World Aug 18, 2013

For Obama, racial progress tied to economic woes

by Zachary A. Goldfarb

President Barack Obama has only occasionally used his bully pulpit to confront racial inequality in the U.S., even if race inherently has been a backdrop of his tenure as the nation’s first black leader. He has, however, made fighting economic inequality a central goal ...

World Aug 18, 2013

Was rodeo mask act more than just a case of clowning around?

by Philip Rucker

As some people at the Missouri State Fair see it, the rodeo incident earlier this month in which a ringleader taunted a clown wearing a mask of President Barack Obama and played with his lips as a bull charged after him was neither racist ...

Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jul 29, 2013

Prove you're Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden

by Louise George Kittaka

Japanese are Japanese and foreigners are foreigners, and never the twain shall meet? In many aspects of daily life in this country, there is one way for the Japanese and another for the rest of us. Like it or not, that's just how it ...

Politics & Diplomacy | ANALYSIS Jul 21, 2013

Obama gives voice to what it still means to be black in U.S.

by Dan Balz

President Barack Obama’s comments Friday about the killing of Trayvon Martin were remarkable in many respects, but not least because of the distance he has traveled since the equally notable speech he delivered in 2008 during the controversy about his former pastor, the Rev. ...

Crime Jul 21, 2013

Martin rallies across U.S. urge 'justice'

In most places it was too hot for hooded sweat shirts. So they came with T-shirts. In Washington, Elaine Morris showed up in one bearing a picture of slain teenager Trayvon Martin alongside members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the slogan, “Which hoodie ...

Corporate Jun 21, 2013

Toyota president takes to race track to learn even more about improving cars

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda occasionally takes the driver’s seat in car races to understand firsthand the quality of his company’s cars and how to produce better ones. In May, the 57-year-old took part in the Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race in western Germany, ...