Social Justice Archives     867 articles   4/10/06 Rock Band Launches Washington, DC Campaign for Armenian Genocide Recognition LOS ANGELES -- Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan of the Grammy Award-winning band System Of A Down will travel to Washington, DC on April 24 for a three-day campaign to urge Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and other Congressional leaders to end their complicity in Turkey's ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide. newamericamedia.org Hitler's Ghost--Russia Becomes Fertile Ground for Neo-Nazis Editor's Note: PNS editor Franz Schurmann looks at contemporary events through the historian's lens. In Russia today, the nation's growing ethnic and foreign-born population increasingly suffers brutal attacks from more and more neo-Nazis, while Russian politicians crack down on dissent. It's fertile ground for fascism, writes Schurmann, emeritus professor of history and sociology at U.C. Berkeley and author of numerous books. New America Media Victims of the Justice System-A Conference at UCLA Brings Together the State's Wrongly Convicted, to Share their Experiences and Push for Legal Changes. One by one they ascended the stage and introduced themselves, each an embodiment of the legal system's fallibility in California. "My name is Herman Atkins," a tall ponytailed man said. "The state of California stole 12 years of my life for a rape and robbery I did not commit in Riverside." latimes.com Adidas Hit Over 'Racist' Trainer Opponents claim the image is offensive Sportswear giant Adidas is facing complaints over a new trainer that some say features a racist cartoon image. The offending footwear includes a yellow picture of an Asian youth with bowl-cut hair, pig nose and buck teeth. Asian-American groups have complained that the picture on the shoe's tongue portrays an anti-Asian stereotype. bbc.com     4/3/06 Local Black Leaders Voice Solidarity with Hispanic Protesters Blacks, while not visible in this week's student walkouts and rallies against immigration legislation before Congress, say they support the local Hispanic community in its protests. That support comes despite a local 2005 survey showing that 66 percent of U.S.-born blacks say the country should admit fewer legal immigrants in the next 10 years. Houston Chronicle     4/2/06 Jackson, Sharpton Rally for La. Voters New Orleans - Hundreds of protesters led by the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton rallied Saturday, saying the city's election plans will disenfranchise voters displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The system of mail-in voting set up for the April 22 election for mayor and other positions in the city will make it difficult for voters living elsewhere to cast a ballot, Jackson and other activists said. Black people, who made up 70 percent of New Orleans before Katrina hit, form a large majority of those still displaced. truthout.org Korean Americans: Crackdown Could Hurt Linked Communities Editor's Note: Koreans were among the array of immigrant groups represented in historic immigrants' rights marches. Reform of immigration law would impact not just undocumented Latinos, but a web of inter-related immigrant communities. SAN FRANCISCO--The Hispanic-led marches this past week are indeed a benchmark in cooperation among immigrant communities. Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese joined the march -- but this is not something new. For years, Hispanics have been working in non-Latino immigrant communities. In fact, a large percentage of Korean-owned businesses employ Latino workers, many of whom are undocumented. New America Media New Voters Being Rejected, Many Didn't Provide the Identification That's Now Required Problems with a new statewide voter registration system could keep tens of thousands of Californians from showing up on election rolls this June. More than 25 percent of the new registration forms sent to the state since Jan. 1 have been returned to the counties, most because they lack the driver's license, state identification or Social Security numbers now required by federal law. civilrights.org American Muslims Gaining a Foothold in Politics The 9/11 attacks have had a curious double-edged impact on the political emergence of American Muslims. They are up against more stereotyping and backlash, which they perceived recently in the furor over a Dubai company's thwarted plan to take over port operations in several U.S. cities. civilrights.org     3/27/06 Who Is Killing New Orleans? A few blocks from the badly flooded and still-closed campus of Dillard University, a wind-bent street sign announces the intersection of Humanity and New Orleans. In the nighttime distance, the downtown skyscrapers on Poydras and Canal Streets are already ablaze with light, but a vast northern and eastern swath of the city, including the Gentilly neighborhood around Dillard, remains shrouded in darkness. Zmag.org     3/26/06 500,000 Pack Streets to Protest Immigration Bills-The Rally, Part of a Massive Mobilization of Immigrants and Their Supporters, May be the Largest L.A. has Seen. A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.' southern border. L.A. Times     3/22/06 Giving Voice to Asian Pacific America, Sam Chu Lin, 1939-2006 Sam Chu Lin, who passed away at 67, on March 5, rose up from humble beginnings in the Mississippi Delta city of Greenville, to become “a true broadcast pioneer” based on sheer guts, determination and talent. What made Sam Chu Lin a good, even great, journalist? He was dogged and fearless. He focused on people, more than the event, was always curious and proud of his heritage. He gave his heart. A one-man Asian American news wire service, he cared about the community. He worked fast and was a consummate pro. He did it all in multidimensional media: print, radio, TV, documentaries. And he had the Voice. Asian Week/newamericamedia.org     3/16/06 Regents Approve Sudan Divestment Los Angeles -- The University of California Regents, citing the continuing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, voted unanimously Thursday to divest UC of tens of millions of dollars of securities from nine foreign companies doing business in that troubled African nation. The regents' decision represents a significant step beyond divestment actions taken by other colleges, UC officials said, because the university plans to shed both its direct and indirect holdings in the nine publicly traded firms. SFGate.com     3/15/06 Reminders of Bigotry Unearthed-Remains Found at an MTA Excavation Site Shed Light on a Time Rife with Anti-Chinese Bias. They could not marry, they could not own property, and they performed the most undesirable jobs: ditch diggers, canal builders, house boys. They were banned from most shops and public institutions and were the target of racist violence that went unpunished. Los Angeles was home to an estimated 10,000 Chinese in the late 19th century — almost all men who came to America to work on the railroads and ended up in desperate straits, crowded into a filthy Chinese ghetto near what is now Union Station. latimes.com     3/14/06 About 100,000 March to Protest Immigration Bill CHICAGO (AP) — Tens of thousands of immigrants from all over the Chicago area, many carrying U.S. flags, marched into downtown Friday to show support for immigrant rights. AntiRacismNet.org     3/13/06 Colleges Open Minority Aid to All Comers Facing threats of litigation and pressure from Washington, colleges and universities nationwide are opening to white students hundreds of thousands of dollars in fellowships, scholarships and other programs previously created for minorities. Southern Illinois University reached a consent decree last month with the Justice Department to allow nonminorities and men access to graduate fellowships originally created for minorities and women. New York Times Oildale's 'Okie' -- Class, Race and 'Merle Haggard Way' Editor's Note: In California's Central Valley, country music superstar Merle Haggard remains both loved and controversial, as shown by "Okie" Oildale and bigger Bakersfield's haggling over naming streets after the hometown boy. New America Media contributor Gerald Haslam is the author of, most recently "Haslam's Valley" (Heyday Books, 2005) and "Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California, 2nd Edition" (Heyday Books, 2005). He was raised in Oildale, Calif. New America Media, Commentary,     3/9/06 Many Angry Over Fate of Cochran Law Firm Barely a year after Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.'s death, major changes at his Los Angeles-based law firm have startled and angered many in the city's black community. Though Cochran became internationally famous for his successful defense of O.J. Simpson on murder charges in 1995, he previously made his reputation in legal circles and in the black community for taking on police abuse and civil rights cases. latimes.com Vietnam and the Presidency Conference Omits Vietnamese Americans The first “Vietnam and the Presidency” National Conference sponsored by all the Presidential Libraries and the National Archives is scheduled for March 10 and 11, 2006, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Among those participating are some political big names: Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, Jimmy Carter, Theodore Sorenson, Westly Clark, and Chuck Hagel. One of the topics up for discussion will be “Lessons Learned.” A Vietnamese American Experience-Blog     3/7/06 Filmmaker Gordon Parks Dies at 93 Gordon Parks, who captured the struggles and triumphs of black America as a photographer for Life magazine and then became Hollywood's first major black director with "The Learning Tree" and the hit "Shaft," died Tuesday, a family member said. He was 93. Parks, who also wrote fiction and was an accomplished composer, died in New York, his nephew, Charles Parks, said in a telephone interview from Lawrence, Kan. SFGate.com     3/6/06 Concerns Mount Over Higher Rates on Student Loans Washington -- The Republican-led Congress and President Bush are facing growing anger on college campuses as students and their parents prepare to pay higher borrowing costs because of new changes to federal student loan programs. Congress narrowly passed a deficit-reduction bill last month that cut $12 billion from student loan programs, which was signed by the president. The new law will slash subsidies to lenders and raise interest rates on loans taken out by parents. SFGate.com Controversy Roils Over Proposal to Rename Street After Fred Hampton Police and politicians have turned a rubber stamp into a monkey wrench over a controversial proposal to name a portion of a Chicago street after an outspoken Black Panther Party chairman. Street sign designations in the Windy City are usually routine procedures that have honored more than 1,300 people, including Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, singer Frank Sinatra and Bulls legend Michael Jordan. BlackAmericaWeb.com     2/28/06 Refugee Crisis Grows as Darfur War Crosses a Border ADRÉ, Chad — The chaos in Darfur, the war-ravaged region in Sudan where more than 200,000 civilians have been killed, has spread across the border into Chad, deepening one of the world's worst refugee crises. A boy and his sister in a camp in Kolloye, Chad, are among the refugees left homeless by marauding militias along the border with Sudan. Arab gunmen from Darfur have pushed across the desert and entered Chad, stealing cattle, burning crops and killing anyone who resists. The lawlessness has driven at least 20,000 Chadians from their homes, making them refugees in their own country. New York Times Everybody Throw Your L's Up -- Reggaeton Brings Out Latino Pride Editor's Note: A young Latina says reggaeton music is bringing out a kind of pan-Latino pride among a group long separated by nationality. Elizabeth Gonazalez, 25, is a writer for Silicon Valley De-Bug (www.siliconvalleydebug.org), a project of New America Media. SAN JOSE, Calif.--Last year, I didn't even know who "Daddy Yankee" was and reggaetón wasn't even in my vocabulary. Little did I know then that pretty soon I would start singing "Who's this? Daddy Yankee!" and "Gasolina!" with the rest of the Latinos across the United States. New America Media As New Orleans Mayoral Race Looms, Displaced Residents Urged to Vote Absentee The race for the mayor’s office in storm-ravaged New Orleans may take on a different tone next month, with incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin trying to reach city voters strewn across the country while fighting a challenge from a feisty black minister, Louisiana’s lieutenant governor and a host of other candidates. Qualifying in the race officially begins on Wednesday, with the primary election set for April 22. At least nine people have announced plans to enter the race. The election, which also will include the city council, had been delayed because of Hurricane Katrina. BlackAmericaWeb.com Alumni vow Dillard will survive Katrina There were no VIPS, no velvet rope and no valet parking.      The nonpolitical fundraiser had a simple purpose that is rare in Washington: to raise money rather than to elevate the egos of the party givers. Michael D. Jones and his wife, Shaun, hosted a Mardi Gras party to benefit his hurricane-ravaged alma mater in New Orleans, Dillard University, founded in 1869 to educate former slaves. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best liberal arts universities in the South, Dillard is a jewel among historically black colleges. After Hurricane Katrina hit, the oak-shaded campus lost three dormitories, sustained $340 million in damages and was left in more than 10 feet of water. Mr. Jones, a 46-year-old trial attorney with Kirkland & Ellis who graduated summa cum laude from Dillard in 1982, wrote a personal check for $10,000. Then he and wife donated $100,000 to Dillard for scholarship funds. washingtontimes.com     2/26/06 33,000 in Paris March Against Racism Tens of thousands of demonstrators, including ministers and politicians of all stripes, joined in a show of force against racism and anti-Semitism on Sunday, marching through the French capital after the torture and killing of a Paris Jew. Some 33,000 people took part in the march, police said. Anti-racism groups that organized the march did not immediately issue a figure. Smaller marches took place in other cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux, where Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, named a cardinal this week, took part. Jerusalem Post     2/25/06 Judge Rejects Suit to Open New Orleans Poll Stations Around U.S. NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge on Friday rejected a lawsuit seeking satellite voting sites outside Louisiana where Hurricane Katrina evacuees have settled, so they could participate more easily in New Orleans' mayoral election. The decision means that the April 22 election — which will give voters an opportunity to choose who will lead them back from the disaster — will proceed as planned. latimes.com Brown U. Votes to Divest From Sudan PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Brown University announced Saturday it will stop investing in companies that do business in Sudan because the country has been accused of genocide. The decision by the Brown Corporation, which oversees the university's assets, follows similar moves by Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Amherst and Yale. New York Times     2/21/06 Under Pressure from Justice Dept., Southern Illinois University Agrees to Change Minority Fellowships Facing the threat of a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Southern Illinois University (SIU) agreed on February 8 to change three fellowship programs whose recipients have been mainly underrepresented minorities or women. "We are disappointed with SIU's decision," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "Responding to the Department of Justice's unprecedented threat in this manner sends a message that ensuring equal opportunity and access to minorities and women is no longer a priority of our nation's colleges and universities." civilrights.org     2/18/06 Race Enters Felons Debate The debate over a General Assembly bill that would restore voting rights to as many as 150,000 felons in Maryland has taken on racial overtones and sparked criticism among the legislation's supporters and detractors.      Yesterday, the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus defended Delegate Salima Siler Marriott for saying that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has racist motives in threatening to veto the bill.    "He is what he is," Delegate Rudolph C. Cane said of Mr. Ehrlich, refraining from calling the governor a racist.      washingtontimes.com     2/9/06 Adding Color to Red, White and Blue-For '06 Winter Games, United States Fields Its Most Diverse Team TURIN, Italy, Feb. 8 -- Back when figure skater Dorothy Hamill, hockey player Mike Eruzione and speedskaters Eric Heiden and Bonnie Blair were winning medals for the United States, the joke was that the snow wasn't the only thing that was white when it came to the Winter Olympics. The joke may be getting a little old. Once composed almost exclusively of white athletes from small communities in the Northeast and Midwest, the U.S. team that will march into the Olympic Stadium on Friday night for Opening Ceremonies will be the most racially and ethnically diverse in the history of the Winter Games. washingtonpost.com Craigslist Sued Over Some Ads-Chicago Group Claims Site Allows Discrimination A Chicago public interest group has sued the popular online classified service Craigslist for allegedly publishing housing ads that discriminate against prospective tenants on the basis of race, gender and religion. The suit, filed this week in federal court in Chicago by the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, accuses Craigslist of violating fair-housing laws by allowing users to post ads with language including "no minorities" and "Requirements: Clean Godly Christian male." SFGate.com     2/1/06 Spring Break in New Orleans Why spend spring break in the typical destinations of the Caribbean, Virginia Beach, or Mexico when you can experience firsthand the rebirth of one of the world's most exciting cities -- New Orleans?! In the spirit of the 1960's Freedom Rides, we are calling on students, especially African American students, to descend on New Orleans for any amount of time during Spring Break. During their stay, students will experience a mecca of African-American music, culture, and history, while also participating in the historic task of rebuilding the city's communities. www.commongroundrelief.org     1/31/06 Coretta Scott King Dies at 78-Widow of Martin Luther King Jr. Dedicated Her Life to Carrying on His Legacy Coretta Scott King, wife of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., died Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006, at the age of 78.  Jan. 31, 2006 — Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., has died. She was 78. Scott King was admitted to Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital on Aug. 16, 2005, suffering from a stroke that left her weakened on her right side, unable to walk, and barely able to speak. Family Blazed Trails Coretta Scott was born April 27, 1927, on a farm in Heiberger, Ala. Though the family owned the land, it was often a hardscrabble life. The young Coretta, her sister, Edythe, and brother, Obie, all had to pick cotton during the Depression to help the family make ends meet. The Scott family was resourceful and blazed trails for blacks in its small corner of the world. Her father, Obediah, was the first black person in the area to own a truck, and he eventually opened a country store. Her mother, Bernice, hired a bus to drive all the black children to and from Lincoln High School — nine miles from Heiberger. An intelligent and hardworking student, Scott King played trumpet and piano, and graduated from Lincoln High at the top of her class in 1945. She followed her older sister to Antioch College in Ohio, where Edythe had been the first full-time black student to live on campus. At Antioch, Scott King majored in music and education. When she graduated, she decided she wanted to pursue music instead of teaching. She received a scholarship to study violin and voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she met her future husband, Martin Luther King Jr., who was studying theology at Boston University. ABC.NEWS.COM     1/30/06 Census Bureau, Activists Debate How and Where to Count Inmates Since the first U.S. census in 1790, there has been a rule for keeping track of the convicts sitting in prisons: They are counted in the state and region where they are serving their time, not necessarily the place they did their crime or will call home once they are out of the joint. How to count inmates historically has not been a big issue. But the fast-expanding prison population -- now about 1.5 million -- is prompting a debate because government spending and electoral district boundaries are in part decided by population. Opponents say the practice unfairly rewards rural, often sparsely populated regions where many prisons are built, at the expense of the cities where many prisoners had resided. washingtonpost.com Jackson: Let My People Return-New Coalition Seeks Housing and Jobs The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Sunday a coalition of black city and state leaders will mount a public initiative for housing and jobs aimed at bringing home every displaced New Orleanian who wants to return. Jackson kicked off the drive in the pulpit of Central City's New Hope Baptist Church, where he called on church members suffering from Hurricane Katrina to demand rapid access to jobs and housing so they can rebuild their shattered neighborhoods. The Times-Picayune A City Faces the Slavery in its Past PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- All Portsmouth set out to do was dig a manhole on a two-lane street of clapboard homes. Then a city backhoe hit a slat of white pine in the russet mud. It was a coffin, soft, brown, and six-sided, the first remnant of a buried chapter in New England history. About 200 coffins lay under the street near Choozy Shooz and the other shops that lend downtown Portsmouth a cosmopolitan air. No one knew much about this burial ground because the coffins held slaves, their unmarked graves paved over and mostly forgotten to make way for homes. boston.com     1/26/06 Racial Tensions Surface Among Los Angeles Homeless For seven months now, Johnson and her family have been living at the Union Rescue Mission on downtown's Skid Row, where danger is a constant companion. Their dorm room sits four floors up, and many days they remain there, even isolating themselves above the common areas below. Johnson has another fear now. She worries that the racial tension which last Thursday broke out into fights at Belmont High School, which her elder daughters attend, is something that's also on the rise throughout her neighborhood. newamericamedia.org Segregation Report Sheds Light on Challenges in Diversifying U.S. Schools Schools in the Northeast and West continue to be more segregated than those in the South, with  California and New York maintaining schools that are the most segregated, according to a recent report from the Harvard University Civil Rights Project.   In California, 87 percent of the non-white students attend schools that are majority minority, and in New York, it's 86 percent.   Further down the list, Mississippi has 77 percent; Georgia has 73 percent, and Alabama has 70 percent of minority students attending majority minority schools. newamericamedia.org     1/24/06 Measure restores vote to all felons ANNAPOLIS -- Democratic lawmakers, who have long pushed to restore voting rights to Maryland felons, say racial politics and election-year considerations make this the year they open the polls to every ex-convict.      "This law seriously disenfranchises a large number of African-Americans," said Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat who is gathering sponsors for a voting-rights restoration bill she plans to submit.      "Their disenfranchisement impacts the power of African-Americans in this state," said Mrs. Marriott, whose bill would give all felons the vote immediately upon release from prison.    