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The AP is reporting that a student at North Dakota State University wore blackface and an afro wig to portray Senator Barack Obama at an on-campus event.

Skit Features Student in Playing Obama in Blackface 

FARGO, North Dakota (AP) — North Dakota State University is investigating complaints about a campus skit in which a white student in blackface portrayed Barack Obama receiving a lap dance.

The same skit, part of a charity fundraiser held at a campus theater, also featured a depiction of cowboys having sex with each other, witnesses told The Forum newspaper, which first reported the backlash Friday.

“We’re trying to find out the right approaches for accountability, but at the same time try to heal wounds that have occurred and allow the campus to move ahead,” Janna Stoskopf, NDSU’s dean of students, told The Associated Press on Friday.

The March 18 skit involving the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club was performed at the Mr. NDSU Pageant, which raises money for diabetes research. People who attended it said a pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as a woman from the Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed a strip tease for another student who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig.

In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance, the Forum reported.

“That seems to be consistent with what’s been described to me,” Stoskopf said.

The Obama campaign had no comment Friday. Obama is to speak at North Dakota Democrats’ state convention in Grand Forks next week.

NDSU President Joseph Chapman was not immediately available for comment, and messages left by the AP for Russell Danielson, adviser of the Saddle and Sirloin Club, and Malika Carter, an NDSU assistant director of multicultural student services, were not immediately returned.

Stoskopf said she expected the investigation could take until May 9, the end of the school year.

“One of the issues here is how do we balance what our policies and expectations about behavior are with the issue of freedom of speech,” Stoskopf said. “Where does all of that get us?”

NDSU has 10,403 undergraduates. The student body is 92 percent white, while 1.5 percent identify themselves as black or African-American.

Oh. Hell. No.

Could this be the work of the Racism Fairy? We’ll have to see if the students try to apologize or not.

Department of Homeland Security official, Julie Myers, nearly missed being appointed last year after she became embroiled in a controversy over blackface. At a Halloween party, Myer was photographed with an employee wearing a prison uniform, wig of dreadlocks, a paper bag labelled “Nasty”, and makeup to darken his skin. He was supposed to be an escaped convict, but he was also clearly in Blackface.

Myers initially saw no problem in the costume, judging it the most “original” of the party. However, when it later became clear that Myers’ tolerance of the employee’s blackface would be a scandal, she ordered photos of the party destroyed. However, apparently forensic scientists were able to recover the photos, and they were given to CNN (with the identities of the employee blocked).

An official who has seen the unredacted photos said that the employee was clearly wearing blackface, but Myers claims “I was not aware at the time of the contest that the employee disguised his skin color.”

As we reported on this blog earlier, Myers was clearly a victim of the Racism Fairy, for failing to discern blackface makeup, or at least making up a dumb excuse after-the-fact for thinking it’s “original”. I mean, did anyone really buy her argument that she felt the costume was inappropriate because she was recognizing an escaped prisoner?

Unfortunately, Myers was confirmed in the Senate last December, but there is some discussion as to whether the photos would have made a difference in her confirmation hearing.

Following a nasty bite from the racism fairy, that caused a “lynching” remark to just fly out of poor Ms. Tilghman’s mouth, the Golf Channel has suspended Tilghman for a two week period.

In a statement, the Golf Channel said:

“While we believe that Kelly’s choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate,” Golf Channel said in its statement. “Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately.”

Tilghman’s suspension comes after a storm of backlash from blogs and websites, all criticizing Tilghman for her inappropriate statement. Reverand Al Sharpton also weighed in:

“Lynching is not murder in general, it’s not assault in general,” Sharpton said. “It’s a specific racial term that this women should be held accountable for. What she said is racist. Whether she’s a racist … is immaterial. She’s a broadcaster. The channel has to be accountable to the public.”

Yes, for all you Tilghman fans. The point is that implying or joking about lynching a Black man is offensive to the viewing public. And whether Tilghman was racist, or just tired and sprinkled with TinKKKerbell pixie dust, she needs to be reprimanded for the offense that comment caused. I applaud the Golf Channel for their quick response to this matter.

In a Friday broadcast of some golf tournament, a commentator on the Golf Channel remarked that young golfers would be so angry at Tiger Woods’ performance that they would have to “lynch him in a back alley”.

