African Americans

In ground-breaking action, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to ban suspensions of defiant students, directing officials to use alternative disciplinary practices instead. The packed board room erupted in cheers after the 5-2 vote to approve the proposal, which made L.A. Unified the first school district in the state to ban defiance as grounds for suspension. The action comes amid mounting national concern that removing students from school is imperiling their academic achievement and disproportionately harming minority students, particularly African Americans.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Proponents of fluoridating Portland's water supply had no trouble getting the local Urban League on board. Here in the biggest city in the country that still doesn't treat its water to prevent tooth decay, studies show that low-income children and kids of color have been hit hardest by untreated cavities. "Do we really want our children to be suffering from something we could prevent? Why would we not want to be involved?" said Jerome Brooks, an Urban League advocacy contractor who has helped marshal the civil rights group behind a fluoridation measure on Tuesday's municipal ballot.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Proponents of fluoridating Portland's water supply had no trouble getting the local Urban League on board. Here in the biggest city in the country that still doesn't treat its water to prevent tooth decay, studies show that low-income children and kids of color have been hit hardest by untreated cavities. "Do we really want our children to be suffering from something we could prevent? Why would we not want to be involved?" said Jerome Brooks, an Urban League advocacy contractor who has helped marshal the civil rights group behind a fluoridation measure on Tuesday's municipal ballot.

After remarks by Magic Johnson and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, it was Wendy Greuel's turn to remind a few dozen black supporters at a South L.A. rally on Saturday that African Americans could swing the mayoral election Greuel's way on Tuesday. "They always underestimate this community," Greuel, the city controller, told the crowd outside her Crenshaw Boulevard office. "They've always underestimated me too. And what do we do? We prove them wrong. " While Greuel cast herself as the underdog in Tuesday's runoff, her rival, Eric Garcetti, warned volunteers in Westchester not to take victory for granted in a contest that remains fluid to the end. "We're ahead, but we're not winning," the city councilman told them on a break from making phone calls to voters who might need some prodding.

After remarks by Magic Johnson and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, it was Wendy Greuel's turn to remind a few dozen black supporters at a South L.A. rally on Saturday that African Americans could swing the mayoral election Greuel's way on Tuesday. "They always underestimate this community," Greuel, the city controller, told the crowd outside her Crenshaw Boulevard office. "They've always underestimated me too. And what do we do? We prove them wrong. " While Greuel cast herself as the underdog in Tuesday's runoff, her rival, Eric Garcetti, warned volunteers in Westchester not to take victory for granted in a contest that remains fluid to the end. "We're ahead, but we're not winning," the city councilman told them on a break from making phone calls to voters who might need some prodding.

WHEN Oprah Winfrey talks, people listen -- about 8 million every day. Which is why a recent Ask Dr. Oz segment on "Oprah" is so troubling. An audience member asked: "Why do I sweat so much?" After explaining that excessive sweating can result from a thyroid condition, body toxins or hypertension, Dr. Mehmet Oz turned to Winfrey to ask: "Do you know why African Americans have high blood pressure?"

Re "Roots of anger," Current, Jan. 7 Tanya K. Hernandez's piece is filled with sweeping generalizations and accusations. She is way off when she refers to the killings and assaults by Latino gang members on unsuspecting African Americans as a "Latino ethnic cleansing of African Americans from multiracial neighborhoods." The people who are committing these horrendous acts are not representative of the Latino community. These delinquents are gang members. It is mind-boggling that Hernandez came up with the ignorant conclusion that the entire Latino culture is to blame.

One complaint leveled against genome studies is that they don't survey a broad enough swath of humankind. Though many projects have searched DNA collected from people of European descent -- hoping to ferret out which changes in what parts of the genome are linked to this disease or that -- fewer have investigated the genomes of other ethnic groups.  In 2011, Stanford University geneticist and MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Carlos Bustamante discussed...

