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-Even after the elections of Obama and Harris, African Americans still sit in poverty and have yet to see any type of justice.
- African Americans were afraid that Harris wouldn't prioritize their needs and challenges as a community.

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The day Kamala Harris announced she was running for president, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no less, the senator from California seemed primed to dazzle.

If nominated, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father would be the first black or Indian American woman to run for the White House on a major-party ticket.

Yet, from many black people, there was an outcry. Despite Harris' being a graduate of Howard University, a top predominantly black university, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation's oldest black sorority, they questioned whether Harris would prioritize the challenges faced by American descendants of slavery, or #ADOS, casting a light on growing rifts between African Americans in the United States and newer black immigrants.

There was her record as a district attorney and attorney general, which some have categorized as "law and order" - a video has circulated showing Harris laughing while discussing a program she created as attorney general to prosecute poor parents for their truant children. There also is leftover disappointment that President Barack Obama hadn't adequately addressed issues of black Americans.

"The thrill is gone because the Obama honeymoon is over, and we are never going to vote for people because their face is black again," said Aaron Smith, a professor of African American studies at Temple University.

And there was her heritage. Does she consider herself black?

"When Jake Tapper on CNN asked her about being a black woman running for president, she responded that she was a woman of color," Smith said. She has also answered a question about her identity by saying she is a "proud American."

Many of her Indian American political supporters in California have only recently learned of her Indian heritage, reported the Washington Post.

And in her book, The Truths We Hold, published weeks before she announced her candidacy, Harris calls herself a black woman; in fact, she talks about how her Indian mother knew that people in India would see Harris and her younger sister only as black girls.

For #ADOS activists, though, the question is not whether she's black enough.

"This whole argument that we're saying she's not black is really ridiculous," Yvette Carnell, a cofounder of the #ADOS movement, said in an interview last week. "We're saying there is a difference in the justice demands for people who are descendants of slaves in this country and those who were enslaved in Jamaica."
>> READ MORE: Who is black in America? Ethnic tensions flare between black Americans and black immigrants
Carnell, a political commentator and creator of the Breaking Brown Youtube show, created the #ADOS hashtag with Antonio Moore, a lawyer, writer and filmmaker with his own Tonetalks Youtube and Dash Radio show.

They said the concept came from their advocacy for policies to address the wealth gap between native-born black Americans and white and other ethnic groups. Where the median white family has wealth of about $100,000, the median black family has wealth of about $10,000, according to a 2014 U.S. Census Bureau survey.

Moore said his concern was that such politicians as Obama and Harris, both descendants of immigrants - although Obama's mother was a white American - have spoken with clarity about the need for laws to aid immigrants.

"They want to focus on immigration and DACA, but that can't be our primary issue," Moore said. "Our dialogue needs to be about American DOS and the lack of opportunities and the lack of jobs and lack of wealth."

Carnell cited research that shows Ivy League schools were admitting a higher percentage of black immigrants than those whose ancestors were enslaved: A study published in the American Journal of Education in 2007 found that immigrants or children of immigrants, while making up 13 percent of the nation's black 18- and 19-year-olds - accounted for 41 percent of blacks admitted to Ivy League schools.

Many have called the #ADOS movement anti-immigrant. Moore said: "To say that is to ignore the ... struggle that undergirds this group from slavery to Jim Crow to mass incarceration. Our families built America and now suffer because everyone wants to ignore that reality."

Kirsten Allen, a spokesperson for Harris' campaign, defended the senator's engagement with the black community. As for the truancy program referenced in the video: "No parents went to jail and attendance increased 30 percent," according to an emailed statement.

Then, on the Breakfast Club Power 105.1 radio talk show Monday morning, Harris talked about a proposed Lift Act, legislation that would reduce income inequity through a $6,000 annual tax credit to all households with earnings of less than $100,000. This would help the nearly half of respondents in a Federal Reserve Board survey who said they could not come up with $400 in case of emergency.

Some say this year - when many African Americans will observe the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first group of African captives brought to Virginia - would be a key time to question candidates on their positions about redressing the wrongs of slavery.

"Reparations," said William "Sandy" Darity, an economist at Duke University. "We should be holding politicians' feet to the fire on this issue. I think it should be a litmus test. "If [Harris] were enthusiastic for the development of a reparations program for black people, whether she is Indian, a woman of color, a Negro, or something else, I wouldn't care."

Darity said any form of reparations, whether lump-sum payments or the establishment of a program that lets black people submit proposals to develop businesses, should be restricted to "eligible African Americans," or those whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States.

