Last week, the federal magistrate judge assigned to draw up new New York Congressional lines shared his maps, and guess what: They are not a hit amongst lawmakers. Over the weekend, a group of Democratic lawmakers appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network to voice their concerns; Capital New York reports that the group "said the congressional lines... increased the number of Latino residents in [Rep. Charles] Rangel's district, which they said unfairly pit the two ethnic groups against one another." more ›

A federal judge has ordered the city to pay an estimated $128 million in back wages to minorities who applied to be firefighters with the FDNY, which is still 97 percent white and allegedly racist. Black and Hispanic applicants who took the department’s screening test in 1999 or 2002 and were not selected will be contacted about the settlement, which is intended to "recreate the conditions and relationships that would have been had there been no unlawful discrimination." more ›

In the Philip K. Dick short story Minority Report, the police use "precogs" to stop "precrime." In the NYPD, they use profiling to stop and frisk potential criminals before they break the law. According to the Times, police spokesman Paul Browne believes "the police were confident the tactic was stopping crime before it occurred." Newly analyzed data by The Center for Constitutional Rights suggests otherwise, but there's really no way to know for sure if you've stopped someone from doing something in the future, because we don't have precogs (yet). However, we do know the best way to avoid a stop and frisk. more ›

Accompanying its article on how minorities were among the hardest hit victims of foreclosure in the New York City and surrounding area, the NY Times also created an interactive map showing how "foreclosure rates in the region were highest in areas with high minority populations." Minorities have been targeted by predatory lenders; the map also shows how the problem is small in 2005 but mushrooms in 2008. As for the situation at present, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation president Colvin Grannum lamented, "Rather than helping to narrow the wealth and home ownership gap between black and white, we’ve managed in the last few years to strip a lot of equity out of black neighborhoods," and City Councilman James Sanders (D-Queens) said of the blocks with boarded houses, "My district feels like ground zero. In military terms, we are being pillaged." more ›

Four former employees of pretentious Chelsea nightclub 1OAK (the name stands for 'one of a kind') filed a lawsuit against club owners Thursday in Manhattan Federal court, the Daily News reports. Lawyers say the four minority workers – three female waitresses and one male bartender – were terminated because club owner Scott Sartiano only wanted "white girls he could f---" serving drinks, or so they were told by a manager, who allegedly elaborated, "Scott has a thing about Asians, he wants all white girls." In June, 1OAK owners denied trying to hush up a gay-bashing incident that allegedly transpired in the club bathroom, and it's also where Lindsay Lohan goes to steal clothes. In this latest bit of bad press, the club's lawyer explains that "these disgruntled employees were fired for their poor work performance in addition to four other Caucasian employees that were fired that same week." (For not putting out.) more ›

A lawsuit filed Monday against the City Campaign Finance Board seeks to overturn a recently enacted funding law that opponents assert will just make the City Council richer - and whiter. The recently-enacted campaign finance restrictions reduces the contributions from companies who do business with the city by a whopping 92%. Translation: In a mayoral race, the individual limit on giving is now $400, versus $4,950; in City Council races, it's $250, down from $2,950. more ›