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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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two guys in there 20's ran over this black man on purpose with there truck.

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(Reuters) - Two Mississippi men pleaded guilty Tuesday to hate crime charges connected to the death of a black man who was run over by a truck because of his race, federal officials said.

William Kirk Montgomery, 23, and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 20, both white, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy and federal hate crime charges for their roles in assaults on African-Americans that culminated in the death of James Craig Anderson, 49, on June 26, 2011, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The pleas were given in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi.

"The defendants today took responsibility for committing federal hate crimes by assaulting vulnerable Americans solely because of their race," said U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis, in a statement.

Montgomery was linked directly to the attack on Anderson, while Gaskamp was linked to another racially motivated assault.

Three other white Mississippi men, Deryl Paul Dedmon, 20, John Aaron Rice, 19, and Dylan Wade Butler, 21, have previously entered guilty pleas in connection with the case.

Beginning in the spring of 2011, Montgomery, Gaskamp and others began a campaign of harassing and assaulting African-Americans in and around Jackson, Mississippi, using beer bottles, sling shots, and motor vehicles, according to the Justice Department. They would often brag about their exploits.

On one occasion, Montgomery, Gaskamp, Dedmon, Rice and others chased down and stopped a black man's vehicle and then beat the man to the point that he begged for his life. Gaskamp kicked the man in the head and body, prosecutors said.

On another occasion, Montgomery, Gaskamp and other members of the group had been drinking at a birthday party and talked about driving to Jackson to assault African-Americans, according to the Justice Department. Gaskamp did not go to Jackson on this occasion.

Anderson, a Nissan auto worker, was returning to his car before dawn on June 26, 2011 when he was confronted by a group of white youths, including Montgomery, in a motel parking lot.

Anderson was physically attacked before Dedmon deliberately ran him over with a truck, prosecutors said. Dedmon yelled "white power" during the attack. He received two concurrent life sentences last March for the murder.

A sentencing date for Montgomery and Gaskamp was not available.

Mississippi has a long legacy of racial discrimination and was a focal point of Civil Rights activity during the 1960s and since. The racist Ku Klux Klan organization was prominent in the state for decades and remnants of the group remain.

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judicial process / court cases / court decisions

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Two plead guilty to charges in Mississippi black man's death

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(Reuters) - Two Mississippi men pleaded guilty Tuesday to hate crime charges connected to the death of a black man who was run over by a truck because of his race, federal officials said.

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the family of this black teen are accusing the cops on seen for his death.

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(Editor's Note: this story contains language that may offend some readers)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The parents of a black teenager shot and killed in December by a white Chicago police officer are accusing the policeman of a hate crime because of language used in text messages the officer exchanged before the shooting, the family's lawyer said on Friday.

The allegation is part of an amended lawsuit filed on Thursday against the police officer, Robert Rialmo, and the City of Chicago by the family of Quintonio LeGrier, 19, who was shot and killed on Dec. 26.

It said that before the shooting Rialmo would discuss whether he got "any niggas" and thought it was humorous to characterize people with that term. Basileios Foutris, a lawyer for LeGrier's parents, said by telephone that Rialmo had these discussions in text messages.

Rialmo's lawyer, Joel Brodsky, said a friend of the officer's had used the term, but Rialmo had not. Brodsky said the texts were not racist.

A 55-year-old grandmother, Bettie Jones, also African American, was killed accidentally by Rialmo during the incident.

The deaths fueled Chicago's already intense debate over police use of force against minorities amid protests in a number of cities around the United States over police killings of young black men. In the last two weeks, racially tinged violence has again shocked Americans with police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota and a black U.S. military veteran killing five white police officers in a racially motivated shooting in Dallas.

Both LeGrier's and Jones' estates sued Rialmo and the city for wrongful death.

Rialmo has counter-sued, saying LeGrier attacked him with a baseball bat, forcing him to kill him. Rialmo has also sued the City of Chicago saying he was not properly trained to reduce tensions in heated encounters with mentally ill people.