Tilghman later apologized, calling it an example of “poorly chosen words” while the Golf Channel apologized for any viewers that might have been offended.

Golf Channel anchor apologizes for ‘lynch’ Tiger remark

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman on Tuesday declined to comment publicly about suggesting on-air Friday that young pro golfers trying to catch up to Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman, the first woman to be a lead play-by-play announcer on PGA Tour TV coverage, issued a statement apologizing for her “poorly chosen words” and said she “apologized directly to Woods.”

The Golf Channel, in a statement, said “we regret if any viewers were offended by Kelly’s choice of words.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, said, “It is a complete non-issue. Kelly and Tiger are friends. It might have been a poor choice of words, but there was absolutely no ill intent whatsoever.”

I’m still surprised anyone would think lynching was funny.

Rachel’s Tavern believes the Racism Fairy has struck again. This time her victim just might be Arkansas State Senator Denny Altes:

Senator cries, apologizes, defends e-mail
BY LAURA KELLAMS
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007

State Sen. Denny Altes apologized Thursday for writing an e-mail saying Arkansas is overrun with illegal aliens and that “we are being out populated by blacks also.” Altes, the Fort Smith senator who serves as Republican leader of the Arkansas Senate, tearfully apologized in an interview with The Associated Press but said he doesn’t consider what he said to be a racist remark.

The League of United Latin American Citizens called for him to resign, but the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stopped short of that.

“Calling for him to resign wouldn’t do any good,” said Dale Charles, state NAACP president. “If he was really remorseful, it would probably help. But if your own conscience still won’t convict you, it’s not going to matter.” Among black members of the Senate, those who commented publicly gave their colleague the benefit of the doubt.

“This is certainly and totally out of character with the Denny Altes that I know,” said Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock. “One thing I do know is that if anybody can right this wrong, it’s Denny Altes. He’ll do more than rectify this situation.” Altes acknowledged sending the e-mail, first reported by Fort Smith-Fayetteville station KHBS / KHOG-TV, in which he wrote that he’s been fighting in the trenches against illegal immigration. In it, he said he’s for sending illegal aliens back to their home countries, but that he knows that’s impossible.

“We are where we were with the black folks after the revolutionary war,” he wrote. “We can’t send them back and the more we p *** them off the worse it will be in the future…. Sure we are being overrun but we are being out populated by the blacks also. What is the answer, only time will tell.” Altes said he made those remarks in response to an inflammatory e-mail. The text to which he was responding is not included in the e-mail on the TV station’s Web site.

Gov. Mike Beebe and the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties criticized the e-mail.

Beebe said the remarks were divisive and insensitive.

“As leaders, we must set a good example of thoughtful discourse, especially when it comes to impassioned issues where strong opinions exist,” he said in a statement.

Republican Party Chairman Dennis Milligan called Wednesday on Altes to apologize, and Altes did so Thursday morning.

Bill Gwatney, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said he was glad to see that Altes apologized for the “inappropriate, divisive and racially insensitive” comments.

“I hope his future public policy decisions reflect his atonement,” Gwatney said.

Steele, who is black, said Altes has a good record in the Senate. He said Altes was one of the first public officials to support funding for an expansion and renovation of Martin Luther King Park in Fort Smith.

“We all make mistakes, but I think his record will overshadow his mistake,” Steele said.

Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff, who is also black, said Altes is “good and decent person.” He said he doesn’t think his Senate colleague meant the comments the way they were written.

Wilkins said he wouldn’t call the comments racist without knowing the full context, what the original e-mail said that Altes responded to.

Wilkins was the Senate sponsor of a 2005 bill that Altes criticized in the e-mail, one that would offer in-state college tuition to the children of illegal aliens.

In the e-mail, Altes said that former Gov. Mike Huckabee called him a racist and bigot for speaking out against that legislation. He said Republicans leave him “high and dry” on the issue and that he thinks it’s because they’re losing Hispanic votes.

“If we run a candidate today how much of the Hispanic vote will he git and can we win without that Hispanic vote. Ask GW Bush what he thinks ???” Altes wrote.

Carlos Cervantes, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called Altes’ remarks shameful.

“He’s trying to get everybody round up who’s not the purest white,” Cervantes said. “He’s got too much anger in his heart.” Cervantes as well as the national LULAC organization called for Altes’ resignation.

