QUOTE OF THE WEEK:“What’s become more and more clear to employers
is that achieving a truly diverse workforce is not only about
adhering to regulations or being seen as politically correct, but
directly ties to their organization’s success and their ability to be
innovative and profitable.”
World Diversity Leadership Summit held at the United Nations in New York City.
PENNSYLVANIA LOOKS TO INCREASE RACIAL DIVERSITY ON JURIES: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania found that jury pools in the state did not reflect the ethnic makeup of the state’s population. Because jury pool selection was based predominantly on voter registration rolls, and blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to register to vote, minorities were underrepresented on juries. Now the state has a new jury database. In addition to voter registration rolls, people are entered into the jury pool from the state’s drivers license, tax, and welfare databases.
RESEARCH FINDS DOCTORS ARE MORE EMPATHETIC TO PATIENTS WITH LIGHTER SKIN: A study by computer scientists at several universities has found that white medical students can exhibit racial bias even when their patients are virtual representations of actual humans. In the experiment, medical students were asked to give short responses to queries posed by light-skinned and dark-skinned virtual patients. A panel of medical experts was asked to rank the level of empathy shown to the patient by the responses the medical school students gave to each virtual patient. When making their evaluation of the medical students’ empathy, the panel of experts was not shown the skin pigmentation of the virtual patient to whom the medical students were speaking.
The results showed the medical students were significantly more empathetic to light-skinned virtual patients than they were to dark-skinned patients.
PRODUCTION OF PLAY SHUT DOWN IN WILMETTE, ILLINOIS, DUE TO DIALOGUE WHICH INCLUDES THE WORD “NIGGER”: Park officials in Wilmette, Illinois, closed down the production of the play Ragtime, which was going to be performed at an open-air theater. Officials feared that the use of the word “nigger” in the dialogue of the play, broadcast on the theater’s loud speaker, would alarm people in the park who were not viewing the theatrical production. The executive director of the park service states, “We had grave concerns that people would take the language they heard over the amplified sound system out of context.”
RUSSIA FINALLY TAKING STEPS TO CURB HATE CRIME VIOLENCE: In Moscow, Russian prosecutors have arrested a gang of 22 teenagers and charged them with 20 hate crime murders. Foreign university students from African nations have been targeted in many of the attacks.
AFRICAN AMERICANS MAKE UP A DISPROPORTIONATE SHARE OF PATIENTS AWAITING KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS: U.S. government data shows that African Americans are 37 percent of all patients in this country undergoing kidney dialysis. But blacks are only 19 percent of the patients who receive kidney transplants.
The disparity occurs because transplant recipients are matched with donors whose tissue most resembles their own. This increases the chances that the kidney will not be rejected by the transplant recipient. But there are limited numbers of black donors with compatible tissue for black patients in need of a kidney.
LEGISLATION SEEKS TO ESTABLISH PANELS TO INVESTIGATE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, has introduced the Justice Integrity Act. The legislation will establish 10 regional advisory boards under the supervision of the attorney general of the United States to study racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system. Under the plan the boards will issue public reports of their findings and make recommendations on how to correct the disparities.
A MAJORITY OF BLACKS AND WHITES BELIEVE THAT AN OBAMA VICTORY WOULD IMPROVE RACE RELATIONS IN THIS COUNTRY: A Gallup/USA Today poll finds that one of every six African Americans says that if Obama is defeated, race relations in this country will become a lot worse. But a majority of blacks, and a majority of whites, say that an Obama victory would make race relations better.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Two white interns from Northeastern University in Boston were being trained by paramedics at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. The hospital and its emergency medical services are operated by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. In a hazing ritual, the two interns were made to dress in Ku Klux Klan costumes while riding in ambulances during emergency calls. One intern was seen in a photograph clutching a small wooden cross. (Boston Globe, 7-14-08)
GRANITE BAY, CALIFORNIA: Racist graffiti was found on road signs in Granite Bay, California. The graffiti included the word “nigger” and the slogan “White Power.” (Sacramento Bee, 7-14-08)
NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS: A homemade sign picturing a black man with a large Afro haircut was placed near the entrance to a swimming pool in a housing development in New Braunfels, Texas. The sign read, “Pool’s Closed.” There is only one African-American family in the 127-home community and that family does not use the swimming pool. The sign was put up after two biracial grandchildren of a white resident used the pool. (San Antonio Express-News, 7-15-08)
NORTHPORT, ALABAMA: Racial slurs were painted on the side of mobile homes belonging to black and Hispanic residents in Northport, Alabama. The letters “KKK” were painted in red on the side of one home. The vandals also threw a concrete block through the window of a vehicle parked outside a mobile home and fired shots into another vehicle. (Tuscaloosa News, 7-15-08)
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: A white man in Daytona Beach, Florida, was charged with intentionally running over a black woman with his car. The woman was riding her bicycle on the sidewalk. The woman suffered a broken leg and internal injuries. After crashing his car, the white man got out of the vehicle and according to witnesses, screamed “Help me kill these niggers.” When arrested the man told police that “blacks should go back where they came from.” He also said that he was angry because blacks were having sex with his wife and his girlfriend. Records show that the suspect has had a history of mental illness. (Daytona Beach News-Journal, 7-16-08)
MONROVIA, CALIFORNIA: A black man was shot six times on a street in Monrovia, California. Police maintain that the incident was gang related. But the victim’s family says the man is not a member of a gang and was shot simply because of his race. (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 7-16-08)
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY: Twenty-three African-American and Hispanic officers of the New Jersey State Police have filed a race discrimination lawsuit. The suit accuses the State Police of discriminating against black and Hispanic troopers in promotions, training, special assignments, and discipline. (Newark Star-Ledger, 7-16-08)
OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY: A dead dog was hung by a storage garage rented by an African-American man in Owensboro, Kentucky. Racial slurs were spray-painted on the garage and a van parked near the building. (Owensboro Messenger, 7-16-08)
COLLINGDALE, PENNSYLVANIA: A black family in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, found racist graffiti scratched into the finish of their two vehicles parked outside their home. A tire on one vehicle was slashed. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-17-08)
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA: A black professor at South Dakota State University in Sioux Falls has settled a race discrimination lawsuit he filed against the institution. The tenured professor, who was on the biology department faculty since 1986, claimed he received smaller pay increases than his white colleagues. (Associated Press, 7-18-08)
SHREVESPORT, LOUISIANA: A black actor celebrating the wrap of a film at a bar in Shreveport, Louisiana, became involved in an altercation with police. The actor was pepper-sprayed and Tasered as he lay on the floor. Police could be heard on a cellphone videotape of the incident directing racial slurs at the black actor. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7-18-08)
TRACKING HATE CRIMES: For week July 13-19, the term “hate crime” appeared in the nation’s major newspapers and magazines 190 times. This is slightly more than the 188 mentions of the term in the prior week.
So far in 2008, hate crimes were mentioned 8,335 times in the national press. In the January 1 to July 19, 2007 period, hate crimes were mentioned 8,898 times in the national media.
Reprinted in the WORD with permission from Race Relations Reporter © copyright.