The amended wrongful death lawsuit filed on Thursday by LeGrier's family said Rialmo and the city caused a battery of LeGrier because of his race or color, constituting a hate crime under Illinois state law.

Brodsky said the hate crime allegation against his client is based on a mistaken reading of text messages.

"It's simply not any type of racist anything, it's hip-hop language that some kids use," Brodsky said.

Brodsky supplied Reuters with copies of the messages, which show that a friend texted Rialmo on Dec. 16 asking him about his work the previous night and saying "U get any niggas." Rialmo responded "Sort of lol.... long story."

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judicial process / court cases / court decisions

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Family of dead black teen accuses Chicago police officer of hate crime

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(Editor's Note: this story contains language that may offend some readers) CHICAGO (Reuters) - The parents of a black teenager shot and killed in December by a white Chicago police officer are accusing the policeman of a hate crime because of language used in text messages the officer exchanged before the shooting, the family's lawyer said on Friday.

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a black college student got killed by 3 white men.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - The assault of a black Oregon college student by three white men is being investigated by a police hate crime unit and comes days after Portland police received reports of racist threats on social media, authorities said on Monday.

The 26-year-old black man was assaulted on Friday night near the campus pool at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, police said.

"The victim told police that the suspect used racial epithets before assaulting him," Portland Police Department spokesman Pete Simpson said in a statement. "The victim fought back and was able to get away and go to his residence on campus."

The attack came just days after Portland police received reports of racist remarks and threats over the social media app Yik Yak directed at students and staff at Lewis & Clark, a small, private liberal arts school.

Simpson said detectives who investigate bias crimes have opened a probe into both incidents and it was not yet known whether they are related.

The assault also comes about one week after a male student was charged with making threats through Yik Yak against black students at Michigan Technological University. Similar online threats have also targeted students in Missouri and in Washington, D.C.

The incidents have raised tensions on U.S. university campuses and led students to protest what they see as school officials' lenient approach to racial abuse.

The victim and assailants in Portland have not been named by police or the school, but the Oregonian newspaper named the victim as Tanguy Muvuna of Rwanda.

The newspaper cited Muvuna as saying that the trio slapped, punched and pushed him, told him he was going to die, and forced him to drink an unknown liquid.

"I'm not angry. I'm not upset," the Oregonian quoted Muvuna as saying. "I love everyone here. I love the white people. I love the black people here... Many white people here, they are not racists... I'm safe. I'm safe here.'"

He was treated on the scene and declined to be taken to the hospital, police said.

The school said it is still looking into whether the three men accused of attacking Muvuna are students as the school.

In a statement, Lewis & Clark College President Barry Glassner said the school's priority is "to find the people posting hate speech and the assailants quickly" and that it has brought in additional security for its campus.

(This version of the story corrects to show suspects have not been confirmed as students)

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Black Oregon college student assaulted by three white men: police

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PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - The assault of a black Oregon college student by three white men is being investigated by a police hate crime unit and comes days after Portland police received reports of racist threats on social media, authorities said on Monday.

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student leaves hateful message on computer. 

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student leaves hateful message on computer. 

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a student at a highschool in california leaves a racist message.

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BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) - Hundreds of high-school students, some chanting "Black Lives Matter," walked out of school in Berkeley, California, on Thursday and marched to a nearby campus to protest a threatening and racist message left on a school computer, police said.

As many as 1,000 Berkeley High School students left class around 10 a.m. (1800 GMT), after school district officials had notified parents the night before about the hateful message, said Berkeley Police Department spokesman Byron White.

The message, shared on Twitter by the school's black student union and then published by local news outlets, included racial slurs, a claim of past racial violence, a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, and threatened a "public lynching" in December.

"It's definitely hateful. We're looking into this as a hate crime," White said, adding the incident was under investigation.

The students assembled outside the high school and marched a few blocks to the campus of University of California Berkeley, chanting and carrying signs.

