Wes Pruden's Idiocy

Hysterical over President Obama's bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito, Pruden's Washington Times column included the following: "It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the American of 'the 57 states' is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream."

Post-racial my ass.

And what "blood impulse" did Nixon have when he bowed to Hirohito, or Eisenhower when he bowed to De Gaulle?

Dean Finalists At Seattle University's School Of Law: All People Of Color

The Faculty Lounge reports this development.

The Recession, Race, And Common Experiences

See Shaila Dewan's New York Times article on the way that the recession has eased racial tensions and differences in Henry County, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

L.A. Clippers' Owner Settles Housing Discrimination Lawsuit

Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, has paid $2.73 million to settle a housing discrimination suit, according to the Justice Department. Dave Zirin notes the silence from NBA commissioner David Stern and others outraged over Rush Limbaugh's attempt to become a part owner of the NFL's St. Louis Rams.

Removing A Black Couple From A Movie Poster

From the Huffington Post: "Universal changed 'Couples Retreat' marketing material for the film's UK release, and removed the black actors from both the poster's photo and the list of stars typed out."

From The Root

"Is the USDA Still the Last Plantation?", "The Supreme Court Doesn't Care About Native American People," and "Does Hollywood Still Have a Brown Paper Bag Test?"

Check Out Sammy Sosa

This picture was taken at the Latin Grammys. Whoa.

The Steelers' Hines Ward Helps Biracial Youth

Interesting story on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward (born in Seoul, South Korea to a Korean mother and black American soldier father) and his efforts to address the plight of biracial children in South Korea.

GOP Chair Michael Steele: White Republicans Are "Scared Of Me"

That's what Steele said: "I've been in the room and they've been scared of me. I'm like, 'I'm on your side.'"

Cynthia Tucker On The Fort Hood Tragedy

Tucker notes that the fact that the suspected shooter is reportedly a Muslim "will certainly permeate reporting and commentary and influence broader perceptions of the mass murder at Ft. Hood." "Let's not get carried away by that news," she continues. "There are many devout Muslims in the U.S. Armed Forces who have served their country bravely, some offering the highest sacrifice--giving their lives in battle."

"Black students told to act like slaves"

Here's the story. Told to act like slaves, wear bags while mimicking picking cotton. Parents and teachers are protesting.

Frank Rich On Limbaugh, Buchanan, Palin, Etc.

Check out this recent interesting and insightful column by Rich.

Shoshana Johnson: You Go Girl

Watch this from the "you don't always know who you're talking to" file.

Cursing The Washington Redskins

Alec Dubro placed a curse on the NFL team six years ago because of the franchise's use of "the plainly racist word" "Redskins".

The Recession's Impact On African Americans

Acccording to the Chicago Tribune, the recession has wiped out a generation of wealth.

Fort Hood And Anti-Muslim Hysteria

Wajahat Ali asks "What's Your Reaction?"

Overheard

Saturday afternoon I was driving home from Parker Music after unsuccessfully trying to negotiate a lower price for a keyboard . . . OK, TMI. I came upon ESPN Radio's broadcast of the Ole Miss-Auburn game. (By the way, as Corey Dade notes, "Ole Miss" is "an honorific that slaves reserved for the mistress of the plantation." But I digress.) I heard analyst Dennis Franchione say that a team's fumble didn't help. Of course it didn't: IT'S A FUMBLE! And when a quarterback made a surprise pooch kick punt, he said that the quarterback must have been a punter "in a future life." Now, I get the past life reference, something learned then somehow helps now. But "future life"? What does that mean? How does that work? And why am I writing about this?

"I Don't Think Of You As Black, Disabled, . . ."

Wheelchair Dancer recently wrote about "what people mean when they say, "I don't think of you as black/disabled. . . . You're just . . . ., my friend.'" Read this interesting piece.

On Not Saying "Third World"

The Mongoose Chronicles on why the term "Third World" is detestable.

Question Time For NFL Commissioner Goodell

Representative Steve King of Iowa questions the commish about Rush Limbaigh and more.

Do Cigarette Companies Target African Americans?

Yes, says LaTanisha Wright, a former executive with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. According to Wright, Big Tobacco "targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."

Developments In The Environmental Justice Movement

Environmental justice proponents recently met with an EPA official to discuss issues arising from living and working in toxic communities. Will the Obama administration move on these issues?

John Lewis And The Man Who Attacked Him In 1961

Representative John Lewis and Elwin Wilson, the man who attacked Lewis during a 1961 civil rights protest, jointly accepted the Common Ground award at Canada's embassy in Washington, D.C. Watch this story.

56%

According to Gallup, fifty six percent of Americans now "believe that a solution to America's race-relations problem will eventually be worked out--a figure that is roughly the same as those Gallup found in the years prior to last fall's historic election of Barack Obama as president." Interestingly, in 1963 the same percentage of Americans shared that view. "In short," Gallup says, "despite all that has happened in the intervening decades, there is scarcely more hope now than there was those many years ago that the nation's race-relations situation will be solved."

And the number of African Americans optimistic about a solution has fallen since last summer, from 50% to 42%.

"What Birthers Want"

Check out this Rolling Stone interview with Orly Taitz, the lawyer/oral surgeon/real estate agent who has filed several lawsuits challenging President Obama's election. In the interview Taitz explains that she is not a racist: "I would not be filing any legal action against any African-American candidate who is legitimate for the position, who is not defrauding the nation. Moreover, in one of my lawsuits against Obama, the leading plaintiff is Alan Keyes. His skin color is much darker than Obama's."

Miscegenation Post On RNC Facebook Page

A photo of President Obama eating chicken with the statement "Miscegenation Is A CRIME against American Values . . . Repeal Loving v. Virginia" (click here) has been taken down.

"The Triumph Of The Socialist Mop"

Look.

Recommended

I'm only halfway through the book but heartily recommend Robert J. Norrell's Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington (Harvard Univ. Press 2009). Check out Steve Hahn's review in The New Republic.

Want To Work Here? Anglicize Your Name, Don't Speak Spanish

Senor Larry Whitten ordered Latino/a employees working at his Taos, New Mexico hotel to Anglicize their names and stop speaking Spanish in his presence. Former employees and town residents picketed. The town's mayor said that Whitten was not doing anything illegal. (That's wrong, by the way; this type of national-origin discrimination can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).

The First Interracial Football Game In The South

Forty years ago, Florida A&M v. University of Tampa, discussed here.

Myron Rolle, Rhodes Scholar And NFL Prospect

Send this to someone or anyone who needs their stereotypes challenged.

"Precious"

Go here for an interesting article about the move "Precious" and its producer-director Lee Daniels.

Bob Griese's "Taco" Remark

During a promotion for NASCAR in the broadcast of ESPN's Ohio State-Minnesota football game the top five drivers were listed in a graphic. Chris Spielman asked where was driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Said Griese: he's "out having a taco." Apologies followed.

"Why Angry British Voters Are Tuning In to Bigots"

This Time magazine story notes the rise of the "extremist" and "racist" British National Party and "the sense of grievance . . . especially potent among white, working-class Britons, who believe that they are in competition with immigrants and minorities for limited jobs and resources, and that the political classes give preferential treatment to those groups."

Ticketed For Not Speaking English

The Dallas Morning News reports that at over the last three years at least 39 drivers were wrongly ticketed by Dallas police officers for not speaking English. Can't make it up.

The Obama Family Portrait

Here.

Pitts On Limbaugh

Leonard Pitts asks why "a bunch of black African-American Negroes" could be upset with Rush Limbaugh:

Just because you once called Philadelphia Eagles star Donovan McNabb overrated, the victim of media too eager to see a black quarterback do well?

Just because you referred to Barack Obama and Halle Berry as "Halfrican Americans"?

Just because you called Obama "the little black man-child"?

Just because you said the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips"?

Just because you once told a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back"?

Guerilla Warfare And The Health Care "Debate"

This is funny.

Images From The Hubble Space Telescope

Here.

On Pat Buchanan (Again)

Pat Buchanan (who is still an MSNBC commentator!!) worries about "traditional Americans" losing "their" nation in this column. And who are these "traditional Americans"? According to Buchanan, they are alienated and radicalized white Americans. "America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right." Some racial arson will get you fired (see Don Imus) or not invited into the club (see Rush Limbaugh). But Buchanan goes on and on and on.

Andrew Sullivan notes that "America--once uniformly white--is now, for [Buchanan] and those he speaks for, bewilderingly multicultural and multi-confessional. Hence the anxiety. Hence the panic." Buchanan's premise that this is a "white" country is wrong, Sullivan argues: "From its very beginning, after all, America was a profoundly black country as well." Check out his discussion of this point.