He said the other announced Democratic candidates, such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, have talked about programs to address economic inequality, such as "baby bonds" or "a guaranteed job." Also, author and entrepreneur Marianne Williamson, who is running for president, has publicly supported reparations.

Darity noted the injustices went far beyond the time of enslavement, with legal restrictions on basic rights to vote or live in integrated communities lasting until the civil rights movement. Black-owned businesses and homes were being destroyed in race riots, such as when a white mob descended in 1921 in Tulsa, and redlining and federal housing policies stripped black people of the ability to build wealth, all while promoting homeownership for white Americans.

Miranda Alexander, who arrived in Philadelphia about 20 years ago from Trinidad and Tobago, said she's torn on the Harris issue. The self-described pan Africanist - someone who wants to improve the condition of his or her race, whether in the United States, the Caribbean, or the African continent - is a member of the Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs.

"When I first heard [Harris], she was speaking about DACA and I said, 'This is our girl. This is who we're rooting for. We're going to stand by her,' " said Alexander, 48.

But she said one of her friends told her about Harris' record as a prosecutor and decided she had "to see how she's been treating our people. So now, we're on a standstill."

Alexander hadn't considered herself a Pan Africanist until she came to Philadelphia and learned about such people as the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan and his work to improve the lives of black people in America and in Africa. She was also influenced by meeting the black Philadelphians who as teenagers had marched with Cecil B. Moore to end segregation at Girard College.

In addition, she said, the Caribbean immigrant story has long been connected to the black American story.

"There were so many influential figures in African American history who have Caribbean roots, but many people don't know that" said Alexander, ticking off a list that included W. E. B. DuBuois; James Weldon Johnson, who wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the Negro national anthem; and Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, who was the first permanent settler in Chicago. He was born to a French father and Haitian mother.

Alexander said she believes the current tensions are bubbling to the surface because of a lack of leadership among black people.
This story was updated to reflect Sen. Harris' comments Monday.
"We're not producing the leaders we used to have in the '60s," she said, "the type of leader we can attach ourselves to."

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It's not whether Kamala Harris is 'black enough,' critics say, but whether her policies will support native black Americans

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The day Kamala Harris announced she was running for president, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no less, the senator from California seemed primed to dazzle. If nominated, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father would be the first black or Indian American woman to run for the White House on a major-party ticket.

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- Even though the election of a black man has changed views it has not change the positions that black people are still in.

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On this 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the nation's first black president will address the country from the very spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his moving "I Have a Dream" speech - a rousing petition for an end to racial discrimination. The visual of President Obama on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial will be a powerful commentary on America's progress, and will have special meaning for African-Americans.

The election of a black man to the presidency has forever changed the outlook of African-Americans, but it has not changed our circumstances. Mr. Obama's election was anticipated as the culmination of the two complementary, but distinct, events of August 28, 1963 - the march and the speech. These are often couched as synonymous when, actually, one was an activist demand for equal rights and the other an emotional plea for equality. In fact, President Obama is the embodiment of the King's inspiring oration, but not the personification of the march's black activism.

There is no question that African-Americans were, and remain, incredibly proud that the nation entrusted its highest office to a black man. Images from the night of the 2008 presidential election reflect the deep, emotional significance of that event. Many remarked that the election served as proof that the American dream was finally tangible, and that it would no longer be dishonest to tell their children they could achieve anything.

His election is, and will forever be, Obama's most significant contribution to African-Americans. Much as King's speech provided a moment and a figure that symbolized a people's heartfelt desire for equality, Obama's election and two-term presidency updated the dream and positively changed the realm of the possible for African-Americans. Given the nation's history, America is a renewed, if not new, place for many African-Americans now that a black man sits in the White House. This is not trivial.

Of course, this pride is not limited to one racial demographic. All Americans should be proud that our history has been a steady march toward the inclusiveness that has always been a part of the American idea, if not always evident in practice. No one group owns this achievement, but it's undeniable that African-Americans rightly have an outsized connection to it.

But just as inspiration has its place, so does activism. There was a sense among African-Americans that once Obama assumed the presidency, he would begin to address the long-ignored ills that have plagued many black communities for decades. Instead, he made very clear early on that his job is to help all Americans by strengthening the middle class and speeding the economic recovery through fair-share, progressive tax and other policies.

For example, when criticized about not doing enough to help African-American businesses, he's replied, "My general view has been consistent throughout, which is that I want all businesses to succeed. I want all Americans to have opportunity. I'm not the president of black America. I'm the president of the United States of America." And this is exactly correct. Anyone expecting Obama to make the plight of African-Americans the focus of his presidency does not fully appreciate the enormity of the office and issues it must address.

