Chinese Opera's Unlikely Phenom
On stage, a young opera performer plays the role of a Mongolian boy longing for a faraway friend. He sings in Chinese, "Will she still remember me? Will she recognize me?" The performer is a nine-year-old fourth-grader. And he's African American. Tyler Thompson has fans of Chinese opera buzzing. With an expressive singing voice and an impeccable Mandarin accent, Thompson's performance brought Henrique Ham, a Chinese immigrant, to tears. "It's very special," he said. Traditional Chinese opera (subscription required) includes song, mime and acrobatics. It's difficult for natives of China to conquer, so it's no wonder people are awed by this African-American child from Oakland, Calif.

The Northern California city is one of the most diverse in the country. Thirty-six percent of the city's 400,000 residents are African American, 31 percent are white, 22 percent are Latino and 16 percent are Asian American, The Wall Street Journal reports. Fittingly, Thompson's life is a multicultural one: He lives in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, but attends Lincoln Elementary, a Chinatown public school where 90 percent of the students are Asian American. Lincoln teacher Sherlyn Chew taught Thompson to sing Mandarin folk songs in first grade. He picked it up so quickly that she cast him in a school production of a Chinese opera. Since Chinese is a tonal language, having a musical ear helps people learn it, but it's easy to make mistakes. "If you put the wrong tone to the lyrics, all hell breaks loose," Chew says. Thompson proved to be an adept student and a major talent, earning a standing ovation in March after a performance at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

U.S. Lost 10,000 Service Members to Policy
Approximately 10,000 U.S. service members have been discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy since its passage in 1993. The law prohibits lesbian, gay and bisexual service members from serving openly in the armed forces. 
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Latinos to Constitute One Quarter of U.S. Population
The Latino population is expected to reach 102.6 million by July 1, 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to this projection, Hispanics would constitute 24 percent of the nation’s total population on that date.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Pacific Islanders, Native Americans Have Top Rate of High-Schoolers
Almost 8 percent of Native Americans, Alaska natives Hawaiian natives and other Pacific islanders were high school-age children (14 to 17), which topped all racial and ethnic groups as a percentage. The total number in this age range nationwide was 16.5 million. (U.S. Census Bureau)
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Gays Lead Non-Gays in Political Internet Use
Gays, lesbians and bisexuals (GLBs) use the internet more for access to political news and updates than heterosexuals (16 to 6 percent), according to a national online survey of adults by Harris Interactive. The survey showed that both GLBs and heterosexuals ranked “staying connected with friends and family” (53 to 52 percent) and seeking “general news and information” (41 to 38 percent) as their top two activities on the internet.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Women Choose Home Over Work
More than 70 percent of women who have opted out of corporate work did so to tend to their family, pursue non-profit or foundation work or take a government position, according to a survey by CareerWoman.com. Sixty-two percent revealed that they are not currently considering re-entering the corporate work force.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Senior Segment of Workforce Growing
The work force is aging quickly. By 2012, workers who are 55 and older will constitute about 19 percent of the labor force, compared with 14 percent in 2002, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington. This group is the fastest-growing segment of the work force.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Discrimination Against Muslims Surged By 70 Percent in 2003
In 2003, U.S. Muslims reported 1,019 incidents of physical and verbal attacks, on-the-job discrimination, and racial profiling by law enforcement, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The 2003 number represents a 70 percent increase compared with 2002.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Spanish-Speaking Population Grows in U.S.
Approximately 29 million U.S. residents age 5 and older speak Spanish at home. Spanish-speakers constitute a ratio of more than one-in-10 U.S. residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Among those who speak Spanish at home, more than 50 percent say they speak English “very well.”
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Working Women: Domestic Issues More Important than Terrorism
When asked “which issues will influence your vote the most,” 79 percent of working women chose “domestic issues, such as joblessness and education,” according to a survey conducted by the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. Only 21 percent chose “international issues such as terrorism and trade.”
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Mexicans Make Up Majority of Latinos in U.S.
Sixty-seven percent of Latino people in the United States are of Mexican background, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the remainder, 14 percent are of Central and South American backgrounds, 9 percent are Puerto Rican, 4 percent Cuban and 7 percent are other Hispanic/Latino origins.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

