Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/13/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

Gay and lesbian Latina/os are finding it more difficult to claim asylum due to improving tolerance in their home nations.

A Virginia court has given the state's first "writ of innocence" after new evidence cleared a man incarcerated on a gun charge. Virginia has until recently been perhaps the most aggressive state at seeking to suppress the admission of exculpatory evidence after conviction.

The NAACP is frustrated with the pace over an investigation about an inmate's death in a PG County jail.

Peter Beinart thinks that Obama can and should neutralize the race issue by calling for a replacement of race-based affirmative action with class-based systems.

The WaPo wants to enhance privacy protections for laptops crossing the border.

The Houston Chronicle reports on immigrants who prepare for immigration raids like the rest of us might prepare for a natural disaster. Ironically enough, ICE supports these preparations.

The Orthodox Jewish community has rightfully come under fire for its tepid response to the massive abuses of worker's rights reported at the Postville Kosher meatpacking plant.

One of the Jena Six defendants will not be returning there for school, instead attending a Connecticut boarding school.

Yet another study dispells the link between abortion and mental illness. I wonder how many copies Justice Kennedy has received in the mail?

The US government is working to reduce the time it takes for citizenship applications to be processed.

Riots are brewing in Malyasia over a proposal to curb advantages for the majority (but poorer) Malay ethnic group.

Real Clear Politics interviews a large swath of America's experts on race and asks them how they think the Obama campaign will affect their field of study. It's a really great article.

I've got a better deal for Ramesh Ponnuru: Americans stop being racist, and the Republican Party might legitimately be able to appeal to more than just White folks.

Prop. 209 may have banned efforts by California universities to reach out to minority students. But it can't stop student volunteers from taking matters into their own hands.

Gay tourism is on the rise in Israel, which does not thrill some of its more conservative, religious elements.

Denver voters have passed a law which would target suspected illegal immigrant drivers.

The Seattle Times asks: Are White Voters Telling the Truth when they say they'll vote for a Black candidate?

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