Race for Latino Votes: Obama, Clinton Battle Over Cuba, Immigration

Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton disagreed over how to handle the change in guard in Cuba during their last debate before Texas voters go to the polls on March 4, reports Bloomberg.com. While Clinton said Cuba must show their policies are changing before she would be willing to have talks with the dictatorship, Obama took the more diplomatic road, saying, "It's important for the United States not just to talk to its friends, but also to talk to its enemies." On immigration, Clinton said she would consider abandoning federal raids on homes and businesses except in "egregious situation." Obama agreed but took the question one step further, saying, "We also have to make sure we do it in a way that doesn't lead to people with Spanish surnames being discriminated against." Get all the latest Election '08 news on DiversityInc.com.

Did Asian Americans Do Enough for Blacks?

That's the question one AdAge columnist, who is Asian, asks his readers. This Black History Month, some Asian Americans are looking at what they have and haven't done for the Black community. "It's time that Asian-Americans--and all Americans for that matter--recognize Black Americans for all that they have achieved on our behalf," Asian-American blogger Bill Imada wrote. "Black leaders embrace the Asian-American community without fanfare and recognition, and often work behind the scenes to ensure that Asians and Asian-American marketers and community leaders are given credit for their work." Imada also encouraged fellow Asian Americans to remember that "Asians and Asian Americans have advanced in this country largely because others have helped to pave the way for us. And the continuing struggle of black America in striving for greater inclusion, visibility, diversity and participation should be our cause, too." Check out Black History Month Facts on DiversityInc.com.  

Race Retaliation at the Supreme Court

Right on the heels of the oral arguments of the Gomez-Perez case Wednesday, which deals with whether retaliation protection exists for federal employees under the ADEA, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the retaliation case of Humphries v. CBOCS West, which examines whether retaliation exists under the civil-rights statute of the Civil Rights Act of 1981, reports Workplace Prof Blog. The Humphries v. CBOCS case is grabbing the attention of workers in states such as Mississippi where there is no state antidiscrimination law. Get the latest information on discrimination lawsuits on DiversityInc.com.

Muslim Workers Targets of Bias; Courts Are No Help

When meat slicer Abdul Azimi sued his employer, Jordan Meats, for what an appeals court called "myriad and outrageous" mistreatment after he found pieces of pork in his jacket, a picture of Osama bin Laden in his locker, and his shoes in the toilet, a Maine court ruled in his favor but awarded him no damages, only a judicial declaration that his employer had violated the law. Azimi's case was one of 69 employment-discrimination cases involving Muslim plaintiffs in 2007, yet it is the only one that "involved a victory."

"These numbers could be construed to suggest that Muslims in the United States are being targeted by workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation and are not gaining the sympathy from the courts in the current political environment," wrote Workplace Prof Blog. "Clearly, Muslim plaintiffs should have the same equal justice under the law as any other American citizen."

Muslim Students Torn Between Identities

Gender issues, specifically the extent to which men and women should mingle, are the most fraught topic as Muslim students wrestle withthe yawning gap between American college traditions and those of Islam, reports The New York Times. "There is this constant tension between becoming a mainstream student organization versus appealing to students who have a more conservative or stricter interpretation of Islam," Hadia Mubarak, the first woman to serve as president of the national association, told the Times. While each chapter sets its own rules, chapters at private colleges tend to be more liberal, drawing from a more geographically dispersed population, while chapters at state colleges often pull from the community, attracting students from conservative families. "As American Islam gets its own identity, it's going to have to shed some of these notions that are distant from American culture," Rafia Zakaria, a student at Indiana University, told the Times. "The tension is between what forms of tradition are essential and what forms are open to innovation."

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