Hurricane Katrina: three years later. As New Orleans braces for another potentially destructive storm, we look back to the impact and the progress made in the last three years after Hurricane Katrina here.

BET News Quiz: An HBCU gets millions; McCain gets a surprise endorsement; and Yung Berg was allegedly jumped. Test your knowledge here! 

Police are thankful for saggy pants … this time. Instead of enforcing laws against saggy pants, police departments around the country might want to start issuing pairs of the below-the-butt slacks to hoodlums. In Atlanta Wednesday, police shot and wounded a fleeing 21-year-old suspect as he allegedly turned toward officers and aimed his gun but stumbled while struggling to keep his pants up. Police said that Emmanuel Uzowihe was sprinting down one of Atlanta’s busiest streets when he was felled by officers, stopping traffic. His injuries were not life-threatening, and he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Officers with the department’s Auto Theft Task Force pulled over Uzowihe for an undisclosed traffic violation, Sgt. Lisa Keyes told the Constitution-Journal. Uzowihe jumped from the car and ran down the sidewalk, she said. Police pursued, ordering the suspect several times to stop, she said. A witness, Trevious Grier, said she saw Uzowihe’s weapon as he ran past. “He had a long black handgun he was holding in front of him,” Grier said. “I’ve never seen a gun that big before.” But as soon as he pointed the weapon, an officer shot him twice, police said. But according to witness Darrell Jackson, Uzowihe’s baggy pants is what landed him in the hospital. “He was running pretty fast,” Jackson said. “The only thing that messed him up is he was trying to pull his pants up.” Kelly agreed, saying, “I bet he won’t wear baggy paints again.”

Obama bills are “racist,” some say. A Republican Party leader in Washington state apologized Thursday for phony $3 bill with a picture of Sen. Barack Obama wearing Muslim headgear and sporting a camel that was sold at a booth at a county fair. “I want to apologize to anyone upset or offended by seeing it,” Snohomish County Republican Party Chairwoman Geri Modrell told The Herald newspaper. Underneath the likeness of a smiling Obama is the tag “Da Man,” and there are signatures from purportedly from “Teddy Kennedy, Chief Socialism Advisor” and “Al Sharpton, New Spiritual Advisor.” Modrell said that she asked volunteers to remove them when she discovered them on Tuesday. Some visitors to the fair called the bills “racist” and “offensive.”

AFL-CIO acknowledges that Obama’s skin color could be a factor in November.

Traditionally, Democratic presidential nominees can count on the vote of union workers in November. But even union brass admit that their members are less enthusiastic about a Black Democrat. “We feel there is a racial component for some union members,” AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman told Congressional Quarterly, noting that union leaders are doing all they can to limit the role that racism is plays in this election. “We feel confident we can overcome it.” The AFL-CIO has pumped $53.4 million into its effort to reel in members. This includes a million pieces of direct mail this week alone in the key battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, CQ reports. During the primary elections earlier this year, Sen. Hillary Clinton helped stoke the racial fires, repeating her claims that White, working-class, non-college-educated voters – Democrats and Republicans alike – weren’t prepared to vote for a Black candidate, particularly Obama, whom she painted as elitist and out of touch. “There has never been an African-American candidate for president, and many folks around this country have never voted for an African-American candidate for any office,” she said. But Ackerman said that union leaders are stressing the importance of choosing Obama. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about how to talk to union voters . . . to identify closely what issue is preventing some union voters” casting a ballot for an African American. It’s also important to remember, say AFL-CIO officials, that union Whites are far more likely to vote for Obama than are non-union Whites. “Our goal is not just to elect Barack Obama but to build a progressive movement,” Ackerman said.

It’s the ethnic minorities who get the best offerings in the public sector, they say

Nearly a third (29 percent) of the White folks in Britain believe they are victims of racism, a new government survey reveals. The issue is jobs, as many contend that ethnic minorities are given preference for public-sector openings. Conducted by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the survey shows that Whites feel like they face the most discrimination in public services, such as housing, schools and police, AP reports. A full quarter of Whites believe they lose out on welfare housing. A 10th of Whites say they get a raw deal in the justice system, while a sixth say police discriminate against them. About 3 percent say they get worse treatment than other races in school.

