With O'Neal Out, Black Fortune 500 CEO Count Drops to Five

E. Stanley O'Neal's reign as head of Merrill Lynch has ended, after company stock sunk below $59 per share. Now, after an $8.4-billion write-down and an unauthorized merger approach to rival bank Wachovia, O'Neal has lost the confidence of his board and is expected to resign as chairman and chief executive as early as today, reports The New York Times. O'Neal's fall from grace leaves five black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, including Ronald Williams from Aetna (one of DiversityInc's 25 Noteworthy Companies in 2007) and Richard Parsons from Time Warner (Turner Broadcasting System, part of Time Warner, is No. 21 on The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list).

(See also: Chief Executive Officers: Statistics)

63 Years Later, 28 Black Soldiers Could Be Exonerated

The U.S. military wasn't desegregated until the Truman administration. So a court-martial decision 63 years ago of 28 black soldiers, following the lynching of a white, Italian prisoner, wasn't that shocking in those days. That the Army court-martial decision could be overturned this week after a review board ruled the court proceedings were flawed shows how much the military has changed. The board found that the defense was unjustly rushed and that the prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, a young lieutenant colonel who went on to fame three decades later as a Watergate special prosecutor, had important evidence that he did not share with defense lawyers, reports The New York Times. Today, all but two of the 28 are dead. If the decision is overturned, the black soldiers would be granted honorable discharges and provided with back pay. "Now people are going to see that I wasn't a villain," said one of the surviving soldiers, Samuel Snow, in an interview with the Times.

Okla. Lawmaker Calls Muslims Killers of 'Innocent Women and Children'

The Oklahoma Muslim community's attempt to promote diversity by donating copies of the Quran is having the opposite effect as several state lawmakers are returning the gifts. In a letter to colleagues, state Rep. Rex Duncan says "most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology." At least 17 other legislators have notified the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council that they too will return the gift, reports The Associated Press.

Fewer People of Color Will Trick-or-Treat This Year

Fewer people of color will partake of Halloween festivities, citing safety concerns, a recently poll conducted by The Associated Press and Ipsos finds. According to the survey, 73 percent of whites versus 56 percent of people of color said their children will trick-or-treat on Wednesday, reports The Associated Press. The study, which found similarities between income and safety levels, also found that of those interviewed, 93 percent of people earning $50,000 or more said their communities are safe for trick-or-treating, compared with 76 percent of those making less than $25,000.

Documented Tech Workers Protest Immigration Laws

Asian-American and Indian-American technology workers in the United States on federal permits are upset as Congress has failed to reform immigration laws for the second year in a row. Applications for work-related green cards—limited to 140,000 each year, about 9,800 per sending country—are backlogged so badly that many immigrants must plod along for years, uncertain about their future in the United States and unable to change jobs while they wait for permanent residence, reports The Associated Press. Legal immigrants are asking Congress to consider limited reform targeting only legal immigrants—more H1-B visas, more green cards—as a more palatable alternative to a bigger bill that also addresses undocumented immigration. Last year, more than 500,000 came into the United States on H1-Bs, and the rest through family connections, reports The Associated Press. 

Country's First Female President Gives Clinton Hope

Argentina elected its first female president yesterday, a move that could prove positive for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton. Cristina Fernandez, wife of former President Nestor Kirchner, received about 44 percent of the vote, compared with 23 percent for former lawmaker Elisa Carrio and 17 percent for former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, with 86 percent of polling places reporting, according to The New York Times. In her speech on Sunday night, Fernandez assured supporters that her presidency will not copy her husband's; in fact, many analysts are hopeful Fernandez will right many of her husband's wrongs when it comes to policy issues. What does this mean for Clinton?

Gay Lawyer Settles Bias Suit

Openly gay lawyer Aaron Charney settled his discrimination case against Sullivan & Cromwell, one of America's premier law firms, Friday. Sullivan & Cromwell announced they had "resolved their differences in connection with all pending disputes between them" but declined to comment further, reports Times Online. New York's legal community has closely monitored the case for almost a year as it sheds light on the inequalities related to orientation in some Wall Street firms.

(See also: Which Law Firms Get an F for Diversity?)

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