Rich Americans didn’t inherit most of their wealth; inheritance money makes up only about 15 percent of the wealth owned by the top 1 percent of income earners. And research shows that inheritance money actually helps reduce income inequality.
D. / Flickr
Asian American teens are bullied more than youths belonging to any other racial group, according to new data from the U.S. Justice and Education departments.
Teens aged 12 to 18 were interviewed for the study. More than half of the Asian American teens reported being bullied in classrooms, compared to almost one-third of white students. The disparity is even greater when it comes to cyber bullying; 62 percent of Asian Americans surveyed reported being harassed online once or twice monthly, while only 18.1 percent of whites were cyber bullied.
AFP reports on the findings:
Policymakers see a range of reasons for the harassment, including language barriers faced by some Asian American students and a spike in racial abuse following the September 11, 2001 attacks against children perceived as Muslim.
“This data is absolutely unacceptable and it must change. Our children have to be able to go to school free of fear,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday during a forum at the Center for American Progress think-tank.
Muslim Americans, many of whom are Asian American, are also facing increased institutionalized profiling by law enforcement since 9/11, recent reports indicate.
The District government is looking to cut off assistance to longtime welfare recipients. More than 230,000 D.C. residents receive either food stamps, Medicaid help or welfare checks.
“More than half of the clients we have on TANF have been on assistance for over five years,” [Department of Human Services Director David] Berns said. “We haven’t really had a community-focused way … into moving them into self-sufficiency, so they’ve languished in the system.”
The cutoff for TANF federal funding was put in place in 1996. But jurisdictions, including D.C., were slow to enforce that and often found supplemental funding through grants or other programs. Berns said the city is now spending several million dollars annually to keep paying benefits to individuals who ran out the clock on federal assistance.
Read more at: washingtonexaminer.com
People of the Occupy protest movement: singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte is on your side. He appeared on WAMU 88.5’s Kojo Nnamdi Show Wednesday and spoke about those protesting against corporate greed and political corruption, saying “a lot of people look at these young people in these zones of rebellion and try to poo poo them as just something that will go away,” but “in the humblest of places resides the power of the miracle.” He went on to say “there is something happening here that should not be looked upon and dismissed as just some little, annoying moment in social rebellion.”
Belafonte is well-known for his social activism; he was friends with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., financially supported the civil rights-era Freedom Rides and helped organize the March on Washington.
D.C.’s gap between rich and poor residents is one of the largest in the nation, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. Among cities with populations of 100,000 or more people, D.C. comes in third for highest income inequality, a rate measuring how evenly income is distributed among society.
Seth Anderson / Flickr
What: “Communities in Translation” movie screening.
Where: Gala Theatre at Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St., NW.
When: 6 p.m., Thursday.
Cost: Free.
Why you should go: The film screening is part of a larger event, “Many Stories, One Night,” which will focus on immigrants’ experiences accessing public services in the District. The documentary by Robert Winn depicts how language barriers have impacted D.C.’s immigrants during emergencies, such as the 2008 Mount Pleasant fire.
Other events to consider: D.C. will lose 11 artist studios by the end of the year to make room for a $57 million mixed-use development. But before Gold Leaf Studios shuts down, band Ra Ra Rasputin is hosting a closing party. The show kicks off at 8 p.m., Saturday at 443 I St., NW.
Although Thanksgiving is weeks away, some D.C. residents are already searching for low or no-cost ways to put a holiday dinner on the table. A number of city leaders and organizations are giving away turkeys to families in need, including nonprofit Bread for the City. People lined up on Tuesday for turkeys (plus all of the fixings). By day’s end, Bread for the City had distributed 295 birds. The organization aims to serve 9,000 families this holiday season as part of their Holiday Helpings program.
Much of the debate surrounding improving health in low income communities has focused on eliminating food deserts by increasing the number of supermarkets in poor neighborhoods. But just living near a grocery store doesn’t necessarily translate into healthier eating habits.
GOOD tackles another myth, that fast food restaurants’ primary clientele are poor people. A University of California at Davis study found most fast food customers are lower middle class. People frequent such establishments more often as they move out of the low lncome bracket, and their patronage doesn’t decline until annual incomes hit around $60,000.
The middle-class families who frequent the drive-through the most may have some money, but they tend to operate under a perpetual time crunch—less free time, more children, and little disposable income result in more quick trips to the Golden Arches. And they’re paying for the meals out of their own pockets—Leigh attributes the lack of low-income patrons at fast-food restaurants partially to the fact that food stamps are not accepted at most fast-food locations.
Read more at: www.good.is
The D.C. riots that erupted in the wake of the 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination resulted in more than 1,000 burned down buildings, dramatically changing the District’s landscape. Such damage altered the course of the city’s development, and the riots are still brought up in current discussions over gentrification and revitalization.
But exactly how did the city look during the four days of rioting? Yale University has released a collection of rare negatives documenting the riots and the government response. They were taken by part-time Associated Press photographer Alexander Lmanian, and the images he captured show soldiers mobilizing in D.C. streets, people looting and damaged storefronts. See our gallery below:
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
Cityscapes during the riots in the vicinity of H Street NE between 7th Street NE and 13th Street NE.
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
United States Army helicopter used to spot rioters
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
Damage in the aftermath of the riots.
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
Police helicopters and emergency troops in the Capitol District during the riots, 11:00-11:30 a.m.
Damage in the aftermath of the riots
Luther Place Memorial Church, and cityscapes that show the aftermath of the 1968 riots.
Rioters, soldiers, and damaged buildings during the riots.
Dressing up in a Halloween costume meant to represent an ethnic group is one thing, but what about dressing as a specific person of a race different than yours? And what if skin paint is part of the get-up? Retired tennis player Andre Agassi dressed up as Mr. T for Halloween and darkened his skin as part of the costume. He’s not the only athlete to wear such a costume this Halloween; hockey player Raffi Torres also darkened his skin for his Jay-Z costume.
There’s a long, painful history behind blackface, beginning in the 19th century when white actors painted their faces and depicted caricatures of African Americans in minstrel shows. Characters such as the mammy were shown to enjoy being slaves or couldn’t be trusted to be free. Sometimes black actors wore blackface and also played these caricatures. These stereotypes evolved and persisted through Reconstruction and well into the 20th century, and many scholars argue they served as the main representation of African Americans in mainstream media for decades.
Now, these athletes’ costumes are a far cry from the history of blackface; Agassi and Torres weren’t depicting stereotypes of black people, but were dressing up as specific people. A comic doing an impersonation would probably do the same. On the other hand, Mr. T and Jay-Z are quite iconic; perhaps these athletes could have pulled off their costumes without having to alter their skin color. And what if Agassi wanted to be famous white person – would he have felt the need to lighten his skin then? What’s your take? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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