Who are we?
Omar and Mandy Connor pictured with their daughter.

Interracial couples deal with racial tension

Ed and Naiah Holsey walked into her sister’s engagement party, hoping no one would make a scene about them being hand-in-hand. “Why didn’t you come alone?” her sister asked. The Holseys looked around the room to see her Korean family with disapproving glares and frowning faces. “That was two years ago, which means we were married for 10 years when that happened,” Naiah Holsey said. “And they still couldn’t accept that I married a black man.”

Interracial, opposite-sex married couple households grew from 7 percent in 2000 to 10 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Who are we?

1 in 5 transgender people report workplace discrimination

Josie Frasier would like to work in early child education. That’s the field in which she has an associate’s degree. “But I haven’t been able to use my degree because the positions I’ve interviewed for always end up filled by someone else,” said Frasier, 27, who drives for Uber in Lansing. Frasier thinks a key reason she hasn’t been hired is because she’s transgender. At least one in five transgender people surveyed in studies between 1996 and 2006 report experiencing employment discrimination, including being fired, denied a promotion or harassed, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Who are we?
Lina Watts and Tamaj Rice are pictured with their daughter Lily, who is now over a year old.

Where marriage fits in the modern world

[infogram id=”education_and_marital_status_of_women”]

Data retrieved from Pew Research Center 2011. More women are becoming mothers before they’re married. In 1960, 4 percent of new mothers were unmarried, according to a Pew Research Center study. By 2011, that number had risen to 27 percent. “It used to be that marriage was something young people did before they had sexual relations.

Who are we?
Imam Sohail Chaudry is the Spiritual Leader of the Islamic Center of East Lansing. Photo credit: Krista Wilson.

Five misconceptions about Islam debunked

President Trump’s executive orders earlier this year seeking to ban citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from traveling to the United States led Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham to say the ban sends a signal that Muslims are not wanted in America.
Meanwhile, FBI crime statistics show hate crimes against Muslims are on the rise.
Three experts clear up five misconceptions about the fastest growing religion in the world.

Who are we?
Lei Tang, a sophomore majoring in education.

Influx of Chinese students creates cultural challenges

The numbers of Chinese students, as the largest group of international students in the U.S., has increased dramatically in recent years, according to the Institute of International Education. The institute said that from 2005 to 2009 India sent the most students to the U.S. From 2010 to 2016, China became the largest source of international students in the U.S.

Who are we?

Hispanic or Latino: Which term is correct?

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, yet many Hispanics “do not identify with the current racial categories,” according to the Pew Research Center. That’s because the term — often used interchangeably with “Latino” — covers people from a sprawling geographic area who may have distinct cultural differences.