News: August 2009 Archives

photo credit: Miguel de la Fuente

API Community Rally for Comprehensive Immigration Reform</a>
A dozen Asian/Pacific-Islander (API) organizations in cities with high Asian-American populations hosted events calling for comprehensive immigration reform. The API community is one of the fastest growing immigrant populations, with more than 15 million Asian-Americans living in the U.S., and more than 1.5 million of which remain undocumented immigrants.

College Board Records Most Diverse SAT-Taking Class
According to officials from the College Board, students of color comprised 40 percent of the total number of SAT test-takers. While the College Board has highlighted the increased diversity of the SAT test-takers, there remain glaring gaps in test scores that vary by race, gender, and income-level, and critics question the test's ability to raise educational equity.

Governor Signs Racial Profiling Bill into Law
In New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine signed legislation mandating state oversight to directly address issues of racial profiling by police. The bill sustains efforts already being made by New Jersey police, including the use of State Police computers that catalog about 30 pieces of data -- including badge number, type of violation and race of motorist -- for every motor vehicle stop.

Asian Immigrants Gather for Town Hall Meeting
To jump start dialogue about immigration in the Asian community, Asian immigrants in Chicago, IL met at a town hall meeting this weekend to talk about problems reunifying with family because of an inefficient immigration system.

IN City Council Revises Business Contract Rules
The Evansville City Council in Indiana has passed a reform to current laws that would make it easier for woman-owned and people of color-owned business to compete for contracts to build public projects. But critics say the requirements for expensive insurance and performance bonds will still keep these businesses from being eligible for those contracts.

Racial Disparities in Cancer Care Reflect Hospital Resources
A new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Centre shows that hospitals that treat more Black cancer patients have worse survival rates for breast and colon cancer patients than hospitals that treat mostly white cancer patients.

Would You Like Some Racism With That?
McDonald's has just launched two website campaigns - 356black.com and MyinspirAsian.com - to target Blacks and Asians by reminding Black consumers of their deep roots in the community and Asian consumers of their yin-yang themed coffee.

Female, POC Lawyers in NJ Still Face Discrimination
Based on responses from 851 attorneys in a 2007 survey, a recent report released by the Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Court shows that a majority of females and people of color believe lawyers of their own sex or gender still experience discrimination.

First Black Officer in Green Bay PD
The Green Bay Police Department has just hired its first Black police officer in its 152-year history. Solomon Ayres recognizes that race "will be part of the equation" in his job, and anticipates the tension he will receive from both Blacks and whites.

Reno Students of Color Lagging Academically
School officials from Washoe County in Reno, NV, believe that underrepresented students will actually be the majority in their district within five years. However, data shows that students of color in their schools are academically behind in large part due to an inequity in resources.

photo courtesy of mydochub

Rise In Asian-American Men Seeking Cosmetic Surgery
Statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons show that in 2008, Asian-Americans underwent 866,000 cosmetic plastic surgery procedures. Among this group is a growing number of Asian-American men choosing to defy cultural stigmas and have cosmetic procedures in order to remain competitive within the job market and in pursuing romantic relationships.

White House Releases Spanish Version of Health Care Website
In order to reach Spanish-speaking Latinos about its health-care reform message, the White House is launching a Spanish-language version of its health-care website, "Reality Check". According to the White House, 34 percent of the Latino population in the U.S. lacks health care insurance.

Chicago Breast Cancer Groups Target Black Women
In Chicago, several breast-cancer groups are joining together in efforts to address the disparities affecting the access Black women have towards receiving breast cancer education, screening, and treatment services. In 2007, the breast cancer mortality rate for Black women in Chicago was 116 percent higher than for white women.

Gloria Rodriguez pictured with her husband, Rigoberto Cartagena, and daughter, Andrea.

Worker Battles Company for Lost Wages
After Gloria Rodriguez waged a media campaign against Coverall, a cleaning company, for denying her up to $1,200 in wages, the company has finally decided to pay her back by donating $40,000 to two organizations that helped Rodriguez. The money is said to go to the 18 workers who were denied pay.

