameter, the company said in a press release.

Former Hooters Waitress Claims She Was Target Of Racial Discrimination CBS Baltimore

Former Hooters Waitress Claims She Was Target Of Racial Discrimination  CBS Baltimore: BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The popular restaurant chain Hooters is accused of racial discrimination by a former employee in Baltimore. And it all centers around her hair.

Derek Valcourt has more on her complaint.

Specifically, the complaint alleges white waitresses are allowed to have highlights in their hair, but black waitresses are not.

Farryn Johnson’s blonde highlights are now at the center of a complaint filed with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

“My other co-workers, they all had different colors in their hair, like red and blonde highlights. I didn’t think it would be an issue,” she said.

Black College Student Arrested For Buying A Designer Belt, Barneys & NYPD Slapped With Lawsuit

Black College Student Arrested For Buying A Designer Belt, Barneys & NYPD Slapped With Lawsuit: Barneys New York and the New York Police Department have been slapped with a lawsuit by Trayon Christian, a college student from Queens, who was arrested at the luxury department store in April.

"His only crime was being a young black man,” Michael Palillo, Christian's attorney, told The New York Post.

The Post reports that the 19-year-old was at the store buying a $350 Salvatore Ferragamo belt, but following the purchase, he was stopped by undercover officers that were allegedly called on by a Barneys sales clerk who believed the transaction was fraudulent.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, states that the NYC College of Technology freshman was asked by the cops: “how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt?” He was then handcuffed taken to a local precinct.

Education Advocate Mayor Owens Dies at 77 - Higher Education

Education Advocate Mayor Owens Dies at 77 - Higher Education: NEW YORK—Mayor Owens, a New York City Democrat who served 12 terms in the U.S. House and was credited with helping to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, has died at age 77.

Owens died Monday night at NYU Langone Medical Center of renal failure and heart failure, his son Chris Owens said. The family posted on Owens’ Facebook page that “the brave heart of Congressman Major Owens stopped and he joined the ancestors.”

Owens represented a Brooklyn congressional district from 1983 to 2007.

“Today, our country mourns the loss of a devoted public servant who dedicated his life to lifting up the voices of those who too often go unheard,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “From the classroom to the halls of Congress, Congressman Owens taught all of us what it means to serve with strength, compassion, and commitment to the public good.”

New York City Comptroller John Liu said: “New York City has lost a champion who exemplified the very best of what a Congress member can be. His work in helping to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act will serve as one of his lasting legacies.”

Penn State to Offer Doctoral in African American Studies - Higher Education

Penn State to Offer Doctoral in African American Studies - Higher Education: Come next fall, Pennsylvania State University will be the twelfth university in the nation to offer a doctoral degree in African American Studies.

The university is currently soliciting applications for its inaugural dual-degree program in Black studies, which will allow students to also earn a degree in another academic discipline such as history, philosophy or English.

Penn State officials say these dual-title doctoral degree programs will ultimately help to enhance the education of their doctoral students while broadening their prospects once they graduate and enter the competitive job market.

“We’ve built this dual-title program with our partners in the Department of History to leverage the significant faculty strengths in African-American scholarship that already exist in the College of the Liberal Arts,” says Dr. Paul Taylor, an associate professor of philosophy and the head of the African American Studies program. “This gives us a model for future collaborations with other departments such as English, philosophy and art education.”

Survey Explores U.S. Diversity Awareness, Willingness to Target Racial Disparities - Higher Education

Survey Explores U.S. Diversity Awareness, Willingness to Target Racial Disparities - Higher Education: WASHINGTON – In recent years, Americans have been told that U.S. racial and ethnic diversity will be increasing to the point that by mid-century the nation will cease to have a White majority within the population.

For many, the perception of that milestone has been reached or has been nearly attained. A new survey released by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the PolicyLink organization indicates that many Americans already believe non-Whites are the majority of the U.S. population.

