Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
An inspiring story in the Boston Globe of a graduate of one of Boston’s struggling public schools. The Globe also has the story of a teen mother from the same school who is heading off to college.
Chicago is bracing for challenges to its gun ban in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Heller decision.
The Washington Post reports a new surge in law students studying immigration. Anecdotally, when I’ve asked folks attending law school what they want to study, immigration law has in fact been a surprisingly common response. Most of these folks are liberals — I wonder if its a counter-mobilization to recent conservative demagoguery on the issue?
A new trend sweeping American states is to try and keep illegal immigrants out of college. Apparently, we’re so blinded by rage in this issue that we actively want to make gang life the only salient option for these kids. I, for one, support meritocracy — it’s not like we have a surplus of smart people out there.
Immigration reform isn’t being sunk because it offers amnesty. It’s being sunk because it’s being wrongly characterized as offering amnesty.
Wal-Mart lost another multi-million dollar lawsuit regarding its wages-and-hours practices. As Lindsay Beyerstein points out, though, the settlement amounts to less than $3.25 per violation.
Like Hilzoy, I have refrained from blogging on Sen. Jesse Helms death because it seems unseemly to speak ill of the dead. But also like Hilzoy, I am stunned at the degree to which the right is claiming Helms as an exemplar of their movement, given that he was — how to put this gently? — an unabashed force for evil in the world. Yet there they are. Jim Lindgren clearly protests too much. Also, it is amusing that in the wake of this out-pouring of admiration for a open-and-shut racist, Republicans will indeed probably attempt to reach out to Black voters once again — and then wonder why they fail.
A discrimination lawsuit against the Minneapolis police force is moving forward after a Latino veteran of the force was turned down from a position with an elite anti-gang unit.
Pam’s House Blend calls gay bars one of the “worst offenders” with regard to anti-trans discrimination. Yay, solidarity!
Wal-Mart blocks an HIV-prevention and testing awareness event to be held on its site under pressure from “pro-life” groups (Planned Parenthood was running the show). How life-affirming.