FBI Ends Benefits for Gay Agent's Partner
The FBI has rescinded health benefits that it says were mistakenly given to the same-sex partner of an agent after the couple wed in Massachusetts. Katy Gossman, an agent with the FBI in New Haven, received an e-mail from the bureau informing her that her wife, Kristin, would be removed from her health plan. FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Tuesday the approval had been a mistake and an oversight. The U.S. government does not allow same-sex spousal benefits, Carter said. The couple, who live in Meriden, Conn., had been receiving spousal benefits since May 30, Katy Gossman said. They were wed after gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts in May. Katy Gossman sent a copy of her marriage license to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., seeking benefits for Kristin, whom she listed as her spouse. She also said the New Haven office called FBI headquarters to give them a “heads up” about the situation. Kristin Gossman, 38, is a full-time student and had no health benefits before their marriage, Katy Gossman said. The Gossmans have not decided whether to fight the decision. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has said that state law does not allow for same-sex marriages, but he declined to say whether Connecticut will recognize marriage licenses issued to gay couples in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said that any gay marriages involving out-of-state couples would be declared void. (AP)
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Real-Life Mr. Moms Care for 189,000 Children
Approximately 105,000 fathers choose to be stay-at-home dads, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "Stay-at-home dads" are defined as married men with children younger than 15 who are not in the labor force primarily so they can care for their family while their wives work outside the home. Stay-at-home dads care for 189,000 children.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Latinos Are More Avid Moviegoers
Latinos are 21 percent more likely than the average American to see a movie within two weeks of its release, according to Arbitron Inc. Thirty-four percent of Latinos say they have been to a cinema in the past week, compared with 17 percent of African Americans and 19 percent of whites.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Asian-American Same-Sex Households Have Lower Incomes Than Others
Median income for Asian-American gay and lesbian households is $55,500 a year compared with $69,300 for general market same-sex households, according to a report by the Asian American Federation of New York analysis of recently released Census 2000 data on Asian-American same-sex households in the New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.
Source: Diversity, Inc.

Majority of Americans Prefer to Live in Mixed Neighborhoods
According to the "Civil Rights and Race Relations" survey conducted by Gallup, 68 percent of African Americans, 61 percent of Latinos and 57 percent of whites prefer to live in mixed neighborhoods.

Most U.S. Immigrants From Latin America
According to the Census Bureau report, "The Foreign-Born Population in the United States" (March 2002), it was estimated that among the foreign-born population, 52 percent were born in Latin America, 26 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania.
Source: DiversityInc.com

April 5, 2004

Asian-American Women Invisible as Corporate Officers
While 15.7 percent of corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies are female, Asian-American women make up just 0.29 percent of that group, according to a recent study by the nonprofit women's research organization Catalyst. Among women of color, Asian Americans are the most likely to have graduate degrees but the least likely to hold a position within three levels of the chief executive.
Source: DiversityInc.com

April 2,2004

Latinas Wield More Power in Corporate America
According to a HispanTelligence research report, Latinas wield more power than Latino men in professional or managerial positions (21.4 percent vs. 14 percent of the work force, respectively) and educational achievement (Latinas earned 60 percent of bachelor's degrees awarded in 2000 in the Latino community).
Source: DiversityInc.com

April 1, 2004

GRADUATION RATES AT BLACK COLLEGES ARE DISMALLY LOW BUT THERE ARE SOME PLEASANT SURPRISES: In the last edition of JBHE Weekly Bulletin we reported that Texas College in Tyler, Texas, had achieved a perfect 100 percent graduation rate for black students entering the college in 1996. Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina, was not far behind with a black student graduation rate of 98 percent. We are now able to report on the results of our analysis of the black student graduation rates at 76 four-year historically black colleges and universities. Of these 76 HBCUs, 28 colleges and universities have a higher black student graduation rate than the national average for entering African-American college students, which currently stands at 39 percent. Four schools are right at the national average of 39 percent and 44 black colleges have a lower graduation rate for black students than the national average. In fact, at nearly one half of the black colleges in our survey two thirds or more of all entering students do not go on to earn a diploma within a six-year period.

