African Americans

(Newser) - One of the candidates for chairman of the Republican National Committee belonged for more than a decade to a whites-only country club, Greg Sargent notes on Talking Points Memo. Katon Dawson, chairman of South Carolina’s Republican Party, resigned from the club in September as he was preparing to run for the national leadership, saying he’d been working against the no-blacks rule. More »

(Newser) - Our enemies love using US racial divisions as a stick to beat Americans with, a stick “we’ve handed them over and over again,” writes Gregory Rodriguez in the Los Angeles Times . Now, Barack Obama gives us a crucial symbol of progress—and it won’t be because Obama’s black, but because, in his words, he’s “a mutt.” More »

(Newser) - Some 8,000 lives a year are being lost because blacks suffer from higher blood pressure than the white population, surprising new research has discovered. "We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said a researcher of the racial disparity. Some 40% of blacks have high blood pressure while 30% of whites suffer from the problem. The reason for the difference isn't clear, though researchers believe poverty may play a role. More »

(Newser) - Barack Obama made more than history when he won the election this week: He also inspired black school kids to believe they could do the same, the New York Daily News reports. "It means people can be anything they want," says 9-year-old Elijah Timmons, who sees himself in the Oval Office one day. "Instead of 'Obama! Obama!' they're going to be yelling 'Elijah! Elijah!'" More »

(Newser) - A circle of black power brokers who helped Barack Obama in his rise to the White House are ready to see their influence grow under his administration, Wall Street Journal reports. The close-knit group of fundraisers, execs, and Harvard grads believe their presidential connections will pay major dividends in the worlds of business and government. Some are already angling for top jobs in Washington. More »

(Newser) - Not long after the networks declared Barack Obama the next American president, writes Rebecca Traister in Salon, the years worth of emotions that led up to that moment flashed across the face of Jesse Jackson. In minutes, the civil rights leader's expression transformed from a still one of disbelief, (or perhaps resentment, or shock) to unabashed, weeping joy. More »

(Newser) - The election is heating up in Virginia, with fake notices and lawsuits flying around the swing state. The majority black region of Hampton Roads has been blanketed with official-seeming fliers falsely stating that Democrats are to vote November 5, Talking Points Memo reports. And the NAACP has sued the state, claiming that it is not prepared to handle increased turnout, especially in black precincts, the AP notes. More »

(Newser) - Federal agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 88 black people, the AP reports. ATF agents said the pair planned to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee, with Obama as its final target. More »

(Newser) - Barack Obama is allegedly helping America “transcend race,” Jonah Goldberg writes in the National Review , but if moving beyond race “would involve making race less of an issue,” why are Obama’s fervent supporters obsessed with bringing it up? One columnist sees racism in descriptions of the Democrat as “skinny"; the Kansas City Star ’s editorial board sees it in those who call him “socialist.” More »

(Newser) - The McCain family of Teoc, Miss., is watching this year's election with particular interest, the Wall Street Journal reports. The African-American clan is descended from plantation slaves owned by the family of John McCain's great-great-grandfather. The white and black McCains meet for regular family reunions, although the senator himself has never attended. More »

(Newser) - Barack Obama is running a quiet parallel campaign aimed at black voters while he spends his time and more obvious effort in moderate white areas, Politico reports. The campaign has run ads targeted at black voters that aren’t released to the media, and scoured heavily African-American areas for new voters. “If you didn't notice it, then you probably weren't the target,” says a spokesman. More »

(Newser) - A small Christian school in Oregon has suspended four students who confessed to hanging a cardboard Barack Obama effigy from a tree on campus, ABC News reports. Few students saw the cutout, which was hastily removed after a faculty member found it last week. It was an "abhorrent act" that does not reflect the institution, the president of George Fox University said. More »

(Newser) - Spike Lee hopes to set the record straight about the African American presence in WWII—but he also hopes to tell a good story. His new film, Miracle at St. Anna, tells the fictional tale of Buffalo Soldiers trapped in a Tuscan town, in his own inimitable style. "I made the decision that everyone speak their native language," he says of the dialogue. "This film is about barriers, language, culture, all that stuff. " More »

(Newser) - Assuming the presidential debate happens tomorrow, host University of Mississippi gets to show the nation it’s moved beyond its racially tinged past, the Los Angeles Times reports. The school, known for deadly riots when the first black student enrolled in the 1960s and controversy over Confederate flags at football games in the ‘90s, spent $5.5 million to prep for the public-relations opportunity. More »

(Newser) - Joe Biden must have been shocked when he met Carolyn Bauer in a Philadelphia diner. Bauer told Biden she’d never vote for his running mate. “It’d be disgusting to get a man named Barack Obama as president,” she said. “No way!” Racism is a real factor in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Daily News reports, and though it’s usually more subtle, it could hurt Obama come November. More »

(Newser) - Black voters energized by Barack Obama’s candidacy may also support a Californian ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage, the New York Times reports, though Obama himself opposes the ban. Opponents and supporters of Proposition 8 say African Americans will play a crucial role, and each side is trying to win over black voters. More »

(Newser) - The Secret Service is investigating anti-Obama letters sent to a local Democratic office and a business in south-central Michigan, the AP reports, even as authorities in Pittsfield Township, about 40 miles west of Detroit, say an Obama billboard was defaced with swastikas and Klan symbols overnight. One letter declares a wish Obama “gets a bullet,” while the other threatens a business supporting the campaign.