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| 2004-06-29 |
| Excerpted from a Fox Summary that also includes short blurbs on two separate sportscasters being diciplined for implying that Deroit would be burned if Pistons won the NBA title. Outrageous! 1 The president of a New York branch of the NAACP is in trouble for referring to a city councilman there as a "leprechaun" at the close of a public meeting, reports the Journal-News. In an argument over school funding, Karen Edmonson of the NAACP used the term in an angry exchange with Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Liam McLaughlin. McLaughlin and a colleague are demanding that Edmonson apologize and resign for the comment. "If anybody else made some type of similar remark, everybody would be calling for their head," he said. Edmonson, however, doesn’t even think the comment was derogatory. "It’s a Halloween term. It’s nothing," she said. Outrageous! 2 A Multicultural Center Juneteenth meal at a university in Texas that featured fried chicken and watermelon on the menu prompted complaints from some on campus that the choice of food was racist, reports the Daily Texan. A chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches said the meal, in celebration of the day slaves were freed in Texas, stereotyped African Americans. "We are against double standards," said Lori Fryman, of the SFA chapter of YCT. "If a predominantly white group had advertised the menu of fried chicken, watermelon and red soda water for the same occasion, people would have called them racist." Outrageous! 3 The mother of a 6-year-old in California is mobilizing a grass-roots effort to end a rule that prevents schools in that state from giving standardized tests to African American children, reports the Oakland Tribune. Pamela Lewis said she was incensed when she first heard of the rule, which dates to a 1979 case in which a judge decided IQ tests could not be used to determine children’s placement in special education classes in California. "It’s discrimination, it’s a violation of my son’s civil rights and it’s racism," Lewis said. "This is closet racism within the school district and the courts," she said. "Basically, they’re saying if you’re black, you’re dumb." Lewis said she is searching for legal representation to help her efforts, but she hasn’t found any takers.Some people she has spoken with have urged her not to fight for access to a racially biased test, she said. Historical Revisions The historical society in a Massachusetts town is so worried about language on historical markers being offensive to modern sensibilities that it has taken to placing covers on them, reports the Boston Globe. The markers in Deerfield, Mass., mark spots where, in 1704, French and Indian forces attacked settlers. Some contain references to ’’savages" and ’’Negro servants" that are now considered offensive. Where one marble tablet originally read: ’’Mary, adopted by an Indian, was named Walahowey. She married a savage, and became one," it now reads, ’’She married a Kanien’kehaka and adopted the culture, customs and language of her new community in Kahnawake." One couple said they were incensed by the changes. Rose and James Matthews wrote in a letter to the historical society: ’’We condemn your attempt to create a warm and fuzzy feeling for our Colonial history because of political correctness or personal attitudes. What will you do next? ... [claim] the hatchet marks were actually tooth marks made by tall mice seeking shelter from the cold?" |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #3 How about Buckwheat? Or shine, blue gum,chocolate drop or my personal favorite, picaninny. -N |
| Posted by: Nono 2004-06-29 4:58:54 PM |
| #2 lol! Nice shot, Ed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-29 12:04:35 PM |
| #1 Edmonson, however, doesn’t even think the comment was derogatory. "It’s a Halloween term. It’s nothing," she said. So is Spook. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-06-29 11:53:33 AM |