Only 11 of the 76 HBCUs graduated at least one half of the black students who matriculated at these schools in 1996. In addition to aforementioned Texas College and Barber-Scotia College, the HBCUs with black student graduation rates higher than 50 percent are: Spelman College (76%), Claflin University (70%), Morehouse College (65%), Fisk University (61%), Xavier University (59%), Elizabeth City State University (54%), Hampton University (53%), Talladega College (54%), and Miles College (52%).

There are nine HBCUs that graduate fewer than one in five entering students and four that graduate less than one in 10. The HBCUs with the lowest black student graduation rates are: the University of the District of Columbia (5%), Jarvis Christian College (7%), Voorhees College (9%), Southern University at New Orleans (9%), Texas Southern University (12%), Harris-Stowe College (14%), LeMoyne-Owen College (16%), Savannah State University (17%), and Central State University in Ohio (19%).

IS EDUCATION A WHITE THING? The late John U. Ogbu, a highly respected African-American anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley, developed a theory that the low educational achievement of young blacks in the inner city was partly the result of group culture holding that achieving good grades was an unacceptable form of "acting white." As a result, bad grades and a casual attitude toward school, learning, and books are necessary for peer acceptance.

Speaking recently at the Aspen Institute in Washington, Henry Louis Gates Jr., chair of the black studies department at Harvard, commented on how things have changed in this regard in the years since he was a youth:

"We were taught that doing well in school was like firing a bullet into the heart of George Wallace and Orval E. Faubus. If Wallace and Faubus had been sitting around in 1963 wondering how to stop the civil rights movement, and one said, 'We are going to persuade them not to embrace deferred gratification, that education is a white thing, throw in some bling-bling and persuade them that authentic black identity is some kind of thug ghetto anti-education identity,' the other would say,
'Oh, man, nobody is that stupid.'"

· Percentage of all white high school students in the United States who are enrolled in private school: 10.6%
· Percentage of all African-American high school students in the United
States who are enrolled in private school: 4.6%

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
Source: THE JOURNAL OF BLACKS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

March 31, 2004

WHITES WILL BE THE MINORITY BY 2050: The Census Bureau reported recently that by the year 2050 the number of Asians and Hispanics in the United States will triple. Minorities are projected to be 50 percent of the U.S. population by midcentury. The percentage of blacks in the U.S. population is expected to increase from about 13 percent today to about 15 percent of the total in 2050.

Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

March 30,2004

Asian-American Same-Sex Households Have Lower Incomes Than Others
Median income for Asian-American gay and lesbian households is $55,500 a year compared with $69,300 for general market same-sex households, according to a report by the Asian American Federation of New York analysis of recently released Census 2000 data on Asian-American same-sex households in the New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.
Source: DiversityInc.com

March 26, 2004

Three in Ten Latinos Experience Discrimination
Three in ten Latinos from California, Texas, Florida, New York and New Jersey report they, a family member or a close friend experienced discrimination during the last five years because of their racial or ethnic background.
Source: DiversityInc.com

March 25, 2004

Asian-American Population Expected to Grow Fastest
According to U.S. Census Bureau through 2020, the Asian and Pacific Islander population is expected to continue to grow faster than the nation's other racial groups or the Latino population. It is projected that each year after 2018 and through 2050, more Asians and Pacific Islanders than non-Latino whites will be added to the nation's population.
Source: DiversityInc.com

March 24, 2004

CONFEDERATE FLAG FLAP HITTING SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE POCKETBOOK: The National Collegiate Athletic Association has decided not to lift its ban on holding athletic championships in the state of South Carolina. In 2001 the organization decided not to hold any championship tournaments or games in any college sport at venues in the state. The action was taken to protest the fact that the Confederate flag still flies on the grounds of the State Capitol. Because the state has taken no action, the NCAA extended the moratorium indefinitely. NCAA tournament events can bring millions of dollars into the local economy of cities in which the contests are held.

