What Should Obama Do on Affirmative Action?

The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 21, 2011, 5:53 pm
By Richard Kahlenberg

President Obama, facing high unemployment and a sluggish economy, may soon encounter a new obstacle in his quest for re-election: the re-emergence of affirmative action in higher education as a political issue. The odds seem increasingly likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up a suit against the University of Texas at Austin, re-introducing the issue of racial preferences that has been largely dormant since the 2003 Supreme Court Grutter decision affirming the use of race in admissions.
The tricky politics of affirmative action for Obama is an important feature of two new books, Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama’s America by Desmond S. King of Oxford and Rogers M. Smith of the University of Pennsylvania (a volume I reviewed this week in The New Republic); and The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, a trenchant analysis by Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy.

Full Story: http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/what-should-obama-do-on-affirmative-action/30905

President Obama Issues Presidential Proclamation on National Disability Employment Awareness Month

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 03, 2011

Presidential Proclamation--National Disability Employment Awareness Month

NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH, 2011

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Utilizing the talents of all Americans is essential for our Nation to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. During National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we recognize the skills that people with disabilities bring to our workforce, and we rededicate ourselves to improving employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors for those living with disabilities.

More than 20 years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with disabilities, including injured veterans, are making immeasurable contributions to workplaces across our country. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains too high -- nearly double the rate of people without disabilities -- and reversing this trend is crucial.

In both the public and private sectors, we can increase employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities. My Administration is promoting competitive, integrated employment for persons with disabilities and the elderly through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Last year, we also recommitted to making the Federal Government a model employer for people living with disabilities. Agencies are working harder than ever to promote equal hiring practices and increase retention, while also expanding internships, fellowships, and training opportunities.

We know education is the foundation on which all children can build bright and successful futures, and no child should be limited in his or her desire to learn. In September, we announced the final regulations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C, to improve services and outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families during the critical years before kindergarten. The educational environments we are creating for children with disabilities will ensure they are better prepared to succeed in the classroom and later in the workplace, helping position our Nation to lead in the 21st century.

Work accessibility is just as vital to success as ensuring educational and hiring opportunities. Public transportation is a service that should be available to all Americans, and rules instated this year by the Department of Transportation require new rail construction or renovations to ensure accessibility to persons with disabilities. We are also improving our compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act to make Federal agencies' electronic and information technology more accessible to individuals with disabilities. This will ensure all applicants have equal opportunity to apply for jobs, and it will allow Federal employees to better use technology at work.

To win the future, we must harness the power of our Nation's richest resource -- our people. Americans with disabilities, like all Americans, are entitled to not only full participation in our society, but also full opportunity in our society. Their talents and contributions are vital to the strength of our Nation's workforce and our future prosperity. Together, we can ensure persons living with disabilities have equal access to employment, and to inclusive, supportive workplaces.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2011 as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I urge all Americans to embrace the talents and skills that individuals with disabilities bring to our workplaces and communities and to promote the right to equal employment opportunity for all people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

The Meaning of the Fourth of July Now

The Root
What would Frederick Douglass have to say about being black and American today?
By: Jack White Posted: July 3, 2010 at 11:47 PM

This essay from our archives is every bit as relevant today as it was when we first published it in 2010.
What, to a black American in the age of Barack Obama, is the Fourth of July? I answer: the day that reveals to him, more than any other, how much America owes to blacks and their struggle for freedom. If it hadn't been for people like Frederick Douglass, this would not be a country worth living in. The lofty ideals of the Founding Fathers would have been no more than stirring but empty rhetoric.
I know that such sentiments go against the grain on a holiday dedicated to ritualized celebrations of the Declaration of Independence. But let's not kid ourselves. That stuff about all men being created equal was not meant to apply to people like us. If it had been, Douglass would never have had to ask the electrifying question in the famous speech he delivered in 1852: "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" If the founders had really meant what they said, there would not have been any slaves.

