African-american, Blacks | featured news

Incarceration Rates for Blacks Dropped, Report Shows

A sharp decline in incarceration rates for African-Americans from 2000 to 2009 marks a significant shift in the racial makeup of America’s prisons, according to a report released Wednesday.

 

Rosa Parks statue unveiled in US Capitol

Rosa Parks

More than half a century after she sat defiantly on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks has a permanent place in the U.S. Capitol — the first black woman to be honored with a statue there.

 

US stopping use of term 'Negro' for census surveys

U.S. Census

After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping its use of the word "Negro" to describe black Americans in surveys. Instead of the term that came into use during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern labels "black" or "African-American".

 

Black jobless rate is twice that of whites

Black Jobless Rate

In the quarter-century that Armentha Cruise has run her Silver Spring staffing firm, the nation has made strides toward racial equality. Voters have twice elected a black president, African Americans shine among Hollywood’s brightest stars, and the number of blacks who graduate from college has tripled.

 

AP poll: Majority harbor prejudice against blacks

Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not. Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans' more favorable views of blacks.

 

In Obama era, have race relations improved?

Ask Americans how race relations have changed under their first black president and they are ready with answers. Ashley Ray, a white woman, hears more people debating racial issues. "I know a lot of people who really thought we were OK as a nation, a culture, and now they understand that we're not," she says.

 

Biden gives fiery defense of Obama at NAACP meeting

Vice President Joe Biden drew cheers from the nation's biggest civil rights group on Thursday with a fiery defense of President Barack Obama's record, and he warned that the election of Republican Mitt Romney could reverse years of economic and civil rights gains for blacks.

 

Mitt Romney low-key on civil rights, in contrast to his father

As governor of Michigan, George Romney pressed an aggressive agenda on the issue, putting himself at odds with Republican Party leaders. His son presents a different figure. In 1963, an explosive year in the quest for civil rights, George Romney appeared unannounced in the mostly white suburb of Grosse Pointe and marched to the front of an anti-segregation demonstration to stand beside black leaders.

 

Poll: Trayvon Martin case divides US by race, age, wealth, and politics

New polls show a distinct split in how Americans view the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Some groups, including blacks, women, and Democrats, are more likely to see race as a key factor.

 

Why African Americans aren’t embracing Occupy Wall Street

Why African Americans aren’t embracing Occupy Wall Street

Blacks have historically suffered the income inequality and job scarcity that the Wall Street protesters are now railing against. Perhaps black America’s absence is sending a message to the Occupiers: “We told you so! Nothing will change. We’ve been here already. It’s hopeless.”

 

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