Among the chants was "Black Lives Matter," a refrain that has come to define a national movement against systemic racism and police violence that spawned last year in the wake of numerous high-profile police killings of unarmed black men.

White said there were no reports of arrests or injuries and that the protest was peaceful. He said police were monitoring the event and blocking off streets to allow students to march.

The black student union called the message "terrorism" in a statement and demanded immediate action.

"The safety of Black students has been explicitly threatened," the statement said.

Berkeley High senior Navya Laki, 17, said the union went class to class to spread word of the protest. She said a previous racial incident on campus had not been taken seriously by staff, and said: "With this one, it's like we were fed up. We are going to do something about it."

District officials told the local San Francisco Chronicle newspaper that the image seemed to be a screen shot of the school's library home page which had been modified to include the racist language.

Officials told the newspaper they did not believe someone hacked into the school's system, nor did they think the web site had been altered.

The district could not be immediately reached for comment.

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California high school students walk out over racist post probed as...

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BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) - Hundreds of high-school students, some chanting "Black Lives Matter," walked out of school in Berkeley, California, on Thursday and marched to a nearby campus to protest a threatening and racist message left on a school computer, police said. As many as 1,000 Berkeley High School students left class around 10 a.m.

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posts on facebook were made targeting michelle. she is called an ape because of her skin color.

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A Facebook post that made disparaging comments about first lady Michelle Obama has gone viral nationwide, receiving criticism from many who say it was seeped in racism.

"It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a Ape in heels," Pamela Ramsey Taylor, the head of a West Virginia nonprofit in Clay County, wrote on Facebook.

The mayor of the town of Clay, W.Va., Beverly Whaling, responded, "just made my day Pam."

The offensive post was hardly the first of its kind from a town or city official. Last month, the mayor of West York, Pa., resigned amid pressure from other town officials and constituents after circulating racist memes of the Obama family on his Facebook page. While hordes of Americans publicly condemn the acts of racism and have helped to facilitate the removal of such officials, the recurring instances serve to show that racial tensions remain in communities across the nation - even among the views of elected and appointed officials.

"These remarks tell us there's a strong strain of bigotry and racism still alive in our country," Gene Policinski, senior vice president for the First Amendment Center in Nashville, previously told The Christian Science Monitor in October. "Sometimes the function of free speech is to give us a true picture of society."

While fewer than 500 people reside in Clay, and only around 9,000 in the county, the post has spread fiercely across the internet. Petitions seeking the removal of both women from their positions garnered more than 85,000 signatures from those who sought to stand up to the spread of racial statements, indicating that many across the nation refuse to accept hateful language on part of officials.

The town of Clay has no black residents, and the county itself is 98 percent white, according to BBC. Still, both women contended that the post was not meant to spark racial outrage, but reflected their excitement of a Donald Trump presidency.

"My comment was not intended to be racist at all," Ms. Whaling said in a statement to The Washington Post. "I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused! Those who know me know that I'm not of any way racist!"

More than 75 percent of Clay County voters cast ballots for Mr. Trump, compared to 68 percent statewide.

Ms. Taylor, who directs the partially state and federal funded Clay County Development group, was removed from her position Monday.

West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore issued an apology to Michelle Obama, saying that the rhetoric does not reflect the people of the state and their views.

"West Virginia truly is better than this," she wrote. "These radical, hateful, and racist ideals are exactly what we at the West Virginia Democratic Party will continue to fight against."

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Racist Facebook post about Michelle Obama spawns online firestorm

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Many in a small town in West Virginia have been calling for the resignation of both a nonprofit group's director and the town's mayor, after the two were connected with a Facebook post about Michelle Obama that is seen as blatantly racist.

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the boys family was targeted by racist. they burnt there car and left a hate filled letter.

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A High Court judge has ruled that a boy left traumatised after a racist attack on his family can stay at a Belfast grammar school.

The school had tried to have the 12-year-old removed, saying he did not meet its academic standards.

This case involves a leading grammar school. Neither it nor the boy can be named to protect the boy's identity.