washingtontimes.com     1/20/06 MANY S.F. SCHOOLS TO CLOSE OR MERGE-In Front of a Crowd of Angry Parents, Teachers and Students, Board Decides to Shut 4, Relocate and Combine Others San Francisco's Board of Education Thursday night voted to close, merge and relocate more than a dozen public schools to save some of the millions that the district says it lost this year due to declining enrollment. The board did its work during a five-hour meeting before hundreds of angry parents, students and teachers who filled the Everett Middle School auditorium and occasionally shouted -- or wept aloud -- as the panel voted on a case-by-case basis SFGate.com Mixed Results for L.A.'s Magnet Schools-The Programs have been Academically Successful but Often Come up Short as a Tool for Integration. By day's end, the parents of more than 60,000 children will have made their pitch to get into a magnet school, and Los Angeles Unified School District officials will begin sorting the requests by interest, by grade and, most important, by race. Only one in four students will be accepted. Others will be left wondering if they have been unfairly left on the sidelines by a 30-year-old process created for a district that no longer exists. The schools were supposed to be magnets for educational excellence, attracting motivated students to integrated campuses outside of their neighborhoods. When magnets were launched in 1976, almost 40% of the district's students were white, about one-third Latino and one-quarter black. Magnet schools were required to reflect that balance in a district facing a court order to desegregate. latimes.com More Than 100 Groups Unite to Oppose Offensive Flyer Campaign A new flyer campaign equating the wearing of a turban with terrorism has outraged Arab-American and civil rights groups, who have decried the move as "baseless and reprehensible." The flyer, by the Nutritional Health Alliance (NHA), depicts Sen. Richard Durbin, D. Ill., wearing a turban with the words, "Get a Turban for Durbin! Keep Congressional Terrorism at Bay," on it. It was sent out last month to more than a million vitamin and nutritional supplement consumers. civilrights.org King Tut: African or European? Debates over King Tut's image and identity are not new. In 1922, Howard Carter, an English archeologist, "discovered" the tomb of this young king who had ruled Egypt about 3300 years ago, from 1336 to 1327 B.C. As soon as his reconstructed images began to appear, they sparked decades of debate over his identity. Most European and Euro-American scholars and others persuaded by their point of view claimed that King Tut was essentially a "caucasoid" ancestor of present day Europeans (referring to "whites" generally). Scholars of African origin and descent, along with those of their European colleagues and other scholars who disavow the Eurocentric worldview, argue that King Tut was an African, physically and culturally akin to the other dark-skinned people who populated the African continent at the time he lived. newamericamedia.org     1/18/06 The West has Picked a Fight with Iran that it Cannot Win-Washington's Kneejerk Belligerence Ignores Tehran's Influence and the Need for Subtle Engagement Never pick a fight you know you cannot win. Or so I was told. Pick an argument if you must, but not a fight. Nothing I have read or heard in recent weeks suggests that fighting Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme makes any sense at all. The very talk of it - macho phrases about "all options open" - suggests an international community so crazed with video game enforcement as to have lost the power of coherent thought. Gaurdian Unlimited     1/17/06 Alabama Recalls Black Soldier's Defiance, Five Years Before Parks’ Stand MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Five years before Rosa Parks launched a bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man, a uniformed black soldier balked at an order to board a bus through a back door and paid with his life. Yet the 1950 police shooting of Pfc. Thomas Edwards Brooks had largely been lost to history until it was brought up again during the events marking the 50th anniversary of the boycott and in a new book about the historic protest. www.blackamericaweb.com Latino Ministries Worried About Immigration Bill-Lawmakers Say Clergy, Doctors Aren't Targeted for Aiding Those Here Illegally The Cuban immigrant who walked into the Spanish Catholic Center with cancer was beyond hope. Calmly and sweetly, physician Anna Maria Izquierdo-Porrera showed him how to die with dignity in his Washington area house. "Whatever we can do here, we do it," Izquierdo-Porrera said in a cramped office piled high with yellow files. "I can't see myself ignoring a person who knocks on my door and says 'I need help.' " washingtonpost.com     1/11/06 Backlash of Wall Street Journal Story Reverberates in Bay Area Chinese Community SAN FRANCISCO -- Asian students are getting good grades, so white students flee? A Wall Street Journal story that claimed just that has sparked blistering responses from Asian parents and educators, who say that the story is unfair to their community because it characterizes Asian students as too focused on academics and portrays a racial divide in the community that does not exist. newamericamedia.org     1/9/06 American Indians Continue to Rebuild After Katrina POINT-AUX-CHENES, La. — When the Isle de Jean Charles Indians did not receive any immediate aid from the federal government after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept their island, experience had already taught them what they needed to do. They took matters into their own hands and initiated their own cleanup process. They removed ruined mattresses, refrigerators and stoves and started to rebuild their lives once again. Mary Dardar, a disabled Biloxi-Chitimacha woman who lives alone on the island, has been through all of this before. The wooden bridge across the bayou to her home is still rippled from Hurricane Lili’s passing in 2002, and a cluster of deserted houses surrounds her small home. newamericamedia.org Civil Rights Groups Protest Inclusion of Anti-Advocacy Language in Housing Bill The proposed addition of anti-advocacy language to the bipartisan Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005 (H.R. 1461) prompted outrage on the part of numerous civil rights organizations, who urged the House Committee on Rules to allow an up-or-down vote on an amendment to strike the language from the bill. The new restrictions to H.R. 1461, supported by a coalition of House conservatives, were just barely approved by the House on a 210-205 vote that fell mostly along party lines, although organizations fighting the measure were encouraged that 13 Republican members wound up crossing over. The overall bill was approved by the House on October 26. civilrights.org Now, Hindu Nationalists Rewriting California Textbooks The attempts of diasporic Hindu nationalist organizations in the United States to intervene in revising segments on India, Indian history, and Hinduism in 6th grade textbooks in California State schools is disturbing. On December 2, 2005, the Curriculum Commission, an advisory body to the California State Board of Education accepted 131 of the 153 revisions proposed by Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) and Vedic Foundation (VF), two groups affiliated with Hindutva, militant Hindu nationalist ideology. The edits offered by these groups were adopted amid intense lobbying and the misrepresentation that their views represent those of 'ALL HINDUS' in the diaspora. This bears testimony to the power and resources of long-distance Hindu nationalism, and its organizing capabilities in the United States. zmag.org     1/7/06 Plan Would Open All New Orleans for Rebuilding NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 7 - The city's official blueprint for redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina, to be released on Wednesday, will recommend that residents be allowed to return and rebuild anywhere they like, no matter how damaged or vulnerable the neighborhood, according to several members of the mayor's rebuilding commission. The proposal appears to put the city's rebuilding panel on a collision course with its state counterpart, which will control at least some of the flow of federal rebuilding money to the city. New York Times     1/6/06 The Importance of Being Ernie When Ernie Chambers returns to work this January, it will be with the knowledge that he isn’t long for the world, at least the world of the Nebraska Legislature, where he has served for 35 years, longer than any other member, current or past. Five years ago, Nebraskans passed a constitutional amendment calling for term limits. Unless the law is overturned, Chambers will be tossed out of office at the end of 2008. With his departure, the unicameral body (Nebraska is home to the nation’s sole one-house legislature) will lose more than institutional memory, because Chambers is distinctive, to start with, and does not attempt to blend in. motherjones.com     1/5/06 Students Document Forgotten Katrina Victims: Vietnamese Americans One observation that struck Soramy Le when she and her fellow UMass Boston classmates visited Vietnamese communities in and around New Orleans last month was that many of the immigrants appeared to be reliving their lives as refugees. "It was shocking," said Le, to see Vietnamese who came to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon with nothing, start their lives over in the Gulf Coast, and then have everything taken away from them by Hurricane Katrina. newamericamedia.org     1/4/06 Afro-Colombians Driven Off Land in Cocaine War PEREIRA, Colombia — Armando Garces was reluctant to leave his mountain village even after right-wing militia members had gone door to door telling residents they had 48 hours to evacuate, or else. He didn't like being ordered to abandon the only home he had ever known. Then a daylong gun battle erupted between the paramilitary fighters and leftist guerrillas over control of nearby coca crops and transit routes. Garces' town, nestled in Colombia's Pacific coast rain forest, was caught in the crossfire between the rebels above the town and militia members below it. latimes.com     1/3/06 King Tut: African or European? Debates over King Tut’s image and identity are not new. In 1922, Howard Carter, an English archeologist, “discovered” the tomb of this young king who had ruled Egypt about 3300 years ago, from 1336 to 1327 B.C. As soon as his reconstructed images began to appear, they sparked decades of debate over his identity. Most European and Euro-American scholars and others persuaded by their point of view claimed that King Tut was essentially a “caucasoid” ancestor of present day Europeans (referring to ”whites” generally). newamericamedia.com Indian Ocean Islanders Take On a Superpower The island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean is located perfectly from a strategic point of view. But when the US military adopted it as a military base in the 1960s and 70s, it was inconveniently populated. The natives were driven out -- but now, they want their home back. Former truck driver Norbert L'Emclume, 65, sits in a shabby hut in Cassis, a slum in Port Louis, the capital of the island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. His wife hangs up laundry, while their grandchildren play on old mattresses laid across a narrow, open sewage ditch. In addition to serving as in impromptu playground, the mattresses are also where the 12 members of L'Emclume's family sleep. New York Times The People Are Unfit to Rule: The Ideological Meaning of Maury Povich and Jerry Springer One morning last Fall I witnessed a mass-cultural war crime in the comfort of my own living room: The Maury Povich Show.  It was an engrossing episode. A married couple was waiting for Povich’s paternity testers to come in with the verdict on whether or not the husband was the father of his pregnant wife's baby. The judgment came in a sealed envelope. Povich held the results in the air and proclaimed that the husband “had nothing to worry about. It's your child, Stewart!.” “Stewart” issued a victorious war whoop and punched the air with his fist. He gave Maury a big hug. Stewart's wife rolled her eyes. “I told you you were the daddy,” she said with a distinctly southern accent, “you big [bleep].” The audience roared.  Maury likes to build his shows around paternity tests.  Zmag.org Panel Addresses Relationships between Media, Race, and Policy The media often stimulate racial animosity, participants in a December 6 panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol said. The panel, speaking at a briefing sponsored by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, said that the mass media convey impressions that whites occupy different moral universes from African Americans, Hispanics, and other people of color. While the media do occasionally convey images of harmony and similarity, the impact of positive images is often swamped by the preponderance of the more common and vivid negative images, and by the effects of systematic omissions civilrights.org Egypt's Press Decries Refuge Killings Egypt's independent and opposition press has criticised police for forcibly breaking up a three-month protest by Sudanese refugees that left as many as 25 people dead. Aljazeera.net     12/27/05 Ghana's Uneasy Embrace of Slavery's Diaspora CAPE COAST, Ghana - For centuries, Africans walked through the infamous "door of no return" at Cape Coast castle directly into slave ships, never to set foot in their homelands again. These days, the portal of this massive fort so central to one of history's greatest crimes has a new name, hung on a sign leading back in from the roaring Atlantic Ocean: "The door of return." A tour guide describing the conditions once faced by captives before they were shipped as slaves from the Elmina Castle fort in Ghana. Ghana, through whose ports millions of Africans passed on their way to plantations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, wants its descendants to come back. Taking Israel as its model, Ghana hopes to persuade the descendants of enslaved Africans to think of Africa as their homeland - to visit, invest, send their children to be educated and even retire here. New York Times     12/22/05 Towards A Radical White Identity-Building Radical White Culture Written by Susan B. Goldberg and Cameron Levin “Our attempts to dismantle dominance and oppression must follow a path other than that of either vilifying or obliterating whiteness....Whites need to acknowledge and work through the negative historical implications of 'whiteness' and create for ourselves a transformed identity as White people committed to equality and social change. Our goal is neither to deify nor denigrate whiteness, but to diffuse its destructive power. To teach my White students and my own children that they are 'not White' is to do them a disservice. To teach them that there are different ways of being White, and that they have a choice as White people to become champions of justice and social healing, is to provide them a positive direction for growth and to grant them the dignity of their being.” Alliance of White Anti Racist Everywhere     12/21/05 It's Official: Connerly's Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative on 2006 Michigan Ballot The Michigan Court of Appeals issued a ruling December 20 that will allow Ward Connerly's Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), an anti-affirmative action initiative, to be placed on the 2006 general election ballot. The Board had deadlocked on July 19, and again on December 14, in its consideration of MCRI's certification. MCRI would end equal opportunity and affirmative action initiatives in higher education, employment, and contracting in Michigan. The order comes after the Court ordered the Board to certify the signatures on December 7, despite reports that opposition groups have indicated plans to file an appeal with the State Supreme Court. civilrights.org Car Insurance Costs in Black, Hispanic Neighborhoods California motorists living in mostly black or Hispanic neighborhoods are charged substantially more for the same amount of auto insurance provided to drivers from white communities, according to an analysis released Monday by Consumers Union. After dissecting the price among the state's three largest insurers in more than 500 ZIP codes, Consumers Union found car insurance in black neighborhoods costs 37.5 percent to 83.5 percent more than in communities dominated by non-Hispanic whites. That means the biggest auto insurers would charge a good driver an additional $537 to $974 per year for moving from a mostly white to black neighborhood, according to Consumers Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine. Good drivers living in Hispanic neighborhoods aren't hit quite as hard. Consumers Union concluded the pricing increase in California's Hispanic communities ranged from $103 to $214 annually, or 7.9 percent to 18.4 percent. SFGate.com Evo Morales Elected Bolivian President in Landslide According to exit polls, socialist Evo Morales received 51 percent of the votes in Bolivia’s December 18th presidential election, enough to secure his victory. Right-wing candidate Jorge Quiroga admitted defeat with 32 percent of the votes. "I hope xenophobia will be extinguished," declared Bolivia’s president-elect at a press conference on Sunday morning after casting his vote in front of hundreds of villagers on the school grounds at Villa 14 de Septiembre in Chapare, Bolivia. Morales, soon to become Latin America’s first indigenous president, said: "We only want to live well…The poor don’t want to be rich, they just want equality." The occasion was rich in symbolism. Evo wore a short-sleeved shirt and jeans and enjoyed a breakfast of fish and boiled yuca with village leaders and journalists before going to vote. This reflected the charming (but bewildering, for some observers) informality of his entire campaign. Then a campesino with a cowboy hat rode a buffalo through the village waving the ancient, multi-coloured wipala (indigenous) flag, which some say must become the new emblem of a re-founded Bolivia. Zmag.org Race Bubbles to the Surface in Standoff The standoff between the Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, tense and perilous, was already taking a harsh physical and economic toll on New Yorkers. But now, as representatives of a mostly nonwhite work force trade recriminations publicly with white leaders in government and at the transportation authority, the potentially volatile issue of race, with all its emotional consequences, is bubbling to the surface. New York Times     12/13/05 Amid Recovery Efforts, a Rift Threatens to Grow NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 10 - In a neighborhood that had not flooded, near orderly streets of dolled-up antebellum homes that now seem almost a fantasyland, a construction crew was chewing up a park the other day to install trailers for the legions of homeless people. And then abruptly, work halted. Blocking the path of a dump truck was an older woman so infuriated by the trailers that she was mounting a personal protest and refusing to move. Only when the police arrived did she relent, according to several workers who were there. But the mayor and the City Council have stepped in, and now several politicians are trying to use their influence to block some of the trailer parks. New York Times     12/12/05 White-Supremacist Symbol Spurs College Controversy A Bellarmine University task force will study what constitutes acceptable speech on campus, prompted by a white-supremacist armband worn by a student, President Joseph J. McGowan said yesterday. The student, Andrei Chira, 18, has stirred up controversy by wearing a Blood and Honour armband decorated with a symbol of the group. On its Web site, the group identifies itself as a promoter of "white pride and white power," and traces its origins to the British "skinhead" movement. Chira said yesterday that Blood and Honour is associated with National Socialism, a movement founded by Adolf Hitler, but that he doesn't consider himself a white supremacist. courier-journal.com Chinese Voices Absent in Tookie Verdict SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has denied clemency to former Crips gang leader Stanley “Tookie” Williams. Although three of the murder victims were Chinese Americans, the Chinese community has been notably absent in the debate leading up to the decision. Some in the Chinese community say that speaking out about Williams only polarizes the issue and does not benefit the future of Chinese Americans. Even a close friend of the victims' family opposed speaking out about the case. Williams was convicted for the slaying of Yen-I Yang, his wife Tsai-Shai Yang, and daughter Yee-Chen Lin during a robbery at the hotel that the family owned in Los Angeles. Sing Tao Daily, World Journal/newamericamedia.org DOJ Threatens Lawsuit Over Southern Illinois University's Affirmative Action Program The Department of Justice (DOJ) has targeted three fellowship programs at Southern Illinois University for discriminating against men, whites, and "non-preferred minorities," demanding that the university either eliminate the fellowships or face the threat of a lawsuit. The fellowships cited in a November 4 letter from DOJ's Civil Rights Division to SIU are the Proactive Recruitment and Multicultural Professionals for Tomorrow (PROMPT) fellowship, the Graduate Dean's Fellowship, and the Bridge to the Doctorat civilrights.org     12/8/05 Video Scandal Rocks S.F. Police-20 Officers Ordered Suspended-Mayor Condemns 'Sexist,' 'Racist' Films, Vows Probe of Department About 20 San Francisco police officers will be suspended because of their alleged involvement in what the mayor and police chief describe as videos that mock minorities and treat women as sex objects, the officials said Wednesday night. "This is a dark day -- an extremely dark day -- in the history of the San Francisco Police Department for me as a chief to have to stand here and share with you such egregious, shameful and despicable acts by members of the San Francisco Police Department,'' Chief Heather Fong said at a City Hall press conference. SFGate.com Katrina Survivors Set Course for People’s Assembly in New Orleans NEW ORLEANS – Trouble brewed in Washington. D.C. during a Dec. 6 congressional hearing when survivors stated flat out that what happened in New Orleans was genocide, aimed at killing poor Black people. Embroiled in tense exchanges with the survivors, the red-faced GOP leaders wanted kinder, gentler language and explanations for government failures, deaths and the unclear road ahead. newamericamedia.org MALDEF Reaction to President Bush’s Immigration Speech (Washington, D.C.) As President Bush visits the Arizona-Mexico border today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) urges the Administration to continue supporting comprehensive immigration reform instead of throwing its weight behind an “enforcement only” or “enforcement first” approach to immigration policy. As both the Administration and Senator John McCain have recognized in the past, only a comprehensive approach to immigration reform that includes both enforcement measures and admission reforms can truly address the immigration crisis currently taking place in Arizona and across the nation. MALDEF Norton, CBC Nominations Chair, Explains CBC Strong Opposition to Alito at CBC Press Conference Washington DC - At a Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) press conference with CBC Chair Mel Watt (D-NC) and other Caucus members, CBC Judicial Nominations Chair Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that her investigation showed Judge Samuel Alito had spent his legal and judicial career at war with race discrimination remedies. The House CBC members, who v civilrights.org     12/2/05 No More Business as Usual This MLK Holiday! Every January most of us routinely honor Dr. King’s life and work. We attend local celebrations or maybe watch films about his life or the civil rights movement and then return to our daily activities of work, raising our families, and tending to the business of living our lives. On MLK Day, January 16, 2006, let’s do something different to honor the occasion!  December 1, 2005, marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the movement that propelled Dr. King into the national spotlight. As the 381-day boycott ended, Dr. King asked, “Where do we go from here…how do we begin to foster and create beloved community?” Institute for Democratic Renewel/Project Chnage Racial Split Seen in Russian Politics-Attacks on Minorities are Rising. In Moscow, Nationalists Run an Anti-Migrant Campaign. MOSCOW — On the television screen, three dark-skinned men from the Caucasus sit sullenly munching watermelon in a Moscow courtyard, then brazenly toss the chewed rinds into the path of a young blond woman pushing a baby carriage. Two ethnic Russians glare at the watermelon thugs. "Clean it up," one of them says menacingly. The words "Let's clean our city of trash" flash across the screen. When the political ad in the campaign for Sunday's Moscow City Council elections aired, human rights groups went apoplectic. One of its "stars," Dmitri Rogozin, the leader of the up-and-coming nationalist Rodina party, insisted with wide-eyed confusion that he had been misunderstood. latimes.com Religion, Alcohol and Race Abdul Saleh and Abdulla Dabashi witnessed the tactics of Islamic fundamentalists in their native Yemen. But nothing in their experience there compares with the violence and intimidation under the guise of religion that unfolded last week in their Oakland market. About a dozen black men, wearing bow ties, entered the San Pablo Liquor store on Thanksgiving eve, accused the clerk of selling alcohol to African Americans in violation of Islamic law -- and tore the store apart. They smashed display windows and shelves of liquor bottles, terrorized and threatened the store clerk and wrought an estimated $10,000 in damage to the place, police say. The group then headed 12 blocks to the New York Market and carried out a similar vigilante sentence. Five days later, the New York Market was burned in a suspicious blaze, and store owner Abdel Hamdan was abducted and found in the trunk of a car in El Cerrito about 12 hours after the incident. To San Pablo Liquor owners Saleh and Dabashi, the actions were more outrageous than anything they'd ever seen carried out by the most adherent zealots in their native land. "There was nothing like this kind of violence, and even if you are a bad person, judgment comes from God, not from a brother Muslim,'' Dabashi said. SFGtae.com Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal-Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan. The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections. washingtonpost.com     12/1/05 Faces of Africa Create a Tapestry of all Humanity. A New Museum Traces Threads of the Diaspora. A giant image of a child's face looks out onto Mission Street through the glass wall of San Francisco's new Museum of the African Diaspora. As you get closer, you see that the girl's face is made of thousands of photographs of faces and places, a mosaic of humanity three stories high. There are Masai women and New Guinea tribesmen, Asian babies, old Caucasian couples, drummers, break-dancers, the Sphinx and Eiffel Tower, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Carlos Santana and a sea of others. Whatever color their skin, in this vibrant global portrait, "everybody's sepia," Belva Davis said with a laugh. SFGate.com     11/30/05 In Desire to Grow, Colleges in South Battle with Roots SEWANEE, Tenn. - The flags from Southern states disappeared from the chapel. The ceremonial baton dedicated to a Confederate general who helped found the Ku Klux Klan vanished. The very name of the University of the South was tweaked, becoming Sewanee: The University of the South, with decided emphasis on Sewanee. New York Times The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Activists Not too long ago, one of our campus conservatives wrote an op-ed in the school paper comparing the local Living Wage campaign, an effort to increase pay for Harvard’s lowest-paid workers, to a Boston winter. “You know it’s going to strike,” he writes, “But wonder only when and how hard.” Arrogant tone aside, he does have a point. At Harvard at least, and probably at quite a few other “liberal” schools, campaigns for this or protests against that have proliferated exponentially. While some of them prove successful, many more often fail to gain traction and occasionally even embarrass the progressive community. campusprogress.org A Letter to Parents: We Are Drowning in Debt Congratulations, parents of the Class of 2009! As you read this, your child is settling into the routines of college life: ill-timed early morning lectures, inevitable all-night cram sessions, and the search for parties on a now fairly familiar campus. While the pleasures of college life remain the same, the economic security that a degree used to guarantee has disappeared. This fall, the Class of 2009 joins the ranks of an emerging debtor class composed of educated young adults. The average student borrower now graduates with $27,600 of debt, almost three and a half times what it was a decade ago. Eighty-four percent of black students and 66 percent of Latino students graduate with debt. And 39 percent of all student borrowers graduate with unmanageable levels of debt, according to the Department of Education. www.campusprogress.org     11/29/05 Katrina Evacuees Face Evictions Sabrina Robinson lived her whole life in New Orleans. When Katrina and the floodwaters hit her house, she and her three children swam to a dry bridge where they lived for two days. “We watched people die,” said Ms. Robinson. Now her family and 52 other families from New Orleans face eviction from the Houston apartment complex where they lived for the last month. Tens of thousands of other Katrina evacuees also face holiday evictions. After a bus took the Robinson family to Houston, they slept on the floor for a month. On Oct. 2, the family received federal housing vouchers from the Disaster Relief Center in Houston. San Francisco Bay View, News Report/newamericamedia.org Rights Advocates See Tough, Long Fight Over Immigration SAN FRANCISCO – Debate over immigration, while currently heating up, may take a decade to resolve. Most officials today view immigration policy mainly through a national security lens. These are just some insights from two top immigrant rights advocates who recently gave ethnic media journalists a special briefing on the immigration debate in the nation's capital. "Talk radio hosts and politicians say most Americans are anti-immigration. That's not true. Americans are divided on whether immigration is good for the country," said Frank Sharry, executive director of National Immigration Forum, a key immigration policy group based in Washington, D.C. newamericamedia.org     11/25/05 Awareness Campaign Targets Modern Slavery Metropolitan Front Page > Metropolitan Page Page 1 of 2 next » | Email | Print | Subscribe Add To Insider Newsclips advertisement Awareness campaign targets modern slavery By Adrienne Washington Slavery usually conjures up symbols of shackles, whips, iron bars and dark dungeons. Broad-daylight images of baby carriages, mops and buckets or suburban bedrooms don't usually enter into the involuntary-servitude picture.     