Imus Sued by Rutgers Player for 'Nappy-Headed Hos' Comment
Don Imus may have settled with CBS, but he's still got some unfinished business with the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Player Kia Vaughn sued Imus and CBS Tuesday, claiming that Imus' "nappy-headed hos" comment aimed at her team damaged her reputation. In the lawsuit, which is believed to be the first filed against Imus by one of the female players he disparaged, Vaughn holds Imus, former co-host Bernard McGuirk, CBS Corp., CBS Radio, MSNBC and other media outlets legally responsible for slander and defamation of character. "This is about Kia Vaughn's good name," says Vaughn's lawyer Richard Ancowitz. "She would do anything to return to her life as a student and respected basketball player--a more simple life before Imus opened his mouth." Getting fired from CBS sure shut Imus' mouth for awhile, but will Vaughn's suit end up closing it for good? Read more.
'Desperate Housewives' Gets Gay Couple
The new season of "Desperate Housewives" will feature a gay couple played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Watkins and Rahm have signed up for recurring roles on "Desperate Housewives," which is returning for its fourth season on ABC in the fall. Details about their characters are being kept quiet according to Yahoonews.com.
Giuliani Vows to Stop Undocumented Workers
GOP presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani vowed Tuesday to stop the flow of undocumented workers into the United States by closely tracking visitors to the country and beefing up border security. Giuliani said he would require a uniform identification card for foreign workers and students and would create a central database to track the legal status of visitors to the country. Giuliani wants a tamper-proof ID card that includes fingerprinting for everyone entering the country and a central database to track when they leave. The ID card and other immigration proposals have been part of Giuliani's campaign speeches for several months. He says he would allow a pathway to citizenship only for undocumented workers who identify themselves as illegal, who learn English and who go to the back of the line to apply.
Read the June 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine to learn more about the major presidential candidates' views on immigration and other issues important to you--and to find out which candidate has an all-white campaign staff.
(See also: How Would Your Presidential Candidate Vote on Immigration?)
Why Don't People of Color Use Preventive Healthcare?
Two new studies show people of color significantly lag whites in using preventive healthcare services, and the reasons aren't all socioeconomic. One study found that increased use of just five preventive services would save more than 100,000 U.S. lives a year, but Latinos, blacks and Asian Americans use them at the lowest rates. Latinos use 10 of 11 preventive services evaluated less often than blacks and whites. In the second study, M.D. Anderson is struggling to recruit Latinos for its part in the prevention program, which involves six hospitals around the nation, each representing a different group of color. So far, one year into the program, Anderson has recruited only 59 of its 4,000 needed subjects, states The Houston Chronicle.
Does class trump race? Read DiversityInc's May 2006 issue on healthcare disparities to find out.
Baby Boomers' Parents Still Working
Americans are working well into their twilight years, making retirement seem like a thing of the past. About 6.4 percent of Americans ages 75 or older, or slightly more than 1 million, were working last year. That's up from 4.7 percent, or 634,000, a decade earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. About 3.4 percent of Americans 80 or older, or 318,000, were in the work force last year, up from 2.7 percent, or 188,000, a decade earlier, officials said. Experts cite several factors for the growth, including people living longer and the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act in 2000, which allowed workers 65 through 69 to earn as much money as they want without losing Social Security benefits. Other reasons for delayed retirement include the gradual increase in the age for receiving Social Security benefits to 67 and a decline in traditional pensions and retiree health benefits, reports CNN.com.
(See also: DiversityInc's May 2007 issue on 4 Generations in the Workplace)
Racial Turmoil Ravages La. Town
Jena, La., is in turmoil after black students at a local high school sat beneath a tree, an area where white students usually congregate. Nooses were hung from the tree the next day. In the ensuing months, black and white students clashed violently, the school's academic wing was destroyed by arson and six black kids were charged with attempted murder for beating a white peer. One of those black students was convicted by an all-white jury in June on lesser felony charges of aggravated second-degree battery and is awaiting sentencing. He could face 22 years in prison. Read more.
Althea Gibson to Be Honored at U.S. Open
In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player, male or female, to win the tournament that today is the U.S. Open. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Aretha Franklin, Carol Moseley Braun and other pioneering black women will celebrate Gibson's historic victory on the U.S. Open's opening night. The United States Tennis Association will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Gibson's historic title at the U.S. National Championships. Gibson will also be inducted into the U.S. Open Court of Champions, based on the result of an international media vote, during the Aug. 27 ceremony. Read more.
LGBT Sex Education Sparks Controversy
This fall, schools in Montgomery County, Md., will offer lessons on gays and lesbians in its 8th- and 10th-grade health- education courses. To school officials, the lessons are a natural outgrowth of sex education and of teachings on diversity. They consist of two heavily scripted 45-minute lessons for each grade and a video demonstrating how to put on a condom. The central message is respect for and acceptance of orientation and gender identity. The lessons begin by defining terms such as "prejudice" and "transgender" and warn students not to assume that because they are not yet attracted to the opposite sex, they must be gay. The eighth-grade curriculum tells gay students that "concerns about how family and friends will accept the situation are reasonable, and fears about being teased or even attacked are not unfounded." Which conservative groups are filing lawsuits to stop the lessons, and will they succeed? Read more.
Learn more about education on LGBT issues from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
NYC Arabic School Slammed
In New York City, a proposal for an Arabic language and culture school "seemed right for the times, a piece of the school system's mosaic of dual-language programs," according to The New York Times. But the founding principal of the school, a Yemeni immigrant with a long pedigree in the school system, resigned on Friday under pressure after defending the word "intifada" as a T-shirt slogan. On Monday, the schools chancellor hastily appointed Danielle Salzberg, an educator who is Jewish and speaks no Arabic, as the interim principal, prompting taunting tabloid headlines like "School Bad Idea Even Before Hebrew Ha-ha." Read more.
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