A group of first graders in Skokie, Ill., had their annual Thanksgiving celebration quashed by a principal who said their cardboard headdresses might offend American Indians, reports The Chicago Tribune.
The kids at Madison School had to leave the costumes over which they had labored on a bookshelf and have their Thanksgiving celebration in regular school clothes after a parent complained about the Indian outfits. Kids who had made pilgrim outfits also had to set them aside.
American Indian groups in Chicago applauded Principal Pete Davis' decision. They said generic Indian outfits tend to promote Hollywood-style stereotypes of American Indians.
One of the six-year-old girls heard about the decision at her Brownie meeting and came home sobbing beneath her little brown beret, her mother said.
That Ought to Shut Him Up
A Latino group at Glendale Community College in Arizona wants the administration to forbid a professor there from ever expressing his opinions on university Web pages because he sent out an e-mail saying the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or MEChA, is racist, reports the Arizona Republic.
MEChA also wants Walter Kehowski to apologize publicly for stating in an e-mail that the group fosters racism by praising racial separatism. He was alluding to a recent Dia de la Raza event on campus.
"We believe in the First Amendment ... in this case, the e-mails and Web page are clearly against the district mission of diversity and has disrupted our campus with the hostility that it promotes," the group said in a letter to the Maricopa County Community College District.
Unwanted: Single White Male
A jilted pub owner in Britain who advertised in search of a "single white male" for companionship was told to remove the message because it was racist, reports London’s Sun.
Diane Prestidge said she was lonely after her husband walked out on her so she put a blackboard up outside her pub in Drybrook. "Wanted: part-time single white male, 40-50," it said. "Must like cats. Must have a wicked sense of humor to cheer up overworked, underpaid, flu-ravaged, p****d-off pub landlady."
Shortly afterward, she said, representatives of the local race equality council paid a visit and told her to erase the message or face the consequences.
Traumatized in Florida
Parents of two Florida schoolchildren have hired a civil rights attorney and may sue because their kids had to hear a racial slur during a classroom English lesson, reports The Associated Press.
The students at Vero Beach High School complained after hearing the pejorative during a reading of "A Land Remembered," a fictional account of Florida’s history as seen through the eyes of one family.
The author of the book, Patrick D. Smith, who wrote six novels and was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, said he's never had a complaint about it before. "I used the language of the times, and it's the black character himself who uses the word," said Smith.
The parents have sought counseling for their children.
Shocked!
A Northwestern University freshman who claimed he was attacked in a racially motivated hate crime made the whole incident up in order to encourage a "dialogue on race" on campus, reports the Daily Northwestern.
Jaime Alexander Saide told police he found the words "Die Spic" written on a poster and wall near his dorm room. He also told police someone grabbed him on the street near his dorm, held a knife to his neck and whispered racial slurs in his ear.
His story prompted students to organize a "Stop the Hate" campaign, a day of silence in support of diversity and the wearing of black to show solidarity with him. More than 500 people rallied against intolerance.
Saide was arrested and charged with felony disorderly conduct.
Witchhunt?
Officials at Northwestern University have launched a full-bore investigation into the research methods of a professor whose book offended transsexuals and homosexual activists, reports the Daily Northwestern.
The book, "The Man Who Would Be Queen" by J. Michael Bailey, was labeled "malicious, demeaning and libelous" for suggesting that transsexuals are either homosexuals or autogynephilics, men who are aroused by the idea of themselves as women.
Three of the transsexuals featured in the book under pseudonyms have suggested that they were unaware Bailey was writing a book and that he did not get their permission. One of them wants the book recalled and Bailey to apologize.
Tolerance on Campus
A Sikh student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who complained that a student committee only brought liberal speakers to campus was derided as a "raghead" as a result, reports the Daily Beacon.
UT student Sukhmani Singh Khalsa complained in an editorial that the students’ Issues Committee, which brings speakers to campus, was devoid of ideological diversity. "I don't think that a lot of parents would be happy if they knew they were paying this group $90,000 to have their country slandered and their values dragged through the mud," he wrote.