The result is that his election and policies have not significantly affected the conditions in black America as advocated for at the March in 1963. The full name of that political demonstration is instructive: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This assembly of Americans of all races, but primarily blacks, was an expression of solidarity for very specific requests of the federal government. The agenda consisted of petitions for fair employment practices, sufficient wages, access to suitable and integrated schools, and nondiscriminatory housing.

Yet, even as the job market has recovered under Obama, black unemployment remains in a perpetual state of recession-level percentages, and consistently twice the national average. African-American wage disparity as compared to the national average remains an issue today just as it always has. An Economic Policy Institute report, "The Unfinished March," shows that concentrated, impoverished housing and school segregation today remain very close to the levels they did in 1963. African-American imprisonment rates, particularly for young men, remain appalling.

The president has simply aligned his approach with the adage, "a rising tide lifts all boats." In other words, by simply helping all Americans, the theory goes, it is inevitable that African-Americans will also benefit. But what the March on Washington, and many members of the black community, argued is that the primary issue was about disparities - that rising tides do not close those gaps. Thus, from a practical perspective, not much has changed about the African-American experience under a black president.

To be sure, there have been some steps the president has taken to specifically help African-Americans. His executive order awarding grants to historically black colleges and universities was a welcome development, though the recent change in some federal loan requirements means fewer students will be there to take advantage. Additionally, the announcement that the Department of Justice would undertake sentencing reform was welcome news to exasperated African-Americans - even if many would have preferred the Obama administration to have tackled the issue much earlier.

For all the meaning that will be on display when President Obama takes the stage to commemorate a seminal moment in American history, it will be a largely symbolic moment that does not bring about the change the March on Washington demanded. This may have to be enough. After all, his contribution as role model has forever changed the nation.

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Though most African-Americans wanted him to be the embodiment of the speech and the march, it was probably too much, if not inappropriate, to expect him to be both. The work that remains is now the province of the newly inspired. And this, too, is exactly correct.
Theodore Roosevelt Johnson III is an active-duty Navy officer, writer, and 2011-2012 White House Fellow. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US government.

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Does President Obama fulfill MLK's dream?

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For all the meaning that will be on display when President Obama commemorates a seminal moment in US history today, it will be a largely symbolic moment that does not bring the change that the March on Washington demanded. This may have to be enough.

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-The way that the U.S/Community is pushed to the limits and not being heard, then start to riot/loot last and this year also happened in the 1960s.
-If we look at events that happened in the past then maybe we can learn from them and our communities will finally feel whole again.

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A black man dies at the hands of police officers. A community reaches its limit of crying out but not being heard. Tensions rise on both sides until a flashpoint, followed by rioting and looting.

Yes, this is America in 2020, but it was also America in the 1960s. When we are faced with events that surprise us -- even confound us -- we grasp for answers. Some of the whys and hows of recent protests, and the horrific event that preceded them, can be found in history. Tampa's own experience with race relations and the Civil Rights Movement is punctuated with confrontations similar to what has occurred over the past few days and weeks.

On June 11, 1967, a young black man implicated in a robbery was shot near the intersection of Cass Street and Nebraska Avenue while fleeing from police. The death of 19-year-old Martin Chambers prompted protests from the people living in Central Park Village, at the time Tampa's largest African American neighborhood. The death of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Don Williams during that protest (by a heart attack, which was not immediately known at the time) sent the situation into a tailspin. Two days later, the already hurting Central Avenue Business District, the segregation-era black business and entertainment area, plus the surrounding neighborhood, was a smoldering wasteland.

What brought Tampa to that point in the summer of 1967, and what followed that can perhaps give us direction today.

Prior to the riot, Tampa's white leaders spoke openly about how positive the relations were between the city's white and black residents. By the 1960s, Tampa's Latin population, whose grandparents and great grandparents arrived in the city beginning in the 1880s, had mostly assimilated into the larger society. Socioeconomic standing, rather than ethnicity, largely dictated the level of assimilation. Tampa had even elected its first Latin mayor, Nick Nuccio, in the 1950s. Latins were also represented at various times on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and on Tampa City Council, but not since Reconstruction had there been any elected black public officials.

The Civil Rights Movement in Tampa began in earnest on Feb. 29, 1960, with a sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter downtown. This was part of a loosely coordinated effort across the South to open up businesses to black customers on an equal basis. The protests were intended to be peaceful and passive, starting first at Woolworth's then spreading to W.T. Grant's and Walgreens. Lunch counters at national chains were seen as safe locations, but also potentially much more effective because changing the segregated practices of a large company would have far-reaching results.

In Tampa's case, there was only mild violence and menacing words brought by opponents to integration, and the only police involvement came when two whites were removed from Walgreens because they became abusive to those protesting the segregated conditions.

