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MLK Sculpture Looks 'Like a Very Big Chinese Black Man'

After a decade of planning, a group of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. supporters are not happy with the way he will be depicted on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., nor are they happy that the architect is Chinese, reports National Public Radio. "It's an insult. This is America and, believe me, there's enough talent in this country that we do not need to go out of the country to bring someone in to do the work," Gwen Moore of the California Chapter of the NAACP, which recently passed a resolution against the selection of Lei, told NPR. Others contend the depiction of King is more Asian than black. "Dr. King never stood like that, nor wore clothes like that, nor did he look like that. It is a shameful tragedy," said Ed Dwight, an African-American sculptor who submitted a model for the project that lost out to Lei's, reports NPR. Harry Johnson, the head of the MLK memorial foundation, says the design committee chose Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin because there were no African-American sculptors who could do a 30-foot statue, specifically in granite.

(See also: Why There Will Never Be Another Dr. King--What Our Readers Said)

Boy Scouts Evicted Over Anti-Gay Policies

The three-year battle between the Boy Scouts of America and the city of Philadelphia came to a head this week over the organization's anti-gay policy. The policy, which discourages "open homosexuals" from serving in leadership posts, became a local issue in Philadelphia in May 2003 when the Boy Scouts held their annual national meeting in the city. A local scout challenged the organization's policies by announcing on television that he was gay. He was promptly dismissed by the local chapter, which is called the Cradle of Liberty Council, reports The New York Times. Because the organization failed to change its policies toward gay people, the city evicted the organization from the Beaux Arts building, home to the organization's seventh-largest chapter and hailed as the birthplace of the Boy Scouts. The Boys Scouts erected the building and have leased the land from the city for a token sum of $1 a year.

(See also: Refusing Gay Scouts Costs Boy Scouts $200,000 [scroll down])

Jena 6 Victim Sues School Board

The family of Justin Barker, the white teenager allegedly beaten by a group of black students last December, is filing a civil lawsuit against the LaSalle Parish School Board, the adult suspects in the beating, and the parents of the younger suspects, reports The Associated Press. The suit blames the school for failing to adequately supervise the students or maintain discipline. On Monday, Mychal Bell pled guilty to juvenile charges of second-degree battery. He was sentenced to 18 months in a minimally supervised jail.

(See also: Jena 6: One Year and 61 Nooses Later, Things Are Different)

President Bush will unveil a new plan to freeze subprime-mortgage rates by his administration and the Treasury Department today. Under terms of an agreement hammered out between the administration and lenders, interest rates would be frozen for five years on certain subprime mortgages, reports MSNBC.com. The Treasury plan reportedly would include a five-year freeze on adjustable rates for borrowers with loans made from the start of 2005 through July 30 of this year with rates that are scheduled to rise between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010.

(See also: Ending Subprime Lending: Bush, Big Banks Set to Make Historic Move and Subprime Mortgage Mess: The Diversity Link)   

Are There Fewer Black Men in Prison?

New numbers from the Department of Justice report a 38 percent fall in the percentage of black men in state and federal precision populations in 2006, reports The New York Times. The report also suggests the number of women in state and federal prison is at an all-time high, growing at nearly double the rate for men since the 1980s. However, the greatest growth last year was in immigration detention centers, growing 43 percent, to 14,482 from 10,104.

(See also: More Blacks, Latinos in Jail Than College: Was Bill Cosby Right? Here's What You Said)

Dept of Justice: Former Duke Rape-Case District Attorney a 'State Problem'

The federal Department of Justice says it will not investigate former North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong for his handling of the Duke University rape case.  The department decided the case was better resolved inside the state, reports The Associated Press. Nifong pursued charges against three Duke lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape by an exotic dancer at an off-campus party.

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