The court was told there was a racist attack on the boy's family home in 2014.

Their car was burnt and a racist letter was left at the door of the their house.

It was treated as a hate crime by the police.

Exceptional circumstances

The boy developed "psychological symptoms" as a result - he was "in constant fear and could not be left alone", the court heard.

The following year he did poorly in the AQE transfer test and failed to get into the grammar school.

However, his family appealed to the exceptional circumstances body run by the department of education who ruled the school should admit him.

They said it was essential for the "traumatised and vulnerable" boy to retain a close network of friends who were also going there.

The school admitted the boy temporarily, but challenged that decision. It argued that he would not be able to cope with the high academic demands there and that he was "struggling to cope".

In a statement to the court, however, the boy said he was "enjoying" his school and would be "angry and sad" if he had to leave now.

"If I went to another school I wouldn't know anyone there and they wouldn't encourage me. They wouldn't know my story," he said.

On Tuesday, a judge ruled that he could stay, saying that, as he had been at the school for two months, it would be distressing for him to be removed now.

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Traumatised boy can stay at grammar school

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A High Court judge has ruled that a boy left traumatised after a racist attack on his family can stay at a Belfast grammar school. The school had tried to have the 12-year-old removed, saying he did not meet its academic standards. This case involves a leading grammar school.

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black students not wanting to go to school because of messages in a group chat

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Black students at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have said they were afraid to attend classes after a number of undergraduates were added to a chat group that subjected them to racial slurs and threats of lynching.

The incident comes amid a spike in hate crimes and racist behaviour in the United States after the election of Republican candidate Donald Trump as president on Tuesday.

Officials at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday announced they had suspended one of its students for alleged involvement in sending racist messages, as US media reported the FBI was helping UPenn to investigate the matter.

Messages in the group referred to black people as n******, c***s, and dumb slaves, while one read: "All heil TRUMPMEISTER".

Those behind the group also posted pictures of historic murders of black people in the US, and created an event titled "Daily Lynching", further asking the students if they were "going?".
READ MORE: Black Americans fear racism, police violence post-Trump
Al Jazeera spoke to several black students and alumni at the university who expressed their sadness and anger over the incident.

"I was horrified, outraged, disgusted," said UPenn biology senior Sarah Gubara, who blamed the election for emboldening the racists.

"This incident showed me that Trump had empowered a lot of people to feel more comfortable being hateful and violent towards black people."

Gubara told Al Jazeera many of the affected students had only started university two months ago, and the racism had already marred their experience.

"I don't know if there could have been a worse way to start off a college education for the freshmen.

"They've only been on campus for two-and-a-half months, have just started to become comfortable, their support networks are so small."

Gubara said the week's events had also taken a toll on her own ability to study.

"I have an exam on Monday and I am so scared that I am going to fail because I was not able to dedicate myself to my studies. I was busy comforting and supporting my community, my only safe space, my family."

'Larger problem'

Gubara and others said this particular racist outburst was part of a bigger picture of tensions at the university.

"I think that racism didn't just appear on campus," said Maryam Alausa, a board member of Umoja, a black student umbrella organisation.

"It's been here but previously it has been expressed in implicit ways or in the form of micro-aggressions.

"I think a group of people who haven't been able to speak their mind are now emboldened to do as they please - and that is what we're seeing the results of."

Students of all schools gathering to protest the racist attacks on UPenn freshman #UPennWeGotUs pic.twitter.com/lOSWlz8Q1T
- I Will Block Ya Mama (@FeministaJones) November 11, 2016

Sydette Harry, a UPenn alumnus, said there was a sense on the campus that black students did not truly deserve to be in such a reputable institution.

"Upper tier universities have that dynamic," Harry said.

"Penn is an Ivy League university so Penn, Harvard, Brown, and Columbia have a very specific kind of tension because there's always this expectation or assumption that you [as a black person] are not supposed to be there."

