Diversity Roundup: Texas to Apply for No Child Left Behind Waiver

Lack of Diversity in Magazine Industry: Magazine editors and writers aren’t representative of the diverse demographics in America, despite being an aspirational picture of what the nation could be, The Atlantic reports. Magazines have a long history of lacking diversity, starting from the unpaid internships usually only accessible to the privileged white to the economic pressures of keeping the print industry alive leading to low pay but passionate writers, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues.

Diverse Places Spreading Across U.S.: By 2010, only a third of all places were at least 90 percent white, a sharp decline from 1980 where about two-thirds of all places were nearly all-white, according to an analysis reported on by USA Today. In contrast, the number of areas where there is no majority racial group has more than quintupled, the analysis showed, driven by the growing minority child population and aging white population.

Texas to Apply for NCLB Waiver: The Texas education commission has announced that the state will be applying for a general waiver from No Child Left Behind, joining more than half the states who have already asked for relief from the legislation’s requirements, the Texas Tribune reports. But rather than apply for the specific waiver that many states have already agreed to--which requires states to adopt standards to ready students for college and careers--the state will ask for a general exemption, arguing that the state’s standards already exceed federal requirements.

Federal Court Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law: Texas’ voter identification law would adversely affect minority voters and discrimination against the poor, according to a three-judge panel that struck down the state’s law on Thursday as reported on by the New York Times. The Republican legislators, including Gov. Rick Perry, defended the legislation saying it was a constitutional method for preventing voter fraud.

Increasing Number of Arabs, Muslims at Political Conventions: Fifty-five Arab-American delegates attended the Democratic National Convention this year, setting a record for the most Arab delegates at the convention, ArabAmerica.com reports. There were also a record 100 Muslim delegates at the convention, up from 43 in 2008. At the Republican convention, a total of 12 Arab-Americans attended.