A Suppression Campaign?

By | October 1st, 2015|Education|

Two reports issued Wednesday by organizations that advocate for Palestinian rights ring alarm bells about what they characterize as organized and widespread efforts to suppress debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on American campuses.

The first of the two reports, “The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the U.S.,” jointly produced

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Education Secretary Bluntly Addresses Racial Disparities

By | October 1st, 2015|Education, Intergroup Relations|

WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in a speech before an audience Wednesday at the National Press Club, announced a new policy to reallocate state correctional funding dollars to raises for teachers in the nation’s most underprivileged districts.

In what were perhaps his most intentional comments to date on race, Duncan addressed the disparities in educational

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Younger immigrants in U.S. illegally try to live without parents’ fears

By | September 29th, 2015|Immigration|

If immigration officials catch him some day and he is deported, Angel Estrada, 48, already knows whom he will call, and at what hotel in Mexico he will meet his family before attempting to rebuild his life in his hometown of Cuernavaca.

Estrada’s daughter, Karla, 24, who like her father is in the country illegally, has

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Evangelical Group’s Taunts Reopen Dialogue on Racial Tensions on One Campus

By | September 29th, 2015|Education, Intergroup Relations|

When an activist evangelical group confronted students at DePauw University last week, screaming that they were “whores” and “sinners,” it didn’t take long for tensions to escalate. What happened that afternoon illustrates the challenges campuses face in balancing free speech and campus safety at a time of heightened cultural and racial tensions.

Janeya D. Cunningham, a first-year

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Controversy over Flying Confederate Flag in Public Places Not Waning

By | September 29th, 2015|Intergroup Relations|

ARLINGTON, Va. — As long as the Confederate flag continues to fly in public spaces, it signals that the sense of democracy in the United States is “hollow” and does not extend to all people.

That’s what U.S. history professor Spencer Crew argued recently at a talk titled “The Confederate Flag and the Legacy of Slavery.”

Read more

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Suicide Heavily Impacts LGBTQ, Native American Youth

By | September 29th, 2015|Education, Health, LGBTQ+|

When it comes to suicide prevention, awareness and support can’t be limited to just one month. During Suicide Prevention Month, we honor those who increase awareness and take action in communities every day. As leaders of Teach For America’s LGBTQ Community and Native Alliance Initiatives, we can’t sit silent in this work. Together, we must acknowledge the work

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Hate crimes edge higher in Los Angeles County in 2014

By | September 25th, 2015|Intergroup Relations|

A married lesbian couple were sitting with their kids in a Long Beach laundromat last fall when a man said, “I hope your kids don’t turn out gay.” He lunged at them with a knife and ran away.

A Latina mother and her children were outside their Boyle Heights apartment last September when a Latino man

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L.A. to declare ‘state of emergency’ on homelessness, commit $100 million

By | September 23rd, 2015|Employment & Housing|

Acknowledging their failure to stem a surge in homelessness, Los Angeles’ elected leaders on Tuesday said they would declare a “state of emergency” and devote up to $100 million to the problem. But they offered few details about where the money would come from or how it would be spent, leaving some to question the

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Immigration agents allowed back in L.A. County jails, with limits

By | September 23rd, 2015|Immigration, Police & Community|

Federal immigration agents have returned to Los Angeles County jails to seek out deportable inmates under a new policy by Sheriff Jim McDonnell that has prompted criticism from immigrant advocates who say it could lead to racial profiling.

The new Sheriff’s Department policy, made public Tuesday, comes after county lawmakers voted this year to end a

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