Harry, who works on Mozilla's Coral Project, also raised questions about how sensitive information, like the students' phone numbers, were obtained by those behind the chat group.

"There's also an informational security issue. How were they able to isolate black students and put them in a group."

University response

In a statement released on Saturday, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann said she was "absolutely appalled" by the incident.

"The racism of this GroupMe message is profoundly inimical to what we stand for as a university," Gutmann said.

"We will take every step possible to counteract its appalling bias.

"And we all stand together in solidarity with our black students who have been so terribly targeted."

However, the impact of the messages on racial tensions on campus may be hard to reverse, according to students Al Jazeera spoke to.

"I am the minority in most of my classes, how could I possibly sit there knowing there may be people in the room that think it's okay to lynch black students?" Gubara asked.

For Harry, such thoughts represented an "unfair burden" on black students.

"It's not your responsibility to decode which of your classmates is racist or not," Harry said.

"They [students] are like I don't know who's racist and who's not, and I don't know how we're going to move forward, and how we're going to heal."

She said as victims it wasn't the responsibility of the targeted students to reconcile with the perpetrators.

"My message to them is that it is your responsibility to be safe, secure, and try to finish your education and do the best you can. We are here for you, alumni are here to help."

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Black UPenn students speak out after racist messages

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Black students at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have said they were afraid to attend classes after a number of undergraduates were added to a chat group that subjected them to racial slurs and threats of lynching.

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two white men shoved a black man into a coffin. They then threatened to burn him alive.

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Two white men in South Africa have been charged with assault after an online video emerged showing them pushing a black man into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive.

The pair are to appear in court on Wednesday in the northeastern town of Middelburg charged with assault and intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a court clerk said on Tuesday.

The footage was apparently shot on a mobile phone by one of the two white men involved in the incident.

The video caused outrage on social media with hundreds of South Africans condemning the white men's behaviour under the hash tag #coffinAlive.

The 20-second clip shows one white man shoving the black man, who makes distressed noises, into the wooden coffin and trying to force down the lid.

"Do you want to speak? Come, come. We want to throw the petrol on," said one of the men, speaking Afrikaans.

They are also accused of threatening to put a snake in the coffin.

The video, which is undated, has spread rapidly across social media.

It was allegedly taken at a farm close to Middelburg town in Mpumalanga.
READ MORE: S Africa: Black students protest 'racist' hair rules
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition party said it would rally outside Middelburg magistrates' court on Wednesday to protest against the alleged assault and racism in South Africa.

The EEF named the suspects as Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jackson, and the victim as Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa.

Press Alert: EFF Leadership Will Attend the Court Case of White Men who Assaulted a Black Man & Put Him in a Coffin https://t.co/8xPEUWngYx
- EFF Official Account (@EFFSouthAfrica) November 14, 2016

"The two white men ... beat up a black man, Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa, and put him in a coffin," the EFF said in a statement .
READ MORE: Race debate resurfaces as S Africa picks rugby squad
"These white racists then took a video and put it up on social media for amusement. This humiliation can be based on nothing else but his blackness, which means it is in actual fact a humiliation of black people as a whole."

Racial controversies have erupted regularly on social media in recent years in South Africa, which is still beset by deep-rooted inequality 22 years after the end of white-minority apartheid rule.

#coffinalive

It hurts me that in today's times in SA one human can treat another human being in such an inhumane manner. This is so sick!
- Qari Ziyaad Patel (@QariZiyaadPatel) November 15, 2016

After seeing that #CoffinAlive vid I realised that inhumanity is rooted on some people.
- Tlotlego Seleka (@Ted_Seleka) November 15, 2016

These coffinAlive video is so terrible, it shows how much we haven't dealt with racism in our country #coffinAlive
- #FreeEducation (@my_success21) November 15, 2016

SOURCE: Al Jazeera News And News Agencies

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South Africa: Whites stuff black man into a coffin

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Two white men in South Africa have been charged with assault after an online video emerged showing them pushing a black man into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive. The pair are to appear in court on Wednesday in the northeastern town of Middelburg charged with assault and intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a court clerk said on Tuesday.