Annette Gordon-Reed On Talking About Race

Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize winner for her book The Hemingses of Monticello, recounts being the only black student enrolled in 1963 in her 800-student elementary school in Conroe, Texas.

The Brooklyn Comedy Company: Obama Is the Worst President Ever

Take a look.

LeBron James Wants To Dunk On George W. Bush

Asked to name the one person on the planet he would like to dunk on, LeBron James responded "George W. Bush. I would dunk on his ass, break the rim, and shatter the glass."

Stanley Crouch On Michelle Obama And The Melting Pot

From a recent Crouch column on the "recent DNA revelation that Michelle Obama has a redneck in the woodpile from which her family was built . . ."

Oops

Watch MSNBC's Contessa Brewer mistakenly refer to Jesse Jackson as Al Sharpton. This gaffe reminded me of Niger Innis' appearance on MSNBC in which his first name was misspelled and displayed as . . . you know what word.

La. Justice Of Peace Refuses To Issue Marriage License To Interracial Couple

Last week--last week!!--Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Louisiana's Tangipahoa Parish who has held that position for 34 years, refused to issue a marriage license to Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay. Says Bardwell: "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way. I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else." (Uh, no you don't). He's just looking out for the children of interracial marriages who "suffer and I won't help put them through it." (Isn't the President . . . never mind.)

An interview with Ms. Humphrey is available here.

French Vogue's Blackface Move

The October issue of French Vogue contains pictures of model Lara Stone, who happens to be white, in blackface.

The "Redneck Rap" Video

A video titled "Redneck Rap" featuring a Republican Kansas legislator, Bill Otto, has been removed from YouTube. In the video Otto criticizes President Obama's policies while wearing a hat describing possum as "the other dark meat."

"Good Hair"

Watch the trailer of Chris Rock's new movie.

Rush And (Not In) The NFL

The investor group bidding to purchase the St. Louis Rams has dropped Rush Limbaugh. Gene Robinson writes that "Rush got the bum's rush shortly after Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, hinted strongly that His Loudness was most unwelcome." John McClain notes that, given the racially insensitive remarks made by Limbaugh, "There was no way . . . Limbaugh was going to be approved to be a partner in any NFL ownership group."

The Michelle Obama Doll

For sale, $12.99.

Julian Bonds On Gay Rights

From Julian Bond, NAACP chair: "Black people of all people should not oppose equality, and that is what nmarriage is all about."

"Is My 4-Year-Old Racist?"

Monique Fields notes that her four-year-old daughter "is already making observations based on skin color. The question is how to keep those observations from turning into prejudice." Such as: "Brown people drive old cars."

The Morehouse College Dress Code

Discussed here.

The Ginn Academy

From Pete Thamel's NYT article: "Even as [Cleveland, Ohio's] graduation rate has fallen to 54 percent, Ginn Academy, now in its third year, has grown to 300 students, and no one has dropped out. Of the 37 students in its first senior class, 32 have already passed Ohio's mandatory graduation exam."

Larry Wilmore On Glenn Beck And Rush Limbaugh Playing The Race Card

Watch.

E.J. Dionne On Obama Hatred

Click here for Dionne's column. A snippet: "There is no doubt that some of the anger is fueled by racial feeling, which is not the same as saying that all opposition to Obama is explained by racism. Most Obama opponents are simply conservative Republicans who disagree with him. But there are too many racist signs at rallies and too many overtly racial pronouncements in the fever swamps of the right-wing media to deny that racism is part of the anti-Obama mix."

The Nobel Peace Prize And Affirmative Action

The perpetual silly season: "I did not realize the Nobel Peace Prize had an affirmative action quota for it, but that is the only thing I can think of for this news. There is no way Barack Obama earned it in the nominations period." So says Erick Erickson.

Infant Mortality And African Americans

The Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports the data.

From "What Would You Do?"

Shopping in a store, then this happens.

The N Word And Health Care Reform

Watch this.

Sixty

Sixty percent of all youngsters serving life-without-parole sentences in the United States are African American. Source: Graham v. Florida, United States Supreme Court, Brief for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. et al, as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners, at p. 9, note 8.

The Chia Pet Obama

AOL Black Voices reports that Walgreen's and CVS are pulling the Chia Obama, "a little bust of Obama that grows a green-plant Afro when properly maintained," from store shelves.

Cornel West On President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Professor West's comments include this statement: "It's going to be difficult to have a peace prize and not investigate folks who have been torturing other people."

"Top 10 Racist Limbaugh Quotes"

The list can be viewed here. A sample: "I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark." And: "Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

Ebony And Jet Magazines Are For Sale

Todd Boyd argues that the sale of Ebony and Jet is not a big deal.

The "Jackson Jive" In Blackface

Check out Harry Connick, Jr.'s reaction to the performance of a group of blackface-wearing performers in Australia who were impersonating Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five.

The Beating Death Of Derrion Albert

Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old honors student at Chicago's Christian Fenger Academy High School, was beaten to death last month by a group of teenagers. The attack was recorded on a bystander's cell phone. Four persons have been charged with first-degree murder. This story contains a CNN report on the attack, including video. And Veronica-Marche Miller shares her views on this tragedy, stating: "Too many black Americans aren't safe in their own neighborhoods."

Michelle Obama's Roots

This story in the New York Times discusses the ancestry of Michelle Obama and her great-great-great-grandparents: Melvinia Shields, a young slave, and an unknown whhite man who impregnated her.

The "Is It Race?" Quiz

Here are ten questions. Enjoy.

Rush Limbaugh: "We Need Segregated Buses"

Referring to an incident in which a white student was beaten by black students on a school bus, a caller to Rush Limbaugh's radio show stated that the local police concluded that the attack did not appear to be racially motivated. Limbaugh's response:
"I think the guy's wrong. I think not only was it racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses--it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America."

And this:

"If homosexuality being inborn is what makes it acceptable, why does racism being inborn not make racism acceptable? I'm sorry--I mean, this is the way my mind works. But apparently now we don't choose racism, we are just racists. We are born that way. We don't choose it. So shouldn't it be acceptable, excuse--this is according to the way the left thinks about things."

Hate Crime At Cracker Barrel?

From CNN: "The FBI is investigating as a possible hate crime an incident in which a woman was beaten to the ground in front of her child at the entrance to a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Morrow, Georgia, south of Atlanta." Misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct charges and a felony charge of cruelty to children have been filed against Troy Dale West Jr. for his alleged actions directed at US Army reservist Tashawnea Hill.

President Obama On Kanye West: "Jackass"

Watch the President here.

President Carter On Race And Disrespecting President Obama

Watch President Jimmy Carter's comments on recent protests against President Obama, including his statement that "[t]here is an inherent feling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president." Read about Carter's comments here. President Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, has commented on Carter's statement: "The president does not believe that the criticism comes based on the color of his skin. We understand that people have disagreements with some of the decisions that we've made and some of the extraordinary actions that had to be undertaken by this administration . . . The president does not believe it's based on the color of his skin."

Valceresio, Italy's New Black Mayor

Sandy Crane was recently elected mayor in Valceresio, Italy. Crane was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of a black soldier and Italian mother. She is a member of an anti-immigrant political party and has been described as the "voice of Italy's right-wing party."

Rep. Joe Wilson, Meet Maureen Dowd

Says Maureen Dowd on Mr. "You Lie!": "The congressman . . . belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina's state Capitol and denounced as a 'smear' the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the '48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not liked being lectured and rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber."

The President Wants To Talk To Our Children!! Run!!!!

OK, I'm late to this, but . . . Michael Wolff writes that President Obama's then upcoming speech to school children (delivered last week) was, "according to the New York Times, making concervative parents apopletic and 'igniting a revolt.'" (The first sentence in the piece: "Shit, it probably is about race.") Two friends and I were discussing and lamenting this silliness last week (their names not revealed in order to protect the intelligent). Listen up: BARACK OBAMA IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. RESPECT THE OFFICE IF YOU CAN'T OR WON'T RESPECT THE MAN.

Rush Limbaugh On "Obama's America"

Check out this story.

David Mamet On Race In America

Mamet discusses his current play "Race" and the nation's 230-year experiences and dialogue concerning race matters.

Rice Professor Raymond Johnson

What must this feel like? As reported in the Houston Chronicle: "There's no time to talk about how 45 years ago Raymond Johnson made history as the first African-American to enroll at Rice, and the ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit from alumni that tried to stop him. He's back at the school as a professor not to dwell on the past, but to teach new ways of thinking about complex mathematical concepts."

A Bigot Is A Bigot

Leonard Pitts writes about the beating of Brian Williams, an 18-year-old beaten after he walked his girlfriend home in Buffalo, New York. "A mob of 10 to 12 black males then stomped and kicked him and hit him with . . . concrete--all in the head and face . . . As they struck him, they taunted him. 'You white motherf___, we told you to stay away from here. These are "our" streets. We told you, stay away from our women.'" Brian is white; his girlfriend is black.

Pitts: "I loathe bigotry in all its forms, but I have a special problem with bigotry as practiced by those who, by dint of history, should know better. When Jews hate Muslims for their religion, when gays scorn straights for their sexual orientation, when blacks beat a white teenager for the color of his skin, it suggests people too dense to understand the moral of their own story, the meaning of their own passages. The minority is no more righteous in hate than the majority is."

On Judicial Diversity

See the Lawyers' Commitee for Civil Rights Under Law's "Improving Diversity on the State Courts: A Report from the Bench."

4

The number of black coaches in the 119 schools comprising Division 1A college football.

For a story on the absence of diversity in the college football coaching ranks and Tom Williams' selection as the first black coach at Yale University, click here.

On New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina

--A story on Anderson Cooper 360 on vigilante justice during the 2005 hurricane.

--Melissa Harris Lacewell & James Perry's "Obama's Debt to New Orleans."

--Jason Shelton on Houston, Katrina evacuees, and the limits of hosptality.

--Teresa Wiltz's "Take Me Back to New Orleans."

--Michael Chertoff: "How Katrina Saved Lives."

Microsoft Pastes A White Man's Head On A Black Man's Body

A photograph on Microsoft's United States site showed three businesspersons attending a meeting. One was white, one was black, and one was Asian.

The version of that photo displayed on the company's Polish site replaced the face of the black man with the face of a white man--but did not change the hand of the black man from the original photo.

Microsoft has apologized and is "looking into the details of this situation."

Is The Medical System Racist?

Darshak Sanghavi considers the question.

Patricia Williams: Obama And The Black Elite

Williams writes: "The phenomenon of a black upper class has always been complicated, ambivalent. Often the descendants of 'house slaves,' some significant percentage grew up imitating the manners, mores, and various condescensions of white plantation society--including setting up private clubs and exclusionary networks. More recently, the ranks of the black upper middle class have been increased with beneficiaries of the civil rights movement-with people such as Barack and Michelle Obama, who represent a generation able to take advantage of increased access to jobs and schools once off limits. This new mobility has not altogether erased some of the clubbishness and snob appeal of older black organizations, however. There are still fault lines and hidden hierarchies within black social life."

"Teachable Moments Lost"

This is the title of Richard Cohen's August 25 column in the Washington Post. From the piece: "For this teachable moment, Obama might have recalled an incident out of his own past when, perchance, he was racially profiled--stopped, frisked or something for being a black man, particularly a young black man. He might have recounted an anecdote that could have offered us all a glimmer of what it is like to wear your skin color--but not your two Ivy League degrees, book contract, etc.--on your face so that you feel the opprobrium and suspicion of police officers and the averted glance of trembling white ladies. No. He did nothing of the sort."

Mother-in-Law Sues Comic For Defamation And "Racist Lies"

Comedian Sunda Croonquist is being sued by her mother-in-law for making certain jokes and telling "racist lies" during the comic's stand-up routine. Like the following riff by Croonquist as reported by the Huffington Post:

"I'm a black woman with a Jewish mother-in-law, you know the only thing we have in common is that we don't want to get our hair wet. So you know there was drama when we got the sonogram results cause she was real excited. 'OK, now that we know you're having a little girl I want to know what you're naming that little tchotchke. Now I realize there's a difference in the background with the African-American, colored, black, whatever you people call yourselves these days. Seriously, I just don't want a name that's difficult to pronounce like Shaniqua. Because in my mind I'm thinking of a name short but delicious. Like Hadassah or Goldie."

The linked story contains video of Croonquist's recent interview on the Today Show.

Looking For The "Great White Hope"

That's what Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R.-Kansas) told a crowd at a town hall meeting the Republicans are seeking. Her words: "Republicans are struggling to find the great white hope." Of course, the "sort of apology" apology followed: "I apologize if anyone misunderstood my intent." In the early 20th century the phrase "great white hope" was used by those hoping and searching for someone to defeat and take the heavyweight title from the boxer Jack Johnson, who happened to be black.

On Black Hair And Politics

Catherine Saint Louis' New York Times article discusses straightened and "good hair" and natural hair styles, and notes that "[c]ommenters on the conservative blog Free Republic attacked [Malia Obama] as unfit to represent America for stepping out unstraightened."

The Martha's Vineyard Panel On Race

A report is available here.

Just Asking

Why do major league baseball players spit so much?

Orlando Patterson On Racial Diveristy And Social Incorporation

Patterson's recent New York Times op-ed argues, among other things, that "for nonblacks, assimilation is alive and well in America. It is not passive integration into a static, Anglo-Protestant mainstream (which was always a sociological fiction anayway), but an endlessly dynamic two-way cultural process." But black Americans as the "great excpetion to this process of social incorporation" as the result of poverty (black poverty "stands at three times the white rate, just as it did in 1970)" and "chronic hypersegregation, true not only of the great majority of poor blacks but of working-class and middle-class blacks as well."

Barack Obama Is The Nation's First Black President

Or is he?

What?

Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, on last night's The Colbert Report: the Kennedys "created the civil rights movement."

A Judge's Bulletin Board Posting

From Lubbock, Texas: "County Judge Tom Head defended on Friday potentially offensive posters that commissioners removed from a public bulletin board he mantained in the courthouse." Commissioner Bill McCay "removed a series of printouts that began with a short narration of a person contemplatng waking up, putting on an Obama T-shirt and then abusing drugs, robbing a store and hitting his wife. A sheet of mug shots of mostly black men wearing Obama shirts had been tacked beneath the narration."

From The Root

"Obama Is A Racist?" and "But My Best Friend Is Black!"

Glenn Beck: Health Care Reform Is Really Reparations

Enjoy.

When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

Discussions about and debates over Henry Louis Gates' alleged behavior and actual arrest reminded me of this Dave Chappelle take on when keeping it real can go wrong.

Malcolm Gladwell On Atticus Finch

Writing in the New Yorker, Gladwell argues that Atticus Finch, the fictional lawyer in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, was "a good Jim Crow liberal" who "dare[d] not challenge the foundations" of the white male jurors sitting in jugdment of his client, Tom Robinson. An interesting passage in Gladwell's piece: "But in cases where the status quo involves systemc injustice this [efforts at changing hearts] is no more than a temporary strategy. Eventually, such injustice requires more than a change of heart."

The Census And Counting Prisoners

A recent op-ed by Anthony Thompson, a law professor at NYU, notes that state prison inmates, who are disproportionately from urban areas, are counted as "residents" in the rural area state prisons in which they are incarcerated. "As a result, resources and electoral authority are transferred from inner cities to rural jurisdictions."

Dear Birthers

OK, let's try this again. Here is an actual picture of PRESIDENT OBAMA'S birth certificate. And here is a picture of the stamp and seal on PRESIDENT OBAMA'S birth certificate.

"Kill Me A Cop"

Twenty year old Antavio Johnson wrote a rap song entitled "Kill Me A Cop." He has been convicted under Florida law of the crime of "corruption by threat of public servant." Anita Allen comments on the "outrageous" conviction and sentence.

The 1999 Jewish Community Center Shootings

A short note on white supremacists' attack on the Jewish Center in Los Angeles as well as photos can be found here.

"A Summer of Race Talk Gone Bad"

Sherrilyn Ifill's The Root column argues, among other things, that structural racism "should be the focus of our 21-st century race talk," and that a "conversation about structural racism would invite us to examine how notions about race are deeply embedded in our legislative policies, our policing practices and our legal decison making. Yet we never got to this."

Huh?

Russell, on tonight's Big Brother After Dark, referred to Jeff's "self-defecating humor."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

A historic moment today as the Senate confirmed her nomination.

Crack News

Splitsville: Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.

"Presumed Guilty"

While reading Bob Herbert's op-ed on the arrest of Prof. Gates (see the preceding post) I remembered his December 2006 piece entitled "Presumed Guilty." There Herbert wrote that the "death of Sean Bell at the hands of undercover police officers, who also wounded his two companions in their 50-shot barrage in Queens nine days ago, brought to mind a case from a few years back in which undercover cops, acting on bogus information, attacked an innocent group of young people in a car in Manhattan. . . . The cops . . . assumed that the people in the car were lowlifes. They were all Ivy League graduates, and one is currently clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens." Read Herbert's account of how the occupants of the car (two who happened to be black, one of "mixed parentage," and one from the Philippines) were treated and arrested after the police acted on a mistaken computer report that the car was stolen. The driver of the car, then-25 year old Jason Rowley (who happens to be black), stated that "a lot of the officers told me that if this had been elsewhere--for example, if this had been in the Bronx or Harlem--I'd have been dead."

"Anger Has Its Place"

This is the title of Bob Herbert's op-ed on the Gates arrest and President Obama's suggestion that the incident be viewed as presenting a "teachable moment." Herbert: "[S]o far exactly the wrong lessons are being drawn from it--especially for black people. The message that has gone out to the public is that powerful African-American leaders like Mr. Gates and President Obama will be very publicly slapped down for speaking up and speaking out about police misbehavior, and that the proper response if you think you are being unfairly targeted by the police because of your race is to chill. . . . I have nothing but contempt for that message."

And: "Most whites do not want to hear about racial problems, and President Obama would rather walk through fire than spend his time dealing with them. We're never going to have a serious national conversation about race. So that leaves it up to ordinary black Americans to rant and to rave, to demonstrate and to lobby, to march and confront and to sue and generally do whatever is necessary to stop a continuing and deeply racist criminal justice outrage."

Boston Cop Likens Prof. Gates To A "Banana-Eating Jungle Monkey"

Boston police officer Justin Barrett was suspended after he sent out a mass e-mail stating that Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was a "banana-eating jungle monkey." Barrett's attorney "explained" to CNN that his client "did not call professor Gates a jungle monkey or malign him racially. He said his behavior was like that of one. It was a characterization of the actions of that man."

Can't make this stuff up.

Stanley Crouch On The Obama-Gates-Crowley Beer Summit

Check out Crouch's Daily Beast entry.

Shem Walker

From The Root, a story entitled "What About Shem?" According to the story, Shem Walker was recently killed by an undercover police officer. Please read this.

The 911 Call And The Gates Arrest

To hear the call, click here.

From the Associated Press: "The 911 caller who reported two men possibly breaking into the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not describe their race, acknowledged they might just be having a hard time with the door and said she saw two suitcases on the porch." Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates on a later dismissed charge of disorderly conduct, spoke with the caller, Lucia Whalen, after he arrived at Gates' home and wrote in his report that Whalen told him "that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch." Whalen's attorney says that Whalen never mentioned the mens' race to Crowley. The New York Times reports that Crowley's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said that Whalen "never used the word black and never said the word backpacks to anyone."

Recommended

"Prom Night in Mississippi," a documentary airing on HBO about the first ever racially integrated prom ever held at Charleston High School.

Leonard Pitts On The Gates Arrest

The columnist writes that Professor Henry Louis Gates "is a man who did the things African Americans are always advised to do--work hard, get a good education, better yourself, only to discover that in the end, none of it saved him. In the end, he still winds up standing on his front porch with his wrists shackled, just like any drug dealer or carjacker anywhere."

"Because sometimes, they just don't see you. It's one of the most frustrating verities of African-American life. Sometimes you simply know: they are looking your way but seeing their fears, their preconceptions, their stereotypes, that other black guy who did them wrong--everything except the one and only you."

Harold Hill (Glenn Beck): President Obama Is A Racist

According to Hill . . . uh, Beck, President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." And, "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. . . . This guy is, I believe, a racist."

The Cambridge Police Report On The Gates Arrest

If you'd like to see what's in the report, click here.

History And The Texas Board of Education

The Texas Board of Education is considering revisions to the state's social studies curriculum. An op-ed by John Fea notes, among other things, that a report by Peter Marshall, an outside reviewer selected by certain members of the Board, states that Cesar Chavez "is hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation." Fea: "Perhaps the study of Cesar Chavez might help an 11th grade white student from a conservative Southern Baptist home learn something about the plight of her Mexican-American neighbors or the suffering of poor migrant workers."

When David Duke Posts Your Column On His Website . . .

David Duke posted (MSNBC commentator!!) Pat Buchanan's column about Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Duke's website. I'm just saying . . .

Ann Coulter On The "Obama Birthers"

When Ann Coulter says that those who think that President Obama is not a citizen are cranks you know that those pushing and covering this absurd "story" need to stop this silliness.

President Obama The "Witch Doctor"

Thinking that it was "Funny stuff," a Florida neurosurgeon and American Medical Association delegate forwarded this image of President Obama as what was supposed to represent an African witch doctor. The doctor has apologized.

A colorblind nation indeed.

Glenn Loury On The Gates Arrest

Loury, a professor at Brown University, finds "laughable, and sad, Professor Gates's declaration that he now plans to make a documentary film about racial profiling. Is this as far as his scholarship on the intersection of race and policing in America extends? Where has this eminent scholar of African-American affairs been these last 30 years, during which a historically unprecedented, politically popular, extraordinarily punitive and hugely racially disparate mobilization of resources for the policing, imprisonment and post-release supervision of those caught up in the criminal justice system has unfolded?"

Arguing that the nation has chosen to employ the police, courts and prisons to deal with "the antisocial behaviors of our fellow citizens," Loury posits that "such behavioral problems reflect failures elsewhere in our society--racial and class segregation in our cities; inadequate ducation for the poor; and the collapse of the family as an institution in some communities. Because of these failures, we have large numbers of under-socialized, undereducated and virtually unemployable young men in our cities and towns. (They are not all black, to be sure, but they are disproprotionately so.)"

"Meet the New Elite, Not Like The Old"

Check out Helene Cooper's piece in the New York Times on what she calls "the children of 1969--the year that America's most prestigious universities began aggressively recruiting blacks and Latinos to their nearly all-white campuses,"and her argument that today "America is being led, to a striking extent, by a new elite, a cohort of the best and the brightest whose advancement was formed, at least in part, by affirmative action policies." (Every time I see the phrase "the best and brightest" I think about what David Halberstam really meant when he placed that label on those in the Kennedy-Johnson administrations who formulated and implemented the policies resulting in the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War.)

A Critique Of CNN's "Black in America"

Sam Fulwood, writing in The Root: "CNN turned being black in America into a form of pathology, something to be cured. If black folks work hard, show respect to teachers and other authority and express gratitude for this nation's bounty, only then success may come their way."

Sherrilyn Ifill And Richard Thompson Ford On The Arrest Of Henry Louis Gates

Ifill writes: ""We shouldn't need celebrities to bring home the seriousness of racial profiling. The pain, humiliation and injustice experienced by average, poor, black men and women should be a compelling enough story to hold our attention."

And Ford comments: "The president got it right: There's no plausible justification for the arrest. It was worse than stupid--it was abusive."

"And even racial profiling in the sense of using race as a part of a generic composite of a typical crimnal isn't necessarily racist. It's a tragic fact that blacks as a group commit a disproportionate number of certain types of crime. The trouble is that racial profiling--even if it's based on accurate generalizations--imposes a disproportionate share of the costs of law enforcement on innocent blacks, like professor Gates. Let's face it: It's hard to imagine that police would have presumed that a middle-aged white man who walks with a cane was a burglar."

Pat Buchanan's Supremacist Worldview

If you missed it, watch MSNBC commentator(!!) Pat Buchanan's recent appearance on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show in which he sets forth his views on race. Maddow's comments on Buchanan's statements are worth viewing, as is this take by the Young Turks.

CBS News Report On Arrest Of Henry Louis Gates

Watch it here.

More Pat Buchanan

On his website: "The Supreme Court, far from being the last redoubt of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant in America, reflects the collapse of that WASP establishment, and a rising racial, ethnic and gender consciousness and solidarity."

The Arrest Of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested in his home near Harvard University after a neighbor called police and reported that two black men were breaking into the home. According to newspaper accounts, after returning to his home from a trip to China at about 12:40 p.m. last Thursday, Gates placed his key in and tried to turn the lock on his front door but the door would not open. Gates, wearing a blue blazer and leather shoes, and the car service driver who delivered him to his home pushed the front door until it finally opened. Gates entered his home and the driver left. Police officers appeared at Gates' home and, according to the Cambridge police department, Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after he yelled at a police officer. That charge has been dropped and the police department issued a statement calling the incident "regrettable and unfortunate."

For stories on the arrest, see here and here. For an interview with Gates, go here.

Colored Demos' "Empthy, Racism and Our Highest Court"

Luis Fuentes-Rohwer writes: ""The Sotomayor nomination has taught me two things. The first is that the American public might in fact be dumb and dumber. The second is that Chief Justice Roberts might well be a racist."

On the first point: "Is there anybody out there stupid enough to believe that" Judge Sotomayor is a racist?

On the second point: Roberts has "demonstrated deep antipathy towards the interests of persons of color, on issues as far ranging as voluntary racial integration plans, voting rights, or hiring and promotion."

Frank Rich On The "Sotomayor Show"

From Rich's column:
On the Judiciary Committee's hearings: "Southern senators who relate every question to race, ethnicity and gender just assumed that their unreconstructed obsessions are America's and that the country would find them riveting. Instead the country yawned. The Sotomayor questioners also assumed a Hispanic woman, simply for being a Hispanic woman, could be portrayed as The Other and patronized like a greenhorn unfamiliar with How We Do Things Around Here. The senators seemed to have no idea they were describing themselves when they tried to caricature Sotomayor as an overemotional, biased ideologue."

On Senator Tom Coburn's "You'll have lots of 'splaining to do" statement: "[I]t clearly didn't occur to him that such mindless condescension helps explain why the fastest-growing demographic group in the nation is bolting his party."

Check out the full column.

President Obama On His NAACP Speech

From the President: "I've noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted. But then the whole other half of the speech, where I talked about government's responsibility . . . that somehow doesn't make news."

Colbert's "Neutral Man's Burden"

Watch it here. Funny and insightful.

Prof. Michael Olivas On The Sotomayor Nomination

Read it here.

Looking For A Confederate Flag Comforter?

Professor Guy-Uriel Charles tells you where to find one.

RNC Chair Michael Steele On Black Folks, Fried Chicken And Potato Salad

At the Young Republicans national convention Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele stated that he would welcome black persons to the Republican Party with "fried chicken and potato salad." Earl Ofari Hutchinson notes, "The shoot from the lip Steele with a wry smile and a chuckle told a questioner that he'll get more black folk into the GOP by ladling out scoops of potato salad and every black's favorite, fried chicken to them." Hutchinson also asks whether the GOP bribed Steele with a bucket of fried chicken, and "did Steele polish off his fried chicken gorge by slurping away at a big slice of warermelon?"

Zell Miller: "Gorilla Glue" And Obama

Said by Zell Miller, former governor and United States senator from Georgia: "our globe-trotting president needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting all around. I think Rahm Emanuel ought to get some Gorilla Glue and put it in that chair in the Oval Office and say 'Sit here awhile."

Every time I think it can't get worse . . .

Cornyn On Cabranes

During a break in today's Sotomayor hearings, Senator Cornyn of Texas told C-Span viewers that Second Circuit Judge Cabranes is "of Puerto Rican extraction." Extraction? What does that mean?

Pat Buchanan On Judge Sonia Sotomayor

On his website Patrick J. Buchanan (who, among other things, is (still) a commentator on MSNBC) has this to say about Judge Sonia Sotomayor:

"Sonia is, first and foremost, a Latina. She has not hesitated to demand, even in college and law school, ethnic and gender preferences for her own. Her concept of justice is race-based." (Note his reference to "Sonia" and the lack of any facts supporting his declaration of who and what she is.)

Republicans must "expose Sotomayor . . . as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males to the degree necessary to bring about an equality of rewards in society." (Really? When anxiety crosses over into hysteria this is what happens.)

Was Martin Luther King, Jr. A Republican?

A billboard in Houston said that he was.

Vote Like A Puerto Rican?

In Tuesday's confirmation hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Senator Jeff Sessions, discussing Sotomayor's vote not to rehear en banc the appeal in Ricci v. DeStefano, made the following statement to the judge:

"You voted not to reconsider the prior case. You voted to stay with the decision of the circuit. And in fact your vote was the key vote. Had you voted with Judge Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could've changed that case."

This comment by Sessions can be viewed here, in a posting that also notes that Judge Cabranes also served on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Why is that relevant? Sessions has ciritcized Sotomayor for serving on that very same board.

On Senator Jeff Sessions

A recent POLITICO story on Senator Jeff Sessions notes the Senate's rejection of his nomination to the federal bench in 1986:

"During the 1986 confirmation process, Sessions was accused of unfairly targeting black civil rights workers for election fraud charges as a federal prosecutor. A black lawyer under Sessions in the U.S. attorney's office accused him of saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan was 'OK' until he found out some of its members were 'pot smokers.'

"But the confirmation process also revealed that Sessions had once called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union 'un-American' and 'communist-inspired.'

"Sessions . . . told POLITICO that those comments were made in a private conversation he had with an African-American on his staff in the U.S. attorney's office--and that they were taken out of context."

"Whose Identity Politics?"

From Eugene Robinson's column in the Washington Post:

"Republicans' outrage, both real and feigned, at [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor's musings about her identity as a 'wise Latina' might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being male and white is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any 'identity'--black, brown, female, gay, whatever--has to be judged against this supposedly 'objective' standard. . . . Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. talks abut the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings--as he did at his confirmation hearings--but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work."

Audra Shay's Facebook Postings

Audra Shay is now the incoming chair of the Young Republicans. For where she stands on the electon of President Obama (e.g., "Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist" and her reference to "Obama in a noose") check out this Daily Beast story.

Attacking The Obama Children

Racism Review has an interesting post that begins: "Just when you think the racist right has reached its low point, some hyper-racist folks there show they can go yet lower." A photo in the New York Post showed Malia Obama wearing a shirt with a peace sign. Check out the post for the rabid, racist, and reactionary comments made by some of the "brave" anonymous fools out there in cyberspace. And check out some other comments noted in the post, including: "We're being represented by a family of ghetto trash." "Looks like a typical street whore." "Wonder when she will have her first abortion."

Richard Nixon On Neccesary Abortions

President Richard Nixon, speaking to an aide in 1973 on the day following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade: "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white. . . . Or a rape."

The Bombing Of A Diversity Office

From That Minority Thing: "Twin brothers from Illinois who authorities say are white supremacists have been charged in a 2004 bombing that injured the black diversity director in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale."

"What Are Those Black Kids Doing Here?"

The Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission has indicated that it will investigate allegations that the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania discriminated against a group of minority children who were swimming at the club's pool. According to Alethea Wright, the director of a Creative Steps, a summer camp for minority children, her organization paid for weekly swim time at the pool. While at the pool on June 29, "A couple of the children ran down saying, 'Miss Wright, Miss Wright, they're up they're saying, 'What are those black kinds doing here?'" Wright said that club members pulled their children out of the pool. The club later refunded the camp's payment. Wright has stated that some of the children have asked if they are "too dark" to swim in the pool. The club president has denied any wrongdoing.

Are The Indiana Pacers Too White?

That question was posed by Bob Kravitz in a column in the Indianapolis Star. "In a league where little more than 10 percent of the players are white Americans, the Pacers roster is racially split down the middle, making them one of the whitest teams in the league." Larry Bird, Pacers president and former NBA star, said, "I don't see race at all."

In 2004 the colorblind Bird, responding to the question whether the National Basketball Associaton could benefit from having more white players, said: "Well, I think so. . . . I think it's good for a fan base becase, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you had just a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited." He also said, during his playing days, that he was insulted when he was guarded by a white player.

"I don't see race at all."

The Horrible Burr Oak Cemetery Story

From the Chicago Tribune:
"Authorities today sharply increased the estimate of the number of bodeis disinterred at Burr Oak Cemetery in southwest suburban Alsip in a scheme to illegaly resell grave sites.
"Two to 300 bodies were dug up and dumped into an isolted, weedy area of the cemetery, where many prominent African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till."

Khadijah Williams Is Going To Harvard

Khadijah Williams, age 18. Homeless; attended 12 schools in 12 years; lived out of garbage bags. Marked by teachers as gifted at age 9. From her college application essay: "I have felt the anger at having to catch up in school . . . being bullied because they knew I was poor, different, and read too much. I knew that if I wanted to become a smart, successful scholar, I should talk to other smart people."

Ms. Williams has been admitted to Harvard.

Major League Baseball's Civil Rights Game

Major League Baseball's Gillette Civil Rights Game was played Saturday night in Cincinnati, Ohio. MLB's homepage coverage of the game and related events can be seen here.

Belated Happy Juneteenth . . .

to all.

Michelle Obama Likened To A Gorilla

A recent Facebook report noted that a gorilla had escaped from a zoo in Columbia, South Carolina. This from South Carolina Republican Rusty DePass: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors--probably harmless."

When busted for this racist and supremacist idiocy, DePass gave one of those anticipated and ridiculous "apologies": "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest." Yeah, that's funny. Hilarious.

Hate Items For Sale

Want to buy a "Scott Roeder American Hero" design? Or an "Impeach Barack Obama" poster complete with a picture of an assault weapon? Crooks and Liars reports on this sickness.

Sherri Goforth's Racist E-Mail About President Obama

Check out this story (and picture) on an e-mail sent by Sherri Goforth, an administrative assistant to Tennessee state Senator Diane Black, to other Republican staffers. The e-mail has portraits of the first 43 presidents; President Obama is depicted as two white eyes set against a black background.

Was Goforth (who said that she sent the e-mail "to the wrong list of people")fired? Nope.

