The News

NAACP seeks unified direction; “Silent Racism” calls out well-meaning whites

2008 Candidates Vow to Overhaul U.S. Health Care. It’ll take more than “Sicko.”
both parties acknowledge the problems and their political urgency. Republicans, whose primaries usually turn on other issues, often wait until the general election to roll out detailed health plans; this time they are plunging into the debate far earlier. Democrats are competing furiously among themselves over who has the bigger, better plan to control costs and to approach universal coverage, a striking change from the party’s wariness on the issue a decade ago after the collapse of the Clintons’ health care initiative.—NYTimes.

Working to change the future. NAACP conference defies naysayers.
ore than 8,000 dues-paying members will descend on Cobo Center starting Saturday to sort through the issues and decide strategies for a host of competing needs. Membership has fallen from a high of 500,000 in 1946 to 300,000 today, even as the nation’s African-American population has doubled to almost 40 million in that time. —Detroit Free Press

New Orleans wary of this parade. Lights, camera…action?
“Everybody’s using us as a photo op to some degree,” said Reuben DeTiege, 48, an Obama supporter who, like so many others here, lost his house to the floodwaters. “But the litmus test will be when we see [Obama] and the other candidates come here and hear what they will actually do for the African-American community.”—The Chicago Tribune

Katrina fraud swamps system. Like father, like son.
Most of the cases involve alleged lies to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cash in on $2,000 payments it sent out shortly after the storms struck. In one, prosecutors charged that two roommates in Houston sent FEMA 39 claims for assistance for the two storms and lied about living in places hit by the hurricanes. —USAToday

‘Silent Racism’. A book about well-meaning whites.
Barbara Trepagnier says that people should replace the question of whether or not they are racist with asking themselves how they are racist. “It’s a much more fruitful question,” Trepagnier, a sociology professor at Texas State University, said. —San Marcos Record

Spike Lee to focus on black soldiers in WWII. Can’t wait.
“We have black people who are fighting for democracy who at the same time are classified as second-class citizens,” the 50-year-old filmmaker said. “That is why I’d like to do a film to show how these brave black men, despite all the hardship they were going through, still pushed that aside and fought for the greater good.”—MSNBC

Posted at 7:11 AM, Jul 06, 2007 in News | Permalink | View Comments