Full Story: http://www.theroot.com/views/meaning-fourth-july-21st-century-negro

PAT BUCHANAN: President Obama Is "Affirmative Action All The Way"

Business Insider
The Wire
Steven Loeb Apr. 27, 2011, 11:45 AM

Donald Trump has gone from questioning President Obama's citizenship to questioning his education, wondering how he got into Columbia and Harvard calling him "a terrible student."
Appearing on Hardball last night, Pat Buchanan refused to go as far as Trump has with really questioning the President's background, he did have his own theories about how Obama wound up getting into Ivy League schools.
"I think he's affirmative action all the way."
"He's an African-American kid at a time when everybody's saying bring those guys in, give them an advantage, move them ahead...it's about whether he benefited from affirmative action. Is that an illegitimate question?

"Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-matthews-pat-buchanan-obama-affirmative-action-video-2011-4#ixzz1KopCDPk8

We Have a Black President, But That Doesn't Resolve the Deep Racism Built into the American Psyche

AlterNet
AlterNet / By Tim Wise

By Tim Wise, AlterNet
Posted on June 17, 2010,
Printed on June 17, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/147204/

It was summer 2004 when most of us first became familiar with Barack Obama. Then an Illinois state senator, the U.S. senate candidate delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston: the first of his many now-famous orations on a national stage. Therein he delivered several applause lines, but none were as big as when he proclaimed: "There's not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America." Though one might welcome such a statement were it offered in the future and aspirational tense -- as a heartfelt plea for true equality -- Obama proclaimed it in the descriptive and present tense. In so doing he traded intellectual honesty for easy and predictable ovation. After all, 2004 was the same year that research from MIT and the University of Chicago found that job applicants with "white" names were 50 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than those with "black" names, even when all their qualifications were indistinguishable. And with black and brown unemployment standing at double the white rate, even as the new upstart from Chicago poured forth rhetoric professing national unity (and with the median white family possessing 8-10 times the net worth of the median black or Latino family), it should have been apparent that Obama was engaged in political science fiction rather than the description of sociological truth.

Full Story: http://www.alternet.org/story/147204/we_have_a_black_president%2C_but_that_doesn%27t_resolve_the_deep_racism_built_into_the_american_psyche

Summer battle ahead for Stevens' court replacement

AT&T News

Published: 4/9/10, 11:05 PM EDT

By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, the Supreme Court's leading liberal, touched off an immediate election-year political battle Friday over President Barack Obama's second high court pick. Republicans promised trouble for any activist nominee.
Obama said he would quickly name a successor in the mold of Stevens, who he said was a voice for ordinary people rather than powerful interests.
Eleven days before his 90th birthday, Stevens said he would step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in hopes that a replacement could be confirmed well before the next term begins in October.
"We cannot replace Justice Stevens' experience or wisdom," Obama said at the White House after returning from Prague where he had signed a nuclear treaty. "I'll seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities: an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people. It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in democracy powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens."

Full Story: http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=7817&eeid=7234067&_sitecat=1504&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=0&ck=&ch=ne&_lid=332&_lnm=todaysguide+news+AP+SupremeCourtReplacement"

Retiring justice an 'unexpected liberal,' negotiator

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 9, 2010 4:13 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced his retirement Friday, has served as a central liberal voice on the high court, at times leading negotiations to sway opinions on critical cases -- and ultimately having a remarkable impact on the court and on society at large.
After joining the court in 1975, the choice of President Gerald Ford, a Republican, Stevens went on to become "an unexpected liberal -- someone who moved to the left as the court moved to the right," said Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst.
But in Stevens' view, it is the court that changed, said Toobin, who recently interviewed Stevens. "I think there is something to support that view -- there are certainly areas of the law where the court has changed," Toobin said. "I also think he has changed."
Stevens "became the leader of the liberals on the court," a staunch defender of abortion rights and affirmative action, said Toobin. One decision he'll most likely be remembered for is striking down the Bush administration's treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said Toobin. Also a memorable part of Steven's legacy is the lead dissenting opinion he wrote in Bush v. Gore -- the case that ended the contested presidential election of 2000.

Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/09/stevens.biography/index.html?hpt=T1

President Is Said to Decide to Renominate Six Choices

The New York Times
January 8, 2010

By CHARLIE SAVAGE
President Obama will renominate Dawn Johnsen to lead the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel, along with his choices for five other jobs that the Senate did not act on last year, a White House official said Thursday.
Ms. Johnsen, an Indiana University law professor who served as acting head of the office in the Clinton administration, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. But the full Senate never voted on her nomination.
The Office of Legal Counsel tells the president and other executive officials whether actions would be lawful. Officials who rely on its opinions are essentially safe from prosecution.
Once obscure, the office became controversial in the Bush administration when it secretly signed off on interrogation and surveillance policies that bypassed statutory and treaty restraints, citing sweeping theories of presidential power. Ms. Johnsen was an outspoken critic of those claims.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/us/politics/08nominate.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print

President Obama Nominates P. David Lopez, EEOC General Counsel

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release October 22, 2009

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

P. David Lopez, Nominee for General Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

David Lopez has served at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for 13 years in the field and at headquarters. He began at the EEOC in 1994 as a Special Assistant to Commissioner Casellas. Currently, Mr. Lopez is a Supervisory Trial Attorney with the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. During his tenure, Mr. Lopez has successfully tried several cases on behalf of the EEOC in a wide variety of legal bases. Before joining the Commission, Mr. Lopez served at the Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section, at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 1991 to 1994. From 1988 to 1991, he was an Associate with Spiegel and McDiarmid. Mr. Lopez received a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1988 and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Arizona State University in 1985, magna cum laude.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-102309

Obama drops rule aimed at immigrants' bosses

SFGate.com
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, October 9, 2009

(10-08) 13:50 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The Obama administration has repealed a rule that would have threatened employers with prosecution unless they fired workers whose Social Security numbers did not match entries in a government database, ending a two-year battle in a San Francisco federal court.
Although the Department of Homeland Security formally withdrew the "no-match" rule Wednesday, the administration is supporting another program enabling employers to check workers' names against electronic records that are supposed to screen out illegal immigrants.
That program, E-Verify, is voluntary for most employers but mandatory for the 170,000 companies holding federal contracts and for their subcontractors. This week, a House-Senate conference committee voted to extend E-Verify for three years.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging the scope of the program in a Maryland federal court.
"E-Verify has many of the same problems as no-match," said Chris Calabrese, legislative attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which took part in the San Francisco lawsuit. Although employers are not threatened with prosecution under the program, he said, thousands of workers are in danger of losing their jobs based on "databases that are not terribly accurate."
But the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports restrictions on immigration, said the government has found that E-Verify is accurate in 99.6 percent of cases. The group criticized the House-Senate conference committee for refusing to make the program permanent.
The three-year extension is "further evidence of the Obama administration's and the congressional leadership's effort to raise a smokescreen while it dismantles all effective controls against illegal immigration," the organization said.

Full Story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/08/BAON1A3110.DTL&tsp=1

EEOC TO HOLD TOWN-HALL MEETINGS, WORKSHOPS TO ADVANCE HIRING OF WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
PRESS RELEASE
10-7-09

