Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2009

News: Black College accused of Racism

From CBS News / The Associated Press

A historically black college in South Carolina has been sued after three white faculty members say they were passed over for jobs or let go for because of their race, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Alleging that Benedict College "engaged in unlawful practices," the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also said that the Columbia school had agreed to pay $55,000 to each of the three former instructors.

Under a settlement reached between Benedict and the EEOC, the school also agreed to remind staff about its employment policy prohibiting discrimination, provide administrators, faculty and staff with training and make periodic reports to the EEOC

Read More
I really hope that there is no foul play involved here, and I guess we'll never truly know because the case has reached a settlement. However, I must say I wouldn't be surprised if there was some impropriety on the part of Benedict College. I say that not because of anything I know about Benedict, because I know next to nothing about the school. But one of the things that I find disturbing about my black brothers and sisters is the desire to put black people into positions over more qualified persons, even when it's not the best option. As much as we hate to admit it, it happens, especially when we get into power.

That's not meant as a knock on affirmative action, which I think, when done right, promotes qualified people who would have otherwise been overlooked. But when we try to "do everything black" we end up doing things wrong. We can't let our black pride lead to bad decisions.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

News: Philly Cop Under Fire for Racist Comments

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A college class assignment may have gotten a Philadelphia police officer into some hot water.

William Thrasher, a white cop in the 22nd District, at 17th and Montgomery, has been put on desk duty after an article written by a Temple University student quoted him describing his disgust for black people in the district where he works, likening them to animals and calling their problems "typical n---- s---," or "TNS," during a ride-along with the student Jan. 30.

The article enraged The Guardian Civic League, an organization of black Philadelphia police officers, which is calling for his dismissal.

Read More

Sunday, March 22, 2009

News: Medical Racism


From The Boston Herald:

A patient alleges racism in a hospital's handling of a botched surgery and the lax investigation that followed. Here are excerpts from his letter that appeared in the Herald:

My name is Michael K. Hicks and on June 27, 2008, I had a liposuction and breast reduction procedure at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center by Dr. Loren Borud.

This is a high-profile case because of the allegations that Dr. Borud was impaired while doing my surgery.The Department of Public Health conducted what they claimed to be a full investigation and cleared Beth Israel of any wrongdoing. However, the DPH did not interview Dr. Loren Borud, the lead plastic surgeon; they did not interview me the victim; nor did they interview Dr. Eran Bar-Meir, who is the fellow surgeon that put me back together the best way he knew how.

And...

Three days after my surgery, another surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess operated on a white woman on whom a wrong-side surgery (orthopedic surgery) occurred. Beth Israel Deaconess apologized to her immediately after she awoke from surgery. They even made the statement public and did everything right and respectfully for the white woman, and gave her dignity. In my case, they sent me home the same day of the surgery without a doctor even seeing me. What was different about Michael Hicks? I am African-American, and to Beth Israel I am a Negro. My life is worth absolutely nothing to them. It is apparent my civil rights are being violated by Paul Dreyer, Beth Israel Deaconess and the Department of Public Health.

Read More

Go read the full letter, and then leave a comment on what you think. Does he have a case?

Friday, March 20, 2009

News: Russian Ads Using Obama Seen as Racist

From Asiaone News / Associated Free Press

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Obama ice cream, anyone? Chocolate-vanilla ice cream is one of several Russian products being marketed using America's first black president, even as critics call the ads racist.

Other ads featuring US President Barack Obama have promoted tanning salons and tooth-whitening services.

But the creator of one Obama-themed ad - for ice cream bars which have a chocolate-flavoured centre embedded in a layer of vanilla - insisted Friday that it was not racist and should be seen as a joke.

Read More

So, what do you think? Racist? A good marketing ploy? Just a joke? Or all of the above?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Various Repots: Obama is the Preident! Get Over It

And now, time for an LC21 News tri-fecta.

This all centers on the notion of Obama not being eligible/worthy of being president, and flat out rebellion against the President of the United States. We start with the article that exposed me to this triplet of news alerts.

From the "Attywood" blog in the Philadelphia Daily News:

It was just one year ago that right-wing martial arts guru Chuck Norris was a sought-after "get" for the GOP presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee, who paraded the star of "Walker, Texas Ranger" around the nation after the anti-abortion actor endorsed him in the primaries.

But now it's 2009, Barack Obama is in the White House, and the inventor of chun kuk do is preaching the martial art of insurrection against the U.S. government. He also wants to run for -- and no, I'm not making this up -- "the president of Texas.":

The call by some right wing leaders for rebellion and for the military to refuse the commander in chief’s orders is joined by Chuck Norris who claims that thousands of right wing cell groups have organized and are ready for a second American Revolution. During an appearance on the Glen Beck radio show he promised that if things get any worse from his point of view he may “run for president of Texas.” The martial artist/actor/activist claims that Texas was never formally a part of the United States in the first place and that if rebellion is to come through secession Texas would lead the way.

