Raleigh, North Carolina -
"There's just this nastiness out there in this country," said Sequoyah Wilson, standing outside North Carolina's state legislature in Raleigh and reflecting on some of the racially-charged controversies the United States has witnessed over the last year.
He pointed to the uproar over Don Imus, a radio host who called a predominantly African-American women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," and a 2006 case in New York where policemen shot and killed an unarmed black man the day of his wedding. The three officers were acquitted last month, triggering a wave of protests.