“African-Americans” on The Daily Caller

The number of Americans declaring their race as both black and white more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, the largest recorded increase among multiracial groups, U.S. Census Bureau officials reported Thursday. People who reported being both black and white grew from approximately 785,000 in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2010. (more)

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is slipping among blacks, according to the Washington Post write up of an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday. (more)

This week, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter went where few black leaders have gone. And I think I can count the others who have on one hand. (more)

Mickey’s Assignment Desk: Walter Russell Mead sees the flight of blacks from Northern and Midwestern cities to suburbs in the South as a repudiation of the liberal “blue state” social model (unionism, regulation, taxes). Which it may well be. But there’s another angle: the 1996 welfare reform, and the message it sent. Working hypothesis: Welfare–specifically the old AFDC program–in essence told blacks in the North it was OK to stay put in their declining former ghetto communities. If people stayed, instead of moving in search of jobs, the checks would keep coming.  The ’96 Clinton/Gingrich reform said: don’t count on welfare to be there for you. It is time-limited. You’ll have to work. If there are no jobs where you live, better move somewhere else. Result: Blacks moved to where the jobs are, which is the red states and the suburbs. … Problem with working hypothesis: Is it black middle class that’s moving? If so, how are they on welfare? Possible answers to problem: Welfare’s penetration of the African-American community is easy to underestimate. According to a startling statistic from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics (publicized, if I remember, by Daniel Patrick Moynihan) almost three-quarters of black children who turned 18 in the late 1980s had spent at least a year on AFDC. Given the tremendous exposure of the black community to welfare, a change in its requirements could send a powerful cultural signal. Plus, tipping point! … And kids who might in earlier decades have fallen back on welfare knew it wasn’t going to be there and made other, better choices. … Also, not all those who moved were “middle class” as opposed to hard up.  … Alternative, nastier, Charles Murrayesque theory: Food stamps are the new welfare–they’re the only cash or cash-like entitlement the poor can count on. But they are set at a uniform level nationwide, and it’s not a wildly generous level. Might as well move to where living costs are lower. If you read Nicholas Lemann’s Promised Land, you know that an African American food stamp economy was already growing up in the South decades ago, so there may be something to this. … There are lots of other factors of course, many of them mentioned in the NYT‘s account: A decline of white racism in the South, cultural affinities, including a desire to be in communities where the bosses and elites are also African American, a flight from crime and lousy schools. Also, blacks were basically doing what everyone else was doing between 2000 and 2010 (though everyone else moved to the West as well as the South, apparently). The difference is blacks hadn’t done that before (e.g. in the 60s, 70s. 80s and 90s). … [via Newsalert, @TomBevanRCP] (more)

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The judge who ruled the Obama administration’s health care overhaul unconstitutional questioned whether the government was reaching beyond its power by requiring citizens to buy health insurance because everyone needs medical care. (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Huffington Post and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson are launching a HuffPost section devoted to African-Americans. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Supreme Court justices enter the House of Representatives in their black robes for the president’s next State of the Union address, Samuel Alito does not plan to be among them. (more)

In 2000, blacks faced a dilemma. Activists and Democrat politicians accused Republicans of racism. Over 90% of blacks voted for Democrats. But after the heated presidential election, Republicans controlled all three branches of government. In other words, blacks essentially had no political influence within the federal government. (more)

Hoping to portray themselves as more affordable and all-around better neighbors, private colleges from Appalachia to Boston are sweetening financial aid packages for students from their own backyards. (more)

President Obama’s job approval rating averaged 88% among blacks and 38% among whites in July, a 50-percentage-point difference that has been consistent in recent months but is much larger than in the initial months of the Obama presidency. Obama’s job approval ratings among blacks, whites, and Hispanics in July are all at their lowest levels to date, although the overwhelming majority of blacks still approve. (more)

NOVOZAVIDOVO, Russia (AP) — People in this Russian town used to stare at Jean Gregoire Sagbo because they had never seen a black man. Now they say they see in him something equally rare — an honest politician. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Flooded with apologies from everywhere, Shirley Sherrod got the biggest “I’m sorry” of all Thursday — from a contrite President Barack Obama, who personally appealed to the ousted worker to come back. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he will reconsider the department’s decision to oust a black employee over racially tinged remarks after learning more about what she said. (more)

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Voters in South Carolina nominated a black Republican lawmaker for an open congressional seat Tuesday, rejecting a legendary political name and adding diversity to the national party. (more)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The political shooting-star otherwise known as anti-incumbency fell on Alabama, taking down a first-term congressman who switched from Democrat to Republican just last December. (more)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A double standard? Republicans seeking Sen. Harry Reid’s resignation as majority leader over racial remarks he made about Barack Obama say yes — that Reid should be held to the same standard as former GOP Sen. Trent Lott, whose own racial gaffes cost him the Senate leadership in 2002. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican Party chairman on Sunday accused Democrats of a double standard by accepting Sen. Harry Reid’s apology for racial remarks about Barack Obama instead of demanding Reid’s ouster as majority leader. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the Mississippi NAACP and others trying to stop the state from diverting Hurricane Katrina housing money to a Gulf Coast port project. (more)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three fired employees are suing US Airways, alleging the airline operated a racially hostile workplace in Philadelphia and fired black employees without grounds. (more)