Last week, two students at Monclair State University said that racist graffiti was written on their dorm room. According to NBC New York, Olivia McRae, 19, said "BLACKS ONLY" was written on the wall while the N-word and "Black B---- you will die" were on the floor—McRae said she started crying but she wouldn't drop out of school, "I'm never going to let anybody stop me from being successful -- I already had a hard enough life." Now McRae and roommate Tanasia Linton, 19, were arrested for allegedly writing the racist graffiti themselves. more ›

Ludlum Elementary School in Hempstead did not even wait until the inauguration to go ahead and rename themselves Barack Obama Elementary School last night. Like the election of Obama himself, the push to rename the school came in large part from a youth movement--this time of preteens in the largely African-American and Hispanic community. District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Laria praised the students' exuberance saying, "You want to talk about "Yes We Can!"? That was a lesson in democracy." In a very different scene elsewhere on the Island, police have arrested three Shirley men on charges of criminal mischief for the sexual and racist graffiti they left on cars in Mastic last week. Since some of the slurs threatened Obama, the Secret Service is still involved with the investigation of the three men, all in their early twenties. more ›

On a quiet street in Mastic, residents found over a dozen cars had racial slurs sprayed on them. Newsday reports some target President-elect Obama--"The graffiti included racial slurs, as well as sexually graphic references."--and that neighbors were shocked, with one saying, "I'm really surprised. This is like the United Nations here." One of the victims told WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs (who took the photo), "It's all over the place. It's just sickening. You know...it's sad. It really is sad," but another said, "One thing about something like this - when everybody becomes a victim - it brings us all a little bit closer together." more ›