However, the helpless face of slavery today is usually that of an ashamed, silent woman or child from a poor, war-torn country who has been kidnapped or coerced to come to the U.S. Usually presented with promises of a better life, she discovers the truth too late, after being forced into captivity in some of the most unsuspecting places in this nation. Montgomery County is just one of those places ripe for human trafficking in "forced labor, forced prostitution and servile marriage," said Jeredine Williams, executive director of Migrant and Refugee Cultural Support Inc. washingtontimes.com March of Brazilian Blacks Demands Adoption of Racial Quotas in College Approximately 5,000 representatives of the Brazilian black movement from various states around the country, according to Military Police command estimates, gathered in front of the Brasília Cathedral today to commence the Zumbi+10 March against Racism and for Equality and Life. The march took place a decade after the first March against Racism and marks the 95th anniversary of the Lash Rebellion ("Revolta da Chibata"), led by the black seaman, João Cândido, in Rio de Janeiro. www.brazzilmag.com What's In a Name -- Is France Ready for Affirmative Action? Editor's Note: In France, where the government collects no data on ethnic background, the business community is slowly taking steps to address longstanding discrimination. But young French North Africans say you've still got to be a Jacques or Pierre, not a Karim or Mohammad, to get a lucky break. PARIS--Unlike the United States, where affirmative action has been debated for decades, the argument over it has only just begun in France. It is currently illegal for institutions to collect data regarding a person's ethnic origins. The law dates back to the end of World War II and was inspired by the persecution of the Jews, explains Dejane Ereau, deputy chief editor of Respect, a quarterly magazine dedicated to acceptance and diversity. newamericamedia.org Decrease In Number of Minority Students on UC Campuses Increases Hostility BERKELEY -- One of the unseen results of the decline in minority enrollment at universities is the increase in hostility toward them, according to some UC Berkeley students. At an emotional hearing Nov. 18 at the University of California at Berkeley, students testified to the discrimination, hostility, and racism they experience from faculty and students on the campus, which they say is the result of abysmal admission numbers of black, Latino and Native American students. Freshmen enrollment of black students at UC Berkeley dropped from 260 in 1997 -- before Proposition 209 banned “preferential treatment” based on race -- to just 133 students this year. Latino(a) students comprised only 9.5 percent of the incoming freshmen class last fall, while 2000 Census data shows that Hispanics make up 32.4 percent of California’s population. newamericamedia.org LCCR Opposes Alito Email To A Friend Printer Friendly Why You Should Care We Need Your Help You Can Make A Difference In Protecting the Independent Judiciary Related Links   LCCR's press release opposing Alito   View the ad in Real Player By civilrights.org staff  civilrights.org November 17, 2005 Calling him a "threat" to civil rights if confirmed, the nation's premier civil and human rights coalition announced its opposition today to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Alito's stated views and narrow interpretation of the law left the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights no choice but to oppose his nomination, Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) said. civilrights.org N.C. State Grapples With Admissions Policies N.C. State University takes pride in its efforts to attract a diverse population of students and to promote understanding despite a recent complaint concerning admissions policies. N.C. State officials say that programs designed to attract minority students to the university and events to highlight diversity on campus once students are enrolled allow N.C. State to maintain a high level of minority enrollment. "We rank one or two among our peer institutions," said José Picart, vice provost for diversity and African-American affairs. civilrights.org     11/16/05 Court Passes on Felon Voters Law TALLAHASSEE - A five-year effort to win automatic restoration of voting rights for former felons in Florida reached a legal dead end Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a challenge to the state's ban on voting rights for ex-felons that was enacted shortly after the Civil War. The case was brought by the New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice on behalf of 600,000 people in Florida, an estimated one-third of whom are African-Americans. The case of Johnson vs. Bush had implications for millions of ineligible voters across the country and was the first major voting rights case to reach the nation's highest court since John Roberts Jr. became chief justice last month. St. Petersburg Times     11/15/05 UC Asked to Divest Holdings Tied to Sudan Responding to concerns about the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, a committee of University of California regents Monday asked university officials to present a plan for UC divestment of holdings in four companies with business ties to the Sudanese government. latimes.com     11/14/05 Vine Deloria Jr., Champion of Indian Rights, Dies at 72 DENVER, Nov. 14 (AP) - Vine Deloria Jr., an influential advocate of American Indian rights and the author of the groundbreaking "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto," died Sunday. He was 72. Dr. Deloria, a Standing Rock Sioux, died of complications from an aortic aneurysm, said his son, Phil Deloria. The author was considered one of the most outspoken - and persuasive - proponents of Indian cultural and political identity. "I think he opened Americans' eyes to the real history of Native Americans and the injustice of past federal policies," said John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colo. New York Times Former Calif. Regent Takes Fight Over Racial Preferences to Michigan Ward Connerly, a pioneering political spirit in California, has forged on to the Midwest, where he is trying to reshape Michigan's educational landscape. Michigan residents will vote next Nov. 7 on a measure nearly identical to California's 1996 Proposition 209, which ended the use of racial preferences in college admissions and state hiring. Many California educators blame the measure for plummeting minority enrollment. civilrights.org     11/11/05 What Makes Someone French? PARIS, Nov. 10 - Semou Diouf, holding a pipe in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood amid the noisy games of checkers and cards in the dingy ground-floor common room of a crowded tenement building and pondered the question of why he feels French. "I was born in Senegal when it was part of France," he said before putting the pipe in his mouth. "I speak French, my wife is French and I was educated in France." The problem, he added after pulling the pipe out of his mouth again, "is the French don't think I'm French." New York Times     11/10/05 Minorities still Missing in College Football Of the 119 Division I-A football schools only three coaches -- Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom, UCLA's Karl Dorrell and Washington's Willingham -- are black. In Division I-AA, the plight is even worse. Indiana State's Lou West is the only black head coach at a predominantly white university. Keith believes the report card also indicates the trend is getting worse. civilrights.org Cal's chief asks students to roll back Prop. 209: Birgeneau: Mobilizing Latino Voters is way to Boost Diversity at Berkeley BERKELEY — Few students were there to hear it, but UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau delivered some personal advice Wednesday to groups concerned about a dearth of black and Latino students at the prestigious campus. Stop protesting outside my California Hall office, Birgeneau said, and focus instead on increasing voter registration rolls, especially among what he said are the thousands of unregistered young Latinos in California. Oakland Tribune Voting Rights: Legislation Guaranteeing Blacks the Right to Vote in the USA will Expire in 2007 As everyone should be aware, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voters Rights Act. This was created to allow Blacks the right to vote. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed an amendment to extend this right for an additional twenty-five years. You guessed it . . . In 2007 (ten years from now), Congress will decide whether or not Blacks should retain the right to vote. In order for this to be passed, thirty-eight states will have to approve an extension. For me, as well as many others, this was the first time that we had heard this -- thus, bringing concern to all of us! What many Blacks before us fought and even died for as well as the milestones that we, as Blacks have achieved, this can be taken away from us . . . AGAIN! snopes.com     11/7/05 US Heightens Criticism on DR on Haitian Issue SANTO DOMINGO.- The US State Department has increased its criticism against Dominican Republic in the last few years, regarding the treatment of Haitians and the supposed racial discrimination, within that entity’s annual reports to the Congress on human rights in the world. In the 1989 report it makes reference to the "historical reasons and acute cultural differences" which gives rise to a "racial tension" against the Haitians in the Dominican society, which is also translated into discrimination against the Dominicans of darker skin. However, the same report also affirms that "there is no evidence" that young descendants of Haitians cannot receive their documentation to attend school. dominicantoday.com What's Wrong with Europe? For 11 nights running, French police and firefighters have battled rioters on the streets of Paris suburbs -- and the violence seems to be spreading. But the unrest in France is only the latest chapter in the difficulties Europe has been having integrating its immigrants. Spiegal Online Homeless Chinese: Uncounted and Invisible SAN FRANCISCO -- On a cold, crisp, typical San Francisco morning, Robert Chan, 38, sat on a bench in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square with a pair of Marriott Hotel slippers on his feet. Chan is a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam who lost his wallet and ID on the bus two months ago. He had been staying at his sister’s house, but because he had not found a job for weeks, and perhaps for reasons he didn’t want to say, his sister kicked him out of her house, effectively starting Chan’s life as a homeless person in San Francisco. newamericamedia.org Changing New Orleans Its bittersweet being back in New Orleans.  Although the architecture is the same, and its a relief to walk the streets and reunite with old friends, already this is a very different city from the one I love.  Its a city where some areas are quickly rebuilding and other parts are being left far behind.  A city where people who have lived here for generations are now unwelcome in a hundred different ways. White New Orleans is steadily coming back, and Black New Orleans is moving out.  A grassroots organizer with New Orleans Network tells me she has been speaking to people in every moving truck she sees.  She reports that in every case, “they’re Black, they are renters, they’re  moving out of New Orleans, and they say they would stay, if they had a choice.” Zmag.org Groups Address Legacy of Jim Crow in FCC Broadcast Licensing The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has failed to meet its obligations regarding diversity in media ownership, according to public interest advocates participating in a panel discussion in the U.S. Capitol sponsored by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF). Through a "hard won national consensus," Congress determined a set of goals to address the great disparity in federal broadcast licenses awarded to women and minorities, said Mark Lloyd, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a member of the LCCREF board. civilrights.org National Council of Women's Organizations Opposes Alito Confirmation (November 7, 2005, Washington, DC) The National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), the oldest and largest coalition of the nation's women's groups, representing 200 groups and 10 million women, today called on the U.S. Senate to reject the nomination of Samuel A. Alito for associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. NCNW     10/31/05 SF State Launches Investigation Into Arrest of Professor The president of San Francisco State University said an independent commission will investigate alleged racial profiling after the arrest of a black professor on campus. Antwi Akom, 37, an ethnic studies assistant professor, was arrested on October 25 after he allegedly refused to provide identification to a security guard during a late-night visit to his office. Authorities said Akom instigated a scuffle with university police officers. SFGate.com SOUTH BAY: Sikhs Struggle to be Accepted Since 9/11, many have been Harassed or Threatened San Jose -- A teenager accosted Sukhdev Singh Bainiwal, 39, at Home Depot, saying he should take his turban back to the desert where he might actually need it. Another time, a fellow driver swerved toward him, saying "Arab, get out of here." And once, the driver of a car near his rolled down his window to ask if Bainiwal had told his family he loved them that morning. A member of Santa Clara County's Airport Commission and a software engineer at Sun Microsystems, Bainiwal is a Sikh. He is one of 500,000 in the United States, some 40,000 in the Bay Area alone, according to area Sikh leaders. Like many Sikhs, he has been threatened or harassed repeatedly since Sept. 11, 2001, by people who think he is Muslim and equate that with terrorism. SFGate.com Thousands Face Eviction in New Orleans The scheme to flush the remaining poor out of New Orleans and grab their land is quickly moving into a new phase with a lockout of public housing tenants. Recently, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso Jackson said that he is opposed to rebuilding the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. As a follow-up, HUD officials have imposed a complete lockout of public housing tenants in New Orleans, forcing thousands out of their homes. In addition, New Orleans officials are now quickly moving to evict the thousands of remaining poor people from the city, and the eviction legal battles began Oct. 25. newamericamedia.org/San Francisco Bay View Immigrant Advocates Demand a Halt of Deportations to Quake-torn Pakistan Following the devastating earthquake that shook Pakistan, Kashmir and India in early October, legislators and community groups are hoping to get temporary asylum for Pakistanis in the U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) sponsored the Pakistani Temporary Protected Status Act of 2005, along with seven co-sponsors including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), that was introduced to the House on Oct. 18. The bill would put pressure on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who ultimately controls whether asylum is granted. newaamericamedia.org/Colorlines, News Report Where Are The Children? (FinalCall.com) - Have you seen Joriel M. Boykins? She’s a sweet faced 9-year-old with almond eyes, caramel-colored complexion, pierced ears with braids and ribbons. She was last seen with her mother in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. What about 6-year-old twins Randy and Ramon McGrew? They look to be fraternal, with Ramon having a darker complexion than Randy. Both have inquisitive eyes and have been missing in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. newamericamedia.org/The Final Call, News Report Why Not a Hispanic, Law Group Wonders (CNSNews.com) - The Hispanic National Bar Association Monday expressed disappointment in President Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito for Supreme Court Justice instead of nominating a Hispanic candidate. The HNBA said Bush ignored "the estimated 41.3 million Americans of Hispanic descent" and "missed an opportunity to create a historic legacy by nominating the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court" by choosing Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor instead. CNSNEWS.COM Bush Names Samuel Alito to Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito was President Bush's choice Monday to replace retiring Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Alito has been given the nickname "Scalito" because of the striking similarities between his judicial philosophy and that of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Alito currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. civilrights.org     10/29/05 Hispanics Uncovering Roots as Inquisition's 'Hidden' Jews HOUSTON, Oct. 28 - When she was growing up in a small town in southern Colorado, an area where her ancestors settled centuries ago when it was on the fringes of the northern frontier of New Spain, Bernadette Gonzalez always thought some of the stories about her family were unusual, if not bizarre. Her grandmother, for instance, refused to travel on Saturday and would use a specific porcelain basin to drain blood out of meat before she cooked it. In one tale that particularly puzzled Ms. Gonzalez, 52, her grandfather called for a Jewish doctor to circumcise him while he was on his death bed in a hospital in Trinidad, Colo. New York Times     10/25/05 Edward R. Roybal, Noted Latino Politician, Dies at 89 Edward R. Roybal, a pioneer in Latino politics in Los Angeles and a godfather and mentor to scores of lawmakers, died Monday of pneumonia, according to the district office of his daughter, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles). He was 89. Roybal, who championed the rights of the underprivileged and the aged during 30 years in Congress, began his political career in 1949 on the Los Angeles City Council as the first person of Mexican descent to sit on the council since 1881; it would take another 23 years before another Mexican American took a seat on the City Council. "The congressman was a true barrier breaker and a political legend, particularly in the Mexican American community," Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who considered Roybal a mentor, said in a statement today. "Throughout his tenure, he remained committed to Latinos, the elderly, the poor, and the physically challenged." latimes.com     10/24/05 Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Dies at 92 DETROIT (AP) - Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday. She was 92. Mrs. Parks died at her home of natural causes, said Karen Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Mrs. Parks was 42 when she committed an act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title "mother of the civil rights movement." blackamericaweb.com Ethnic Media Vote 'No' on Prop. 74 Editor's Note: Proposition 74, which would change the way teachers are hired and fired in California, has caught the attention of California's ethnic communities, which view the initiative as a potential threat to the diversity of the state's teaching force. SAN FRANCISCO--On Nov. 8, voters will have a chance to decide the future fate of California's teachers. Brought to the ballot by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of his initiative to reform California schools, Proposition 74, which would change the probationary period for teachers, has been sharply debated by both sides of the political spectrum, and within California's ethnic communities. New America Media, News Roundup Young Singers Spraed Racist Hate: Duo Considered the Olsen Twins of the White Nationalist Movement Singers Lamb and Lynx Gaede may look like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, but their songs send a message of White Nationalism that some call dangerous.   (ABC News) Oct. 20, 2005   Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans. They may remind you another famous pair of singers, the Olsen Twins, and the girls say they like that. But unlike the Olsens, who built a media empire on their fun-loving, squeaky-clean image, Lamb and Lynx are cultivating a much darker personna. They are white nationalists and use their talents to preach a message of hate. ABC News     10/20/05 Briefing Highlights Katrina's Toll on Asian American Communities in the Gulf Language difficulties, limited information flow, and immigration consequences are among the challenges faced by the tens of thousands of Asian Americans affected by Hurricane Katrina, according to the advocates, lawmakers, and relief workers who participated in a September 29 briefing on Capitol Hill. Louisiana was home to more 50,000 Asian Americans, many of whom lived in the areas affected by Katrina. Southern Mississippi was home to about 7,000 Asian residents. Affected communities included Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, Bangladeshi, and Korean Americans. Many of the Asian Americans in the areas hit by Katrina are refugees and immigrants, some undocumented. civilrights.org Katrina Aftermath: Red Cross Accused of Evicting Latino Victims Editor's Note: Some rights groups are reporting discrimination and intimidation against Latinos in Red Cross shelters. SAN FRANCISCO--For immigrants' rights worker Victoria Cintra, the discrimination faced by Latinos on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast is "worse than you could ever imagine." Cintra and her husband, who were displaced from their Mississippi home by Hurricane Katrina, are traveling around the region for two months in an RV, distributing flyers and advocating for immigrants' rights for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. ncmonline.com     10/18/05 Koizumi's Shrine Visit Angers Asians, Again TOKYO, Oct. 17 -- China and South Korea on Monday angrily protested Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision to make a controversial visit to a shrine that honors Japan's military dead, including convicted World War II war criminals. After Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, the Chinese government canceled a meeting with a visiting Japanese envoy and effectively scrubbed a trip to Beijing by Japan's foreign minister, according to the Kyodo News Service. China's ambassador to Tokyo, Wang Yi, decried Koizumi's move as a "grave provocation to the Chinese people." And the Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, summoned the Japanese ambassador to lodge a formal diplomatic protest. washingtonpost.com OLYMPIC PROTEST: Smith and Carlos Statue Captures Sprinters' Moment San Jose State Honors Protest of Oppression Their journey began with unprecedented speed and came full circle in belated repose. Tommie Smith and John Carlos are home, finally and forever. "Our legacy is here as long as the school will be here,'' Carlos said. "It doesn't get any better than that.'' In the gathering darkness Monday evening following two hours of speeches heavy on platitudes and praise, a statue of Smith and Carlos was unveiled, with some difficulty, on a patch of newly-laid sod on the campus of San Jose State University. It came 37 years and a day after Smith and Carlos, both San Jose State students, raised black-gloved fists into the Mexico City sky at the 1968 Olympic Games and became international symbols of peaceful protest for civil rights in a violent age. "It's 40 years late, but it's right on time,'' said Harry Edwards, the activist who had proposed a boycott of those Olympics. On Oct. 16, 1968, Americans Smith and Carlos finished first and third, respectively, in the 200 meters at the Games, with Smith smashing the world record in 19.83 seconds. SFGate.com     10/12/05 American Indian Neighbors React to Hmong Shooter in Minnesota The trial of Chai Vang brought an unprecedented deluge of media and attention to our quiet little northwoods city of Hayward, Wisconsin, recently. Despite the record number of stories written about the event that led up to the shooting death of six Wisconsin hunters, what seemed to be missing was another perspective only miles from the center of attention: the Chippewa reservation eleven miles southeast of Hayward. Not that anybody from this reservation didn't find the death of six hunters appalling, or in need of condolences for the six victims and their families, including the Vang family who have lost one of their own in the incident. newamericamedia.org Berkeley Celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day-Annual City Holiday Replaces Columbus Day Bells jingled, feathers flew and chants rang out at Berkeley's 14th annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, which drew hundreds of supporters to Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on Saturday. The city-sponsored event featured dozens of vendors and dance performances from American Indian tribes across the Bay Area and the country in honor of the Oct. 12 Day of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. Daily Californian     10/5/05 3 charged in South Georgia slayings TIFTON — Three suspects have been charged with last week's slayings of six people in South Georgia home invasion robberies against Hispanics. Stacy Bernard Sims, 19, Jamie Deamtrive Underwood, 27, and Jennifer Wilson, 26, all of Moultrie, were each charged with six counts of murder, authorities announced Wednesday at a late-morning news conference. Underwood and Sims were initially charged with a home invasion Friday morning in Colquitt County, where a man and was shot in the head and his wife raped. The couple's three small children, who were home at the time, "were traumatized, but not physically hurt," said Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The man is still ho www.ajc.com English-Only Latinos Face 'The Shame' of Not Speaking Spanish Editor's Note: A young Chicano man working in a stockroom feels ostracized for not speaking Spanish. SAN JOSE, Calif.--I just landed a job at a Target store here on the east side of San Jose. On the morning crew, all of us working in the stockroom are Latino, and three-fourths speak Spanish only. I'm one of only two workers who speak only English. Not speaking Spanish has been a problem from day one. New America Media, Commentary     10/4/05 A Specious 'Experiment' There's no need to pillory William Bennett for his "thought experiment" about how aborting all black children would affect the crime rate. I believe him when he says he wasn't actually advocating genocide, just musing about it to make a point. Instead of going into high-dudgeon mode, let's put him on the couch. Bennett, the former education secretary and anti-drug czar who has found a new calling in talk radio, told his audience last week that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." He quickly added that doing so would be "impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible," which is certainly true. washingtonpost.com Will Scattering of New Orleans' Blacks Mean End of Creole Culture? As black New Orleanians put down roots elsewhere -- some temporary, some not -- many wonder: What will become of one of the nation's most complex African-American cultures? Pre-Katrina New Orleans was a majority black city, but broad descriptions miss the subtleties in a place where French, Spanish, Indians and West Africans mixed as far back as the 18th century. This resulted in a rich cultural heritage -- think jazz, for starters -- and a multiracial, sometimes inequitable society organized along lines of color and class. suntimes.com     10/3/05 Florida City Considers Eminent Domain Florida's Riviera Beach is a poor, predominantly black, coastal community that intends to revitalize its economy by using eminent domain, if necessary, to displace about 6,000 local residents and build a billion-dollar waterfront yachting and housing complex.     "This is a community that's in dire need of jobs, which has a median income of less than $19,000 a year," said Riviera Beach Mayor Michael Brown.     He defends the use of eminent domain by saying the city is "using tools that have been available to governments for years to bring communities like ours out of the economic doldrums and the trauma centers."     Mr. Brown said Riviera Beach is doing what the city of New London, Conn., is trying to do and what the U.S. Supreme Court said is proper in its ruling June 23 in Kelo v. City of New London. washingtontimes.com     9/29/05 Senators Fume at White House Disdain for Katrina Healthcare Plan Senate Finance Committee members accused the White House on Wednesday of blocking a bipartisan $9-billion healthcare package for Hurricane Katrina victims. Republicans' publicly deepening dispute over the federal role in the recovery came at a hearing where the governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, the three states hardest hit by Katrina, pleaded for more help. The bill would give five months of Medicaid coverage to adult Katrina survivors who would otherwise have no health insurance, and President Bush would be able to double the program's length. The bill would also require the federal government to pay all 2006 Medicaid costs in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.  civilrights.org     9/28/05 Reports of New Orleans Mayhem Probably Exaggerated- New Orleans Police Now Say that Reports of Crimes Mostly Exaggerated Reports of New Orleans Mayhem Probably Exaggerated, Police Say -New Orleans Police Now Say that Reports of Crimes Mostly Exaggerated Associated Press     9/27/05 Death of Puerto Rican Nationalist has Hispanic Community Talking HARTFORD, Conn. --It's been years since the Wells Fargo robbery case dominated the news in Hartford's Puerto Rican community, prompting almost daily demonstrations outside U.S. District Court in support of the island's independence. But the death last week of robbery mastermind and Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios once again has people talking. Boston Globe     9/26/05 Black Voters, No Longer a Bloc, Are Up for Grabs in Mayor's Race Craig Livingston, a Caribbean-American real estate developer and Democrat who lives in Harlem, has never voted for a Republican in his life. But on Nov. 8, he is prepared to do just that, casting his ballot in the New York City mayoral race for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over his Democratic opponent, Fernando Ferrer. Mr. Livingston feels that the mayor has been accountable on his chief concern, improving the public schools, while Mr. Ferrer has failed to demonstrate that he is more than a lifelong politician. But there is no consensus among black voters in his circle. His cousin is voting for Mr. Bloomberg. One of his friends, Hakeem Jeffries, 35, a politically active lawyer from Brooklyn, supports Mr. Ferrer. New York Times Phantom Constituents in the Census A longstanding quirk in census rules counts incarcerated people as "residents" of the prisons where most are held for only a short time, instead of counting them in the towns and cities where they actually live. This practice was scarcely noticeable 30 years ago, when the prison population was insignificant. But with 1.4 million people in prison today, this padding of electoral districts' population figures shifts political power from the densely populated urban areas where most inmates live to the less populated rural districts where prisons are often built. ... civilrights.org Media Blackout on Darfur Fewer villages in Darfur are left to be destroyed,butthe killing -- and the use of rape as a weapon by the Sudan government's Janjaweed and soldiers -- continues. As U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the BBC on July 3: "We have learned nothing from Rwanda," an atrocity which we were told would never happen again.   civilrights.org A New Look at Japanese Internment The removal and confinement of some 120,000 American citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific Coast during 1942, popularly (if inaccurately) known as the Japanese American internment, remains a powerful event in the nation's consciousness. In the decades since the war, historians have exhaustively documented the primary role of anti-Japanese prejudice and war hysteria by West Coast Army officers and civilians in bringing about the issuing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized removal.   Zmag.org The Invisible Victims of Katrina There are thousands of them. They worked in restaurants, washing dishes. They cooked, baby-sat and mowed lawns. They helped build houses and cleaned casinos. They lived in homes, paid taxes, contributed to the economy. Millions of people have benefited from their work, yet no one acknowledges their existence. They are nameless faces who -- just like hundreds of thousands of others in the Gulf Coast -- lost everything they had to the rabid winds of Hurricane Katrina. They are victims of the storm, but because they don't exist in the eyes of federal authorities, they will not be treated as such. Because they are undocumented immigrants, they are invisible. Vida en el Valle, Commentary/ncmonline.com 'That Could Have Been Us' -- Struggling Communities Seek New Solutions After Katrina Editor's Note: An organizer says people in underserved neighborhoods nationwide saw themselves in images of New Orleans residents stranded on rooftops. Katrina has pushed community groups to seek novel ways to provide for their own protection, rather than petitioning a government that may be unwilling or unable to help. SAN JOSE, Calif.--Every community meeting I've attended in the weeks since Hurricane Katrina hit has ended the same way. Everyone sits with eyes to the floor, nodding in silent agreement as one of us says, "That would have been us." New America Media, Commentary/ncmonline.com     9/23/05 Help Prevent the Implementation of a Modern Day Poll Tax Stop James Baker, III From Doing it Again   Join With Me in Fighting New Poll Tax Proposal   I have spent my more than 40 years in public service fighting for voting rights and a better democracy. Today, I am sad to say, there are proposals being made that would set us back in that struggle. A privately funded, unaccountable Commission organized by former Bush-Cheney campaign lawyer James Baker, III, and former President Jimmy Carter issued a report today that includes policy proposals that will disenfranchise over ten percent of eligible voters----a national ID requirement to vote. I need your help to fight this 21st Century disciminatory poll tax today. It is unconscionable that in the very year we are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, that we would even consider a proposal that would make it more difficult for tens of millions of citizens to vote. Zmag.org Slurs at U-Va. Undermine Efforts to Thwart Racism The recent surge of racist incidents at the University of Virginia is a blow to a two-year effort by the institution to end a lingering legacy of racial segregation and inequality, and has left many black students feeling shaken and looking at their colleagues with a wary eye. Reports of nine incidents in which black students were verbally assaulted in the past few weeks are unparalleled in the school's contemporary history but reflect the type of problems the school said it has been trying to solve with new strategies.   civilrights.org Have We Really Thought About What It Means to Improve New Orleans? Even as toxic waters drain from its streets, talk has already turned to how New Orleans should be rebuilt using the billions of dollars in guilt money that President Bush has put on the table. Urban theorist Joel Kotkin, for example, has suggested this money should be used to transform the culturally rich, economically stagnant city into a booming but blander center for international trade on the model of Houston. U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner takes the opposite tack in his blog, proposing to reduce New Orleans to a Williamsburg-like preserved-specimen tourist destination. civilrights.org Decision to Suspend Affirmative Action Requirements Sharply Criticized In a move the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund/Americans for a Fair Chance (LCCREF/AFC) has called "doubly shameful," the Bush administration's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has decided to grant exemptions from Affirmative Action Program (AAP) requirements for new federal contracts handling Hurricane Katrina relief. "We recognize the importance of providing relief and rebuilding in the communities in the disaster area, but it is totally unnecessary to undermine the affirmative action requirements of new federal contracts that are designed to provide equal opportunity in accomplishing these vital tasks," said Wade Henderson, LCCR executive director and counselor to LCCREF. civilrights.org     9/20/05 Op-Ed: Jobs for All: The Key to Rebuilding After Katrina It's all about jobs. That should be the mantra and clear focus guiding efforts to rebuild the lives and restore the hopes of the families devastated by Katrina. All of us, leaders and citizens alike, need to stop bickering over who was at fault in the preparations and initial response and put forward a united effort to rebuild the lives, communities and economy of those affected. The key principle should be to give all adults able and willing to work access to training and a guaranteed job in the clean-up and rebuilding process. By doing so we will give them a stake in their future and the skills and opportunities they need to rebuild their lives for the long run. civilrights.org Latinos in New Orleans Suburb Feel Slighted: Help has been negligible for residents of a large, low-rent apartment complex. The police chief calls the situation 'simply atrocious.' KENNER, La. — Local officials and residents of this New Orleans suburb voiced outrage Monday over what they said was the deliberate neglect of inhabitants of a housing complex that was predominantly home to Latinos. The Redwood Park Apartments, a privately owned project subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is home to one of the largest concentrations of Latinos in Kenner, a largely white community of 70,000 about 12 miles west of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish. Most of the complex's residents hail from Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other Latin American countries. But immigrants from other nations, such as India, Vietnam and Korea, are also part of the mix, Redwood managers said. latimes.com The War for Latinos Jessica Sanchez poses an urgent threat to the U.S. military. For a Pentagon stretched by stagnating enlistments and an administration bent on waging a "global war on terror," the question of whether this four-foot-eleven Mexican-born legal resident and others like her will decide to join the military has enormous geopolitical implications. The Pentagon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to find out whatever it can about Sanchez and other young Latinos: what they wear, where they hang out, what kinds of groups they form, what they read, what they watch on TV. Members of the military's well-funded recruiting commands use sophisticated Geographic Information Systems maps, souped-up recruiting Hummers and other resources to establish strategic positions in the minds, pocketbooks and neighborhoods of young Latinos like Sanchez. Hispanic Vista/ncmonline.com     9/16/05 Victory for Madison Nguyen: First Vietnamese American On San Jose City Council A day after her decisive victory in Tuesday’s San Jose City Council special election, Madison Nguyen couldn’t take time off to savor the win. She couldn’t allow herself the luxury of sleeping late. She awoke early Wednesday, working the phones, planning, putting together staff to help her as she takes office. “We’re going to have a very strong transition team,” she said. “I just don’t want to have this perception that, ‘She’s very inexperienced, she’s very young.’” Nguoi Viet, News Report/ncmonline.com     9/12/05 Advocates Say New Bill Threatens Access to Higher Ed Student advocates are decrying the House Higher Education Act reauthorization bill, claiming that it will dramatically decrease access to higher education. According to the United States Student Association (USSA), the bill, HR 609, would force students to pay thousands more for student loans. HR 609 would eliminate the fixed rate option in student loan consolidation; raise the current cap for student loan interest rates to 8.25 percent; and raise interest rates on borrowers who consolidate loans while in school. civilrights.org     9/9/05 Louisiana State Coastal Tribes Hardest Hit by Hurricane Katrina HOUMA, La. - Hurricane Katrina destroyed the homes of Louisiana-state recognized American Indian tribes on the Gulf Coast, and some have lost everything to hurricane damage and flooding. Tribal members say Hurricane Katrina did not discern whether tribal members were from federally-recognized tribes, but those lacking federal recognition have been largely ignored by federal agencies and the media. At least eight families of the state-recognized Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, located in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, lost everything or received major damage. Indiancountry.com Illegal Immigrants Afraid to Get Storm Aid Some sneak into shelters at night and then slip out in the morning, praying they won't be noticed. Others avoid government help altogether, preferring to ride out the chaos and destruction alone in a foreign land. For illegal immigrants, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has meant not only living without a home, money or belongings, but also steering clear of the government officials who have flocked to the area, for fear of deportation. civilrights.org South Asians Grapple with Katrina Twenty-four-hours before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, aerospace engineer Amolak Singh heeded the suggestion of New Orleans officials that residents voluntary evacuate, bundled his family into his car, and left the city he had called home for the last 25 years. All that the family took with them in their Toyota Sierra van were some important documents and a few items of clothing to tide them over for a couple of days. They had done similar evacuations in past years from a city known for its hurricanes. This would be no different. India West, News Report Homeland Security Officer Acquitted of Beating Chinese Businesswoman BUFFALO, New York – The Homeland Security officer who was accused of beating a Chinese businesswoman was acquitted of criminal civil rights charges on Sept. 8. The verdict caused outrage in China, where photographs of the badly bruised victim was widely circulated. The mainly white jury deliberated for less than five hours after the three-week trial. Officer Robert Rhodes’ defense attorney told the Chinese-language World Journal his client was “a patriot and he loves this country.” ncmonline.com/News Digest     9/7/05 Murder and Rape-Fact or Fiction? There were two babies who had their throats slit. The seven-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in the Superdome. And the corpses laid out amid the excrement in the convention centre. In a week filled with dreadful scenes of desperation and anger from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina some stories stood out. But as time goes on many remain unsubstantiated and may yet prove to be apocryphal. New Orleans police have been unable to confirm the tale of the raped child, or indeed any of the reports of rapes, in the Superdome and convention centre. Gaurdian Unlimited     9/6/05 Use of the Word 'Refugee' Stirs Debate What do you call people who have been driven from their homes with only the clothes on their backs, unsure if they will ever be able to return, and forced to build a new life in a strange place? News organizations are struggling for the right word. Many, including The Associated Press, have used "refugee" to describe those displaced by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. SFGate.com Outraged Europeans Take Dimmer View of Diversity-Attitudes are Hardening in Many Countries amid Spectacular Violence by Islamic Extremists and the Perceived Failure of Integration Efforts. LONDON — It was less than genteel, not the kind of thing a Londoner liked to admit, but Matthew Pickard couldn't help himself when drawn into a discussion about the recent bombings on the city's transit system. There is an "undertow," he said, a feeling of resentment toward ethnic communities that had long been welcomed. "My friends, who are all educated and professionals, they're saying, 'What gives those people the right to come up from other countries and set up homes and set up families and then start bombing and maiming people?' " the 33-year-old engineering consultant said. "They just don't move in and integrate with society. They move in and take over. I just think enough's enough." www.latimes.com Waking Up To The Tragedy Of New Orleans Let me begin with a statement about my position in this society, because it is absolutely relevant here – I am a white woman, with sufficient economic resources. I have been to New Orleans several times in my life. When I heard news last Sunday that Hurricane Katrina had the Big Easy in its path, the first things I thought of were the good times I had in the city, the beautiful architecture that I admired, and the mix of grit, grace, and soul that delighted me there. More than any other U.S. city I have visited, it was the one that most resiliently withstood the mind and soul-numbing effect of corporate culture. Life in New Orleans, it seemed to me, was raw, vital, and on the edge, for better or for worse. I was sad for myself at the thought of losing all this. Buddhist Peace Fellowship     9/5/05 Katrina Uproots Vietnamese Immigrants HOUSTON -- Thousands of Vietnamese settled in the familiar climate of the Gulf Coast region after the upheaval of two wars in their homeland. Hurricane Katrina uprooted them again -- the third mass evacuation in a collective memory of loss. Quan Hong Huyn first learned what it meant to lose a home and escape near-certain destruction when he was sent to a "re-education" camp in his native Vietnam in 1975 and when he fled to the United States through Malaysia. latimes.com     9/4/05 Notes From Inside New Orleans I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago. I traveled from the apartment I was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp. If anyone wants to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards the victims of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the refugee camps. In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information given about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking them - Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other locations. I was told that if you boarded a bus bound for Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to stay in Baton Rouge would not be allowed to get out of the bus as it passed through Baton Rouge. leftturn.org  "They've Got to Open the Base" Baton Rouge, LA - I got on a bus with California Rep. Maxine Waters Saturday afternoon, not sure where we were going, just knowing we were headed to New Orleans to pick up Hurricane Katrina victims. Even as television news is showing pictures of people being rescued by military helicopters and chartered buses, local and national black leaders are seething at the mismanaged evacuation, as well as the haphazard way even the rescued people are being handled. So they've come up with their own plan: to load the remaining residents on buses they've chartered and bring them to England Air Force Base, a shuttered military installation in Alexandria, La.      thruthout.org     9/2/05 Will the ‘New’ New Orleans be Black? One of the premiere Black cities in the nation faces catastrophe. There is no doubt in my mind that New Orleans will one day rise again from its below sea level foundations. The question is, will the new New Orleans remain the two-thirds Black city it was before the levees crumbled? Some would say it is unseemly to speak of politics and race in the presence of a massive calamity that has destroyed the lives and prospects of so many people from all backgrounds. But I beg to differ. As we have witnessed, over and over again, the rich and powerful are very quick to reward themselves as soon as disaster presents the opportunity. Remember that within days of 9/11, the Bush regime executed a multi-billion dollar bailout for the airline industry. By the time you hear this commentary, they may have already used the New Orleans disaster to bail out the insurance industry – one of the richest businesses on the planet. But what of the people of New Orleans, 67 percent of whom are Black? Glen Ford, The Black Commentator     9/1/05 Prime Time Telethon to Benefit Hurricane Katrina Victims NEW YORK ((FinalCall.com) - Black Entertainment Television (BET) announced at a September 1st noon-time press conference held in the Manhattan headquarters of the American Red Cross of Greater New York that they are partnering with the National Urban League, American Red Cross, Hip-Hop Summit Action Network chairman, Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles and the Warner Music Group, Essence Communications and numerous "concerned" celebrities to raise money for 'Hurricane Katrina' victims. FinalCall.com Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water Austin, Texas - Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner, glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.     To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.     This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies. thruthout.org Looting New Orleans, and America's Poverty Crisis Editor's Note: The deplorable looting in New Orleans is a symptom of longstanding American poverty that Bush administration policies have worsened, the writer says. LOS ANGELES--Two things happened in one day that tell much about the abysmal failure of the Bush administration to get a handle on poverty in America. The first was the tragic and disgraceful images of hordes of New Orleans residents scurrying down the city's hurricane-ravaged streets with their arms loaded with food, clothes, appliances, and in some cases guns that they looted from stores and shops. The second was a Census Bureau report released the same day, which found that the number of poor Americans has leaped even higher since Bush took office in 2000. Pacific News Service, Commentary Dozens of Vietnamese Americans Stranded in Versailles, Outside of New Orleans According to Saigon Television Broadcasting Network there are dozens of Vietnamese Americans who are still stuck behind in a small town outside of New Orleans called Versailles. Versailles has been the home of more than 10,000 Vietnamese Americans since the Vietnam War ended. In the last 3 days, without electricity and telephone contacts, the health of the Vietnamese community in Versailles is virtually unknown. Yesterday, Father Vien The Nguyen, of Lavang church in Versailles, managed to contact Saigon Broadasting Television Network to let them know that the majority of Vietnamese living in the area had evacuated before Katrina hit New Orleans, but there are dozens of senior citizens who did not leave because either they have no children or grandchildren to help them, or because they were hoping that they could withstand the storm. When the storm hit, they fled to the church for shelter and there they remained. Saigon Broacasting Television Network, ncmonline News Report Lost in the Flood-Why No Mention of Race or Class in TV's Katrina Coverage? I can't say I saw everything that the TV newscasters pumped out about Katrina, but I viewed enough repeated segments to say with 90 percent confidence that broadcasters covering the New Orleans end of the disaster demurred from mentioning two topics that must have occurred to every sentient viewer: race and class. slate.com New Orleans: A Disaster Waiting to Happen BlackPressUSA Curing Health Costs: Let the Sick Suffer The word in Tennessee is that Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, has presidential aspirations. I find that interesting. Perhaps he can run on the success he's had throwing sick people off of Medicaid. Thanks to Mr. Bredesen's leadership, Tennessee is dumping nearly 200,000 residents, some of them desperately ill, from TennCare, the state's Medicaid program. Cindy Mann, a research professor and executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, concisely characterized the governor's efforts: New York Times     8/31/05 Immigration Reform Must Seize Moral Ground, Says Texas Lawmaker Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims and sponsor of the "Save America Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act" or HR2092, explains why her bill is attracting many immigrant rights advocates. Pacific News Service, Q&A Campaign Equating the Treatment of Animals and Slaves is Halted WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The scenes are graphic. The charred body of a Black man is juxtaposed with a burning chicken. A shackled Black leg is shown next to the leg of a chained elephant. A woman is branded next to a panel of a chicken getting branded. The message is unmistakable: animals are suffering the same fate as African-American slaves. That’s the point of a controversial campaign by the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The online exhibit has been placed on hold amid a flurry of protests. Pacific News Service News Report, Amecia Taylor Closely Observing the Minutemen During the summer, when the so-called Minutemen arrived at the small border town of Campo, east of San Diego, Hugo Figueroa read in the newspapers that legal observers were closely watching the anti-immigrant group. The student from Chula Vista wished that he could join them. Now he can. A group of lawyers have come together in San Diego to recruit legal observers to closely watch the Minutemen, or as they’re called in Spanish, cazamigrantes, that are planning to arrive at the border near Tecate on Sept. 16. La Prensa-San Diego, ncmonline.com/News Report Katrina and Racism DECADES OF OFFICIAL neglect, racism and the impact of global warming magnified the destructive impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and other parts of the South. The mainstream media focused most on the big-money property losses--for example, the heavily damaged casinos on the Mississippi coast that took a direct hit from Katrina, and the tourist hotels in the French Quarter in New Orleans. But beyond the media spotlight are countless others who don’t have sufficient insurance--or any insurance at all--to rebuild their lives. Zmagazine It's Only a Religion, Say 'the Other' Chinese Muslims SAN FRANCISCO--There's a lot of meat on the menu at Mr. Yang's Chinese restaurant in San Francisco -- beef pastry and lamb hotpot are specialties. Pork, however, is completely absent. Yang and his family are Hui Chinese, and they run their restaurant according to Islamic dietary law. The sign outside includes the Chinese characters "qingzhen," meaning "pure and true." Elsewhere is printed its Arabic equivalent, "halal." Pacific News Service, News Feature/Analysis     8/28/05 35 Years Later, Protesters Say It Again-East L.A. Marchers Retrace Steps of 1970 Crowd, and Cover Some of the Same Ground Politically Too. About 300 demonstrators marched through the streets of Los Angeles and rallied at Salazar Park on Saturday for two reasons. First, they were following the path of a 20,000-person march in August 1970, which ended in a riot and the deaths of three people, including the park's namesake — Los Angeles Times columnist and KMEX-TV news director Ruben Salazar, who died when a sheriff's deputy fired a tear gas canister into a bar. L.A. Times     8/26/05 Groups Urge DOJ to Reject Georgia Voter I.D. Bill Major civil rights leaders are opposing Georgia's recently enacted voter identification law, which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently reviewing pursuant to the federal preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. According to Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, the I.D. statute is "highly detrimental to the very rights that the [Voting Rights] Act was designed to protect." The law, House Bill 244, was passed on April 22. It requires that all prospective voters present a state-issued photo identification at the polls before being allowed to cast their civilrights.org Ethnic Media Try to Diffuse Ethnic Tensions in L.A. LOS ANGELES -- Black and Latino media are training the spotlight on the state of relations between blacks and Latinos in this increasingly Hispanic city, in an effort to diffuse sensationalism in the coverage of thorny problems between the two communities. It has been a bumpy ride for race relations in recent months. Last April, fights broke out between more than 100 black and Latino students at Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles, the latest in a series of brawls that took place in schools in the area, including the Crenshaw, Manual Arts and Jordan high schools. Pacific News Service, News Feature     8/22/05 New USCCR Report Called "Back-Door" Approach to Weaken Affirmative Action Programs Recommendations from a new report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USSCR) "seem to indicate the Commission's intent to eliminate equal opportunity and affirmative action programs," Americans for a Fair Chance (AFC), a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, said in a critical rebuttal to the USCCR's findings. USCCR's report, "Federal Procurement After Adarand," purports to recommend methods by which federal procurement agencies can enforce laws in a manner consistent with the 1995 Adarand Constructors Inc v. Pena Supreme Court decision. Americans for a Fair Chance's rebuttal pointed out that the USCCR's recommendations significantly and unfairly raise the threshold for legally acceptable race cons civilrights.org African Americans And Africans Join To Ally United by their connection to “the Motherland,” area Africans and African Americans got together recently to learn more about one another’s contributions — and to learn more about each other. Members of Yoruba Heritage International welcomed guests to their anniversary celebration, from left to right, Mr. and Mrs. Ade Akilo, Abimbola Olusanya, and Sunday Oyewole. Yoruba Heritage International, an area non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Nigerian culture, hosted a celebration at the Boys & Girls Club, called “Past, Present and Future of Yoruba Culture.” SacObserver.com Televangelist Calls for Chavez' Death Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a "terrific danger" to the United States. Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on "The 700 Club" it was the United States' duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism." SFGate.com Graduation Day, Six Decades Late-Now in their 70s and 80s, Japanese Americans Interned During WWII don Caps and Gowns for High School Ceremony. Dozens of Japanese Americans who as teenagers were forced to relocate to internment camps during World War II and never received diplomas from their hometown high schools donned caps and gowns, corsages and leis for a belated graduation ceremony Sunday. L.A. Times Report: Dallas Prosecutors Excluded Blacks DALLAS (AP) -- As recently as 2002, Dallas County prosecutors were excluding eligible blacks from juries at more than twice the rate they turned down whites, a newspaper reported Sunday. The issue surfaced earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1986 murder conviction of a black man accused of killing a white motel clerk, saying the Dallas County jury that convicted Thomas Miller-El was unfairly stacked with whites. New York Times     8/18/05 Asian American Community Denounces Hiring of ‘Tsunami Song’ Creator to San Francisco Radio Station Producer Rick Delgado’s radio broadcast career has been filled with controversy. He was fired from New York’s MIX 102.7 (WNEW-FM) in 2002 for his role in the radio station’s sex in a church stunt. He was also fired from HOT 97 (WQHT-FM) earlier this year for masterminding the tsunami parody song filled with anti-Asian slurs. Now Delgado has landed another controversial job as the new producer at WILD 94.9 (KYLD-FM) in San Francisco, a diverse city with a large Asian Pacific American population. Despite expressed outrage from APA groups over his new gig on the “Strawberry in the Morning” show, Delgado told a Bay Area newspaper that he would not change his ways. Pacific Citizen, News Report/ncmonline.com 'Red Face' Does Not Honor Us A Native American applauds as an important first step the recent decision by the NCAA to prohibit Native motifs in postseason play. DENVER--The debate over the use of Native American imagery by professional and collegiate sports teams has raged for decades. In the past, when Native people protested racist names and corrupted "Native" imagery being misappropriated as logos or mascots, the response from the athletic community ranged from confusion to anger. Some fans even had the audacity to claim that they were "honoring" us. Pacific News Service Asian American Educational Achievement Belies Invisibility The California Department of Education released its high school Exit Exam and STAR results this week. Chinese American parents have always paid close attention to education news. Yet, the news report only mentioned gains made by California students as a group and the differences between white and African American and Latino students. As if Asian Americans are invisible, the release did not contain one word on results for Asian Americans. Asian Americans were only covered in a column in a small graph accompanying the story. Sing Tao Daily, Editorial/ncmonline.com Sterilization Patients Victimized Again WILMINGTON, N.C. (NNPA) –There is confusion about exactly how victims of the state’s sterilization program can get their medical records. And from whom? After the story broke in 2002 about how the state of North Carolina, from 1929 to 1974, involuntarily sterilized the majority of the 7,600 victims of its eugenics program, notarized requests from some of those people were sent to the State Archives in the Dept. of Cultural Resources for their medical records documenting the operations, and the reasons for them. Only those persons can legally obtain their records. Many of the sterilizations were performed in state hospitals, which may or may not still retain a copy of those records today. NNPA FROM THE Wilmington Journal, News Reoprt/ncmonline.com Signature Drive to Create California Border Patrol SAN FRANCISCO – Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes has introduced a bill that would create a new Border Patrol in California, arguing that we must get rid of illegal immigrants because they “flagrantly take advantage” of taxpayers. The bill, ACA 20, was evaluated and brought to a vote on July 5 in the State Assembly Judicial Committee where it was rejected. Now Haynes, together with a group of volunteers, is launching a signature collection campaign to put the measure on the 2006 ballot. El Mensajero/ncmonline.com     8/16/05 Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades. The money will be channeled through a new partnership called the Democracy Alliance, which was founded last spring -- the latest in a series of liberal initiatives as the Democratic Party and its allies continue to struggle with the loss of the House and the Senate in 1994 and the presidency in 2000. Many influential Democratic contributors were left angry and despairing over the party's poor showing in last year's elections, and are looking for what they hope will be more effective ways to invest their support. civilrights.org Briefing: Much More Is Needed to Make Fair Housing a Reality The nation is experiencing a "crisis of racial segregation" at a time when funding for and commitment to the enforcement of fair housing laws is in a "precipitous decline," according to a new report from the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) detailing the state of housing discrimination in the United States. The 2005 Fair Housing Trends Report was presented at a July 19 briefing sponsored by, NFHA in collaboration with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) and Rep. Al Green, D. Texas. civilrights.org U.S. Hispanics Divided on Immigrant Issues WASHINGTON -- A majority of Hispanics born in the United States don't think illegal Hispanic immigrants should be given drivers' licenses, according to a new poll. Most foreign-born Hispanics disagree, according to the polling for the Pew Hispanic Center. Six in 10 Hispanics born in this country approve of measures to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting drivers' licenses, while two-thirds born in another country disapprove of such measures. The difference between foreign-born Hispanics and native-born Hispanics on the driver's license issue highlights the disparity between the two groups on several issues washingtonpost.com John H. Johnson, Media Giant, Dead at 87 CHICAGO (NNPA) –John H. Johnson, the award-winning publishing pioneer and cosmetics mogul who used the pages of Ebony and Jet magazines to trumpet the stories of African Americans for the past 60 years, and in turn built a $500 million media empire, died Monday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was 87. His story is a rags-to-riches tale. A man who left Arkansas for Chicago as part of the Great Migration launched by Chicago Defender founder, Robert Abbott, Johnson went from poverty and welfare to one of the nation’s richest men. NNPA, OBituary New Report Highlights Problems Faced by Asian Americans As they Vote Washington, D.C.- Aug. 5, 2005 – A new report released today, the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, underscores the importance of providing access to the ballot for Asian Americans with limited English proficiency. The report, “Sound Barriers: Asian Americans and Language Access in Election 2004,” details the barriers faced by Asian Americans who voted during last year’s elections. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost three million Asian Americans turned out to vote on Nov. 2, 2004. Asian American Village, News Report     8/11/05 Righting a Wrong, U.S. to Honor WWII Vet's Bravery-Ben Kuroki, 88, faced prejudice in the Army as a Japanese American. This week, he receives a Distinguished Service Medal, one of the nation's highest military honors. Ben Kuroki fearlessly flew 58 combat missions over Europe and North Africa, but on a February day in 1944, before an elite crowd in San Francisco, he realized he was more afraid of his own countrymen. Arrayed before him were 700 members of the Commonwealth Club, the oldest civic forum in the nation, made up of newspaper editors, educators and businessmen. The kind of people who ran California. A Hearst newspaper on that day, Feb. 4, 1944, announced his appearance: "Jap to address S.F. Club." About 190 miles away, over the Sierra, 10,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were being held behind barbed wire at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. latimes.com     8/9/05 Schools Can Appeal NCAA Indian Rule Florida State can go to court, as its president has threatened. But the NCAA is pointing out an alternative avenue to schools unhappy with new restrictions on their use of American Indian nicknames, mascots or logos. USA Today Why Arabs Are Getting 'The Smackdown' in Pro Wrestling Editor's Note: Professional wrestling's latest villains are two headdress-wearing Arab characters that the crowd loves to hate. SAN JOSE, Calif.--A while back, I went to a live "Smackdown" wrestling event and was introduced to professional wrestling's latest villains: two headdress-wearing Arabs called Hassan and Daivari. As their introduction music blasted throughout the arena, all that was heard were jeers and boos. All around me I overheard many people yelling, "F--- you, go back to your country," and "Go back to working at 7-11 and selling me Slurpees!" To my further disgust, I saw several people, including boys as young as seven or eight, stick the middle finger at these wrestlers. Pacific News Service, Youth Commentary With Garang's Death, Southern Sudan May Secede Since the death of Sudan's Vice President John Garang, some Islamic fundamentalists have issued fatwas against anyone renting places or giving support to Garang's liberation movement, the SPLA. PNS contributor Cobie Kwasi Harris says that without a unifier like Garang, the country could become a failed state. Harris is a professor of political science at San Jose State University. Pacific News Service, Commentary     8/7/05 Thousands Protest Ruling on Hawaii Schools HONOLULU -- Blowing conch shells and chanting Hawaiian prayers, some 15,000 people marched through downtown Honolulu Saturday to protest a federal court ruling striking down Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiians-only admissions policy as unlawful. "We are outraged," said Lilikala Kameeleihiwa, a professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii. "This is a great setback for our people. Here we are on our own homeland and we can't educate our children." washingtonpost.com     8/5/05 Lose the War Paint-NCAA Bans Indian Mascots, but only in Playoffs The NCAA announcement Friday that it will ban the use of American Indian mascots and logos by sports teams during postseason NCAA tournaments, but not in the regular season or in major bowl games, has created equal parts confusion and controversy. The rule, effective Aug. 1, 2008, prohibits displays of "hostile or abusive" references on uniforms of teams, cheerleaders and bands during a postseason NCAA tournament. Also, beginning Feb. 1, 2006, institutions with "hostile or abusive" mascots or imagery are prohibited from hosting SFGate.com Alou, Players Miffed at Host KNBR Suspends Krueger after Comments Derogatory comments by KNBR's Larry Krueger about the Giants' Latin players and Felipe Alou evoked an impassioned response from the club's manager on Friday and led to the talk show host getting suspended for a week without pay. Krueger set off a firestorm with his remarks about "brain-dead Caribbean hitters'' and his likening of Alou's mind to "Cream of Wheat,'' part of an extended rant about the Giants' failures this season following their 3-2 loss to the Rockies on Wednesday night. SFGate.com In a City on the Move, a Civil War Issue Refuses to Die MEMPHIS, Aug. 4 - A clamor always seems to accompany any mention here of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the cavalryman whose outnumbered men whipped the Yankees at Brice's Crossroads in northern Mississippi. Debate has long surrounded the statue, grave and park that bears the name of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate hero, in Memphis. Many want to rename the park and remove Forrest's body. He was not just any Confederate hero. After the war, he returned to Memphis and, in 1867, became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. New York Times     8/3/05 Al Sharpton's New Focus of Harmony: Los Angeles The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Monday he was forming a coalition to promote racial unity between blacks and Latinos in the city, hoping to ease a long-running rivalry over jobs, housing and schools. "Neither community can be what it needs to be unless we are together. We are not each other's enemies," Sharpton said at a news conference. "We cannot turn on each other at a time that there are those that exploit, oppress and suppress all of us." Associated Press Mexico Struggles to Understand Embedded Racism in Diverse Society MEXICO CITY - (KRT) - The man visiting from the south of Spain was having a revelation as he walked along Michoacan Street in the city's fashionable Condesa section. "There are an awful lot of brown people on the street," he exclaimed. "You don't get that at all from the TV and advertising." Foreigners in Mexico City who look at Mexican television - or movies or magazines or anything with human faces on it - could be excused for thinking they had landed in a European city. TimesLeader.com Court Finds Bias in Policy of Schools for Hawaiians The Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii are practicing unlawful race discrimination by restricting enrollment to Native Hawaiian children, a federal appeals court panel in San Francisco ruled yesterday. The schools, the only beneficiary of a $6 billion legacy of a 19th-century Hawaiian princess, have an enrollment of about 5,100 students, from kindergarten through 12th grade, on campuses on three islands. Yesterday's ruling means that the plaintiff in the case, a teenager, will start his senior year at one of the schools in the next few weeks, one of his lawyers, Eric Grant, said. The schools' admissions policy requires prospective students to prove that at least one ancestor lived on the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, when the British explorer Capt. James Cook arrived. New York Times     8/1/05 Listeners Irate Over the Hate Harmon Gray was shocked at the acrid brew of racism, misogyny and profanity spewing from his radio. "I couldn't believe it," Gray, 41, recalled yesterday. "Clear Channel took the Doug Banks show off to bring Richmond some garbage like that?" He was talking about "Star & Buc Wild," the self-styled "universal haters," whose syndicated morning show is now broadcast weekdays on The Beat 106.5 WBTJ, a Clear Channel Communications station. TimesDispatch.com     7/31/05 A Look at the Three Immigration Reform Bills in Congress Congress is expected to enact the first major overhaul of immigration policy since 1996. On the table are three immigration reform bills that could dramatically reshape the country’s immigration policy on key issues including legalization, guest worker programs, deportation, employer sanctions and police and border enforcement. The bills, proposed by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas); Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.); and Senators John Cornyn (R- Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), present three distinct plans for immigration reform. Pacific News Service   Hispanics New Target of Hate Groups Chattanooga, Tenn. - Organized hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan have historically terrorized blacks and Jews in the Southeast. But the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to the region has given hate groups a new target, and officials say Hispanics are increasingly targets of hate crimes. Former Klansman Daniel Schertz, a 27-year-old from the southeast Tennessee town of South Pittsburg, was indicted in June on charges of building pipe bombs to kill Hispanic immigrants. Imperial Wizard Billy Jeffery of the North Georgia White Knights denied any connection to the bomb plot and said he banished Schertz from the group, but he readily admits he isn't happy with the flow of immigrants to the region. thruthout.org British Teen's Slaying Called Racist Attack-Several Men Followed the 18-year-old Black Youth, Striking Him with an Ax, Police Say. LIVERPOOL, England — A black teenager who was followed through a park by a group of men shouting racist taunts died Saturday after being attacked with an ax, British police said. Anthony Walker, 18, was waiting for a bus with his girlfriend and a cousin when a man started shouting at them late Friday near his home, officers said. L.A. Times A New Hope for Dreams Suspended by Segregation FARMVILLE, Va. - Warren Brown was about to enter first grade in 1959 when officials chained up the public schools in Prince Edward County rather than allow black children to sit beside white children in a classroom. Leola Bailey, Alda Boothe, Warren Brown, Rita Moseley and Barbara Springwere among those locked out of Virginia schools in the 1950's. Without the resources to send him away, his mother kept him at home for four years, until she found a local church offering classes to black children. Mr. Brown graduated from high school in 1972, winning basketball scholarships from three colleges, only to turn them down because he feared the academics would have been too challenging. "I didn't get a proper foundation," he said. "If you're not prepared, what good is the school going to do for you?" This fall, however, Mr. Brown, at the age of 51, plans to go to college to study criminal justice. Five decades after Virginia ignored the actions of Prince Edward County and other locales that shut down their public schools in support of segregation, the state is making a rare effort to confront its racist past, in effect apologizing and offering reparations in the form of scholarships. New York Times On Farthest U.S. Shores, Iraq Is a Way to a Dream SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands - By jogging at sunset on the white sands of a palm-fringed beach here, 17-year-old Audrey O. Bricia is doing more than toning up for her next try in this island's Miss Philippines contest. She is getting in shape for United States Army boot camp. Skip to next paragraph Everett Kennedy Brown/European Pressphoto Agency, for The New York Times Ross Delarosa, left, was among those waiting to take an aptitude test at the Army Reserve Center on Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands. Bomb Kills 2 Private Guards for British Consulate in Iraq (July 31, 2005) Enlarge This Image Everett Kennedy Brown/European Pressphoto Agency, for The New York Times Audrey O. Bricia, 17, in the Northern Marianas, sees the Army as a way to nursing school. To gain an edge on the competition for enlistment, she reserved a seat two days in advance to take Army's aptitude test on a recent Saturday morning here. Safely ensconced in her seat, she watched an Army recruiter turn away 10 latecomers, all new high school graduates. "I am scared about Iraq, but I am going to have to give something in return for those benefits I want," said Ms. Bricia, a daughter of Filipino immigrants whose ambition is to attend nursing school in California. New York Times     7/26/05 All Ears for Tom Cruise, All Eyes on Brad Pitt Some of us in the news media have been hounding President Bush for his shameful passivity in the face of genocide in Darfur. More than two years have passed since the beginning of what Mr. Bush acknowledges is the first genocide of the 21st century, yet Mr. Bush barely manages to get the word "Darfur" out of his mouth. Still, it seems hypocritical of me to rage about Mr. Bush's negligence, when my own beloved institution - the American media - has been at least as passive as Mr. Bush. Condi Rice finally showed up in Darfur a few days ago, and she went out of her way to talk to rape victims and spotlight the sexual violence used to terrorize civilians. Most American television networks and cable programs haven't done that much. New York Times     7/25/05 Looking At The Mexican Stamp And Beyond The widespread denunciation of the "Memin Pinguin" stamp recently circulated by Mexico's postal service is absolutely righteous. The stamp presents a hardcore, all-too-familiar racist stereotype. "It's a good thing it happened," commented Ron Wilkins, a Black activist, teacher and photographer in Santa Monica who often visits Afro-Mexican villages on the West Coast. Those villages were settled by descendants of the more than 200,000 enslaved Africans brought to Mexico by Spain after the Conquest. "The issue of Mexico's racism," Wilkins continued, "has been raised, loud and clear, as never before." Zmag.org Shaw Shuns 'Little Ethiopia' Black Leaders Note Immigrants' Pride But Resist Designation Derege Zewdie pointed at the gleaming kitchen where cooks will serve up lamb and beef stews, fish and flat bread in the convenience store he plans to open in a few weeks. The rich oak shelves along the wall, he said, will be stocked with coffees, spices and music cassettes from his Ethiopian homeland. Zewdie is among a cluster of Ethiopian entrepreneurs who have brought life to a long-neglected strip in Northwest Washington. They have worked long hours buying and renovating properties, opening restaurants and shops and offices, including one planned as a headquarters for an Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce. washingpost.com     7/19/05 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Responds to Roberts Nomination to Supreme Court Washington, DC - Following reports that President George W. Bush will nominate Judge John G. Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) expressed disappointment that the President did not nominate a Latino to fill the seat to be vacated by Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The CHC previously called on the President to fill the vacancy with a qualified Hispanic dedicated to equal justice and a judicial system that is fair to the Latino community. civilrights.org/CHC Board Stalemates on Signatures; Anti-Affirmative Action Ballot Initiative Moves to Courts On July 19, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers deadlocked (2-2) in its consideration of certification of the so-called "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative" (MCRI), which has been championed by affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly. The Michigan Court of Appeals will now consider certification of the initiative over the coming weeks. Connerly is best known as the businessman and former University of California regent who successfully led anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives in California (1996) and Washington (1998). Connerly and anti-affirmative action proponents were galvanized by the Grutter decision, which upheld the consideration of race as one of many factors in higher education admissions, and switched their focus to Michigan. civilrights.org     7/17/05 Arthur Fletcher, "The Father of Affirmative Action," Dies at 80 Civil rights advocates are mourning the death of Arthur Fletcher on Tuesday, an early proponent of affirmative action. Fletcher, dubbed "the father of affirmative action" for his work implementing equal opportunity programs under Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush, died at his Washington home of natural causes. He was 80. In 1969, as an official in Nixon's Labor Department, Fletcher implemented the "revised Philadelphia plan" which set and enforced equal opportunity standards for companies with federal contracts and labor unions. He was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights which he chaired from 1990 to 1993. He was also a delegate to the United Nations, executive director of the United Negro College Fund and the first black candidate for lieutenant governor in Washington, where he nearly won against a very popular Democrat. civilrights.org Suzie Peña Killing Should Unite, Not Divide, Blacks and Latinos The muffled response of blacks to the police shooting of a Latino toddler shows the distrust and tension between the two ethnic groups. LOS ANGELES--The instant LAPD officers gunned down 13-year-old Devin Brown following a car chase last February, blacks took to the streets in rage and protest. Black leaders loudly demanded that the officer who shot Brown be fired and prosecuted. Blacks' furious reaction to the Brown killing stands in stark contrast to their response to the recent the killing of 19-month-old Suzie Marie Peña. Police shot the toddler in the head during a shootout with her father, Jose Raul Peña in South Los Angeles. Pacific News Service, Commentary Farmworker Collapses in Heat, Dies: The Second such Death in a Year Prompts Labor Leaders to Renew Calls for New Safety Regulations. The second San Joaquin Valley farmworker in a year has died of heat exposure in triple-digit temperatures, sparking renewed calls from labor leaders for worker safety regulations in extreme heat. Witnesses said Salud Zamudio Rodriguez, 42, was picking bell peppers in Arvin, Calif., south of Bakersfield, in 105-degree heat Wednesday when he complained of feeling ill, according to Lupe Martinez, a vice president of United Farm Workers of America. Rodriguez began to shudder, collapsed and was taken to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, where he died an hour later, Martinez said. The Kern County coroner's office attributed his death to heat exposure. Last year, Asuncion Valdivia, 53, died of heat stroke July 28 after collapsing in a grape field near Bakersfield. Rodriguez died as a worker safety bill is being considered by the state Legislature. L.A. Times     7/16/05 Reports on AIDS Drug Tests on Foster Children Lead to Charges of Racism It was seen as one of the great successes of AIDS treatment. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, hundreds of children in New York City were dying of AIDS. The only approved drugs were for adults; and many of the patients were foster children. So doctors obtained permission to include foster children in what they regarded as promising drug trials. By 2000, the number of children under 20 who died of AIDS in the city that year dropped to 13 from more than 100 per year less than a decade before. But now, just as the trials are receding into history, they are coming under intense scrutiny. A federal agency is investigating whether guidelines for including foster children in trials were violated. The city's child welfare administration has launched an independent inquiry into whether children were harmed. And when the head of the child welfare system testified about the trials at a City Council hearing in May, angry spectators shouted him down. New York Times     7/5/05 The Voting Rights Act at 40 When the Voting Rights Act hits its 40th anniversary on Aug. 6, the date will hold far more significance than most historic commemorations. That's because the law's history is still being written. Some of the act's more controversial provisions will be up for renewal by Congress in two years. They include a section that requires several states, mostly in the South, to have every potential change in voting procedures cleared by the Justice Department or a federal court.  civilrights.org ABC Gets Unfriendly 'Neighborhood' Welcome ABC's extraordinary cancellation of "Welcome to the Neighborhood" less than two weeks before its premiere proves that reality television can only handle so much reality. With a threatened lawsuit and accusations the network was tone deaf to bigotry, ABC may have traded a major headache for the temporary embarrassment of throwing out a series that was already finished. The Associated Press     7/4/05 Stamp Controversy: Mexican Officials Must Come Clean on Racism Editor's Note: A stamp with a black, Sambo-like cartoon character issued by the Mexican government is a marker of the country's blindness toward its own racial ills. LOS ANGELES--The Mexican government's sale of the racially offensive cartoon character Memin Pinguin as a commemorative stamp is an outrageous sign that top Mexican officials still refuse to deal with Mexico's racism. But it's just that -- a sign. Racism goes much deeper in the country. Even while Mexican writers and politicians rail in articles against American racism, many Mexicans are quick to boast of differences in skin color among their own family members. Pacific News Service, Commentary     7/1/05 Criticizing Patriot Act Lands Manlin Chee, Asian American Lawyer, in Jail Having spent almost three decades offering legal service to immigrants, Chinese American immigration attorney Manlin Chee is now getting used to serving time instead. Chee had been a nationally recognized lawyer for her work with immigrants, some of it pro bono, and much of it for Muslims, but things soured for her soon after she appeared on a panel discussing the PATRIOT Act in March 2003. The public forum at the main library in Greensboro, North Carolina was televised and attracted a large audience. Chee argued passionately that the PATRIOT Act violated the Bill of Rights and threatened the civil rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens. Asian Week/ncmonline.com More Companies Affected by Slavery Disclosure Laws WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A growing number of companies will have to disclose their past ties to slavery if they want to do business with government units around the nation. Wachovia is the latest firm to acknowledge its past links to slavery. To do business with the city of Chicago, under the 2003 Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance, it has to disclose whether it had directly or indirectly profited from the 19th century slave trade. “What this proves is that the ordinance itself is working. It’s very important that we have this information and the ordinance is real,” said Chicago City Councilmember Dorothy Tillman, author of the ordinance. “We are not playing and any company that thinks we’re playing should understand that we mean business. Now we have to meet and see what we are going to do as a people as these companies unfold and we pass along information. How do we really build and pull together our own team?” NNPA News Report/ncmonline.com Center Focuses on Preventing Abductions of Latino Children - A disproportionately high 13,000 U.S. Hispanic boys and girls are abducted every year. To learn how it can better serve the Hispanic community, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will hold a series of town-hall meetings this summer. The meetings are specifically designed "to find out what the Latino community needs from us," says Ju'Riese Colon, who heads up the Center's Hispanic outreach. Additionally, they will give the Center opportunities to share summer safety tips and inform attending families of NCMEC services. A date hasn't been set yet, but the first meeting will take place in Alexandria, Va., where the Center is located, and it will be followed by sessions in San Antonio, New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. Hispanic Link News Service ABC Pulls Controversial Reality Series LOS ANGELES - “Welcome to the Neighborhood,” an ABC reality series that pushes hot buttons of racism and anti-homosexuality, was pulled by the network before its debut. The program had drawn criticism from groups claiming it risked fostering prejudice. In a statement Wednesday, ABC acknowledged the delicate nature of the series in which families asked to pick a new neighbor are made to expose and overcome their biases. “Welcome to the Neighborhood” demonstrates what happens when people are forced to “confront preconceived notions of what makes a good neighbor,” the network said. MSNBC Fifa to Curb Racism Fifa has given itself the power to punish member associations who fail to take proper disciplinary action against racist incidents. The move, which effectively toughens its existing rules on the matter, was ratified by Fifa's executive committee on Wednesday. Fifa's move was informed by the wave of racism that hit European club football last season, which affected several African and South American players. BBC.COM Mexican Stamps 'Insult People Around the World': Jackson, White House Criticize Cartoon Character Postage MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- U.S. activists called on the Mexican government to withdraw a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, saying the offense was worse than recent remarks about blacks made by President Vicente Fox. Mexico defended the series of five stamps released Wednesday, which depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico. But the Rev. Jesse Jackson said President Bush should pressure Mexico to withdraw the stamps from the market, saying they "insult people around the world." CNN     6/28/05 Runaway Racism "A man and a woman had me," a sobbing Runaway Bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, told her jilted fiance when she finally phoned home. But not just any man: It was specifically a Hispanic man -- abetted by a white woman -- who supposedly had snatched her from the mean streets of Duluth, Ga., on the eve of her wedding. She told police a graphic tale of horrifying sexual abuse at the hands of this Hispanic beast, whose mobile den of iniquity was a blue van. It was all a bunch of lies, of course. That Wilbanks and her patience-of-Job boyfriend will pocket a half-million dollars for her flakiness and mendacity (the poor guy has earned his share, in my view) would be a good subject for a future column. But this one has a different purpose: to welcome my Latino brethren into the fraternity of those eligible to be falsely accused of ravishing the delicate flower of white American womanhood. ( Bienvenidos , guys.) washingtonpost.com     6/27/05 Black-Latino Divide: Pretending it's not Real Won't Solve L.A.'s Racial Issue The issue is painful and explosive, and city and county officials tap dance around it for fear that they'll offend blacks and Latinos or that they'll stir up racial antagonisms. But Los Angeles' black and Latino clash is real and deep-seated, and it goes way beyond the recent spike in hate crimes at L.A. schools. So far, L.A.'s politicians have taken the cowardly way out and buried the simmering conflict under sociologists' jargon. They toss out terms like "ethnic tensions," "L.A.'s population growing pains" and "changing urban dynamics" to mask the conflict. They kid themselves that by staging feel-good, media-hyped "days of dialogue" with handpicked academics and community leaders, they'll get to the bottom of the conflict. dailynews.com     6/26/05 Gays at Receiving End of Bias Claim: Investigation at Castro Bar Opens Dialogue about Prejudice They are among the most maligned groups in society, but when it comes to discrimination, many say, gays can give as good as they get. A city investigation of S.F. Badlands, one of the largest and most popular bars in the heart of the Castro neighborhood, has added evidence to that argument. In April, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the bar discriminated against African American customers and job applicants. SFGate.com Latino Power? It Will Take Time for the Population Boom to Translate Normally, in an article of this sort, this would be the place to deploy the "sleeping giant" metaphor, hailing the rise of a powerful new voting bloc that's changing the American political landscape. But the Latino population isn't a cliche; it can't be so easily characterized. The rapid increase in its size has not produced a corresponding growth in its political clout -- and won't for some time to come. Consider these contrasting pieces of information. The census report that made headlines a few weeks ago showed that Hispanics (that's the Census Bureau's official term) accounted for half of all the population growth in the United States over the past four years. But another, less heralded, census document showed that Hispanics accounted for only one-tenth of the increase in all votes cast in 2004 compared with the 2000 election. The growth of the Latino population as a whole may be gigantic, but only one out of every four Latinos added to the U.S. population is an added voter. washingtonpost.com Two Years After Grutter, Threats to Affirmative Action Still Strong As the nation approaches the two-year anniversary of the Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court decision upholding the consideration of race as one of many factors in higher education admissions, advocates in support of affirmative action say that threats to the policy still persist. On June 23, 2003, the Court held (5-4) that racial diversity was a compelling state interest and that the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policies were narrowly tailored to fit this compelling interest. www.civilrights.org New President, an Ex-GOP Chair, Enters Clash Over Public Airwaves As the new president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Patricia de Stacy Harrison will arrive at the agency during a tumultuous period in public broadcasting. She comes from the State Department, where she served as assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs, an appointee of President Bush. In her new job, she will oversee a private nonprofit that distributes federal funds to the nation's 1,100 public radio and TV stations. Harrison, hired by the CPB board of directors Wednesday, edged out more than 200 other candidates and was CPB Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson's top pick for the president's post. civilrights.org     6/21/05 Afro-Germans Protest African Village in the ZOO Afro-Germans Protest African Village in the ZOO From: Norbert Finzsch [mailto:] I am a German scholar of African American History and member of H-Net Afro-Am.Today I would like to direct your attention to something that is going on inGermany which, in my opinion, requires the consideration of the internationalscholarly community. It is with utmost indignation that the African Germancommunity has taken notice of the plans to open an "African Village" within the zoo of Augsburg, Germany. The opening of this exhibit is scheduled for July9 - July 12. 2005. "Artisans, silversmiths, basket makers and traditional hairdressers are situated in an unique African steppe landscape" according to the leaflets handed out by the organizers of the show. The conveners obviously are oblivious of the fact that exhibits like the one planned in Augsburg are organized within the German tradition of racist "ethnographic shows" (Völkerschauen). A letter of reply by Ms. Barbara Jantschke, PhD, from the Augsburg Zoo, directed to an African Swiss citizen underlines the intention, to put Africans on display in the zoo within "an atmosphere of exotism". It is obvious that the conveners do not understand the historical implications of their project. Even in Germany the impact of colonialism and racism on African societies are nowadays debated in public. The way Africans and African Americans in Germany are perceived and discussed, the way they are present on billboards and in TV ads prove that the colonialist and racist gaze is still very much alive in Germany. This is the direct result of forty years of German colonialism and twelve years of National Socialism. People of color are still seen as exotic objects (of desire), as basically dehumanized entities withinthe realm of animals. This also explains why a zoo has been selected as site for the exhibit. It is necessary to remind the organizers that in the history of "ethnographic shows" African and German African individuals were used as object for anthropometric tests and ethnological investigations of highly questionable scientific benefit. Many of the artists who performed in these shows in the 1920s and 1930s died from malnutrition and as a consequence of bad living conditions. The Nazis employed a policy of eugenic control, resulting in forced operations to limit the biological reproduction of African Germans or in downright incarceration in concentration camps. Survivors of this policy had to gain a living as performers in exotic shows. The Augsburg exhibit thus fails to acknowledge the political and social history of persecution in Nazi Germany. The African German community and concerned individuals like myself call to your attention the need to protest against the opening of the exhibit in the Augsburg Zoo. Please direct your personalized letters of protest to Frau Dr. Barbara Jantschke (Director Zoo Augsburg) at . Thank you Norbert Finzsch Professor of History and Provost of the University of Cologne Anglo-Amerikanische Abteilung Historisches Seminar Universität zu Köln Albertus-Magnus-Platz Philosophikum D 50923 Köln Tel. Email:     6/20/05 Leguizamo Decries Hollywood's Latino Roles Actor John Leguizamo said he's become disillusioned with the stereotypical handymen and gang member roles Hollywood offered to Latino actors. "We have to tell the whole plethora of our stories," Leguizamo said Friday during the 23rd annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists Convention. "We have the whole spectrum ... in our culture." SFGate.com A 'Sorry' Excuse From Cochran Anybody who claims to understand Mississippi has probably never spent much time there. I'm back in my home state fairly frequently these days, and every visit leaves me both hopeful and despairing. Mississippi is a state of confusion -- the symbol of racism and backwardness and arguably the state that is trying hardest to repair the damage wrought by racism. And so Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen is on trial in Philadelphia -- the Philadelphia of "Mississippi Burning" -- for his alleged role in the 1964 lynching of three civil rights workers. You can argue that the 80-year-old Killen shouldn't be the only white man facing murder charges in the case, but the fact that there is a trial is testament to the work of a once-unimaginable coalition of black, white and Choctaw Mississippians, formed specifically to help purge the state of its racist past. washingtonpost.com     6/16/05 Once Shunned as Racist, Storybook Bestseller in Japan: 'Little Black Sambo' was Pulled from Stores in 1988 for its Blackface- Style Drawings. Now, Amid Little Protest, a Reprint is a Huge Hit. TOKYO — A writer's death can do wonders for pushing that back catalog. Less drastically, a few books acquire cachet by being banned. Which may help explain why a reissue of "Little Black Sambo," a turn-of-the-20th century illustrated children's book attacked as being racist, is on the bestseller lists in Japan this spring. The Japanese edition of "Sambo" was a big favorite here, from the time it was introduced in 1953 until it was yanked from bookstores in 1988 after a swift and effective anti-racism campaign. The rap against it in Japan echoed that heard in the West years earlier: Sambo was a racist term for American blacks and illustrator Frank Dobias' portrayal of the main character, with his bulging white eyes and exaggerated, thick lips, was tantamount to a boy drawn in blackface. latimes.com The Disappeared: Families of Missing Migrants Live in Limbo VILLA MORELOS, Mexico – The soft crunch of tires on dirt often rouses María López from her sleep. Her body tenses with nervous anticipation as she props herself up in the dark, listening for a familiar footstep, a familiar voice. Alejandra González, whose husband Amparo Calvillo López disappeared near the border. Photo by Nancee E. Lewis / Union-Tribune Sometimes she hears people talking in the distance, or a dog barking. Then the tires continue rolling down the road, toward the center of this small country town, and there is silence. She lies in a room her son built, unable to sleep. "I keep hoping there is going to be a knock on the door, and that it's going to be him," says María, a diminutive widow who habitually wipes away tears with the edge of her dark shawl. "That it's my son, and he's come home." But her son never knocks. Enlance, News Feature/ncmonline.com Activists Blast SF Museum's Exhibit of Tibetan Art SAN FRANCISCO--Priceless objects dating back to the 9th century, such as a gold and turquoise-encrusted drinking cup made from a human skull, an ornate copper and gilt statue of the thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara, a brightly colored silk thankga (scroll) painting of a serene White Tara -- are they harmless exotica, or the latest Chinese propaganda tools? These items are among nearly 200 pieces to be shown June 12 through Sept. 11 in "Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World" at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The San Francisco exhibit (the show has been to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and the Rubin Museum in New York City) is one of the very first times many of the treasures will be seen in the West. They were left behind when the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959 for exile in India. Pacific News Service, News Feature     6/15/05 Lawmakers Leave Texas Admissions Law Intact The legislative session in Texas concluded on May 24 without the House and Senate reaching agreement on proposals to modify a state law guaranteeing students in the top 10 percent of their high school class automatic admission to any state public university. Enacted in 1997, the law was intended to provide underrepresented minorities with access to colleges and universities, following a federal court decision banning the consideration of race in university admissions. Senate and House legislation proposing modifications to the law differed dramatically. Senate bill (SB) 333 was introduced by State Senate Education Committee Chair Senator Royce West, D. Dallas, an advocate of the top 10 percent law. SB 333 would keep intact the basic provisions of the law, while adding extra curriculum requirements for students seeking to qualify for the program. civilrights.org Justices Target Race Bias in Juries The Supreme Court, overturning the murder convictions of a black man in California and another in Texas by nearly all-white juries, warned judges and prosecutors Monday that they must put an end to racial discrimination in the selection of jurors. civilrights.org Senate Apologizes For Not Enacting Anti-Lynching Legislation, A Look at Journalist and Anti-Lynching Crusader Ida B. Wells The Senate passes a resolution to apologize for its failure to enact anti-lynching legislation. We hear excerpts of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu speaking on the Senate floor and we talk about the history of lynching, focusing on pioneering journalist and anti-lynching crusader, Ida B. Wells. We speak with her grandson, sociologist Troy Duster as well as historian Nell Irvin Painter. [includes rush transcript] DemocracyNow.org Pomp and Conflicting Stances: Crowd Reaction is Mixed as the Governor Stresses the Importance of Community Colleges in Commencement Address in Santa Monica. Graduating students mostly cheered, but some audience members booed Tuesday as Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to one of his alma maters, Santa Monica College, to deliver his first commencement address as governor of California. Schwarzenegger, who Monday ordered a special election that could trim the power of the Legislature, mostly avoided politics in his address, concentrating instead on the importance of community colleges such as Santa Monica in California's system of higher education. The cheers and boos were mixed as Randal Lawson, the college's executive vice president, introduced the governor. Applause prevailed when Lawson began naming Schwarzenegger's films, especially "The Terminator." But catcalls and jeers grew louder when Lawson mentioned Schwarzenegger's election as governor. Schwarzenegger wore a black academic gown but no cap, with an orange cowl, signifying his business degree, draped across his shoulders. latimes.com House Votes To Curb Patriot Act: FBI's Power to Seize Library Records Would Be Halted The House handed President Bush the first defeat in his effort to preserve the broad powers of the USA Patriot Act, voting yesterday to curtail the FBI's ability to seize library and bookstore records for terrorism investigations. Bush has threatened to veto any measure that weakens those powers. The surprise 238 to 187 rebuke to the White House was produced when a handful of conservative Republicans, worried about government intrusion, joined with Democrats who are concerned about personal privacy. One provision of the Patriot Act makes it possible for the FBI to obtain a wide variety of personal records about a suspected terrorist -- including library transactions -- with an order from a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where the government must meet a lower threshold of proof than in criminal courts. washingtonpost.com     6/14/05 The 30 Best Companies For Diversity What makes a company good at diversity? The answer to that simple question has become increasingly complicated over the years. The bottom-line benefits of diversity and relatively new phenomenon of diversity lists published by mainstream magazines have created a seemingly endless variety of platforms and measures with which to discuss, evaluate, and celebrate effective diversity practices. Depending on who's doing the measuring and which way the winds of political correctness are blowing, the inclusion of everyone from white women and the disabled to older workers and gays and lesbians has been upheld as proof of a company's profound commitment to equal opportunity and inclusion.  civilrights.org     6/13/05 Mississippians Wary of Civil-Rights Trial PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) - Hicks. Rednecks. Racists. People who live in this town of 7,300 have heard the epithets slung their way for decades. And many -- black and white -- cringe as they anticipate how the world will view their town when reputed Ku Klux Klansman and part-time preacher Edgar Ray Killen goes on trial today in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers. "People make it sound like it's a hick town. It's not," said Bryon Whitley, a white 21-year-old who works in a music store on the downtown square, just across from the red brick Neshoba County Courthouse. BlackAmericaweb.com Repairing Senate's Record on Lynching: 'Long Overdue' Apology Would Be Congress's First for Treatment of Blacks Anna Holmes remembers hearing about the bridge when she was a little girl. It stood somewhere near the spot where the Collington and Western branches of the Patuxent River met in Upper Marlboro, less than a quarter-mile from the Marlboro jail. Fred Tutman of Prince George's County sits next to a tree on his family's land that a previous owner used for lynching. "I used to hear them talking about the lynchings," said Holmes, 79, who grew up in central Prince George's County. It was on the bridge that a black man named Stephen Williams, accused of manhandling a white woman, was beaten and hanged about 3 in the morning on Oct. 20, 1894. A masked mob snatched him from his jail cell and dragged him as he pleaded for his life. "When the Marlboro bridge was reached the rope was quickly tied to the railing and amid piteous groans Williams was hurled into eternity," The Washington Post reported. washingtonpost.com More Hispanics Gain Foothold in Housing Market: Both Longtime Residents, New Immigrants Part of Growing Homeownership Trend in Area Two decades after coming here from El Salvador, Blanca Mejia de Vasquez badly wanted to own a house not too far from her Northwest Washington neighborhood, but the prices were too high for her income as a cosmetologist. Her solution was first to team up with her mother, a restaurant worker, to qualify for a mortgage and then to agree, reluctantly, to broaden her home search into other areas of the city. Blanca Mejia de Vasquez, second from right, pooled money with mother Blanca Mejia Ortiz, left, to find a house. They and children Jonnathan and Herson Vasquez live in Northeast Washington. Vasquez had hoped to find a home in a Northwest community where she was living, but the prices were too high for her income. "I pay something [to] me, not to somebody else. In the future, I can sell the house and it's my money," she said. Today, she and her mother own a house with a backyard and three parking spaces in Northeast. They moved in, along with her three teenage sons, in March. washingtonpost.com     6/8/05 Racial Bias Found in Suburban NYC Rentals WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Tests designed to uncover discrimination found that nearly half the real estate agencies in New York City's northern suburbs treated blacks and Hispanics unfairly, an equal-housing group alleged Monday. Findings related to the most egregious offenders -- seven of 25 Westchester County agencies -- are being referred to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for investigation, said Toni Downes, executive director of Westchester Residential Opportunities. www.blackamericaweb.com     6/4/05 Open Letter to Human Rights Watch: Stop Dismissing Victims of Hatian Police TO: Human Rights Watch RE: Letter to the U.N. Security Council on the Renewal of the Mandate of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) DATE: May 17, 2005 Dear HRW, In your recent letter to the U.N. Security Council dated May 16, 2005 you stated, "During a recent mission to Haiti, Human Rights Watch documented daily acts of violence in Port-au-Prince. We found that much of the violence is perpetrated by armed gangs claiming affiliation with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Despite security operations recently carried out jointly by MINUSTAH and the Haitian National Police (HNP), neighborhoods such as Cite Soleil remain paralyzed by violence." You then follow this statement several paragraphs down with: The Black Commenatotr National Conference of Black Lawyers Demands: Hands Off Assata Shakur The announcement that a $1 million bounty has been placed on the head of exiled freedom fighter Assata Shakur sends a clear, unmistakable message that the U.S. government will stop at nothing to perpetuate the systemic denial of the most basic human rights of African people born and/or residing in the Americas. The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) demands that the U.S. government immediately withdraw the bounty offer, and permanently cease its pursuit of Assata Shakur as such is both illegal and unjustifiable under international human rights laws. The Black Commenatator California Students Boost Anti-Arnold Protests Editor's Note: A raucous, limousine-rocking protest led by California students angry over the state of public schools marks a new political moment, the writer says. SAN JOSE--In the heart of Silicon Valley, in front of the very elegant Fairmont Hotel, a bunch of fired up students and nurses stopped a limo trying to enter the hotel. They surrounded it and rocked it back and forth. It looked like they might tip it over completely. Union officials, the ones who initially called everyone here, now had to personally escort the limo out of the teeth of danger. The besiegers only relented when they were told their target, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was not inside the vehicle. When limousines are protected by union officials in Silicon Valley, you know California is in a hot political moment. Pacific News Service, Commentary/Analysis Slain Soldier's Mom Snubbed By Gold Star Mothers A Filipino American whose son was killed last year in Afghanistan was turned down by American Gold Star Mothers Inc. because of a technicality: she is not a U.S. citizen. However, Ligaya Lagman, mother of slain 27-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, is a permanent resident and a taxpayer. Lawmakers who rushed to Lagman’s defense said the group should change it rules and admit her to the organization of mothers whose soldier sons died in line of duty. “There’s nothing we can do because that’s what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,” national President Ann Herd said last Thursday. “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.” Philippine News, News Report/ncmonline.com     6/1/05 Column of the Americas: They're Taking our Jobs Washington D.C.