Could scenes like this one make the difference in this fall's Maryland senatorial race?

Richmond Myrick, the principal of Largo High School, is a registered Democrat in overwhelmingly Democratic Prince George's County next to Washington, D.C. He has not been active politically and is not recorded as having made any contributions to candidates for federal office. Yet recently, he stood in the parking lot of Prince George's Community College adjoining his school to introduce Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, whom he has endorsed for the U.S. Senate.

Myrick is African American, as are most students at Largo High. So is Steele. If enough non-political blacks follow Myrick's course, Steele will become the first black Republican elected to the Senate in 32 years. That is the Democrats' worst nightmare. Democratic dominance in Maryland has been based on maintaining a hammerlock over the state's substantial African- American vote. Steele threatens that domination.

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I asked Myrick why he had endorsed Steele. ''He came to school, not just for a brief visit, but spent the whole day,'' the principal told me. ''He showed he cared about the students and teachers.'' What about Cardin? ''He hasn't been here,'' said Myrick. When I asked if he even knew who the veteran congressman was, he said he did not.

And like many Republicans, Steele is more than willing to cricize President Bush on policy issues, and to disagree with his handling of situations. The Republican Party thereby shows itself to be a big tent that does not demand nearly the ideological conformity of the Democrat Party, which has been driven for years by liberal special interst groups and is now being hounded to become even more ideologically liberal by groups like MoveOn. That makes Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, and Lynn Swann potential bright spots for Republicans this fall, if African-American voters turn out for a new generation of leaders who have an (r) after their names.

Posted by: Greg at 05:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I do not believe that this could be written by any supposedly responsible member of the press, much less make it past one of the supposedly “racially sensitive” editors in our modern newswooms. I’ve bold-faced the slur, just to make the point.

Still, Powell rose higher than almost any black Republican by making the party faithful comfortable with his non-threatening and non-demanding presence on racial issues. Powell flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war.

The use of the slur was intentional and done with malice aforethought. What is more, both the author and the ombudsman defend the use of such racist language directed at conservative and Republican African-Americans. I guess when you are black and writing for a second-rate waste of wood pulp, journalistic standards and basic civility are inapplicable.

Contrast this incident with the response to a slip-of-the-tongue incident in St. Louis recently.

A St. Louis radio station wasted no time firing a talk show host for using a racial epithet to describe Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on his morning show Wednesday.

KTRS president and general manager Tim Dorsey came on the air to announce the firing shortly after talk show host Dave Lenihan used the word "coon," a racial slur, instead of "coup" in describing her attributes for the post of NFL commissioner.

Dorsey and Lenihan both called the use of the word a "slip of the tongue," but Dorsey said the utterance was nonetheless "unacceptable, reprehensible and unforgivable."

Prior to the utterance, Lenihan was heaping praise on Rice, a big football fan, who has frequently said she aspires to run the league one day. But as recently as Wednesday, Rice ruled out applying for the job of NFL commissioner after Paul Tagliabue retires.

After taking several calls from listeners, Lenihan offered this on the air:
"She's been chancellor of Stanford. She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.

I guess it is just another example of the double standards that inhabit American broadcast and print media today – only some have to be racially sensitive, and only some are entitled to racial sensitivity.

(H/T – Opinion Journal)

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A senior police official in the Atlanta area has admitted that he refused to promote qualified officer because they are white.

Police union officials Thursday accused the former second-ranking DeKalb County police commander of delaying promotions to hurt the careers of white officers.

Union officials released an audio recording purportedly containing the voice of former Assistant Chief R.P. Flemister asking someone: "Have you ever thought about why I ain't promoted them nine on the list right now ... because seven of them are white."

* * *

Police Chief Louis Graham resigned last week after police union leaders disclosed a profanity-laced audio recording of a conversation between Graham and Flemister in which Flemister referred to an unnamed person as a "white bitch." Flemister retired last Friday.

In the recording released Thursday, a voice apparently belonging to Flemister says that "the white folks understand, [things] done changed. ... That's what this union is about."

Later, he says he is not worried about unspecified rumors about the police department because Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones is "running the black-[expletive] place."

Funny, IÂ’ve not seen anything about this in the national media. Racial discrimination in a major law enforcement agency in a major metropolitan area used to be big news.

But then again, when the racists are black and the victims are white, it just isn’t news in the eyes of the MSM. After all, they think of it as affirmative action – judging people by the color of their skin, not the content of their character or the strength of their accomplishments.

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Regardless of the answer, it is certainly tasteless and beyond the bounds of morally acceptable behavior.

Despite an apology, a syndicated hip-hop disc jockey was being investigated for a possible bias crime after making threatening racial and sexual remarks about a rival's wife and 4-year-old daughter, police said Thursday.

