Equity News and Information

Black college sophomore threatened with racist graffiti | The Raw Story

2012-02-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Black Characters in Search of Reality - NYTimes.com

2012-02-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

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

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

2012-02-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

Black, Female And An Inspirational Modern Artist : NPR

2012-02-12T18:18:00.001-05:00

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

The 'Invisible' Artist

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

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

2012-02-11T21:19:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

2012-02-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

2012-02-10T19:10:00.001-05:00

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

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

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Inscription To Be Changed To Full 'Drum Major Instinct' Quotation

2012-02-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Inscription To Be Changed To Full 'Drum Major Instinct' Quotation: A truncated inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial that critics say makes the slain civil rights leader sound arrogant will be changed to reflect the full quotation.

In January, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave the National Park Service one month to explore options for changing the quotation

Now, according to The Washington Post, there are details about how the change is going to be made:

A spokeswoman for the National Park Service said the correction ... may necessitate shaving off a slice of the memorial a few inches thick, and replacing it with a new slab bearing the full quotation.

The quotation -- "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter." -- is from "Drum Major Instinct," a speech King delivered two months before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

Native American tribe files $500 million suit against big beer brewers | The Raw Story

2012-02-10T16:20:00.000-05:00

Native American tribe files $500 million suit against big beer brewers | The Raw Story: A Native American Indian tribe has filed suit against some top beer makers, as well as a handful of retailers and distributors, claiming they have knowingly contributed to “crippling” alcoholism rates on a reservation in South Dakota.

The suit, filed by the Oglala Sioux tribe, alleges the defendants are “engaged in a common enterprise focused on assisting and participating in the illegal importation of alcohol” onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the sale, possession and consumption of alcohol is illegal.

The defendants include Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide Inc, SAB Miller, Molson Coors Brewing Company and Pabst Brewing Company, as well as four retailers in Whiteclay, Nebraska and the distributors who sell to them.

Sec. Ken Salazar: Uncovering the American Latino Story

2012-02-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

Sec. Ken Salazar: Uncovering the American Latino Story: Throughout our complex history, one aspect has always remained clear and consistent - there are many faces of America. As a country of immigrants, this diversity has and will continue to lend great strength to our nation. However, we must not forget that a strong America is one that is inclusive as well as diverse.

Having lived here for 400 years, Latinos are a critical part of our nation's fabric. Although 50 million Latinos currently live in the United States, the story of their contributions and rich cultural heritage has fallen through the cracks as we have written history books for our children, formed our national monuments and parks, and, in many ways, developed a national identity for the future of America. The National Park Service - the part of our government charged with protecting sites of national historic, cultural or ecological value - can and should play a major role in recognizing the important history and culture of American Latinos.

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com

2012-02-10T09:34:00.001-05:00

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show - NYTimes.com: Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.

It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school. Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race.

Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period.

Virginia’s Caroline County, ‘symbolic of Main Street USA’ - The Washington Post

2012-02-10T08:13:00.000-05:00

Virginia’s Caroline County, ‘symbolic of Main Street USA’ - The Washington Post: Only a few easily overlooked markers note the importance of Mildred and Richard Loving in Caroline County, where five decades ago the sheriff rousted the white man and his black bride from their bed and carted them off to jail.

A small brass plaque in the county courthouse credits their landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia with overturning laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Their names are engraved on a granite obelisk, last on a list of prominent local African Americans. The county Web site devotes a page to their case.

Suburban Chicago Schools Lag as Bilingual Needs Grow - NYTimes.com

2012-02-09T21:04:00.001-05:00

Suburban Chicago Schools Lag as Bilingual Needs Grow - NYTimes.com: The rapid growth of Latino and other immigrant populations in Chicago’s suburbs is outstripping the ability of public schools to provide bilingual programs mandated by Illinois, and government financing for the programs is shrinking, state records show.

Of the 58 suburban school districts visited by state monitors in the past three years, none met all of Illinois’s tough education requirements for students learning English, and 22 failed to provide a bilingual program for all of the students who qualified for it, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis of Illinois State Board of Education records from fiscal year 2009 to October 2011.

Compliance problems included bilingual courses taught by teachers who lacked required language or subject-matter certification, classes with substandard content, and failure to make yearly assessments of how well students are learning English. English-language learners, about 80 percent of whom speak Spanish as their native language, are struggling academically in many suburban districts.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Rules Sesame Street With Goldilocks v. Baby Bear (VIDEO)

2012-02-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Rules Sesame Street With Goldilocks v. Baby Bear (VIDEO): Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave her opinion on Goldilocks v. Baby Bear in a new video on the Sesame Street Youtube page.

