Race

In a More Diverse America, A Mostly White Convention

Posted by Shemuses from Washington Post

Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings. As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.

Read comments (1)

WireTap Magazine - Beyond the Ballot: Young Black Men and Voting

Posted by Shemuses

While youth voting is on the rise, barriers to civic engagement among working-class black youth persist. How are activists going beyond voter registration to break down these barriers?

Post a comment

Gay marriage and the black vote, polling says views are changing

Posted by Jeff from Los Angeles Times

Don't bet on it. Although ordinary polls report lower levels of support for same-sex marriage among blacks than among whites, views on same-sex marriage are a rapidly moving target that's tough to pin down, even for experts. And a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box in the last presidential election. When constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage were on 11 state ballots in November 2004, blacks in Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Oklahoma were at least one percentage point less likely than whites to vote for them, according to CNN exit polls. Only in Georgia were blacks slightly more likely to vote for the amendment

Post a comment

Juvenile Asylum

Posted by Shemuses

Confronting racial profiling in schools. Metal detectors and security officers have become fixtures in public schools across the nation. At many of these schools, where students are predominately Black and Brown, "security" has become a code word for "racial profiling." One group of New York City high school students decided to take their schools security policies to task.

Post a comment

Obama's Sidekcik pick

Posted by Shemuses

In choosing your No. 2, just do you. My advice to Obama, short of recommending media mogul Russell Simmons as his running mate (folks are

ready), is to at least take a page, literally, out of Simmons' book and,

Pick who

want. Pick someone serious who'll help you win, but also pick someone who you want to govern with. President Bush let himself get sandbagged with Vice President Cheney, and you see how well that worked out for him.

Post a comment

Can Black Journalists Be Trusted to Cover Obama?

Posted by Shemuses

Please. Groupies with press passes come in all colors. Black journalists are being taken to task by white journalists who suggest that to remain journalistically chaste they must not show one shred of pride or enthusiasm in light of Barack Obama's history-making presidential bid, lest our precious "objectivity" be called into question.

Post a comment

Judge removed from 'Jena Six' trials

Posted by Jeff from MSNBC

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had acknowledged calling the teens "trouble makers" and "a violent bunch" but insisted he could be impartial. Judge Thomas M. Yeager, who was asked by defense attorneys to review the case, found there was an appearance of impropriety and recused Mauffray.

Post a comment