With minorities currently making up 37 percent of the U.S. population, Americans on average believe that non-Whites are 49 percent of the U.S., according to the “Building an All-In Nation: A View from the American Public” survey report. Released on Tuesday, the survey notes that the tendency of respondents to overestimate the minority population demonstrates “that Americans are not in denial about the high and rising levels of diversity” in American society.

Language-Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K - NYTimes.com

Language-Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K - NYTimes.com: Nearly two decades ago, a landmark study found that by age 3, the children of wealthier professionals have heard words millions more times than those of less educated parents, giving them a distinct advantage in school and suggesting the need for increased investment in prekindergarten programs.

Now a follow-up study has found a language gap as early as 18 months, heightening the policy debate. 

The new research by Anne Fernald, a psychologist at Stanford University, which was published in Developmental Science this year, showed that at 18 months children from wealthier homes could identify pictures of simple words they knew — “dog” or “ball” — much faster than children from low-income families. By age 2, the study found, affluent children had learned 30 percent more words in the intervening months than the children from low-income homes.

Slavery As ‘Innovation’ and Other Provocative Ideas: What I Learned From Henry Louis Gates’s ‘Many Rivers to Cross’ - The Daily Beast

Even if you accept that race is a social construct, separated from biology, it’s difficult to deal with it as a creation. Humans are tribal, and it feels natural to think that humanity has always been eager to categorize on the basis of skin color.

 If there’s anything Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., accomplishes with “The Black Atlantic,” the first episode of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross—a new documentary mini-series that begins on PBS Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET—it’s to show that this view is an illusion. That is, in addition to inaugurating a broad history of black people—“the full 500 years of American history,” he says—the beginning of the series also gives viewers a valuable crash course in the history of race as an idea that was built.

 The episode begins with three stories from early America. “The first known African in America came here with Spanish explorers in 1513,” explains Gates, as the camera sweeps over the semi-tropical landscape of modern-day Florida.

“His name was Juan Guarido. He was free, and he left his mark on the New World.” Guardio fought with the conquistador Hernán Cortés in Aztec Mexico, and traveled to California to join the Spanish search for gold. Estevanico, or “Esteban the Moor,” arrived on the continent in 1534. One of four survivors of a Spanish expedition gone wrong, he served as a “guide and translator” for his companions as they walked the landscape of today’s Texas. Esteban, however, was a slave.

NAACP Increases Efforts to Target College Students - Higher Education

NAACP Increases Efforts to Target College Students - Higher Education: WASHINGTON, D.C.—For as long as she can remember, Georgetown University junior Mikaela Ferrill has been an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Ferrill, 20, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attended her first NAACP meeting with her mother when she was a child and eventually got active in the youth council of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization that was founded in 1909 by Dr. W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells and others.

When it was time for her to apply to college, she insisted on attending a university that had an active NAACP chapter. “I have a bias when it comes to the NAACP,” says Ferrill, who recently completed an internship in the D.C. office of the Baltimore-based organization under the direction of Hilary Shelton, a longtime NAACP staffer. “What we do and will continue to do in this country is really important.”

NAACP Names Lorraine Miller as Interim President and CEO | News | BET

NAACP Names Lorraine Miller as Interim President and CEO | News | BET: Miller, the first woman to serve as president or interim president of the civil rights organization, will succeed Benjamin Todd Jealous.

The NAACP announced Monday that it was naming Lorraine C. Miller, a member of the organization’s national board, to serve as interim president and chief executive. She will be the first woman to serve as president of the nation’s preeminent civil rights organization.

Miller comes to the position following the resignation of Benjamin Todd Jealous, who will step down in January after five years as president and chief executive.

“This is a moment of great change and great opportunity for the NAACP,” said Roslyn M. Brock, the chairman of the 104-year-old organization.

“We are excited to work with Lorraine C. Miller during this time of transition. We are confident that Lorraine will serve the association with a steady and experienced hand as we continue the search for the next president and CEO,” Brock said. 

