The Passing Of John Hope Franklin

See this story.

Beyonce On The Cover Of Vogue

Why is it a big deal that Beyonce is on the cover of the April issue of Vogue? She is "one of a handful of black celebrities to appear on the cover of the storied magazine in its 117-year history." Beyonce joins Oprah, Hallie Berry, Jennifer Hudson, Michelle Obama, and Lebron James on the short list of African Americans appearing on Vogue covers.

"Luck Of The Irish": An Ethnic Slur?

According to this story, the phrase "luck of the Irish" is "an ethnic slur from the days when immigrants were pouring into the United States. The idea was that any Irish man or woman who made good must be lucky rather than smart, hard-working or talented."

Bernard Monroe, Rest In Peace

According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, Bernard Monroe, a 73-year-old retired electric utility worker, was the host of a cookout for family and friends at his home in Homer, Louisiana. Monroe was unable to talk as the result of throat cancer. Two white police officers appeared at Monroe's home. Moments later he was shot to death by one of the officers in front of his family. The Louisiana state police and the FBI and federal Department of Justice are investigating the shooting. Read the linked story for an account of what supposedly happened. Sad.

On A Celebration Of African-American Culture

Check out this Wall Street Journal story on the festival "Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy" and soprano Jessye Norman.

The Bobby Jindal Watch

(Assuming that people are still watching), Louisiana Governor Jindal has appeared at and is scheduling additional fundraising dinners outside the state of Louisiana.

Senator Grassley On AIG

Said the Republican Senator from Iowa: "The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they'd follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things--resign, or go commit suicide."

Jackie Mason: Obama Is A "Schvartze"

Some fans at a recent Jackie Mason show in New York booed and walked out when Mason called President Obama a schvartze. Mason later explained that he was raised in a family where the word was used, and said, "If it's a racist society, the white people are the ones being persecuted because they have to defend themselves."

"Obama Fingers"

A German company is marketing "Obama Fingers," a fried chicken product. Some African Americans have complained that the product is racist and inappropriate and have called for a boycott; the sales manager for the company has stated that a connection between President Obama and fried chicken never occurred to her.

Wal-Mart's Hispanic Stores

Wal-Mart has decided to convert two of its existing stores in Phoenix and Houston to stores aimed at Hispanic consumers, with the "layout, signs and product assortment . . . changed to better target that demographic group . . ."

More Michael Steele

Check out Republican Party chairman Michael Steele's interview with GQ, headlined "The Reconstructionist." Some highlights or lowlights, depending on your baselines and views:

Steele listens to P. Diddy and is a big Rat Pack fan (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, etc.).

At the Republican National Convention Steele looked out at the convention floor; in his words, "Look at the room. Thirty-six black folks in the room? What, are you kidding me? Out of 4,000 people? Come on!"

On why the Republican Party has so few minority supporters: "'Cause we have offered them nothing!"

On dealing with criticism: "I ask God, 'Hey, let me show just a little bit of love, so I absolutely don't go out and kick this person's ass.'"

On gay marriage as a state issue: "Just as a general principle, I don't like mucking around with the Constitution."

On whether homosexuality is a choice: "I don't think I've ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it of and off like a water tap. . . . It's like saying, 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being black.'"

On whether women should have the right to choose abortion: "Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice."

On women's right to choose if Roe v. Wade was overruled: "The states should make that choice. That's what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide."

On the fact that his Starbucks has not closed: "No, my Starbucks has not closed. And it better not! You cannot close a Starbucks in a black community. We'll riot!" (Really? Really?)

Indian Americans: The Model Minority?

Shiwani Srivastava answers no.

"Why the GOP Can't Win With Minorities"

Shelby Steele offers his views in the Wall Street Journal. Steele notes, among other things, "the dramatic loss of moral authority America suffered in the 1960s after openly acknowledging its long mistreatment of blacks and other minorities. Societies have moral accountability, and they cannot admit to persecuting a people for four centuries without losing considerable moral accountability."

More: "And here is conservatism's great problem with minorities. In an era when even failed moral activism is redemptive--and thus a source of moral authority and power--conservatism stands flat-footed with only discipline to offer. It has only an invisible hand to compete with the activism of the left. So conservatism has no way to show itself redeemed of America's bigoted past, no way like the Great Society to engineer a grand display of its innocence, and no way to show deference to minorities for the oppression they endured. Thus it seems to be in league with that oppression."

