Free Republic

San Quentin State Prison inmate Lexy Good is white, hangs out with whites on the prison exercise yard and must be careful not to associate with blacks and Latinos. No cards, no basketball outside the color lines. Those are the unwritten inmate rules of prison life. People stick to their own race. Good, who's doing a short stretch for receiving stolen property, likes it that way. "We segregate amongst ourselves because I'd rather hang out with white people, and blacks would rather hang out with people of their own race," said Good, 33, of Walnut Creek. "Look at suburbia. Look...

One of the authors of "Mosaic of Thought" has apologized for mistakenly writing that Spartanburg was the scene of some violent incidents during the desegregation era. Inaccurate college textbook slams Spartanburg Violent integration incidents occurred in another city; errors to be fixed in 2nd edition By Linda Conley Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | Updated: 9:16 am Picture this: A teacher is discussing with her students the violence and unrest that occurred in America when public schools integrated almost 40 years ago. The example she is using from her class textbook is the violence that occurred in Spartanburg County. The...

"It is necessary for us to participate in political life, in the life of political parties. The political forces, on their part, must then give ample space to issues such as immigration and integration." Among those running for the elections this weekend to choose representatives for Rome's city council is Khalid Chaouki, the founder of a group known as the Young Muslims... He could not hide his envy for the situation of second generation immigrants in neighbouring countries such as France where they have managed to occupy important positions in various departments such as the department of Justice. "I want...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

All: the Independent Film Channel (or whatever it's called) ran a documentary called "Joe Louis: An American Hero---Betrayed" ("Betrayed" in red, for effect). Much of it is well done, although it's quite clear from the interviews with a writer for one of the main communist papers (not "New York Times" but something like the "Daily Worker") that it is a primarily liberal slant. For those who don't know, Joe Louis was an amazing boxer, beating Max Schmeling (Hitler's darling) and ending the comeback of Jim ("Cinderella Man") Braddock, who has his own touching and inspirational story. Louis, tagged as the...

MUSIC WAS an essential—probably the essential—art form of the 1960s. In a way that’s hard for anyone who didn’t live through the decade to grasp, music once reached deep into every facet of existence, from politics to fashion. It seemed destined to maintain a central role in people’s lives forever. Rock ’n’ roll was here to stay. Was its promise of eternal revolution one more false utopia? Today, music has retreated to life’s interstices, as a form of theater, iPod solipsism, an occasion for nostalgia, or an arena for the uninhibited celebration of personal freedom (usually expressed in portrayals of...

Gordon Brown says no to referendum and any more integration for ten years Philip Webster, Francis Elliott and David Charter Gordon Brown ruled out further European integration for at least a decade yesterday as he sought to counter calls for a referendum on the latest transfer of power to Brussels. Mr Brown left Lisbon insisting that the treaty agreed did not presage “fundamental change”. He was immediately contradicted by one of the architects of the original EU constitution, who said that the new treaty contained all of its essential measures. Speaking at the end of the summit, Mr Brown said...

Nature 449, 643 (2007) | doi:10.1038/449643b News French plan for research integration meets with disapproval. The French government is to create a powerful institute for research on immigration and integration. The move has sparked opposition among social scientists, who claim that the body is a thinly veiled bid to exercise political control over their research. The Paris-based institute will be placed under the High Council for Integration, which is affiliated with the prime minister's office. It is expected to be inaugurated shortly by Brice Hortefeux, the immigration minister. The government says that the 23-member institute will serve as a 'one-stop...

Road plans in Texas have conspiracy theorists in an uproar I am driving along a mostly empty road in rural Fayette County, Texas, about an hour east of Austin, looking for the NAFTA superhighway -- the one that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón mocked as a conspiracy theory when they were asked about it at their trilateral meeting in Montebello, Que., in August. Critics, who say that behind the leaders' denials lurks a larger, nefarious plan to unite North America, fear that such a roadway will eventually be a four-football-stadium-wide artery connecting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada,...

The Meredith vs. Fair case was another victory of the NAACP legal team with the support of the Warren Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary. While the judiciary was stronger in its push for integration, the executive branch just did its duty to enforce the court's decisions. President John Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy tried to negotiate with Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett hoping to cut a deal and not use force. After James Meredith was enrolled following the violent battle and intervention of over 20,000 members of the military, the Kennedy Administration wanted to avoid forcing...