W.Virginia Health Disparities Report Highlights Major Problems
Local organizers are pushing for better healthcare access for communities of color after a new report by Health Care for America Now found major racial disparities in health-care access and poor well-being of Latinos and Blacks.

New Orleans Black Businesses Still Struggling
Black-owned businesses and companies in New Orleans are closing at roughly twice the rate of white-owned bussinesses, according to the Political & Economic Research Council, a North Carolina think tank.

Peltier May Get Parole
Attorneys are hopeful that Leonard Peltier, a long-time activist in the American Indian Movement who has been incarcerated for the last 33 years, will be given parole at Tuesday's court hearing.

SF City Considers Sanctuary Proposal for Youth
A new San Francisco City proposal would make it harder for ICE agents to arrest immigrant youth suspected of being undocumented.

Former Employee Accuses NY Bank of Discrimination
New York state's Division on Civil Rights has given the green light to Paul Nathan, a former employee of the Bank of New York who accused the bank of discriminating against him based on his race and sexuality, to take the case to court.

photo credit: joshunter

Ad Campaign Targets Black Families To Adopt
A federally-funded ad campaign was released to encourage Black families to adopt from the foster care system. A study released in 2006 revealed the disproportionate number of Black children living in foster homes, who are also less likely to be adopted than white children.

Rockford PD Report Less Racial Profiling
A recent study from the police department at Rockford, IL, shows a decrease in cases of racial profiling during traffic stops, though people of color within the community still feel targeted by the cops.

Violence Against Latinos In Long Island Persists
In Long Island, another Latino has been the victim of violence, allegedly getting beaten and robbed by three white men. The crime occurred in the same Long Island community wherein Marcelo Lucero was murdered last year, which sparked the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into allegations of hate crimes in Long Island.

Bollywood Star Detained at Airport
At the Newark Airport in New Jersey, U.S. immigration official detained Indian actor, Shah Rukh Khan, who believes he was held for questioning because of his Muslim name. Ironically, Khan is currently promoting a film about racial profiling.

Report Finds Increase in Asian Suicides
A recent report from the Center for Disease Control found an increase in the number of young Asians who commit suicide. One writer investigates the historical roots of competition and high expectations that some young Asians experience in their families and communities.

H&R Block Agrees to Uphold Affirmative Action Policy
After a heated lawsuit, the business has agreed to invest $1.1 million to recruiting contractors of color to help construct its new downtown location in Kansas City, KS.

Detained Families Set to Leave TX Within Months
The Department of Homeland Security plans on deporting or releasing detained families at T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, TX to their former countries or the new family detention center in Pennsylvania before the new year.

Debate Flares Up on Healthcare for Undocumented Immigrants
Some immigrant rights advocates are pushing Congress to consider broadening the reach of healthcare reforms to cover an estimated 6.8 million undocumented immigrants without health insurance. But some progressive state representatives have come out against the idea that has Congress in a heated debate.

NYC Plans Stricter Rules for Low-Performing Students
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to institute stricter rules for third, fifth, seventh and eighth graders who do not pass the standardized tests for their respective grade levels. Instead of moving on to the next grade under the current social promotions program, students will be held back until they can pass the test.

SC Black Business Owners Challenge Downtown Revitalization Plan
Black merchants spoke to the Florence City Council this week about the city's plans to revitalize downtown. The business owners say they were excluded from the plans because of their race.

Arab-American Grocery Claims Discrimination Against Store
A grocery store owner is accusing the village in which his store is located for discrimination against an Arab-American business. The Arab owner contests the health code citations on his store, claiming he and his family have been unfairly singled out for inspections.

Riot Between Blacks and Latinos in CA Prison
In California, a prison riot erupted between Latino and Black inmates, causing the shutdown of the the California Institution for Men in Chino. Since a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that found automatic segregation in prisons to be illegal, many California prisons have made efforts to reverse the historic practice of separating inmates by race.

NBC's "African-American Perspective" on News
NBC is launching theGrio.com, a news site that claims to deliver an African-American perspective on news. Among its highlighted contributors are Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Santita Jackson, and Al Sharpton.

