Blacks Still Unequal in US: Report

(NEWSER) - A Chicago family is trying to use its household spending to invest in the black community by buying exclusively from black-owned businesses for 1 year, the Tribune reports. The Andersons’ ambitious “Ebony Experiment” has them driving 14 miles for groceries (and farther for other stuff) and has earned hate mail accusing them of racism—but they say it’s worth the costs. More»

Multiracial African Americans, don't leave blacks behind: Thomas Williams

(NEWSER) - Interracial marriages may be on the rise in America, but with racial problems still so prevalent, mixed-race black people have an "ethical obligation" to identify as black, writes Thomas Chatterton Williams in the New York Times . Williams says he is grateful to live in modern America, where he has married a blue-eyed, blond-haired French woman, but the reality is that "a new multiracial community could flourish and evolve at black America’s expense. Indeed, the cost of mixed-race blacks deciding to turn away could be huge." More»

In response to question about race, president checks one box

(NEWSER) - When he filled out his census form yesterday, President Obama identified himself as African-American. The son of a black Kenyan and a white Kansan, Obama had the option to check more than one box. He didn't hesitate before choosing "Black, African Am., or Negro," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs tells USA Today . The first family's form also reflected the fact that Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, lives with the Obamas in the White House, notes the AP . More»

'Skin pigment trumps ideas' among Dems: Kass

(NEWSER) - Roland Burris says this is his media moment, but Illinois' "circus of the politically bizarre" still belongs to Rod Blagojevich, John Kass writes in the Chicago Tribune. No hapless jester, the brazenly calculated governor has dumped Democrats back into the racial politics Obama was supposed to transcend. More»

Documentary traces one couple's story through New Orleans disaster

(NEWSER) - Trouble the Water, a new documentary, is ostensibly about Hurricane Katrina, centered around home-video footage shot during the disaster by a resident of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. But the film, which frames Kimberly Roberts’ footage within a larger context, transcends that one event to put forth a peerless discussion of race in America, Andrew O’Hehir writes in Salon. More»