Celia Cruz, queen of Salsa, gets Google Doodle | www.ajc.com

Celia Cruz, queen of Salsa, gets Google Doodle | www.ajc.com: Cuban-American Celia Cruz was honored with a Google Doodle on Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. Cruz is often referred to as 'la Reina de Salsa', or 'the Queen of Salsa.
She won a Grammy award in 1990 for Best Tropical Latin Performance for her song with another salsa legend Ray Barretto (Ritmo en el Corazon). Her birthday is Oct. 21, 1925; she was born in Havana, Cuba.

On July 16, 2003, Cruz died of brain cancer at her home in Florida at age 77. Her husband, Pedro Knight died in 2007. She had no children. After her death she was allowed to lie in state at Freedom Tower in Miami where more than 200,000 people paid respect.

Medical School Debt Disproportionately Affects African-American Students - US News and World Report

Medical School Debt Disproportionately Affects African-American Students - US News and World Report: African-American medical school students have significantly higher amounts of anticipated debt than students of other races and ethnicities, according to a report from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health published in the journal PLOS One on Monday.

The researchers surveyed more than 2,300 medical students enrolled in 111 accredited medical schools during the 2010-11 academic year. Overall, 62 percent of medical students said they anticipated more than $150,000 in debt upon completing medical school. But a much higher percentage of African-American students reported anticipated debt above $150,000, at 77.3, compared to white students, at 65 percent. Meanwhile, a lower rate of Hispanic or Latino and Asian students anticipated debt in excess of $150,000, at 57.2 percent and 50.2 percent respectively.

"The cost of American medical education has increased substantially over the past decade," the report says. "Given racial/ethnic inequalities in access to financial resources, it is plausible that increases in student debt burden resulting from these increases in cost may not be borne equally."

Diverse Magazine

Asian-American Band Fights To Trademark Name 'The Slants' : Code Switch : NPR

Asian-American Band Fights To Trademark Name 'The Slants' : Code Switch : NPR: The Slants, a six-member band from Portland, Ore., calls their sound "Chinatown Dance Rock" — a little bit New Order, a little bit Depeche Mode. They describe themselves as one of the first Asian-American rock bands. Their music caters to an Asian-American crowd, they've spoken at various Asian-American events, and they're proud of all of it.

But the Slants have been duking it out with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) over the past four years because of their name. The PTO refused the band's two trademark applications, saying that "slants" is a disparaging term for people of Asian descent. Now the band plans to take their case to a federal circuit court.

"They said because of our ethnicity, people automatically think of the racial slur as opposed to any other definition of the term," Simon Tam, founder and bassist of The Slants, told me. "In other words, if I was white, this wouldn't be an issue at all," Tam, who goes by "Simon Young" onstage, is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent. (The entire Slants crew is Asian-American.)

Henry Louis Gates PBS series "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" - baltimoresun.com

Henry Louis Gates PBS series "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" - baltimoresun.com: Can something as tragic and immoral as slavery become, if not less tragic, then noble, even righteous, in the telling? It can and it does in the capable hands of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose brilliant and compelling new six-part series for PBS called "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" premieres Oct. 22.

Mr. Gates, whose previous series, "African American Lives," chronicled the heritage of some famous and notable African Americans, takes us on a new journey that begins 500 years ago. While some of the history is familiar, Mr. Gates re-tells it in a way that will sound new to many people, especially the young. What I admire most about Mr. Gates' approach in this series and the previous one is that he is not a polemicist. He doesn't dwell on blame so much as he conveys documented history, leaving it to viewers to draw their own conclusions.

What many will find shocking is that the first slave traders were Africans who, Mr. Gates says, based their prejudices on "ethnic differences" while using "brute power." In episode one, Mr. Gates takes us to Sierra Leone where "300,000 Africans were taken." It was only the beginning.