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they arrested gates for loud behaviors even though he was at his own home.

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Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact.

As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois, we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in this society.

That doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made. And yet the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, this still haunts us.

And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause. And that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody is going to be.

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Professor's Arrest Puts Racial Profiling in the Spotlight

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The arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates at his own home in Cambridge, Mass., made headlines again Thursday, after President Obama commented on the controversy during Wednesday's news conference. Ray Suarez talks to analysts about the larger issues at play.

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A recording shows him saying racist remarks to his girlfriend.

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Daily Video

The National Basketball Association (NBA) came down hard on Donald Sterling, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, after a recording emerged of Sterling making racist remarks to his girlfriend.

In the recording, Sterling said he did not want his girlfriend to publicly associate with black people, including posting photos with them on Instagram or bringing them to Clippers games.

The statements stirred outrage in the league and inspired an on-court protest by the Clippers, all but two of whom are black.

"Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA," said Adam Silver, the new NBA commissioner. "Mr. Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices. He may not be present at any Clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team."

The league fined Sterling $2.5 million, the maximum amount allowed under the NBA constitution, and plans to force Sterling to sell the team to a new owner.

NBA players immediately praised the decision on social media and at a Los Angeles news conference, where former player and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke.

"I believe that today stands as one of those great moments, where sports once again transcends, where sports provides a place for fundamental change on how our country should think and act," said Mayor Johnson.

Warm up questions

1. If someone you heard someone you didn't know making a racist comment what would you do or say to them?

2. If you heard a friend making a racist comment what would you say or do?

3. How has the language used to talk about race changed over the last 50 years? What is considered acceptable now? What parts of the conversation still are taboo?

Discussion questions

1. Did you think that the NBA's decision was fair? Why or why not?

2. What message did the NBA send about racism within the league? Should they have done more or less?

3. Do you see any problems with the punishment for Donald Sterling's remarks?

Writing prompt

Examine the graph below from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. What does it tell you about the NBA? How does or doesn't this pose a problem? What changes might increase the representation of African Americans in roles of leadership?

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Clippers owner banned from NBA for life for racist statements | PBS NewsHour Extra

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The National Basketball Association (NBA) came down hard on Donald Sterling, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, after a recording emerged of Sterling making racist remarks to his girlfriend. In the recording, Sterling said he did not want his girlfriend to publicly associate with black people, including posting photos with them on Instagram or bringing them to Clippers games.

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Students took video of them singing racist songs and posted it online.

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Recently, chilling videos surfaced online of young University of Oklahoma students, members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, reciting a racially-charged chant. The story appeared surprising for numerous reasons. Among them, education is supposed to reduce racial resentment (or at least temper outward expressions of it), and young people, known as Millennials, are supposed to be uniquely tolerant. The incident offers an opportunity to reevaluate how we think about racism in America, and how we can fight it.
Age Doesn't Matter
The pervasive narrative about racial change is that it occurs through generations - old racists die out, and new, young, progressive people take their place. This narrative is dubious. Age tells us far less about an individual's likelihood of expressing racist sentiments than factors like education, geography and race. The data below visualize the percentage of whites in each age group espousing the explicitly racist idea that blacks are not hardworking or intelligent, as well as the percentage who say that blacks face little or no discrimination. Finally, I include the percentage of whites in each age group who say they have "never" felt admiration for blacks. The youngest whites (17-34) are only modestly less likely than the oldest (65+) to say that blacks are lazy (3.6 point difference) or unintelligent (1.5 point difference), but they are also less likely to perceive discrimination against blacks (6.3 point difference) and far less likely to say that have felt admiration for blacks. Compared to the generation immediately before them (white aged 35-49) the youngest whites are slightly more likely to say blacks are lazy (2.4 points) and unintelligent (4.3). In sum, it's clear that age has little effect on the likelihood that whites hold racially-biased feelings about blacks.

