Social Issues

Should journalists have a creed? A former editor and ombudsman believes reporters and editors should ascribe to a common ethical code.
Does it take a village to raise a child? Ray Suarez, senior correspondent at PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," thinks so. Suarez, who used to host the National Public Radio program "Talk of the Nation," believes that neighborhoods and communities have as much responsibility for the welfare of children as do parents and families. He spoke last week in Minneapolis at a forum sponsored by the Children's Law Center of Minnesota.
Native Americans consider themselves the "first people." But they waited until 1924 to get the right to vote. Since then, they haven't voted in large numbers. And they've been largely ignored or taken for granted by politicians. Now, Native Americans across the country are registering to vote in droves. They're considered a key constituency in Minnesota and several other battleground states where Democrats and Republicans are fighting for control of the White House. In northern Minnesota, Indians could also hold pivotal swing votes in several state House races.
With a tight presidential election expected this year and Minnesota being a swing state, many groups are trying to register new minority voters. Surveys by the U.S. Census Bureau show 30 percent of Hispanics living in Minnesota are registered voters. By comparison, nearly 80 percent of white residents are registered. Moorhead is one place where there's an effort to get Latino residents to the polls. Some are eager to participate, but others have very practical reasons for not registering to vote.
We pursue wealth, but having a lot of money poses ethical and religious dilemmas as well.
New numbers from the U.S. Census bureau show a growing racial divide in Minnesota's population. The new estimates show the population of younger Minnesotans from minority groups is booming. For example in Hennepin County, the number of Hispanic kids under five years old is growing 15 times faster than the rate for white kids. Meanwhile, the state's population of retired people remains overwhelmingly white. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer spoke with State Demographer Tom Gillaspy.
St. Paul-based Panzerfaust Records has alarmed civil rights groups with a massive campaign to put white power music in the hands of teenagers. It may now be the world's largest purveyor of racist music. Panzerfaust calls the new effort "Project Schoolyard USA," and the first CDs have just been shipped.
Two former secretaries for Housing and Urban Development--Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros--passed through Minnesota recently, and both shared what they claimed were time-tested recipes for reducing poverty. The only catch: the plans they said had proved effective beyond a shadow of a doubt during their times in office were exactly opposite.
Parents who take time off to raise children frequently would like to re-enter the workforce at some point. A new book asserts child-rearing prepares you for the board room in more ways than you think.
Writer Nick Flynn only saw his father once while growing up. But at age 23, his father turned up at a homeless shelter where Nick was working. Flynn's new book tells the story of being drawn back into a relationship with the man who had deserted him, and how it forced him to confront some ugly realities about homelessness and his own life.