links for 2010-06-01

"'To represent America means a lot to me, especially since it's my second time around,' defender Oguchi Onyewu said. 'On top of that, me being Nigerian, it's also a special moment to take part in history since this is the first time the World Cup is being played on African soil.'"

(tags: via:cruelsecretary sports soccer africanamerican southafrica)

"As the race question on the U.S. census form has expanded to 15 categories and write-in options — giving Americans the right to check as many boxes as they want — fewer are embracing the term Asian-American."

(tags: via:cruelsecretary asianamerican)

"Spencer said he’s played his share of historical American Indian characters—what he half-jokingly called 'the leather and feather' parts. 'What’s cool about New Moon,' he explained, 'is that we’re in a contemporary setting.' Korey agreed: “I think it’s important for people to know that there is a Native American community that’s very vibrant, and very now. We’re sort of like a new Native America.'”

(tags: via:jasmine nativeamerican movies images)

"Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress."

(tags: via:jasmine black memphis poverty middleclass recession)