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Whether you love or hate politics, it’s hard to deny that when it comes to identity and culture, this year’s presidential election is truly historic. The incumbent is, of course, half black and thus, a racial minority. The challenger is Mormon, and thus, a religious minority. What if you’re one of the one million Americans who is both black and Mormon? How does identity factor in? Two African-American Mormons join us today to share their thoughts.

Celeste Headlee, co-host of The Takeaway, speaks at the National Race Amity Conference in Boston today. Richard Thomas, professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University is also talking at the conference. He’s the creator of the race relations concept, "The Other Tradition," which focuses on the efforts of those who, during times of racial conflict, have worked across racial lines to promote friendship and peace. William Smith is the founding executive director of the National Center for Race Amity, based at Wheelock College in Boston, and is the organizer of the annual National Race Amity Conference.

Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox’s storied ballpark, celebrated it’s 100th birthday late last month. And in honor of the centennial, moments in Red Sox history were remembered and relived like the "Curse of the Bambino." But today, we’re talking about one element of Fenway’s history that is rarely spoken of: it’s troubled racial past.

Few sports have been more racially divided than golf. Realizing that the NCAA was not inviting athletes from historically black colleges and Hispanic- and Native American-serving institutions to compete in their regional golf tournaments, the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship was created to open the doors. In recent years, however, there appear to be fewer and fewer minorities in the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship.

It’s widely believed that in America, Asians are rarely overweight, and more likely to be healthy as a result of that. It’s also widely believed that black people are more likely than other groups to have a positive body image regardless of their size. In fact, the picture is much more complicated.

In 2007, during his contentious primary race with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama spent a week campaigning with Newark Mayor Corey Booker and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. The media continually highlighted the difference between these three young, African-American politicians and the generation of black leaders that came before them. A new book by Professor Andra Gillespie examines the new generation of black politicians exemplified by President Obama through the lens of Cory Booker's mayoral election and his tenure in Newark.

When Sen. John McCain conceded the presidency to Barack Obama, McCain said: "A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time." Author Deborah Davis chronicles that dinner, its aftermath, and the lives of Roosevelt and Washington in her new book.

Every Friday, The Takeaway convenes a panel to look back at the week's big stories. This week, we'll hear more about Newt Gingrich pulling out of the Presidential race; Richard Grenell, the openly gay foreign policy spokesperson who resigned from Mitt Romney's campaign just days after joining it; and Elizabeth Warren's Native American heritage. Ron Christie is a Takeaway contributor and Republican political strategist. And Farai Chideya is ajournalist and blogger.

Tricia Rose,  professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and author of The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop-And Why It Matters, discusses race in America 20 years after the L.A. violence stemming from the Rodney King verdict. Gary Phillips, writer, activist, South Central native, contributor to Dr. Pop, and author of several books, including Violent Spring, his mystery novel set in the aftermath of '92, joins the conversation.

On April 29, 1992, nearly 20 years ago, an all-white jury acquitted four white Los Angeles Police Officers in the case of Rodney King, a black motorist who suffered severe injuries after a brutal beating from the LAPD. South Los Angeles promptly exploded into riots that lasted six days, leaving more than 50 people dead, thousands injured, and $1 billion in damage. Anna Deavere Smith is an playwright, actress and author of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," a one-woman show that Smith developed from interviews with 300 subjects involved in the Rodney King case and its aftermath. She reflects on the riots that tore the city apart, 20 years ago, and discusses whether and how police-community relations have changed since 1992.

"Girls," written by and starring Lena Dunham, was initially the subject of overwhelming praise for telling the story of twenty-something New York females in a new way. But in the two weeks since the series premiered, "Girls" went from being praised to being the object of overwhelming vitriol. From the blogosphere to the New York Times, critics have asked: Why does this show, which takes place in Brooklyn, New York in 2012, have an entirely white cast? Russell Robinson is professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of a study on race, ethnicity and gender casting in Hollywood. Melissa Silverstein is the editor of Women and Hollywood and the artistic director of the Athena Film Festival.

In Jim Crow America, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Through laws and social norms, racism was legitimized and the practice operated as a way of life. Now, there is a museum remembering the era: the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Our Detroit reporter from WDET, Martina Guzman, spoke with the museum's curator Renee Romano about how his past informed his vision of the museum.

Latino and Hispanic: they're terms that a lot of Americans are asked to choose between when identifying themselves on the census, in official paperwork, and in everyday conversation. But according to a new poll by the Pew Hispanic Center, most adults of Latin American descent prefer not to use either. Instead, the respondents said they preferred to identify themselves by their country of origin.

Could all the public attention affect George Zimmerman’s right to a fair trial? It’s a question that Wendy Kaminer has been mulling over. Kaminer is a lawyer, social critic, and correspondent at The Atlantic. She’s also the author of eight books, including “Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU.”

A new poll released by the Pew Survey looks at how Latinos identify themselves. We'll talk about the different identities we adopt with regard to our race with Mark Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center, and Ilan Stavans, Amherst College professor of Latino culture.

Columbia University Law School professor, and columnist for The Nation magazine, Patricia Williams discusses the difficulties when perceptions of threats are protected under the law--in the context of the Trayvon Martin case and the Stand Your Ground law in Florida as well as in the Dharun Ravi conviction. 

By now, most of us have heard of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African-American boy who was shot and killed while walking through a friend’s gated community in Sanford, Florida. The shooter was George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman who is not black, and who thought Martin looked suspicious. Martin had no weapons on him — only a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.

Richard Alba, distinguished professor of sociology at CUNY and acting director of the Center for Urban Research discusses a new study on segregation in New York City and what it means to our understanding of diversity. Alba is the author of The Next Generation: Immigrant Youth in a Comparative Perspective, edited with Mary Waters, and Blurring the Color Line: The New Chance for a More Integrated America. And Jenifer Bratter, associate professor of sociology and the director of Race Scholars at Rice University, explains why Houston was recently declared the most diverse city but also a still segregated city.

In poet Kevin Young's new book, "The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness," Young offers a remarkable, encyclopedic essay on the history of African-American culture. Young explores how African-American culture and American culture have affected one another. The book, part prose and part essay, also explores how African-American culture has become an essential and inextricable part of American culture.