Race & Identity

In April 2011, Reid Cramer presented at the Color of Wealth Policy Summit about the impact of the Great Recession on the racial wealth gap and emphasized the need for continued attention to the role of assets in the widening racial wealth gap. Specifically, he drew attention to the burst of the housing bubble and stock market tumble as contributors to a divergence that will make it increasingly difficult for middle income people to grow assets and will disproportionately burden families of color.

With strong first place finishes in straw poll picks and an unusual bounce in national polls, Herman Cain is now an accidental “top-tier” contender for the GOP primary.  But, one group largely ignored is the Republican party’s lilliputian size bloc of Black voters – a little less than 10% of the GOP electorate. How they perceive him may make or break the primary of color phenom.

When Mitt Romney takes the stage at Tuesday night's presidential debate in Dartmouth, N.H., he will have the opportunity to answer a question that has plagued Republicans for decades: is the GOP a party defined by adherence to conservative ideals or a party in which those ideals matter less than the religion, race, or sexual orientation of the people espousing them?

Who the heck would want to be like Betty or her ad man ex, Don?

That's what I asked myself recently when I passed a Banana Republic window display featuring the retailer's new "Mad Men"-inspired clothing collection.

"Are you a Betty?" read a poster with a lustrous photograph of a thin, blond model looking almost as uptight and miserable as the former Mrs. Draper in the Emmy-winning AMC television series.

Starting with the legendary Shirley Chisholm of New York, passionate, outspoken women have long been a part of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The only black woman in Congress when elected to the House in 1968, Chisholm a year later was one of 10 founding members of the caucus.  The Congresswoman brought a clear feminist sensibility to the group, proving she was an advocate not only for the black community but for women as well.

A new report by the Brookings Institution says minorities are now the majority population in many of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, a demographic development with major political, social and economic consequences for the nation.

The study found that 22 of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas are now “majority-minority,” with ethnic majorities making up more than half the populations in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, San Diego, Memphis and other metro areas. That’s an increase from 14 cities in 2000 and five in 1990.

How does one prepare for Ramadan? If you had asked me a few weeks ago I would not have said through an online seminar.

In the spring of 2010, Michelle Obama visited an elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the gym, with news cameras rolling, she called on an apprehensive second grader who had raised her hand. Why, asked the girl, was the president “taking everyone away” who doesn’t have papers to live in the United States? “My mom doesn’t have any papers,” she told the first lady.

The increasing lack of racial diversity in the U.S. media landscape is becoming a hot topic and putting pressure on policy makers to (finally) pay attention.

There have been a few, gratifying moments during my long career as a writer when people have told me their lives were changed for the better by something I wrote. Yet every writer, particularly those dealing with controversial subjects, has to confront the possibility that his or her words will have, or will seem to have had, baleful influences as well.