It's possible that these attitudes are simply driven by an individual's pessimism. Maybe they feel that all people, white and black, are unintelligent. But this does not exculpate young whites. Spencer Piston, a professor at the Campbell Institute at Syracuse University, examined how young whites ranked the intelligence and work ethic of whites to blacks. He finds that 51 percent of whites between the ages of 17 and 34 rate blacks as lazier than whites, and 43 percent say blacks are less intelligent. These numbers aren't statistically different from older whites. On issues related to structural racism, it is incredibly clear that young whites aren't very different from their parents. Indeed, the most significant change that has occurred is an increasing conservatism among young blacks. The data show that most young Americans are racial conservatives - they believe, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." We might call them the Bill O'Reilly Generation.
Let's Talk About Racism
One of the underlying problems is that most Americans, but particularly Millennials, have a very confined view of what racism is. Americans think of racism as Bull Connor or the Ku Klux Klan, but today, racism is far more likely to be embedded in institutions. Modern racism isn't cross-burning (though that still happens.) It's the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs only approving tax credits for housing in neighborhoods that are majority people of color and denying the credits in neighborhoods that are majority white (a case the Supreme Court will take up this year). And while the Ferguson Police Department certainly contained racists, the more pervasive problem was a systematically discriminatory method of policing that preyed on people of color.

Age tells us far less about an individual's likelihood of expressing racist sentiments than factors like education, geography and race.

It is beyond dispute that the United States contains deep structural racial issues. These racial disparities are perpetuated not only through explicit discrimination, but through the power of history. For instance, black and Latino children are far more likely to grow up in poor neighborhoods, stinting upward mobility. Black and Latino men are disproportionately caught up in mass incarceration, which affects their families and their earning for a lifetime. A new report by Demos and Brandeis University finds that equalizing college graduation rates between whites and people of color would close the wealth gap by 1 percent for blacks and 3 percent for Latinos. A recent study helps explain why: Michael Gaddis finds blacks who graduated from elite universities have the same chance in the job market as whites who graduated from less selective schools. In addition, black graduates are offered lower starting salary and less prestigious starting jobs.
A Forward Looking Agenda
The reaction to the SAE scandal, and numerous other events over the past few years (Donald Sterling and Paula Deen, for example) suggest that our society can accurately identify and shame explicit racial animosity. But addressing the structural racism that plagues our society will be far more difficult, mainly because most Americans aren't attuned to it. Even progress can entrench structural racism. In the wake of President Obama's election, political scientists Nicholas Valentino and Ted Brader found that Americans, particularly young Americans and white Americans, were less likely to perceive racial discrimination than they were before. Further, University of Michigan professor Vincent Hutchings found that "blacks and whites remain as far apart on racial policy matters in 2008 as in 1988."

In the long term, Americans need to grapple with our history and how it continues to affect us today. Matthew Blackwell, Avidit Acharya and Maya Sen find that whites in areas with a high concentration of slavery are to this day more likely to espouse racially biased attitudes. Therefore, waiting for a mass opinion change may take decades (if it occurs at all). Similarly, waiting for old whites to die out won't solve the problem, as these attitudes are equally prevalent among youth. Demographic change may lead to a more diverse nation, but this will take half a century, and white hegemony has a way of shifting to accommodate new realities. Racial justice must include more deeply integrating our neighborhoods to give everyone equal opportunity. In addition, such integration will decrease racial animosity. Mass incarceration and racially-biased policing tactics must be ended immediately. The need to close the funding gap between majority white schools and schools that are majority students of color, as well as the gap between rich schools and poor schools should be immediately obvious. A baby bond program could ease not just the racial wealth gap, but the deep-class divide in asset ownership. And any racial justice policy must include full employment. These programs need not be framed as part of a racial justice agenda. Rather, they are part of an opportunity agenda, for all Americans, white, Black or Latino.
Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified the research of University of Michigan professor Vincent Hutchings. Hutchings found that blacks and whites remained as far apart on racial policy matters in 2008 as they did in 1988. Political scientists Nicholas Valentino and Ted Brader's research showed that Americans were less likely to perceive racial discrimination after President Obama was elected than they were before.