-- After presenting on the new language of exclusion during a recent Black Issues in Higher Education conference, the first question posed is: "Many Blacks feel that illegal aliens are taking jobs from African Americans. Can you comment?" The question is tension-laden and comes on the heels of Mexican President Vicente Fox's fumbling statement about "Mexicans taking jobs that even Blacks won't do." "In anti-immigrant rhetoric, "illegal aliens" translates into Mexicans and Central Americans. Yet, this is not an anti-immigrant group. Quite the opposite as many here in the packed ballroom are civil rights veterans. As such, the question needs to be answered, not danced around. And so here, the same question is posed -- stripped of its niceties: Are Mexicans taking jobs from Blacks? The truth is, it's employers who have the power to give or take jobs, not other workers. Yet, the idea of Mexicans taking jobs from Americans (and of draining social services) began during the early 20th century, resulting in periodic mass deportations. In the 1980s, someone within the anti-immigrant movement decided that these jobs - "the ones no one else would do" -- belonged to Blacks. While this became an unquestioned political mantra, no one questioned why Blacks had been remanded to these worst jobs. In the 1990s, these jobs also came to belong to "native born Hispanics." And thus, we can see the evolution of this divisive discourse. Fox's answer was but a bumbling variation on this theme. Free New Mexican Real ID Act: When DMV Becomes an Immigration Enforcer Whether Americans like it or not, they would now need to wait in line at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) thanks to the Real ID Act the Senate has just passed unanimously. The law requires states to “verify applicants’ legal U.S. residency status before issuing drivers’ licenses — part of an effort to curb illegal immigration and tighten border security.” The bill likewise would make harder for motorists to renew their licenses by mail or Internet once the law takes effect, in some three years. The Real ID Act was attached to the $82-billion emergency spending bill that pays for the war in Iraq and provides tsunami aid to Southeast Asia. Since the House already passed the bill, it does not require a second guess to expect that President Bush will sign it. It’s too early to gauge the impact of the new law. The Homeland Security Department needs to do “create detailed regulations to implement the legislation.” Philippine News, Commentary     5/24/05 GOP Snatches Page From Clarence Thomas Playbook For Brown ncmonline.com Connerly Campaign Contribution Lawsuit Settled, Proposition 54 Backers Disclosed civilright.org When Hispanics get Mugged, Bias or Thuggery? The Star Ledger Is L.A.’s New Latino Mayor A Threat to Blacks’ Clout? Experts Say No Black America Web, News Report New Immigration Proposals: A Fast Track to the Past Pacific News Service, Commentary     5/18/05 Villaraigosa Won With Support From All Sorts of Voters Antonio Villaraigosa won a crushing victory in the Los Angeles mayoral race by spurring a record Latino turnout and broadening his support across the city among voters of every stripe, who deserted incumbent James K. Hahn in droves. For all the significance of Villaraigosa's breakthrough as the first Latino elected mayor of modern Los Angeles, ethnic pride was just part of what powered his 17-point victory in Tuesday`s runoff. By overwhelming margins, Villaraigosa captured Democrats, liberals and younger voters, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll. He also won a majority of San Fernando Valley residents, union members and Jewish voters. His support among blacks more than doubled from what he won in his 2001 mayoral contest against Hahn -- though it fell just shy of half. latimes.com     5/17/05 City's College-Bound Rate a Third Less Than Thought civilrights.org Assata: My Side of the Story: Open Letter Written in 1998 from Havana, Cuba SFBayview.com Africa's Legacy in Mexico: Mexico's Third Root Wherever people gather in the poor fishing villages of Costa Chica on Mexico's southwest coast--in their homes, on the streets, in the town squares during festivals--someone is likely to step forward and start singing. These impromptu performers regale their audience with songs of romance, tragedy, comedy, and social protest, all inspired by local events and characters. At the heart of the songs, called "corridos," is a sense of human dignity and a desire for freedom rooted in the lives and history of the people of Costa Chica, many of whom are descendants of escaped slaves. The corridos reflect oral traditions inherited from Africa. The words are improvised, and a corrido that brings applause is apt to be committed to memory, to be sung again and again as an oral chronicle of local life. The lyrics are also rich in symbols, a tradition that may have started when singers among the first slaves invented "code words" to protest the cruelties of their masters. www.smithsonianeducation.org 7-Year-Old Chief Wahoo Case Ends: High Court Won't Hear Five Protesters' Appeal The Plain Dealer Afro-Mexicans Face Discrimination WASHINGTON During a discussion held at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, university researchers said Wednesday that Afro-Mexicans are often ignored by the government and experience social discrimination. The black population in Mexico is "virtually invisible in the national conscience," said Bobby Vaughn of Notre Dame de Namur University. Vaughn has researched the black population on the coast of Guerrero and Oaxaca for several years. "We live in a racially defined society," says Sagrario Cruz-Carretero, an anthropologist at the University of Veracruz. CruzCarretero, who identifies with the black population, said he has encountered the "stigma" of being black in Mexico. "Whiteness is a symbol of the upper-class," says Cruz-Carretero. The Herald/El Universal     5/16/05 Anti-Muslim Paranoia Lands Two Teens in Federal Detention The Final Call, News Report/ncmonlin.com     5/10/05 Minorities feel out of place at Illinois Daily Illini     5/9/05 Algerians Remember Massacares of 1945 washingtonpost.com     5/8/05 Sagging Arnold Wants To Pump You Up With Diversionary Issue ncmonline.com A Clever Admission of Racism sydney.indymedia.org     5/5/05 California Border Patrol Is Proposed latimes.com Pivotal Killing in Civil Rights Era Revisited: The Justice Department says Emmett Till's Murderers may not have Acted Alone in 1955. latimes.com     5/2/05 Educator, Civil Rights Figure Clark Dies washingtonpost.com     4/29/05 Nation of Islam May Intervene at LA School Site of Racial Violence: Jefferson High Scene of Black/Brown racial Violence Wave Newspapers/ncmonline 9/11 Widow, Two Kids Face Deportation Filipino Reporter, News Feature Broad Coalition of Organizations, Lawmakers Urges Swift Passage of Genetic Discrimination Legislation civilrights.org Student Groups Rally to Counter UWCRs civilrights.org Some Faculty Call for More Diversity civilrights.org Landlords Accused of Rejecting Vouchers civilrights.org The Higher the SAT Scores, the More the House Is Worth civilrights.org Opposition to High School Exit Exam Growing civilrights.org Howard Denies 'Racist' Policies BBC News     4/25/05 Firefighters Face Hate Crime Charges, They Threatened Man with Gun, used Slurs, Police Say JSOnline Sudan: Nuba Feel Betrayed BlackPressUSA.com     4/24/05 School Boundaries Often Lines in the Sand latimes.com     4/23/05 Black Vote 'Holds Power Balance' BBC News Will AIMS reduce minority graduation rate? azcentral.com Students Feel the Strain of 2 Brawls, Crackdown: Jefferson High bans white T-shirts; Latino and Black Friends try Not to be Seen Together. latimes.com Koizumi Voices 'Deep Remorse': Japan's Premier, Trying to Defuse Tensions and Calm Markets, Offers Regret Over Wartime Acts latimes.com A Black-Latino Coalition Emerges in Los Angeles New York Times     4/21/05 Quotas for Asian Americans? Yes and No washingtonpost.com Raising Mixed Race Awareness Pacific Citizen, News Feature S.F. Chinese Community Leaders Worry About Shrinking Representation in City Government Ming Pao Daily, News Report/ncmonline.com Radio Salesman Awarded $600,000 in Racial Hostility Complaint AP New Jersey     4/19/05 Illegal Immigration Policy Is at Crossroads in Senate civilrights.org Affirmative Action Debate Heats Up in Washington State International Examiner, Commentary/ncmonline.com Lawsuit Contends Bay Area Transportation Funding Has Racial Overtones KTVU.COM     4/16/05 'Dessa Rose' puts Slavery Story to Music washingtontimes.com     4/13/05 Jews Target Caterpillar Shareholder Effort: Divesting Stock because of Israeli Bulldozing of Palestinian Homes is Unfair, Some Leaders Say latimes.com     4/12/05 Report Documents Housing Segregation 'Crisis' civilrights.org Controversial Japanese Textbooks Damage Relations with China and Korea Lachesis Wire/ncmonline.com     4/5/05 Crisis of Indian Children Intensifies as Families Fail New York Times Armenian Youth March for Genocide Recognition Asbarez Armenian Daily, News Report/ncmonline Europe Needs More Immigrants, But Sees Spike in Racism Pacific News Service, News Feature     4/3/05 Debt Slavery: What the Bankruptcy Bill Could Do for You The Black Commentator Bush Renews Plea for Immigration Leniency Despite Congress Opposition Filipino Express, News Report/ncmonline.com Blacks in L.A. Reach Boiling Point Over Racial Attacks The Final Call, News Report/ncmonline.com University Admissions Law Could Face Change civilright.org Activists Seek Action in '46 Lynching civilrights.org     4/1/05 Security Council Refers Sudan Crimes to ICC: Khartoum Says It Will Defy U.N. Resolution washingtonpost.com     3/30/05 Cesar Chavez: A Great American thruthout.org     3/29/05 L.A. Becoming a Human Relations Model Wave Report/ncmonline.com     3/28/05 The Wrong Choice for Civil Rights washingtonpost.com The “Other’ Feeding Tubes www.blackpressusa.com Petition Drive Launched To Keep Voting Rights Act sacobserver.com     3/27/05 10,000 Peacekeepers to Be Sent to Sudan, U.N. Council Decides New York Times California Latinos use Voting-Rights Law to Force District Elections: School Board in the Central Valley had no Hispanic Trustees SFGate.com School Puts Jefferson's Legacy to Test latimes.com     3/24/05 American Indian Media Grapples With Red Lake Shootings Pacific News Service, News Feature     3/21/05 C-Span's Plan to Cover Talk on Holocaust Is Criticized civilrights.org     3/13/05 Don't Go Nuclear civilrights.org Myers "Not Fit" for Judgeship, Say Native Americans civilrights.org NAACP Gains Ally on Legislation to Revive Race as Factor in Admissions civilrights.org 500 Tell Gov. to Leave Schools Alone civilrights.org     3/12/05 Racial Equity Report Card Flunks Scwharzenegger The Black Commentator 'Capture An Illegal Immigrant Day' Inflames Ethnic Media NCM, News Report Salt, Faith and Patience: Remembering Gandhi's March to the Sea Pacific News Service, Commentary High court is asked to take reparations case Boston Globe     3/8/05 Blacks Go to Court to Stop Racism in Auto Lending Sun Reporter, News Report/ncmonline.com     3/7/05 The Right to Vote With No 'Ifs,' 'Ands' or 'Buts.' civilrights.org US Opposes Brazil Proposal for Anti-Racism Pact at the OAS Brazil Magazine Blacks Denounce Brazil for Racism at the OAS Brazil Magazine     3/2/05 Issues of Race Grip Los Angeles Mayoral Contest Pacific News Service, News Analysis Hollywood's 25 Worst APA Blunders AsianWeek, Commentary/ncmonline.com E-Store Stops Selling Underwear with Religious Symbols India West , News Report/ncmonline.com Skinheads Beat Unmercifully American Diplomat in Kiev AntiRacismNet.org Glover's Film Company has Serious Mission USA Today Aborigines Charge Australia With Racial Vilification and Genocide at UN Independent Media Center Still on the March 40 Years After 'Bloody Sunday' civilrights.org Professor: Racism May be Hidden, But it's Not Gone civilrights.org     2/28/05 California School Districts Shortchange Students of Color San Francisco Bay View/ncmonline.com Issue of Illegals Roiling Arizona New Law Denies Public Services to Such Immigrants SFGate.com Inland Empire Sees Rise in Hate Crimes, Bucking Trend in State: The Tally Stands Out in Regions Where Violations have Declined. Authorities Say the Stimulus is an Influx of Racial Minorities. latimes.com Do Asian Americans Count in L.A.? civilrights.org An Academy Awards Program Worth Watching BlackPressUSA.com     2/24/05 Blacks Must Step Up to Fund King Center, Monument ncmonline.com Law Students to Give Free Help on Immigration Filipino Express, News Report/ncmonline.com     2/22/05 Ban on Illegals in College Rejected washingtontimes.com Threat of Draft Will Tame Warlike U.S. Populace The Black Commentator     2/20/05 Native American College Shuts Down-D-Q University, which Opened in 1971, Lost its Accreditation and $1million in Federal Funding. Some Students Have Refused to Leave. latimes.com     2/17/05 Chinese Immigrants Appeal to Get Daughter Back: The Girl, 6, Remains with Foster Parents After Her Mother and Father lost Custody in a Ruling That Some Say Was Colored by Cultural Bias. latimes.com Alleged Racial Incidents Shatter Security of Santa Clarita Valley: Some Parents who Moved from Los Angeles for a Better Family Environment Say Their Children are Now Under Threat or Attack. latimes.com     2/15/05 Catastrophe In Asia India's Self-Reliance Shows its Limits Caste Prejudice, Red Tape, Access to Villages are Hampering Government's Relief Efforts SFgate.com Reds, Blues, And the Color of Ray washingtonpost.com Remembering Ossie Davis 1917-2005: Maya Angelou, Harry Belafonte, Bill Clinton Pay Tribute to the Famed Actor & Civil Rights Activist Democracynow.org Army Rights Wrong to 19th Century African-American Chaplain US Army     2/14/05 A Filipino-American Effort to Harbor Jews Is Honored New York Times Immigrant Cleaners Win Labor Suit Filipino Express/ncmonline.com Liberals, Conservatives Oppose New 'Anti-Immigrant' Bill Pacific News Service, News Feature     2/9/05 HOT 97: Why Asian Americans Are Pissed & What We Should daveyd.com     2/6/05 Black Unionist Warn "Don't Restructure Us Out" The Black Commentator     2/5/05 A Lifelong Lesson in Justice: Gathering Will Pay Tribute to the Mostly White Teachers Who Followed their Japanese Students Into WWII Internment Camps. latimes.com Ossie Davis, Actor, Writer and Eloquent Champion of Racial Justice, Dies at 87 New York Times     2/3/05 Commentary: Confronting Slavery's Legacy washingtontimes.com Apology to American Indians Native American Village, Commentary/ncmonline.com Hollywood Stars Shine for Immigrant Licenses El Mensajero , News Report/ncmonline.com     1/31/05 Racial Issues Lose Urgency, Study latimes.com     1/30/05 Nomination of Gonzales Divides Hispanic Groups Seattle Times African Americans Score in Oscar Nominations Wave Newspapers/ncmonline.com Efforts to Stop Human Trafficking in Vietnam Gains Momentum, Supporters Viet Weekly, News Report/ncmonline.com     1/26/05 Bush Shifts Focus to Race in Debate on Social Security latimes.com NY Radio Station Suspends Morning Crew Over Tsunami `Parody' SFGate.com     1/23/05 If Iraq Can Get Its Country Back, Why Can't American Indians? Native American Village/ncmonline.com Self-respect and Changing Attitudes Boost Australia's Aborigine Population Scotsman.com     1/21/05 U.S. Suspends Funding for Key Farmworker Survey Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com JP Morgan admits predecessors' ties to slavery Chicago Sun-Times     1/20/05 Afro-Latinos: Discovering Identity, Organizing The Final Call/news report Black and Asian People Still Live in Poverty The Independent Online Clarke Orders Crackdown on race Inequality Guardian Unlimited     1/13/05 Preying Through the Pulpit latimes.com James Forman Dies at 76; Was Pioneer in Civil Rights New York Times Mexico’s Controversial Migrant Guide Defended El Mensajero/ncmonline.com What the Gonzales Nomination Means for Latinos La Prensa San Diego/ncmonline.com Gonzales Appointment Latest Step in Browning of Justice Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com Aboriginal TV Channel to help Correct Stereotypes Taipei Times     1/9/05 Affirmative Action Ban on Way to Ballot Detroit Free Press     1/6/05 Reputed Klansman Arrested in 1964 Neshoba County Cvil Rights Slayings Associated Press     1/5/05 Racist Discrimination against Aboriginal people in Darwin Independent Media Center Shooting Ignites Hmong Racial Tensions Voice of the Valley, Pacific News Service, News Report Frist Seeks Speedy Approval of a Bush Judicial Appointment civilrights.org Group Seeking Affirmative Action Ban Plans to Submit Petitions Thursday civilrights.org     1/3/05 California Debates Sending Foreign-Born Inmates Back Home Eastern Group Publications/ncmonline.com Chisholm, 'Unbossed' Pioneer in Congress, Dies New York Times Robert Matsui, Shirley Chisolm, Die civilrights.org     12/29/04 Bush's Hispanic Vote Dissected washingtonpost.com     12/27/04 Why Some Politicians Need Their Prisons to Stay Full civilrights.org     12/22/04 Report: Bush Made Gains With Hispanic Men Guardian Unlimited     12/21/04 Monday Gas Boycotts Attempt to Shake Governor Eastern Group Publications/ncmonline.com NAACP Seeks to Reopen Fla. Bombing Probe blackamericaweb.com Australian Prime Minister Accused of Blocking Aborigine Vote Black Britain     12/19/04 The True Figures About Aborigines The Age Racism, European Style rawstory.com Racism, European Style rawstory.com Rev. Jesse Jackson Calls AIDS Drug Probe Guardian Unlimited An Opportunity? Why Arafat's Death and Bush's Second Term Won't Help Zmag.org Another Water Revolt Begins in Bolivia Pacific News Service, Commentary     12/18/04 Rights Groups Reassess Strategies: Black, Hispanic Organizations to Undergo Leadership Changes washingtonpost.com     12/17/04 Poll: Nearly Half of all Americans Support Restricting Rights of Muslim Americans SFGate.com     12/14/04 R.I.P. Gary Webb -- Unembedded Reporter Common Dreams News Center R.I.P. Gary Webb -- Unembedded Reporter Common Dreams News Center Southern White Counties a Desert for the Democrats latimes.com     12/12/04 Man Uses Judgment Money to Fight Discrimination The World Journal/ncmonline.com Chinese Mull Losses in San Francisco Elections Sing Tao Daily, World Journal/ncmonline.com     12/9/04 A Wartime Story of a Brave American Chicago Sun Times New Voting Method in San Francisco Hurts New Candidates Sing Tao Daily/ncmonline.com Play on Armenian Genocide to Debut on Broadway Asbarez Armenian Daily/ncmonline.com Controversial Study Underscores Need for Affirmative Action, Say Critics civilrights.org UK No Longer Welcomes Immigrants The Economic Times     12/7/04 Aborigines' Dark Island Home BBC.COM Civil Rights Chairman Resists Ouster by Bush washingtonpost.com     12/3/04 Indigenous Hunger Strike at United Nations IndianCountry.com Are Black Ministers Wimping Out? NNP Commentary/ncmonline.com The Gonzales Debate: Identity Politics Meets the Right Wing Zmag.org Civil Rights and Human Rights Groups Urge Senators to Closely Scrutinize Gonzales Nomination civilrights.org Charter School Diversity Producing Diverse Results civilrights.org Op-Ed: Killing Kids civilrights.org Latino Groups Poised to Challenge Anti-Immigrant Proposition 200 civilrights.org Aboriginal Boy Dragged with Rope Around Neck Cape Times Bush's Gain with Hispanics Revised Philly.com Race Hate Crimes 'On Increase' BBC.COM Black Dems Must Clean Up Own House The Black Commentator     11/26/04 Racists Target Black SoccerPlayers washingtontimes.com     11/23/04 Community Mourns Death of Chinese American Author International Examiner/ncmonline.com New FBI Data Reports Increase in Hate Crimes for 2003 civilrights.org UC Regents Reject Ward Connerly's 'Multiracial' Checkbox civilrights.org     11/18/04 UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds 'Smoke Alarm' for Florida E-Vote Count: Research Team Calls for Investigation. U.C. Berkeley     11/16/04 Endowment Tied to Sudan Harvard Crimson Online Edition Almost Ten Percent of Young Black Men Behind Bars Amsterdam News/ncmonline.com Homeless Voter -- Losing at the Polls But Finding a Way Back In Pacific News Service, Commentary Homeless Immigrants Suffer Vanishing Dreams Eastern Group Publications/ncmonline.com Australian Aborigines Become First Target for “Welfare Reform” World Socialist Survey Finds Racism is Still Rife in Churches Pretoria News Aboriginal Protesters Scuffle with Police TaiwanNews.com     11/14/04 Development Fellowship Honors Carol Pitchersky civilrights.org Activists Want Divestment from Sudan blackamericaweb.com Spanish-Language Media Soothe Concerns, Express Ire Over New 'Anti-Immigrant' Law in Arizona La Estrella de Tucson, La Opinion, La Voz, La Jornada, El Universal, News Report,/ncmonline.com Does Affirmative Action Hurt Black Law Students? Chronicle of Higher Education/FrontPage.com No Real Peace Without Justice The Black Commentator     11/13/04 Using Courts in Brazil to Strengthen an Indian Identity New York Times     11/10/04 Arizona Initiative Inspires Others washingtontimes.com     11/7/04 Army Recruiters: No Latino Left Behind El Mensajero, News Feature/ncmonline.com Chinese American Vote in California Reflects Economic Divide Sing Tao Daily, World Journal, Ming Pao Daily News/ncmonline.com One Nation, Handcuffed Together Common Dreams News Center Thousands March Against Racism, Anti-Semitism in France www.expatica.com NAACP Sues School District Over Discipline Gaurdian Unlimited     11/4/04 'Vote or die'? -- Not exactly: Activism, Not One Election, Changes the World Cape Cod Times Unspoken Fear Among Hispanics DenverPost.com Hispanic Vote Key New York Post Blacks Roll to Polls: Estimated 3 Million New Voters Came Out blackamericaweb.comnews "Is the Top 10 Plan Unfair?" civilrights.org Still Standing, Still Fighting, Still Here thruthout.org A Victory for 'Values,' But Whose? thruthout.org Waking Up to Reality: Strategic Proposals for the Way Ahead Zmagazine     11/2/04 Sudan Army Surrounds Darfur Refugee Camps washingtontimes.com     10/25/04 Report Traces Injustice in Deportations Philippine News/ncmonline.com     10/21/04 Accused of Killings, He Still Gets Back Pay New York Times Brewing Racism in Canada The New Nation Opponents to Sriking Vestiges of Segregation from Alabama Constitution Accused of Racism SFGate.com     10/18/04 Renewed FBI Dragnet Could Scare Off Muslim Vote Pacific News Service, News Feature Kerry Seeks to Connect to Blacks latimes.com Prince Video Depicts Terror, Sparks Outcry blackamericaweb.com Bush: Too little, too late for Native Americans Indiancointry.com Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme Court civilrights.org Lawsuit Over Green Cards A Class Action civilrights.org     10/15/04 9/ll Bill’s Anti-Immigrant Amendments Draw Criticism Vida en el Valle, News Report/ncmonline.com Brazilians Battle Indians: 'This Land Is Our Land' New York Times In Latino Communities, Few Are Lukewarm About Chance to Vote SFGate.com Black Voter Registration Breaking Records www.ncmonline.com/The Back Commentator New Report Finds that U.S. Criminal Justice System is Unjust and Unfair to Latinos, Latinos are Disproportionately Incarcerated and Face Systemic Discriminatory Practices civilrights.org     10/10/04 Schwarzenegger Rejects Pro-Immigrant Legislation Philippine News/ncmonline.com     10/6/04 Indiana Diocese Repents of Racist History Church Central The Color of Money gotriad.com Interpreting 'Dreams': Green Card Bill Has Hidden Dangers SFGate.com     10/3/04 Too Young To Die Part One: Life's Toll SFGate.com     10/2/04 An Attack on the Will to Learn latimes.com With Fears of a Repeat, International Poll Watchers Will Be Dispacted Nationwide BET.COM Indian Tribes Complaining About Racial Profiling Houstan Chronicle     9/27/04 Blocking the Latino Ballot The American Prospect Remedy or Racist? Detroit Council Plan Aims to Increase Black Businesses Detroit Free Press Can Three-Strikes Reformers Finally Win? Pacific News Service, Commentary Ex-Guantanamo Prisoner Faces Discrimination in Sweden ncmonline.com Support for Arizona Anti-Immigration Measure Declines civilrights.org     9/22/04 Cross Burning Spurs Church to Tackle Racism Issues HeraldNet.com Black Rockers Left off Beer Cans NNPA Town Hall racism probe into 'ethnic cleansing' launched black information link     9/15/04 Underwater Racism?: ‘Shark Tale’ Accused of Using Stereotypes to Animate Villains. EURWEB The Farm Workers’ Union Dives into Electoral Politics Pacific News Service/Traduccion al espanol For Immigrants Stuck in Backlog, Promise of Citizenship and Voting Go Unfulfilled NYIC, Commentary/ncmonline.com Racism and the