DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the links we’re perusing on this sunny Thursday:

After Foster Care: What Happens Next? “African-American children…despite accounting for 14 percent of the U.S. child population, make up 30 percent of foster-care youths…black children also stay in foster care longer than children of other races. Of the 30,000 foster-care youths who age out each year and suddenly find themselves on their own at age 18, most lack a high school diploma, and only 6 percent go on to earn college degrees. Unemployment and poverty-level wages are common, and an astounding 40 percent of young people aging out of foster care will at some point be homeless.” (The Root)

If You Haven’t Been On Food Stamps, Stop Trying to Influence Government Policy “There’s an area, on the DC/Maryland border, that is the home to a lot of immigrant communities. This means a lot targeted grocery stores. I went into one, in search of jicama, and marveled at the retailer who was selling dollar bags of produce. The produce in the bags was actively rotting. I’m not talking about bruising or discoloration, which gets things bounced off grocery store shelves. I’m talking about mold. Rot. Things that most people wouldn’t want to touch, but there is enough demand in that area for affordable produce that it’s bagged up and sold along with the other wares.” (Racialicious)

White House Condemns Some of Common’s Lyrics but Praises his Larger Body of Work “The White House Wednesday condemned some of the lyrics and prose of hip hop star Common, whose invitation to a White House poetry event this evening has brought criticism from some conservatives and police officers. “The president does not support and opposes the kind of lyrics that has been written about,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said when American Urban Radio’s April Ryan asked him about the controversy.” (Political Punch)

Northern Va Hair Care Business Receives Outpouring of Support After Hateful Facebook Posts “A Northern Virginia hair care business is reporting an outpouring of support after a FOX 5 story first aired Monday about racist rants, images and videos that started to overtake a Facebook page set up by Naturalista Cosmetics. One of the owners, Padrica Norfleet, told FOX 5′s Will Thomas new hate-filled messages appear just as quickly as she deletes the old ones. The Facebook page is a forum for her customers to discuss hairstyles and offer each other product tips. A video of a KKK cross burning was also posted on her page.” (myfoxdc.com)

D.C. Has Horrific Racial Inequality, But No More So Than America Generally “For the first time ever, the National Association of Homebuilders has taken its Housing Opportunity Index–the percentage of all homes sold that are affordable to people making the median income–and broken it down by race. Of course, whites are a lot more able to afford homes…(locally, there is) about a 30-point difference between the share of homes affordable to whites and blacks at their respective median incomes.” (Washington City Paper)

What the President Left Out of His Immigration Reform Speech “…a good chunk of the country is not only concerned about immigrants and the economy, but also about immigrants changing the culture and politics of the country. Obama’s general reluctance to speak to racial anxiety and conflict spills over across the Democratic Party and gives immigration conservatives a huge amount of space to evoke invasion images…(Obama) didn’t challenge (untrue) stereotyping of immigrants as over-users of welfare and as gang members.” (colorlines.com)