QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past.”
- Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Chair of the Congressional Black
Caucus, commenting on the House resolution to apologize for slavery
and Jim Crow, July 29, 2008 (See story below.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APOLOGIZES TO BLACKS FOR SLAVERY AND JIM CROW: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a historic nonbinding resolution that apologizes to African Americans for slavery and Jim Crow. The text of the resolution states, in part: “That the House of Representatives:
The House passed the measure by a voice vote. No roll call was taken.
PERSISTING RACIAL DIVIDE IN PERCEPTIONS OF RACE RELATIONS IN THIS COUNTRY: A new poll by Gallup and USA Today finds that there remains a significant divide among ethnic groups on their perceptions of race relations in this country. The poll finds that half of all African Americans believe that race will forever be a problem in the United States. But nearly 60 percent of whites believe that eventually we will find a solution. Some 77 percent of whites believe blacks have as good a chance as whites to secure a good job. Only 43 percent of blacks think they have equal employment opportunities. Four of every five whites believe that blacks have an equal opportunity to get a good education. Less than half of all blacks agree. A full 85 percent of whites believe that housing discrimination against blacks has been eliminated. But only 52 percent of blacks agree.
HATE CRIMES ON THE RISE IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY: The Los Angeles County of Human Relations Commission reports that hate crimes in the county increased 28 percent in 2007 compared to 2006. The commission’s data shows that there were 763 hate crimes reported in the county last year. The jump in hate crimes is the result of increased tensions between blacks and Latinos. The largest number of hate crimes involved black victims who had been targeted by Latinos. The second-highest number of hate crimes involved Latino victims who had been targeted by African Americans.
FIRST STATUE HONORING AFRICAN AMERICANS IS ERECTED ON CAPITOL SQUARE IN RICHMOND: Up to this point in time, the only statues on Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia, honored white men, many of whom were leaders of the Confederacy. Recently a new monument was dedicated on the square. The Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, financed by $2.6 million in private funds, honors African-American students in Prince Edward County who protested school segregation in 1951. The protest evolved into a lawsuit which eventually was joined with four other cases to form Brown v. Board of Education.
RACIAL PREJUDICE MAY PRODUCE A FAR DIFFERENT REACTION IN THE BRAIN THAN OTHER TYPES OF PERSONAL SNUBS: A study conducted by researchers at UCLA has found that people are more offended by personal snubs and criticisms than they are by racial prejudice. The experiment involved black and white students who played a computer ball-tossing game while connected to brain scans. A black student was matched with two white students while playing the computer game. After a while, the white students were told to ignore the black student and only toss the ball to each other. The brain scans showed that this “insult” generated activity in the part of the brain involving self-control and contemplation. But when a white student was the subject and two other white students ignored the test subject by not tossing him the ball, brain activity was observed in the part of the brain associated with physical pain and severe mental conflict. Researchers concluded victims of racial prejudice experience a far different reaction in the brain than other types of social rejection.
ARMY APOLOGIZES FOR COURT-MARTIAL OF 43 BLACK SOLDIERS WRONGFULLY ACCUSED OF A 1944 LYNCHING OF AN ITALIAN POW: The U.S. Army has issued an official apology for the 1944 court-martial of 43 black soldiers who were wrongfully accused of lynching an Italian prisoner of war at a base outside of Seattle. The black soldiers were framed by whites, and Army prosecutors at the time had evidence that would have cleared the black soldiers. At the trial, 28 of the black defendants were found guilty. The convictions were not overturned until last year.
MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY: A white man walked through a public park in Millville, New Jersey, yelling profanities and racial slurs. The man was attacked and robbed by three African-American juveniles. (Vineland Daily Journal, 7-25-08)
MANSFIELD, OHIO: A white woman who serves as a corrections officer in Mansfield, Ohio, has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department, claiming racial and sexual harassment. The woman’s husband is black. According to the suit, when the woman notified authorities about a romantic affair between a supervisor and a subordinate, she was harassed by a supervisor who made racially charged comments about her husband. (Mansfield News Journal, 7-27-08)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Two black police officers reported to their superiors that a black sergeant had referred to them as niggers. After he received the report, the assistant police chief, who also is black, called the two officers into his office. The two officers claim the assistant chief told them, “So what if he called you a nigger? If you can’t handle it, resign!” The two officers plan a lawsuit. (New York Daily News, 7-28-08)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Re/Max East-West, a real estate firm in Chicago. The suit states that the firm steered minority clients to homes in minority areas and did not show them homes in predominantly white neighborhoods. Using white and minority testers, an investigation found that a real estate agent for the company told a prospective white buyer that a home in a black neighborhood was a “dump.” He told a Latino tester that the same home “might be right for you.” One agent told a white tester, “If we go to an area and you don’t like it, just let me know. I can’t be a bigot, but you can be one.”
MUNCIE, INDIANA: A cross was erected and set on fire in the yard of a black family’s home in Muncie, Indiana. A black woman lives in the home with her daughter and four grandchildren. (Muncie Star Press, 7-30-08)
VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON: A white man in Vancouver, Washington, found the words “White Power” scratched into the finish of his car that was parked outside his home. The man has a Barack Obama campaign sign in his front yard. (The Columbian, 7-30-08)
DALLAS, TEXAS: A black woman from Dallas, Texas, was awarded more than $400,000 in a race discrimination lawsuit filed against AT&T. The woman claimed that she had been passed over for promotions on a number of occasions and that she had been subjected to a hostile working environment.
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: A white judge was banned from the Columbia, South Carolina, bench after he admitted making a racially charged comment. The judge referred to crack cocaine addiction as “black man’s disease.” (Associated Press, 7-29-08)
TRACKING HATE CRIMES: For week July 27 to August 2, the term “hate crime” appeared in the nation’s major newspapers and magazines 300 times. This is slightly more than the 294 mentions of the term in the prior week.
For the entire month of July there were 1,130 mentions of hate crimes. This was down from the total of 1,209 in June of this year. In July 2007, there were 958 mentions of hate crimes in the national media.
So far in 2008 hate crimes were mentioned 9,175 times in the national press. In the January 1 to August 2, 2007 period, hate crimes were mentioned 9,425 times in the national media.
Reprinted in the WORD with permission from Race Relations Reporter © copyright.