Race Inquiry Digest (March 7) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Featured – How Donald Trump Played the (White) Race Card and Reshaped the Democratic Party. By Nina Burleigh / Newsweek

Trump is unique in the scale and depth of his appeal to whiteness, his sustained racially charged campaign to “make America great again” is unmatched in modern political history. And before the 2016 election, few appreciated the magnitude of the audience for such a message. Read more

At CPAC, Extremists On Stage And Off. By Christopher Mathias / HuffPost

The annual conference served as yet another reminder of how the conservative movement in America is joined at the hip with the white nationalist movement. Read more

White Supremacist Propaganda At ‘Record-Setting’ Levels, ADL Report Finds. By Matthew S. Schwartz / NPR

The increase in flyers and other propaganda reflects a relatively new strategy for hate groups, the ADL says. Under intense scrutiny, white supremacists are reluctant to show their face in public, so they’re relying more on leaflets and posters to spread hate without putting themselves at personal risk, it adds. Read more

Trump’s support among Hispanics and Latinos is real. Don’t assume it will fade. By David Byler / Wash Post

Every few months, a strange thing happens in the news: President Trump says something negative about Hispanics and Latinos or makes a new push for his border wall. Someone then checks the polls and finds that his approval is well above zero percent with Hispanics and Latinos, and every journalist marvels that those numbers aren’t lower. Read more

Ensuring racial equality – from classrooms to workplaces – depends on federal regulations Trump could roll back. By Derek W. Black / The Conversation

The Trump administration is considering eliminating one of the federal government’s most basic tools for preventing racial discrimination. When the government runs or funds programs, those programs are obligated to ensure that everyone gets equal access and treatment. This duty comes from something called “disparate impact regulations.” These regulations require the programs to pay careful attention to whether their policies cause racial disparities. Read more

The Schools That Tried—But Failed—to Make Native Americans Obsolete. By Alia Wong / The Atlantic

“Education was something that was done to us, not something that was provided for us.” Two centuries ago, Congress passed a law that kicked into high gear the U.S. government’s campaign to assimilate Native Americans to Western culture—to figuratively “kill the Indian,” as one general later put it, and “save the man.” Read more

Reckoning With Violence. By Michelle Alexander / NYT

We must face violent crime honestly and courageously if we are ever to end mass incarceration and provide survivors what they truly want and need to heal. Shown are people gathered in Garfield Park and Other Chicago neighborhoods in May 2016, as a plea against violence. Read more

For Asian Americans in the Midwest, the census is a new — and difficult — challenge. By Chris Fuchs / NBC News

Asian Americans least likely to fill out the census form — and most concerned their answers will be used against them — community advocates fear that this group in parts of the Midwest could be undercounted in the 2020 census, which could negatively affect how billions of dollars in federal funding will be distributed and who receives translated voting materials. Read more

As Elite Campuses Diversify, A ‘Bias Towards Privilege’ Persists. By Elissa Nadworny / NPR

Elite colleges are making strides to diversify their student bodies, both racially and economically. In the past few years, we’ve seen most top schools commit to enrolling more low-income students through financial aid, recruiting efforts and programs for high school students aimed at expanding the pipeline. But once those students arrive on campus, says Anthony Abraham Jack, they often find the experience isolating and foreign. Read more

Unearthing Black History at Green-Wood Cemetery. By Natalie Meade / The New Yorker

In nineteenth-century New York City, racial and class disparities stratified both the living and the dead. In Green-Wood, African-American bodies were laid to rest in seven lots along the southwestern edge of the vast grounds. Watch the video here

‘The Greek Freak’ wants to go back to his Nigerian roots. By Marc J. Spears / The Undefeated

“Obviously, a lot of people don’t know where I’m from,” Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo told The Undefeated. “A lot of people think my mom or my dad are from Greece, but no. Both of my parents are black. Both of my parents are Nigerian.” Read more

Katelyn Ohashi Earns Another Dazzling 10 As UCLA Teammates Dance Along. by Ron Dicker / HuffPost

Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, the viral sensation from UCLA, was perfect again in the floor exercise last weekend. The 10 score she recorded in Norman, Oklahoma, was just as joyful to watch as when she skyrocketed to fame in January with a dazzling 10 at the Collegiate Challenge in Anaheim, California. Watch here

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