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Diana Ross to Join 'American Idol'

Diana Ross is supremely busy. So busy that the legendary singer has not had time to see "Dreamgirls," the film loosely based on her singing group, The Supremes. The 62-year-old singer told CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman on Tuesday that she is going to be a mentor on FOX's "American Idol" and is planning a world tour in March to promote her new album, "I Love You." When asked if she would go see "Dreamgirls," Ross quipped: "I'm going to see it with my lawyers." Ross added later: "I like to inspire the talent that it is out there today." Read more.

'Get Over Slavery,' Says Lawmaker

What did Delegate Frank D. Hargrove say? In opposition to a measure to apologize on Virginia's behalf to the descendants of slaves, Hargrove, 79, said slavery ended nearly 140 years ago with the Civil War and added that "our black citizens should get over it." In an interview with The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, he is quoted as asking, "Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?"

"When somebody tells me that I should just get over slavery, I can only express my emotion by suggesting that I am appalled," said Delegate Clinton Jones, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. Read more.

Who Got 'A Little Too Personal' With Condoleezza Rice?

With U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said, "Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young" to serve. Boxer then told Rice, "You're not going to pay a price, as I understand it, within immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families." Rice said that the questioning might have gotten "a little too personal." Read more.

Immigration Raid Aids Blacks—For a Time

After federal immigration agents conducted several raids seeking undocumented immigrants in Stillmore, Ga., Crider, a local chicken-processing company, lost 75 percent of its mostly Latino, 900-member work force. Crider is the economic anchor of Stillmore and was severely damaged by this. But for the local low-skilled population, the dramatic appearance of federal agents presented an unexpected opportunity. Crider suddenly raised pay at the plant—$7 to $9 an hour—more than a dollar above what the company had paid many immigrant workers. The company began offering free transportation from nearby towns and free rooms in a company-owned dormitory near to the plant. For the first time in years, local officials say, Crider aggressively sought workers from the area's state-funded employment office, a key avenue for low-skilled workers to find jobs. Of 400 candidates sent to Crider—most of them black—the plant hired about 200. Read more. And for more on how communities come with and benefit from immigration, read the April 2006 issue of DiversityInc magazine.

Gay Lawyer Sues Major Law Firm for Bias

Aaron B. Charney, 28, an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the country's most prestigious law firms, filed a state lawsuit in Manhattan Tuesday accusing the firm of a systematic campaign of discrimination and retaliation against him because he is gay. In his lawsuit, Charney accuses members of the firm of demanding he be terminated for carrying on an "unnatural" gay relationship with another Sullivan & Cromwell associate. Charney denies the relationship. The lawsuit also contends that after he filed a formal internal complaint, members of the firm suggested that he move to a foreign office and then fabricated reviews to accuse him of overbilling clients, among other things. Read more.

Leveraging Diversity in the New Congress

The new Congress boasts the largest number of African-American, Latino and Asian members in the history of the United States. When we can elect people of color to statewide offices and in districts where they do not represent the majority of the population, all Americans can be justifiably proud. This progress, however, also speaks to the challenges that lie ahead in the 110th Congress. If the growing racial/ethnic diversity of Congress is remarked upon at all, it draws press coverage because of the potential for tensions, particularly between the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. But this misses the bigger picture of the opportunities that will unite the three caucuses.

Black, Latino and Asian members of Congress can work together to leverage the power of their greater numbers on issues that will advance a progressive opportunity agenda for their communities. Read more. For more on the lack of racial diversity in the U.S. Senate staff, read the June 2006 issue of DiversityInc magazine. Also, read about Barack Obama's presidential aspirations.

Goodyear Settles With Women for $925,000

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has agreed to pay $925,000 to hundreds of women who were denied tire-building jobs at its Virginia plant, the U.S. Labor Department announced Tuesday. The monetary payment is part of a consent decree approved by an administrative law judge to resolve a lawsuit filed by the Labor Department last year on behalf of some 800 women who were denied jobs at the Danville, Va., plant over a year-and-a-half period in the late 1990s. "This consent decree ... puts federal contractors on notice that the Labor Department is serious about eliminating systemic discrimination," Charles E. James Sr., deputy assistant labor secretary for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, said in a statement. Read more.

Saluting Muhammad Ali on His Birthday

Muhammad Ali turns 65 on Wednesday, and while great athletes have come since he was the king of the boxing ring, none will ever exert the influence across the generations that Ali has. Even today, according to the people who paid $50 million for the rights to market Ali's name, no athlete has a higher profile around the world—or a more positive one. Read more. Watch an Ali video.

Gay & Lesbian Group Celebrates Social Success

Five years after persuading The New York Times to open its Weddings/Celebrations pages to same-sex couples and launching the Announcing Equality campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reported that 883 newspapers—nearly 60 percent of all daily newspapers in the United States—now accept wedding and/or commitment-ceremony announcements for gay and lesbian couples. That number has increased nearly 584 percent since it was first measured in 2002, when only 129 newspapers said they would print such announcements. As a result, GLAAD announced the re-launch and expansion of its Announcing Equality campaign. Read more.

Rosa Parks Leadership Academy Opens in Atlanta

Independent schools must be established for poor black children and not charter schools for poor black families to take control of their children's education, says the president and founder of Junior Academies Inc. (JAI), a nonprofit educational organization. JAI was founded to establish equitable independent schools that develop and initiate educational programs that promote academic excellence for at-risk and economically disadvantaged children. In the fall, JAI will launch the Rosa Parks Leadership Academy in Lithonia, Ga.

"We have waited too long to take the responsibility of educating our children into our own hands," said Melodee Ford, president and founder of JAI. "Parents have been dissatisfied and denied a choice in where their children receive an equitable education."

Ford adds that it is necessary for JAI to establish independent schools as opposed to charter schools, because charter schools are still public schools under the control, in most states, of the same board that governs the local public schools. Read more.

Immigration Hardliner Tom Tancredo Explores Presidential Bid

On Tuesday, Rep. Tom Tancredo, 61, R-Colo., a leading opponent of undocumented immigration, formed an exploratory committee to raise money for what he termed an "arduous and undeniably uphill battle" for the presidency that would advance his hard-line views on immigration. Tancredo has been a leading voice in Congress against proposals for guest-worker programs and in favor of stronger border security to block undocumented immigrants from Mexico. He recently generated controversy by saying Miami resembled "a third-world country." Read more.

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