Obama Plans To Overhaul Immigration Detention
The Obama Administration announced plans to overhaul the current immigration detention system and establish a centralized system with more federal oversight. While generally supportive, immigration advocates remain skeptical of the lasting effects reform will make on detention policies within facilities, while others remain disappointed at the failure to discuss alternatives to detention, altogether.

Va. Asian Chamber of Commerce Rallies Community Through Summit
The Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce hosted its first-ever legislative summit, inviting business leaders, attorneys, and community advocates to tackle a slew of issues affecting the Asian-American community, including health care, education, and civil rights.

Police Seek to Identify Racist Assailants
Police in Spokane, Washington, are seeking help from the community in solving racist crimes against people of color. Details from an incident in Spokane described five white men assaulting and yelling out racial slurs toward two Native American men.

Long Island Latinos Criticize County Executive
Latino leaders in Long Island, NY are criticizing County Executive Steve Levy for racially insensitive comments he made at a roast in his honor. They believe his joke about deporting kitchen workers continues to foster anti-Latino sentiment in a county that has witnessed numerous racially-charged incidents, particularly the murder of Marcelo Lucero, last year.

Obama Announces Slight Reforms to Detention System
The changes to the system include creating a new office that overlooks the detention system and sending detained families to a detention facility in Pennsylvania instead of Texas. “This isn’t about whether or not we are going to detain people. This is about how we detain those people,” said John Morton, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

NY Muslim Protest Terrorism Sentences
The Muslim Solidarity Committee organized a protest after Mohammed M. Hossain and Yassin Aref were sentenced to 15 years in prison for offenses attorneys say were preemptive convictions based on their race and religious beliefs.

Broadcasters of Color to Meet with Administration
A group of people of color-owned broadcasting stations are meeting with Obama officials about receiving stimulus money so they can continue broadcasting. They say the transition to digital has left many low-income families without access to information and corporate-owned stations limit the information that is broadcast to those who can afford the transition.

Immigration Raids Violate Constitutional Guarantees
A new report released by the Benjamin Cardozo Law School's Immigration Justice Clinic found that ICE agents routinely violate constitutional guarantees by illegally entering homes using physical force, seizing innocent people and targeting people based solely on their race.

IL Attorney General Sues Wells Fargo for Discrimination
Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo accusing them of selling high-cost subprime mortgage loans to Black and Latino borrowers while while white borrowers with similar incomes received lower-cost loans from the bank.

Holder Says Prisons Not the Answer
Attorney General Eric Holder told the American Bar Association on Monday that incarceration is not the key to lowering crime rates. Instead he proposes diverting non-violent drug offenders away from prison and into treatment programs, saving taxpayer money.

Report Outlines Challenges Women Have With Smoking
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine recently published a report which details the unique challenges women of color and women of low socioeconomic status experience in relation to smoking and the enforcement of smoke-free policies.

Racial Disparity Between Wisconsin Teachers, Students
In Northwest Wisconsin, studies show that schools have employed a disproportionate number of white teachers compared to their estimated student enrollment. In the 2007 to 2008 school year, 96 percent of teachers in every school district in the northwest region were white.

Vermont Law Enforcement Make Effort Against Racial Profiling
Making good with a promise to address racial profiling allegations by community members, officers from several counties in Vermont are recording the race of the drivers they stop for traffic offenses.

Texas Schools Lag in Diversity Goals
A staff report approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board revealed that Latino enrollment in Texas colleges and universities needs to double in the next six years for the state to meet its educational goals. By 2015, Texas hopes Latinos students reach an enrollment of 5.7 percent in its colleges and universities.

Workers Claim Discrimination at Waste Plant
In Philadelphia, Black workers at a waste transfer plant are filing a case of racial discrimination against their supervisor, citing numerous incidents of segregation and harassment, such as a bathroom reserved only for the use of white employees.

Racial Messages Found on Black Legislative Caucus Office
Racial graffiti was discovered on the walls of the Springfield office of Illinois Black Legislative Caucus. The incident is listed as a criminal defacement and hate crime and is currently under further investigation.