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS DOWN IN 2003: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that the number of discrimination complaints filed by those seeking jobs declined in 2003. The number of discrimination complaints had reached a seven-year high in 2002. Overall, in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2003, 81,293 discrimination complaints were filed with the EEOC nationwide. This was down 6.6 percent from 2002. Race was the most common reason cited by those who filed reports with the agency. Complaints involving discrimination by race made up 35.1 percent of all complaints filed with the EEOC in 2003. Some 30 percent of all complaints involved gender discrimination.

RACIAL SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON THE RISE: An analysis of
Department of Education data by the Scripps Howard News Service has found that in many states blacks and other minority students are becoming increasingly segregated in the public schools. The study found that in 24 states at least 25 percent of all minority students attend schools in which minorities make up 90 percent or more of the student body. In the state of New York, 55.3 percent of all minority students attend predominantly minority schools, the highest rate in the nation. In Michigan 48.8 percent of the students attend schools where minorities are at least 90 percent of the student body. West Virginia and New Hampshire are the only states in which there were no schools where minorities make up 90 percent of the students. The study also found the percentage of minority students attending predominantly minority schools has increased significantly over the past decade. The largest increase was in Ohio. Today 30.6 percent of minority students attend predominantly minority schools, up from 8.9
percent a decade ago.
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

March 15, 2004

Buying Power? Despite low $33,0000-a-year family incomes, well below the national $42,000 average, Hispanics' expanding buying power is still having a huge influence on the food Americans eat, the clothes we buy, and the cars we drive.
Source: Newsmax.com

Feb 17, 2004

Who were the 5 black Presidents? Presidents Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge all have something in common, according to a few past and present historians- they all had African American ancestors.
Source: DiversityInc.com

Feb 5, 2004

78.6% of Registered Latinos Voted in 2000
Of the 7.5 million registered Latino voters in 2000, 78.6 percent actually voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
84.2% of Registered African Americans Voted in 2000
Of the 15.3 million registered African-American or black voters in 2000, 84.2 percent actually voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
82.8% of Registered Asian Americans Voted in 2000
Of the 2.5 million registered Asian-American voters in 2000, 82.8 percent actually voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
86.4% of Registered Whites Voted in 2000
Of the 103.6 million registered white voters in 2000, 86.4 percent actually voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source: DiversityInc.com

December 3, 2003

WHITE SUPREMACIST A VICTIM OF KLAN VIOLENCE: The Ku Klux Klan recently held an initiation rite for new members in Johnson City, Tennessee. The new inductee was blindfolded and tied to a tree by a noose. Klan members then took turns shooting the inductee with paint pellets. One Klan member who wanted to scare the new inductee fired real bullets into the air. One round fell back to earth and struck another Klansman in the head. The bullet went through the skull of the Klan member, leaving him critically injured.

DOES INTERRACIAL INTERACTION IMPEDE COGNITIVE FUNCTION? A new study
published in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience finds that interracial contacts have a profound impact on cognitive performance. Using brain imaging technology, researchers determined that when most white people come into contact with black people they make a cognitive decision to make an effort to avoid any racial bias. This act of suppressing racial bias exhausts to some extent the white
person's mental resources. The researchers used 30 white subjects and had them interact with a black and white individual. The subjects were then given a cognitive task to perform. Those who had interacted with a black person performed less well on the task than subjects who had interacted with a white individual. The researchers found that subjects exposed to a black individual had heightened brain activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with the control of thoughts and behavior. The study concluded that similar to the depletion of a muscle after intensive exercise, the demands of the interracial interaction result in reduced capacity to engage in subsequent cognitive tasks.

SHARPTON CALLS FOR BOYCOTT BY BLACKS OF DAIMLER-CHRYSLER: The Rev. Al Sharpton made a stop in Chicago on his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination to join a rally calling for African Americans to boycott the Daimler-Chrysler Corporation. Sharpton calls on blacks not to purchase automobiles from the company. He says that the company unfairly denies credit to African Americans and that there
are racial disparities in procedures the company uses to determine
when to repossess cars.
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

