Free Republic

A comic-book character popular in Mexico for generations has run into a cultural barrier at the border, where Americans see him as a racist caricature. For more than 60 years Mexicans have followed the adventures of "Memin Pinguin." But the dark-skinned Memin's exaggerated features in "Memin for President" came as a shock to Houston, Texas, Wal-Mart shopper Shawnedria McGinty. "I was like, OK, is that a monkey or a boy?" McGinty said. "To me it was an insult." She'd never heard of "Memin Pinguin." She bought a Spanish-English dictionary and tried translating but still didn't like what she saw. "So...

(CBS4) MIAMI BEACH -- Two top Democratic contenders in the presidential race are in South Florida to address the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group. Sunday morning, New York Senator Hillary Clinton told the gathering at the Miami Beach Convention Center, she would prefer to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would provide a path to legalization for immigrants in the United States. But, she was quick to add, there were some aspects of the current immigration reform proposal that she believes have a chance of passing on their own. For example, she pointed...

NOWHERE in the United States Constitution is there any mention of Miss U.S.A. She has no authority to declare war. She does not build border walls or round up undocumented immigrants. Those things are left to others, none of whom wear a sash. But that fact seemed to get lost during the recent Miss Universe pageant, when Mexicans greeted Rachel Smith, Miss U.S.A., with one chorus after another of boos. Pageant officials said Ms. Smith, 22, was rattled by the denunciations, which echoed other booing she had received during her monthlong stay in Mexico, notably when she showed off a...

Michael Richard's frenzied meltdown onstage at the Laugh Factory. Black firefighter Tennie Pierce's charges of endemic racism in the Los Angeles Fire Department. NYPD unloading 50 rounds into three unarmed black men. Ten black teens and preteens on trial for hate crimes in Long Beach, Calif., after a savage attack on three white women. We might just be closing in on Christmas, but I'd say: Get ready for a long, hot 2007 if the current climate prevails. Race relations in America have taken center stage, and once again the fault lines have been highlighted as a predominantly black-and-white affair. That...

Military recruiters visited Tucson-area high schools more than 1,300 times in the 2004-05 school year, but, contrary to critics' charges, did not appear to target poor or minority students, according to an analysis by the Arizona Daily Star of recruiter activity at 21 schools. Community support for the military seemed a bigger driving factor in where recruiters go, with high schools in conservative suburbs such Oro Valley, Marana and Vail drawing more military visits than those in many other parts of the city. For example, Ironwood Ridge High School in Oro Valley, one of the most heavily Anglo and well-off...