Speak Out!

The Flint Journal reported that a lawsuit was brought against the local Urban League based on the touchy racial issue of light vs. dark:

A biracial employee, Jamie Kendall, sued the Urban League after not being promoted to CEO.

A Washington Post article cited the results of a study which says most mandatory company diversity training is ineffective:

A comprehensive review of 31 years of data from 830 mid-size to large U.S. workplaces found that the kind of diversity training exercises offered at most firms were followed by a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women in management.

A USA Today Op-Ed piece addresses what it calls tolerance for mediocrity by U.S. colleges:

Below the top ranks, there are reasons to suspect more tolerance for mediocrity than an assault on it. A 2006 study sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts found shockingly low literacy among students at four-year colleges, with only half testing at a proficient level.

A recent EURweb commentary suggests that the impact of integration has been harmful to the Black community:

In America, Black people imagine that they have made progress. The truth is that in many ways, we have gone backwards. Our shining Black future should be to reverse integration, so that we can once again accustom ourselves to living with each other. The best part of integration cannot be taken away, especially if we recollect ourselves.

A New York Times Op-Ed piece comments on how the issues of race and gender are being played out by the Democratic presidential candidates and their supporters:

After staying on the sidelines in the first year of the campaign, race and to a lesser extent gender have burst into the forefront of the Democratic presidential contest, thrusting Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton into the middle of a sharp-edged social and political debate that transcends their candidacies. The exchanges created apprehension amon

According to research conducted by the National Education Association, the ranks of male teachers are dwindling:

…over the last two decades, the ratio of males to females in teaching has steadily declined. The number of male teachers now stands at a 40-year low. The percentage of male teachers in elementary schools has fallen regularly since 1981 - that year, it reached an all-time high of 18 percent. Today, a scant 9 percent of elementary school teachers are men.

A USA Today opinion piece highlights a few quirky and humorous resolutions for the New Year, including:

In '08, I resolve to... ... not mention the words 'Iran' and 'World War III' in the same sentence. — President Bush ... stop at the next rest area. — Astronaut Lisa Nowak ... buy, uh, or, uh, a world atlas. — Geography-challenged Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen ... let my old memorabilia stay in Las Vegas. — O.J. Simpson ...

A Washington Post article addresses some of the issues being debated by Black evangelicals in considering candidates in the upcoming presidential race. Many who supported and voted for Bush in 2004 are now torn between the two major parties:

In the 2004 election, there was evidence that an appeal aimed at those differences could work.

In a USA Today commentary, entitled "Blacks' protests lack unity of purpose," the writer comments on the state of the modern-day civil rights movement:

Unlike the past campaigns led by Martin Luther King Jr., today's leaders forget that there is as much a need for cohesion and transparency as for justice. It is a shame that at a time when civil rights are eroding and blacks are willing to mobilize, this opportunity might be squandered because of protest overkill and frayed lead

Despite the hoopla this past weekend around Oprah's support of Sen. Obama, a Pew Research Center study offers some interesting data on the influence of endorsements on the majority of voters:

When compared with several other celebrities and public figures, Winfrey is more influential than most, ranking on a par with Bill Gates and slightly behind Alan Greenspan.