May 2009
You are browsing the archive for May 2009.
The Waves Minority Judges Always Make
ADAM LIPTAK, New York Times – Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black member of the Supreme Court, ended his 24 years there bitter and frustrated. He had been unable, he said, to persuade his colleagues in many cases concerning racial equality, the cause to which he had devoted his life. “What do they know about [...]
Whites Oppose Reviving Flooded Black Areas in New Orleans
Nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina, it is the worry that will not fade, complicating the rebuilding of New Orleans and defining and reflecting this fragile city’s racial divisions. It is the fear of a shrunken city. Immediately after the storm, many residents, often black, worried that low-lying, flood-ravaged neighborhoods would be left unbuilt and [...]
SC legislative manual labels former black speakers as ‘Negro’
The official manual of South Carolina’s Legislature continues to label some of the state’s former politicians as “Negro” or “scalawag” — apparent remnants of disgruntlement over Reconstruction that are drawing fresh scrutiny. A spokesman for the state’s lieutenant governor, who is eyeing a run for the top office, has sent a letter asking for an [...]
Why It Is Critical That the African American Community Unite Behind Sonia Sotomayor
Kamala D. Harris, Huffington Post – As I watched the announcement of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court, I, like many Americans, was struck by the historic picture on my television screen. The nation’s first African American president nominating the first Latina as a potential Supreme Court Justice. Few things have [...]
On Diverse Force, Blacks Still Face Special Peril
MICHAEL POWELL, New York Times – Two black police officers stand outside the 70th Precinct station in Brooklyn and consider the disastrous turn of events the night before: an off-duty black officer dead in a Harlem street, felled by the bullets of a white officer who mistook him for a threat. One runs his hand [...]