November 12, 2003

MIXED-RACE YOUTH MORE LIKELY TO HAVE STRESS-RELATED PROBLEMS THAN BLACK OR WHITE TEENS: A study conducted by researchers at the School
of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that adolescents who identified themselves as being of mixed racial heritage are at higher risk for stress-related health problems such as depression, alcoholism, and truancy than students who identified themselves as either black or white. The study, published in the current edition of the American Journal of Public Health, was based on a survey of 90,000 middle and high school students. The survey found that students who self-identified themselves as being of mixed-racial heritage were more likely than black or white youths to get drunk, to consider suicide, have access to firearms, and to have had sexual intercourse at any early age. "The most common explanation for the high-risk status is the struggle with identity formation," reports J. Richard Udry, the principal author of the study and Kenan Professor of Maternal and Child Health and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "This leads to a lack of self-esteem, social isolation, and problems of family dynamics in biracial households."

AFRICAN BISHOPS ASSAIL AMERICAN EPISCOPALIANS OVER HOMOSEXUALITY: Black bishops of the Anglican Church in Africa have vowed to break all ties with the Episcopal Church U.S.A. after an openly gay man was consecrated as a bishop in New Hampshire. "The Devil has clearly entered our church," said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya. A statement issued by Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of Nigeria said that their church is in a state of "impaired communion" with the American church. An earlier statement by the Nigerian Anglican Church said that homosexuality "is devilish and satanic. It comes directly from the pit of hell. It is an idea sponsored by Satan himself and being executed by his followers and adherents who have infiltrated the
church."
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

September 24, 2003

NEW ESTIMATES OF THE RACIAL MAKEUP OF THE U.S. POPULATION: This
past week the U.S. Census Bureau released data on the U.S. population
as of July 1, 2002. There were 288,368,698 Americans on that date. Of those, there were 36,745,974 people who were identified as African Americans. They made up 12.7 percent of the U.S. population. There were an additional 4.1 million people who identified themselves as having mixed racial heritage. There are more than 3.4 million African Americans in the state of New York, the largest black population in the nation. Florida, Texas, California, and Georgia all have more than two million black
residents.

SOUTH CAROLINA NAACP WON'T MEET IN ITS OWN STATE: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have urged businesses, political parties, and organizations not to hold conventions in South Carolina. The NAACP is protesting the fact that the Confederate flag still flies on the grounds of the state capitol in Columbia. The South Carolina chapter of the NAACP is observing the boycott by moving its annual meeting next month to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

September 10, 2003

RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN INVESTMENT STRATEGIES: The 2003 Black
Investor Survey, conducted by Ariel Mutual Funds and Charles Schwab & Co., found that high-income black households are leaving the stock market. The survey found that in 2003, 61 percent of black households with an annual income above $50,000 own stock in the form of individual company shares or as part of a mutual fund. This is down from 74 percent in 2002. For whites, 79 percent of high-income
households now own stock. This was just slightly below the level that prevailed in 2002. Other findings from the survey show that 79 percent of black high-income households believe that the stock market is a less attractive investment now than was the case three years ago. Nearly 60 percent of whites agree with this assessment. A majority of high-income blacks believe real estate is now the best investment they can make. Some 44 percent of whites agree. The survey found that over the next year, high-income blacks are significantly more likely than their white counterparts to further diversify their portfolios, hold a larger share of their investments in cash, and move money from individual stocks to mutual funds.

COLOR DISCRIMINATION BECOMING MORE FREQUENT: Each year the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission receives about 85,000 complaints of racial discrimination. Increasingly, more of these complaints are being filed by dark-skinned blacks against employers and managers who are African American but have a lighter skin tone. The number of so-called colorism cases has grown from 413 in 1994 to 1,382 in 2002. A recent case of this type involved a waiter in an Applebee's restaurant in Jonesboro, Georgia. The dark-skinned waiter claimed that his light-skinned manager harassed him by calling him a "black monkey" and a "tar baby." The waiter was told he should bleach his skin.
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

September 3, 2003

NAACP MOUNTS EFFORT TO BLOCK MONUMENT TO STROM THURMOND: The Washington office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is organizing a campaign to defeat a proposal to name the new visitor's center at the U.S. Capitol in honor of the late Senator Strom Thurmond. Thurmond, who left the Senate in January of this year, died in June at the age of 100. Thurmond served in the Senate for 48 years, longer than any other person. In opposing the naming of the visitor's center in Thurmond's honor, Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, said, "During his tenure, Strom Thurmond was well known for giving exclusive representation to his white constituents, often at the expense of his black constituents. The NAACP opposes the bestowing of this high honor upon a man of such low character."