The Whitest Historically Black College In America : Code Switch : NPR

The Whitest Historically Black College In America : Code Switch : NPR: It opened in the late 19th century as the Bluefield Colored Institute, created to educate the children of black coal miners in segregated West Virginia. Although it still receives the federal funding that comes with its designation as a historically black institution, today Bluefield State College is 90 percent white. The road that separates those realities is as rocky as any story of racial transition in post-World War II America.

We went to the campus of Bluefield State to see what campus life was like at this unusual college.

The very first student we met, Antonio Bolden, or Tony as he introduced himself, looked like any other student you might see at a historically black college or university (HBCU). He's a laid-back 19-year-old, stocky with shoulder-length dreadlocks and green eyes. But at Bluefield State, Tony is an outlier for several reasons. He's a teenager; the average age of his classmates is 27. He started college right after high school; many of his classmates are working full-time jobs, raising children, or both. And of course, he's black, whereas the student body is only historically so.

Why Are the Underrepresented Minorities Underachieving in STEM? - Higher Education

Why Are the Underrepresented Minorities Underachieving in STEM? - Higher Education: Whenever Tamara L. Battle taught middle and high school students as a member of the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education program — or GK-12 — she always made it a point to talk about her previous struggles in math and science.

“I always tell students what my background is to let them know that I know what I’m talking about,” says Battle, who served as a GK-12 fellow at the Cesar Chavez Charter Schools for Public Policy in Washington, D.C. from 2006 to 2008.

“But I always tell this story about me failing my first physics class [in college], and now I’m teaching [physics],” Battle says of the time when she earned an F in physics at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in the 1990s.

Battle says the idea behind sharing her personal story was to help students at the mostly African-American and Hispanic school overcome the fear of failure in what is often unfamiliar terrain.

This map shows where the world’s 30 million slaves live. There are 60,000 in the U.S.

This map shows where the world’s 30 million slaves live. There are 60,000 in the U.S.: We think of slavery as a practice of the past, an image from Roman colonies or 18th-century American plantations, but the practice of enslaving human beings as property still exists. There are 29.8 million people living as slaves right now, according to a comprehensive new report issued by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation.

This is not some softened, by-modern-standards definition of slavery. These 30 million people are living as forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, child brides in forced marriages and, in all ways that matter, as pieces of property, chattel in the servitude of absolute ownership. Walk Free investigated 162 countries and found slaves in every single one. But the practice is far worse in some countries than others.

The country where you are most likely to be enslaved is Mauritania. Although this vast West African nation has tried three times to outlaw slavery within its borders, it remains so common that it is nearly normal. The report estimates that four percent of Mauritania is enslaved – one out of every 25 people. (The aid group SOS Slavery, using a broader definition of slavery, estimated several years ago that as many as 20 percent of Mauritanians might be enslaved.)

University's First Black Professor's Law School Diploma Was Almost Destroyed Before Being Returned

University's First Black Professor's Law School Diploma Was Almost Destroyed Before Being Returned: COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two rare documents from a fleeting time after the Civil War when the University of South Carolina first admitted African-American students and faculty are going on display.

A law school diploma from the university and a South Carolina law license granted in 1876 to Richard Theodore Greener, the first African-American faculty member of the university, are being unveiled at noon EDT Tuesday at the South Caroliniana Library on the school's Columbia campus.

The exhibition explores contributions blacks made in the university's history before segregation. It coincides with the university's year-long remembrance of events leading up to 1963, when the school again admitted black students in the Civil Rights era.

Authorities say both documents were saved from a Chicago home awaiting demolition in 2009. It's not known how they got there.

Interview: Director Steve McQueen And Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor On '12 Years A Slave' : NPR

Interview: Director Steve McQueen And Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor On '12 Years A Slave' : NPR: Solomon Northup was born free in early 19th-century upstate New York. He lived the life of a respected and elegant musician until 1841, when he was lured South by the promise of a lucrative stint playing his fiddle in a traveling circus.