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The hidden racism of young white Americans

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Recently, chilling videos surfaced online of young University of Oklahoma students, members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, reciting a racially-charged chant. The story appeared surprising for numerous reasons. Among them, education is supposed to reduce racial resentment (or at least temper outward expressions of it), and young people, known as Millennials, are supposed to be uniquely tolerant.

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racist students at a dorm spray painted "kkk" on the wall in red white and blue.

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Staff members at Eastern Michigan University discovered racist graffiti on the side of a dormitory building Tuesday morning, campus newspaper The Eastern Echo reported.

"KKK" was spray painted in red, white and blue on the brick wall of dorm Julia Anne King Hall. Below the letters was the racial slur, "Leave N--s." University president James Smith said the school's Department of Public Safety was investigating the incident.

Hate speech was found on the side of #EMU's King Hall this morning. Follow the #EasternEcho for updates. https://t.co/avZnCGbe6c pic.twitter.com/vpVz6rw1rH

- The Eastern Echo (@TheEasternEcho) September 20, 2016

"The University strongly condemns such a racist and thoughtless act, which runs completely counter to the values and welcoming environment of our highly diverse Eastern Michigan University community," Smith said in a statement.

"Rest assured, we will investigate this criminal act to our fullest abilities and will advise our campus community on our progress," he added.

At EMU, African-Americans made up 18 percent of all enrolled students in fall 2014, according to the latest federal data from the National Center for Educational Statistics. White students made up 66 percent.

By 9:40 a.m. today, school officials were on site to discuss plans to remove the hate speech, the Echo reported. The graffiti was shortly removed later that morning.

Several students, however, thought the university's statement was insufficient.

After the wall had been cleared of the racist graffiti, senior Zack Badgerhouse told WEMU, the local NPR station, that he was staging a one-man silent protest at the site, because "African-American students are highly upset."

He held a sign that read, "I need answers," WEMU reported. By this afternoon, other EMU students had gathered at the scene of the incident as well, the Echo reported.

The aftermath of the hate speech discovered Tuesday was immediate. Students gathered at the scene of the incident. https://t.co/fkndn2Yzy2 pic.twitter.com/VtdXeat4zp

- Eastern Echo A&E (@EasternEcho_AE) September 20, 2016

"What is the administration going to do about this?" Badgerhouse said. "It's deeper than just taking it off the wall. I want answers and I want them now."

Also this afternoon, several members of the Black Student Union joined EMU students on campus to protest the incident as well, shouting, "No Justice, No Peace."

RIGHT NOW: members of our BSU join Eastern Michigan Michigan University to protest racist graffiti. "No Justice, No Peace!" pic.twitter.com/6qyPsDNdDG

- #BBUM (@THEBSU) September 20, 2016

RIGHT NOW: Members of our BSU Eboard join Eastern Michigan University's black community in protesting racist graffiti. pic.twitter.com/75fjueYiov

- #BBUM (@THEBSU) September 20, 2016

EMU student Janee, whose full name was withheld for security reasons, told Buzzfeed News that the black community on campus was hurt by the incident.

"We pay for our education just like everyone else, so to see something like that in the morning on our way to class, it's caused outrage and pain," she said.
READ MORE: Column: Why I can't be silent anymore when you call me the n-word

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Students at Eastern Michigan U. protest 'KKK' and other racist graffiti

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Staff members at Eastern Michigan University discovered racist graffiti on the side of a dormitory building Tuesday morning, according to a campus newspaper. The graffiti was shortly removed later that morning. Several students, however, thought the university's statement was insufficient.

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Discrimination the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

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Bigotry intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.

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scapegoat  a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it.

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definition         Prejudice is when someone judges someone based on previous decisions and experiments.   

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definition         Prejudice is when someone judges someone based on previous decisions and experiments.   