Schwarzenegger to endorse McCain: reports
January 30, 2008
AFP
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is poised to give his endorsement to Republican presidential front-runner John McCain, US media reported on Wednesday.
CNN television network cited two Republican sources as saying that discussions with Schwarzenegger were ongoing about securing the popular former Hollywood action hero’s endorsement.
Leading Civil Rights Groups Call on Administration to Prioritize High School Reform in NCLB Reauthorization
January 30, 2008
BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com
In his State of the Union address last night, the President touted important test score improvements for students of color as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While the Campaign for High School Equity, the only coalition of leading civil rights groups to focus on high school education reform, agrees with this aspect of the President’s address, it is important to note that even stronger policy measures are needed to address the significant gaps still plaguing students of color and their access to a high quality education in American public high schools. According to the Campaign, these disparities can and must be addressed in part through NCLB reauthorization.
‘Brother’ Bill, Barack Obama and the Votes of Black Folk
January 30, 2008
Arlene M. Roberts, Huffington Post
As the day of the South Carolina primary drew nearer, the Bill-and-Hillary tag team held nothing back, launching into full attack mode against fellow contender Sen. Barack Obama. There was former president Bill Clinton asserting that his wife was at a disadvantage in South Carolina on account of her race. But the strategies of Camp Clinton backfired. Not only did Sen. Obama rise above the fray, trouncing Sen. Clinton in the primary, but Sen. Obama also reinforced his position as a coalition builder with an even broader base of supporters.
But a closer inspection of Bill Clinton’s legacy in the black community paints a less than savory picture. In his book, The Debt, author/attorney Randall Robinson highlights how discernibly little Bill Clinton did for black people. Robinson points to Clinton’s first term, when he sponsored the most punitive crime bill in history, which was passed in 1993; signed the most punitive welfare reform bill in history; and thousands of people silently have been sifted out of federal government employment through the “reinventing government program”. Clinton, however, “maintained his grip on black voters by praying with them in black churches.
Black wins in overwhelmingly white Alabama House district
January 30, 2008
BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press
The victory by a black minister in an overwhelmingly white Alabama House district was viewed Wednesday as a possible sign that voters in the Deep South, where race has long been a divisive electoral factor, may be looking beyond a candidate’s skin color.
The Rev. James Fields, a Democrat, won easily Tuesday in Cullman County’s House District 12 despite a Republican effort to pick up a seat in the Alabama House.
Fields pulled 59 percent of the vote compared to 40 percent for Republican Wayne Willingham, a Cullman County commissioner. The district is 96.3 percent white, according to figures prepared by the Alabama Legislature’s reapportionment office, the second-whitest district in the state.
SC restaurant owner slammed for Obama sign
January 30, 2008
KATRINA A. GOGGINS, Associated Press
An NAACP leader on Wednesday blasted a South Carolina restaurant owner for a sign that mentioned Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on the same line as a dark and white meat chicken dinner special.
“Either it’s the most insidious form of racism imaginable or the most gross error,” said the Rev. Brendolyn Jenkins, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Aiken, where the restaurant is located.
For his part, the white owner of Bullseye Big Chicken in Aiken defended the sign and said he didn’t realize it may be racially charged until customers, including some blacks, started asking for the “Obama special.”
Recent Comments