Altes said he would not resign. He has represented the Fort Smith area in the Legislature since 1999, when he was elected to the House. He served two House terms and has been a member of the Senate since 2003.

Sen. Jack Critcher, D-Batesville, the leader of the Senate, said he didn’t see any need for the body to censure or otherwise rebuke Altes. Critcher said Altes seemed sincerely sorry, breaking down during their conversation, and that the comments don’t reflect the man he knows.

“I could just tell by his voice he was heartbroken over it. He was just devastated and contrite,” Critcher said. “He said he was sorry about it, and I believe him.” Andre Good, treasurer of Fort Smith’s Juneteenth celebration commemorating the emancipation of slaves, said Altes has been very helpful to him and others in the city’s black community.

He said an apology is enough for him and that he’ll continue to work with Altes, though he might be somewhat leery.

“In the future I’ll be more aware of why certain people are trying to help,” he said.

In the copy of the e-mail obtained by KHBS / KHOG, former Fort Smith Mayor Bill Vines is shown as responding to Altes ’ message. It shows him saying that the “vast majority of citizens with a brain” would agree with Altes on the illegal immigration issue.

Vines said in an e-mail to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he was leaving town and couldn’t comment until next week.

Altes didn’t return numerous telephone calls left at his home and on his mobile phone on Thursday.

He cried. He was “heart-broken”. This was “totally out of character”.

Yep, definitely sounds like the Racism Fairy has her grubby little fingerprints all over this one.

Surprised? Given the institutionalized racism of border patrol and the treatment of the illegal immigration crisis, not really.

It turns out that Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), hosted and helped judge a Halloween costume party. One employee came dressed as follows:

[ICE 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.”

Myers and the other judges complimented the employee on his “originality”.

However, after pictures of the man were taken at the party, some employees became offended, and only then did Myers and company “realize he was wearing make-up” (according to Nantel). Right — because a presumably White employee matching dreads to a prison outfit isn’t offensive in-and-of-itself.

I believe the Racism Fairy has struck again!

It wasn’t immediately clear that this one had the fingerprints of our little TinKKKerbell, except after I read how ICE is trying to clean up the mess:

“Most people in the room didn’t realize he was wearing make-up at all,” [Kelly Nantel] said.

“It was unintentioned. The employee did not mean to offend although there were some employees that were rightfully offended by it,” Nantel said.

Note the language used in Nantel’s last line: the employee didn’t mean to offend, but employees were offended by it. It, i.e. the costume, not the employee. Careful to tip-toe around pointing fingers at a person, instead it is the dreadlocks and the prison-y outfit that are the true culprits!

Meanwhile, employees at ICE are once more being reminded that they should attend diversity training. But, you have to wonder: if it didn’t work the first time…?

It seems the racism fairy has found another hapless victim: Jim Watson, who won the Nobel prize in the 1960’s for helping to discover DNA.

Nobel-winning Biologist Apologizes For Remarks About Blacks 

LONDON, England (CNN) — Nobel laureate biologist Jim Watson apologized “unreservedly” Thursday for stating that black people were not as intelligent as whites, saying he was “mortified” by the comments attributed to him.

 ”I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said,” Watson said during an appearance at the Royal Society in London.

“I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways that they have.”

“To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief,” he said.

Watson, 79, an American who won the 1962 Nobel prize for his role in the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, told the Sunday Times he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really.”

Watson also asserted there was no reason to believe different races separated by geography should have evolved identically, and he said that while he hoped everyone was equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true.”

His comments were met with an avalanche of criticism, and London’s Science Museum canceled Watson’s planned Friday appearance, saying his remarks had “gone beyond the point of acceptable debate.”

The British government’s skills minister, David Lammy, who is black, called the comments “deeply offensive.”

“It is a shame that a man with a record of scientific distinction should see his work overshadowed by his own irrational prejudices,” Lammy said.

Watson’s remarks to the Sunday Times were the latest in a number of controversial comments from the eminent biologist.

In 1997, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph quoted Watson as saying that if a gene for homosexuality were isolated, women who find that their unborn child has the gene should be allowed to have an abortion.

During a lecture tour in 2000, he suggested there might be links between a person’s weight and their level of ambition and between skin color and sexual prowess.

“That’s why you have Latin lovers,” he said, according to The Associated Press, which cited people who attended the lecture. “You’ve never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.”

And in a British TV documentary that aired in 2003, Watson suggested stupidity was a genetic disease that should be treated.

