By TaRessa Stovall

You, Sir, Are No Martin Luther King

CNN.com – June 5, 2009

Professor/blogger Melissa Harris Lacewell explains why Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, et al, are missing the point by trying to hold President Obama to a “race agenda,” and shares why Smiley’s film, “Stand,” doesn’t really have legs.

• Don’t hold Obama to race agenda

African Americans vs. Hispanics and ‘Everyone Else’

PoliticsUSA.com – June 2, 2009

According to Manuel Miranda, Hispanics “aren’t like African Americans. We think like everyone else … Hispanic polls, Hispanic surveys, indicate that Hispanics think just like everyone else.” Perhaps Miranda, who was speaking to rally conservatives against Judge Sonia Sotomayor at a Heritage Foundation luncheon, and was caught hacking into the files of Senate Democrats back in 2004,when he was aide for former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (T-RN) isn’t familiar with black Latinos or the diversity of background, nationality, identity, opinion and thought within his own community?

• Leader Of Conservative Opposition To Sotomayor Was Nailed For Hacking And Spying On Senate Dems
• GOP Racism: African Americans Think Differently from Everyone Else
• Manuel Miranda: Latinos are ‘not like African-Americans. We think just like everybody else.’
• WHERE’S MANNY?

Correctly Counting Coloreds in the Census

NNPA Newswire – May 29, 2009

Arnold Jackson, Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. decennial Census, says that the Census Bureau, concerned that fewer than 60 percent of African Americans returned their 2000 census questionnaire (compared to 77.5 percent of whites), will have some 140,000 workers across the country hustling to verify addresses and update the database in hopes of gaining an accurate count from hard-to-count groups such as blacks and immigrants. Jackson, who is African American, explains that the 2010 Census data will directly impact how more than $3 trillion in federal funding is allocated to local and state agencies and programs over the next 10 years, as well as the number of congressional representatives in a state.

• U.S. Census chief tells why African-American count is critical to success

Dear Michael Steele: Poll Shows GOP Mostly White & Conservative

Gallup.com – June 2, 2009

As if we needed an official analysis to confirm our observations, the Republican Party is mostly white, conservative and religious. The results of a recent Gallup poll “show clearly that the Republican Party today is first and foremost a political entity dominated by white Americans. Eighty-nine percent of rank-and-file Republicans are non-Hispanic whites, leaving just 5 percent who are Hispanic (of any race), and 4 percent of other races.” The Democratic Party is “significantly more diverse,” with “well over a third … nonwhite,” and four times more likely to be moderate or liberal.

• Republican Base Heavily White, Conservative, Religious

Racism Harmful to Kids’ Mental Health

USA TODAY – May 18, 2009

A new study provides evidence that adolescents and children who experience racial discrimination are possibly more likely to develop mental health issues. Showing a strong “link between perceived racism and mental disorders, the study, led by a Harvard pediatrician, showed that “Hispanics who report racism are more than three times as likely as other children to have symptoms of depression,” compared to blacks who are twice as likely, and those of “other” minority groups, who are four times as likely.

• Racism hurts kids’ mental health
• Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health

Is Teaching Racism Child Abuse?

CBCNews – June

A custody trial is underway for some Canadian parents whose 7-year-old girl and 3-year-old bpy were taken by Child Family Services because of white supremacist quotes and symbols drawn on the children’s bodies.

• Is Teaching Racism Child Abuse?

Using Statistics to Predict Racism

MentalFloss.com – June 3, 2009

Blogger Chris Higgins shares video of statistician Nate Silver, known for his work on the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, discussing how he predicts voter racism, along with his views on whites living near blacks, interracial marriage, and more…

• Is Racism Statistically Predictable?

Still Ignorant About the ‘Model Minority’

San Diego News Network – May 14, 2009

Not only can few Americans tell the difference between the various types of Asian Americans, but this ignorance thwarts progress in a changing nation and global community. A Harris Interactive Poll shows just how much Americans of different  backgrounds have to learn.

• Report: Racism towards Asian Americans persists
• SURVEY INDICATES THAT ASIAN AMERICANS ARE STILL THE “OTHER” DESPITE CONTRIBUTIONS TO U.S.

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline and Web Content Manager for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.