Leave Malia Obama Alone

Yesterday Glenn Beck mocked and questioned the intelligence of Malia Obama. Eleven-year-old Malia Obama. Disgusting. But he apologized, so it's all good, right?

Garrett Epps On Rand Paul

Garrett Epps comments on Rand Paul's argument that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is constitutionally suspect. From the piece: "Dr. Paul was channeling ancestral voices--in his case literally, because his father ('Big Paul'?) cast the lone House vote against a resolution saluting the fortieth anniversary of the Act."

Gary Coleman, Rest In Peace

Gary Coleman has died at the age of 42.

Trying Jon Burge

Jon Burge, a retired police commander in Chicago, is currently on trial for lying in a civil lawsuit about abusing and torturing dozens of suspects in the 1980s in order to obtain confessions.

Black Owned Or Not?

Check out this list.

Recommended

"A Place Out of Time-The Bordertown School" on PBS.

CNN's "Black Or White: Kids On Race"

Click here for CNN's special series on children's attitudes on race. The series is based on a version of the "doll test" developed decades ago by the late Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie Clark. The CNN study tested white as well as black children. A 5-year-old Georgia girl, who happened to be white, viewed five cartoon pictures of girls ranging in color from light to dark. "When asked who the smart child is, she points to a light-skinned doll. When asked who the mean child is she points to a dark-skinned doll. She says a white child is good because 'I think she looks like me,' and says the black child is ugly because 'she's a lot darker.'" The mother of the child, watching these responses, cried.

Leonard Pitts' column on the CNN series is recommended. He writes: "Children are not idiots. They hear and see us. They watch television, they listen to radio, they read magazines, they live in our world. So very early on, they know what we think. And often enough, it becomes what they think, too."

"Angry White Man"

In January 2008 James Kirchick wrote this story on Ron Paul.

Sam Tanenhaus On Rand Paul

Check out this interesting discussion of Rand Paul,"a kind of libertarian originalist."

Black Women And Reality TV

From Kristan Brent Zook: "From 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' to 'What Chilli Wants,' these days, reality TV is fixated on black women. But only when we act the fool."

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Dropped The N-Bomb

Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "drunk and disorderly," reportedly used the N-word during a flight on United Airlines.

The Black-White Wealth Disparity

A study conducted by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University found that between 1984 and 2007 the disparity in wealth between black and white households more than quadrupled. A policy brief on the study can be found here; a story on the study can be found here.

Aiyana Jones, Rest In Peace

Aiyana Jones, a 7-year-old girl, died during a police raid in Detroit videotaped for the A&E show "The First 48." Aiyana was sleeping on a sofa under a window through which police threw a stun grenade and died when she was struck in the neck by a bullet.

Crack News

Rumor: Lebron James' mother had an affair with his teammate, Delonte West.

Fighting Racism In Cuba

From The Grio: "According to Afro-Cuban activists, racism against blacks in Cuba is systemic and institutional. They say, to this day, blacks are excluded from tourism related jobs, relegated to poor housing, have poor access to health care, are excluded from managerial positions and are more likely to be imprisoned."

"Should Hair Braiders Be Licensed?"

From M.F. White.

Acquitted

Story: "A jury . . . acquitted a white police officer accused of shooting a young black man in a case that attracted widespread attention in Texas because the victim's family accused the police of racial profiling."

43 Percent, 63 Percent

According to CBS News, forty three percent of African Americans who enter college graduate, compared to sixty three percent of whites.

Lena Horne, Rest In Peace

This Los Angeles Times obituary notes the passing of Ms. Horne.

John McWhorter On "Treme"

If you watch "Treme" on HBO and are interested in John McWhorter's take on authenticity and New Orleans, read this. A snippet: the show is "mesmerizing in its ways (I intend to keep watching) but leaves you beaten over the head every week about just how vibrantly real New Orleans is. Realer than where you live. Realer, really, than you."

Bob Herbert On Violence Against Children In Chicago

In a recent New York Times column Herbert notes that "[d]ozens of children school-aged and younger are murdered in Chicago every year. More than 150 have been shot (but not all of them killed) during the current school year. . . . That we tolerate this incredible carnage, that there is not even much of a national outcry against it, is a measure of how sick our society has become.""

"Malcolm X's Complex Legacy"

Check out Maya Francis' article in The Root.

Wes Moore

"One is a Johns Hopkins graduate and the other is serving life in prison. Both grew up in the same neighborhood and share the same name, Wes Moore. Russ Mitchell has the story of how their lives diverged so drastically."

"How to save America's black students"

Geoffrey Canada shares his views on this important subject here.

Racial Profiling In Arizona

The Los Angeles Times reports that "Latino activists and civil rights attorneys contend that profiling is already a reality in the Maricopa County, where two-thirds of the state's residents live."

The "Chitlin' Test"

Take the test, provided by The Root.

Senator Arlen Specter Woos Black Voters

Politico reports.

"How we became white people"

Christian Lander takes part in a CNN special series in which persons describe how they see their identity.