Bi-racial approach brings positive change

The fact that there was little violence during these early demonstrations is due in part to the creation of Tampa's Bi-Racial Commission. Formed by Mayor Julian Lane on Oct. 12, 1959, the Racial Relations Study Committee (as it was first called) was likely the idea of the Rev. A. Leon Lowry, a well-known African American pastor and president of the state NAACP, or James Hammond, who was a young African American activist at the time. The committee was the first in Florida and among the first (if not the first) in the South. It was composed of older and established white and black leaders from the city, including white leaders Lane, Tampa attorney Cody Fowler, and businessman Robert Thomas and black leaders Lowry, C. Blythe Andrews (publisher of the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin), Perry Harvey (head of the powerful longshoremen's union), and the Rev. W.S. Banfield.

The Bi-Racial Commission did not know that the NAACP's Youth Council was going to start protests at the downtown lunch counters, but it did support them, and another group known as Young Adults for Progressive Action when it came time to test whether the counters were truly open to African Americans in September 1960. Business owners and the Tampa Police Department were notified, but the press was not in an effort to minimize attention toward their initial efforts. Those efforts were successful, and Tampa's lunch counters were officially integrated.

While the Bi-Racial Commission, and its so-called Tampa Technique, brought about eventual integration and a modest level of equal rights, that progress was painfully slow and there were still many problems that needed to be confronted. Those problems -- with police brutality at the top of the list -- were laid bare on that hot afternoon in June 1967 with the killing of Martin Chambers.

The riots that started on and near Central Avenue spilled over into West Tampa and East Tampa, particularly near the intersection of Lake Avenue and 22nd Street. That same intersection became the epicenter of another riot nearly 20 years later, in February 1987, following the death of Melvin Hair after he was placed in a chokehold by a Tampa police officer. The deaths of Chambers and Hair prompted procedural changes within the police department -- elimination of firing a weapon at a fleeing suspect involved in petty crime in Chambers' case and the elimination of the use of the chokehold following Hair's death. Still, there was progress to be made, as indicated by other outbursts of protests following other police-involved violence.

Where do we go from here?

Perhaps a look at an even more distant past can help. Possibly the best lesson of tolerance comes from a time when things were at their most intolerant. That lesson sits in Tampa's historic Oaklawn Cemetery. During the mid-19th century, at least one prominent white Tampan, William Ashley, carried on a long-term, public relationship with a black woman. While this was not uncommon, his final pronouncement of devotion to her, and presumably her to him, does seem out of the ordinary. When William Ashley died in 1873, he requested in his will that his companion (and former slave), Nancy Ashley, be buried with him when she passed away. As executor of the Ashley estate, John Jackson, a former Mayor of Tampa, carried out Ashley's wish and, when Nancy died several months later, she was laid to rest in the same casket with William. Their tombstone bears the following inscription:

Here Lie William Ashley and Nancy Ashley, Master and Servant; faithful to each other in that relation in life, in death they are not seperated (sic). Strangers, consider and be wise -- in the grave all human distinctions of race or color mingle together in one common dust.
- To commemorate their fidelity to each other this stone was erected by their Executor. John Jackson, 1873.

If the relationship of William and Nancy Ashley could be tolerated -- and possibly even accepted -- in the days leading up to and immediately following the Civil War, then perhaps there is still hope for the future. Perhaps, too, it is fitting that the park at the center of the local protests in response to the death of George Floyd borders Ashley Drive in downtown Tampa.

Historian Rodney Kite-Powell is Director of the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center.

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We've been here before: A brief history of race relations in Tampa

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A black man dies at the hands of police officers. A community reaches its limit of crying out but not being heard. Tensions rise on both sides until a flashpoint, followed by rioting and looting. Yes, this is America in 2020, but it was also America in the 1960s.

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- " 'confront the reality that, despite gains made in the past 50 years, we are still a nation riven by inequality and racial division.' "

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158 Resources for Understanding Systemic Racism in America

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These articles, videos, podcasts and websites from the Smithsonian chronicle the history of anti-black violence and inequality in the United States

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-People think that if America was racist then Obama and Harris would've never been elected.

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Greetings Recast family! It just keeps happening. Even with a renewed push for criminal justice reform on the federal level, Black and brown people continue to die at the hands of police with astonishing frequency. On Monday, loved ones laid to rest Andrew Brown Jr., who was killed by sheriff's deputies in Elizabeth City, N.C., last month. Police have yet to release the complete body camera footage. And on April 19, Mario Gonzalez died in the Los Angeles area. In this case, police released the video. Gonzalez did not seem to pose a threat to officers, one of whom appears to use a knee to pin him down for several minutes. Gonzalez gasps for air - and later dies. Is there any end in sight? Let's jump in.
"America is not a racist country."

