By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer, Thu Jun 28, 2:30 PM ET

Ireland elected its first black mayor Thursday, the latest sign of how rapid immigration is changing this once all-white nation.

Rotimi Adebari, a Nigerian who arrived in Ireland seven years ago as an asylum-seeker, was elected unopposed to lead the council of Portlaoise, a bustling commuter town west of Dublin.

Adebari, 43, who has been an independent politician on Portlaoise Town Council since 2004, was backed by both the right-wing Fine Gael party and left-wing Sinn Fein.

Adebari, who planned a post-election party Friday at the new parish hall in Portlaoise, called it “a great honor to become the No. 1 citizen of the town.”

Little more than a decade ago, a black person in Ireland risked being gawked at, so rare was the sight of visitors from different racial backgrounds. But Ireland has absorbed more than 30,000 asylum seekers — particularly from Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria — since the mid-1990s, a wave attracted by Ireland’s booming economy and its relatively lax immigration rules.

These days, West African entrepreneurs run stretches of shops in urban Dublin and other Irish towns and cities, and social activists like Adebari are encouraging the newcomers to integrate into their communities.

“I got involved in the community and I volunteered. It gave me the opportunity to meet people firsthand and they got to know me,” Adebari said. “We all have to make an effort to reach out to one another.”

Adebari traveled to Ireland with his wife and two boys in 2000 and claimed asylum on the basis of religious persecution, citing bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims in his homeland. His application was rejected because of insufficient evidence he had personally suffered persecution, but he gained residency because his third child, another boy, was born in Ireland.

Asylum-seekers flocked to Ireland in part to gain European Union citizenship on the basis of having a child born in the country. Ireland in 2004 stopped granting citizenship to foreign parents of an Irish-born child, a law that had been unique in Europe.

Adebari said he had trouble finding work at first — in part because of an Irish law that bars people from working while they are seeking asylum.

So he volunteered at a local tennis club, helped found a lobbying group for unemployed people in Portlaoise and ran for office, winning a council seat on his first try in 2004.

Since then he’s finished a master’s degree in intercultural studies at Dublin City University, founded a consultancy advising authorities and immigrant groups on how to work together, and hosts a weekly radio show on his local station, Midlands FM.

“I want to encourage immigrants to be a force in their communities, to engage with their communities,” he said. “People will get to know you. Their perception of you will change just like that. That’s what happened to me.”

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On the Net:

Profile of Adebari

What it means

When I came across this article, I thought the headline was pretty amazing. I considered that the reason for my amazement probably had to do with my being an American who grew up in what used to be (and probably still is) one of the most segregated cities in the US – Chicago. Perhaps the color of my experience shades my optimism about what is possible or even realistic. This would explain my amazement.

The headline spoke to a phenomenon that hadn’t occurred before – a first. This was a legitimate cause for amazement, notice, and celebration. Why celebration? Should all firsts be celebrated simply because they are firsts, or because they symbolizes something else, something good? Frankly, the reason for celebration is that this event marks a change in the perception of what has been generally accepted as status quo – that racism defines the boundaries of possibility.

By no means am I suggesting that Ireland is a racist nation, rather, in a world that has been traumatically influenced by the last remaining superpower, which happens to have a history replete with racist doctrines, a country like Ireland might be (mistakenly) understood as “white” and “naturally” conforming to such influence. While such a perception might be the result of lenses stained with the film of racism, the election in Ireland clears the eyes of the hopeful, revealing a reality that has been hidden from them – racism is a lie. And if this is the wrong conclusion to come to, then at least one nation has signaled to the rest of the world that it is possible to change - an outstanding comment made on the global stage.

The US Supreme Court has narrowly ruled that the race of a child cannot be used to determine where he or she will be sent to school. The decision, one of the most important civil rights rulings in years, may affect millions of children in the US. The court’s conservative majority struck down the voluntary programs adopted by many schools.