Agency Initiatives Part of Administration-Wide Effort

WASHINGTON – Playing a key part in an Obama Administration-wide effort to advance opportunities for workers with disabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold town hall meetings throughout the nation and offer workshops on new federal regulations and hiring procedures.
"The EEOC is pleased to join the President in pressing to enfranchise individuals with disabilities to participate to the fullest extent possible in the American workplace," said Acting EEOC Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. "We're proud to play a lead role in the Administration's initiative, and to have the weight of the White House behind this vital effort."
Acting EEOC Vice Chair Christine M. Griffin said, “For too long, Americans with disabilities have been pushed to the rear of the hiring line. The EEOC’s town hall meetings and workshops, in concert with other Administration measures, should position workers with disabilities for a fair chance at a federal job.”
The Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Labor and Justice will also play major roles in the initiatives, which the President announced Monday as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
The Obama Administration is taking steps to ensure fair and equal access to employment for all Americans, particularly the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities, President Obama announced. “As the nation’s largest employer, the Federal Government and its contractors can lead the way by implementing effective employment policies and practices that increase opportunities and help workers achieve their full potential. We must also rededicate ourselves to fostering an inclusive work culture that welcomes the skills and talents of all qualified employees.”
The EEOC and DOJ's Civil Rights Division will hold four town hall meetings throughout the nation to share information and gather comments about proposed regulations in the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act. Each town hall meeting will consist of two sessions, one for disability advocates and one for the employer community, offering opportunities for both the business and disability communities to comment in person. The meetings will take place by Nov. 20 in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and New Orleans.
In addition, as part of a Federal Government-wide job fair for people with disabilities during early Spring 2010, the EEOC and other agencies will provide workshops throughout the day on a variety of topics involving reasonable accommodations for Federal workers and applicants. At the job fair, people with disabilities should be able to register, submit materials and perhaps get hired on the spot.
The Administration initiatives follow EEOC action last month to expand opportunities for people with disabilities by returning the ADA to the broad and strong civil rights statute that Congress originally intended it to be, and smoothing the road for those seeking protection under the ADA.
On Sept. 16, the EEOC approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) revising its regulations to provide that an individual seeking protection under the ADA establish that he or she has a disability consistent with the original, expansive intent of Congress when it enacted the statute in 1990. The NPRM carries a 60-day period for public comment.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing Title I of the ADA, which prohibits employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The statute requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to employees and job applicants with disabilities—defined as people with mental or physical impairments that substantially limit a major life activity, persons with a record of a disability, or who, while not actually disabled, are regarded as disabled.
The ADA Amendments Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2009, states that Congress expects the EEOC to revise its regulations to conform to changes made by the Act, and expressly authorizes the EEOC to do so.
Consistent with the ADAAA, the NPRM emphasizes that the definition of disability -- an impairment that poses a substantial limitation in a major life activity -- must be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of the ADA, and should not require extensive analysis; that major life activities include “major bodily functions”; that mitigating measures, such as medications and devices that people use to reduce or eliminate the effects of an impairment, are not to be considered when determining whether someone has a disability; and that impairments that are episodic or in remission, such as epilepsy, cancer, and many kinds of psychiatric impairments, are disabilities if they would “substantially limit” major life activities when active. The regulation also provides a more straightforward way of demonstrating a substantial limitation in the major life activity of working, and implements the ADAAA’s new standard for determining whether someone is “regarded as” having a disability.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

Obama Directs U.S. to Sign ‘First New Human Rights Treaty of the 21st Century’

CNSNews.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama on Friday announced that the United States will sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a treaty that elevates disability beyond a health and social welfare issue to a human rights issue. "Disability rights aren't just civil rights to be enforced here at home. They are universal rights to be recognized and promoted around the world," the president said at a White House ceremony. All treaties require Senate ratification. Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2006, the lengthy treaty describes the human rights of persons with disabilities, including the right to equality under the law; the right to live in the community; the right to education, health, and work; and the right to participate in political, public and cultural life. The treaty also discusses disabled people's "right" to health care, saying that parties to the treaty "recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability."