That's the phrase du jour parroted by the nation's highest elected officials, thanks to South Carolina's Tim Scott.
Now, any politician facing the cameras has to answer the question: Is America a racist country?
And when answering that question, inexplicably, the nation's top two elected officials and the dean of South Carolina's congressional delegation all follow the Republican's script.

"No, I don't think America is a racist country," Vice President Kamala Harris told ABC News, adding, "but we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today."

Then there's President Joe Biden: "No, I don't think the American people are racist," Biden said last week. "But I think after 400 years African Americans have been left in a position where they're so far behind the eight ball in terms of education, health, in terms of opportunity."

And right on cue, there was Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the House Majority Whip: "We should stop arguing about whether or not this is a racist country. It is not," , adding if it were, then neither former President Obama or Harris would have been elected to their respective offices.

None of it makes sense.

The election of two biracial politicians to the highest offices in the land doesn't eradicate the racial biases that permeate so many facets of American life - from education, to the criminal justice system, to health disparities to access to capital.
Even Scott admitted in an interview over the weekend that he's been stopped by police for Driving While Black, by his count, 18 times.
So with all that, how is it that nearly three quarters of Americans agreed the guilty verdict of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was the correct outcome, but America's top officials seem incapable of holding a nuanced conversation about the role systemic racism plays in our country?

Or are Democrats siding with Scott for pragmatic reasons?

The party is desperate not to squander the momentum from the Chauvin verdict as it pushes for a federal police reform overhaul. Leaders know that with slim margins in the House and a 50-50 tie in the Senate, any reform has to go through Scott.

And if the filibuster remains in place, the only way to achieve that is to keep him engaged - and remain hopeful that he can persuade nine other Republicans to join him.

We'll keep tabs to see how it all plays out. But one thing is clear: A robust discussion of American-style racism, at least among current elected officials, is not happening anytime soon.

All the best,
The Recast Team

Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Stay tuned for fresh analysis, scoops and new voices.

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A newly released poll shows pretty stark divides between Black and white adults on policing.

The Benenson Strategy Group survey found that a majority of Americans don't consider police highly integral to public safety. They'd like to redirect funds to other areas, like youth recreation and deescalation training.

But Black adults were more likely than their white counterparts to say it's "very important" police are filmed by bystanders, use body cameras and held more accountable for excessive force.

By comparison, white adults were more likely than Black respondents to say it's "very important" police should be well-funded and armed.

President Biden urged lawmakers to pass police reform by the anniversary of George Floyd's murder later this month. Less than 24 hours later, Scott, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others were negotiating behind closed doors.

While both sides remain optimistic a deal can get done, those reading the tea leaves on police reform talks are less bullish. Monica Bell teaches at Yale and has written extensively on sociology, law and policing. Isaiah McKinnon is a former chief of the Detroit Police Department and also formerly served as that city's deputy mayor.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
THE RECAST: What did you make of all these politicians declaring America was not racist? Do you think Democrats wanted to provide cover so talks could continue on police reform? Or is it that if you are a high-ranking elected official, you simply can't come out and say America is racist?

MONICA BELL: I think both are true. Across the spectrum, saying that America is racist is read by people saying that Americans are racist. We don't have a good way in our society of thinking about the difference between structural and systemic racism and individual racism. This is the big problem. So all of them have to separate themselves from that narrative. And so, yeah, I think it plays two roles. [The other] is to try to get Tim Scott to move and to provide cover on some of the police reform stuff.

THE RECAST: Is police reform possible without a change in qualified immunity? Certainly progressives and activists that are trying to push lawmakers on this and likely won't be satisfied with anything less than altering qualified immunity.

ISAIAH MCKINNON: I don't know if this Congress is going to approve removing qualified immunity. I think that the unions and others will be so powerful they won't let that go.

MONICA BELL : I understand why for some progressives qualified immunity is a sticking point. I would just encourage us to not fetishize qualified immunity and to instead come back with a bolder agenda when the politics are ready for it.

In May 2020, Intel announced ambitions for the next decade to accelerate the integration of responsible, inclusive, and sustainable practices and innovative approaches in its operations and supply chain, across the technology industry, and beyond. This week, Intel released its 2020-21 Corporate Responsibility Report which provides detail on Intel's 2030 RISE strategy and goals, including progress made since they were launched a year ago. Read more at https://www.intel.com/responsibility

THE RECAST: Do you think the politics of this moment that it's possible to get Scott and nine other Republicans to sign on to a bill to pass a police overhaul bill?

