EthnicMajority

(Examiner.com) Sofia Vergara, star of the highly-acclaimed television seriesModern Family, is expanding her Kmart product line with the launch of a home collection. It is part of the retail chain’s attempt to offer a diversity-based approach to attracting customers.

Vergara was recruited by Kmart to introduce a line of apparel with a Latin flavor last year. The successful launch last fall led to this new product line to be in stores later this year.

"The expansion of the Sofia by Sofia Vergara collection into Home provides our customers with yet another beautiful design option when decorating," said Nick Grayston, SVP and president footwear and home for Sears Holdings.

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(PhysOrg) Undocumented Latino youth in the U.S. face futures clouded by fewer rights than their documented peers and the constant fear of deportation. Such status constraints usually aren't fully understood until young adulthood, said UC Irvine anthropologist Leo Chavez, and the awareness often serves as a catalyst for political and civic involvement.

(Voice of America) Asian-Americans have largely been ignored by U.S. politicians, but they could provide a valuable edge in the upcoming presidential election, saysnew polling data.

According to recently released census data, Asian-Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the U.S. population. The population has grown 46 percent since the 2000 census, and Asian-Americans now number more than 17 million nationwide. According to Lake Research, which conducted the poll, Asian-Americans represented two percent of the electorate in 2008, with 48 percent of eligible voters turning out.

The polling was conducted in several states, including Florida, Nevada and Virginia, what are likely to be key swing states in the November presidential election.

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(The Root) Research is poking holes in another stereotype, but this time the news is bad for African-American boys. A recent study has uncovered new data on young black males' susceptibility to engage in self-harming behavior, commonly called "cutting." Turns out that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it's not just for white girls.

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(MediaPost) Rare are those TV efforts that intend to start up new traditional television networks these days — but ABC News and Univision News plan to achieve this with a new English-language news channel targeting bilingual Hispanic-Americans.

The two media organizations did not disclose a name for the network or details such as distribution, but did say they plan to launch a Web site, mobile and social media content this summer — and that the TV channel will debut in 2013.

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(Pennsylvania Labor and Employment Blog) According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or "Commission"), if current incarceration rates continue, 1 in 3 African-American men and 1 in 6 Hispanic men will be incarcerated during their lifetimes. The rate for white men is only 1 in 17. Given this disparity in incarceration rates, the EEOC has long been concerned that employer policies restricting hiring based on prior criminal convictions may unfairly deprive minorities of employment opportunities. In Enforcement Guidance issued on April 25, 2012, the EEOC outlined its approach for determining whether an employer's criminal history screening policies violate Title VII on the grounds of either "disparate treatment" or "disparate impact."

Disparate Treatment. Obviously, employers cannot hold applicants to tougher screening standards on the basis of their race or national origin. An employer that considers an applicant's prior criminal history during the hiring process must do so on a consistent, non-discriminatory basis. A disappointed minority applicant with a criminal history may be able to prove he was subject to unlawful discrimination by showing inconsistencies in the hiring process, derogatory statements regarding a particular class or evidence suggesting that certain protected classes are held to a stricter screening standard than other groups.

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(Guardian) While the debate about the all-white casting on HBO's Girls has been garnering attention on the blogosphere, it's surprising there hasn't been a similar dialogue concerning the portrayal of Asian-Americans in US sitcoms.

E4's latest aquisition, 2 Broke Girls, is the most problematic. Created bySex and the City's Michael Patrick King, it's the story of two white waitresses (Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs) who work in a Brooklyn restaurant whose boss is Asian-American Han Lee ( Matthew Moy). Short, asexual and work-obsessed, Lee is ridiculed for his broken English and failing to "get" US culture. In one episode Dennings' character says, after a run-in with Lee: "You can't tell an Asian he made a mistake. He'll go in back and throw himself on a sword."

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(Examiner.com) Employment numbers slow to recover for African Americans-While it is no secret that America as a whole has been facing an economy slow to recover, the unemployment numbers for African American workers continue to be the highest in the nation at a staggering 13.6  percent.

Those numbers fell slightly in 2012 from 15.8 percent last year to 13.6. However, the percentage is still higher then any other ethnic group. Currently in the U.S a large number of African Americans are either unemployed or underemployed. As with most economic crisis, there are certain factors that influence income and job growth. A lack of educational qualifications is an important factor when it comes to minority job growth in higher paying careers. Higher education and retraining have become essential to survival in a tough job market.

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(Epoch Times) Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing community in the United States and their businesses are more likely to create jobs than any other, but they are largely ignored by government and political parties, according to recent research.

The Asian-American population grew 46 percent, to over 17 million, between 2000 and 2010—faster than any other group, including Latinos, the 2010 U.S. Census reported.

Asian-American entrepreneurs are also great drivers of the economy, owning more than 1.5 million businesses, employing around 3 million people, and turning over an annual payroll of nearly $80 billion.

This success, however, tends to overshadow real needs that exist in Asian-American communities.

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(The Guardian) Twenty years ago this week, the final episode of The Cosby Show aired. At its mid-80s peak, the sitcom spent four years as the most-watched programme in the US. But the lack of a televisual legacy for the show about the residents of 10 Stigwood Avenue, Brooklyn Heights, prompts the question: why didn't it pave the way for a new wave of African American sitcoms?

When it began in the autumn of 1984, The Cosby Show broke multiple TV moulds. The Huxtables were an African American family whose race and upper-middle-class socio-economic position weren't factors in thecomedy or the drama, but just facts of the narrative. Cliff was a gynaecologist, Clair was a high-powered lawyer and their eldest child, Sondra, was at Princeton – but the thrust of the show didn't hinge on these elements; it was about the normality of their day-to-day lives.

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