So, you know. It’s been a bang-up Black History Month for America’s Black community.
Let’s review, shall we? In no particular order, African-Americans have recently had to stomach the following entirely incomplete list of delights:
- Comedian/Writer/Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Living Legend William Shatner made “you all look alike” jokes at the Academy Awards.
- Comedian Lisa Lampanelli used the word “nigga” to mean “person I like who happens to be white” on Twitter and then defended her use of said term.
- New York Assemblyman (and Democrat) Dov Hikind wore blackface on the Jewish costume holiday of Purim and then defended his use of said costume.
- Todd Kincannon, former executive director of the South Carolina GOP, joked via Twitter that had murdered black teenager Trayvon Martin grown into adulthood, he would have become a drug-abusing prostitute. (Yes, really). And defended his tweets.
- A white airplane passenger made the news when he called a crying, two-year-old black boy a “nigger baby” and slapped him.
- High fashion magazine Numéro ran an editorial called “African Queen” featuring a white model slathered in bronzer. (Ok, this was in France, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, we got to read about it and see the pictures over here).
- Tea Party/Fox News favorite Ted Nugent opined that it might have been better if the Confederacy had won the Civil War.
- A Michigan hospital was sued for agreeing to a father’s demand that no African-American nurses tend to his baby.
- CNN reported just today that “The wealth gap between blacks and whites has nearly tripled over the past 25 years, due largely to inequality in home ownership, income, education and inheritances.”
- At the Supreme Court, also today, Justice Scalia likened Congressional support for the Voting Rights Act “to a ‘perpetuation of racial entitlement’.”
Yup. The times — they sure are post-racial.
Emily L. Hauser - In My Head 
nefariousnewt
/ February 27, 2013I hesitate to add, that we marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin and there is still no justice.
But on the good side, Rosa Parks received a great honor today, with her likeness in bronze permanently given a place of honor in the U.S. Capitol. Progress is measured in millimeters sometimes.
Yvette
/ February 28, 2013Hi, I want to clarify some legal errors in your piece on the Daily Beast, regarding refoulement. Is there a way I can leave a comment on the piece itself? You are incorrect regarding the obligations of a signatory state regarding involuntary repatriation.
emilylhauser
/ February 28, 2013To be clear, I was quoting a verdict written by an Israeli Supreme Court Justice, not making my own point. If you want to disagree with him, comments on Open Zion are always open.
Yvette
/ February 28, 2013mod note: This is simply not the thread for this conversation, so I have removed this comment. Commenting is always open at Open Zion and I encourage you to engage there. When I crosspost the piece in question, I will insert this comment into that commenting thread.
emilylhauser
/ February 28, 2013I see. In that line I was paraphrasing the piece about which I was blogging, the HaAretz article, but as I’m not a lawyer (and I’m guessing the reporter in question isn’t either) I can imagine that she/we/I made a mistake.
As I said above though: Comments are open at Open Zion. Please leave this comment there. I will draw my editors’ attention to the fact that it will be coming, but in a few minutes I will be deleting it from this thread, as this is not the place for it.
When I crosspost the Sudan piece, I will insert this comment in that thread.
Joshunda
/ February 28, 2013Yeah, this Black History Month sucked. But last year, we lost Whitney Houston and Don Cornelius and Trayvon Martin, so that was also not good. But at least there wasn’t a lot of overt annoying racism to contend with. There’s something particularly annoying about it happening more in February than in other months, I have to say. It’s a short month! Wait until March for these shenanigans! I’d love to blame Mercury in Retrograde for this.
Scintillatebrightly
/ March 2, 2013Wow. Don’t forget the black guy in SA who got dragged to his death by cops.