Following the appearance of the article, Justin Rubenstein, a member of the Issues Committee, told fellow members of the panel in an e-mail that if they "see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the [expletive] face."
Rubenstein said his comment was taken out of context.
(via HobbsOnline)
Dar Commissars
A pro-life student group at Harvard University will henceforth have to get approval for all its posters from commissars at the school’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response because an earlier poster featuring a rape victim was deemed offensive, reports the Harvard Crimson.
Harvard Right to Life was accused of "causing emotional harm" with a poster entitled "Women Deserve Better." The poster featured a young rape victim expressing regret for having chosen abortion.
The concerned students said the opening line of the poster, "I was raped," could cause "revictimization," which apparently incites emotions nearly as intense as those invoked by the original incident.
For a daily dose of politically correct shenanigans, head over to the Tongue Tied Web site.
Mailbag:
Gwen in New Jesey writes:
Your "Tongue Tied" section rightfully points out ridiculous hypersensitivities except for your piece on "More Southern Discomfort. "
There is nothing funny about Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee, and I am not referring to racial insensitivity. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors -- anti-Americans at their best. They tried to dissolve the United States without good reason.
Would we name an Elementary school after Stalin or Usama Bin Laden?
Harry H. in Jonesboro, Ark., writes:
Why do people seek to change the name of a school, town or cultural symbol just because the namesake is historically linked to something objectionable by contemporary standards? Washington and Jefferson owned slaves when the practice was legal. Do we change the name of our capital and remove their monuments and purge their images from our currency now that slavery is universally deplorable?
Memphis is named for a city in Egypt which enslaved Israelites. "St. Louis" denotes Christianity. Get the idea? For better or worse, history is our heritage. Our ancestors were not perfect. If you look hard enough, just about anything is capable of offending someone. This is why our Constitution allows for freedom of thought and tolerance.
Rob C. writes:
Who knew Christmas was a conflict! Apparently the Red Cross thinks so, and needs to appear "neutral" in the face of a brewing skirmish. If they truly want to appear "neutral" during Christmas, however, they should immediately change the name of their organization to the "Red Plus Sign."
Karri U. in Arvada, Colo., writes:
Kudos to Gen. Dailey for not allowing politics to infringe on the presentation of the Enola Gay! I for one don't like to be spoonfed my opinions. Don't these intellectual elitists realize that most people are capable of making up their own minds?
Chris R. writes:
My family are missionaries in Ecuador and have had the privilege of distributing these shoeboxes to children here. These children live in one-room dirt huts, have no electricity and no running water. They are always hungry and dirty. I don't understand how someone would say that giving these children a shoebox full of toys for Christmas, more toys then they could ever dream of and most likely the only Christmas present that they will receive, is "racist."
I would like to see that person come here and hug these children, hold them and not worry about the dirt and fleas. It's easy to do nothing for the poor and judge those who are doing something.
Kimberly G. corrects us:
In your story about Operation Christmas Child you refer to the organization as Billy Graham’s. The charity is actually Samaritan’s Purse run by Billy’s son, Franklin.
Brian M. writes:
I always enjoy your column but in your most recent column about the Don Juan de Oñate statue you're backing the wrong horse.
Don Juan de Oñate was not just "a mean guy" as you called him and I know several respected historians (non liberals) who were horrified that there were plans to put a statue up to this man.
Don Juan de Oñate was a psychopath who committed mass murder. This is a man who, in order to keep the Indians forced to work for him from running away, would occasionally cut off the feet of a few as an example. (Many colonists thought he simply did it because he enjoyed it). He didn't just mistreat the Indians but tortured and murdered them. He also murdered over a dozen of his own colonists he was suppose to protect simply out of paranoia.
Imagine a small Spanish version of Joseph Stalin and you get the picture.
Respond to the Writer
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox