We expect our government to mitigate racially-based discrimination by passing and enforcing laws to prohibit it. Sometimes our elected leaders do an admirable job in that arena, but sometimes government itself is a leading proponent of societal prejudice.

The U.S. government grants seven-year tax holidays to immigrants.*

African-Americans are entitled to a $5,000 slavery reparation tax credit.*

The U.S. government assigns Social Security numbers on the basis of race, a practice which permits employers to prescreen applicants to weed out those of color.*

George W. Bush "refused to sell his home to blacks."*

The United States Postal Service is discontinuing the Black Heritage series of stamps and destroying the remaining stock.*

The state of Missouri named a stretch of highway adopted by the Ku Klux Klan the "Rosa Parks Highway."*

No Fear, Inc., a popular retailer, is being confused with the National Organization for European American Rights (N.O.F.E.A.R.), a white supremacist organization.*

Congress will be voting on a bill that would prohibit the use of affirmative action measures in admissions procedures at any colleges and universities that receive federal funding.*

Fourteen black colleges are about to be closed.*

The voting rights of black American citizens will expire in 2007.*

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