The New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force launched the probe after the chief of detectives reviewed a transcript of DJ Star's on-air comments about DJ Envy and his family, said police spokesman Paul Browne.

Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, apologized on Thursday through his attorney, Benjamin Brafman.

The lawyer called the remarks "unsuitable and inappropriate" and assured the rival's wife she had nothing to fear. But he also claimed his client was the victim of threats by her husband.

"The statements made by Star in response, while inappropriate, were, however, made under great duress and at a time when he was fearful for his safety and the safety of members of his staff," Brafman said in statement.

Torain worked for Clear Channel Radio's Power 105.1 FM before being fired Wednesday amid protests from elected officials. A city councilman, John Liu, said on Thursday that the disgraced DJ "now must be put behind bars for spewing these threats against a little 4-year-old girl."

I guess the question that I have is whether or not these actually constitute threats of a criminal nature. The sort of garbage spewed out of hip-hop culture is disgusting and appalling. Was this an actual threat, or was it a part of the shtick that is part of the entertainment milieu?

What was said, of course, is beyond the bounds of decency.

In the comments, made between May 3 and Monday, Torain — co-host of the "Star & Buc Wild Morning Show" — offered $500 to any listener who could provide information about the rival DJ's daughter's school and used racial slurs when talking about his wife, who is part Asian.

"I will come for your kids," Torain said, according to transcribed excerpts provided by Liu's office. "I finally got the information on his slant-eyed, whore wife."

Torain also called the couple's child a "little half a lo mein eater" and said he wanted to "do an R. Kelly on your seed, on your little baby girl. I would like to tinkle on her," according to the excerpts.

Sick, racist stuff – but is it criminal? And is it really all that unusual, in a sub-culture which calls R. Kelly a victim and labels his young victim the perpetrator? Should we be surprised when one DJ several years ago claimed that “rumor has it” that one teenage rapper was anally raped by his bodyguards and needed multiple stitches to repair his injuries? Threats of violence and threats of death – not to mention blatant glorification of sexual assault and degradation of women -- are mainstream fare in hip-hop and rap. Is it any wonder that this guy made such comments in a field where life is often nasty, brutish and short?

I donÂ’t know that criminal charges or monetary fines in this discrete instance are really the right answer. Maybe the end of this moral moronÂ’s career is a good start. Perhaps what needs to happen is for Clear Channel and other media companies to reconsider their support for the thug life that is hip-hop and rap.

And lest we let these folks get away with their outrage over the racism of it all, please remember that DJ Envy (Raashaun Casey), whose wife and child were the targets in all this, was part of another famous incident involving anti-Asian racism – but as the perpetrator.

Mr. Casey and Ms. Jones were among several employees suspended by Hot 97 in January 2005 after broadcasting a song that ridiculed victims of the previous month's tsunami in Asia.

That history makes me wonder if the notion of this being a hate crime is nothing more than a bit of PR puffery by a member of the thugocracy of hip-hop and rap.

UPDATE: As pointed out in a comment below, Torain has been arrested and charged in this case.

A syndicated hip-hop disc jockey was arrested Friday on charges of harassment and endangering the welfare of a child amid an uproar over his on-air racial and sexual rants about a radio rival's wife and 4-year-old daughter.

Police officials had launched a hate crime investigation of DJ Star on Thursday after reviewing a transcript of his recent remarks about DJ Envy and his family.

DJ Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, was contacted by police on Friday and ordered to surrender a 9mm handgun and target-practice permit at Police Headquarters. When he arrived, he was arrested and taken to the 1st Precinct stationhouse in lower Manhattan, said police spokesman Paul Browne.

Posted by: Greg at 11:54 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Civil Rights Laws are not about protecting minority rights. They are about protecting everyoneÂ’s rights. That is why I found this headline galling.

Suit turns Voting Rights Act on its head

The argument being made is that using the law to protect the voting rights of white citizens is somehow illegitimate.

Why the suit, brought by the US Department of Justice?

Ike Brown is a legend in Mississippi politics, a fast-talking operative both loved and hated for his ability to turn out black voters and get his candidates into office.

That success has also landed him at the heart of a federal lawsuit that's about to turn the Voting Rights Act on its end.

For the first time, the U.S. Justice Department is using the 1965 law to allege racial discrimination against whites.

Brown, head of the Democratic Party in Mississippi's rural Noxubee County, is accused of waging a campaign to defeat white voters and candidates with tactics including intimidation and coercion. Also named in the lawsuit is Circuit Clerk Carl Mickens, who has agreed to refrain from rejecting white voters' absentee ballots considered defective while accepting similar ballots from black voters.

Such tactics are illegitimate when used against blacks, Hispanics, or other minorities. They are also illegitimate when used against whites where minorities are the majority.

Unless, of course, the notion that we are a country in which equal protection of the laws is colorblind is a false one.

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