February 12, 2008

Bush Speaks Out On Hate Crimes

President Bush issued a forceful indictment of hate crimes during a White House event honoring Black History Month.

"The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice. Displaying one is not a harmless prank," Bush said, referring to a "a number of media reports" of noose displays. "And lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest. As a civil society, we must understand that noose displays and lynching jokes have no place in a civil society. They are wrong and have no place in America today."

Bush's remarks come on the 199th birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

The District has been home to several high-profile racial incidents in recent months. Several contractors were fired after a Jan. 22 incident in which a noose was found in a break room at the site of the new Washington Nationals stadium. D.C. legislators have since introduced a bill making the display of nooses a hate crime.

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Posted at 3:41 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, President Bush, Race
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December 07, 2007

WH '08: We Can Haz Votes?

Iowa, Oprah. Oprah, Iowa.

Sure, she can move Tolstoy, but can she move middle-aged white women to the Jan. 3 caucuses? We'll get our first clues this weekend when Oprah Winfrey, probably the most famous woman in America, joins Democratic candidate Barack Obama on the campaign trail.

The Oprah and Obama show, as it's already being dubbed, hits Iowa tomorrow and South Carolina and New Hampshire on Sunday. Tickets for the Columbia, S.C., rally went so fast that it was moved from an 18,000-seat venue to an 80,000-plus capacity football stadium.

The political press already gets excited when celebs team up with politicians because, well, they're celebs. The Oprah-Obama moment, however, takes us into completely untested and somewhat bizarre waters. Oprah is probably the most famous and beloved woman in America. "Beloved" may actually be a little weak. If you are not already acquainted with her daytime talk show, the feverish, high-decibel fervor her alarmingly ecstatic audience frequently displays might be a little frightening to watch. So much so that this "SNL" parody doesn't seem that far off the mark.

The premise that women in early primary states will run screaming at the top of their lungs toward the Obama camp once they get a glimpse of him with Oprah, then, becomes not a little offensive. Maybe, dare we say, a lot offensive.

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Posted at 6:23 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Race, WH 2008
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September 28, 2007

Race & The GOP: Six Out Of 10 Ain't Bad

The highly anticipated season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" opened
with --

Oops, wrong post.

In case you missed it, and you probably did, there was a Republican presidential debate last night at Morgan State University in Baltimore. As with the Democrats' turn in June, radio and talk-show host Tavis Smiley was on hand to host the All-American Presidential Forum on PBS before a mostly black audience on the historically black campus.

What was different this time around? The four empty podiums on stage.

Out of the belief that the gains made by the GOP under President Bush's leadership have been hopelessly eroded (by President Bush's leadership), or the belief that with independents out of reach, their socially conservative, mostly white base is more crucial than ever, front-runners Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson skipped the event.

The six candidates chasing them were smart enough to take advantage.

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Posted at 9:00 AM
Posted to: Alan Keyes, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Democrats, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, President Bush, Race, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
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September 27, 2007

Who's Afraid Of Tavis Smiley?

Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson are, apparently.

The leading Republican presidential candidates cited "scheduling conflicts" as their reason for skipping tonight's All-American Presidential Forum on PBS.

"I'm puzzled by their decision. I can't speak for them. I think it's a mistake," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich earlier this week.

President Bush also weighed in on the matter last week: "My advice to whoever will be our nominee is to reach out to the African-American community as well as other communities, because I believe we've got a very strong record when it comes to" issues affecting them.

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Posted at 5:14 PM
Posted to: Alan Keyes, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Democrats, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, President Bush, Race, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
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Juan Williams: Bill O'Reilly Not A Racist

UPDATED.

We meant to go up with something on the Bill O'Reilly controversy du jour on Tuesday, but more pressing news did not permit. The Lede beat us to it: "Mr. Reilly [sic] is guilty of being sheltered, old-fashioned and possibly exhibiting a casual racism." Maybe. We decided to put the question to his sparring partner in the now-infamous interview, NPR's Juan Williams.

Williams, a prominent political journalist who is also black, is the liberal counterpoint on "FOX News Sunday." We reached him by phone on Tuesday, and asked if he thought O'Reilly was a racist. His answer was, "No."

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Posted at 9:00 AM
Posted to: Don Imus, Economy, FOX News, Media, Race
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September 25, 2007

Voter ID Case To Be Decided Before Election '08

Among the cases granted cert [PDF] by the Supreme Court today is a highly anticipated appeal concerning one of the strictest voter ID laws in the land.

Petitioners in the consolidated case, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, are appealing the decisions of two lower courts to uphold the 2005 law, which requires would-be voters to present government-issued photo identification. The court will be asked to decide, probably in oral arguments early next year, whether the law infringes on Indianans' right to vote.

This case will settle a patchwork of conflicting laws popping up in the states, a welcome relief as the very act of voting becomes ever more complicated in certain places. But voting rights advocates opposing ID requirements could well find themselves wishing the case hadn't been brought just yet.

