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.