"The ugly consequences of open hatred"

A recent column by Leonard Pitts begins with the following quotes:

"Them Jews aren't going to let [President Obama] talk to me.": Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"I hate gay people . . .": Tim Hardaway, former NBA player.

"She's frightening. And she's racist.": former Christian Coalition executive director Dennis Baxley on Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

"Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.": Glenn Beck to Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim

"Fifty years ago they'd have you hanging upside down with a [expletive] fork up your [expletive].": Michael Richards ("Seinfeld's" Kramer).

From the column:

"We act as if it were all a game, as if it means nothing when people of position and visibility spew garbage, validating and galvanizing the unhinged and the disaffected who need little encouragement to believe all their problems are caused by Them. We act as if we do not toy with fire when people of authority claim white Christians are a vicimized minority or Hispanics a threatening and faceless Other. We act as if we were not heirs and witnesses to a blood-soaked history that tells us exactly where this hate some of us so fecklessly stoke will logically, inevitably lead."

Frank Rich On Haters

Recommended: this Frank Rich op-ed. Interestingly, Rich notes Fox News anchor Shephard Smith's comments on the frightening and hateful e-mails Smith has received and the Americans who are, in Smith's words, "out there in a scary place."

Changes To The Texas Top Ten Percentage Plan

The legislature of the state of Texas has voted to change the program under which graduates in the top 10 percent of their high schools were automatically admitted to the Texas university of their choice. The law caps the number of top ten percenters at three-fourths of a university's incoming class.

Overheard

"Absolutely not necessarily"--Alaska Governor Sarah Palin last week on the Today show.

Crack News

Miss California. Please go away. Now.

Just Asking

OK, I'm watching various NBA playoff games and this thought came to me: why do they call them "free throws" and not "free shots"? "Throws" just doesn't sound right.

On Watching "The Wire"

Click here for an interesting and touching story of "interracial" love, marriage, and HBO's "The Wire."

The Passing Of John Hope Franklin

See this story.

Beyonce On The Cover Of Vogue

Why is it a big deal that Beyonce is on the cover of the April issue of Vogue? She is "one of a handful of black celebrities to appear on the cover of the storied magazine in its 117-year history." Beyonce joins Oprah, Hallie Berry, Jennifer Hudson, Michelle Obama, and Lebron James on the short list of African Americans appearing on Vogue covers.

"Luck Of The Irish": An Ethnic Slur?

According to this story, the phrase "luck of the Irish" is "an ethnic slur from the days when immigrants were pouring into the United States. The idea was that any Irish man or woman who made good must be lucky rather than smart, hard-working or talented."

Bernard Monroe, Rest In Peace

According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, Bernard Monroe, a 73-year-old retired electric utility worker, was the host of a cookout for family and friends at his home in Homer, Louisiana. Monroe was unable to talk as the result of throat cancer. Two white police officers appeared at Monroe's home. Moments later he was shot to death by one of the officers in front of his family. The Louisiana state police and the FBI and federal Department of Justice are investigating the shooting. Read the linked story for an account of what supposedly happened. Sad.

On A Celebration Of African-American Culture

Check out this Wall Street Journal story on the festival "Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy" and soprano Jessye Norman.

The Bobby Jindal Watch

(Assuming that people are still watching), Louisiana Governor Jindal has appeared at and is scheduling additional fundraising dinners outside the state of Louisiana.

Senator Grassley On AIG

Said the Republican Senator from Iowa: "The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they'd follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things--resign, or go commit suicide."

Jackie Mason: Obama Is A "Schvartze"

Some fans at a recent Jackie Mason show in New York booed and walked out when Mason called President Obama a schvartze. Mason later explained that he was raised in a family where the word was used, and said, "If it's a racist society, the white people are the ones being persecuted because they have to defend themselves."

"Obama Fingers"

A German company is marketing "Obama Fingers," a fried chicken product. Some African Americans have complained that the product is racist and inappropriate and have called for a boycott; the sales manager for the company has stated that a connection between President Obama and fried chicken never occurred to her.

Wal-Mart's Hispanic Stores

Wal-Mart has decided to convert two of its existing stores in Phoenix and Houston to stores aimed at Hispanic consumers, with the "layout, signs and product assortment . . . changed to better target that demographic group . . ."

More Michael Steele

Check out Republican Party chairman Michael Steele's interview with GQ, headlined "The Reconstructionist." Some highlights or lowlights, depending on your baselines and views:

Steele listens to P. Diddy and is a big Rat Pack fan (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, etc.).

At the Republican National Convention Steele looked out at the convention floor; in his words, "Look at the room. Thirty-six black folks in the room? What, are you kidding me? Out of 4,000 people? Come on!"

On why the Republican Party has so few minority supporters: "'Cause we have offered them nothing!"

On dealing with criticism: "I ask God, 'Hey, let me show just a little bit of love, so I absolutely don't go out and kick this person's ass.'"

On gay marriage as a state issue: "Just as a general principle, I don't like mucking around with the Constitution."

On whether homosexuality is a choice: "I don't think I've ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it of and off like a water tap. . . . It's like saying, 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being black.'"

On whether women should have the right to choose abortion: "Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice."

On women's right to choose if Roe v. Wade was overruled: "The states should make that choice. That's what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide."

On the fact that his Starbucks has not closed: "No, my Starbucks has not closed. And it better not! You cannot close a Starbucks in a black community. We'll riot!" (Really? Really?)

Indian Americans: The Model Minority?

Shiwani Srivastava answers no.

"Why the GOP Can't Win With Minorities"

Shelby Steele offers his views in the Wall Street Journal. Steele notes, among other things, "the dramatic loss of moral authority America suffered in the 1960s after openly acknowledging its long mistreatment of blacks and other minorities. Societies have moral accountability, and they cannot admit to persecuting a people for four centuries without losing considerable moral accountability."

More: "And here is conservatism's great problem with minorities. In an era when even failed moral activism is redemptive--and thus a source of moral authority and power--conservatism stands flat-footed with only discipline to offer. It has only an invisible hand to compete with the activism of the left. So conservatism has no way to show itself redeemed of America's bigoted past, no way like the Great Society to engineer a grand display of its innocence, and no way to show deference to minorities for the oppression they endured. Thus it seems to be in league with that oppression."

Steele argues that conservatism "offers minorities the one thing they can never get from liberalism: human rather than racial dignity. I always secretly loved Malcolm X more than Martin Luther King Jr. because Malcolm wanted a fuller human dignity for blacks--one independent of white moral wrestling. In a liberalism that wants to redeem the nation of its past, minorities can only be ciphers in white struggles of conscience."

Reaction: no reference to a history of exclusionary and race-baiting GOP activities (the Southern Strategy, Willie Horton, etc.); a misdescription of Dr. King's call for the recognition of human rights and dignity for all and not just African Americans (and is Steele a fan of the post-Mecca-visit El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz?); a flawed analysis suggesting that persons of color should focus on the promises (and stop looking at the perils) of (Steele's narrativized) conservatism, and stop fixating on things like, say, policies and a politics promoting and protective of minority persons' and communities' own self-interests.

On Michelle Obama's Arms

Dayo Olopade on "Sleevegate."

Chuck Norris On Revolution In Texas

According to this report, while on Glenn Beck's radio show Chuck Norris, asked by the host what part of the country would "rise up" if the United States "starts to spiral out of control," agreed wuith Beck's statement that the uprising would come from Texas.

The New Dean At Columbia College

Michele Moody-Adams has been named dean at Columbia College, the first female and first African American to hold the position. "I don't mind being a role model, but I hope that's not all people think I am," Moody-Adams said.

Higway Robbery In Texas? By Police?

A Chicago Tribune story reports that a federal class action lawsuit has been filed to stop the Tenaha, Texas police from "strip[ping] motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead, they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges or other serious crimes." Court records show that, between June 2006 and June 2008, 140 people accepted this "deal." A grandmother who happens to be black gave $4,000 to the police, "and an interracial couple from Houston . . . gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care . . . Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with any crime."

Crack News

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text messages to his former chief of staff.

47% And 26%

Forty seven percent: the white vote for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in states not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Twenty six percent: the white vote for Obama in states covered by the Act. Source: Jeff Toobin's article in The New Yorker.

"The Real Deal On The New Deal"

From The Root, noting "that key programs of the New Deal consciously excluded blacks."

Morris Brown College On Life Support

Morris Brown College in Atlanta is in trouble. A campus building was recently auctioned off for $900,000 and its water, cut off once for non-payment of a bill, may be cut off again soon. The historically black college, in debt to the tune of $30 million, has lost its accreditation and has only 160 students. President Stanley Pritchett discusses the dire situation here.

Jon Stewart On CNBC's "Experts

Watch it here.

Even More On Michael Steele

Today's New York Times has a front page story on the GOP chair.

More On Michael Steele And Bobby Jindal

John Heilmann writes: "That the GOP would seek to address [the party's image problem] by presenting a new face (or faces) is unsurprising. That it's attempting to do so by placing front and center two of the few brown or black dudes in its upper echelon can be read as a laughable act of modernization--or as an amusing, faintly desperate bit of tokenism. (You make the call!!) . . ."

"Black Dog Syndrome"

It's apparently harder to find homes for black dogs at animal shelters (and black cats as well). According to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times "large, black dogs often linger the longest on the adoption block at animal shelters."

Clint Eastwood Longs For The Good Old Days

Clint Eastwood recently told the London Daily Express that "[i]n former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist." What does he miss saying? "In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican'--but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don't want to be politically correct."

Ah, the good old days (not so good for everyone).

Frank Rich On Bobby Jindal

Click here for Frank Rich's column on President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress and his comments on Louisiana Governor Jindal's Republican response, including:

"If you're baffled why the G.O.P. would thrust Jindal into prime time, the answer is desperation. Eager to update its image without changing its antidiluvian (or antebellum) substance, the party is trying to lock down its white country-club blowhards. The only other nonwhite face on tap, alas, is the unguided missile Michael Steele, its new national chairman. Steele has of late been busy promising to revive his party with an 'off-the-hook' hip-hop P.R. campaign, presumably with the perenially tan House leader John Boehner leading the posse."

Stanley Crouch On Michael Steele

Stanley Crouch's comments can be found here. A snippet: "Steele was elected the head of the Republican National Committee almost as an example of dumb fumbling in an apparent attempt to make itself appealing to a nation of voters that has become darker over the last few decades."

Michele Bachmann To Michael Steele: "You Be Da Man"

Watch it here. This is troubling on so many levels, for both Bachmann and Steele.

Watermelon Patch At The White House?

From That Minority Thing: Los Alamitos, California Mayor Dean Grose sent "out an Email featuring . . . a watermelon patch replacing the White House garden." Grose on sending the e-mail: "The way things are today, you gotta laugh every now and then. I wanna see the coloring contests."

And then . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Grose apologized: "It was poor judgment on my part, and I am deeply sorry." But he couldn't stop there: "It was not sent to a whole bunch of people, and it went through my personal e-mail. People e-mail things all the time, but that's not an excuse."

UPDATE: Mayor Grose has announced his resignation.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Black History Month Page

Click here for an economic snapshot of black America.

Black Teacher Beaten By Austrian Police

Mike Brennan, a 34-year-old teacher from Jacksonvile, Florida who happens to be black, was in a Vienna, Austria subway. Two undercover police officers "came out of nowhere" and, without identifying themselves, attacked and beat Brennan, putting him in the hospital with swelling, bruises, and a sprained back, neck, and hands. An apologetic Vienna police mistook Brennan for a drug dealer. Brennan is going to sue.

Alan Keyes: President Obama Is A Threat To The U.S.

Watch the excitable Alana Keyes on YouTube.

RNC Chair Michael Steele And Hip Hop

In an interview with the Washington Times, Republican Party chairman Michael Steele expressed his plans to attract to the GOP younger voters and blacks and Latinos. Steele: "We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings. [W]e need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets." (Huh?)

One comment on Steele's remarks: "Hip-hop. Really? That's Chairman Steele's reductive take on people of color? That unless 'principles' are framed in rhyme and break beats we will have no interest in them?"

Indictments In KKK Initiation Rite Shooting

Four persons have been indicted on second-degree murder charges by a grand jury in the shooting death of Cynthia Lynch during a Ku Klux Klan initation in Louisiana.

Wal-Mart's $17.5 Million Settlement With Black Workers

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the company had engaged in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination in recruiting and hiring truck drivers.

HBO On Being "Black In Bellaire"

The shooting of Robbie Tolan by Bellaire, Texas police is the subject of a segment on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (described here). Catch the show, it's must see TV.

On "The Next Generation Of Black Medical Genius"

See neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson's conversation with Dr. James Frazier here.

Attorney General Eric Holder's "Nation Of Cowards" Remark

The Root reports on Eric Holder's speech to members of the Justice Department and the Attorney General's statement, "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." Dayo Olopade writes that Holder's statement "was a punch in the face to America. As top cop of the United States, it's his job to play the disciplinarian--but the lengthy admonition, given in honor of Black History Month, by the first African American attorney general, was the verbal equivalent of shock and awe."

President Obama And The Ape Shot In Connecticut

From That Minority Thing: "African Americans criticized a New York Post cartoon as racist Wednesday, saying it likened President Obama to an ape--a potent image in the history of racism toward blacks." The cartoon can be viewed here.

UPDATE: The New York Post has now apologized (sort of) for the cartoon.

The Masking Habit Of Black Americans

According to Shelby Steele: "To belong to an oppressed group always meant that you could not pursue your self-interest by acting directly on the world. You first had to account for the oppressor who had so much power over you. So you inevitably wore a mask that helped you navigate the oppressor's bigotries, ignorances and self-absorptions. For the oppressed, the mask was power itself. And the four centuries of oppression we black Americans endured gave us masking as a cultural habit."

The Dumb N*gger Receipt

Click here to watch this video. It is 2009 right?

Is Black History Month a Problem?

Cynthia Tucker answers that question in the affirmative. "The history of America's black citizens cannot be segregated from the nation's history because black people have been here from the very beginning. The nation's past is one huge tapestry woven from the threads of many peoples, many cultures, many lives. From Crispus Attucks to buffalo soldiers to Tuskegee airmen to Ralph Bunche to Condoleeza Rice, the story of black Americans is America's story."

"Killing Stirs Racial Unease in Texas"

An interesting story in the New York Times on race relations in Paris Texas.

"Are Black Republicans Obsolete?"

This question is addressed in The Root.

MLK, Obama, And Houston Mayor Bill White

The campaign of Houston Mayor Bill White (who is running for the United States Senate) purchased an ad in the Houston Defender. The ad (you can view it here) displays a picture of White in between the faces of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama. According to a January 29 story in the Houston Chronicle, White said that he had not seen the ad. "Nobody who knows me hears me saying that I deserve to be thought of as Dr. King. I'm sure, if our president were here, he would make that same statement about himself, as well." That same story stated that a White campaign staffer approved the ad sight unseen.

Two comments. (1) Let's not bring the President into this, he's busy running the country. (2) May be a good time to go over the "let's take a look at the ad before it's published" rules.

The Bobby Jindal Watch

From The Root: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is the "next Ronald Reagan," according to Rush Limbaugh, and the "future of the GOP," says Michelle Malkin. "But there's one question that isn't coming up that seems central here--whether or not Jindal runs [for President in 2012], would Republicans even be talking about a possible Indian-American presidential candidate if it weren't for Barack Obama?"

Chris Rock's "Good Hair" Documentary

Chris Rock's entry at the Sundance Film Festival is a documentary entitled "Good Hair," described in one account as "a hilarious examination of the cultural pressures that prod blacks into costly, often painful methods to care for their hair."

Channel Surfing

Today I saw tap dancer Arthur Duncan on The Lawrence Welk Show.

The GOP's First Black Chairman

Go here for a story on the Republican Party's election of Michael Steele as the GOP's next chair.

Ellis Cose On Race And The Obama Presidency

Writing in Newsweek, Ellis Cose argues that, in the wake of the election of Barack Obama, the "idea of a glass ceiling is almost laughable. Serious thinkers are searching for a new vocabulary to explain an America where skin color is an unreliable marker of status."

Black Test Takers And The Obama Effect

Here is a newspaper report on a study of what the researchers call the "Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administerered before Mr. Obama's nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election."

The Bobby Jindal Watch

Governor Bobby Jindal (R.-La.) will be the headliner at the National Republican Congressional Committee March 2009 fundraiser. Let the 2012 presidential election campign begin.

Obama's Election: The Backlash

From the Southern Poverty Law Center: "The backlash [following Obama's victory] was evident in the aftermath of the election as scores of racially charged incidents--beatings, effigy burnings, racist graffiti, threats and intimidation--were reported across the country."

"At least two hate groups--Stormfront and the Council of Concerned Citizens--said their websites crashed because of heavy traffic. Stormfront also claimed to have gained thousands of new members immediately after Obama was elected on Nov. 4."

The "Drunken Negro Face" Cookie

The Lafayette French Pastry in New York City has "a 'Drunken Negro Face' cookie [supposedly] in honor of President Obama." Ted Kefalinos, the owner of the store, "also apparently suggested to a customer that Obama will 'get what's coming to him' just like President Lincoln."