MONICA BELL: I think it is possible. There is a narrative that is robust right now that to support police reform is the same thing as supporting and being a part of Black Lives Matter, which is the same thing as hating the police. I think Tim Scott needs to work to try to separate out those views [for his colleagues]. And the real question is whether enough Republican senators have the room to be able to adopt [that] sort of message.

ISAIAH MCKINNON: I don't think there's a meaningful path. I think if they were serious, they would look at having a national standard of law enforcement agencies.

I hope that this is a true calling for change in America. But when we see people saying there's no racism ... it'll slide back under the covers and nothing will happen.

The fastest-growing and yet, the most poorly represented: Meet the Asian American and Pacific Islander population.

Our very own Rishika Dugyala got the exclusive on a new report from the Reflective Democracy Campaign. It reveals that - as of mid-2020 - AAPI people account for just 0.9 percent of all elected leaders, but make up 6.1 percent of the U.S. population.

Even among states with high Asian concentrations (think New York, California, Nevada), representation drops off. There's only one state that can claim its share of AAPI elected leaders is nearly equivalent to its population: Hawaii.

When it comes to the criminal justice sector, the lack of AAPI representation is ... particularly stark. Overpolicing and deportation are key issues for Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians - but by mid-2020, just 0.24 percent of elected prosecutors and 0.07 percent of county sheriffs identified as AAPI.

Given ongoing conversations of police reform, the rise of AAPI political sway and the rise of pandemic-related hate crimes, the report is a step toward more data transparency on a much-discussed and wide-ranging demographic group, said Brenda Choresi Carter, the Reflective Democracy Campaign's director.

"Voters, regardless of party identification, really want to see reflective leadership," Choresi Carter said. "Political power has been concentrated in the hands of white men in the United States since the very beginning. And I think we are seeing the limitations of that."
Read more here.
Groups Push Biden Administration on "Good Data" - Nearly a dozen racial justice advocacy groups (including the NAACP, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum and the National Conference of American Indians) sent a proposal to the White House on Monday. They want the Biden administration to form an Equitable Data Working Group to adopt standard definitions of race/ethnicity across federal agencies, encourage community involvement in data collection and mandate transparency at levels of government.

Without this data, they argue, "localities, states and even the federal government are less able and less accountable for responding appropriately to the full scope of the problem."

What's the play? Dems Confused on Voting Rights Strategy - Constrained by both the filibuster rules in a 50-50 split Senate and disagreement within their own ranks, Democrats set out to chart a path forward on voting rights legislation. POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report some are questioning the strategy moving forward.

A McAuliffe Win Means Thwarting History - Terry McAuliffe is opening a wide lead in his quest to be the first governor to win a second term in Virginia since 1973. POLITICO's Maya King reports: "Democratic primary voters in Virginia have prioritized pragmatism over racial representation." In other words, if any other Democrat were to topple McAuliffe for the party's nomination - in particular two who many feel have the chops to become the nation's first Black female governor - time is running out to make a move. The party primary is June 8.

Caitlyn Weighs In - Former Olympian and reality-TV star Caitlyn Jenner raised some eyebrows over the weekend for her stance on transgender girls participating in amateur sports. POLITICO's Quint Forgey reports her remarks come less than two weeks after Jenner announced her candidacy to challenge California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. She's not backing down in the face of controversy, either.

On this day 60 years ago, May 4, 1961, the original Freedom Riders - 13 white and Black activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC ) departed Washington, D.C. The group, which included the young John Lewis, was on a mission to test whether states in the Jim Crow South were adhering to the Boynton v. Virginia Supreme Court decision that ruled segregation of busing terminals and other ports of interstate transportation was unconstitutional.

Among those "tests" the Freedom Riders would conduct were to use whites-only waiting rooms and lunch counters, and for whites and Blacks to sit together on the bus as it drove through the South.

Intel has a long history of transparency, driving global impact and value through corporate responsibility as well as focusing on integrating environmental, social and governance strategies across its business. In May 2020, the company announced ambitionsfor the next decade to accelerate the integration of responsible, inclusive, and sustainable practices and innovative approaches in its operations and supply chain, across the technology industry, and beyond. This week, Intel released its 2020-21 Corporate Responsibility Report which provides detail on this strategy, including progress made over the past year. For example, Intel increased renewable energy use from 71% to 82% and conserved 7.1 billion gallons of water in 2020. Additionally, it launched the Alliance for Global Inclusion to drive collective impact in four key areas: leadership representation, inclusive language, inclusive product development, and STEM readiness in underserved communities. Initial members include Intel, Dell Technologies, Nasdaq, NTT DATA, and Snap Inc. Learn more at https://www.intel.com/responsibility

The Freedom Rides grew in size and at one point had more than 400 participants. Angry white mobs attacked them with rocks and bricks. They even firebombed a bus.