Read More

Yes, you read that correctly. Chuck Norris is talking about seceding from the United States. Literally "let's quit the country because we don't like Obama." Yes, if you're wondering, this is how the Civil War got started.

So, then I thought, "What's this about military personnel refusing their commander in chief's orders?" Here's what I found out (from The Examiner.com):
Alan Keyes' rant that soldiers should refuse orders given by President Obama has produced at least one tangible example. World Net Daily reports that Scott Easterling a U.S. soldier on active duty in Iraq has called President Obama an "impostor" in a statement in which he affirmed plans to join as plaintiff in a challenge to Obama's eligibility to be commander in chief.
The statement was publicized by California attorney Orly Taitz who, along with her Defend Our Freedom Foundation, is working on a series of legal cases seeking to uncover Obama's birth records and other documents that would reveal whether he meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
"As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States," wrote Scott Easterling in a "to-whom-it-may-concern" letter.
Read More
Yeah, seriously. All of a sudden, he needs to see the President's birth certificate before he believes that Obama's really the president. I wonder if he saw Bush's.

But wait, there's more. This is from the Colorado Springs Gazette, but really from the Associated Press:
Civilian workers at an Air Force Base in Colorado have filed a union grievance over the removal of a portrait of President Barack Obama from the base commissary.

Obama's photograph was on a sign at the Peterson Air Force Base commissary in Colorado Springs listing the store's Presidents Day hours for Feb. 16, commissary employee Lavonda Bacon said. She said it was replaced Feb. 10 with a sign with no picture.

Bacon said the store's director, Andrew J. Brookes, told employees that a customer had complained that Presidents Day was meant to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not current presidents. Bacon, who orders store merchandise from suppliers, said she believes the day honors all presidents and that she and other workers suspect racism was behind the complaint.

And:

Twenty-three workers and customers signed a separate petition demanding that Obama's picture be posted at the commissary and other public places at Peterson.

It also asks for an investigation into whether there is "a systemic pattern of hostility toward people of color" at the base. The petition alleges that military contractors or their employees have used a derogatory term to describe black commissary workers, that a white commissary worker dressed in blackface on Halloween, and that at least one employee's formal civil rights complaint has never been addressed.

Read More

Now, you may be wondering, why I have taken up so much space posting articles from elsewhere. I will be giving my own analysis on this in a little while, discussing how these three separate incidents tie together. What I want to do with the LC21 News feature is to give a sampling of what's going on in the area of race relations. So, enjoy the blurbs and check back for analysis.

Friday, March 6, 2009

News: Advertisement Industry Under Fire

From Target Market News:

The inability of the advertising industry to fill its desks, cubicles and offices with a diverse work force is coming under fire again, this time from a lawyer with a track record of extracting large settlements on behalf of employees of giant corporations like Coca-Cola, Morgan Stanley and Texaco who believed they had been the victims of racial discrimination.

Cyrus Mehri (above), a lawyer who has sued corporations over racial discrimination, said that "favoritism rules and merit is cast aside" in the advertising industry.

The lawyer, Cyrus Mehri, joined the N.A.A.C.P. at a news conference on Thursday in Midtown Manhattan to release a report on race and employment in advertising. The 100-page report, addressing subjects like hiring, compensation, assignments and promotions, is part of what the N.A.A.C.P. and Mr. Mehri, of the Washington law firm of Mehri & Skalet, are calling the Madison Avenue Project.
There's More:
Blacks remain underrepresented on Madison Avenue, according to the report, "Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry," which concluded that only 5.3 percent of managers and professionals at agencies in 2008 were black.
And those blacks who do manage to land jobs on Madison Avenue are significantly underpaid, the report said, earning 80 cents for each dollar earned by their white counterparts.The economy worsens the problem, Ms. Ciccolo said, because "many training, recruitment and antidiscrimination programs come to a complete halt" in hard times.
Read the full article
or Read more about the Madison Avenue Project
This is for all those that think that discrimination in the workplace is a thing of the past.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Report: Housing discrimination on LI 'routine practice'


Newsday.com Report:

In 2004, Kirk and Orlandina Carter, a young African-American couple soon to marry, started to look for a house to buy in a "good neighborhood."

"We probably had about three to five Realtors," said Orlandina Carter, 32. "They would always lead us to neighborhoods that were low-income, rundown."

A new study released today suggests the Carters' experiences were not unusual.

In "Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island," the Syosset advocacy group Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism criticizes real estate brokers and federal, state and local government agencies, which the group says do not act aggressively on discrimination complaints or enforce fair housing laws.
Read the entire article

Saturday, February 28, 2009

News: CA Mayor Resignes over Racist E-mail


From the Los Angeles Times:

The mayor of Los Alamitos said he will resign after coming under fire for an e-mail depicting the White House lawn as a watermelon patch, saying the controversy over racism has made it difficult to lead the city.
Click for full story
Here's the picture: