AMA to Apologize for Racist Past

Discrimination case a 'witch hunt': lawyer

(NEWSER) - Arizona's embattled Sheriff Joe Arpaio is hitting back at Justice Department allegations that his office shows "a pervasive culture of discriminatory bias" against Hispanics. "Don't come to use me as a whipping boy for a national, international problem," he told reporters, saying he has "an idea of the politics involved in law enforcement," CNN reports. "I don't want to say it's all politics, but everyone I'm talking about happens to be Democrats," he said. His lawyer called the case a "witch hunt." More»

(NEWSER) - The suburban Philadelphia swim club at the center of a racism controversy will ask the day campers it disinvited to return, the local ABC affiliate reports. "We are very very sorry that this had to happen," the club president tells WPVI-TV. He had sparked the incident by saying the presence of the campers, who are mostly African American and Hispanic, changed the facility's "complexion" and "atmosphere." More»

Outraged tenant files civil rights complaint

(NEWSER) - An Ohio landlord says the "White Only" sign in front of a pool at a duplex she owns was just an antique, but a former tenant says her views on race also appear to be from 1930s Alabama. "We invited my daughter, who is African-American, to visit and swim in the pool for the Memorial Day weekend,” he wrote in a complaint to Ohio's Civil Rights Commission. “The owner, Jamie Hein, accused my daughter of making the pool ‘cloudy’ because she used chemicals in her hair. Days later, she posted a sign on the gate to the pool which reads, ‘Public Swimming Pool, White Only.'" More»

Arpaio conducted 'egregious' racial profiling: Justice Department

(NEWSER) - Tough times ahead for America's Toughest Sheriff : The Justice Department has accused Joe Arpaio of major civil rights violations. Arpaio's office committed what a top Justice official called the most egregious racial profiling he'd ever come across, the AP reports. Arpaio also conducted immigration "sweeps" prompted by reports of Latinos simply gathering without committing crimes, according to the department's report. Now, Arpaio will have to establish anti-discrimination policies under a judge's supervision—or face a federal lawsuit. More»

Norman Rockwell work includes racial epithet

(NEWSER) - The nation's first black president has hung a painting with the N-word outside the Oval Office, in a nod to the civil rights movement, reports Politico. President Obama last month had Norman Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With" installed in the White House; the painting shows a black child, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, en route to her newly integrated New Orleans school as the wall behind her shows graffiti including the racial epithet and "KKK," as well as a splattered tomato. More»