racial inequality news stories on Newser

Rick Perry Asked to Halt Tomorrow's Execution

Kevin Spak — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:43:59 CDT

Lawyers for Duane Edward Buck are urging Texas Gov. Rick Perry to step in and stay their client's execution, scheduled for tomorrow, citing racially biased testimony presented at his sentencing hearing. Texas law requires juries to decide if a defendant poses a “future danger” when deciding whether to give the...

Blacks Smoke Less Pot, But Get Arrested More

John Johnson — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:45:29 CDT

White people smoke pot at a higher rate than black people, says the government, but you'd never guess that from police reports. In California, blacks are arrested far more frequently for marijuana possession than whites—at 13 times the rate in some areas, notes the Los Angeles Times editorial board....

Civil Rights Leaders Talk Jobs With Obama

Kevin Spak — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:03:39 CST

President Obama met with some of the country’s top civil rights leaders last night, laying out his plans to improve the economic conditions that have sent black unemployment soaring to 16.5%. Al Sharpton, NAACP head Benjamin Jealous, and National Urban League chief Marc Morial all braved the snow for...

Black Optimism Surges

Harry Kimball — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:23:00 CST

The last two years have seen a big increase in black Americans’ sense of how well-off they are in society. A Pew poll concludes that the election of President Obama was a “spur for this sharp rise in optimism,” in which 39% of respondents say they are better off than...

White Firefighters' Bias Claims Head to High Court

Matt Cantor — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:12:44 CDT

Hoping to become lieutenants, 77 New Haven firefighters took a promotion test—but when none of the 19 black firefighters qualified, the city jettisoned the results. Their hopes dashed, 17 white firefighters sued the city for racial discrimination, and the case is now set for the Supreme Court. It marks...

Phelps Gets Off Easy Thanks to Image, Not Race

Drew Nelles — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:01:02 CST

Those who think Michael Phelps would be facing harsher treatment if he were black are “stuck in the 1960s,” Jason Whitlock writes for Fox Sports. “Image is everything whether you're black or white.” Only bad boys get hung out to dry when controversy calls—Phelps was “quick with the contrite,...

Can Michelle Defy Stereotypes?

Katherine Thompson — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:16:27 CDT

It's no wonder Michelle Obama is being criticized from all sides: She's an outspoken, successful black woman, writes Sophia A. Nelson in the Washington Post . "This society can't even see a woman like Michelle Obama. All it sees is a black woman and attaches stereotypes," a prominent female African-American journalist...

Racial Divide Persists Despite Obama: Poll

Rob Quinn — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:57:52 CDT

Barack Obama's often hailed "post-racial" run for the White House is, in fact, unfolding in an America still sharply divided by race, a New York Times /CBS News poll has discovered. The lives of most Americans are as racially segregated as they were 8 years ago, the poll says. Black...

S. Africa Reclassifies Chinese as 'Black'

Rob Quinn — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:15:03 CDT

South Africa's high court has decided Chinese people should be reclassified as black, the London Times reports. The country's 20,000 citizens of Chinese origin had complained that they were left out of programs aimed at reversing inequalities created under apartheid, despite having been discriminated against under white rule. A...