Steele argues that conservatism "offers minorities the one thing they can never get from liberalism: human rather than racial dignity. I always secretly loved Malcolm X more than Martin Luther King Jr. because Malcolm wanted a fuller human dignity for blacks--one independent of white moral wrestling. In a liberalism that wants to redeem the nation of its past, minorities can only be ciphers in white struggles of conscience."

Reaction: no reference to a history of exclusionary and race-baiting GOP activities (the Southern Strategy, Willie Horton, etc.); a misdescription of Dr. King's call for the recognition of human rights and dignity for all and not just African Americans (and is Steele a fan of the post-Mecca-visit El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz?); a flawed analysis suggesting that persons of color should focus on the promises (and stop looking at the perils) of (Steele's narrativized) conservatism, and stop fixating on things like, say, policies and a politics promoting and protective of minority persons' and communities' own self-interests.

On Michelle Obama's Arms

Dayo Olopade on "Sleevegate."

Chuck Norris On Revolution In Texas

According to this report, while on Glenn Beck's radio show Chuck Norris, asked by the host what part of the country would "rise up" if the United States "starts to spiral out of control," agreed wuith Beck's statement that the uprising would come from Texas.

The New Dean At Columbia College

Michele Moody-Adams has been named dean at Columbia College, the first female and first African American to hold the position. "I don't mind being a role model, but I hope that's not all people think I am," Moody-Adams said.

Higway Robbery In Texas? By Police?

A Chicago Tribune story reports that a federal class action lawsuit has been filed to stop the Tenaha, Texas police from "strip[ping] motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead, they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges or other serious crimes." Court records show that, between June 2006 and June 2008, 140 people accepted this "deal." A grandmother who happens to be black gave $4,000 to the police, "and an interracial couple from Houston . . . gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care . . . Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime."

Crack News

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text messages to his former chief of staff.

47% And 26%

Forty seven percent: the white vote for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in states not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Twenty six percent: the white vote for Obama in states covered by the Act. Source: Jeff Toobin's article in The New Yorker.

"The Real Deal On The New Deal"

From The Root, noting "that key programs of the New Deal consciously excluded blacks."

Morris Brown College On Life Support

Morris Brown College in Atlanta is in trouble. A campus building was recently auctioned off for $900,000 and its water, cut off once for non-payment of a bill, may be cut off again soon. The historically black college, in debt to the tune of $30 million, has lost its accreditation and has only 160 students. President Stanley Pritchett discusses the dire situation here.

Jon Stewart On CNBC's "Experts

Watch it here.

Even More On Michael Steele

Today's New York Times has a front page story on the GOP chair.

More On Michael Steele And Bobby Jindal

John Heilmann writes: "That the GOP would seek to address [the party's image problem] by presenting a new face (or faces) is unsurprising. That it's attempting to do so by placing front and center two of the few brown or black dudes in its upper echelon can be read as a laughable act of modernization--or as an amusing, faintly desperate bit of tokenism. (You make the call!!) . . ."

"Black Dog Syndrome"

It's apparently harder to find homes for black dogs at animal shelters (and black cats as well). According to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times "large, black dogs often linger the longest on the adoption block at animal shelters."

Clint Eastwood Longs For The Good Old Days

Clint Eastwood recently told the London Daily Express that "[i]n former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist." What does he miss saying? "In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican'--but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don't want to be politically correct."

Ah, the good old days (not so good for everyone).

Frank Rich On Bobby Jindal

Click here for Frank Rich's column on President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress and his comments on Louisiana Governor Jindal's Republican response, including:

"If you're baffled why the G.O.P. would thrust Jindal into prime time, the answer is desperation. Eager to update its image without changing its antidiluvian (or antebellum) substance, the party is trying to lock down its white country-club blowhards. The only other nonwhite face on tap, alas, is the unguided missile Michael Steele, its new national chairman. Steele has of late been busy promising to revive his party with an 'off-the-hook' hip-hop P.R. campaign, presumably with the perenially tan House leader John Boehner leading the posse."

Stanley Crouch On Michael Steele

Stanley Crouch's comments can be found here. A snippet: "Steele was elected the head of the Republican National Committee almost as an example of dumb fumbling in an apparent attempt to make itself appealing to a nation of voters that has become darker over the last few decades."

Michele Bachmann To Michael Steele: "You Be Da Man"

Watch it here. This is troubling on so many levels, for both Bachmann and Steele.