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN EMPLOYMENT? A federal judge in Boston ordered the city's fire department to hire four whites who had been passed over three years ago in favor of minority applicants who had scored lower on the departmental entrance examination. The four men also were awarded back pay and seniority. The attorney for the four white firefighters told reporters, "I think hopefully we're just going back to normal, the way it was meant to be, so that now they are hiring the best person, regardless of race or color."
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

August 27, 2003

"NEGRO" IS STILL A WIDELY USED TERM ON MAPS OF THE UNITED STATES:
In 1962 the United States Board on Geographic Names, the federal agency to which Congress gave power to issue regulations concerning acceptable language for naming places that appear on maps of this country, took action to abolish the use of the words "Nigger" and "Nip" (a derogatory term for Japanese) from official placenames in the United States. At the present time, these are the only two racially insulting words that have been officially banned. Most, if not all, of the placenames that once contained the word "nigger" prior to the 1962 federal ban were simply replaced by the term "Negro." Nigger Creeks across the nation almost always became known as Negro Creeks. RRR computers have trolled through the government's database of names of cities, towns, mountains, rivers, streams, and all other geographical sites. We have identified 573 places in the United States that continue to have the word "Negro" in their names. One might think that places using the word "Negro" would be concentrated in the South. But this is not so. In fact, California has the most places with "Negro" in the name. There are 55 placenames in the state of California that use the word Negro. New Mexico has the second-highest number of Negro placenames with 46. Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, and New York all have 20 or more places that use the term Negro.

NEW DATA ON INTERRACIAL ADOPTIONS: There are currently 126,000 children in the foster-care system who are awaiting adoption. A large percentage of these children are black. Adopted children make up about 2.5 percent of the 65 million children in the nation. The Census Bureau reported this week that about one of every six adopted children in the United States lives with a parent of a different race. About 15 percent of the parents who have an adopted child are African Americans.
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

May 7, 2003

NUMBER OF BLACK CHILDREN IN EXTREME POVERTY HITS 23-YEAR HIGH: A new report from the Children's Defense Fund says that nearly 1 million African-American children in the United States live in what is described as "extreme poverty." Children living in extreme poverty are living in families whose income is less than one half the official federal poverty line. The extreme poverty line for a family of three is slightly more than $7,000. According to the report, the number of black children living in extreme poverty is at the highest level since 1980. In releasing the report Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund, said, "It's hard to be poor. It is harder to be an extremely poor black child in America when our president, who says we should leave no child behind, is proposing massive new tax breaks for the richest Americans."

IS RACISM TO BLAME FOR DISPARITY IN DEATH SENTENCES WHEN MURDER VICTIM IS WHITE? Last week RRR reported on a new study by Amnesty International which claimed that the race of a victim was a major factor in determining if a murder defendant was given the death penalty. The study found that nationwide the number of murder victims was about equally divided among blacks and whites. However, 80 percent of all people executed in this country since 1977 had murdered white victims. The inference is that black life is cheap and murdering African Americans is not a serious enough offense to warrant the death penalty. But Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation of Sacramento believes that the Amnesty International data does not necessarily point to racism in sentencing. Rather, Scheidegger points out in USA Today that the race-of-victim argument disappears when the data is examined county by county. "The people in more conservative counties elect tougher-on-crime prosecutors who seek the death penalty in a larger proportion of cases," Scheidegger writes. "And the juries in those counties impose it more often. Statistically, these tend to be counties with a higher percentage of white residents and hence more white homicide victims. The problem is that the death penalty is not being used often enough in all counties with high minority populations. The reason is not racism. The reasons are, first, soft-on-crime politicians in those areas and, second, widespread opposition to the death penalty, which makes it difficult to obtain death verdicts from juries there."
Source: THE RACE RELATIONS REPORTER

December 25, 2002