Over a cup of coffee with her friend Maria, the first Hispanic on the high court -- who has served on the Supreme Court since her appointment by President Obama in August 2009 -- doled out some justice.

According to Baby Bear, Goldilocks came into his house, totally uninvited, sat in his chair and broke it.

How did the Justice rule?

After hearing both sides of the case, the Justice decided that Goldilocks would have to help repair the chair, and she told Baby Bear that "Goldilocks didn't mean to break the chair, and accidents do happen."

Up next, the three little pigs and a big bad wolf hash out a disagreement.

The 42nd season of Sesame Street will focus on science, math and engineering education.

Dollhouses Inspired By Alexandria History On Display At City's Black History Museum (PHOTOS)

2012-02-09T13:39:00.001-05:00

Dollhouses Inspired By Alexandria History On Display At City's Black History Museum (PHOTOS): It's history and folk art all in one intriguing exhibit of dollhouses.

Two lifelong Alexandrians -- Sharon J. Frazier, a retired nurse and Linwood M. Smith, a retired automotive mechanic -- began working together in 1994 to create lovely and detailed miniature versions of their neighborhood's people and places.

"Our Alexandria: African American Dollhouses by Sharon J. Frazier and Linwood M. Smith," opens today at the Alexandria Black History Museum, includes a hair dressing salon, a medical building, an attorney's office, a nursery school and the Robert Robinson Library -- Alexandria's first black library.

School will continue using Fighting Sioux nickname - CNN.com

2012-02-09T12:26:00.001-05:00

School will continue using Fighting Sioux nickname - CNN.com: The dispute between the NCAA and the University of North Dakota over its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo took a new turn Wednesday when the school said the filing of petitions requires it to use the nickname and logo while the issue plays out, possibly in a statewide vote.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has a policy against mascots "deemed hostile or abusive toward Native Americans."

But people who favor the mascot filed petitions Tuesday with North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger.

The petitioners have a two-pronged strategy.

Hispanic Education Highlighted at Twitter Town Hall Meeting

2012-02-09T08:42:00.000-05:00

Hispanic Education Highlighted at Twitter Town Hall Meeting: On Wednesday during what was billed as a Twitter Town Hall event, more than 400 participants accessed a live video stream on their computing devices as tweeted questions and answers pertaining to Hispanic education access and success produced a multilayered dialogue with the U.S, Education Secretary.

Some of the questions were familiar — how to make higher education affordable and how to deal with undocumented students — but all the answers provided a valuable guide in the efforts to achieve Hispanic educational success. Education Secretary Arne Duncan responded to questions for the first 30 minutes of the event and then Jose Rico, director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, took the microphone for the remainder of the hour.

Report: AP Courses Not Available for Black Students

2012-02-09T08:41:00.000-05:00

Report: AP Courses Not Available for Black Students: The vast majority of Black high school graduates from the Class of 2011 who could have done well in an AP course never enrolled in one because they were either “left out” or went to a school that didn’t offer the college prep courses.

That’s one of the key findings of the eighth annual AP Report to the Nation released Wednesday by the College Board.

“If there’s one chart that’s the most powerful and the most haunting, this is the one that captures the most attention in my eyes,” said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and College Readiness at the College Board, during a webinar on Wednesday in which he offered commentary on the new report.

He was referring to Figure 6 of the report, which shows that 79.7 percent of Black students who could have done well in an AP course did not take one.

Md. is No. 1 in number of graduates who pass AP exams - baltimoresun.com

2012-02-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

Md. is No. 1 in number of graduates who pass AP exams - baltimoresun.com: For the fourth year in a row, Maryland ranked No. 1 in the nation in the percentage of its graduating seniors who had successfully passed the rigorous Advanced Placement exams, leaping further ahead of top states like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Twenty-nine percent of last year's graduating seniors had passed one Advanced Placement test by the time they walked across the stage last spring, or almost double the percentage of a decade ago and more than one percentage point higher than 2010. The national average was 18 percent.

...Maryland, like other states, has been unable to provide the same access to AP tests for poor and black students. Only 8 percent of African-American graduates in Maryland had passed an AP test, compared to 35 percent of white students. Among those black students who did take the test, only 28 percent were able to pass, while 70 percent of white students who took the test passed.

Sadusky said he is particularly concerned that some rural school districts, including Dorchester and Wicomico counties, do not have enough money to offer Advanced Placement classes to students. "Those students need to have the equal opportunity," he said.

Civil rights leader Patricia Stephens Due dies at 72 - CNN.com

2012-02-08T09:17:00.001-05:00

Civil rights leader Patricia Stephens Due dies at 72 - CNN.com: Civil rights leader Dr. Patricia Stephens Due died Tuesday at age 72, nearly 52 years after she played a leading role in student sit-ins in Tallahassee, Florida, her family said.