After getting the Supreme Court of Earl Warren on its side, the NAACP legal team rolled from victory to victory including changing the bus seating rules in Montgomery, Alabama and integrating Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Martin Luther King was embarking on an economic boycott and civil disobedience path while the NAACP would continue its efforts in the federal court system to integrate southern educational institutions including the Meredith vs. Fair case involving the University of Mississippi. President Eisenhower and the GOP hoped that their intervention in the Little Rock case would keep northern black votes in the...

The battle (riot) at Ole Miss continued into the morning hours of Monday October 1, 1962. Protestors used a bulldozer and a car to batter into the federal marshal force. Hundreds were injured in the fighting. James Meredith was not harmed by the protestors who directed their attack at the marshals. Two people were killed in the fighting. A local jukebox repairman Ray Gunter and a London newspaper reporter, Paul Guihard, were killed by .38 caliber bullets that a Mississippi state investigator believed came from the federal marshals. President Kennedy, Attorney General Kennedy and the president's aides stayed in the...

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim immigrants were seen as a potential threat in the United States. They have since become model citizens -- and now they want a greater say in politics. Why shouldn't we wear head scarves? It is almost 1 p.m., time for noon prayers, and Abdul Malik Mujahid, 55, is in his office on the second floor of Chicago's Downtown Islamic Center, preparing for his sermon. On his desk are a Koran, a pad of paper and a Blackberry. A telephone rings in the next room as people hurry through the corridors. Soon Mujahid...

Shortly after midnight (early Sunday September 30th) President Kennedy signed orders federalizing the Mississippi National Guard. The talks over some sort of "honorable surrender" by Governor Ross Barnett continued. The hope was for a situation where Barnett and the state troopers would stand aside when confronted by the federal force. This kind of politically beneficial event was achieved next year in 1963 when Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the door at the University of Alabama in the face of federal orders to admit black students. But for now the move was on and Governor Barnett wanted to look good...

The headlines by September 27, 1962 were ominous enough with hints of some sort of military action in Mississippi. On Wednesday September 26th the first attempt of the day to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi failed, but Attorney General Robert Kennedy kept trying to cajole Governor Ross Barnett into allowing Meredith in. During the afternoon a convoy carrying Meredith came down from Memphis while negotiations by phone continued between Kennedy and Barnett. The convoy turned back when it became apparent that Merdith would not be allowed to enroll. The audio record of these phone calls is available...

For the second day in a row an attempt was made to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. After the rebuff in Jackson from Governor Barnett it was decided to make the attempt at the university campus in Oxford. The federal plane flew to Oxford carrying Meredith, John Doar of the Justice Department and Chief U.S. Marshal James McShane. This time they were confronted by the Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, Paul Johnson. Johnson was flanked by state police and sheriff's deputies. Marshal McShane made an attempt to push past Johnson to the registrar's office saying "I think its...

A thousand soldiers ringed the Little Rock Central High School on Wednesday morning September 25, 1957. White students who wanted to go to class went in, but many stayed away. Major General Edwin Walker, commander of the troops, addressed students in the auditorium shortly after school began. General Walker said: "Those who interfere.....with the proper administration of the school will be removed by the soldiers...." An Army staff car (a station wagon with U.S. Army markings on its sides) came to the home of NAACP president Daisy Bates to take the nine students to school. They arrived at 9:22 AM....

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was freed to order enrollment of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi after the Supreme Court's September 10th decision. They ordered enrollment of Meredith by registrar Robert Ellis at 10AM on Tuesday September 25th at the Federal Building in Jackson, Mississippi. A federal plane (Border Patrol) flew Meredith, Justice Department official John Doar and Chief U.S. Marshal James McShane from New Orleans to Jackson. They expected to meet the university registrar Robert Ellis there, but he was at the Woolfolk State Office Building when he was ordered to testify before a legislative committee....

Nine black students entered Little Rock Central High School on Monday September 23, 1957. They attended the first three periods of the school day before being removed at noon. One student told reporters: "nothing much happened." But outside a crowd of more than one thousand people erupted into acts of violence as police repeatedly pushed them back from the school. Windows at the school were broken. Two black reporters were attacked by the mob with cameras clicking and rolling. The Little Rock police had some help from Arkansas State Police but they left at noon (the same time the students...

Federal District Judge Ronald Davies opened a contempt hearing on Friday morning September 20th, 1957 with four lawyers representing Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus putting up objections. But they failed to move Judge Davies and the lawyers walked out of the hearing in the middle of the day. The chairman of the Democrat Party in Arkansas put out a statement saying that Judge Davies and other federal courts had no right to question the judgement of Governor Faubus and National Guard leaders. Governor Faubus, who was not present at the hearing, told reporters "now begins the crucifixion." Later in the day...