Countries signing on to the treaty agree to:
-- Provide the disabled with the same “range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care” as provided to other people, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health;
-- Provide health services needed by the disabled specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as well as services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities;

Full Story: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51614

Bite Your Tongue

The Washington Post
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: July 25, 2009

Being obnoxious isn’t a crime.
As we reflect on the arc of civil rights dramas from Jim Crow to Jim Crowley, my friend John Timoney, the police chief of Miami, observes: “There’s a fine line between disorderly conduct and freedom of speech. It can get tough out there, but I tell my officers, ‘Don’t make matters worse by throwing handcuffs on someone. Bite your tongue and just leave.’ ”
As the daughter of a police detective, I always prefer to side with the police. But this time, I’m struggling.
No matter how odd or confrontational Henry Louis Gates Jr. was that afternoon, he should not have been arrested once Sergeant Crowley ascertained that the Harvard professor was in his own home.
President Obama was right the first time, that the encounter had a stupid ending, and the second time, that both Gates and Crowley overreacted. His soothing assessment that two good people got snared in a bad moment seems on target.
It escalated into a clash of egos — the hard-working white cop vs. the globe-trotting black scholar, the town vs. the gown, the Lowell Police Academy vs. the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Crowley told a Boston sports station that Gates “seemed very peculiar — even more so now that I know how educated he is.”
Gates told his daughter Elizabeth in The Daily Beast: “He should have gotten out of there and said, ‘I’m sorry, sir, good luck. Loved your PBS series — check with you later!’ ”
Gates told me Crowley was so “gruff” and unsolicitous “the hair on my neck stood up.” Crowley says Gates acted “put off” and “agitated.” But the strong guy with the gun has more control than the weak guy with the cane. An officer who teaches racial sensitivity should not have latched on to a technicality about neighbors — who seemed to be outnumbered by cops — getting “alarmed” by Gates’s “outburst.”
From Shakespeare to Hitchcock, mistaken identity makes for a powerful narrative.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26dowd.html

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NAACP CENTENNIAL CONVENTION

THE BRIEFING ROOM
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 17, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NAACP CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
Hilton New York

New York, New York
7:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. What an extraordinary night, capping off an extraordinary week, capping off an extraordinary 100 years at the NAACP. (Applause.)
So Chairman Bond, Brother Justice, I am so grateful to all of you for being here. It's just good to be among friends. (Applause.)
It is an extraordinary honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed, to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past 100 years. (Applause.)
It's a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long before the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Education; back to an America just a generation past slavery. It was a time when Jim Crow was a way of life; when lynchings were all too common; when race riots were shaking cities across a segregated land.
It was in this America where an Atlanta scholar named W.E.B. Du Bois -- (applause) -- a man of towering intellect and a fierce passion for justice, sparked what became known as the Niagara movement; where reformers united, not by color, but by cause; where an association was born that would, as its charter says, promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the United States.
From the beginning, these founders understood how change would come -- just as King and all the civil rights giants did later. They understood that unjust laws needed to be overturned; that legislation needed to be passed; and that Presidents needed to be pressured into action. They knew that the stain of slavery and the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom, and in the legislature, and in the hearts and the minds of Americans.
They also knew that here, in America, change would have to come from the people. It would come from people protesting lynchings, rallying against violence, all those women who decided to walk instead of taking the bus, even though they were tired after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. (Applause.) It would come from men and women of every age and faith, and every race and region -- taking Greyhounds on Freedom Rides; sitting down at Greensboro lunch counters; registering voters in rural Mississippi, knowing they would be harassed, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that some of them might never return.
Because of what they did, we are a more perfect union. Because Jim Crow laws were overturned, black CEOs today run Fortune 500 companies. (Applause.) Because civil rights laws were passed, black mayors, black governors, and members of Congress served in places where they might once have been able [sic] not just to vote but even take a sip of water. And because ordinary people did such extraordinary things, because they made the civil rights movement their own, even though there may not be a plaque or their names might not be in the history books -- because of their efforts I made a little trip to Springfield, Illinois, a couple years ago -- (applause) -- where Lincoln once lived, and race riots once raged -- and began the journey that has led me to be here tonight as the 44th President of the United States of America. (Applause.)
Because of them I stand here tonight, on the shoulders of giants. And I'm here to say thank you to those pioneers and thank you to the NAACP. (Applause.)
And yet, even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past 100 years; even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folk -- we know that too many barriers still remain.