As we celebrate, don't forget.

Video: "Walking In The Front Door"

Go here to view Skip Gates' video. From the story: "Many of us today can remember when it was a huge deal for a black person to enter the White House through the front door, and not through the servants' entrance. As the Obama family takes up residence at the White House, Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives the history of this remarkable journey."

"Why Black Preachers Are Better"

From Howell Raines, writing in The Daily Beast.

Ethnic And Racial Health Disparities

Click here for a story on the Kaiser Family Foundation's webcast on the existence of and need to address and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

64%

That is the number of African Americans who use the Internet, up from 56% in December 2007.

President Obama "Does Not Have Any Slave Blood In Him"

So said Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Charles Steele. The response on Michelle Obama Watch: "File this one under foolishness and chicanery . . ."

"Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job"

From The Onion.

President Barack Obama

What an amazing day.

The First Black President Indeed

I just saw on C-SPAN President-elect Obama and his wife Michelle at today's community service day lunch at the Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C. Moving around the room and talking to those in attendance, he said "preciateya" a couple of times, something my mother and aunt say, and "What's going on, man?" in a way I often hear when brothers greet and talk to one another. As Michelle said to those who (ridiculously) questioned whether Obama is "black enough," "Stop it."

Dyson On King And Obama

Michael Eric Dyson, writing in The Root: President-elect Obama "may be the realization of [Martin Luther King, Jr.'s] dream, but he is not the extension of King's prophetic ministry. Neither should he be expected to carry that mantle. As the first president who is black, Obama has made millions of black hearts, including mine, swell with pride. But he is a politician, not a prophet, and should be judged as a political figure."

On post-racial, "a term Obama has never used": "Obama's success should not move us toward a post-racial society, but it should move us toward a post-racist society. A post-racist society aims for racial justice and harmony by removing racial impediments and social obstacles that prevent folk from flourishing. A post-racist society creates opportunity for all people to realize their ambitions and goals without unjust restraint and unfair barriers."

Gates & Stauffer On Lincoln

An article by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and John Stauffer asks the question "what would the man who is remembered for freeing the slaves say about his first black successor?" Noting that is difficult to answer that question, Gates and Stauffer contend that "Lincoln would have been, um, surprised. Lincoln was thoroughly a man of his times, and while he staunchly opposed slavery--on moral grounds and because it made competition in the marketplace unfair for poor white men--for most of his life he harbored fixed and unfortunate ideas about race." Lincoln favored abolition but not equality and had "ambivalent feelings about blacks themselves, especially about whether they were, or could ever be, truly equal with whites." According to the authors, in the month prior to emancipation becoming law Lincoln "proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing financing for blacks who wished to emigrate to Liberia or Haiti." Lincoln also used the words "Sambo," "Cuffee," and "nigger," told "darkie" jokes, and enjoyed minstrels in black face. Lincoln met with more black leaders than any preceding president and "became quite taken with one black man, Frederick Douglass," who, like Barack Obama, had one black and one white parent and was one of the greatest writers and speakers of his generation. "Lincoln, seeing this masterly orator of mixed-race ancestry [Obama], would most likely first have been reminded of his exceptional friend, Douglass."

President-Elect Obama On Race

From the President-elect's Washington Post interview: "There is an entire generation that will grow up taking for granted that the highest office in the land is filled by an African American. I mean, that's a radical thing. It changes how black children look at themselves. It also changes how white children look at black children. And I wouldn't underestimate the force of that."

"What I hope to model is a way of interacting with people who aren't like you and don't agree with you that changes the temper of our politics. And then part of that changes how we think about moving forward on race relations. Race relations becomes a subset of a larger problem in our society, which is we have a diverse, complicated society where people have a lot of different viewpoints."

Malia Obama On Her Daddy

Malia said: "First African-American president. Better be good." Priceless.

From Slavery To The Inauguration

Consider this: "The inaugural itself will be at the Capitol, which was built by slaves who baked the bricks, sawed the timber and laid the stone for its foundation. When Mr. Obama delivers his Inaugural Address, he will be looking out across the National Mall, which was once a slave market, beyond the White House, also built by slaves, to the Lincoln Memorial, honoring the president who freed the slaves."

Frank Rich's "White Like Me"

Recommended: Frank Rich's "White Like Me" piece in the January 18 New York Times. A snippet: "Last week I joined a group of journalists at an off-the-record conversation with the president-elect, a sort of preview of the administration's coming attractions. But as I walked some desolate downtown blocks to the standard-issue federal office building serving as transition headquarters, ghosts of the past mingled with hopes for the future. The contrast between the unemployed men on Washington's frigid streets and the buzzing executive-branch bees inside was, for me, as old as time."

And: "Today the nation's capital still has no voting representation in Congress and is still a ward of the federal government, reduced to begging, pleading and cajoling for basic needs. Some 19 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and that 19 percent remains a secret to many who work within the Beltway."

Michael Eric Dyson On Obama's Use Of Language

Michael Eric Dyson, writing in the Washington Post on President-elect Obama's use of language, opines that "as much praise as [Obama] has justly received for speaking in a way that doesn't assault the white eardrum or worldview, his rhetoric is firmly rooted in black soil." Dyson recounts a January 2008 Obama speech in Sumter, South Carolina in which the then-candidate, speaking to a largely black audience about efforts to misrepresent his ideas, said "They're trying to bamboozle you" and "It's the same old okie-doke." In Dyson's view, "if you weren't familar with black culture, most of what he said and how he said it went right over your head--and beyond your ears."

A Mississippi High School's First Racially Integrated Prom

Charleston High School, located in the Mississippi delta, had its first racially integrated prom in 2008, ending a tradition of separate and privately organized proms for black and white students. In 1997 actor Morgan Freeman offered to pay for an integrated prom; that offer was finally accepted last year and the event was captured on film for a documentary entitled "Prom Night in Mississippi."

School Resegregation

UCLA's Civil Rights Project recently released a report on the increasing segregation of minorities in highly unequal schools.

Prince A Plagiarist?

From Billboard: "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," Prince's 1994 hit, was plagiarized from a song written by two Italian composers, according to an Italian appeals court.

America's New Face(?)

From Politico: "Like the entertainers and athletes who preceded them as crossover pioneers, Obama and a new generation of smart, well-educated black professionals have unlocked the secret to political success by offering a broad-based, non-threatening agenda to whites while retaining their racial integrity with black voters." According to Sam Fulwood, "a new generation of black politicians--including Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.)--is challenging the Bible-toting civil rights leaders rather than joining them in reflexive protest marches. Obama is an exemplar of this group."

Tuskegee Airmen To Attend Obama Inauguration

At Tuesday's inauguration the living members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black pilot squadron, will attend. The Airmen were invited by President-elect Barack Obama.

Recommended

KROI, Praise 92.1 FM, Houston.

Kansas Senate's First Black Female Senator

Congratulations to Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau, sworn into office on January 12, 2009.

Prince Harry's Video

Click here to view it. As the News of the World story begins, "The soldier prince pours shame on the Royal Family as he calls an Asian squaddie 'our little Paki friend' and tells another officer cadet jokingly wearing a camouflage veil off duty: 'F*** me, you look like a raghead'--an offensive term for an Arab."

Politicized Hiring And Improper Personnel Actions In The Civil Rights Division

A July 2, 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility was released publicly today. The report concluded that throughout his tenure in the Department's Civil Rights Division Brad Schlozman improperly considered political and ideological affiliations in selecting attorneys for the Department's Honors Program and summer law intern program.

Of particular interest is the report's finding that Schlozman transferred a lawyer identified as "Attorney A" out of the division's appellate section. As set out in the report (page 37, note 30), Attorney A (apparently an African American) graduated magna cum laude from a top law school, worked as an attorney advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel, clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and assumed a career position in the Civil Rights Division. Her work in the appellate section received positive performance evaluations, including the observation that she had "strong analytical and writing skills," and she was commended for "an excellent job . . . in one of the most important Establishment Clause cases decided by the Supreme Court in recent years . . ." According to the report, Schlozman stated that Attorney A was "a Democrat in hiding and is not going to hide in my Appellate Division" and told a colleague that Attorney A "wrote in Ebonics," "was an idiot," and "was an affirmative action thing."

The report also refers to an August 2004 incident in which an e-mail to Schlozman from Voting Section Chief John Tanner asked Schlozman to bring coffee to a meeting. When Schlozman's reply asked how Tanner liked his coffee, Tanner responded," Mary Frances Berry style--black and bitter." (At that time Berry, an African American, was the chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.) Schlozman forwarded the e-mail to several DOJ officials with the message "Y'all will appreciate Tanner's response."

These people worked in the Civil Rights Division. The Civil Rights Division!!