In Washington, D.C. — in the shadow of the Capitol — Northup was drugged. When he came to, he was in chains: a slave headed for the hellish world of plantation life. Only the hope of being reunited with his beloved wife and children kept him going.

In the new film Twelve Years A Slave, British director Steve McQueen tells the largely forgotten, true story of Northup's capture, struggle and eventual freedom. McQueen is also known for provocative films like Hunger, about a hunger strike at a prison in Northern Ireland.

Just the Stats: Higher Minority Participation in Community College Support Programs - Higher Education

Just the Stats: Higher Minority Participation in Community College Support Programs - Higher Education: Community Colleges continue to evolve, and as they do they experience new struggles with accountability measures, the increase in student diversity and financial constraints. Despite these intensifying demands, community colleges continue to seek ways to bolster student retention and graduation rates.

A Matter of Degrees: Engaging Practices, Engaging Students, a report released today from the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) provides an in-depth analysis of what is working (and not) at community colleges. The report provides key practices for college leaders who are targeting ways to improve student success (retention and graduation). With dwindling resources readily available, educational leaders can utilize this report to target educational approaches that will impact students’ experiences and their success.

CCCSE research confirmed potentially valuable elements of student success based on the quality (design and implementation) of educational practices and programs on campus, the number of students participating in the programs and the integration of programs into the lives of the students.

Kirby Kehoe And Cheyne Kehoe, Purported White Supremacists, Arrested In Arizona

Kirby Kehoe And Cheyne Kehoe, Purported White Supremacists, Arrested In Arizona: FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Two members of a notorious family that authorities say once tried to set up a whites-only nation in America were arrested this week in Arizona on federal firearms charges after a raid on a sprawling ranch where dozens of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized.

Kirby Kehoe and his 37-year-old son, Cheyne, had an initial court appearance Tuesday in Flagstaff. Cheyne Kehoe's attorney declined to discuss the case, while a lawyer for Kirby Kehoe did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Authorities received a tip that Kirby Kehoe had weapons on his 40-acre property near Ash Fork, about 140 miles north of Phoenix, said Tom Mangan, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Both men have previous felony convictions and are banned from possessing firearms.

The Kehoe family has been well-known to law enforcement since the 1990s when authorities say they provided weapons to various white supremacists who committed robberies across the Midwest.

Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court Blues - Higher Education

Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court Blues - Higher Education: We often look back at American racial history and shake our heads in wonder. We degrade previous generations for their collusion or apathy regarding the forces of racism. How could so many people really believe African Americans were better off as slaves, or slavery was a positive good? How could so many people really believe separate could actually be equal? Why could they not look past the beautiful mask of rhetoric to see the ugly, nakedness of racism?

In the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court saw through the false rhetoric of separate but equal that racists used to legally discriminate for more than 50 years. The Court finally realized that the mantra—though seemingly egalitarian—had in practice racially discriminated against African Americans. The Court did not care whether the policy spoke of racial equality. The Court realized its effect was undeniably racial inequality.

On Tuesday, on the eve of the 60 year anniversary of the historic Brown decision, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, which if decided like the Brown case, could have far-reaching effects on racial justice in America.

Nationwide Study Affirms Income Affects Postsecondary Achievement - Higher Education

Nationwide Study Affirms Income Affects Postsecondary Achievement - Higher Education: A thread of urgency for college attainment and continuance has spread throughout higher academia, after President Obama’s 2009 charge to the United States in regaining its lead in worldwide college graduates by the year 2020.

In this collective pursuit for higher achievement by universities, educational organizations and policy makers, often left out of the fold of accountability are high schools across the country — who have been moreso tasked with the obligation of graduating students from secondary institutions with diplomas that are not viable for the demands of sustainable employment opportunities in the country.

In a recent study, “High School Benchmarks: National College Progression Rates,” released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, high school administrators have been presented with data for their introduction into this nationwide call for action.

“We are trying to focus on the role of high schools and make sure high schools aren’t the weak link,” said Dr. Doug Shapiro, executive research director at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, during a roundtable panel discussion held on Tuesday to highlight the report’s findings.

High Court Weighs Michigan Ban on Affirmative Action - Higher Education

High Court Weighs Michigan Ban on Affirmative Action - Higher Education: WASHINGTON — After the Supreme Court ruled a decade ago that race could be a factor in college admissions in a Michigan case, affirmative action opponents persuaded the state’s voters to outlaw any consideration of race.

Now, the high court is weighing whether that change to Michigan’s constitution is itself discriminatory.

It is a proposition that even the lawyer for civil rights groups in favor of affirmative action acknowledges a tough sell, at first glance.

“How can a provision that is designed to end discrimination in fact discriminate?” said Mark Rosenbaum of the American Civil Liberties Union. Yet that is the difficult argument Rosenbaum will make today to a court that has grown more skeptical about taking race into account in education since its Michigan decision in 2003.

A victory for Rosenbaum’s side would imperil similar voter-approved initiatives that banned affirmative action in education in California and Washington state. A few other states have adopted laws or issued executive orders to bar race-conscious admissions policies.

Schools Increase Efforts to Attract More Women to Business Programs - Higher Education

Schools Increase Efforts to Attract More Women to Business Programs - Higher Education: In the last couple of years, there has been a steady rise of women breaking the glass ceiling and assuming leadership roles of some of America’s largest corporations. In 2012, Fortune magazine announced that women CEOs set a record by taking more than 20 spots on the Fortune 500 list, including Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo! — who took the No. 1 spot on the “40 Under 40” list this year; Indra Nooyi, chief executive officer of PepsiCo; Ginni Rometty, chair and CEO of IBM; and Ursula Burns, chair and chief executive officer of Xerox.

As more professional women continue to slowly but surely break down barriers in the traditionally male-dominated C-suite, news of their accomplishments has initiated conversations about attracting more females into the business world, particularly as it pertains to their enrollment in business schools.

“Having positive role models is inspiring for women as they consider pursuing their M.B.A.,” says Zoe Hillenmeyer, a Washington University M.B.A. grad and senior consultant at IBM. “But it’s more than just that — it is critical for helping curb unintentional bias and categorical thinking, meaning when we see more women at the top, men and women are going to experience the subtle, slow adjustment that women can lead as well as men.”

How Columbus Sailed Into U.S. History, Thanks To Italians : Code Switch : NPR

How Columbus Sailed Into U.S. History, Thanks To Italians : Code Switch : NPR: It's been 521 years since the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus "sailed the ocean blue/in fourteen hundred and ninety-two." Since then, there have been thousands of parades, speeches and statues commemorating Columbus, along with a critical rethinking of his life and legacy.

But the question remains, how did a man who never set foot on North America get a federal holiday in his name? While Columbus did arrive in the "New World" when he cast anchor in the Bahamas, he never made it to the United States.

This is in contrast to Juan Ponce de Leon (who arrived in Florida in 1513), Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (whose ships arrived in what's now known as Corpus Christi Bay in Texas in 1519) and fellow Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano, who reached New York Harbor in 1524.

So why Columbus Day? Until the mid-1700s, Christopher Columbus was not widely known among most Americans. This began to change in the late 1700s, after the United States gained independence from Britain. The name "Columbia" soon became a synonym for the United States, with the name being used for various landmarks in the newly created nation (see the District of Columbia, Columbia University and the Columbia River).

Special Report: Recruitment and Retention in Higher Ed - Higher Education

Special Report: Recruitment and Retention in Higher Ed - Higher Education: Low participation and completion rates in STEM majors among underrepresented minorities; programs that are being developed to help the college experience of students with autism; a reevaluation of the IPEDS definition of graduates; and increased recruiting efforts to attract more women into business programs.