EthnicMajority

(Seattle Times) CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Janelle Thomas knows how popular Twitter is among African Americans.

The soon-to-be University of North Carolina-Charlotte graduate has 300 followers on the micro-blogging service, most of them young African Americans like her. One friend sends out as many as 100 tweets — or messages — per day, enough to clog her account and eventually force Thomas to drop him from her circle.

“Literally, some people will tweet ‘Got up’ or “Going to class’ or ‘This girl in front of me is crazy looking,”‘ said Thomas, a communications major.

A recent study from Edison Research, a media research firm, is the latest to confirm Twitter’s popularity among African Americans. They make up 25 percent of Twitter’s 17 million users — about double the percentage of blacks in the U.S. population, according to the Edison study.

Facebook’s more than 116 million U.S. users, by contrast, reflect roughly the same diversity as the American population. (Worldwide, Facebook has more than 400 million users).

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(Yahoo News) A new Brandeis University study that followed 2,000 families has found that the pay gap between white and black American families quadrupled in only 23 years, from $20,000 to $95,000.

Even when black families earn a significantly higher income than whites, the study found, they accumulated much less wealth. That disparity can’t be attributed to personal saving habits either, since blacks and whites save at the same rate. White families earning more than $30,000 a year accumulated $74,000 in wealth between1984 and 2007, whereas black families earning more than $50,000 accumulated only $18,000 in wealth during that period.

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(Physorg) The wealth gap between white and African-American families increased more than four times between 1984-2007, and middle-income white households now own far more wealth than high-income African Americans, according to an analysis released on Monday by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University.

IASP, in a research brief, also reported that many African Americans hold more debt than assets and at least 25 percent of African-American families had no assets to turn to in times of economic hardship. The fourfold increase in the wealth gap, it said, reflects public policies, such as tax cuts on investment income and inheritances, which benefit the wealthiest and persistent discrimination in housing, credit and labor markets.

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Overstock.com, the online discount retailer based in Salt Lake City, is launching an initiative to help small and minority-owned businesses sell their products.

Patrick Byrne, Overstock’s chief executive, said the company’s “Main Street Initiative” is designed to increase the visibility of those businesses that lack exposure to national markets.

“By joining our network these small businesses can reduce their supply chain costs, and open their products to a mass audience,” Byrne said in a statement announcing the new effort.

Initially the products that those businesses will offer for sale will be listed in their appropriate shopping categories on Overstock.com. But Byrne said once a critical mass of partners and products is reached, the products will be consolidated into a “Main Street” store on the company’s website.

– Steve Oberbeck

Look at what has happened to our economy recently. Foreclosures are through the roof, major financial institutions have failed, millions are in danger of losing their jobs, and the stock market has crashed. So what’s the good news?

The credit markets have imploded. It is much more difficult to get a home loan or credit card. So what? Borrowing money is far less culturally acceptable in Asian and Latino cultures, so the impact to Asian and Latino Americans of tightened credit should be much less than the general population.

People of color have historically been dominant members of the under-served banking community, often unable to obtain credit cards, home or business loans, or lines of credit. Many do not even have a bank account, largely because banks avoid placing branches in the inner-cities.

It’s hard to miss something you never had in the first place.

This is not to say that people of color won’t be hurt by the worsening economic conditions. The loss of credit and stock market wealth will result in significant job losses in every sector and will not be color-blind. But if you weren’t relying on credit from the banks, which many minorities aren’t, you’re probably doing better than the rest of the population.

Ethnicmajority Consumer page

The blame game for the $700 billion mortgage bailout is shifting into high gear, with Congressional hearings conducting a show trial with the CEO’s of Lehman and AIG. All of these folks have high-priced attorneys and lobbyists protecting their interests, and in many instances the golden parachutes they took with them. Who will represent the homeowners?
As the story goes, the government began pressuring Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and banks to increase loans to low-income borrowers, including minorities. These entities acted as a conduit by packaging pools of these loans to large institutional investors, underwritten by large Wall Street investment banks like Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman. Since many low-income borrowers didn’t have the cash to make a deposit or the income to make the mortgage payments, these loans were obviously riskier. To underwrite the increased risk, insurance giant AIG jumped in by protecting the investors against defaults.

Everybody made huge profits because of one factor – leverage. They were able to package, sell, and insure billions of dollars of these loans with minimal amounts of collateral, which translated into enormous returns on investment. But leverage is a two-way street. If real estate values increase, profits will be large. If they don’t rise, and defaults increase, the losses would be substantial. Because the real estate market was strong, competition to invest in subprime loans became over-heated, and lenders did not increase pricing or tighten underwriting standards to compensate for the increased risk.
It is clear that many loans were made to people who couldn’t afford them. But who is to blame for that? Lenders, investors, investment banks, or insurance companies who were making obscene profits and taking huge risks, or honest Americans, many of whom are people of color, trying to live the American dream. I fear Wall Street will turn the homeowners into scapegoats, and claim more than their fair share of the bailout funds.

Ethnicmajority Housing page.

SACRAMENTO – After over 50 organizations joined forces to oppose a discriminatory policy by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), the Tour announced today they would back off plans to suspend players who could not efficiently speak English.

“While it is quite unfortunate that in the 21^st century any organization would think such a policy is acceptable, I am pleased that the LPGA heard the millions of American voices who opposed this unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory mandate,” said Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo).  “While these types of incidents unfortunately still seep into our society, it is refreshing to see the overwhelming number of people who will fight for equality, fairness, and justice.”

Despite there being no relevance to the sport, the LPGA claimed that it was important for players to be able to interact with American media and event sponsors.  No other professional sports league in the United States has such a mandate.  One major sponsor, State Farm, had already announced they would no longer support the LPGA if they do not rescind the policy.

“The LPGA has received valuable feedback from a variety of constituents regarding the recently announced penalties attached to our effective communications policy,” said LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens.  “We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions.  After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse Tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008.”

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SACRAMENTO � Representing millions of Americans, several leading civil rights organizations have joined Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) in opposing a recently announced policy by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) to require its athletes to speak English starting in 2009.�

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Among the groups condemning the LPGA is the California National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest state organization of feminists in the United States, as well as two of the oldest and most respected Asian American civil rights organizations � Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA).�

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Washington, D.C. � The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) urges the LPGA sponsors to withdraw support of the Tour until the English proficiency policy is retracted. The LPGA will require all players to be proficient in English starting in 2009 and those who cannot pass an oral evaluation of English skills face suspension from the Tour. There are currently 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour.

“This policy is tantamount to national origin discrimination, which is prohibited under Civil Rights Act,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of AAJC. �The policy is an affront to our American principles of diversity and equality. It is even more unconscionable that the LPGA is devolving to past divisive and exclusionary practices of their sport following the successful closing of the unifying Olympic Games.”

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OAK BROOK, IL: McDonald’s increased communications efforts for its second year of helping Hispanic high school students prepare for college. It is promoting its �Steps for Success College Workshops� and the company’s scholarship program, funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).

McDonald’s partnered with Hispanic American Commitment to Education Resources (part of RMHC) and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund for the effort. Valencia P�rez & Echeveste, which handles Hispanic consumer marketing for McDonald’s, is providing PR support.

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