The judges rejected affirmative action plans which aim to ensure racially mixed classrooms. Such programs were introduced during the civil rights era as a means of desegregating the U.S.’s racially divided school system. Although they are no longer compulsory, hundreds of school districts have kept them in place on a voluntary basis.

‘Decision to regret’

But the court voted 5-4 against the voluntary programs of Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky.

“This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret.”
- Justice Stephen Breyter

The BBC’s James Coomarasamy, in Washington, says that in both cases the judges ruled in favor of white parents who had argued their children were unfairly denied entry to the schools of their choice because they would have exceeded a quota of non-black pupils.

In the legal opinion, Justice John Roberts asked: “What do the racial classifications do in these cases if not determine admission to a public school on a racial bias?”

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” he added.

But the court’s four liberal justices, who voted against the ruling, published a dissent.

“This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret,” Justice Stephen Breyter wrote.

The liberal judges argued that the decision undermines a landmark 1954 ruling which first outlawed school segregation.

It is interesting that I just recieved an email about a so-called “NUD” list. NUD is an acronym for “Non Urban Dictate,” a marketing term used by select companies which does not take into consideration the urban [Black and Latino/Hispanic] market when calculating its profits and so, invests no interest in marketing or service in these demographic sectors. A list of companies who have such a policy is listed at the end of this post, to be reviewed and researched at your leisure.

What follows is a letter written to Northwest Airlines (one of the companies on the list) after a stressful experience during business travel:

After making a flight reservation a month in advance through a travel agency regularly used by my company, I was told after waiting in line to board my flight that I did not have a seat. Mind you I checked in, had my ticket in hand, had my luggage checked in, and was not informed at any time about a possible problem with my reservation or confirmation. I waited while everyone else boarded the plane. Finally I was told that there were no more seats. The plane left without me. I’m in an airport, with every reasonable expectation to be back home to see my children obliterated. Only after venting some of my frustration was I offered a hotel voucher for the night. There are no hotels in the immediate vicinity of the airport. My luggage is gone. I am terribly inconvenienced and after a grueling day of work, on the verge of a meltdown.

If I were the president and CEO of the company, his wife, or child - how would this situation be addressed? If you were the person to have experienced this, what would be just compensation for your distress?

What am I requesting? The same thing any average person would want under these circumstances: the professional respect and service I had every right to expect, and the justice to make this wrong right again.

How do you accomplish this? Pretend like I’m your kind and feeble grandmother and do unto me as you would do unto her.

The email (prompted by a topic covered by the Tom Joyner morning show related to Comp USA):

NUD (Non Urban Dictate) is the acronym for a very subtle and little-known marketing term specifically directed toward people of color. “Non Urban Dictate” These three words essentially mean that a company is not interested in the Black consumer. A NUD label means that a company does not want their marketing and advertising material s placed in media that claim an urban audience (black folks) as their main target.

There are legitimate reasons for companies not using urban radio. It may be that Blacks don’t index high in certain categories or that a company’s strategy is to market to the Black consumer down the road after they have established a strong position in their primary target.

But, NUD usually means that a company is not interested in the Black consumer. Companies evade discrimination liability by embracing it as theory rather than policy.

As a service to Black consumers, the Urban Institute will list all companies that have a NUD policy. Armed with this information, we feel that Black consumers will be able to make informed buying decisions.

Here’s a list of Companies with NUD policies:
1. Starbucks
2. Jos. A Bank
3. Comp USA
4. Weight Watchers
5. Keebler
6. Life Savers
7. Continental Airlines
8. Northwest Airlines
9. America West Airlines
10. HBO - Apollo Series
11. Paternal Importers
12. Calico Corners
13. OMScot
14. Pepperidge Farms
15. Ethan Allen
16. Busy Body Fitness
17. Mondavi Wines
18. Builders Square
19. Don Pablo
20. Lexus
21. Aruba Tourism
22. Ciba Vision
23. Kindercare
24. Grady Restaurant
25. Eddie Bauer

Again, I invite every reader to do his/her own research and discover for yourself the validity of this information and do with it what you choose. It may not always be a question of right or wrong, just being informed…