Presidential Elections Zmagazine     9/12/04 At New National Museum of the American Indian, an Old Question Unresolved Newhouse News Service Powell Says Rapes and Killings in Sudan Are Genocide New York Times     9/7/04 Inouye says fight not over yet on Akaka bill Honoluluadvertiser.com     9/6/04 Racism' s Role in U.S. Elections Worker's World Families of Victims Shot By Cops Forge Activist Bonds Pacific News Service     9/4/04 Corporate Press Parrots Sham Study by Far Right Think Tank Zmagazine     9/2/04 The Immigrant Vote Packs Real Potential NYIC/ncmonline.com Kerry Speaks Out in First Interview with Asian American Press Asian Week/ncmonline Black Media Warns Sequel to 2000 Vote Fiasco Looms in Florida ncmonline.com Corporate Press Parrots Sham Study by Far Right Think Tank Zmag.org 'Racist' Arsonists Target Family BBC.COM White Police Claim Racism Guardian Unlimited     8/29/04 Despite Official Ban, Slavery Lives on in Mauritania: Bondage was Outlawed for 3rd Time in '81 SFGate.com     8/28/04 Campus Racism Rises Victoria Tower Calif. Gov. to Veto Immigrant License Bill latimes.com Venezuela: Divided Country, Biased Media Pacific News Service, Commentary UCLA Study Projects Uncertain Future for African American Progress Despite Past Gains UCLA News Protest Continue at Sudan Embassy washingtontimes.com     8/26/04 More Blacks Going to Prison in 17 Key Election States BlackAmericaWeb.com Asian Leaders Decry Plan to Check Immigration Status in Hospitals Philippine News Push for Aborigines in constitution The Australian Racist attacks spark call for special patrols The Observer     8/19/04 Immigrants Face Loss of Licenses in ID Crackdown New York Times Flaws in U.S. Health System Imperils Immigrants ncmonlne.com Japanese American Activist Remembered as Man of Principle Nichi Bei Times/ncmonline.com BBC Runs Into Trouble With Documentary On Black Men Independent.co.uk 'Controversy is a Good Thing' BBC.COM     8/18/04 Hiram Fong, First Asian-American Senator, Dies at 97 SFGate.com     8/16/04 Asian American Leader Fears Scandal Will Set Back Asian Voter Participation NCM Interview Indian Americans Form Historic Group in Democratic Party India Post/ncmonline.com     8/13/04 The Path to Legalizing Farm Workers Voice of the Valley/Pacific News Service Italy Struggles With Illegal Immigration latimes.com Report Says US Border Agents Mistreat Asylum Seekers Khaleej Times online Mexican Congress Criticizes Use of Rubber Bullets Against Migrants SFGate.com     8/9/04 S.F. Chinese Parents Make the Case for Non-Citizen Voting World Journal and Sing Tao Daily/ncmonline.com Blacks in a Quandary Over L.A. Mayor's Race Wave Newspapers, News Report/ncmonline NAACP: Don't Purge Voters from the Rolls Amsterdam News Former Braceros Still Waiting for Money Vida en el Valle/ncmonline.com Judge Halts San Francisco Affirmative Action Contracting Program; City to Appeal Decision civilrights.org New Report from LCCREF and ABA Says 1996 Immigration Reforms Unfair civilrights.org     8/1/04 Ex-Offenders Battle Economic Obstacles civilrights.org Study Says Blacks Paid More for Honda Loans blackamericaweb.com Latinos Seek More Say at the Podium bostonglobe.com Historic Dialogue between Indigenous Groups Voice of the Valley/Pacific News Service Darfur: US and UN could stop the slaughter San Francisco Bay View The Dirty World Of Military Recruiting The Final Call/Pacific News Service Ethnic Media, Activists Decry Crisis in Sudan Asbarez Armenian Daily, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, News Report, ncmonline.com     7/25/04 Mr. Powell's Mistake washingtonpost.com Demanding Greater Consideration From Presidential Candidates Only First Step for Asian Americans ncmonline.com/Sing Tao Daily Congress Moves Closer to Saving Family of Hate Crime Victim ncmonline/Pakistani Link Post-9/11 Deportations of Legal Immigrants Continue ncmonline.com/Hispanic Vista     7/24/04 Don't Call It A Comeback Guerilla News Network Namibia Tribe Marks Genocide, Demands Reparations Reauters/AlertNET Mumia: Support from NAACP, But a Movement in Shambles Counterpunch Poll: Hispanics back Kerry over Bush seattlepi.com Taiwan Aborigines Protest Remarks seattlepi.com     7/18/04 Arab Racism is the "Root Cause" Jerusalem Post Stop Racial Profiling Of US Muslims: House Democratic Leader Indolink.com Aborigines Split Over Disaster Relief Issues: Indigenous Groups Hold Protests Over Comments Made by Annette Lu on Taiwan's 'black pygmies' TaiwanNews.com Hispanic voters sue for change to Hanford's voting system SFGate.com Misguided Border Policy Continues With Triple Fence, Activists Say La Prensa/ncmonline.com Why Is the NAACP Silent on Sudan? www.beliefnet.com     7/14/04 In Support of Media Diversity, Court Rules Against FCC civilrights.org Freehold Area Hispanics Get a Primer on Workers' Rights civilrights.org Rangel Arrested in Sudan Protest, Congressman in Demonstration at Sudanese Embassy The Hill Mushmouth Reconsidered villagevoice.com More Cosby Myths alternet.org African-Americans Propose Far-Reaching Immigration Reform Pacific News Service     7/11/04 Kerry Promises Hispanics Quick Immigration Overhaul if He's Elected SFGate.com Fla. Scraps Flawed Felon Voting List Newsday.com Political Face of Florida Latinos Changing: Puerto Rican Influx Gives Democrats Hope of Ending Cuban-GOP Dominance washingtonpost.com Bush Faults NAACP Leaders Philly.com     7/10/04 Senate Confirms Judicial Nominee With Troubling Civil Rights Record civilrights.org Education Lawsuits Succeeding With 'No Child Left Behind' Data civilrights.org Michigan Women's Groups Speak Out in Support of Affirmative Action civilrights.org Need to Renew Your Non-Immigrant Visa? U.S. Says You Need to Go Back Home First ncmonline.com 'Mess in Florida' ncmonline.com/BET.com     7/6/04 Aboriginals: Foreigners in their own land? BBC.COM Rumors of Immigration Raids Disrupt Agriculture Industry Vida en el Valle/ncmonline.com Daschle: Protecting Voting Rights in Indian Country indiancountry.com     7/4/04 Detroit Joins 2 Cities on Slave Disclosures washingontimes.com Kerry ‘Can’t Win Without the Black Vote’ Wave Newspaper Group/ncmonline.com     6/30/04 Lawsuit Seeks to Stop LA Project after remains of 300 Gabrielno Tongva Found Indiancountry.com American Indian Voter Rights Debate Heats Up Indiancountry.com     6/28/04 Tough Times for Translators; S.F. Hospital May Cut Interpreters ncmonline.com Native People Work to Heal Bitter Legacy of Government Boarding Schools ncmonline.com     6/25/04 Beating by LAPD Officer Airs on TV: The Case is Seen as a Test for Bratton as Parallels are Drawn to the Rodney King Incident of 1991. latimes.com The Politics of Self-Criticism: Cosby Gets Cheers, Lerner Gets Threats Berkeley Daily Planet Color Complex In The South Asian Diaspora Indolink.com The New American Apartheid, Part I zmagazine.org The End of Violenced? MotherJones.com Affirmative Action One Year After 'Grutter' civilrights.org Civil Rights Groups Voice Concern Over Proposed Change to EEO-1 Form civilrights.org Rabbis Clash With Schwarzenegger Over His Driver's License Proposal ncmonline.com Filipino Americans Play Key Roles in Kerry and Bush Campaigns Philippine News 'Terminal' Blues: Spielberg Film Misses True Immigrant Story Pacific News Service,Commentary Stateless and Deported zmagazine.org Blame Cosby? zmagazine.com     6/20/04 As Genocide Unfolds washingtonpost.com Juneteenth Not a Celebration for All Newsday.com     6/18/04 Nielsen: We Undercounted People Of Color, Not Blacks, Hispanics, But Asians Media Post Daily News Laotian Immigrants Demand Greater Housing Rights ncmonline.com L.A. Called 'Hunger Capital' of the U.S. ncmonline.com/Eastern Group Publications Immigration Raids in California Test Spanish-Language Media ncmonline.com Indian Vote Could Decide Senate Majority, Presidential Election Indiancountry.com     6/13/04 Diversity Plan Shaped in Texas Is Under Attack www.nyt.com     6/12/04 Some Civil Rights Leaders Have it Wrong dailynews.com U.S. Hispanic Dropout Rate Highlighted washingtontimes.com Reagan's Legacy Among Minority Groups Conflicted, Complex; Hispanics Praise 1986 Amnesty SFGate.com Tutu Urges US to Address Lingering Racial Issues BlackAmericaweb.com Ethnicity or Issues? Indian Americans Debate How to Win Political Office India West/ncmonline.com California Mascot Bill Passes Senate Education Committee indiancountry.com Connerly's Concession in Michigan Contradicts Actions on the Ground civilrights.org Minority Admits Down in UC System; Groups Say Regent Using Asians as 'Pawns' civilrights.org     6/9/04 Activists Plan to Protest UN's 'Inaction' on Sudan Violence CNSNEWS.COM Asian Pacific Islander American Groups Join Forces With Other Immigrant Champions to Help Empower More Than Two Million Immigrant Voters civilrights.org Bank One Tells City its Units May have had Ties to Slavery suntimes.com Schools Will Not Report Illegals washingtontimes.com Hutchison: The Real Reagan Revolution AlterNet.org Michigan Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Affirmative Action Petition Case Detroit Free Press     6/6/04 Fla. AG: Motel Discriminated Vs. Blacks BlackAmericaweb.com Rally Protest Proposed Clifornia Health Care Cuts Indiancountry.com Lott, Reagan and Republican Racism Time Online Edition Did White Teacher Spit in Black Students Face BlackPressUSA.com A Tangled Web The Boston Phoenix.com     6/3/04 CU Tells Students They Can't Start NAACP Chapter, Officials Cite Stand on Abortion, Overlap With Campus Groups washingtonpost.com     6/2/04 Post-Colonial Nostalgia Behind Britain's Brand of Racism Tallahassee.com     6/1/04 High School Athlete Faces Possible Felony Charges, Student Refused To Plead Out To Misdemeanor NBC11.COM     5/31/04 Dangerous Boarder: Militias Round up Illegal Immigrants in Desert Migrant Advocates Say Deceptive Patrols Increase Peril, Seldom Face Legal Scrutiny SFGate.com     5/29/04 Proposal to Adopt a Palestinian City as a 'Sister' Creates a Family Feud for Madison New York Times     5/28/04 Black Soldiers Battled Fascism and Racism www.washingtonpost.com Immigrant Children More Likely to Live Below the Poverty Line Sing Tao Daily/ncmonline.com Anti-Affirmative Action Vote Drive Halted civilrights.org     5/25/04 $50 Million Gift for Education a Good Start, Experts Says BlackAmericaweb.com Brazil Grapples With Moves to Racial Unity washingtontimes.com $50 Million Gift Aims to Further Legacy of Brown Case New York Times     5/24/04 Armenian Americans Battle Bush Over Genocide Recognition Pacific News Service, News Report/ncmonline Prison Torture Begins at Home Pacific News Service, Commentary In a Reverse Migration, Blacks Head to New South latimes.com     5/21/04 New Jersey to Require all police Officers to Learn What is _ and isn't _ Racial Profiling SFGate.com Connecticut-Based Beer Distributor to Pull Ads Some Hispanics Deemed Offensive Newsday.com No Improvement in Black, Hispanic Graduation Rates BlackAmericaweb.com     5/19/04 Report: Blacks, Latinos Steered from Long Island Housing blackamericaweb.com In School, Latinos Find Fewer Resources, Ethnic Isolation boston.comNews California Case Sets Stage For Brown Vs. Board AntiRacismNet.org     5/17/04 Powell Raps Arab Silence washingtontimes.com     5/16/04 Mendez v Westminster civilrights.org Fifty Years after Brown, N.J. Taking Different Approach to Schools Newsday.com Struggle Turns from Integration to Education DenverPost.com Struggle turns from integration to education DenverPost.com Powell Denounces Israel's Destruction of Palestinian Homes washingtonpost.com     5/13/04 New Focus on Tensions Between Asian and African American Students in N.Y. Schools Korea Daily, News Report/ncmonline Alfred and Corntassel: A Decade of Rhetoric for Indigenous Peoples Indian Country Today Idle on Darfur washingtonpost.com     5/9/04 South Wire: Georgia Beatings Reveal Vulnerability of Hispanic Day Laborers jacksonville.com Atlanta's Segregated Schools, in 2004 foxnews.com Free Press slavery history Detroit Free Press Connerly Vows that Michigan Voters Will Get to Vote on Racial Preferences HeraldTribune.com     5/8/04 Hired Guns in Iraq May Have War Crimes Pasts Pacific News Service     5/4/04 Racial Profiling is Confirmed: Police Face New Rules on Stopping Motorists boston.com News Civil Rights Commission Has Hearing to Assess Election Reform civilrights.org Washington University Alters Program for Blacks BlackPressUSA.com South African Blacks to get Land Stolen during Apartheid BlackPressUSA.com     5/2/04 Recognition of Armenian Genocide Increasing Despite White House Opposition Asbarez Armenia Daily     4/30/04 Facing Up to Our Ties to Slavery boston.comNews A Closer Look: Decline in Minority Admissions Linked to Decreasing UC Campus Activism Daily Bruin Some Blacks and Hispanics Criticize Kerry on Outreach New York Times     4/26/04 Hub of hypersegregation boston.comNews Racism Flaring, Northwest Fights Back, The Number of Skinheads in the US has Doubled in the Past Year. AntiRacismNet.org     4/20/04 S.F. Chinese Community Astir Over School Desegregation Debate Sing Tao Daily and World Journal, News Report, ncmonline.com Univ. of Alabama Votes to Apologize for Slavery blackamerica.web.com Ashcroft Pressed To Re-Open Till Investigation: Murder of 14-Year-Old In 1955 Helped Trigger Civil Rights Movement SacObserver.com     4/19/04 Fair Housing Advocates Call for Stricter Law Enforcement civilrights.org Bad New Days for Voting Rights New York Times Cuba's Desire For Equality Ignores Obvious washingtonpost.com Study Suspects Thousands of False Convictions civilrights.org The Apprentice blackenterprise.com Crazy, Racist Slant Colors Crime Stats DenverPost.com     4/16/04 Afro-Colombians: 'Invisible' People Strive to Survive War, Racism StraightWords E-Zine, News Reprt     4/12/04 Mbeki Attack On Opposition Leader Stirs Up Racism Storm Independent.co.uk Forget This Phoney Debate, We Need to Comfront Racism Gaurdian Unlimited Second Shooting of Chinese American in S.F. Draws Ire from Community Word Journal, News Report     4/11/04 What Clinton Knew About Rwanda Genocide The East African Ottawa Prepares to Battle Racism, Federal Program Combats Growing Anti-Semitism, Anti-Arab Crimes Calgary Herald     4/7/04 Was World's Failure to Act Racism? asks Kagame news.telegraph.co.uk Reparations Should Be an Election Issue, Say Activists San Francisco Bay View/ncmonline.com     4/5/04 Racial Profiling Ban Makes Way Through Congress sacobserver.com Australia Unveils Big Plan for Aboriginal Education www.jang.com Kerry Leads in oll of Latin Voters Zogby International Coalition Expands AIDS Drug Plan, Over 100 Nations May Get Discounts washingtonpost.com     4/4/04 Kids Have African-Israeli Identity, but Ethiopian Parents Still Foreigners Global News Service of the Jewish People Hispanics Win Noise Bias Suit in Arkansas latimes.com Survey: Lack of Financial Aid Info Keeping Hispanics from College SFGate.com     4/3/04 Crisis in Darfur washingtonpost.com     3/30/04 A Tribe Caught in Middle latimes.com Disenfranchised Florida Felons Struggle to Regain Their Rights New York Times     3/29/04 UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds LifeSite.net     3/24/04 Push for Diversity Enriches UGA ww.ajc.com SA Universities: The Racial Balance BBCNEWS Chinese in San Francisco Brace for Storm Over School Assignments World Journal/Sing Tao Daily/ncmonline.com     3/23/04 Tribes, 2007 Planners Talking, Many Still Feel Federal Recognition is Needed Before They Participate TimesDispatch.com BIA Reorganization Shows Cultural Gap Indiancountry.com Black Ivy League Students Under Attack FinalCall.com Book Callls Hispanic Immigration A Threat MiamiHearlad.com In Sudan, Peace Deal Can't End Cultural Conflict Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com Asian 'American Idol': Stereotype or Star? Asia Commentary/ncmonline.com Colorado Senate to Vote Soon on Whether to End Affirmative Action civilrights.org     3/16/04 Clinging to 'Western' Heritage, US Lawmaker Fights Multiculturalism in Schools yahoonews.com Carving Up Aboriginal Art Market theage.com Calif. Classes Canceled as Colleges Hit by Rash of Hate Incidents AntiRacismNet.org Suppressing the Bad News on NCAA Graduation Rates civilrights.org Activists Want KKK Banned from University of Louisville Campus civilrights.org     3/10/04 Sub-Saharan Migrants in Libya Face Backlash, Gaddafi Ratchets Back Pan-African Policies washingtonpost.com     3/9/04 US-Haiti Znetmagazine.org Losing Our Future:How Minority Youth are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University     3/7/04 Everyone Should Back Herero Reparations The Namibian Hispanic Immigrants Threaten US culture, Harvard Professor Says US-National-AFP A Growing Hispanic Vote Still Favors GOP Boston Globe Bush Medicare Ads Blasted for Flaws and Limited Reach Pacific News Service Minorities' Graduation Rates Low, Report Says civilrights.org Brown University Committee Examines Historical Ties to Slavery civilrights.org     3/2/04 GOP Plans Votes to Put Democrats on the Spot washingtonpost.com     3/1/04 Mexican consul, Mormon Church Denounce Anti-Immigration Group SFGate.com Democrats Need Dean's Message to Win Pacific News Service, Commentary/ncmonline.com     2/28/04 Young People Speak Out on California's Troubled Juvenile Justice System Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com Arab World to U.S.: Don't 'Fix' Us, Work With Us Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com Oakland Students Allege Abuse by Police civilrights.org     2/23/04 U.S., Mexico Agree to Deport Migrants Closer to Home SFGate.com Schwarzenegger Backs Amendment to Allow Immigrant Presidents NYTimes.com Chandler Police Reach Out to Hispanic Residents civilrights.org Laughter Lobbies for Better Roads on Reservations civilrights.org     2/16/04 Death of Teen in Australia's Largest City Sparks Riots in Aborigine Neighborhood SFgate.com Student Group Offers Whites-Only Scholarship washingtonpost.com     2/12/04 Fleeing Slavery in Africa washingtontimes.com OutKast Grammy Performance Offends American Indians Indian County Today/ncmonline.com Black SA Youth 'Denied Access to UK' www.iol.co.za Nassau Rental Bias Reported:Group Says Blacks, Latinos Mistreated Newsday.com Sweeping Civil Rights Legislation Reaches Capitol Hill civilrights.org     2/6/04 Koreans Fear Race-based Attacks in L.A. County Jails Korea Times/Korea Daily/ncmonline.com Why Sharpton Doesn't Cut It Pacific News Service/ncmonline.com Call to End Educational 'Racism' BBC News World Edition     1/31/04 Confederate History Month Rises Again washingtontimes.com     1/29/04 At Baghdad Forum, Topic Is Democracy, but Not Elections washingtonpost.com KKK Plans Rally on Same Day Presidential Candidates in Nashville The Florida Times-Union National poll: Hispanics Divided on Bush Immigration Proposal SFGate.com US Citizenship of Nazi Collaborator to be Revoked Jerusalem Post Armenian Americans Question Clark's About Face on Genocide Asbarez Armenian Daily, Commentary/NCMonline.com Indian Nations President Says 'Quiet Crisis' Grows Louder civilrights.org Washington State May Modify Anti-Affirmative Action Law civilrights.org     1/24/04 Critics Say Schwarzenegger Budget Unfair to Small Cities, Latino Communities Vida en el Valle, News Report/ncmonline.com Tribes Prepare for Schwarzenegger Initiatives Indianz.Com/ncmonline.com     1/17/04 Bush Bypasses Senate On Judge: Pickering Named To Appeals Court During Recess washingtonpost.com Supreme Court Hands Texas GOP a Redistricting Victory washingtonpost.com     1/13/04 Thugs Drive Out Blacks in Belfast 'Ethnic Cleansing' telegraph.uk.co Brazil: Settlers Kidnap Missionaries and Attack Indigenous People Amnesty International UK     1/12/04 Ethnic Media Wary of Bush Immigration Proposal Pacific News Service Some Hispanics who Joined Statewide Boycott Lost their Jobs SFGate.com Democratic Front-Runner Dean Criticized on Racial Issues The Miami Herald Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Over Secret Sept. 11 Detentions SFGate.com U.S. to Push Airlines for Passenger Records:Travel Database to Rate Security Risk Factors washingtonpost.com     1/9/04 Affirmative Action Foes Go Hunting for Support www.civilrights.org 50 Years Pass, Yet School Inequality Persists www.civilrights.org     1/8/04 Jobs, Education, Health Top Concerns Of Black Voters SacObserver.com Ethiopians Protest Immigration Delays FORWARD     1/7/04 Sacramento Muslims Reach Out to Wider Community Pakistani Link/NCM     1/1/04 Governor: Don't Gut College Prep For Working Class Californians La Prensa-San Diego, Commentary/NCM     12/29/03 Police Shooting in San Jose Stirs Vietnamese Into Action SFGate.com Asian Women Golfers Swing Through Attacks KoreAm Journal/NCM     12/24/03 Reports Accuse Indonesia, a U.S. Ally, of Abuses Pacific News Service, Commentary     12/22/03 Ex-Felons Seeking Voting Rights Get Trial The Miami-Herald.com A&M Seeks Diversity:University Officials Plan to use the Corps of Cadets to Lure Minority Students Austin-American Statesman     12/21/03 School Debate Slave-Era Names washingtontimes.com     12/18/03 OCA Commemorates 60th Anniversary Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act civilrights.org Report Calls on Bush Administration to Accept, Enforce Effects of ‘Grutter’ Decision civilrights.org     12/15/03 Schwarzenegger's Cuts Unhealthy for Korean Families Korea Times/NCM Michiganians Likely to Ban Affirmative Action civilrights.org     12/9/03 Retailer's Image Problem: Racism SFGate.com     12/8/03 Supporters, Foes of Affirmative Action Draw Battle Lines mlive.com Attack on Foreign Students in Moscow Alarms Chinese Sing Toa Daily Latino Boycott Part of Strategy in New Push for Drivers' Licenses Voice of the Valley/NCM     12/1/03 Immigrant re-registration Abandoned washingtontimes.com Affirmative Action Backers Push For Connerly's Ouster washingtontimes.com House Will Vote On Alien Reporting washingtontimes.com Young Black Males: Job Untouchables? FinalCall.com EPA Protects Paper Companies From Miane Tribe Supervison IndianCountry.com     11/24/03 Law Banishes Immigrants for Petty Offenses/NCM Asian Week Bake Sale at A&M Puts Heat on Affirmative Action Policy HoustonChronicle.com Dueling students rally over Connerly:Some are demanding regent's removal; other want him to stay put Alameda Times-Star     11/18/03 For More and More Blacks, the South Beckons Sun Reporter/NCM Ramadan Donations Hampered by U.S. Regulations Pakistan Link Immigration Reformers Launch Bid to Sway 2004 Elections El Norte Digest Native Americans Gather for Election Talks CNN.COM City's Racial Gap Detailed in Black and White suntimes.com At Colleges, an Affirmative Reaction washingtonpost.com The Black Seminole Indians Keep Fighting for Equality in the American West civilrights.org     11/12/03 Jeff Jacoby: Won't Democrats Rubuke Sharpton? Boston Globe OAS Works on Set of Rights for Indigenous People VOANEWS.COM     11/10/03 Lack of Spanish-Language Information Endangered Lives During San Diego Fires Enlace, La Prensa-San Diego Going Beyond Black and White, Hispanics Choose 'Other' NYTimes.com     11/5/03 In Scorched Hills, Tribes Feel Bereft and Forgotten New York Times/civilrights.org FBI Report Shows Decrease in Hate Crimes civilrights.org PATRIOT Act Fears Are Stifling Free Speech, ACLU Says in Challenge to Law ACLU     11/4/03 Justice Dept. Denies Obstructing Diversity Criticism AboutRace.com GOP Fails To Break Pickering Filibuster Sacobsever.com Racist Attacks On Migrant Workers Rise IrishExaminer.com New US Visa Rules Will Worsen Ties With Arabs Middle East Online Notice of Appeal Filed In Redskins Trademark Case indiancountry.com Initiative Out to Show Black Male’s Plight rrstar.com     10/29/03 Namibia’s Herero Demand Reparations for Colonial-Era Genocide   DW-WORLD.DE     10/27/03 Education Funding to Favour Black Students allAfrica.com Youth 'Key' To Tackling Racism BBC.COM Hip-Hop Product Portrayals Divide Black Community Christian Science Monitor Koreans and Latinos Rally Behind Drivers License Law NCM, News Digest African American and Immigrant Groups Fight 'Alarming' Rise in Racial Profiling ColorLines RaceWire     10/21/03 Coalition Vows to Fight Nomination civilrights.org Bolivian Unrest Centers On Poverty, Racism miamiherald.com Wilkins: Red, Black, and Bruised Indaincountry.com     10/20/03 Reading Between the Lines: Covering the Cops Africana.com Hispanic Activists Rip New Driver's License Laws SFgate.com Mexican-American Rights Group Files Lawsuit Over GOP's Texas Redistricting SFGate.com The Roots of 'Hispanic' 1975 Committee of Bureaucrats Produced Designation washingtonpost.com The (Finally) Emerging Republican Majority The Weekly Standard     10/14/03 SF State Administration Encourages Anti-Black Hostility sfbayview.com     10/13/03 Racism Overshadows Swiss Elections Deutsche Welle     10/12/03 'Ghettopoly' Incites Protests:Stereotypes Meant as Parody, Creator Says washingtonpost.com     10/6/03 Silicon Valley Immigrants Say: 'Do Not Take Advantage of a Foreigner' arc.org     9/29/03 Peltier Pleads for New Hearing indiancountry.com Filipinos 'Outraged' Over Mass Deportations Phillipine News Asians Split on Initiative Pushed by Affirmative Action Critics Asian Week Army Chaplain's Arrest Puts Chinese Americans on Edge Pacific News Service Cartoon Offends Sikh Community, Artist Apologizes India West South Asians Gather for Forum on Patriot Act, Backlash India West     9/28/03 Hunt for "New" Oil The Washington Times     9/24/03 News from the North: A Digest of First Nations News from Canada indiancountry.com Lawmaker to Start Work on National American Latino Museum SFGate.com     9/22/03 Perdue's Journey in Black and White. Can a Child of the Segregated South Lead a Discussion on Race in 21st Century Georgia? ajc.com     9/19/03 Poll: U.S. Muslims Increase Political Activity Since 9/11 Council on American Islamic Relations Presidential Candidate Receives Tribal Advice indiancountry.com/about.com Bus Mistake Causes Boston to Revisit Racial Rifts About.com Russian Rights Groups to Monitor Racism miamiherald.com     9/15/03 Some Black Voters Feel Overlooked by California Recall Candidates SFGate.com Sharpton Protests Internet Voting SFGate.com Young Activist Leaders Struggle To Be Heard SacObserver.com GOP Dumps Hispanic Caucus washingtontimes.com Pandor or Candor The Barre Montpelier Times In Search of a Master Race USA Today Peruvian Truth Reveals Decades of Terror indiancountry.com     9/9/03 Renewing A Historic Partnership Foward Citizens Launch Drones to Patrol Mexican Boarder: Immigrant Groups Fear Vigilance Will Turn to Violence ajc.com     9/8/03 Rights March Unifies Groups Starbulletin.com     9/6/03 Genetic Breakthroughs Help Solve Some Origin Questions for African Americans SFGate.com NAACP Opposes Proposed Thurmond Memorial SacObserver.com     9/1/03 BLACKS, MUSILIMS HOLD SEPERATE MEETINGS Kansascity.com     8/29/03 U-MICHIGAN REVEALS NEW POLICY, PROVOST SAYS DIVERSITY WILL REMAIN a PRIORITY in ADMISSIONS The Washington Post NAACP Claims Bias in Schools The Miami Herald Racism Cited As 69,000 Die in Peru Rebel War Toronto Star     8/26/03 Black's Lingering Fears Hampering UW Study Seattle Post-Intelligencer     8/25/03 Blacks Still Suffer Financial Inequality The Palm Beach Post     8/24/03 Old Dreams and New Issues 40 Years After Rights March New York Times     8/21/03 Northern Ireland: Battle Against Racism AntiRacismNet.org     8/19/03 Moment of Decision KansasCity.com     8/12/03 Homosexuality, Racism, and the Eclipse of the Gospel Black Electorate Bush's Hawkish Nominee To Peace Think Tank On Hold In Senate The Council on American Islamic Relations State GOP Legislators Urge Action on Cuba The Miami Herald Fairfax Official Laments Magnet's Scant Diversity The Washington Post Fairfax Official Laments Magnet's Scant Diversity The Washington Post     8/7/03 ACTION ALERT: Protecting Unaccompanied Immigrant Children NAACP Research and Race Associated Press Muslims Condemn Attack on Sikh Family in New York CAIR     7/3/03 Facts on Proposition 54 Coalition for an Informed California     1/8/03 Stakes Is High The Nation