Last month, a mixed-race college student won the beauty pageant at a traditionally Black university in Virginia. But it wasn’t exactly the student’s choice. Hampton University’s student body didn’t get to vote for their tall, fair-skinned queen. A five-judge panel did and what was their real mission? To get put her on track to become Miss Virginia in 2010.

by Cindy Von Quednow, intern for Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. Days after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama lit a diya at the White House in celebration of Diwali, a light festival practiced by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Indian Buddhists. The diya was lit after the president signed an executive order restoring a commission that will actually talk about issues that affect the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Mom and daughter struggle to stay in college during economic uncertainty.

In the recession, undocumented students face more barriers to higher education.

What students of color are doing to stay in college during the recession

Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been pardoned! That’s right the two Current TV reporters who were captured in North Korea in March and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor were officially released and pardoned this afternoon after a meeting between former President Bill Clinton and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The two reporters where working in neighboring China when they were captured on the border between the two countries.