Full Statement: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-to-the-NAACP-Centennial-Convention-07/16/2009/

President Obama Taps Xavier Alumna Dr. Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Michelle J. Nealy
Jul 14, 2009, 09:14

President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family physician and Xavier University of Louisiana alumna, to be the next Surgeon General.

Benjamin, 52, is founder of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which serves the poor, uninsured and other underserved patients in Mobile County, Ala.

Benjamin gained acclaim for her determination to rebuild her clinic after hurricanes George in 1998 and Katrina in 2005 shuttered the building. In 2006, a fire destroyed Benjamin's clinic just after flood damage was repaired. During this period, Benjamin, who often administers medical services to her patients for free, and her staff operated the clinic from a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer.

Benjamin received a bachelor’s degree in 1979 from Xavier University, a historically Black institution known for its ability to place its students in medical school. She received medical degrees from the Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She also holds a master's degree in business administration from Tulane University.

Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12724.shtml

Government to Require Verification of Workers

The New York Times
July 9, 2009
By JULIA PRESTON

The Obama administration will require businesses that win federal contracts to use a government electronic database system to verify that their employees have legal immigration status to work in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Wednesday.
After a six-month review, Homeland Security officials decided to go ahead with a worker-verification plan based on the electronic system, called E-Verify. The system, which the Bush administration sought to put into effect in its final months, is meant to prevent federal contractors from hiring illegal immigrants.
At the same time, Homeland Security officials said they would drop another Bush administration proposal that would have forced employers to fire any workers whose Social Security information did not match the records of the Social Security Administration. That measure, called the no-match rule, had been challenged in federal court by immigrant advocates and businesses, who said the Social Security database contained errors that could have cost thousands of legal workers their jobs.
Administration officials said the court battle over the no-match rule, which never went into effect, would now end.
The move to expand the use of E-Verify reflects the Obama administration’s strategy of keeping up the pace of immigration enforcement while weighing whether to push for an overhaul this year that would give legal status to millions of illegal workers, officials said.
But the E-Verify system has also been criticized by immigrant advocacy groups and is facing a challenge in federal court by the United States Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, who say the databases it relies on are also full of errors.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/us/politics/09immig.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Subtle, and stubborn, race bias

The Boston Globe
Editorial
July 6, 2009

EVEN WITH a black American president, a white man is still considered more capable and trustworthy. This sorry truth has been reconfirmed in a new study from business researchers at the universities of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, British Columbia, Michigan, and Washington and at West Point. Controlling for objective measures of performance, white males got higher customer satisfaction ratings than women or people of color, whether they were doctors, university bookstore employees, or staffers at a golf course.
No one was more surprised at the findings than the study’s lead author, David Hekman of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He said it may help explain why wide pay gaps persist in the United States between white males and everyone else, as businesses may be induced to give raises and promotions to white male employees who are disproportionately praised by customers.
The bookstore study is especially poignant, because it captured unconscious lingering attitudes among college students, who were a huge reason Barack Obama was elected. Even women and people of color exhibited biases, but not as starkly.
“I had no idea the effects were this huge,’’ said Hekman, who is white. “People simply feel like they’re getting a better deal from white guys. Customers are more grateful for service from a white guy, even if it’s just an oil change or a glass of water.’’
Co-author Karl Aquino, who is of Asian descent, said, “What’s unsettling about our study is that when women and minorities perform better, they actually get lower performance ratings and are perceived more negatively. And we don’t yet really know why. They even judged the overall environment [of the doctor’s office, bookstore, or golf course] more negatively.’’
How then to explain Obama’s groundbreaking victory? Aquino and Hekman said Obama was judged by enough people as greatly superior to white rivals (though he still lost the overall white vote to John McCain). For average American workers who are female and of color, higher invisible hurdles of bias remain.