Sacramento leaders are willing to pay for less gang activity
City leaders decided Tuesday that getting rid of Sacramento’s gangs is worth paying for. Five of the seven members of the Sacramento City Council agreed that a quarter-percent sales tax is needed to wipe out gangs. The next step is for Sacramento city leaders to decide whether to put the measure on the November ballot. The measure, which would require approval of two-thirds of city voters, would produce an estimated $16 million a year for the next 30 years, raising the city sales tax rate from 7.75 percent to 8 percent. “This has become a big issue for this city,” Mayor Heather Fargo told The Sacramento Bee. “I hear people explaining to me that this is affecting their quality of life, making them fearful, making them uncomfortable, and I think this is a real solution.” Scores of people poured into the City Council chamber Tuesday night – arguing vehemently on both sides of the issue. Some critics say that while the measure provides for 60 percent of the funds accumulated would go toward prevention and intervention, including more law-enforcement officers to carry out anti-gang work, the plan is short on specifics. For example, they say, it does not specify how many officers would be added. Others complain that the current economy makes more taxes unbearable. But those who support the initiative say that everyone stands to benefit from efforts to reduce gang activity.

The Minneapolis policemen claim the department is rife with racism
Five of Minneapolis’ top Black cops, with an average of 20 years on the force, could be splitting $2 million following settlement of their lawsuit alleging a long history of racial discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department. The meat of the lawsuit focuses on Police Chief Tim Dolan, who plaintiffs contend helped institutionalize racism within the department after taking the helm in 2007. The settlement, if approved by the City Council Friday, could help ease a year and a half of steadily intensifying racial tensions, The Associated Press reports. In addition to providing monetary atonement, the agreement would establish a special unit headed by a deputy chief who would oversee diversity and race issues, according to AP. In their lawsuit, two Black lieutenants, Don Harris and Lee Edwards, said they were unfairly demoted by the chief; and a sergeant, Charlie Adams, was transferred following some insubordination charges. The two other plaintiffs are Lt. Medaria Arradondo and Sgt. Dennis Hamilton. The actions against these men prompted several angry responses from African-American officers to the civil rights division, but their complaints were dismissed as grumblings from “disgruntled cops near the end of their careers,” according to the suit. Giving credence to the lawsuit was a recent federal investigation, which found that Edwards had not been involved in criminal wrongdoing, as alleged by the department. The five officers alleged that the Minneapolis Police Department is far less likely to train, provide detail and overtime opportunities, and assign fewer key appointments to Black officers. In addition, it claims that the department is not meeting numerous diversity goals outlined in an earlier mediation agreement developed with the help of the U.S. Justice Department.

The Dem nominee sees that racism ain’t no joke in the race for the White House

Sen. Barack Obama knew when he entered the race for the presidency that he’d face White folks who weren’t too keen on the idea of a Black president. And that notion has been confirmed repeatedly by exit polls and news interviews – even among hard-line, multi-generational Democrats who say they’re not ready to vote for a Black guy. But there’s no way he could have anticipated monkey T-shirts, stuffed monkeys in a suit and 5-dollar bills with hate messages stamped on them. In an act that’s seems straight from the Jim Crow days, a Utah couple has been hawking a sock monkey in a suit with a lapel pin for Barack Obama. “We don’t get enough of him at his public speaking events. Now you can have your very own TheSockObama™ 24/7! Fall in love with your chosen candidate all over again,” a message on their site said as late as last Friday. Bloggers and angry browsers blew up the message board of David and Elizabeth Lawson of West Jordan, Utah, calling them racist and expressing their shock. The Lawsons were rocked so hard that there is now a message on their site apologizing and explaining that the item is no longer available. The sellers say they are stunned by the negative reaction. “We at TheSockObama Co. are saddened that some individuals have chosen to misinterpret our plush toy. It is not, nor has it ever been, our objective to hurt, dismay or anger anyone. We guess there is an element of naiveté on our part, in that we don’t think in terms of myths, fables, fairy tales and folklore. In earnest folks, we’re so sorry we offended anybody.” It’s not the first monkey shines involving Obama’s image. In the spring, a Georgia man made a mint selling T-shirts with the monkey Curious George eating a banana; underneath the picture read: “Obama’08.” Mike Norman, who sold the shirts at his Georgia pub, stopped after Houghton Mifflin Harcourt threatened to sue him over unauthorized use of its Curious Georgia cartoon moniker for racist purposes. But such antics aren’t limited to rural America. Just last week, the gothamist.com reported, some people in Staten Island, N.Y., reported getting 5-dollar bills with the following message stamped on them: “LETS [sic] KEEP THE WHITE HOUSE WH!TE!” The words were situated next to the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the bill. The Web site reported that a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service called the incident “rather innocuous … given the current political place where the country is.”