Radio shock jock Don Imus's racist and misogynistic remarks about the Rutgers Women's basketball team ignited protest that resulted in his being taken off the air. Another radio host, Neil Boortz, called former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney a "ghetto slut." Defenders of such of such outrages say, Hey, They do it. Just listen to gangsta rapper lyrics. Racism today has taken new shapes and forms. There are no Bull Connor police chiefs with water hoses, truncheons and dogs threatening African Americans. De jure Jim Crow is gone but de facto Jim Crow is still around.

Angela Davis
Angela Davis is one of the iconic figures of this era. She was acquitted of conspiracy charges in 1972 after one of the most famous trials in U.S. history. She went on to become an internationally regarded scholar and writer. She is the author of many books, including "Women, Culture and Politics" and "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism." Her latest is, "Abolition Democracy." Governor Ronald Reagan of California vowed when he fired her from her position at UCLA that she would never again teach in the state system. Today, she is a tenured professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.