Due's death followed "a determined and courageous fight against cancer," her family said.

In 1960, as a 20-year-old college student and founding member of the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, Due, her sister, Priscilla, and three other Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University students were arrested for sitting at a Woolworth lunch counter.

Their decision to spend 49 days in jail rather than pay fines marked one of the first "jail-ins" during the civil rights movement, according to Johnita Due, one of the civil rights leader's three daughters and a lawyer for CNN.

In America, racial oppression is not ancient history - The Washington Post

2012-02-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

In America, racial oppression is not ancient history - The Washington Post: When talking about his childhood in Earle, Ark., during the 1920s and ’30s, my father always mentions a sheriff who rented out prisoners to wealthy landowners. Black men arrested on charges such as vagrancy and drunkenness, or just for being “uppity,” were forced to pay off their fines by working in coal mines, cotton fields, turpentine camps and timber mills.

“People would come to town from all over the county on weekends, riding wagons and mules,” my dad recalls. “Naturally, guys who had worked hard all week on the farm would want to have a little fun. They might buy a half a pint, get drunk. Then the sheriff would show up, and the next thing they knew they’d be working on a plantation and you might never hear from them again.”

Sharing the Harriet Tubman story — through wax, at Madame Tussauds - The Washington Post

2012-02-08T08:44:00.001-05:00

Sharing the Harriet Tubman story — through wax, at Madame Tussauds - The Washington Post: It was the eyes.

The eyes that sought out the North Star so many times. The eyes that guided feet along the Underground Railroad. The eyes that saw freedom for her people.

The glint in the eyes of Harriet Tubman, unveiled Tuesday as a wax figure at Madame Tussauds in the District, moved her descendants to tears.

“I’ve seen so many people try to portray Harriet,” said Valery Ross Manokey, Tubman’s great-great-niece and, at 76, the oldest descendant and a resident of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where Tubman was enslaved. “This is the best I have ever seen. It’s like she’s looking at you. It’s like she’s watching you.”

Thirteen of Tubman’s relatives and about 50 students from Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Northwest Washington saw her for the first time early Tuesday, before the figure took its place in the Presidents Gallery of Madame Tussauds. Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and is believed to have led at least 300 slaves to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad in more than a dozen trips.

The U.S. must do more than apologize to Guatemala over STD study - The Washington Post

2012-02-08T07:43:00.000-05:00

The U.S. must do more than apologize to Guatemala over STD study - The Washington Post: IN THE FALL of 2010, the Obama administration acknowledged a shocking truth: From 1946 through 1948, officials working in Guatemala for the U.S. Public Health Service conducted tests on some 5,100 unwitting individuals and deliberately infected at least 1,300 with sexually transmitted diseases. None of the victims — who included prisoners, soldiers, the mentally ill and commercial sex workers — consented to this barbaric treatment. At least 83 people died, and many suffered permanent damage.

President Obama expressed regrets to the Guatemalan president. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius called the experiments outrageous and, in a joint statement, apologized “to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices.” The administration gave a presidential commission the task of compiling information about the origins, nature and scope of the experiments.

Women In Science: Why So Few? (VIDEO)

2012-02-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

Women In Science: Why So Few? (VIDEO): In fact, a recent survey revealed some surprising findings about girls' attitudes toward STEM careers. Thirty percent of teen girls say that math is their most challenging subject, while only nineteen percent of boys say the same thing. You know, I remember walking through a shopping mall a couple of years ago and seeing a girl wearing a tank top that said "I'm too pretty to do math." After my horror subsided, I thought to myself, is this normal? Why is she okay wearing that?

Well, one thing we've noticed throughout the years is that girls consistently say that they just aren't that interested in pursuing a math, science, technology, or engineering career. But why? Is there something intrinsically male about STEM subjects? Are girls wired to be less interested in them?

ThyssenKrupp Racism Allegations: Company Apologizes After Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Office Weighs In

2012-02-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

ThyssenKrupp Racism Allegations: Company Apologizes After Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Office Weighs In: A top official at a German manufacturing company issued an apology Tuesday after African American employees at its suburban Chicago office said they were "routinely" discriminated against by supervisors.

The apology comes less than a week after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the company, ThyssenKrupp A.G., will open its North American regional headquarters in Chicago. The move is expected to bring about 100 jobs to the city at first, and grow from there.

“ThyssenKrupp’s decision to locate their North American headquarters in Chicago is a testament to the world-class business environment the city offers,” Mayor Emanuel said in a statement. “By combining transportation, infrastructure, and the best workforce in the world, Chicago is a destination for the greatest companies around the globe, and ThyssenKrupp is a perfect example of this.”