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Posted at 4:25 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Constitution, Race, Supreme Court, WH 2008
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September 21, 2007

Jena Protests Update

We missed this in our post yesterday: Justin Barker, the white student who was beaten by the so-called Jena Six, was expelled in May from Jena High School after bringing a firearm to campus, according to Gannett News Service. He has not been charged with a crime.

Meanwhile, bail was denied for Mychal Bell, who is the lone member of the seven black students accused in the beating still behind bars. Juvenile court proceedings are secret, so it is not clear why bail was denied. Bell's convictions for aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery were thrown out by two judges who ruled he should have been tried as a juvenile. The parish DA has yet to refile charges against him in juvenile court, and has hinted he might appeal the two court decisions to Louisiana's high court.

Posted at 4:18 PM
Posted to: Crime, Race
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September 20, 2007

Jena Puts Race Back In The Headlines... For Now

CNN anchors Kyra Phillips and Tony Harris have been waxing poetic about the state of race relations today from Jena, La., where thousands, possibly tens of thousands, have gathered to protest criminal charges brought against seven black teens who jumped a white classmate last year.

This latest national Rodney King moment reminds us of the early days of the Duke lacrosse rape case, which inspired intense soul-searching about the state of race relations in this country that quickly came to a halt once it became clear the accusations were a whole lot of bunk. The New York Times, a primary driver of the race narrative in that story, never revisited the issue in its subsequent reporting (though the ombudsman did) after the charges were dropped and DA Mike Nifong was stripped of all credibility.

The Jena case may have its own dodgy prosecutor. The LaSalle Parish District Attorney, Reed Walters, initiated the national outcry over this case when he charged the seven high school students -- including three minors -- with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. Given the facts, his effort to lock the teens up until they reach middle age seems both patently foolish and grossly punitive. Walters eventually scaled back the charges to aggravated battery, but the damage was done.

Enter Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

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Posted at 6:30 PM
Posted to: Economy, Media, Race
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August 09, 2007

One In 10 U.S. Counties Have Minority-Majority Population

Ethnic groups traditionally tagged as minorities have outgrown the white populations in nearly one in 10 U.S. counties, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning. In 303 out of 3,141 counties nationwide last year, minorities comprised more than 50 percent of the population.

According to the release, the government defines "the minority population... as anyone who indicated that they were either Hispanic or a race other than white alone."

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Posted at 11:47 AM
Posted to: Race
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July 12, 2007

Obama, Tancredo (?!) Turn Heads At NAACP Convention

Nine presidential candidates addressed the NAACP's annual conference today in Detroit -- eight Democrats and a lone Republican, immigration enforcer Tom Tancredo, congressman from Colorado.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., roused the crowd by juxtaposing President Bush's commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby with the 10-year prison sentence handed to Georgia's Genarlow Wilson, a young black man convicted of child molestation at age 17 after having consensual sex at a party. "We know we have more work to do when Scooter Libby gets no prison time and a 21-year-old honor student, who hadn't even committed a felony, gets 10 years in prison," he said.

By all accounts, Obama received the loudest response, but his Democratic rivals were received warmly as well, particularly Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. Even Tancredo received a standing ovation, but according to the Detroit Free Press, that was "more because he was the only Republican to show up, rather than approving of his stance on issues."

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Posted at 5:40 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Race, Republicans, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
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June 28, 2007

Supreme Court Rules Against School Desegregation Policies

UPDATED.

The modern-day Supreme Court has a tendency to save its touchiest cases for the end of the term, and that was certainly true today. In what was surely a coincidence on the justices' part, this morning's 5-4 decision [PDF] against two school districts' desegregation programs was handed down hours before PBS hosts the first 2008 presidential candidate forum that will focus on race-related issues.

Luckily for the Republican hopefuls, they will be spared having to defend the "right-wing judicial activists" who "turned Brown v. Board of Education on its head" during tonight's event at Howard University. Those criticisms of today's ruling are from Democratic candidate John Edwards, who was joined in the race to release a statement condemning the decision by first-tier rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

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Posted at 6:02 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Constitution, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Race, Supreme Court, WH 2008
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April 12, 2007

Tony Blair Touches Off Imus-Like Flap

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under fire for advising community leaders to do away with "political correctness" and acknowledge that London's rising gang violence mostly involves young blacks.

"When are we going to start saying this is a problem amongst a section of the black community and not, for reasons of political correctness, pretend that this is nothing to do with it?" Blair said, in an address delivered yesterday to the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce. "The black community -- the vast majority of whom in these communities are decent, law-abiding people horrified at what is happening -- need to be mobilised in denunciation of this gang culture that is killing innocent young black kids. But we won't stop this by pretending it isn't young black kids doing it."

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Posted at 12:47 PM
Posted to: Europe, Race, Tony Blair, U.K.
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