Was his death a hate crime?
October 5, 2008
Howard Witt, Chicago Tribune
- When the mutilated and partially dismembered body of Brandon McClelland, a 24-year-old black man, turned up lying in the middle of a rural east Texas road one morning last month, the police immediately pronounced the case a hit-and-run by an unknown driver.
Within a few days, however, suspicions turned toward two white friends who had picked up McClelland in their truck a few hours before he was found dead early on Sept. 16. Despite signs that the truck had been washed, authorities discovered blood and other physical evidence on the undercarriage and arrested the two men, both with long criminal histories.
Now this small, racially divided town—already seared with a racist label by civil rights groups last year over differences in how blacks and whites were treated by the local justice system—is on edge yet again, wondering if it has a horrific new hate crime on its hands.
The district attorney insists that race had nothing to do with McClelland’s death, and police investigators are portraying the case as an apparent falling-out among friends.
Children aware of voter prejudice in US
October 5, 2008
Children are aware white males have monopolized the US presidency, and most attribute the trend to racial prejudice, according to a study published Sunday.
Calling into question the idea children live in a color- and gender-blind world, researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, reveal “most elementary-school-aged children are aware there has been no female, African-American, or Hispanic President.”
In addition, “many of the children attribute the lack of representation to discrimination,” said Rebecca Bigler, professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, and lead author of the study, published in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.
The research team interviewed 205 children aged five to ten in 2006, a year before Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama began their historic bids for the White House. Clinton lost to Obama in the primary fight for the Democratic nomination.
The study asked the children, from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about the US presidency, and specifically about similarities between presidents and the absence of female, African-American and Hispanic presidents.
A third of the children said the white male monopoly was due to “racial and gender bias,” and another third believed members of the excluded groups “lacked the skills to hold the position,” according to the study.
One in four participants told researchers they thought it was “illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president.”
The study found children were generally optimistic about the possibility that they could be president.
Girls who attributed the lack of female presidents to discrimination, however, were more likely to believe they could not become president.
“The US presidency is a high profile case of racial and gender exclusion,” Bigler said in a statement.
“And because this topic is not typically explained to children, they appear to create their own explanations for the exclusion,” she said.
The 2008 presidential election between Republican candidate John Mcain and Obama, who is black, has the potential to significantly alter children’s view, said Bigler.
“If Obama loses his bid for the presidency, there may be little change in children’s attitudes, but it could fuel their perception that American voters are racially prejudiced,” she said.
“In contrast, if Obama wins children may believe that exclusionary laws and racial prejudice no longer shape the outcomes of the presidential elections.”
AFP
Vote-scam fliers target black neighborhoods (PA)
October 2, 2008
CATHERINE LUCEY, Philadelphia Daily News
- With just weeks to go before the presidential election, voter intimidation has reared its ugly head.
An anonymous flier circulating in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia states that voters who are facing outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets may be arrested at the polls on Election Day.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison, who learned of the flier last week, said that the message is completely false.
“The only thing that police officers are going to do that we’ll be encouraging that day is that they’ll be exercising their own individual right to vote,” Gillison said.
Blacks Forming a Rock-Solid Bloc Behind Obama
October 1, 2008
Steven A. Holmes, Washington Post
- As Sen. Barack Obama strode onto the stage in the cavernous ballroom Saturday night, the audience jumped up, shouting, singing and clapping along with his campaign theme song, Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.”
That full-throated welcome from the huge, overwhelmingly African American audience at a Congressional Black Caucus dinner was tinged with growing confidence that victory — and history — may be within reach.
Recent polls show Obama opening up a lead over Sen. John McCain, both nationally and in some key battleground states, particularly on economic issues. The consensus among many analysts was that Obama held his own in last week’s debate, which focused mainly on foreign policy, an issue considered one of his Republican rival’s strengths. And Obama’s black supporters continue to maintain a disciplined, united front, eschewing internal debates that could undermine his candidacy.
Minorities make few gains in top corporate positions in Chicago since ‘05: report
September 29, 2008
FRANCINE KNOWLES, Chicago Sun-Times
- Little progress has been made in increasing the ranks of minorities in the top leadership positions at Chicago’s biggest companies, according to a biennial report from Chicago United. If strategic changes aren’t made, it could take another 89 years before minorities achieve parity, the report said.
“Such slow progress would be unacceptable in any other area of business,” said Chicago United President Gloria Castillo. “Diversity and inclusion, key business imperatives . . . should be no different.”
The report found minorities held 13 percent of board positions in 2007 at 21 large Chicago area companies, unchanged from 2005. Among chairmen and chief executive officers, minorities held 14 percent of those positions last year, down from 15 percent.
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