Are Americans Ready for a Black President?

Could 2008 be the year that Americans elect their first black president? The odds look good, according to the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, which shows that 92 percent of the poll's respondents claim they would vote for a black candidate. The numbers dropped, however, when respondents were asked whether the country is ready for a black president. Only 59 percent of those surveyed believe America is ready to accept a black president into the White House. Similarly, 86 percent of poll respondents claim they would vote a woman into the White House, but only 58 percent feel America is ready to be led by a woman. The poll also delved into current issues such as the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that rejected the use of race-based voluntary-integration programs in public-school districts. What were their opinions on the ruling, and how do they feel a Latino candidate would fair in the race for commander-in-chief? Read more.

(See also: Who Would Vote for Obama? You'll Be Surprised at New Results)

NAACP Says Race Biases Rage On

Many think that race biases are lessening, but NAACP interim chairman Julian Bond disagrees. "The fight is even more crucial now, because the NAACP must revisit battles it thought were won, including school desegregation," says Bond. To honor its longstanding mission to end racial discrimination, Bond spoke on present-day inequities in downtown Detroit at the NAACP's 98th national convention. Participants of the mass meeting will address how present-day racism affects poverty, employment opportunity, access to healthcare and equal education and biases in the criminal-justice system. "Many Americans maintain--from corporate- and government-sponsored pulpits, from newspaper op-ed pages and from television and radio talk shows--that racial discrimination has become an ancient artifact,' Bond said at the convention. 'Thus they believe the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are now defined as a bias-free present where white supremacy has been vanquished and black disadvantage is rooted in black misbehavior, where culture, not color, is at fault." Is he right?

(See also: 7 Ways to Promote School Integration After Supreme Court Limits Race-Based Plans and The End of an Era? Supreme Court Deals Blow to School Integration)

Are Courts Abusing 'O.J. Simpson Card?'

It has been more than 10 years since the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial, and it is still affecting America's judiciary system. The Supreme Court decided to hear arguments in the fall over a case that challenges a Louisiana prosecutor's mention of "the trial of the century" during closing arguments in a 1996 murder trial. The defendant, a black man named Allen Snyder, is asking the courts to overturn his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence because he feels that prosecutors used the "O.J. Simpson" card unfairly. The jury in Snyder's case was all white, and lawyers for the defendant feel that the prosecutors appealed to their sense of anger over O.J.'s acquittal to persuade them that Snyder was guilty.

Black Civil-Rights Reporter Dies

Inez Baskin, a black reporter who covered many stories on civil rights and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s, died of heart failure on June 28. Baskin, who broke news for the Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama, was a rarity in the news world, as there were very few female reporters in the business and even fewer black-female reporters. Baskin is most known for riding on a Montgomery bus in 1956 with Dr. King on seats that had once been reserved for white people. She covered the Montgomery bus boycott, cross burnings and sit-ins throughout her career. Her work helped to end segregation on city buses and broke ground for future women reporters of color. Read more.

The Barack Obama Paradox

Sen. Barack Obama is a political paradox in line for the presidency. He is both black and white and is taking both the benefits and the hits that come with being a biracial American. As the months close in on the 2008 election, Obama must prove that he is black enough to be considered black and white enough to represent America's white population. "He's got large numbers of white brothers and sisters who have fears and anxieties and concerns, and he's got to speak to them in such a way that he holds us at arm's length," said Cornel West, a scholar who spoke at the State of the Black Union event in Springfield, Ill. "So he's walking this tightrope." Will Obama fall from the tightrope or will his paradoxical political campaign push him ahead? Read more.

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