Just when you you thought it was safe to trust the gubb'ment (yeah, right?) again...
The Department of Homeland Security will investigate a Halloween costume party hosted by a top immigration official and attended by a man dressed in a striped prison outfit, dreadlocks and darkened skin make-up, a costume some say is offensive, the department's secretary said.WTH?!?
Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called the man's costume "offensive." Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and host of the fundraising party, was on a three-judge panel that originally praised the prisoner costume for "originality."
Myers later apologized for "a few of the costumes," calling them "inappropriate and offensive." She said she and other senior managers "deeply regret that this happened."
A department photographer photographed Myers with the man, but the images were deleted after the costume were deemed offensive, ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.
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.
This has hardly been a banner year for race relations in America. From Imus, to Jena, to the proliferation of nooses, to Megan Williams, to blackface frat parties, to Dog The Bounty Hunter, it seems like hardly a week goes by without some new incidence of outlandish hatred. This is just the latest in a line of sad, sad, sad, stories about the state of our country.
Personally, I blame Michael "KKKramer" Richards. How else do you explain the out of control climate of racism floating around this year? I think he got the ball rolling and the year off to a bad start with his now legendary "when standup comedy goes wrong" ordeal, and it's been all downhill ever since.
I know I have a handful of white readers. Lots of them jumped ship after I stopped talking smack about the Jena Six, but for those of you who do still visit, what's your take on why things are so brazenly out of control right now. When I read comments like these, about the Homeland Security costume debacle on what's supposed to be a "progressive" blog, I wonder if there's any hope for us. In the immortal words of one man with a Hyundai and an S-Curl, "can't we all just get along?"
Dag, would 2008 hurry up and get here or what?
Immigration chief apologizes for 'offensive' costumes at her party [CNN]
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in my experience, white folks just don't "get" why dressing up in black face is so incredibly offensive. two white friends i grew up with told me they along with 3 other white friends had dressed up as the jackson 5 one halloween during college. i went off on them. they didn't see it coming at all. they were CLUELESS as to why it was such a big deal for them to do that.
spike lee's "bamboozled" was on cable the other night. i hadn't seen it since it hit the theatres 7 yrs ago but i remembered loving the movie. i sat down to watch it and remembered why. it really breaks down the history of black face/ cork and its painful legacy. anyone who hasn't seen it or anyone who really wants to understand "what the big deal is" should check it out. save a flop here and there, spike really is a genius.
Yeah, I'd like to hear some of your white readers justify this bullcrap too.
I don't blame Michael Richards. It's just now with the proliferation of the Internet, this stuff gets put out there more often. It has been happening all along. But we have cell phones and digital cameras.
I just can't believe people (especially the young ones) allow themselves to be taped or recorded doing stupid stuff that may come back to haunt them. I surely expect that someone (of any race) is going to be influential 20 years from now and someone will break out a video of them saying or doing something racist or sexist of whatever.
But that is the price of being young. Look at Vanessa Williams from back in the day...but she was able to recover. It was only pictures and no sex tape.
The fact that these white kids don't know that they are being racist distresses me. They are learning about nooses and blackface from somewhere.
"The fact that these white kids don't know that they are being racist distresses me."
If these white kids are ignorant about something, it's the double standard.
How dare Michael Richards use a word that appears 50 times on every best-selling rap record! (When Kanye does it...it's okay, I guess.)
How dare a white guy dress up as a black guy for Halloween! (I will say that he should have skipped the black face paint...but I don't see any reason why a white guy can't be a black guy for Halloween. If a white kid wants to be Mace Windu for Halloween, I say GO FOR IT!)
Meanwhile, you've got William Jefferson insisting he can't get a fair trial with white people on the jury...
Racism really does exist...and it's a two-way street.
so what's the definition of racism? that always seems to be the biggest issue.
i see your point, dissenter which is why i personally don't use derogatory words for white people- the "r" word or the "c" word even though jeff foxworthy and the boys do. and i don't watch movies like "white girls" or anything like that. BUT here's why it's STILL not the same for black people to dress up as white people or to use the R word or the C word- it's because WHITE PEOPLE DON'T CARE!! what pain are we ever causing white people when we do that? they aren't offended. they laugh. why? b'c there is no historical pain evoked. the N word and blackface were used to humiliate and belittle black people. so that historical pain is still stirred up when someone employs those methods today. but a black person saying the R or C words means NOTHING! it was never a term of oppression. that's why there is no true double standard here.
Double standard?
Hmmmm, let's see: black people get to say "nigga" and "cracker". Whites get to rule the world?
Yeah, sounds like an even trade to me.
Black-White
White-Black
When can we all be one human race without any descriptions attached. Does a world exist without social order, stock markets, war, crime, or hatred? If anyone knows of such place.... send me the address so I can pack up and move
why do white ppl join black blogs, the comments from dissenter prove they just don't get it and it's always a white person that has little contact with blacks
tired of white ppl and others pointing out the fact that we use the word and they think we are just as racist as they are, I didn't even know growing up there were other racist words, I thought there was only one. ppl who point this out have a fallical argument, instead of taking resposibiltiy for their own racist actions they try to defer the resposibility to blacks, oh you guys use it. Stick to the argument
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