QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s only a few bigots.”
commenting on a poll that shows racism among whites may cost Barack Obama
the presidential election.
RACIAL DISPARITY IN RADIATION TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS: A study by researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas finds that black women are significantly less likely to receive radiation therapy after lumpectomy surgery for breast cancer. In a study of more than 37,000 women who had breast cancer surgery, 74 percent of white women received radiation therapy. But only 65 percent of black women received radiation treatment.
— The research also showed wide variation depending on the region of the country. In the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions there was no significant racial difference in the percentage of women who received radiation treatment after breast surgery. But in the Pacific states, there was a 17 percentage point difference between whites and blacks in radiation treatment rates.
NEW FUNDING SOUGHT TO AID HATE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS IN PENNSYLVANIA: A new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature seeks to boost funding for the state’s Human Relations Commission which is charged with investigating charges of racial discrimination. At the present time, 11 of the commission’s 182 employees are assigned to programs to prevent hate crimes while the remainder of the staff deals with complaints filed by citizens. The new funding would allow the commission to hire 15 additional staffers to concentrate on education efforts to prevent hate crimes.
SHARP RISE IN REPORTED HATE CRIMES IN BOSTON: The Community Disorders Unit of the Boston Police Department announced that there has been a significant rise in reported hate crimes in the city over the past five years. In 2004 there were 117 hate crimes reported to police. In 2007 the number rose to 178. This is an increase of 52 percent. But police superintendent Bruce Holloway believes that at least part of the increase is due to greater willingness of the public to report such crimes to police. “There’s increased community trust, there’s no doubt about that,” Holloway said.
NEW PARK HONORS CIVIL RIGHTS ICON EMMETT TILL: Fifty-three years ago an all-white jury acquitted two white men of the murder of 15-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. The men, protected by their constitutional right of not being placed in double jeopardy, later admitted to the murder in an interview in Look magazine.
— Till, a black teen from Chicago who was visiting relatives in Mississippi for the summer, was kidnapped and murdered reportedly because he whistled at a white married woman in a local store. Photographs of Till’s brutally beaten body were published in Jet magazine and jump-started the civil rights movement.<
— Now a 20-acre park and nature trail named in honor of Till has opened in Glendora, Mississippi, a few miles north of where the murder occurred. About 100 students from Prairie View A&M University in Texas volunteered their time this summer to build the nature trail and landscape the park.
LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO: Two former faculty members, one black and one Hispanic, have filed a race discrimination lawsuit against New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The suit claims that the professors were illegally dismissed after they complained of discrimination and racial harassment by a former dean at the university. (Albuquerque Journal, 9-20-08)
ROXBURY, NEW JERSEY: Racist fliers from a group called the League of American Patriots were left on driveways in Roxbury, New Jersey. The fliers were headlined, “Do You Want a Black President?” The text said that nations with black leaders are “the most unstable and violent in the world. Why should we seal our fate by allowing a black ruler to destroy us?” The hate group’s Web site says that its foremost mission is “halting the rapid demographic decline of the European peoples in our homeland.” (Newark Star-Ledger, 9-23-08)
JONESBORO, GEORGIA: A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation has determined that a realtor in Jonesboro, Georgia, intentionally steered white and black customers to different neighborhoods. Investigators sent black and white testers to the realty office. The realtor refused to show white customers homes in black neighborhoods and made derogatory remarks about African Americans. The realtor told one white tester he kept different lists of available properties for black and white customers.
CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND: The coach of the predominantly black, Washington, D.C., Dunbar High School football team pulled his team off the field during a game against a predominantly white team in Cumberland, Maryland. The Dunbar coached said that his players were being called “nigger” and other racial slurs by opposing players. The coach thought a fight was about to break out so he pulled his team off the field even though they held a six-point lead. The opposing coach said that his players told him racial slurs were not used. The referee and other officials said they heard no racial slurs. (Associated Press, 9-23-08)
NEWBERG, OREGON: An image of Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree outside a building on the campus of George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. The image included a caption that read “Act Six Reject.” Act Six is a scholarship program established two years ago to increase the number of minority and low-income students on campus. The university, founded by Quakers, has a 2,000-member undergraduate student body. Only 2 percent of the students are black. (The Oregonian, 9-24-08)
DES MOINES, IOWA: A handbook for Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa contained a typographical error with racial implications. A calendar entry for February 16, 2009 was supposed to read “Black History Lunch and Learn.” However the notation actually read, “Black History Linch and Learn.” The college said that the mistake was not intentional noting that the letters “i” and “u” are right next to each other on keyboards. (Des Moines Register, 9-25-08)
*MANSFIELD, OHIO: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a race discrimination lawsuit against a Kroger supermarket outlet in Mansfield, Ohio. The suit claims that a black employee was repeatedly denied promotions in favor of whites, some of whom he had trained. (Associated Press, 9-25-08)
WOODWARD, OKLAHOMA: A cross-burning occurred at a mobile home in Woodward, Oklahoma. There are a number of black residents in the vicinity of where the cross was burned. (The Woodward News, 9-25-08)
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: The chair of the Republican Party in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, resigned his position after a public outcry concerning racially charged remarks. The GOP official was quoted as saying, “The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won’t vote for a black president.” (Deseret Morning News, 9-26-08)
TRACKING HATE CRIMES: For week September 21-27, the term “hate crime” appeared in the nation’s major newspapers and magazines 297 times. This is more than the 171 mentions of the term in the prior week.
— So far in 2008, hate crimes were mentioned 10,757 times in the national press. In the January 1 to September 27, 2007 period, hate crimes were mentioned 11,971 times in the national media.
Reprinted in the WORD with permission from Race Relations Reporter © copyright.