- So it turns out that the guy responsible for defacing the Tupac statue at the Peace Garden at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts (really?) by allegedly placing a noose around its neck was a 43-year-old black dude who lived nearby. The police spokesperson said the object around the statue’s neck wasn’t a noose but a cross on a string. Ah. While they’re at it, the police should also look into the mystery of why so many people think this is a statue of Pac, when it’s clearly really the likeness of Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Terry.
- When is a hate crime not a hate crime? What if the main suspect in the murder of a black gay man is gay himself? What if he’s only saying he’s gay as a ploy to undermine the hate crime charge?
- More blackface, yay! A top government immigration official hosted a costume party for colleagues where some of the guests, well…we’ll let them tell it.
[Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Kelly Nantel] said one employee, whom she declined to identify, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison outfit, dreadlocks and a skin “bronzer” intended “to make him look African-American.” But, she said, it was not immediately apparent that he was wearing the make-up.
“Most people in the room didn’t realize he was wearing make-up at all,” she said.
“It was unintentioned. The employee did not mean to offend although there were some employees that were rightfully offended by it,” Nantel said.
Uh…good thing she made everything better with that explanation.
- Boston’s well-known and controversial school busing/desegregation program should be able to continue operating as is, despite the Supreme Court’s decision in June to limit the use of race in deciding which schools students can attend, according to a Massachusetts official.
- A group called ‘Enough is Enough’ protested outside the homes of BET executives to demand BET stop showing what they say are offensive portrayals of black people and women. USC professor Cal Boyd doesn’t think the protest will work because ideas like decency and positive are so subjective, and that the protest is tantamount to censorship.
- Minority elected officials are more likely to want the U.S. out of Iraq.
- An NPR piece on transracial adoption. (I wonder if they tackle the most problematic part of this phenomenon: white parents who have little black children walking around with jacked-up hair.)