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/07/06/subtle_and_stubborn_race_bias/

Obama to tell Putin: Time to move past Cold War (Comment on AA)

The Washington Post
By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 2, 2009
9:33 PM

WASHINGTON -- Days from his first Moscow summit, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that former Russian President Vladimir Putin "still has a lot of sway" in his nation and needs an in-person reminder the Cold War is over.
On next week's trip, Obama will meet not only with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev but with Putin, the prime minister who hand-picked Medvedev as his successor. Said Obama: "I think that it's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated. ... Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new."
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Obama also:

In light of recent Supreme Court cases dealing with highly charged questions about the nation's racial progress, said the high court was "moving the ball" away from affirmative action but noted the justices had not foreclosed the continued use of racial preferences in hiring and college admissions, which he said he supports in some circumstances. In any case he said affirmative action is neither the panacea - nor the problem - that it's often made out to be. ...

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070201793_2.html

Obama Picks Shuttle Vet To Be First Black NASA Chief

The Washington Post
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 24, 2009

President Obama yesterday nominated a former Marine aviator and space shuttle astronaut to become the new head of NASA and oversee a broad review of the agency's ambitions for manned and robotic space exploration.
Retired Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr. will become the first African American to run the space agency if approved by the Senate.
In addition to his long résumé of military and NASA experience, Bolden served more recently as chief executive of a defense and aerospace consulting firm. He briefly worked as an aerospace lobbyist.
Bolden would take over NASA as it is winding down the decades-old shuttle program and working toward Obama's stated goal of returning a man to the moon by 2020.
Obama has also endorsed the deployment of a climate change research and monitoring system in space. But those ambitions are colliding with fiscal challenges posed by an $18.7 billion budget for the coming year, a modest 5 percent increase from the previous one.
"He's a patriot, a leader and a visionary," Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said of Bolden in a video statement. "He understands the workings of NASA and the importance of America remaining a leader in science and technology through space exploration."
Nelson flew on the space shuttle Columbia with Bolden in 1986. It was the first of Bolden's four shuttle missions.

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/23/AR2009052301529.html

Sotomayor: GOP cries racism, Dems cry foul

CNN.com
By Jim Acosta
CNN
June 1, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama said that he hoped his administration wouldn't get hung up on matters of race.
But several Republicans have said recently that his nomination of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has made race an issue.
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called Sotomayor a racist.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh called the president "the greatest living example of a reverse racist," and said that he has picked another for the Supreme Court vacancy of retiring Justice David Souter. Limbaugh later equated Sotomayor to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
At issue is what she told a 2001 Duke Law School symposium about her hope that "a wise Latina woman would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Read more about Sotomayor's Duke comments
One top GOP senator said he wants more than an explanation.
"I think she should apologize, but I don't believe any American wants a judge on the bench that's going to use empathy or their background to punish someone," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News.
Democrats have said conservative reaction to the pick is over the line.
"She's been called the equivalent of the head of the Ku Klux Klan by Rush Limbaugh; she's been called a bigot by other Republican leaders like Newt Gingrich. I want to give her an opportunity to answer these kind of people," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who chairs the Judiciary Committee that will conduct Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.
The ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, tried to turn down the heat over the weekend. Watch range of comments on Sotomayor and race »
"We should not demagogue race. It's an important issue in our culture and our country. We need to handle it with respect that it deserves," Sessions said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
GOP leaders have focused on Sotomayor's appellate court decision against a mostly white group of firefighters who say they were discriminated against after a promotion test was thrown out, because critics said it discriminated against minority firefighters.
But legal experts have said her full record on race isn't that controversial -- in 96 race-related cases decided by Sotomayor on the court of appeals, she and her fellow judges ruled against discrimination 78 times and agreed with the claims in 10 cases, according to Scotusblog.com.

Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/01/sotomayor.nomination/index.html