Race

NASCAR Hall-Of-Famer Helped Open The Track For Black Drivers

12:36pm February 22, 2015

by Michael Tomsic

In 1963, Wendell Scott became the first African-American to win a race in NASCAR's top division. No other black driver has won a top NASCAR race since, but the sport is starting to diversify.

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Youjung Jung takes a customer's order for a new outfit at her store Hanbok Story in Queens, N.Y.

Arts

Korean Tailors Try To Keep The Lunar New Year Hanbok Ritual Alive

11:06pm February 21, 2015

by Hansi Lo Wang

A new year's tradition of wearing a new, custom-tailored outfit to celebrate the Lunar New Year is fading in Korean culture.

National

Oscars Voter Says 'Selma' Cast's 'I Can't Breathe' Tees Were 'Offensive'

7:18pm February 20, 2015

by Kat Chow

"If the movie had been directed by a 60-year-old white male," she also says, "I don't think that people would have been carrying on about it to the level that they were."

Blanco says his recordatorio, a memento of his birth, shows that he "was a man of the world before I could even walk."

An American Dream, A Cuban Soul: Poet Richard Blanco Finds 'Home'

5:05pm February 20, 2015

by Richard Blanco

While immigration is a subject of some of the most intense political debates in this country, inaugural poet Richard Blanco says it also drives his art. He shares his journey of becoming an American.

Rosa Parks, shown in Seattle in 1956, saved postcards from Martin Luther King Jr. and notes about carpooling during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They're now being cataloged by the Library of Congress.

National

After Years In Lockdown, Rosa Parks' Papers Head To Library Of Congress

3:02pm February 20, 2015

by Audie Cornish

Meg McAleer, one of the archivists working on the Rosa Parks collection, says the documents provide a new window on the courage and skill of Parks, and the consequences she and her husband suffered.

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Jobrani has appeared in several TV shows, including Better Off Ted, True Blood and Shameless, and serves as an occasional panelist for NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Books
Arts

From Iran To Comedy Central: Maz Jobrani's Path To 'Middle Eastern Funny Man'

8:16pm February 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

The Iranian-American comic came to the U.S. when he was 6 years old, just before Iran's 1979 revolution. His new memoir is I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV.

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Yonkers community activist Hector Santiago demonstrates the "stop-and-shake" with Lt. Pat McCormack of the Yonkers Police Department. The idea, Santiago says, is to get people to introduce themselves to cops on the street.

National

Instead Of Stop-And-Frisk, How About Stop-And-Shake?

8:13pm February 19, 2015

by Joel Rose

In a speech last week, FBI Director James Comey addressed racial tensions between police and minorities. A new effort in his hometown of Yonkers, N.Y., tries to get officers and young people talking.

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Duong Nghe Ly, center, at a news conference in 2011, in which Asian and community leaders discussed a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a series of racial attacks, in Philadelphia.

National

After a Racial Attack, A South Philly School Tries to Heal

4:21pm February 18, 2015

by Kat Chow

In 2009, several Asian students were beat up at their high school. Students and teachers said it was a racially motivated attack. Six years later, here's what the school has done change things.

The Slants is an Asian-American rock band that is battling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over denied applications to trademark its name.

Could The Battle Over 'Redskins' Change Trademark Law?

2:26pm February 18, 2015

by Kenya Downs

Advocates hope that the Department of Justice's involvement in a lawsuit is a crucial step in ending trademark protection for the Washington football team's name.

Kheira Benkreira and Hasnia Bekkadja attend a vigil for the slain Chapel Hill victims in Washington, D.C., last week.

National

Some Thoughtful Words — And Many Unanswered Questions — After Chapel Hill

6:49pm February 17, 2015

by Kat Chow

Here are some of the many powerful essays we've come across in the aftermath of this tragedy.