A white rural Pittsburgh area family with a black adopted son are
victims of a hate crime as someone set ablaze a large wooden cross in their backyard.

Joe Walbeck said he woke up early Sunday morning to discover the burnt 6-foot-tall cross hours after his son, Shaquille, high school football team lost a game in the state playoffs.

The Walbecks live in Indiana County, a farming and coal-mining community  approximately an hour east of Pittsburgh.  It is unknown if the football game was  inspiration for the racially-charged incident.

Pennsylvania State Police officials said they have not investigated a cross burning in the area for years. The vandals face charges ranging from trespass to ethnic intimidation.

The Republican National Committee is under fire from bloggers and progressives after a member of their Facebook group posted a photo of the President of the United States eating fried chicken with caption that calls miscegenation, or interracial marriage “a CRIME against American Values.”

The creator of the image made reference to Loving v. Virginia–the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down laws banning interracial marriage.

Perhaps the person who uploaded the image on Facebook was inspired by the justice of the peace who recently refused to marry an interracial couple in Louisiana.

Finally, after being on their Facebook for close to a week, RNC officials removed the image on Tuesday.

When a group of more than 200 hundred graduating seniors from Washington University in St. Louis headed to Chicago a night of fun, they didn’t expect to file complaints with the Chicago Human Rights Commission, the Illinois Attorney General, or the U.S. Department of Justice when they returned.

At least six African-American students were denied entry into the Original Mother’s bar for what security personnel deemed as inappropriate dress.

Okay, that happens from time to time. However when a black student switched pants with his white friend and still wasn’t admitted, many in the group thought that race played a larger role in the situation than attire.

Is this 2009 or 1939?

An interracial couple in Louisiana had their wedding license denied by a justice of the peace because he believes the children of black and white parents have it harder in life.

Justice Keith Bardwell, who has served Tangipahoa Parish, for more than 30 years told Terence McKay, 32, and his fiance Beth Humphrey 30, that he morally could not issue a marriage license for the couple.

“I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves. In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer, ” said Bardwell to a reporter from the Hammond Daily Star.

The couple were married by another justice of the peace.

The NAACP and American Civil Liberty Union are investigating.

Three years ago Heather Ellis, a college student, went shopping for her mother at a Wal-Mart in rural Missouri. Now she soon faces trial for felonies involving assaulting police officers and receiving threats from the Klu Klux Klan.

Read about her story here

I’m sure no one on the campus of Hampton University, one of the nation’s leading Historical Black College and Universities (HBCU’s) expected their annual Homecoming Pageant to become national news.

But when a non-African-American woman is crowned Homecoming Queen then writes a letter to the President of the United States complaining about the racial overtones on campus…it becomes national news.

Nikole Churchilll, a 22-year-old senior nursing major became the first non-African-American to be named Ms. Hampton in the history of the institution on Friday.

While her victory has split the campus with some saying she does not deserve the award because of her Guam and Italian ancestry as well as attending classes at the Virgina Beach satellite campus instead of the main campus, her letter to the President is seemingly causing the most angst.

In her letter to Obama, written Sunday, she said her victory was the best moment in here life, however the attitudes of some students on campus has sullied her victory.

“It would be much easier to say that possibly some were not accepting of the news because I wasn’t the most qualified contestant; however, the true reason for the disapproval was because of the color of my skin. I am not African American.”

Churchill, like Obama, is a Hawaii native and is hoping the President will speak to students about racism.

There has been no response from the White House. (The Administration is a little busy right now with dealing with two wars, health care and the economy.)

Being a proud HBCU graduate myself, I’ve seen enough examples to know Homecoming pageants always come with some controversy, but get over it. The judges voted for the woman they believe to be the most qualified. There is no rule against a student attending classes on a satellite campus being Homecoming Queen.

Did she overreact by writing the President? Perhaps, but she is an American citizen with the right to contact her elected officials at her desire.

By the way, the coronation is Oct. 21.

UPDATE: Churchill Apologizes for Letter

Al Sharpton wrote a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in an effort to block talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to the St.Louis Disptach.

Sharpton said Limbaugh has been divisive and “anti-NFL” in some of his comments, referring to incident in 2003 when Limbaugh, who at the time was a commentator on ESPN called Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb “overrated” because the media wanted a black quarterback to succeed.

ESPN.com reports that the leader of the NFL Player’s Union is also against Limbaugh owning a team.

In an email to the NFL Union Executive Committee, DeMaurice Smith said “But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred.”

A video of Scoop Jackson, a writer/columnist for ESPN discussing the matter is below.

National syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner is one step closer to clearing the name of two of his uncles who were executed for killing a Civil War veteran.

From the Associated Press:

Joyner learned the fate of farmers Thomas and Meeks Griffin during filming of the PBS documentary “African American Lives 2,” which first aired in February 2008 and was based on research by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The program traces the lineage of 12 people, including Joyner. The host of “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” said he was stunned to learn of his South Carolina roots and two great-uncles he didn’t know existed.

“The records will show they did not do what they were executed for, and maybe now they can rest in peace,” Joyner said from his Dallas studio.

He said a pardon would bring long-overdue justice, adding “I started trying to put myself in my great-uncles’ position and tried to imagine what they must’ve been going through.”

See a video of Joyner’s comments by clicking here.

Renown jazz musician Harry Connick Jr.did not sit idly by when a group of Australian performers dawned black face and afro wigs. He put them in their place.

Read the story here

As reported on BET.com, Georgia Republican Congressman Nathan Deal found himself in some hot water after his remarks during a speech before a Republican club.

Deal, who is running for Governor of Georgia is an advocate of residents proving their US and state Citizenship before receiving state health services, referred to those who are elderly in the inner-city who have identification as “ghetto grandmothers.”

See the clip of Deal’s remarks here. He has since apologized for his comments.