On the night every player in baseball wore No. 42 to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the major leagues, Orlando Hudson said that Robinson "would probably turn over in his grave" seeing how few African Americans are in the game. Hudson, who is African American, said he has had black kids tell him, "Orlando, I can't play that white man's game."

Kathryn Bigelow sounds a wee bit tired of questions about being a "female director," but given that on Tuesday she became only the fourth woman to be nominated for best director by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, she knows it comes with the territory. "I long personally for the day when the modifier is a moot point," said a very happy Bigelow, whose film nabbed nine nominations, including one for best picture. "I anticipate that day will come, but if 'The Hurt Locker' can make the impossible seem possible to somebody, it's pretty overwhelming and gratifying.

In ground-breaking action, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to ban suspensions of defiant students, directing officials to use alternative disciplinary practices instead. The packed board room erupted in cheers after the 5-2 vote to approve the proposal, which made L.A. Unified the first school district in the state to ban defiance as grounds for suspension. The action comes amid mounting national concern that removing students from school is imperiling their academic achievement and disproportionately harming minority students, particularly African Americans.

Dallas Willard Influential Christian philosopher taught at USC for 47 years Dallas Willard, 77, an influential Christian philosopher who taught at USC for 47 years and chaired the philosophy department in the early 1980s, died Wednesday in Woodland Hills, the university said. He had cancer. In "The Great Omission," "Renovation of the Heart," "The Divine Conspiracy" and other books, Willard wrote about spiritual formation and Christian discipleship for the general reader, often giving practical advice for living a Christian life in a secular world.

In a Hollywood auditorium, James L. Tolbert tried to induce a room packed with broadcasting and advertising executives to essentially join the civil rights movement in 1963 by pointing out the obvious. "We Negroes watch 'Bonanza' and buy Chevrolets. We watch 'Disney' on RCA sets," proclaimed Tolbert, an entertainment attorney who was speaking to the 125 invited guests in his role as president of the NAACP's Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch. "We buy all the advertised products, the same as you do. " Delivered weeks before the March on Washington, the speech pointed out the absence of African Americans on both sides of the camera.

The men had celebrated into the wee hours of the morning. Sleep would come, later. The Dodgers were theirs, and for the first time these men could introduce themselves as owners rather than bidders. Mark Walter, the incoming chairman, sat in a conference room, patiently explaining that, no, the new owners did not believe they had overpaid. Stan Kasten, the incoming president, talked about supporting the Dodgers' thin front office rather than dismantling it. Magic Johnson had plenty to say too, but he took a moment.

Re "What FDR said in private," Opinion, April 7 As an American and a Jew, I found Rafael Medoff's criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt for his private comments about Jews most unfair. FDR understood that the best way to end the Holocaust was to defeat Hitler, which he did at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives. In singling out FDR, Medoff also ignores the squeamishness of America's modern presidents in dealing with genocide. Jimmy Carter, a human rights crusader, did nothing to prevent Pol Pot from exterminating as much as 20% of Cambodia's population.

With this week's release of the Jackie Robinson film "42" putting a spotlight on the current decline of African Americans in Major League Baseball, Commissioner Bud Selig on Wednesday appointed a task force to study how to increase diversity within the sport. Four of the 30 major-league clubs -- including the World Series champion San Francisco Giants -- opened the season without an African American on their roster , according to USA Today, which first reported the establishment of the task force.

The first day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong African American holiday, was celebrated Tuesday at a candlelighting ceremony at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Dozens of African Americans, including local Christian and Nation of Islam leaders, crowded a conference room for the celebration sponsored by Kwanzaa Fest Inc. Organization. The ceremony featured seven young women (six pictured at right) nominated by the organization as the 1995 Kwanzaa Queens.

One complaint leveled against genome studies is that they don't survey a broad enough swath of humankind. Though many projects have searched DNA collected from people of European descent -- hoping to ferret out which changes in what parts of the genome are linked to this disease or that -- fewer have investigated the genomes of other ethnic groups.  In 2011, Stanford University geneticist and MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Carlos Bustamante discussed...