I really have to wonder if calling Blacks stupid was not what Watson meant — what is it that he did mean?

It all started with a night of giddy humour between electroman and I, upon watching Michael Richards’ sad excuse for an apology for using the n-word. It was as if Richards was completely blameless: he wasn’t racist, racism had happened to him. He had been struck down by the Racism Fairy.

And with that, an urban legend was born.

Ebogjohnson gave us the first incarnation of the Racism Fairy in his hilarious “Fun with Photoshop“. And from those comics, I was inspired to make the following icon:

The Racism Fairy cannot be seen by the naked eye, but evidence of her handiwork is at once obvious. She causes a wave of racism to overtake her victim, making them spout racist slurs very much against their will. To cover her tracks, she will cause the victim of her Racism Pixie Dust to emerge from her influence claiming any one or a combination of the following defenses to remove the blame for the racism from themselves, including:

1. I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth!
2. I didn’t know what I was saying was considered racist!
3. I’m not racist — I’m a person of colour!
4. I’m not racist — I have minority friends!
5. Other minorities say it too!

And if all else fails, the hapless victim of TinKKKerbell’s magic will check themselves into personal counseling.

Don’t succumb to the Racism Fairy! To keep your children safe, we must track her nefarious path. Here’s what you can do:

1. Include the above icon in any blog post you write about someone who has been struck by the Racism Fairy. Link the icon back to this post.
2. Ping or comment on this thread so I know you’ve written a post.

I will include your post in this list of known victims of the Racism Fairy.

Known Victims:

• Gov. Bill Richardson, ‘08 presidential candidate (also Homophobia Fairy) Update!
• Francois Girbaud, fashion designer Update!
• Michael Richards, comedian
• Ralph Papitto, chairman of Roger Williams University board
• Aileen Siu, employee for Ontario cabinet office
• Billy Hagberg, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Winston McCarty, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Anders Bergren, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Aaron Cichowski, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Adam Borowski, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Brandon Elkins, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Michael Paradise, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Kevin McKamish, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Greg Vaisleib, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Sam Caushaj, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Nick Horne, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Brian Skura, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Alec Christie, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Tom Stewart, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Nicholas Lombardi, Fox Chapel Area High School student
• Nick Bacco, Fox Chapel Area High School student

Remember! Helping the Racism Fairy is helping the terrorists! Don’t you love America?

(Hat-tip: K.H.) 

Does this man, University of Toronto student Evon Reid, look like a “ghetto dude” to you?

For that matter, what is the definition of a “ghetto dude”? Would it be his mannerisms? His subtle Jamaican accent? The neighbourhood of his childhood upbringing? His hair? Or maybe even just the colour of his skin?

Earlier this month, Reid applied for a government position with the Ontario cabinet office, and was interviewed by a woman named Aileen Siu. He never received a second interview despite a stellar resume for the job description, despite repeatedly following-up on the first meeting. Then, last week, he opened his inbox and found an email from Ms. Siu, copied to him by mistake.

In it, Ms. Siu was trying to speak to a colleague. In reference to Reid, she wrote a single sentence:

“This is the ghetto dude that I spoke to before.”

Clearly, Ms. Siu was using “ghetto” to reference Reid’s race. There wasn’t much else in Reid’s resume or anything that came up in the interview that spoke of living in the “ghetto”. However, Reid comments:

“Based on my resumé I deserved to be called, but I was not worthy of being called back once they heard my mother’s voice and my voice,” said Reid, 22. “She has a Jamaican accent and it’s about the way I talk. There’s a nuance.”

And so he asks: “Is it standard policy in the (Dalton) McGuinty cabinet office not to hire any ghetto dudes?”

But what really gets me is Siu’s defense of her actions — and it’s clear that the racist fairy strikes again! This time, Siu says it’s not racism, but a simple error of multi-tasking. Further, she cites her own racial identity — as an Asian American woman — as proof that she is not racist.

Siu acknowledged the term is negative but said, “I don’t even know what nationality he is, right?” She added she’s of Asian descent and doesn’t want anyone to think she makes racially based judgments.

Good job, Siu. Taking the tensions between Blacks and Asians one step further.

Edit: Y’know, there’s really nothing more embarassing than having your boss walk up behind you and catch you pasting a KKK hood onto Tinkerbell’s head.