In Rock Hill, S.C., Lewis and two others were beaten for entering a whites-only waiting room. Nearly half a century later, one of the white attackers, Elwin Wilson, apologized to Lewis.

The American Constitution Society is holding an event exploring "our Constitution's establishment of a racial caste system." The panel, "Founding Failures: Reckoning with Our Constitution's Generational Impacts on Health and Well-Being," starts at 3 p.m. ET today. Sign up here.

The Atlantic is out with its second installment of a multiyear project called " Inheritance," which focuses on Black contributions to shaping American culture. Two features explore the future of Black history and what lessons can be learned from the nation's first Black inhabitants.

We recommended Jhumpa Lahiri's new book a few weeks ago - but we're back to recommend this profile of the iconic author by BuzzFeed's Scaachi Koul.

Check out this project from NBC News with generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders talking about the discrimination they've experienced. It attaches faces to names, to stories - and is well worth the read.

For this month's issue of Harper's Bazaar, Yo-Yo Ma curated a playlist themed around beauty. It's an eclectic mix of classical (Pablo Casals playing Bach), country (Rhiannon Giddens) and classic (Stevie Wonder). Worth a listen, for sure.

We're big fans of Lion Babe, the musical duo helmed by Jillian Hervey (daughter of Vanessa Williams) and Lucas Goodman. (So good when you're on deadline and you need some musical inspiration to bang things out.) Their latest song, "Frida Kahlo," is one big ol' dose of happy. So is the video.

Finally, we know the week *just* started but... ugh Zoom.

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Greetings Recast family! It just keeps happening. Even with a renewed push for criminal justice reform on the federal level, Black and brown people continue to die at the hands of police with astonishing frequency. On Monday, loved ones laid to rest Andrew Brown Jr., who was killed by sheriff's deputies in Elizabeth City, N.C., last month.

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-"it's almost as if simply saying America is not racist, but then turning the other cheek and saying it is racist in subtler terms."
- people feel as if they are being personally attacked by saying that America as a whole is racist.

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South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott shocked many people when, in response to President Joe Biden's congressional address, he stated that " America is not a racist country ." He admitted that he himself had experienced " the pain of discrimination, " and noted, " I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason, to be followed around a store while I'm shopping. " When asked o n ABC's Good Morning America the following day , Vice President Kamala Harris s eemed to agree with Scott when she s aid , "I don't think America is a racist country." Yet immediately following this sentence she quickly pointed out , "But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today."

As Soledad O'Brien said, "It sounds like a racist country to me," in to Scott-but it seemingly applies to comments by Harris as well. President Biden, who seemed to not pull any punches during his speech, stated, "W e have a real chance to root out systemic racism that America ." However, Biden appeared to his remarks on The Today Show to align more with Harris and Scott (to a certain degree) by noting that slavery and Jim Crow laws had a cost.

It is almost as if simply saying America is not racist, but then turning the other cheek and saying it is racist in subtler terms and that racist things have been done to you makes it ok. It is confusing to Americans and the international community. To supporters, these comments are disappointing . To others, they were shocking. For me , the cognitive dissonance of some of our elected leaders is real and explainable . The re is an oversimplification of racism in America, because as sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva notes, there can be systemic racism without racists.

W hen a person critique s America for the racism that i s deeply embedded in our social institutions, some feel they are being personally attacked. This is because deep down they realize that they benefit from unearned assets associated with whiteness. Scott, Harris, and Biden recognize this and try to balance these varying perspectives as they worry about voters nationally and in a state like South Carolina.

Recently, a at a city council meeting had a meltdown when trying to explain why she does not want critical race theory taught in her children's school. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that s ystemic racism as a concept is " a bunch of horse manure ." So, not only has Florida made it legal to harm people protesting, but he banned teaching critical race theory in schools. For a deeper dive on critical race theory , people should read the work of sociologists Victor and Ted , who lay out why DeSantis' perspective is problematic .

I conducted with Matt Hunt on what predicts who believes they are middle class. For education, income, and occupational prestige, Black people are less likely to identify as middle class compared to whites with comparable levels of these socioeconomic outcomes. Why? It is because social class is not just about what a person looks like on paper , but how people experience social class in everyday life and t he deference that one receives for their socioeconomic status. Black people are less likely to get that deference, while white people are often afforded more. It is so commonplace for white people that some cannot fathom living without it. This is because many white people, particularly white people with lower levels of education and income, realize that comes with a premium that extends beyond economics to include cultural and social capital. As Pr esident Lyndon Johnson said, " If you can the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and h e'll empty his pockets for you."

Harris and Scotts' comments are puzzling at a broader level as well considering how much of a collective memory their experiences with racism are- Harris reliving her systemic experiences with bussing and Scott recounting the nearly 20 times he has been pulled over by police, where being an elected official potentially made the interaction worse.

These stories acknowledge that life is different if you are Black, and unfortunately systemic racism seems to ripple through our social institutions and into our daily social interactions, whether in Congress or at a coffee shop down the street from the Capitol. These type s of experiences-racialized cuts and hurdles- have a cumulative effect on . Sociologist s Pam Jackson and Jason Cummings' research documents that middle-class Blacks have worse health profiles than working-class whites. They attribute this difference to the daily racialized trauma experienced in predominately white environments like work and neighborhood settings.

Systemically, we know that Black people compared to whites are more likely to attend schools with less funding per student, less likely to obtain a job because of our "Black-sounding" name or even when attending an Ivy League university , less likely to obtain a (even when having the same credit score ), have their homes appraised for equitable value, more likely to experience pregnancy complications and maternal mortality , and more likely to have contact with police and the criminal justice system .

Systemic racism inhibits (rather than prohibits like in the past) people's ability to actualize all aspects of the American Dream. This occurs  even for highly-educated Black people with high incomes and no criminal record. In fact, research documents that white people with a criminal record are more likely to get called back for a job than Black people without one.

Research documents that hard work (or lack thereof ), intellect, or criminality do not explain these outcomes. Instead, it is the embedded deeply within our social institutions' , rules, regulations, and laws that segment people's experiences along racial lines. It is the same for gender. Women can achieve but have a much harder time doing so. If not, America would have had a woman vice president and speaker of the House sitting behind the p resident long before 2021.

What people do not seem to realize is that being upwardly mobile does not negate encountering racist hurdles on the pathway to success. Our current system is set up for some people to have to jump over hurdles to succeed, while others get to simply run to the finish line without those sa me racial hurdles. Rather , it is about whether the pathways to success are equitable . This is what America says it is: an equitable democracy. People are pushing for America to reach its true ideal s and the only way this can properly occur is acknowledging the systemic barriers that prevent us from getting there. Moreover, it is not that racial progress has not been made. It is that the United States has yet to make enough progress. In this regard, comment s of our top elected officials are disappointing, yet predictable.

Black people who succeed often walk on pins and needles because they realize that their success, and more so maintaining it, is precarious.   As a result, some Black people aim to make white pe ople feel comfortable. Many of us are mostly socialized to do so. I t is often a survival strategy for our lives during police encounters or economic survival in boardrooms. Some of us who succeed may experience "survivor's remorse" because we are some of the few to "make it." We actually embody the American Dream and become the in-person example to people who do not want to admit that systemic racism exists. We may even convince ourselves that racism is more prominent on the individual level than the institutional level. We simultaneously represent racial progress but are also most likely to be subjugated to racial discrimination because of the predominately white spaces we are embedded within. We experience a chronic form of double-consciousness   and admitting as such can often lead us to being conscious of the slow death we often experience through the cumulative racist cuts and hurdles we encounter.   The American Dream being achievable for a few does not absolve the system and an imperfect union, even when some of those successful people try to rationalize systemic racism away.

In most instances: When Black parents worry about their straight-A student's traffic encounters with the police more than they do a potential accident, this is because of experiences with racism. When a Black couple is about to have a baby and has to think consciously about what hospital to deliver in so they can obtain equitable care, this is racism. When a Black parent worries about their child attending a prestigious university outside of an urban area, this is often because of the racism they worry about them encountering driving to the school and even once physically on the campus of the school. And even more urban universities are not absolved from .

Systemic racism is not simply a thing of the past. It is up close and personal in the present.

R acism may be no more transparent in an institution with the least representative racial progress like the Senate. There have only been 11 Black senators in roughly 232 years. Clearly, the Senate is the exact space we need people with the courage to say the blunt, honest truth about our nation's past and present. Only then can we actualize a future where systemic racism does not exist. It is imperative for a , reconciliation, and reparative process to commence. This starts with atoning for the enslavement of of Africans whose descendants contin uously fall systemically behind , whether they end up being the lone Black Republican senator or a Black police officer who might have the power to pull him over.   We must have the courage to speak truth to power and one of the places it starts is in Congress.   "If not now, then when?"

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South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott shocked many people when, in response to President Joe Biden's congressional address, he stated that " America is not a racist country ." He admitted that he himself had experienced " the pain of discrimination, " and noted, " I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason, to be followed around a store while I'm shopping.